Apologia Report 6:1
2001

CULTURE
Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture, Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren, eds. [1] -- Mark Goodacre concludes his review by saying that "[s]erious fans of Star Trek will find plenty here to excite and enthuse them." He passes on the editors' words, which "suggest that the portrayal and treatment of religion in the Star Trek television series and films provides an important cultural commentary on the place of religion in society." Further, Goodacre finds that this idea "turns out to provide surprisingly fertile ground for some intelligent and stimulation writing."
   Noted in the first chapter are the "post-Roddenberry incarnations of Star Trek, in which religion emerges in a different, less negative light."
   As for criticism, Goodacre recommends that, while reading, "occasionally grant yourself the luxury of standing back a little from the sometimes excessive enthusiasm of [the book's] contributors. For the enthusiasm, while sometimes infectious, at other times clouds the authors' judgement. ... I did not find a single reference to Star Wars, or, more importantly to Babylon 5, from which, some would allege, Deep Space Nine plagiarized some of its best ideas.
   "A related problem is the general failure to deal with the one Star Trek film to engage directly with religion, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (William Shatner, 1989)." Reviews in Religion and Theology, 7:5 - 2000, pp531-533.

JUDAISM
"The Church as Sinner" by David Van Biema -- a review of Constantine's Sword, by James Carroll [2], which argues that "Christianity, not just bad Christians, is to blame for persecution of the Jews. ... Anti-Judaism, [Carroll] writes, has been at the very center of Catholic theology at least since the Gospel of John, and the church has allowed, encouraged and - in the case of the Inquisition - chartered the foulest of abuses."
   Further, "[f]ollowers of St. Augustine wanted the Jewish people to survive but also to suffer, setting a centuries-long pattern."
   Van Biema notes that Carroll is "a former priest and staunch left-wing Catholic," adding that "Carroll's book, however, is not just a polemic; his literary gifts enable him to produce a coherent narrative studded with arresting cameos and acute analysis." Time, Jan 8 '01, p68.

POSTMODERNISM
"Books on Postmodernism" by editor Erroll Hulse -- "six books I have chosen from many to recommend" includes Time for Truth, by Os Guinness [3]; Truth Decay, by Douglas Groothuis [4]; Telling the Truth, by Don Carson [5]; and three books by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.: Postmodern Times [6], Reading Between the Lines [7], and State of the Arts [8]. Brief descriptions accompany each title. Reformation Today, Nov/Dec '00, pp31-32.

RELIGION, GENERAL
Why Religion Matters, by Huston Smith [9] -- Ron Charles explains in his review that "Huston Smith is the closest thing religious scholarship has to a rock star. His classic book 'The World's Religions' has sold more than 2 million copies. In 1997, he was the focus of a five-part PBS series with Bill Moyers. He's received awards and honorary degrees from organizations around the world.
   "And yet, despite living on this pinnacle, what he really wants is to talk with us. His new manifesto, 'Why Religion Matters,' reads like half of the most provocative dinner conversation you'll ever have. ...
   "Smith claims humanity is in the grip of a spiritual crisis. The cause: scientism, the modern belief, enforced by education and law, that the scientific method is the most reliable path to truth and that the material entities science deals with are the only things that exist.
   "He claims this pervasive attitude, promoted explicitly by overconfident scientists and implicitly by cowed theologians, denies God's existence or, worse, considers God a moderately useful placebo.
   "Smith says to science (particularly Harvard's popular paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould), 'Stand back; that's my turf you're poaching on.' No, he's not one of those crazy antiscience fundamentalists (though he's tired of seeing fundamentalists parodied in the media). What he opposes is the extension of scientific conclusions into areas of human experience about which science can tell us nothing." Brief. Christian Science Monitor, Dec 18 '00, p16. http://www.csmonitor.com/

SAI BABA
"The Man Believers Think Is God" by Bob Harvey -- summarized: "Sai Baba, an Indian holy man, worshiped by many prominent Canadians, is accused of being a sexual predator." According to Harvey, "[m]illions of devotees in Ottawa and in more than 100 countries around the world recently celebrated the 75th birthday of Sai Baba, an Indian spiritual leader they believe is God." Harvey notes "widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youth and children that have been levelled at the leader of the movement." ...
   "The number of his followers is estimated at somewhere between 10 million and 50 million, and they include India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vaijpayee; Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of the Hard Rock Restaurant chain; Simon de Jong, a former New Democrat MP from Saskatchewan; and Kris Singhal, founder of Ottawa's Richcraft Homes. Birendra, the king of Nepal, Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew's former wife; and many other celebrities have also made pilgrimages to see the guru."
   A central figure in this story is "Conny Larsson, a psychotherapist, and once a well-known actor and film star in his native Sweden, [who] has a very different view of Sai Baba. He first met Sai Baba in 1978, built his own apartment near the guru's headquarters in Puttaparthi, and remained a devotee until last year. Mr. Larsson was the spiritual co-ordinator of the Sai Baba movement in Sweden."
   Another source mentioned by Harvey is "The Findings, a 42-page document amassed by David and Faye Bailey, former devotees who once lived in Puttaparthi, and edited a magazine to propagate Sai Baba's teachings. Mr. Bailey is a British concert pianist and taught students at the Sathya Sai Baba College. When some of his students complained to him about being sexually molested by Sai Baba, he quit the organization and began documenting the stories of abuse."
   Local representative "V.P. Singh of Windsor has been president of the Canadian Sai Baba organization for the past 30 years. He said he does not care to read the allegations against Sai Baba, and like most other devotees, he obeys his guru's command not to use the
Internet." Ottawa Citizen, Dec 19 '00, n.p. <http://www.ottawacitizen.com/>
   (Tal Brooke, leader of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, has taken over the publication of his book about Sai Baba, Avatar of Night [10]. Sales are really picking up, he says.) <http://www.scp-inc.org/>)

SCIENCE
Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective, David N. Livingston, D.G. Hart, Mark A. Noll, eds. [11] -- reviewer Jeremy Morris observes that "[t]he relationship between Evangelicalism and modern science continues to suffer in particular from a host of misconceptions raised by over-simplistic accounts.... This volume, with its careful attention to historical context, its rich diversity of views, and its full scholarly apparatus (the notes in particular to many of the contributions furnish in themselves a full bibliography) goes a long way to overturning the common  caricature of Evangelical Christians as 'anti-scientific' bigots. ...
   "The book does not aim to present a comprehensive overview of the subject, but a 'suggestive rather than exhaustive' (p.4) response to the conflictual interpretation of Evangelicalism and science dominant until recently. Nevertheless, the introduction and the first three chapters in particular do approximate to a valuable overview of the subject. ...
   "The volume ends with a surprise - not a formal conclusion or summary, but an intriguing (if extremely forced and artificial) dialogue, written by George Marsden, between Thomas Jefferson, Socrates and William Jennings Bryan on 'The Meaning of Science for Christians'. What looms large here are philosophical difficulties about the scope and limits of reason." Reviews in Religion and Theology, 7:5 - 2000, pp498-499.

WITCHCRAFT
"The Scholars and the Goddess" by Charlotte Allen -- summarized: "Historically speaking, the 'ancient' rituals of the Goddess movement are almost certainly bunk." Allen offers the following expanded summary as well: "Wicca, sometimes known as the Goddess movement, Goddess spirituality, or the Craft, appears to be the fastest-growing religion in America. Thirty years ago only a handful of Wiccans existed. One scholar has estimated that there are now more than 200,000 adherents of Wicca and related 'neopagan' faiths in the United States, the country where neopaganism, like many formal religions, is most flourishing. Wiccans -- who may also call themselves Witches (the capital W is meant to distance them from the word's negative connotations, because Wiccans neither worship Satan nor practice the sort of malicious magic traditionally associated with witches) or just plain pagans (often with a capital P) -- tend to be white, middle-class, highly educated, and politically involved in liberal and environmental causes."
   Allen begins by tracing the historical error to The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess [12], "a best-selling introduction to Wiccan teachings and rituals written by Starhawk (nŽe Miriam Simos). ...
   "Subject to slight variations, this story is the basis of many hugely popular Goddess handbooks. It also informs the writings of numerous secular feminists -- Gloria Steinem, Marilyn French, Barbara Ehrenreich, Deirdre English -- to whom the ascendancy of 'the patriarchy' or the systematic terrorization of strong, independent women by means of witchcraft trials are historical givens. ...
   "In all probability, not a single element of the Wiccan story is true. The evidence is overwhelming that Wicca is a distinctly new religion, a 1950s concoction influenced by such things as Masonic ritual and a late-nineteenth-century fascination with the esoteric and the occult, and that various assumptions informing the Wiccan view of history are deeply flawed. Furthermore, scholars generally agree that there is no indication, either archaeological or in the written record, that any ancient people ever worshiped a single, archetypal goddess -- a conclusion that strikes at the heart of Wiccan belief." Atlantic Monthly, Jan '01, pp18-22. <http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/01/allen.htm> (Note: This page includes multiple significant links.)

Sources, Monographs:

1 - Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture, Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren, eds. (State Univ. of New York Pr, 2000, paperback, 315 pages, ISBN 0-7914-4334-5)

2 - Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History, by James Carroll (Houghton Mifflin, 2001, hardcover, 576 pages, ISBN 0-3957-7927-8)

3 - Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype & Spin, by Os Guinness (Baker, 2000, hardcover, 128 pages, ISBN 0-8010-1195-7)

4 - Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism, by Douglas Groothuis (IVP, 2000, paperback, ISBN 0-8308-2228-3)

5 - Telling the Truth, D.A. Carson, ed. (Zondervan, 2000, hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN 0-3102-3432-8)

6 - Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. (Crossway, 1994, paperback, 256 pages, ISBN 0-8910-7768-5)

7 - Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. (Crossway, 1990, paperback, 254 pages, ISBN 0-8910-7582-8)

8 - State of the Arts: From Bezalel to Mapplethorpe, by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. (Crossway, 1991, paperback, 252 pages, ISBN 0-8910-7608-5

9 - Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief, by Huston Smith (Harper San Francisco, 2000, paperback, ISBN 0-0606-7102-5)

10 - Avatar of Night, by Tal Brooke (End Run, 1999, paperback, 400 pages, ISBN 1-9300-4500-X)

11 - Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective, David N. Livingston, D.G. Hart, Mark A. Noll, eds. (Oxford University Press, 1999, hardcover, 360 pages, ISBN 0-1951-1557-0)

12 - The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess by Starhawk (Harper San Francisco, 1999, paperback, 304 pages, 20th Anniv. edition, ISBN 0-0625-1632-9)

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