A review of Mark Hearn’s new book, *Hearing in Technicolor: Mindset Shifts Within a Multicultural Congregation*
If, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week… how do we fix it?
That was over 50 years ago, and it still rings true. Most churches in America have one dominant culture group. Multicultural congregations are increasing in number and proportion as demographics shift across the United States. However, in many churches, the tipping point of becoming multicultural (where 20% of the congregants are not among the dominant culture group) still seems far away. My local church (of which I am a layperson, not a pastor) has…
A review of the promising but ultimately disappointing *From the River to the Sea: The Untold Story of the Railroad War That Made the West*
Have you ever had a book that you were excited about, but failed to capture your interest?
This is my experience with John Sedgwick’s newly released From the River to the Sea: The Untold Story of the Railroad War That Made the West. I love American history, and the premise is promising: two railroad barons ignite a rivalry that created the American West as it now is. Los Angeles was even transformed into a major city within a matter of months because of the inexpensive railroad tickets produced by the rivalry. It’s fascinating.
Then why wasn’t the book fascinating?
I’ve…
A review of *Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War*
What percentage of Americans do you think supported the space race in the 1960s?
As with almost all statistics, it’s impossible to arrive at one conclusive answer, but I assumed the number would be high. Maybe 75%? Cold War rivalry ran deep, the story goes. Everyone took the losses to the USSR in space very seriously and wanted to pull ahead. But it turns out that isn’t so true. It turns out that public sentiment for space exploration is remarkably similar to what it was 60 years ago: it’s not worth the money. Throughout the 1960s, the majority of Americans…
A review of Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books, by Jess McHugh
Which books do you think made America what it is today?
You’re probably thinking of classic works of literature: Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, something along those lines. That’s what I expected when I opened Americanon, Jess McHugh’s brand new work from Dutton Books. But the word “unexpected” in the subtitle could not be more apt for what this book had in store.
First, McHugh doesn’t have in mind the kind of literature you read once and put back on the shelf. She, for quite a compelling reason, has chosen books that Americans have bought in…
A review of Olivette Otele’s new book, *African Europeans: An Untold History*
Something strange about humans: we tend to like thinking in binaries.
I’m in my second year teaching AP Psychology, and because of the pandemic last spring I wasn’t able to teach my favorite branch of psychology: social psychology. So right now, I’m teaching through it for the first time.
One important through-line in social psychology is the tendency for humans to form in-groups and out-groups. We prefer our in-group and see individual differences between people, but we assume out-group members are all similar to each other, for the most part.
But what about when the lines blur between in-group and…
My review of Andrew Walker’s new book, *Liberty For All: Defending Everyone’s Religious Freedom in a Pluralistic Age*
Why would a Christian want, for instance, Muslims to have the freedom to worship however they want?
The answer isn’t as simple as it seems before you have to come up with it. If it is that the government has to treat all religions equally, why is that? Why should Christians want a government that treats all religions equally? “Religious liberty for all” is (for some) an easy concept to get behind, but it is more difficult to express one’s convictions behind it.
Pastor John MacArthur made minor waves in January when he declared: “I don’t even support religious freedom…
A review of Tim Marshall’s wonderful *Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World*
What foreign country’s history is the most fascinating to you?
I asked this on Twitter a few days ago, and the responses were amazing. What I realized, and was noted by at least one other person, is that there’s always an event that sparks our fascination with a country’s history. It can be a personal connection like a visit to that country or knowing someone who lived there. But it can also be as simple as reading something about that country and wanting to know more.
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about a country, a region, or the world in general (my knowledge of world history was embarrassingly…
A review of *Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age*, by Collin Hansen and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra
Do you find yourself anxious and without hope looking at the state of the world?
Our society is full of disappointing, even anxiety-producing stories. The more you are on social media, the more you see this. And, especially over the last year and a half, simply keeping up with the news of the day can make one anxious.
The same can be said of American Christianity. It’s full of disappointing stories. The more you are on social media, the more you see this.
So where is the hope? What hope do we have if those who are supposed to be the light of the world sometimes simply magnify the darkness? That is the question at…
A review of the terrific *Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair* by Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson
The word “reparations” can kill a conversation faster than almost anything else in politics or religion. But it shouldn’t.
Most honest individuals would agree that the relationship between White people and Black people in the United States is in need of repair. That is what is meant by “reparations”. It is a comprehensive change in the lives and relationships of White people and Black people to repair what has been lost over many centuries. …
A review of Kate Masur’s new history, *Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, From the Revolution to Reconstruction*
Do you think it’s enough for laws not to discriminate based on race? Or should laws also be analyzed for their effects on different races?
This is an important question for today’s world, as mass incarceration has had a massively disproportional effect on the Black community while laws are forbidden to discriminate based on race. But it is also the basis of the most recent civil rights movement of the 1960s. Poll taxes and literacy tests did not explicitly discriminate based on race, but the effects were both clear and purposeful. But one movement, one that began over a century…
Jason Park
Book-reviewer, AP World History and AP Psychology Teacher. MAT Secondary Social Studies, University of Arkansas. Arlington, TX.
