Year End Book Reviews 2024

This year I met my goal of reading 60 books, just in time! Sometimes people ask me for top recommendations, so I've decided to organize short reviews for different categories.

Best Re-read

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, audiobook (1843; 2012)

This classic story of transformation from a heart of granite to a heart of kindness happens through showing Ebenezer Scrooge scenes from his past, present and future. Reflection about the trajectory of his life leads him to insight and renewed gratitude. The audiobook version read by Ralph Cosham brings the reader into the authentic world of the story.

Best Children's Book

Fred & Marjorie: A Doctor, A Dog and the Discovery of Insulin by Deborah Kerbel and illustrated by Angela Poon (2021)

This graphic novel for children tells about the relationship between Dr. Frederick Banting and the dog that was instrumental in the discovery of life saving treatment for those with diabetes. I am partial to the story of Frederick Banting partly because my hometown in Ontario, Canada was his birthplace and partly because of his perseverance on behalf of children and adults languishing due to an incurable condition. Pages at the back contain biographical details, photos, and a discussion of the use of animals in research.

Best Theology Book

Telling Stories in the Dark: Finding healing and hope in sharing our sadness, grief, trauma and pain by Jeff Munroe (2024).

The format of this book is unlike any I've previously read. Its uniqueness is in the story telling followed by caring analysis by a trained counselor or empathic soul. The narration is intimate because the author personally knows the people whose stories he relates. A weighty book that provides validation for the reader's own losses as well as assurance that pain can indeed be stewarded.

Best Novel

Children of My Heart by Gabrielle Roy (1977)

This novel is a series of vignettes told by a teacher at rural schools on the Canadian prairies during the days of the Great Depression. In this book, immigrants and their children are presented with dignity and respect. Furthermore, the author shows her vulnerability by including mistakes she made in her relationships with students and their parents.

Best "Window Book"

Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and his Green Book by Keila V. Dawson and illustrated by Alleanna Harris (2021)

First, I should explain what I mean by a "window book." Educator Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop used this expression to talk about a book that gives the reader insight into a world outside of the reader's personal experience. This often means that the book will include characters from a nationality or ethnicity different than that of the reader.

This is an informative and colorful book for children and older readers, too. It tells about a clever mailman who used his connections to make travel safer for African American families. His Green Book was a directory of businesses and hotels that would welcome Black guests during the era of segregation. A fun feature is the road-shaped timeline at the back of the book.

Not a Waste: The Short Life of Joseph Merrick

 In 2014-2015, I wrote a series of nine posts about ten individuals who had short life spans but who ought to be remembered for more than the fact that they died young. Each life has a purpose, and with that, I will bring another person to our remembrance. Joseph Carey Merrick lived 27 years, from 1862 to 1890, in Europe.

We have much to learn from the life of Joseph Merrick, though you may never have heard his name. He is better known for an epithet that compared him to an animal, but I will not mention it in this short biography [1]. Joseph had a physical disability that manifested during his days as a five year old boy; it changed the appearance of his skin and affected the structure of his bones, breathing and speech. After his mother died, none of his relatives was invested in his well being. As a result, Joseph ended up in a workhouse. Later, people exploited him and placed him on exhibit at carnivals in Europe. He was mistreated by his handlers to the point that Joseph lost self-esteem and his health became severely compromised. He thought this degraded life was all he could hope for.

According to the records left by Dr. Frederick Treves, Joseph began to receive treatment at the London Hospital in 1886. At this time, by talking with Joseph, the doctor discovered that he could speak and read. Furthermore, he could recite Psalm 23 from memory, having read it from the Book of Common Prayer. He was polite and loved to learn. A remarkable part of Joseph's story is that his mother (who gave him the middle name Carey after the pioneering missionary to India named William Carey) gave him a foundation of faith and taught him to love Jesus. Joseph continued to practice his faith once he was out of the clutches of hawkers.

After years of misery experienced by Joseph due to the cruelty of humans, some people of goodwill ensured that his remaining years would be comfortable. They also made it possible for Joseph to have a safe apartment within the hospital, to experience social interactions and outings, and to have opportunities for craftsmanship (basket weaving and making paper models of buildings). 

Joseph Merrick was created in the image of God, but those who only looked on the outward appearence made him out to be a monster. The Victorian era is associated with church going and traditional beliefs, but examples of the dehumanization of people who did not fit the categories of "normal" span the British Empire. Such "others" were given degrading names and were treated as subhuman. 

Learning of the story of Joseph Merrick has led to my own soul searching. I leave you with this question: How do we (people who say we love Jesus) still dehumanize certain individuals and groups of people today because we don't take the time to talk to them or understand them? 

[1] Through a simple internet search, you can find the name of a film about Joseph Merrick's experiences and the book by Frederick Treves, on which it was based.

Biography Poem for C.S. Lewis

In 1898 in Northern Ireland he was born,

He had an older brother, Warren.

Together they made imaginary lands

At their country house with few demands.

Sadly, his mom died when he was just ten,

In those days kids weren’t raised by men.

Off to boarding school he was sent,

Only summers at home were spent.

Reading and study he loved to do;

He became a professor of philosophy and English too.

He did not believe in God for years

Until he turned to him with tears.

He knew the Bible all was true

And began speaking about his faith so new.

On the radio and in books he told

That Jesus was worth far more than gold.

Those childhood stories came back to mind

In two different fantasy series he designed.

The one best known of Narnia tells

Where the lion Aslan sometimes dwells.

C.S. Lewis preferred to be called Jack.

Most of his friends were taken aback

When he married a woman named Joy

Who already had more than one little boy.

When Joy got cancer and died

C.S. Lewis truly cried.

He cared for sons Douglas and Dave

Until he joined her in the grave.

C.S. Lewis died at age sixty-five.

The “C” in his name stands for “Clive.”

His fantasy world begun in a wardrobe,

Now reaches all over the globe.

Reading Strategies and my books of 2018

   Each of the 85 books I read last year had an effect on me. As I teach my students, "Reading is thinking."  Every book requires of its readers a level of engagement. Being touched by the books we read proves that we have taken them seriously and that we are not just passive recipients of knowledge being poured into our brains.
   There are specific reading strategies that help us to get the most out of the books we read. As I go through each strategy, I will highlight a book or two I read in the past year which especially required this strategy of me.

Visualization

When reading, it is helpful to picture in one's mind the action that is taking place.  As the author

describes people and place, they come to life in our imaginations. Two books I read last year that became vivid in my mind were The Trumpet of the Swan by E B White and Stolen Child Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. The first book highlights Sam Beaver, a boy who comes to a remote part of Canada and who becomes bound up with a family of swans. The wilderness setting was a bit similar to a green space near my suburban home. When Louis the swan leaves his family to find his voice, the sights and sounds are told in lovely detail. Stolen Child is set at the same time period that my father and his siblings came to Canada as immigrants. Some of the scenes of the country school and the simple and practical home built by new settlers I imagined to take place on and around the property of my dear aunt and uncle who lived on a farm in the Niagara Peninsula.

Prediction

As we read fiction books, we use our own background to try to predict what a character will do next or what events might follow. By making conscious or unconscious predictions, we invest in the story and care more about the outcome. The book from 2018 that I found myself making predictions for was My Secret Sister by Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith. This lengthy biography of two sisters separated early in life and raised in different households had alternating narrators. As narrators switched, I found myself trying to figure out how the story would continue.  So many things in the story were difficult to predict, such as one family moving to South Africa for a period of time, and the surprising revelations about other siblings who had been raised by others and remained unacknowledged by their birth mother.

Connections

Every story we hear or read connects to our lives in some way because there are common experiences in being human.  Stories can also connect to other stories we've heard or to world events we are aware of. The books that led to many connections for me in 2018 were Meet Viola Desmond by Elizabeth MacLeod and The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson. Both are non-fiction books.  The first one is a picture book that tells the story of African-Canadian, Viola Desmond. In 2018, this woman's image was revealed on the Canadian $10 bill. Learning about her story enabled me to connect it to the story of American civil rights activist, Rosa Parks.  Both women did not give up their seats in order to assert their human rights, and both were punished at the time.  However, in time, they have both come to be admired and exonerated. The book The Soul of Shame provided me with connections because all humans deal with guilt and shame. Hearing the author speak at two different conferences helped me make deeper connections between what he said in his book and my own life experiences.

Questions & Evaluation

As we read, we can ask question in our minds. What is the author's purpose? Do I agree with what this character has chosen to do? What would I do in this person's place? What will I do with what I have learned? Is this story true to life? The book I read in 2018 that led to the most questions was Good to Great by Jim Collins. On the surface this is a business book, but the principles it holds up apply to all kinds of organizations. I found myself asking how I could apply the things I was learning to myself as a leader, to various aspects of the organizations I am part of. I even did a bonus group assignment to explore how school leaders can invite more timely feedback from parents, teachers and the community to address problems early.

Clarifying

Finally, clarifying is a reading strategy that focuses on understanding words and sentences. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde required this of me the most of all the books I read in 2018.  Wilde wrote this work in 1890; its structure and vocabulary reflect a highly educated and literary level. My son studied this novel in a university English class and encouraged me to take it up. As much as I encourage my students to read books that stretch their reading ability and comprehension, I need to practice this myself.

Models of Radical Hospitality

   In the West, Hospitality has become an industry rather than a a trait of home owners.  Even though North American homes have many rooms, they are rarely made available to someone from outside. The recent trend of airbnb, by which people can share space in their homes for a fee, may be more of a manifestation of disruptive capitalism than hospitality.
   To find models of radical hospitality, opening your home to someone lacking shelter in a way that does not seek kickbacks, we must go back.  In the contexts that I share, radical hospitality was not offered by scattered individuals, but it was a community ethic, a way of life.

Abraham and three guests

   This story is told in the Hebrew Bible, Genesis chapter 18.  Three guests come to Abraham, a nomad living apart from any settlement.  The location given refers to the landmark of "great trees of Mamre."  If you read this narrative carefully, you will notice that the word "hurried" is used to describe Abraham's activity in greeting them, selecting a choice calf for dinner and instructing others to prepare meat and bread for the guests.  Whatever this elderly man had on his agenda that day was displaced by the visitors who came to him.  Caring for them with the best of what he had to offer preceded small talk; Abraham stood nearby while they ate and waited politely for them to finish before finding out the purpose of their visit.

   The welcome and hospitality he showed to these visitors was typical of the Ancient Near East. Travelers relied on residents to assist them with basics of food, water and shelter for survival;  it was understood that everyone will sometimes be in a position to receive as well as to give.  This was reciprocity extended to a wide community, paid forward because it was the right thing to do.

John Calvin's Geneva 

   At a hymn festival I attended this week in honour of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, various historical anecdotes were shared between songs.  One item mentioned that I found striking was that John Calvin fostered radical hospitality in the city of Geneva, Switzerland. For those unaware of details of Calvin's life, he was forced to flee his native France and found refuge in Geneva.  It was his adopted home, but as he found himself a religious and civic leader there, he encouraged the care and reception of refugees from all over Europe.  When single and also when married he allowed people to board in his home.  When members of his congregation were expanding their homes (often by adding another story on top of the house), it is said that Calvin encouraged them to include a bit more room for refugees to be housed.  Geneva in the 1500's was truly a haven to those displaced by religious persecution because its citizens en masse practiced radical hospitality.

Netherlands and Denmark during World War II

   Radical hospitality was apparently in the DNA of many Christian people in the Netherlands and Denmark who shielded Jewish people in their homes to protect them from enemies in the Third Reich. The acts of Corrie Ten Boom and her family, popularized by the book and film The Hiding Place, were not exceptional in their minds.  Great networks existed of those willing to risk their lives to provide hospitality to the oppressed.  In Denmark, likewise, a resistance movement enabled hundreds of Jewish people to be hidden and then successfully smuggled in fishing boats to neutral Sweden until the war ended [1].  The crisis of the time required courageous hospitality, and many in these nations rose to this challenge.

Today

   There are some people who still practice radical hospitality in our day.  My parents come immediately to mind.  Even though they have now downsized to a bungalow, they still have two rooms for guests. Since their home is just steps away from a large high school, they were approached by parents of a young man wondering if their shy 9th grader could eat lunch at their home once a week for the year. Those weekly visits filled a need for the boy and eased his transition to secondary school.
   A man in my city who has been an advocate for the poor and giving them tools to better their lives was recently featured in the newspaper for suggesting "tiny houses" might be a solution to homelessness.  One of the outreaches he oversees is a lunch cafe in which at risk individuals are trained to prepare and serve food, where the tasty vegetarian fare is affordable even to street people and where there is ample space for people to socialize, read or play a piano.  This is a way to offer radical hospitality. Learn more about it at https://www.theworkingcentre.org/
   During the refugee crisis (which continues even when the news media have moved on to other stories), Pope Francis urged every Catholic parish in Europe to host a family of four as a realistic solution.  If they did this, the needs of refugees would be well provided for.  That his suggestion (and his own example of receiving displaced persons at the Vatican) was considered remarkable, shows that believers have room to grow in this area.
   May these examples inspire you to do what you can to show that you care more for others than for your own comforts. After all, that's what the Gospel's radical message entails.
 

[1] A fictionalized account of this Danish resistance can be found in Lois Lowry's novel Number the Stars (1989).

The "Imagine" Reality Check: Orphan Care

After having taken a short break, I am resuming this series.  Singer-songwriter John Lennon wrote a song decades ago asking people to imagine a world with no religion as though it would automatically lead to peace and harmony among people.  Through this series I have been exploring the contributions of Christianity to Western culture, some of which have become such "givens" that many do not realize that they came to us thanks to people properly living out their religion.

Freerange stock photo

   It may be surprising to most people that the word “religion” is hardly ever used in the Christian Bible.  One place it is used is in the highly practical letter of James.  Here we find these words:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)

In this post, I will focus on the way Christians from the beginning were people who looked after orphans in their distress.

   Jesus Christ and his first followers lived in the context of the Roman Empire.  However, they lived within a Jewish enclave of that empire, where many laws, traditions and ways of living continued to be practiced even if they were not universally shared.  When the first followers were dispersed throughout various pockets of the Roman Empire, they may have found a Jewish synagogue or a small worshipping community of Jews by a river side (see Acts 16:13), but Greco-Roman patterns and ethics dominated all of society.

   Greco-Roman attitudes regarding the value and status of women, children and slaves affected their everyday interactions with each other and colored their sense of justice as well.  Because infants and children were not valued, it was common for them to be abandoned at birth if the parents did not want to raise them.  Such children either died of cold or hunger or were seized by slave traders who would exploit them. Christians began to rescue and embrace these infants, raising them with “the aid of the community fund.” [1] 

   Apostolic Constitutions (eight treatises dated from 375 to 380 (Book IV) Section 1. On Helping the Poor refer to the practice within the church for members to adopt and raise any Christian child whose parents had lost their lives whether by martyrdom or natural causes.  Orphanages as an institution began to be opened in the East at the same time as St. Basil was founding hospitals in the early fourth century. 

   A prominent Christian who cared for children in orphanages was George Muller, a German-born missionary who came to London to evangelize Jews.  Eventually he settled in Bristol at a time when a cholera epidemic was decimating the population.  So many children were left without parents that Muller took action and started Orphan Homes.  Eventually there were five of them, without any fundraising or asking for money.  Muller strongly believed that the Lord would provide financially without his approaching any individuals or groups. In all over 10,000 children were cared for in Muller’s homes. [2]

   Christian missions overseas have also often focused on the need to provide care for vulnerable orphans.  This has taken various forms, including adoption (for example, the cases of missionaries Amy Carmichael and Gladys Aylward in India and China, respectively), establishing orphanages, and more recently by organizing and supporting foster care within the child’s own community (such as is done by Visionledd in African nations ravaged by AIDS). 

   As I was researching orphan care, one of the things that popped up in my browser search was a news story about “the first atheist orphanage.”  A group of humanists announced in the February 2015 article that they would open the first atheist orphanage and would rely on crowd funding.  I suppose this really is newsworthy because it admits that faith has motivated the vast majority of homes for orphans.  Furthermore, it shows that through all the years of human history it has taken thousands of years before someone of no religion felt inclined to launch such an initiative.

[1] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ (1944), p. 598; also E. Gibbon, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (1900), p. 480.

[2] See www.Muller.org

[3] See the full article at http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-worlds-first-atheist-orphanage-just-launched-a-crowdfunding-campaign

The "Imagine" Reality Check: Health Care Infrastructure, Part 4: Hospice

   The hospice, a specialized home for those with a terminal illness and their families, is a relatively new part of Western health care infrastructure.  The first hospice was established in 1967 in London, England, but it built itself upon the foundations outlined in my last three posts. 

   Without hospitals, the idea of a hospice as a specialized institution would not have arisen.  The founder of the first hospice and the hospice movement itself, Dame Cicely Saunders, began her medical training during World War II.  She trained to become a Red Cross war nurse at, notably, the Nightingale Training School!  She subsequently added to her education, becoming a medical doctor in 1957.

   Ms. Saunders, according to the Encyclopedia of world biography, was “[a] devout Christian.” When planning the concept of a hospice, she “incorporated opportunities for spiritual reflection into her plan, including a chapel, staff theologians, and prayer time. Yet she remained adamant that religion not be forced on anyone” [1].  She believed that the atmosphere of well-lit and home-like rooms would bring comfort to patients and their families.  More consistent pain control and other palliative treatments would not try to artificially extend life but make the end more bearable.  Due in part to Saunders’ research, palliative care has become a specialized area of medicine.

   Hospice care, according to Saunders’ model is diametrically opposed to physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia since her beliefs were based on the sanctity of human life and the sovereignty of God over one’s lifespan.  It is worth noting that despite its faith-filled beginnings, not all hospice care today continues in that life-affirming tradition [2]. 

[1] Encyclopedia of World Biography | 2005  : Saunders, Cicely.

[2] American hospice pioneer Florence Wald was open to euthanasia, and that has trickled down to some US hospices, according to Kelleigh Nelson’s March 6, 2013 article “Killing us Softly” found at freedomoutpost.com 

The Imagine Reality Check: Health Care Infrastructure, Part 3: The International Red Cross

   When a disaster happens around the world, one of the first humanitarian groups to respond is the Red Cross (or Red Crescent).  We expect that this not-for-profit group of nurses, doctors and behind-the-scenes logistics workers will reach out to those caught in war, flooding, famine and other calamities.  As of 2015, there are 189 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, meaning that 189 countries not only value but actively engage with this movement [1]

   Where did the vision come from to start such an organization?  It was born out of the strong Christian faith and concern for humanity of Swiss merchant Jean Henri Dunant.  As he travelled on an official errand, he happened to witness the cruel and needless deaths on a battlefield in Solferino, Italy in 1859.  At the time, he took action to beg with the army leaders to release any captured medical personnel to help save the wounded and tried to mobilize volunteers in neighboring towns to assist as well.  The experience led him to write a memoir and to work with others in establishing an organization that would be neutral and non-discriminatory in meeting human needs.  Although it began in Switzerland, the merit of the idea caught on in many countries of Europe and North America, and beyond.

   The Red Cross organization was founded in 1863, but Dunant did not remain at the helm for various reasons; his business interests went bankrupt, and thus he lost social standing among the other philanthropists who took up his mantle.  It was not until nearly forty years later when Dunant was honored and recognized with the very first Nobel Peace Prize. These words of congratulation were issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva:

“There is no man who more deserves this honour, for it was you, forty years ago, who set on foot the international organization for the relief of the wounded on the battlefield. Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of the nineteenth century, would probably never have been undertaken.” [2]

[1]  According to the website of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

[2] Quoted in the article found at http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Jean_Henri_Dunant.aspx

The "Imagine" Reality Check: Health Care Infrastructure, Part 2: Nursing

   The origin of nursing care as we know it began in the early days of Christianity, where males and females offered comfort and practical help to those who were ill.  It modelled itself after the practical care and love Jesus showed to the sick during his ministry.  The progress of this calling, however, was anything but linear.

   Within the monasteries and early hospitals, nurses had an important role.  As things became more formalized with specific “orders” (Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony 1095, Knights Hospitaller 1099 and Franciscans in the 13^th century), monks and nuns were trained to the degree that medical knowledge was available.  They were respected for the care they gave to anyone who needed it, free of charge.  Becoming a nun who served the sick was considered an honorable vocation.

Freerange Stock photo

   One of the unfortunate consequences of the Protestant Reformation was that in nations where Roman Catholicism was displaced or outlawed, health care suffered and nurses became devalued.  In Protestant Germany it took 200 years before a revival of nursing took place through the movement of deaconesses.  This movement was based upon a number of models: the deaconess Phoebe mentioned only once in the New Testament book of Romans, the deaconess movement in the Netherlands, the work of the Sisters of Charity affiliated with St. Vincent de Paul and the diaconal movement of Johann Hinrich Wichern within the Lutheran community.  The Deaconess Community established training schools that extended to neighboring countries as well as particular districts within Pennsylvania, Maryland and Nebraska. [1]

   Up until this point in much of Protestant Europe, the position of a nurse was considered one of the lowest possible for any woman.  The pay was meager, and many nurses supplemented their income by acting as prostitutes.  Since the importance of hygiene was not known or recognized, nurses often caught the diseases of those they were treating [2].

   One person whose mission it was to change the face of nursing was a British citizen named Florence Nightingale.  Her family did not support her desire to care for the sick because of the reputation of nurses, but finally in her early 30’s she succeeded in going to Kaiserwerth, Germany to be taught by the Deaconesses.  Using this training and her uncommon insights into effective, compassionate care for the sick, Nightingale became the superintendent of a new London hospital.  Within seven months, she had her sights on becoming Superintendent of Nurses so that systemic changes could be made that centered on training good nurses. In another seven months she was dispatched with a team of 38 nurses to assist the army hospital stationed along the Black Sea in modern-day Turkey.  At this time the Crimean War was taking place, and Nightingale worked tirelessly to minister to the wounded soldiers; she created clean living quarters and the means to provide healthy food so that victims would be able to recover.

   Florence Nightingale was motivated by a sense of calling by God to a life of service, a calling she received when she was just 16 years old [3].  As her life unfolded, the three years between August 1853 and August 1856 proved to be pivotal to the care of the sick starting in Britain and the British military but spreading ever outward to continental Europe and as far away as India.  Nightingale wrote the textbook Notes on Nursing (based largely on exhaustive notes and statistics she had kept while on duty) that was used in her nursing schools.  Even when she was later confined to a small room because of her own health concerns, Florence Nightingale was always active by writing letters, reports, pamphlets and books to improve health care.

   Something essential to a good nurse, according to Nightingale, was good moral character.  Thus, she encouraged nursing students to enjoy poetry and music and to attend church [4]. She saw in the task of nursing a noble vocation, and that vision has led to its present status as a respected profession for both women and men.

[1] For further information, see http://deaconesscommunity.org/our-history/  

[2] Gena K. Gorrell.  Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale.  Toronto: Tundra Books (2000), p. 34.

[3] Gorrell, p. 21.

[4] Gorrell, p. 131.

The "Imagine" Reality Check: Health Care Infrastructure Part 1, Hospitals

 Singer/songwriter John Lennon wanted people to "imagine there's no heaven...no religion too." Applying that vision specifically to what the world would be like without the Christian religion, I will examine what it would mean for health care in the West

   I will not claim that Christianity can take credit for all the medical knowledge and advancements that exist in the world.  China, the Indian subcontinent, Egypt and Greece from ancient times held a body of medical knowledge that developed independently of that in Medieval Europe.  One example of their crossing paths occurred when British doctor, Edward Jenner, used the preventative technique of variolation (applying a small amount of a small pox pustule to a skin scratch of a healthy person) common in Chinese medicine.  Eventually, that practice led to the introduction of vaccines for smallpox, followed by other types of vaccines according to the same rationale [1].

   Nevertheless, one of the things we take for granted in our medical system, the hospital, is a direct legacy from Christianity.  Having a specialized facility where very ill people can be cared for when they are unable to stay at home is something we expect to find in every decent sized town or city in the West.  How did this come to be?

Freerange Stock photo

   The first public [where care was given free of charge] hospital was established by Christian leader Basil the Great in the fourth century A.D. in what is now Kayseri, Turkey.  The institutions prior to that one could not truly be called hosptials.  For example, ill people were welcomed in temples of the Greek god Asclepius.  However, there is no evidence that trained physicians attended them; instead the hope for the patient came only in proximity to the god of healing.  There is evidence that if a patient was not expected to survive, he would be turned away at such a temple because it would bring impurity to the holy place. [2] The Romans did have hospitals called valetudinarian, but they were intended for soldiers only.  The state and wealthy people funded these institutions that were deemed crucial to the maintenance and expansion of the Empire.
   When Basil constructed the complex of buildings we could call the first hospital, it was known as a “new city.”  According to Robert Louis Wilken, it “included medical facilities for the sick staffed with nurses and physicians, living space for the elderly and infirm, a hostel for travelers, a hospice for lepers who had been driven from the city because of disfigurement, a church and a monastery” as well as kitchens, baths, stables and storehouses for supplies. [3] Basil the Great was building upon an early tradition within Christian monasteries of the East, where medical care for both monks and members of the community was part of their ministry.  This idea spread to some monasteries in medieval Europe as well.
   The first hospitals in France were established by church leaders and were known as Hotel-Dieu (hostel of God); they particularly reached out to the poor and needy.  Admittedly, some basic knowledge of sanitation in hospitals was lacking during the medieval period, but the idea of quarantine during the Black Plague appears to have been derived by clergy in Vienna going back to the societal laws contained in the books of Moses, especially Leviticus.  The isolation of a sick person so that his illness could not spread to the healthy population, given as a directive from God, was thousands of years ahead of the scientific knowledge of the spread of germs. [4]
   Turning to the new world, the first hospital in North America was built in Mexico City in the early 1500’s and named after Jesus of Nazareth.  In Canada, an order of Catholic Sisters established the first Hotel Dieu in Quebec City in 1639.  The first US hospital would appear to have no religious affiliation since Benjamin Franklin is credited with its founding.  But even this is misleading. Benjamin Franklin cannot be separated from the faith in which he was raised.  He believed that faith had to lead to action and service to one’s fellow man. Says biographer John Fea, “Although he [Franklin] never returned to the Calvinism of his childhood, the religion of his parents leavened much of his adult thinking. Franklin believed in a Creator - God who possessed great wisdom, goodness, and power. This God not only created the world, but sustained it.” [5]
   In my very own city, there are three hospitals, two of which have distinct Christian roots.  Freeport Hospital was originally a sanatorium to treat people with tuberculosis, often called consumption, but the person who spearheaded its founding was Rev. Dr. Oberlander.  This pastor was distressed by the deaths of children and adults in the community and gathered physicians to see if better treatment could be put in place for those struggling with this illness [6].  St. Mary’s Hospital, as its name suggests, was birthed as a ministry of the Roman Catholic Church, through the Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamilton, in 1924.
   Since many hospitals doubled as teaching and/or research centres, many of the medical innovations and standards of care that we are accustomed to also rest on the foundation of the institution of the hospital.

Preview: 

Another fundamental aspect of medical care in the West is the nursing profession.  Next time I will outline the links between nursing care and Christian faith in action.

[1] Kate Kelly. The History of Medicine: Early Civilizations (2009), p. 84-85.
[2] Gary Ferngren. Medicine and Religion: A Historical Overview. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, (20140, p. 91-92.
[3] Robert Louis Wilken. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. Yale University Press (2012), p. 159-160.
[4] Leviticus 13-15 can be consulted for more detail.  See also Grant R. Jeffrey, The Signature of God  (1998), pages 145-6
[5] By John Fea. “ Religion and Early Politics: Benjamin Franklin’s Religious Beliefs.” Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine Volume XXXVII, Number 4 - Fall 2011.  Accessible on the web by clicking here.
[6] William V. Uttley. A History of Kitchener, Ontario (1937), p. 404-405.

  

The "Imagine" Reality Check: Universal Education

In North America and Western Europe we consider it normal that each child (male and female) be given an education up to the age of 18 at no cost to the parents, but consider educational opportunities for children on other continents:

India

Education in India (whether by guru or in Islamic madrasas) has traditionally been reserved for boys in the upper castes.  The first group to offer schooling to children of lower castes were Christian missionaries in the early 1800’s.  As of 2010, the Right of Education Act promises to deliver local & universal free education to all children up to the age of 14.  According to an article in the British newspaper the Guardian (May 2013), schools in South Delhi are overcrowded and inadequately staffed.  Culturally, girls are not given the same opportunities to study.  The poor suffer the most because the people of India who are well off opt out of the public education system and pay for private instruction. Provisions for disabled children are minimal. [1]

Honduras

This nation in Central America offers education up to and including 5^th grade, but school uniforms and school supplies are to be paid for by the parents.  When parents are unable to afford these items, children do not attend school.  Often children living in poverty are also kept out of school in order to help at home.  Lack of teacher training and accountability results in lower standards of education. [2]

Zambia

According to UNICEF,

Schools are struggling to meet the needs of Zambian children. At least 1,500 classrooms per year need to be constructed to accommodate all those eligible. Lowered enrollment rates result from this lack of school places and the long distances needed to travel when schools are in rural areas. Quality of teaching, with so few trained teachers within the educational system, is an issue of concern.

Parents are committed to educating their children but the distance to school and poverty levels mean that poor households cannot manage the cost of students’ uniform and supplies, despite the introduction in Zambia of free basic education to 7th grade. [3]

How is it that universal education up to age 18 has been a mainstay in the West?  The Christian influence cannot be overlooked:

• Some of the first schools that did not charge tuition fees to students were Jesuit schools in Europe [4].  The Jesuits are a Roman Catholic order that established a system of school starting around 1545 because they saw education and piety being hand in hand.  Contrary to what one might expect, these schools for boys were not primarily aimed at educating new priests.

• Education for children in England’s working classes was first offered by churches who held Sunday Schools.  These children often worked more than 12 hours per day, six days per week.  They had Sundays off, so enterprising pastor, Robert Raikes [5] saw the opportunity to give these disadvantaged children a chance to become literate and able to function in society.  For about 90 years (1780’s-1870), Sunday schools (which also spread to America and the continent) were more about reading, writing and arithmetic than they were about teaching Bible stories, although the Bible was indeed the reading textbook.  Boys and girls were allowed to attend, and classes were taught by both men and women.  After children had graduated from Sunday School, they had the opportunity to become teachers and leaders as well, providing a form of empowerment. [6]  The state took over in providing daily education to all students, but would it have done so if its success had not been first modeled by Sunday Schools?

• Edgerton Ryerson, the superintendent for Canada West (the early name for Ontario, Canada), was a Methodist pastor and educator.  His vision for universal, compulsory education for children up to the high school level was the blueprint for the School Act of 1871.  Morality was not seen as an “add-on” but would be taught in and through the subject matter.  Ryerson also valued the existing church-based universities as the destination for high school graduates.

Preview

Universities in Western culture are held in high esteem as places of learning and free thought.  Who can we thank for these halls of higher education?

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/mar/11/indian-children-education-opportunities

[2] http://www.blessthechildreninc.org/index.cfm?page=EducationFactsHonduras

[3] http://www.unicef.org/zambia/children_5154.html

[4] Ignatius of Loyola: Founder of the Jesuits  by John Patrick Donnelly (2004), page131

[5] Raikes was not a single-issue Christian leader.  He was also involved in prison reform and hospital care.

[6] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2001/mar30.html

[7] http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/egerton-ryerson/

The "Imagine" Reality Check: Humane Prisons

   Singer/songwriter John Lennon wanted people to "imagine there's no heaven...no religion too." Applying that vision specifically to what the world would be like without the Christian religion, I will begin by looking at what it would mean for prisons and punishment.

   First of all, I will begin with three true accounts of what prisons are like outside of North America and Western Europe.  I am indebted to the Voice of the Martyrs and Amnesty International for these stories.

• In Eritrea (neighbour to the East African nation of Ethiopia), prisoners are tortured through beatings with iron bars.  They are housed in unventilated metal shipping containers that are frigid at night and sweltering hot during the day.  There are no hygiene facilities and the food provided is both unsanitary and inadequate (two breads and dirty water) [1]
• In the Chinese capital of Beijing, at the Haidian Detention Centre, prisoners are interrogated cruelly and without the advocacy of a lawyer.  Shi Weihan was stripped of his clothes and placed against the wall outdoors in winter time.  His handcuffed wrists were placed behind his neck and hooked to the wall.  Electric shock batons were used on him as well as cold water for hours at a time.[2]
• In the country of Iran in April 2014, prisoner Farshid Fathi had his foot broken by a guard who stomped on it with his heavy boot to stop him from aiding a fellow inmate who had been beaten.  For three days he was denied medical treatment or any relief of pain. [3]

   Then from history classes, we are also aware of various regimes who have established labour camps where prisoners are forced to do back-breaking physical work for 10-12 hours a day with little in terms of nourishment.  Prisons in England up until the late 1800's were rampant with sickness, overcrowding and filth.

   What brought about more humane conditions in prisons throughout England and its colonies? It was the influence of two Christian people, who put their faith into action.

1) John Howard (1726-1790) lived in England and experienced first-hand the prison conditions in France when the merchant ship he was on was captured by a French privateer.  At the age of 47 he was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, becoming responsible for its prison.  When he saw conditions there, he felt compelled to investigate prisons throughout England, Scotland and Wales. He wrote and published detailed and factual reports alerting British society and government of needed reforms.  It took some time for his reforms to be accepted, but he continued to advocate for prisoners and tried to visit other countries in Europe to do so.  According to the biography included on the website of The John Howard Society of Canada, Howard had the following priorities:  

"Clean, healthy accommodation with the provision of adequate clothing and linen; segregation of prisoners according to sex, age and nature of offence; proper health care: these were his priorities. There should be a Chaplain service because he was of his age in believing that spiritual starvation was a major obstacle to reformation of character. Finally, he was a firm believer in the work ethic and the need for prisoners to be provided with work in order that the sin of idleness could be combatted." [4]

   John Howard was motivated by his religious beliefs, rooted in Calvinism and the compassion of Christ for the suffering.  In the same year of Canada's founding (1867), the John Howard Society of Canada formed with a group of Christians ministering to prisoners with spiritual help.  Interestingly, the biography of its namesake that appears on the society's website goes out of its way to distance itself from his dated views and insults Howard's ideal prison as "a hygenic and well-run zoo."

2) Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was a Quaker.  This Christian group was active in social causes and embraced pacifism.  Fry began to be an unlikely leader at the age of 12 when her mother died and household responsibilities fell to her.  When older, she led literacy classes for children who could not afford to attend school; she also preached in her church.

   After visiting prisons in Northern England and Scotland, Fry recognized that in the current situation, any prisoner that would eventually be released would be no better than when he or she was arrested. No attention whatsoever was given to rehabilitation.  Some of her ideas were to instill self-respect in prisoners by giving them responsibilities, education and meaningful work to do.  She had opportunity to testify at a House of Commons committee inquiring into prison conditions.  By raising an issue that many chose to ignore, Fry was instrumental in setting new standards of humane treatment of the imprisoned.

   Local Elizabeth Fry Societies have been established in Canada starting in Vancouver in 1939, specifically to assist women who have found themselves in trouble with the law.  

 
   I go into a Canadian federal prison for women almost every week.  I see that there are still areas to improve, but when I compare the living conditions to what they have been in the past and what they are elsewhere in the world, I see the blessing of Christians who dared to advocate for criminals. Without the teachings of Jesus being taken seriously by John Howard and Elizabeth Fry and without their courage to speak up, our penal system in the West would be unrecognizable. 

[1] Click on the highlighted words for full article from Amnesty International
[2]video interview with Shi Weihan
[3] More information about Fathi's time in prison can be found here
[4]The full biography can be found here

Not a Waste: the Short Life of Blaise Pascal

   It has been about six months since I last wrote a short biography in this series.  Researching the life of Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was more formidable than I expected.  He lived during a tumultuous era in France when kings and cardinals were both rising in power. Since the king cared about religion, and the religious leaders who advised him cared about power, there were bound to be some compromises.

 
   The life of Blaise Pascal was full of seeming contrasts.  He was a mathematical genius who never attended school.  He embraced a lively faith in God at a time when the "wise men" of his time were dispensing with the supernatural entirely.  While Pascal was firmly devoted to the Roman Catholic Church, he wrote a series of anonymous open letters defending beliefs about grace and free will that were being denounced by influential Jesuit priests and the Pope himself as "crypto-Calvinist" [1].  He struggled with illness and weakness throughout his short life of 39 years; however, he refused to give in to self-pity.  One example of his focus on others and their needs was that he invited a homeless family to live in his house with him during his final months.
   Blaise Pascal was home schooled by his father Étienne, who recognized the boy's academic brilliance from the time he could speak.  Originally the elder Pascal was going to wait until Blaise was 16 years old before teaching him any formal mathematics. However, when the 12 year old  showed an interest in geometry and then figured out on his own that the angles of any triangle add up to 180 degrees, his father changed the curriculum to include math after all.  At the age of 21, Pascal invented a calculator that could add, subtract, multiply and divide up to eight-digit numbers.  He saw the practical value of an adding machine to save the tiresome work of tax collectors and landlords. Although scholars agree about Pascal's genius, it was matched with perseverance.  He made fifty prototypes of his "pascaline" before he was satisfied enough to present it to the public.  He also did thorough investigations about vacuums and added to the branch of math we call calculus.
   Blaise Pascal is a delightful example of a person was intellectually gifted and yet recognized the limits of reason. His experience of Jesus Christ came via being immersed in Old and New Testament Scripture and the church fathers, including St. Augustine.  He had two distinct experiences one might call conversions--times when he had a memorable encounter with God that led to a change in his focus--one at age 23 and the second at age 31.  He rejected a faith that was merely academic, and he criticized the Jesuit order for becoming so worldly that it could justify moral practices clearly forbidden in the Bible.  Ambitious to the end, Pascal desired to write a work elevating vibrant faith in the eyes of the well educated and moral men of his day.  These incomplete bits and fragments were published after his death under the name of Pensées (Thoughts).
   One of Pascal's works, a "Prayer to ask God to make good use of sickness," I quote here in part.  It demonstrates his submission to God and acknowledgment that He determines our life span and the ultimate value of our work:

Lord, whose spirit is so good and so sweet in all things, and who are so merciful that not only the blessings but also the misfortunes that come upon your elect are the fruit of your mercy, grant me the grace not to question as a heathen might the state to which your justice has reduced me.  You gave me health so that I might serve you, and I made a wholly profane use of it.  Now you send me sickness in order to correct me; do not allow me to use this as an excuse to irritate you by my impatience....And since the corruption of my nature is so profound that it spoils even your favors, see to it, oh my God, that your all-powerful grace makes your chastisement salutary for me.  See to it, oh my God, that I worship in silence your adorable providence upon the conduct of my life; that your scourges console me; and that, having lived undisturbed in the bitterness of my sins, I taste the heavenly sweetness of your grace during the beneficial illness with which you have afflicted me.

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[1] Blaise Pascal: Reasons of the Heart by Marvin C. O'Connell.  Published in Grand Rapids by Eerdmans in 1997, page 146. The doctrine under debate was related to a published work by Bishop Cornelius Jansen (1510-1576) entitled Augustinus, which highlighted St. Augustine's ideas of grace. It led some Roman Catholics to be worried about the spread of what they saw as a Protestant idea. Jansenism, as it was called, was firmly rejected in France in 1661 when all priests, nuns and monks had to sign a statement condemning it or be stripped of their office.

Who Can Say This, Part 1

   Last weekend I went to a symphony concert that incorporated the music of the duo Simon and Garfunkel through two gentlemen who performed their music in a similar style. It was a tribute to the musical talent of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel who found success during the late 1960's until they parted ways in 1970.
   Their most popular album "Bridge Over Troubled Water" sold over 25 million copies, and it is about this title track that I'd like to reflect for a few moments.  (These lyrics come by way of  the MetroLyrics website.)

When you're weary, feeling small

When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all (all)

I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough

And friends just can't be found

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

When you're down and out

When you're on the street

When evening falls so hard

I will comfort you (ooo)

I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes

And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

   The words of this song are uplifting.  They give us a picture of someone who promises to be ultimately loyal, no matter what else may happen.  When there are no other friends, this speaker will be the friend who goes the extra mile.  Whenever there are tears and hurts, this speaker will comfort and be there.

   Who can truly say this to another human being?  Even the most loyal person cannot dry every tear we cry.  Furthermore, spouses are not constantly in our presence.  Who actually sits with the person on the street and comforts them and never leaves their side?  I realize the lyricist is using hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point about the depth of his love for someone.  As humans we long for the promises made in this song to be authentic, to be experienced so as to have serenity and security.

   We have heard stories of ultimate loyalty, such as the sisters of Charity who give their presence to the hurting and dying.  We also have the account of an especially tender-hearted man, J. Robertson McQuilkin, who left a prestigious job as president of Columbia Bible College to care for the needs of his wife who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

   However, the only one who can truly say and mean these lyrics are the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  God's presence with those who trust in Him never fades.  Furthermore, Jesus is the ultimate bridge, who laid down his life so that our "light and momentary troubles [will achieve] for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17). 

Back to the Source

   The further something gets from its source, the more likely it is to be corrupted.  The water that begins fresh and pure as it melts from a mountain glacier gets dirty as it meanders between pasture lands and human settlements.  The clean water from our taps is fouled by greasy dishes, dirty feet and stained clothing.  As we let such water down the drain, we know that it did not start out that way.
     Yet when it comes to faith traditions that have become corrupted, people today so often dismiss the whole enterprise and determine to have nothing to do with faith or religion whatsoever.  It does not have to be this way, however.
   Consider American slave Frederick Douglass, who published a concise narrative of his life in 1845. Douglass had every reason to reject Christianity because the enslavement of Black folks was justified by so-called devout American Christians during his lifetime.  In one incident he recounts that one of his masters attended a revival meeting and became more serious about faith. Sadly, the way he treated those he called slaves did not improve but became more harsh and brutal. Douglass perceived that the evil system of slavery did not line up with Truth.  With the help a master's wife, he was introduced to the alphabet and gradually taught himself to read.  When he read the Bible, he found the pure source of truth.
   In the appendix to his narrative, he wrote, "What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference."
  Two years after the publication of  Douglass' narrative, Charlotte Bronte wrote the novel Jane Eyre.  In this story, Jane is an orphan who eventually lives at an orphanage run by a harsh clergyman named Brocklehurst.  After leaving the orphanage, Jane later admits to her employer, "I disliked Mr. Brocklehurst....He starved us when he had sole superintendence of the provision department."  Those who lived at the orphanage were punished without reason to keep order and were terrorized by readings about "sudden deaths and judgments."  Despite this unflattering portrait of a religious leader, the novel does not reject the Christian faith outright.  Sympathetic characters, Helen Burns and Jane Eyre herself, find genuine faith in the Lord, who comforts them in their sorrows and guides them in living nobly and rightly.
   It is a great error to reject God even if some who claim to represent him have strayed far from his ways.  One of the definitions of the word "corrupt" is to contaminate or to alter from its original form. Where we see corruption, we are wise to go back and discover what the original goodness was and return to it.  Go back to the Source by reading the ancient words that have sustained and guided countless human beings.  Meet the Christ who taught and sacrificed himself for the good of others, regardless of social status, gender or ethnicity. Hold fast to what is stable and secure while living in such uncertain times.
 
 

Not a Waste: Parallel Lives of Eric Liddell and Dietrich Bonhoeffer

   I'm probably not the first person to notice some striking similiarities between two men of honour born just after the turn of the century who also passed  away within two months of each other in the year 1945.  These men are Eric Liddell and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I will begin with a short summary of each man's life and then point out the common strands I observed while reading about them.
   Eric Liddell was born on January 16, 1902 to Scottish missionaries living in China.  His education from a young age took place with his brother at British boarding schools far away from his parents and sister, who continued to live and minister to the Chinese people.  Family visits took place infrequently during furloughs. Young Eric was not terribly academic, but he enjoyed the sport of rugby and running races.  In 1924, the eighth modern Olympic games were held in Paris, France, and Liddell was one of the members of the British team.  His best event would have been the 100 metre sprint, but when it became known six months before the event that the qualifying races would take place on Sunday, Liddell determined not to run. Instead he trained for the 200 metre and the 400 metre events, which would not require competing on the Lord's Day. After all of the celebrity that came through his gold medal performance in the 400 metre race, Eric Liddell remained humble.  He desired to use his athletic ability to connect people with spiritual truths.  He eventually went to various towns and regions in China to teach, preach, and provide basic medical care to its people. When World War II broke out,  Liddell made sure his wife and three young daughters were sent to safety in the West.  As the Japanese took over portions of China, they began to intern all Westerners.  Even in a concentration camp, Eric Liddell acted as a leader in organizing the internees and keeping up morale through sports, performing arts (plays were put on) and worship services.  With minimal food rations he kept up an incredible pace of service until it became apparent that he was burnt out.  He apparently had a brain tumour, which led to a fatal stroke on February 21, 1945.  He was 43 years old. [1]
   Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on February 4, 1906 in Breslau, Germany.  Even though his family was not overly religious, young Dietrich (who was educated through home schooling and grammar school) decided to become a theologian at the age of 14.  He was gifted academically and attended different universities in Germany, writing two dissertations to become qualified as a professor.  When Adolf Hitler rose to power, Bonhoeffer was one of few German Lutherans to raise objections.  As early as 1933 he spoke out publicly against the tactics of the Fuhrer and had his radio broadcast suddenly cut in mid-stream.  Bonhoeffer continued to stand up for Jews and others persecuted by the Nazi regime, and his movements were being monitored.  When he was given the opportunity to live safely in the United States, he thought better of it and returned to his homeland.  He was arrested in 1943. After a time in prison, he was moved to various concentration camps (Buchenwald, two others and finally Flossenburg).  Here he was executed by hanging on April 9, 1945, at the age of 39. [2]
  

    In which ways did these men live parallel lives?

• They were both men of principle and integrity, even when it was costly to their worldly successes.
• They both wrote books about a life devoted to Jesus Christ.  Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship in 1937, while Eric Liddell's Disciplines of the Christian Life was published after his death.
• Each of these men had tremendous gifts, which were developed and harnessed for the furthering of God's Kingdom in the places where they lived.  Their gifts were not used to gain status in the eyes of the world but to draw people to the Truth.
• Both of them endured suffering for righteousness' sake and both spent time in concentration camps half a world apart.

   I wonder if these two men ever had the opportunity to meet each other during their brief lives on this earth. They certainly would have understood each other as brothers in Christ.  I can imagine each one of them saying, like Saint Paul, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1, NIV).

[1] An easy-to-read biography of Eric Liddell with the same title was written by Ellen Caughey in 2000.
[2] An exhaustive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas, 2010.

Not a Waste: the Short Life of Catherine of Siena

The lily is associated with Catherine of Siena

   This installment in a series I began in January comes with more reservations than I had in the other biographies.  Catherine of Siena lived before the Protestant Reformation; as such she was a Christian born in Italy in the mileu of Popes and certain teachings that are no longer universal in Christendom.  During her lifetime she was considered outspoken for a woman, yet in 1461 she was canonized and then further recognized with the title "Doctor of the Church" for her teachings in 1970.  I read two different accounts about Catherine before including her short life of influence for consideration here.

   Catherine of Siena was born in Tuscany, Italy during the early Renaissance period (1347).  Remarkably, she was the 23rd child born to her parents; she had a twin who died.  Between 5-7 years of age she reported seeing her first vision, which led her to a life very conscious of spiritual things.  The expression "Renaissance Man" is given to a person who is intelligent and well-informed in a variety of subjects.  Based on my research, I would have to call Catherine of Siena a "Renaissance Woman" in the same sense.  Some of her accomplishments and roles included the following:

• She acted as a nurse to ungrateful patients, including one with leprosy
• She ministered to victims of the Plague when it came to Siena
• She visited prisoners and gave support to them when they were about to be executed
• People came to her for advice on practical matters
• She taught herself to read and was well-versed in the Bible, Psalms and works of the early church Fathers
• She tried to be a peacemaker in religious and political disputes
• She wrote letters and prayers that have survived to the present-day
• She wrote a book entitled Dialogue, a mystical expression of her teachings and understanding of salvation.  In it she uses vibrant metaphors to communicate spiritual truths.
• She was involved in expanding the use of the vernacular (Italian instead of Latin) within the church
• She was a "model for the union of both contemplation and actions in the service of church reform." [1]

   Catherine did all of these things before she reached the age of thirty-three.  Throughout her life she refused certain comforts, such as pillows, and fasted regularly.  It would appear that at some point her fasting bordered on what we would now call anorexia or that she had a stomach ailment whereby she could not keep food down for the last months of her life.  The words she spoke as she left this world were "Grazie, Grazie," Italian for "Thank you" to her Lord for sustaining her.

[1] Bernard McGinn, The Doctors of the Church, New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999, page 132.

Clerical Errors, Part 1

Freerange stock photo

 A clerical error is one made by an office worker, which comes from an older word for this occupation, a "clerk."  The clerk in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (circa 1400) is a literate and literary person because to do this job one needed to be able to read and write, an ability not widely possessed in Medieval Europe.
   Because even literate people are prone to mistakes, clerical errors through record keeping and lack thereof abound.  Usually errors have negative results, but could a clerical error ever be providential?

Corrie ten Boom

   Consider the Dutch resistance worker, Corrie Ten Boom, who hid Jews in her home during World War II. She and her family were arrested in the late winter of 1944 for their anti-Nazi activities; Corrie, her sister Betsie and their father were eventually sent to a Concentration Camp known as Ravensbruck.  There they faced many trials, ranging from hunger and fleas to harsh labour and the deaths of Mr. ten Boom and Betsie. However, at the very end of that gruelling year, Corrie was suddenly discharged from Ravensbruck.  She discovered, after the war's end in 1945, that it was a clerical error that allowed her to be set free from this inhumane prison camp.  One week after her mysterious release, all the female prisoners in Corrie's age demographic were executed.  [Read more in the book The Hiding Place, 1971.]
   After a time of healing, Corrie was raised up to testify of God's presence amid the horrors she experienced and of the power and necessity of forgiveness in order to move on from war.  She took this message around the world and helped establish homes for the emotional rehabilitation of trauma victims.

Mike Anderson

   A more recent example of a clerical error involves a Missouri man, Mike Anderson.  While out on bail for an armed robbery he committed in 1999, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.  However, due to a clerical error, the authorities never picked him up to serve his time.  Meanwhile Mike used his freedom to start a business, raise a family, coach sports and become involved in his local church.  Last summer, paperwork came before the state telling them Mike's sentence was finished.  Only then did they realize he had never been incarcerated in the first place.  As a result, eight marshals came to his home to arrest him and placed him in prison, presumably for 13 years.  However, the situation received a great deal of attention with petitions and an appeal asking that Mike's case be re-examined.  Earlier this month, a judge looked over the evidence of Mike Anderson's life and set him free after just ten months in jail. [For more on this story, click on this link:  USA Today version. ]
   Mr. Anderson seized the opportunity of freedom by learning from his error and building a solid life to benefit his community.  The ten months in prison that he nevertheless had to serve became a path to even fuller freedom, by no longer having to look over his shoulder, along with gratitude to the mercy of both God and the state authorities.

Response to Skeptics

   I realized that these two examples are not enough to convince anyone that God can use human errors to serve his greater purposes.  The skeptic may point to the fact that Corrie's sister and father perished, not to mention the numerous victims of Ravensbruck's gas chambers.  Why were they not recipients of freedom? As well, critics may point to all those imprisoned unjustly around the world.  What about them?  When I share stories of God's providence, I am always rooted in the understanding of God's sovereignty.  He has purposes that we cannot fully understand.  Sure, we may wish to cross-examine God and ask him why injustices take place even as the Old Testament saint Job longed: 

   "I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.  I would find out what he would   answer me, and consider what he would say" (Job 23: 4-5)

   Despite our perplexity, God had/has a particular purpose for the lives of the individuals named above.  In order for them to testify of His goodness and His power, he used clerical errors to put them in the right place at the right time.  If you look at your own life through eyes of faith, you may find your own examples.