Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind    by   Daniel C. Dennett &    Linda LaScola Reviewed by      Geoffrey W. Sutton I recently spoke with a seminary student who mentioned his interest in deconversion. Having studied Psychology of Religion for decades, I'm familiar with the topic both as a clinician and scientist. The conversation reminded me of a book I reviewed a few years ago. It turns out the review was accepted for publication but I cannot find evidence that it appeared in print so here's the review with the removal of some text that would have been for the academic publication. ******** Have you ever listened to someone disclose their deep spiritual doubts? In Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Faith Behind , Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola systematically disclose and analyze the deconversion experiences of 35 clergy and seminary interviewees who participated in their qualitative study. Encouraged by a pilot study in...

Liberty Bell stamp ON LIBERTY By John Stuart Mill    Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton My occasion for re-reading On Liberty was the mention of Mill and Rawls by professor Brian Leiter in his lecture, “Why Tolerate Religion,” which he presented at Drury University. My joint interest in philosophy and psychology began during my undergraduate years. Mill’s book On Liberty is one I kept since taking a graduate course on Political Philosophy at the University of Missouri, where my psychology professors graciously allowed me to count philosophy courses toward my doctoral requirements. Philosophers have of course contributed much to an understanding of human nature, which is why I continue to read philosophy. As I look back at Mill’s writings, I see a man on the cusp of philosophy and science guiding thinkers toward empiricism whilst maintaining an eminently pragmatic stance. In a sense, I see him contributing hypotheses to social psychol...

UNCHRISTIAN : WHAT A NEW GENERATION REALLY THINKS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY    ...AND  WHY IT MATTERS By   David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton “Christianity has an image problem.” (p. 11). The book, UNChristian , summarizes Kinnaman and Lyon's research into the views of Christians and non-Christians about many social issues. And they find that young Christians hold some negative attitudes toward Christianity—Christians are anti-gay and judgmental, to name two. This is one of the books I read as I was writing about beliefs and values in  A House Divided . A telling statistic is the finding that only 20% of “outsiders” strongly agree with an important characteristic of Christians: “Christian churches accept and love people unconditionally, regardless of how people look or what they do.” (p. 185) Although this book was written a few years ago, the contemporary situation in the United States suggests t...

Can a look back help predict the future of religious influence? SACRED CAUSES The Clash of Religion and Politics  from the Great War to the War on Terror By Michael Burleigh Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton CHURCH and STATE News of the recent church-state skirmishes rippling across the Southern Christian U.S. States reminded me of Burleigh’s work, which I reviewed a few years ago. Additionally, the brutality of the identified Islamic state ripping heads from bodies, destroying women and children, exploding ancient sites, and pushing vulnerable noncombatants into the Mediterranean makes the author’s analysis even more worthy of a second look. What I find useful to the present church and state issues is Burleigh’s consideration of the role of the church in the various conflicts beginning with World War I and extending into the 21st Century. During the past hundred years, the primary European church was of course the Church of Rome—still clai...

The Railway Man By Eric Lomax Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton The Railway Man is an emotionally powerful film based on the true story of Eric Lomax. Eric (Colin Firth) meets Patti (Nicole Kidman) on a train. We’re on a quick romantic journey to marriage but soon discover Eric’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is linked to brutal torture as a POW. The severe PTSD symptoms threaten to destroy his relationship along with his life. We’re in a time shuffle from the relationship and early marriage in the 1980s to WWII. Lomax was a British officer sent to railway work as a slave of the Japanese when Singapore fell in 1942. After his marriage, Eric discovers one of his Japanese torturers, Nagase, is alive. Now the gut-wrenching inner struggle takes place on a larger stage. The war is not over for either man. Rather than reveal the dramatic and unpredictable conclusion, I’ll stop with the story-telling. Clinicians like me have seen many...

The Book: Couple Therapy:  A New Hope-Focused Approach By Jennifer S. Ripley  and  Everett L. Worthington Jr. Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton My connection to Couple Therapy I’ve studied hope in Christian samples for several years and find it a powerful motivational dimension of human functioning. Level of hope predicts counseling outcomes. The contents of this book fit well with my view of couple counseling. Disclosure: I know both authors but I got my book from the Encounter Journal for purposes of writing a review. What’s Couple Therapy About? Couple Therapy is an approach to couple therapy grounded in the belief that a Christian’s faith in God leads to hope and that this combination of faith and hope can lead to loving relationships. The book is written for professional counselors, pastors, and lay counselors, but the authors also note that married couples may benefit from the principles and interventions c...

unclean Meditations on Purity,  Hospitality, and Mortality  By Richard Beck Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton My connection to Unclean By the time I found the book Unclean, I had spent the better part of two years writing a book about moral psychology and Christianity ( A House Divided ). It just so happened that philosopher, Doug Olena who co-leads a group I attend, chose Unclean for our discussions and as is usual in our group, Doug asked for volunteers. I ended up with a couple of chapters but I quickly read the entire book and found a lot of overlap with the literature I had been reading on disgust psychology—that’s a good thing because it shows Beck was in touch with the research supporting his thesis. The hook “Imagine spitting into a Dixie cup. After doing so, how would you feel if you were asked to drink the contents of the cup? (p.1)” Beck opens with this classic example of disgust on page 1. It comes from experiments by “...