Books read in February 2006 (5)

1. Oliver Cromwell - J.C. Davis

This is a volume in a series called, Reputations, examining "the reputations of some of history's most conspicuous, powerful and influential individuals". This book certainly prompts me to seek out other such volumes for it is simply the best assessment of Oliver Cromwell that I have read.

The varying reputation of Cromwell since his death is examined then he is considered as to his remarkably swift rise from obscurity, variously as as soldier, man of God, politician and state builder.

As John Morrill has written, the key to understanding Cromwell is his providentialism. Davis agrees that you have to understand the puritan doctrine of providence to understand and judge Cromwell. Students from a secularist age are not qualified to appreciate this man unless they can enter into an understanding of the Christianity centered age that was 17th century Britain. Davis has a true understanding of the period and therefore of the man. Cromwell's reputation is rightly understood and enhanced by Davis.

2.   Grumpy Old Men: A Manual for the British Malcontent   - David Quantick

I saw the author on TV recently and he does not qualify to write as an old man though his grumpiness is well detailed here. The problem for me is that I did not find him particularly funny. He is no Clarkson who is a really funny grump. I found him grumpy about lots of things that do not bother me at all. like booze ads, school reunions and royalty. On the other hand, where I really want to grump, he is silent e.g. The E.U, multiculturalism, the race relations industry, mobile phoners with no manners, feminists, statists, people who do not say "Thank You" etc. I think Quantick should have just taken the easier route for grumping. Start a blog.

3. The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde - Joseph Pearce

Pearce searches for the real Wilde behind his many masks. He writes well and most movingly, with sympathy for this great tragic man.

Wilde is portrayed as a man for whom his art was everything, but led astray by his love of decadence.

This is not the Wilde that is flaunted as a homosexual icon. There is no evidence of him being anything other than heterosexual until after his wfe is pregnant. Homosexuality led Wilde into the folly of
sueing the father of his lover for libel. The lost suit led to crimal prosecution and a sentence of hard labour, bancruptcy, loss of wife and sons, ostracism and exile. How pathetic to see the greatest wit
and conversatioanlist of the age reduced to scrounging on the streets of Paris.

Pearce gives us much of the wit and poetry of Wilde. He also traces his on and off love affair with Roman Catholicism ending in death bed reception into the Roman Catholic Church. I would agre with
Pearce's view that had Wilde sincerely converted in his youth, his story would have been very very different.

As it is, Wilde seems to be to late 19th century literature what Geoge Best was to late 20th century football, the greatest ever waste of a talent.

One very minor criticism. Pearce is wrong to write that William of Orange usurped power in England. James II was removed for his Roman Catholicism and the throne offered to William and Mary.

A great read. Enjoy and weep.

4. Revelation Revealed: The Book of Revelation for Today - Gary Benfold

Christians often shy away from Revelation believing the last book of the Bible is too difficult to understand. Gary Benfold does an excellent job of giving us the big picture. When you come to Revelation you should not try and take a close look at the meaning of each verse. Start with an overview of the big themes.

The writer folows the example of Hendriksen seeing revelation not as a continuum but as a series of reprises surveying all of church history several times. He writes well and I believe this book will be of help and encouragment to ordinary Christians as well as those who want to teach revelation to others. He gives both understanding and spiritual challenge.

He has some good illustrations and graphic phrases. "The Lord Jesus Christ hates tolerance!" My only criticism is antipathy to the idea of any Christian political pary or establishment of religion. He seems to expect the state be to be opposed to the gospel.

5. No Moon Tonight by Don Charlwood

''What are the losses on each raid?'
'They say five per cent.'
"Five per cent and we do thirty ops.' He considered this thoughtfully. 'We sort of end up owing something.'

I believe we owe a great debt to the brave boys of Bomber Command who knew they were unlikely to survive. This account from an Australian sergeant navigator tells you what it was like to fly over Germany from Lincolnshire, to kill and probably to die. The author's crew were the first in seven months to actually complete a thirty flight tour of operations from their airfield. In 1941 he had trained with twenty compatriots. 18 were destined for Bomber Command. At the end of the war 12 were dead and one a prisoner. It was, he says, an average group. I am ashamed that my country never gave the airmen of Bomber Command a campaign medal.

Here you really get a feel of what it was like to be so young with no more ambition that to reach your next short leave. Wartime romance is related and the discovery of the village his family came from and his ancestors' graves.

The first time my parents saw the house where I was to grow up, there was a Halifax bomber crashed outside. I played as a boy in the peaceful ruins of the disused former bomber airfield from which men like Charlwood had flown less than ten years before. A different world so well narrated in this book.