With Unclean available on Amazon I've been honored to have some very insightful reviews published about the book. Recently, a short review of Unclean was published that I thought would make some of you smile:
It was like the secret love-child of Oliver Sacks and William Stringfellow.
To begin with, congratulations on making it to Amazon.com! And to think, I knew you when you were a lowly stats teacher :).
Your little post here may have had unintended consequences. I didn't know who William Stringfellow is/was, so I went to Wikipedia (uh-oh). I've slowly realized over the years that I'm probably not as conservative as I once thought. Even my conservatism doesn't seem to come from the same motivations as other conservatives. For years now, I have felt adrift.
Reading the blurb on Stringfellow brought back my early education on neo-orthodoxy, which I had virtually forgotten about. It's like a light went on.
I think the need for a name or label has to do with feeling a part of a group. It's not nice feeling as if there's nobody out there that speaks your language.
I just recently happened upon your blog, and after reading your entries I've decided to buy your book as well. Your theology is about what mine is, yours is just quite a bit more refined. I'm also interested in pursuing a doctorate in neuropsychology, and so your spin of psychology is something that interests me. I look forward to reading it, as well as more of your posts!
Truth be told, there is very little neuropsychology in the book. But lots of interesting and strange psychology stuff. That stuff is Oliver Sacks-like in its appeal.
Well, I meandered over to your brief vita and noticed that you've written a lot on clinical psychology as well as the psychology of religion. Both are of interest to me--especially the psychology of religion. Though my own path will take me down a different branch of psychology, all are of some interest to me, so I don't think I will be in any way disappointed. Thanks for the heads up, though.
An honor to have fostered such a great line!
And thanks to you for starting all the Amazon reviews off!
Howdy! I'm glad you dug the review. I got a great deal from the book. I'm part of an open house-to-house gathering, and the results of digesting your book has made its way from my inward parts out to the brothers and sisters. So much of it is directly applicable to simple home gatherings. I enjoy the blog. I really like Stringfellow/Ellul/Eller/Barth and I was getting some vibes in your blog that resonated (which caused me to bookmark it), and I put your book on my wish-list and pulled the trigger a few weeks ago. I'm glad I did.
Hi Mark,
So glad you liked the book. My David keeps telling me I need to read Ellul. I think I shall. I check with David as well on this, but do you (or any other readers) have a suggestion about a good book to start with by Ellul?
Reason for Being: A Meditation on Ecclesiastes. He saved this for last. My shelf is heavy with Ellul, but if I could only keep one book, I would keep this one.