Title: Warrior of the Son

Author: Samuel Schiller


Readability: This book was a struggle for me. I like fantasy, but not so much this kind of fantasy. I like learning about the culture of the fantasy world, and Mr. Schiller seemed rather reluctant to focus much on those issues. Many times the characters seemed to be moderns with a veneer of 'My Lord' and 'illiterate peasant' added.

The story moved along well enough, but the motivations (IMO) kept getting mixed up. It is a very hard thing when someone you love does something you hate. It is also hard to portray those emotions.

The lead character kept bouncing back and forth between accepting and rejecting Christ, which I found hard. I like reading about growth.

Even considering all that I say above and below, I would (indeed have) let my children read this book. And discuss it with me afterwards.

Age Level: The language and issues involved shouldn't prevent even a fairly young child who could separate fact from fantasy from reading this book, or having it read to them.

Theology: Mennonites will dislike the emphasis on physical violence as part of the Christian temperament. I am no Mennonite, so I found that part refreshing. I had more of an issue with the Charismatic like emphasis on supernatural leadings and strength, as opposed to Scriptural knowledge and wisdom via obedience.

Orthopraxy: I found this book difficult from an Orthopraxis standpoint. It is always difficult to know what about the characters represents the authors view of what should be, vs sin in their lives. Thus this list may include items that the author himself disagrees with:
1) The fathers in the book seemed to be denigrated. Except for one who was dead, and plays no role in the story, all of the fathers seem to be portrayed as negative, domineering, useless, or distant. At one point a Barons daughter mentions that her father would likely ‘banish’ her for the crime of sneaking down into the jail to visit a prisoner who is out of favor. (One wonders just where her chaperone is.)
2) The book presents a very modern view, and very unChristian view, of sexual ethics. The heroes mother is shown as an adulteress, whose regret at that act seems to be more in regards to the ambiguous position it placed her son in rather than any consideration of the morality of the act itself.
The most heroic and ‘Christian’ character (not the protagonist) ‘falls in love’ with a woman who is, at the time, not a Christian. And both he and the protagonist seem to have no qualms about physical affection prior to marriage or betrothal. With no real explanation a woman that the protagonist had been physically intimate with (short of coitus, at least that isn’t mentioned) goes an marries someone else.
3) Except for obedience to the Spiritual claims of Christ obedience plays no real role in the book. Characters are shown being disobedient to, and disrespectful of, authorities placed in their life both by God and human authorities, and no consequences seem to flow from those practices. They are neither adequately disciplined by their authorities nor are any negative consequences arranged by the author.

Title: The Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy
The State of Parental Rights in Light of the Texas Polygamy Case



Author: Vision Forum: Don Hart

Readability: Don Hart is always interesting to listen to, and the subject is fascinating, and important. The actual format of the speech is a little different from what one might expect from the title. Mr. Hart lays out in particular a California case, the McMartin Preschool Trial, and the effect it and the Texas Polygamy case have on our responsibilities as parents.

Age Level: I would NOT recommend that children be allowed to listen to this CD until their parents have listened to it. Indeed, husbands might want to listen to it before their wives, as their are some very emotionally distressing issues involved.

Theology: I think there are a couple of issues that remain in my mind, concerning the 'extreme' role of the state. But the stress on the jurisdiction of the family is an important one.

Orthopraxy: The area of orthopraxy is the one area where I, personally, was left hanging. What should we do, what are we going to do? How should we as a Christian community respond to the perversion that is CPS?

I look forward to asking Mr. Hart that question when I next see him.

CS Lewis once remarked upon reviewing a book, or, more properly, using a book review in an article he was writing, that (to paraphrase) he found it awkward to say anything negative about the book because the authors had provided him with a review copy for free.

I find myself in a similar situation. Good friends of ours, several good friends of ours, have produced a movie. They provided us a copy of the DVD of the movie for free; presumably because they thought we would enjoy it. And of course because they were proud of their production. And yet, when I reviewed their production, I found myself disturbed and confused.

Unlike CS Lewis, however, I am going to tell you the name of the DVD. I will hope that the old adage ‘any publicity is good publicity’. I don’t know where or if it is for sale, I will try to find out

Title: For Honor: Faced with a Choice… What will your Legacy be?

Author: Alex Lerma
Website (not associated with the author) http://imagivation.org/

Readability: I found it a bit slow. It was a low budget film, and so filmed almost completely in one room, which of course lowers the ‘watchability’ a bit. And it is a psychodrama, which is not my favorite kind of film.

I myself would have preferred a lot more dialog, and less ‘watching peoples faces as they think’ kind of thing.

Age Level: As long as parents watch the film with their children, I don’t believe they will find anything objectionable in the movie. The themes are very dark, however. At one point adultery is hinted at… I don’t know if that was intentional or not.

Theology: I am extremely confused about the theology of this movie.

Warning: spoiler

The movie begins, as it were, with a man in prison, for life, for murdering his father; a crime he did not commit. His daughter, who does not know she is his daughter, thinks she is the daughter of the brother, the man who actually killed their father, stealing their joint inheritance.

The other character is the sister-in-law, the wife of the murderer. For some reason, unexplained, she is no longer sleeping with her husband. It is unclear, at least to me, if she is the actual mother of the girl or not.

The man in prison has escaped, armed himself, and showed up, at night, at his brothers house; to kill him. He runs into his sister-in-law. She convinces him that he should not shoot her husband (although she seems remarkably ambivalent about him) and should give himself up. She tells him (and one would have thought that even in jail he would have known this) that she and her husband have been lying to the girl the entire time (she looks to be about ten years old) and claiming her as their own.

The movie focuses on the idea that this is the ‘honorable’ thing to do. And it continues with the girl (now grown up and having been told) who writes this letter/journal thing and praises his actions as ‘for honor’, and writes of it being the single most influential thing in her life.

Now, I, personally, don’t get it. In the end the man is in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. His brother, the murderer and thief is raising his daughter. His brother’s wife is lying to his daughter and not sleeping with her own husband, who she knows to be a murderer and thief.
Where is the honor in that? Is it honorable to allow your daughter to be raised by a murderer and a theif… a patricide at that? Is it honorable for ones daughter to be deceived as to who her father is? Is laying down before a ‘justice’ system that has produced that result ‘honorable’?

Can someone help me here?

Orthopraxy: My comments on orthopraxy concerns the wife. First of all, whose daughter was this? Children have both a mother and a father. Thus even if, for some bizarre reason, the courts saw fit to strip his daughter from even the knowledge of her father, and vice versa, what of the mother?

And it seems that she had stopped sleeping with her husband, and yet obeyed him in lying to the daughter about who her father was.

Orthopraxy: (Comments and criticisms from an orthopraxic standpoint.)