A South Seas mission field revisited

The Shark God

Montgomery, a young travel writer and descendant of an Anglican missionary to the South Pacific Islands, becomes smitten with some of his great-grandfather’s keepsakes and writings about religious life and culture in Melanesia, so Montgomery goes on a pilgrimage to learn more about the clash of Christianity and pagan beliefs in that part of the world — a clash that involved not just Anglican missionaries but Presbyterian and Seventh Day Adventist as well. This is not some rose-colored look at how Christianity triumphed over native religion. Montgomery is mostly agnostic, however by encountering ghosts of his religious past, he does begin to court the mystical. He discovers that even as many islanders converted to Christianity, they held on to some of their pagan beliefs and kastom, or “old ways.” The syncretism is sometimes meaningful and sometimes bizarre by anyone’s standards. And Montgomery casts a skeptical eye on all so-called magic and miracles. Yet by the end of the book, he understands the importance of myth and faith to all cultures. If you’re fascinated by travelogues, tales of missionary feats of the past weaved in with a writer’s spiritual memoir, then hunt down this book and settle in for a great adventure.

—Teresa Blythe

The nature of hope

Butterflies Under Our Hats

by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (Paraclete Press, 2006; 32 pages; $16.95, hardcover; 800-451-5006)

“Hope is better than luck” teaches the mysterious woman with the purple hat and green eyes to the unlucky and depressed town of Chelm. This charming story — with a message that will resonate with those of us from the Reformed Tradition who prefer hope over luck — comes to us from Rabbi Sasso (In God’s Name and Cain and Abel), an award-winning author of inspirational books for children of all faith backgrounds. Colorful and evocative illustrations by Joani Keller Rothenberg make the story come alive. The town of Chelm learns that hope lives “right under their hats,” a big shift from feeling that luck was always eluding them. This, and other Sasso books, make wonderful gifts for any child in your life. You trust that her books are, as the publisher’s motto goes, “multi-cultural, spiritual and non-denominational.” Kids can trust that they’ll be fun, too.

—Teresa Blythe

Think like a theologian

How to Think Theologically (Second Edition)

by Howard Stone and James Duke (Fortress Press, 2006; 142 pages; $15, paper)

We all do it — not just pastors, seminarians and professors of theology. We all think theologically. We just may not do it intentionally. The goal of Stone and Duke is to get us to recognize our “embedded” theologies (those we take for granted and shape how we think about God and the world) and think critically about what theology we want to embrace. Theology simply means “talk about God,” so Stone and Duke take readers through real-life examples of theological questions, using interesting stories to help us think about our “God-talk.” This second edition doesn’t differ significantly from their popular first edition, but it is expanded to include a “for further reading” section and revised here and there in light of many comments and reflections people had on the first edition. If you didn’t catch this gem the first time around, definitely locate the second edition. It is a helpful book for thinking about the roots of your faith and how you (and your tradition) answer questions about the big themes in theology: sin and salvation, the gospel, ethics and vocation.

—Teresa Blythe