Religion-Philosophy – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics & the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear

By Scott J. Pearson | December 16, 2024December 16, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

American religion has bifurcated along ideological lines in recent decades. Some voices trumpet a moralistic approach while others trumpet a compassion-driven approach. Some of the early splitting can be observed in the story of how the church treated those afflicted by AIDS in the 1980s. Moralistic voices today still seem to hold the loudest places in the Christian church, but compassionate approaches can be seen everywhere. Journalist Michael O’Loughlin records some of those stories before…

Religion-Philosophy Society

Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Freedom by James M. Lawson, Jr.

By Scott J. Pearson | December 11, 2024December 11, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

In hindsight, concepts about nonviolence indeed have proven the most revolutionary ideas from the twentieth century. The century itself was marred by mass violence – two World Wars, communist revolutions, the invention of the atomic bomb, and a Cold War threatening imminent destruction. Yet nonviolence exploited its foothold. Mahatma Ghandi used nonviolence to lead India to independence from the British Empire. Polish protestors used nonviolence to usher in the fall of communism. And civil-rights protestors…

Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

By Scott J. Pearson | October 27, 2024October 27, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Because of its followers, Christianity has gotten a bad wrap. Perhaps that’s just in recent years, but I know enough to suspect that it’s always been so. To put people in the pews, many pastors have appealed to minor parts of the Bible while omitting parts that would make its followers uncomfortable. Like the fact that Jesus hung out with prostitutes. Or that God’s loving forgiveness of humanity is absolute. Or that the first Christian…

Religion-Philosophy

The Prophetic Imagination: 40th Anniversary Edition

By Scott J. Pearson | September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The Hebrew religion has an interesting role of a “prophet” (navi). Along with the Law and the Writings, it serves as one of the big three sections of the Hebrew Bible. Only a couple of other religions, usually Canaanite, have a similar personality type of ecstatic truth-tellers. Presbyterian theologian Walter Brueggemann, borrowing from Jewish rabbi Abraham Heschel, describes the essential prophetic feature as an imagination of an alternative reality. Prophets apply that imagination against a…

Biography-Memoir Leadership Religion-Philosophy

Reading Through Rachel Held Evans’ Last Book Published in Her Lifetime

By Scott J. Pearson | June 3, 2024September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Setting: The 1925 Scopes Trial in East Tennessee Ninety-nine years ago in 1925, the famous Scopes trial occurred in Dayton, Tennessee, in the state’s eastern part, halfway between Chattanooga and Knoxville. The state legislature had recently made it illegal to teach human evolution in public schools. The rediscovery of Gregor Mendel’s genetic mechanism for evolution had brought these concepts to the front of the American mind. At the ACLU’s encouragement, one teacher John Scopes deliberately…

History Religion-Philosophy Society

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

By Scott J. Pearson | April 6, 2024April 6, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Banal means lacking in originality or boring. It is a fitting description of the Nazis’ imaginations behind the Holocaust. This crime against humanity was so hideous that international laws were created to try those culpable. Adolf Eichmann was among the planners of the “Final Solution” and fled to Argentina. The new state of Israel had to kidnap him in order to bring him to justice in Israeli courts. He never denied the charges against him…

Religion-Philosophy Science

Einstein & the Poet: In Search of the Cosmic Man

By Scott J. Pearson | April 6, 2024April 6, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Albert Einstein is one of my favorite characters in history. I fell in love with his work while a graduate student in Princeton. His ethos still pervades the town. Of course, he upended Newtonian physics with his theory of relativity. He also contributed notably to other subfields of physics. As a Jew, he stood as a counterpoint to Nazi Germany’s false contention that as non-Aryans, Jews have not contributed to modern civilization after the Bible.…

Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith & Being Black in America

By Scott J. Pearson | February 25, 2024February 25, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

This book opens with a heavy moment of racial stereotyping of an innocent black male as suspect, even criminal. Then it introduces us to that man’s life story. Hardly nefarious, author Tyler Merritt has overcome numerous challenges to embrace life today. With loads of humor and empathy, he lets readers know what it feels to be him. He is entangled at times with fame, but in the long run, he learns to be authentically himself.…

Fiction-Stories Leadership Religion-Philosophy

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

By Scott J. Pearson | January 25, 2024September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

In the early twentieth century, Harlem was the place to be for black culture. Many had recently moved northward from the South to try out city life. As much as they wanted to reinvent themselves, past culture, built on the Christian Scriptures, remained ever near. In a small Harlem church, a teenage son came to terms with his identity in a relatively short amount of time. This book starts with the beginning of his epiphany,…

Religion-Philosophy

Confessing Our Faith: The Book of Confessions for Church Leaders

By Scott J. Pearson | November 12, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The Presbyterian Church resides in the Reformed Protestant tradition of theology and faith. Contrary to the belief of some churches that split from it, this tradition is a living, broad tradition that continues to reform itself. That is, it recognizes that it continues to develop historically as new challenges confront the church – and humanity. It also is an open faith that does not claim a monopoly on the truth. Its historic creeds are published…