Saturday, July 19, 1997

Religion in the media: a look at recent books and audio books

The Dallas Morning News

BOOKS:

"Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image," by Anne Sebba (Doubleday, $24.95).

Living saint or pious hypocrite? Mother Teresa's image has whipsawed between those extremes in recent books and profiles.

The all-but-haloed picture of the diminutive woman ministering to the poorest of the world has been under attack by others who say her work ignores the real needs of those she has ministered to. This book tries to walk the line between the two images.

On the one hand, the author says, Mother Teresa really is what she appears - a pious believer who took her faith to the streets. On the other hand, this is a human being heir to the imperfections of humanity and therefore liable to problems of ego and temper.

This book explores the history and the unanswered questions about the future.

-Jeffrey Weiss

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"Adultery & Grace: The Ultimate Scandal," by C. Welton Grady (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, $16).

Grady's premise is that adultery is the one sin that society holds out to be unforgivable. Even many churches and Christians, he posits, hold adultery and adulterers out as somehow beyond approach.

But for Grady, the real scandal is how un-Christian such reactions are. Grace - salvation through Christ - is every bit as available to adulterers as any sinner, he says.

"To suppose that adultery (or any sin for that matter) stands beyond the reach of divine mercy ... is to entertain rank heresy," he writes.

Grady is pastor of Northminster Church in Monroe, La. The book is both readable and scholarly. The text is conversational, the footnotes sometimes eye-crossingingly academic. The result should be useful for casual readers and serious students interested in an analysis of how Christianity views adultery.

-Jeffrey Weiss

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AUDIO BOOKS:

"Contact," by Carl Sagan, read by Jodie Foster (Simon & Schuster Audio; 4 cassettes, 5 hours, abridged; $24).

Astronomer Carl Sagan, an atheist, wrote often about the tensions between religion and science. In "Contact," his only novel, he gives his clearest examination of the way personalities interact when science collides with belief.

A brilliant radio astronomer, nominally a Christian, tries to manage the greatest find in history - a long enscripted message from space - while she's being buffeted by the interests of politics and public religion.

Sagan balances the arguments; the result is an intriguing look at the way private faith and public interest collide with the onrush of scientific discovery.

-Kate Seago

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"A Journey in Ladakh," by Andrew Harvey, read by the author (Audio Literature; 2 cassettes, abridged; $17.95).

Andrew Harvey first saw the ancient city of Ladakh in northern India from a rickety bus careening along a road at the top of 10,000-foot sheer drops.

His death-defying trip was the start of a faith-challenging journey into a town where Tibetan Buddhism survives, where meditations are taught that date to three centuries before Christ.

"A Journey in Ladakh" is both travelogue and faith journey. To order Audio Literature titles, call (415) 583-9700.

-Kate Seago

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"The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism," by Daniel C. Matt, read by Edward Asner (Audio Literature; 2 cassettes, abridged; $17.95).

Everything you always wanted to know about the most obscure and densely wrought ideology in Jewish thought. The Kabbalah has confounded casual readers for centuries. It is crafted of symbolism and deep multiple layers of meaning; many tenets - the feminine aspect of God among them - are radical in relationship to traditional Jewish thought.

Asner's reading is careful and measured.

-Kate Seago

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(Writers are staff members of The Dallas Morning News. Write to them in care of: the Religion Section, Dallas Morning News, Communications Center, P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265.)

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

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