false 28 238 221 true 5629290 read 7 true 896525 currently-reading 10 true 896524 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78207750 to: Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Hellenistic Culture and Society) by Frank L. Holt
Why did Alexander the Great invade Afghanistan? He was leading a coalition of slightly-less-than-willing Greek states on a campaign of revenge against the King of Persia. Alexander's goal was nothing less than "regime change" (11), with himself as the leader of the new regime. "Alexander announced... [that:] an aggressive preemptive policy would be put into play throughout the Middle East. Alexander made it clear that Persia's King Darius III must disarm and surrender or risk a fight to the finish. Under no circumstances could the alleged tyrant keep his throne." (12)
Having defeated Darius (who was killed by his lieutenants), the remaining leadership of the Persian Empire fled into the region that is now Afghanistan, where "Alexander denounced these men as lawless savages, the enemies of civilization. In what he called a new and dangerous world, Alexander warned his followers that these resourceful criminals would continue to exploit differences of religion, language, and culture to rouse attacks against innocent victims. They must be confronted with overwhelming military force, and stopped; their leaders must answer -dead or alive- for their crimes. Not to act was to jeopardize the safety of Greece itself. 'This is a noble cause', proclaimed Alexander to his armed forces, 'and you will always be honored for seeing it through to the end.'[Quoted from Quintus Curtius:]" (15)
What was the outcome of Alexander's efforts in Afghanistan? Lots of bloodshed. As soon as he would pacify one tribe, another would revolt against him, and when he moved on to engage that one, the one he had just pacified would rebel. In the end, the only way "peace" was created (albeit temporarily) was by 1) the establishment of permanent Greek cities full of veteran soldiers throughout the region, including "Alexandria on the Oxus" on the Amu Darya river (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Khanoum) and "Alexandria-the-Farthest" on the Syr Darya river (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_...). At the same time, 2) Alexander conscripted large numbers of the young men of the region (and killed lots of others) into his own army and took them with him when he moved on to invade India, attempted to remove the military force while holding hostages to ensure the locals' good behavior. Finally, 3) Alexander married Roxanne, the daughter of a powerful Afghan ("Bactrian") chieftan in what may have been an attempt to solidify the loyalty of at least part of the population of the region.

So what are the lessons from this?
First, Americans should read this book (particularly our policy makers, military minds, and lobbyists) in conjunction with The Man Who Would Be King The First American in Afghanistan, which is at least a glimmer of hope that we might not be totally inept in the region.
Second, assuming that we're not really willing to plant cities of millions of bellicose Americans throughout Afghanistan and deport millions of Afghans and scatter them across the US, all while marrying Obama to the daughter of a warlord (druglord? those are the new warlords in Afghanistan, right?), we need to seriously rethink our strategy. What should our new strategy be? I have no idea... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78102962 to: The Pursuit of God (Paperback) by A.W. Tozer
Tozer's always a delight to read. The "Protestant mystic" is challenging and cuts right to the heart of issues. For example:

"[Pride is a burden.:] The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace?" (74) ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76877183 to: By the Waters of Babylon: An Introduction to the History and Theology of the Exile (Unknown Binding) by James D. Newsome
An interesting read by a scholar from the mid-20th century in the old liberal tradition (in the "JEDP" school of Old Testament criticism). Despite buying into basically all of the historical-critical arguments, Newsome takes the best possible interpretation and makes it come to life. Worth reading, but only after being familiar with other commentaries as well. It would be useful to have something like this from a more traditional Christian scholar... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74447568 to: Lisey's Story (Audio CD) by Stephen King
Not one of King's best, but it's still a King novel, and hence very good. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76062835 to: The Campaigns of Alexander (Penguin Classics) by Arrian
Ancient history is generally just hard to read. Two thousand years, a foreign langauge, and tranlsators who don't have a sufficient command of English make reading primary sources a challenge at the best of times.
This book, however, is a stunningly great read. Arrian, de Selincourt(the translator) and Hamilton (the editor) bring Alexander to life in a way that is readable and enjoyable. Of course, like all ancient documents, it should be read slowly and not be put off to the last minute, but it's still an amazing read.

A few great quotes from the work:
-"It is more disgraceful for a king to tell lies than anyone else." (41)
-"In these circumstances they did what most of us do, and, being ignorant of the truth, persuaded themselves into believing what they wished to believe." (55)
-"There has never been another man in all the world, of Greek or any other blood, who by his own hand succeeded in so many brilliant enterprises [than Alexander:]." (68)
-"Flattering courtiers... always are, and always will be, the bane of kings." (110)
-"None of these things [that Alexander achieved:], I say, can make a man happy, unless he can win one more victory in addition to those the world thinks so great- the victory over himself." (213)
-"Anger and drunkeness [are:] two vices to neither of which a self-respecting man should ever yield." (216)
-"Even enemies are not indifferent to honorable deeds." (236)
-"One should not inquire too closely where ancient legends about the gods are concerned; many things which reason rejects acquire some color of probability once you bring a god into the story." (254)
-"For a man who is a man, work, in my belief, if it is directed to noble ends, has no object beyond itself." (293)
-"Do not try to lead men who are unwilling to follow you; if their heart is not in it, you will never find the old spirit or the old courage." (297)
-"If there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop." (297)
-"Luck, remember, is an unpredictable thing, and against what it may bring no man has any defence." (297)
-"Who knows? Perhaps it was better for [Alexander:] to make his end while his fame was unimpaired and the world most grieved for his loss, and before he was overtaken by the ill fortune which, at one time or another, is the lot of all men." (377)
-"Most people, if they know they have done wrong, foolishly suppose they can conceal their error by defending it, and finding a justification for it; but in my belief there is only one medicine for an evil deed, and that is for the guilty man to admit his guilt and show that he is sorry for it. Such an admission will make the consequences easier for the victim to bear, adn the guilty man himself, by plainly showing his distress at former transgressions, will find good grounds of hope for avoiding similar transgressions in the future." (397) ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77667711 to: Heretics for Armchair Theologians (Paperback) by Justo L. Gonzalez
One of the best in the "Armchair Theologians" series (so far, anyway). The Gonzalezs make difficult ideas simple, without being trite (like some of the other books of the series do). They also deal appropriately when drawing connections between ancient heresies and modern religious movements, leaving the reader to draw our own conclusions about which fit where (usually). ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77426063 to: Present Concerns (Paperback) by C.S. Lewis
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74219000 to: To Be Near Unto God (Paperback) by Abraham Kuyper
A bit too long to read straight through (almost 700 pages), but good to use as a devotional.

A few quotes from the book:
-"Nearness unto God here on earth yields its sweetest blessedness when it is cultivated in the face of sin and theworld, as an oasis in the wilderness of life." (24)
-"To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life, means: every morning, noon, and night to be so clearly conscious of our fellowship with the Living God, that our thoughts go out to Him, that we hear the sound of His voice in our soul, that we are aware of His sacred presence round about us, that we experience His operations upon our heart and conscience, and shun everything we would not dare to do in His immediate presence." (41)
-"The whole Christian faith, the entire Christian confession rests upon the clear conviction, that God has not laid it upon you to lose Him in endless abstractions, but, on the contrary, He would come to you ever more closely in human form and in human language, in order through your human heart to make warm, rich fellowship possible with Himself." (45)
-"Every creature is the product of a thought of God; hence all created things can serve as emblems of the Divine." (100)
-"Lost is every day in which in the stir of the air the voice of your God truly passes by you, but does not affect and awaken you. And also blessed is each day of your existence in which in the gentle stir of the air God makes His approach to your soul, and that approach bears fruition with such intimacy of fellowship that with fresh draughts you may ennoy again the eternal love of your God." (112)
-"Here is love, the yearning to possess again what was lost." (133)
-[Talking about Jesus saying 'he that hath seen me hath seen the Father':] "Whoever spoke like this, you would at once endeavor to render harmless by putting him away among the insane, except you yourself worshiped and adored God in Him." (162)
-"The doing of God's will covers the whole of our life, our ordinary as well as our extraordinary life, and te knowledge of God in the ordinary life is far finer, far more intricate, far more difficult than in those extraordinary things." (190)
-"To love God is to take away everything that makes separation between us an Him and thus come to an existence in which we live for God alone." (226) ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75554106 to: The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry (Paperback) by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry is a fascinating character, who always has interesting things to say. If nothing else, Berry is useful in challenging us to reconsider our presuppositions. We're just not used to being told that industry and production (as we do them now) are inherently bad, and ought to be done away with in favor of the quiet of a small, local community. Berry is exceptionally good at expressing and expanding on things most Americans (I can't speak for other nationalities) already believe: the life of a small farmer is more virtuous than the life of an urbanite. There's something about working in the land that naturally develops good character. Having grown up on a small farm and moved to a large city, I know from experience that this is rubbing (a bad person on a farm is still a bad person), but the fact that everyone believes it has to be taken into account.
From what I can tell, the strengths of Berry's agrarianism are as follows:
-His criticisms of the modern world are usually right on. We need to scrutinize the worldview that tells us the ideal lifestyle is a supermarket with a million options but which does not bring either happiness or virtue.
-He reminds us that we are to be shepherds and caretakers of creation, not exploiters who use the world as a place to pursue limitless quantity.
-Encourages us to live first and foremost as members of a local community. We cannot "love thy neighbor" when we don't even know our neighbor.
-Stresses the importance of understanding and appreciating the natural world, especially remembering our place in it in terms of humility and setting limits on our own base desires.

The major weakness of Berry's agrarianism (and why I'm not an agrarian, besides the brutal nature of rural life) is that he seems to have a wrong understanding of sin. Either he believes that sin is something which impacts people in the cities more than in the country, or he believes that the agrarian lifestyle is sufficient to counteract or destroy sin. Both beliefs are false, even if commonly held.

This book only gets four stars basically because it's not an easy read. It is worthwhile to plod through, but Berry's essays aren't things you can sit down and breeze over. Of course difficult ideas sometimes require difficult language, but "we should live the agrarian lifestyle" isn't a difficult idea, and I know from skimming some of his fiction that he's capable of more. ]]>