Kim Gentes

Of all the documents of economics found in modern (nay, any) times there is no more seminal text than Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations".1 In this particular treatise, Smith embarks not on the high-minded work of philosophical argument but in the arduous (sometimes monotonous) task of common sense exploration of the simple, daily, often obvious facts of commerce, production, wages, exchange, labor, value, government (and government corporations such as postal, banking, political and trade organizations), trade, currency, commodities, taxes, militaries, industries, nations, religion, education, inheritance (and inheritance tax), feudal laws, road maintenance (and other public works) and literally almost every conceivable article of economic interest. Because Smith deals with the details is such careful articulation, his larger premise(s) are rarely forcefully declared. Yet, they are become so obvious, they can scarcely be ignored by the observant reader.

With what now seems to be childlike attention to minutia, he articulates a basic course of Euclidian logic in the realm of economics (the axiom from Euclid's Elements that says "Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another"). Smith spins dozens of examples against each other to extrapolate nearly every one of his points to show how wages, land/rents and profits/stock have values that combine and compare to various expressions across the economic systems. And he does this kind of thing with nearly every one of his salient points.

Beyond this comparative rendering (that speaks often to Smith's assumptions about value - labor, prices, exchange, land and other items) the book effectively uses categorizing and linear explanation to break down every major principle of economy into its actually understandable (and usable) parts.

For example, on the topic of how a division of labor positively effects the production efficiency of any industry, Smith writes:

This great increase in the quantity of work, which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and, lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.2

He is stating what we now all take for granted- efficiency in division of labor production can be derived from 1) Accentuated individual expertise in a specific skill, 2) no time lost in context switching between different tasks, and 3) automation. And while these things seem obvious, it wasn't to the world in which Smith lived. It was he who introduced these ideas to the broader intellectual and business leaders of his world.

The clear benefits of division of labor related to production here seem obvious to us, yet it is only so because Adam Smith pointed them out and that his work has become such a universally understood and accepted set of axioms of industry. And this is precisely what the entire volume of Smith's work does- point out easily deduced truths that have gone on to become universal business axioms. The power of this work is not in its elegance as much as its utility- for this book has so much detail that one could assume it was powerless, and nothing could be further from the truth.

Again, this can seem arduous at times, but the beauty of it is in its almost mesmerizing simplicity and reality. Taking into account that Smith wrote about 250 years ago, we must set aside his obvious assumptions based in a time period and culture which demanded such clarity be brought to what is now a much different world. The fact that so much of "The Wealth of Nations" seems so obvious to us is, in fact, a tribute to its practically universal impact on virtually every country, society and economy within 50 years of its writing right up until present times. Literally within a half century of its writing, almost the entire political and economic structures of European countries were revolutionized- and much of that revolution was guided in no small part by the contents of Smith's iconic tome.

Even though "The Wealth of Nations" would be the foundational document for later modern economics, Smith shouldn't be looked at as a revolutionary thinker of new ideas. In fact, it is doubtful Smith would have even considered his ideas new at all. The tone and contents of the book are all delivered as observations, summaries and assumptions based on what Smith was observing in business and trade. For example:

"the wealth of a country consists, not of its gold and silver only, but in its lands, houses, and consumable goods of all different kinds" 3

Here again, Smith is articulating what others would later call "essential", but he saw it as just one of many things that he was correcting that the merchantilists of his time had gotten wrong. Much as Aristotle didn't create biology, metaphysics, politics or zoology- though he did define them for all ages that followed- Smith is an observer and thinker that simply categorized what he saw. He, like his contemporaries, referred to this area of study as political economy but for all practical purposes Smith becomes, with this volume, the father of modern economics. He stands, therefore, as the first major figure to coalesce and categorize the realm of economics and all of its essential parts. It is from this foundational document that later thinkers would attribute everything from free markets, division of labor, money supply (though he never used that term) and laissez-faire to the Smithian vision of economics. For sure, corrections and adjustments to the model outlined by Smith were later made and built on by others. But reading this document will help you understand the scope and architecture of modern free market economics.

While my praise is genuine and in chorus with vast others, it must be, nonetheless, restrained by the ability we hold over Smith- our hindsight and look on history since him. Looking back on "The Wealth of Nations", one could easily become cynical and even critical of Smith's peculiarities on local and current issues. His great ability to critique (the strength that shines so brightly in his book) allows him to make excellent observations into his own nation (United Kingdom) and not withhold appropriate criticism to its corrupt or broken systems. Everything from the merchantilist system (which is, indeed, his chief target of angst for nearly 80% of the book) and it's benefactors, to the government trade monopolies, tariffs, taxation, regulation, and various inefficiencies- Smith takes them all to task as he sees any malignancy in any part. He tackles systems of education and religion as well. At times he is ruthless, but he leaves no aspect of society untouched, including speaking on slavery, educating all ranks of people, need for taxes for public works, standing armies (the need for national security) and dozens of topics. Each of them he relates to their particular connection in economic life.

Because he lives in a time period with obvious prejudices towards classes of people, and nationalities as well, he allows some of that culture to speak out in his writing. This must all be heard and mitigate any grand estimations we might have of Smith as a social reformer in our scope of understanding. He WAS INDEED a huge reformer, and his economic understanding of how free markets can allow nations to raise the standard of living for ALL it's citizens is remarkably prophetic and proven right -- indeed western civilization and its undeniable ability to feed its populations and take care of necessities (and that has been so for almost 150 years since Smith's principles have been assimilated in taken up by every major western society since it's writing) shows the vitality to Smith's claims. However, the depth of social understanding in areas of racial, gender, nationalistic and social standing are not the concerns that Smith could comprehend, and as such we can't become revisionists and acclaim him for anticipating that his economic equality formulae would be one of the most powerful forces that would eventually help give equality to these broken divisions. Smith did not anticipate it, but his truths were still nonetheless effective in assisting and encouraging changes and economic freedom for these divisions just as well as every person was encouraged in the same way through the same terms.

This book is huge- literally. Depending on the version you read, the original volume was published as five  separate books in a collection.  Unabridged versions include all five sections adding up to a massive 640 (plus) pages. Many modern collections of this book feature just the first three sections (books), since the minutia of the last two can be so arduous. No doubt economics students will want to consume the entire tome, but be ready for a few hours of "easy-to-drift-off" details if you venture to tackle this entire collection.

Overall the book was absolutely astounding in keeping the account of such huge proportions still a vital and engaging narrative. I can't recommend it enough- if you have a spare 30 hours, this is your best bet for a truly great read!

Amazon Book Link: http://amzn.to/10DTrTg

Review by Kim Gentes

1. The formal full name of the book as Adam Smith published it first was "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". It commonly became known simply as "The Wealth of Nations".
2. Smith, Adam (2011-04-29). The Wealth of Nations (Illustrated) (p. 3).  Kindle Edition.
3. Ibid. pp. 308-309

One of the greatest teachers in life is history. The ability to grasp, in our time, the effects and movements of the past is not just a discipline for  university arts departments but an important store of wisdom for all walks of life.  For the last few years, I have been researching specific realms of history- Christian history, church history, period history, economic history. But recently, I hoped to read something of a more comprehensive history that would cover the entire span of our known record of humanity. After a bit of research, I picked "History of the World" by J.M. Roberts as the volume to tackle for this purpose. I am both thankful and delighted to have read this book.

"History of the World" is a dazzlingly readable, even-handed and structured volume that attempts to accomplish the task of summarizing the chronicle of humanity by keeping its task to a defined set of parameters- it centers around the understanding and historiography of civilizations. Its vastness as a work is managed by Roberts keeping a sharp aim at disentangling himself from bringing enumerable details of trivial interest into the picture. He keeps to the task of defining the appearance of man, the eventual birth of civilizations, the development of distinct collectives of civilizations (what would later become nations/peoples), the primary movements and interactions of the civilizations, the main thinkers, leaders and influencers of those civilizations and the uncountable interconnections (and their important effects) amongst the civilizations that would eventually develop. More than just events on a chronographical timeline, Roberts also talks about huge influencing concepts, such as religions, nationalities, ideologies, major epochs, technologies, and pivotal events and people.

What I enjoyed most was the fact that such a voluminous book (a massive 1,200 pages) was consistent throughout the chapters in its approach yet remained enjoyable, even dryly humorous at times. No subject was treated without the possibility of uncovering paradoxical viewpoints- to which Roberts was constantly going to detail to help the reader see. You left feeling like specific points in history weren't as singularly simplistic as you had once heard. I liked this approach as it removes dogmatic viewpoints from becoming the plumb line of how we look back on the past.

The book covers so vast a subject matter I will not try to comprehensively summarize it here. Consider the title of the book as proper and accurate scope of its content and you will be both well informed and well pleased as you read. You will hear and understand everything from pre-historical Paleolithic man, to the first Sumerian and Mesopotamian civilizations, to the ancient classical world of Greek and Roman dominance to Medieval Europe to developing China and India, to enlightenment struck modernity to imperialist Europe, dominated Africa, the explosive growing American continents (as well as their colonialist discovery and expansion), world wars of the 20th century and the trek of history right up to the present day. In one sweeping volume Roberts breathes life and engagement into the real inertia you find flowing across the civilizations of the world through history- man as a change agent in and to his own environment.

In my reviewing of the book, I initially found several small points of minor error (the light treatment of a major figure such as Napoleon, mistaken biographical information on Castro and incorrect dating of the first man on the moon). However, I quickly learned there was an updated edition of the book, which I secured and read. It is clear the editors who updated the work have taken their jobs seriously as the last revision ("The New Penguin History of the World" - rev 5) addressed every issue I could find- either correcting it outright, or properly formatting the narrative to remove the erroneous way in which the data could be misinterpreted. The only very slight hint of editorializing I sensed in the book was the regularly appreciative nods to the last 3 centuries of English history. Roberts occasionally gives possible discounting benevolence to the intentions of the British imperial actions in both its expansive and contracting years. The leaning is slight, but it does tend to feel a bit discounting of a number of times of British actions that surely would not have seemed "better intentioned" as Roberts often implies.  This is a minor and understandable pause in his otherwise amazingly apt and generally conciliatory tone taken for most subjects of uncertain nature.

Overall the book was absolutely astounding in keeping account of such huge proportions of our history while still retaining a vital and engaging narrative. I can't recommend it enough- if you have a spare 60 hours, this is your best bet for a truly great read!

Amazon Book Link: http://amzn.to/12haJFZ

Review by Kim Gentes

“The Spiritual Brain” by Mario Beauregard, Denyse O'Leary is subtitled “A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul”, but it represents as much a philosophical examination of modernity and materialism as it does a thoughtful examination of the brain and its abilities/limits explored by scientific methodological rigor.
 
Before the authors enter deeply into tests, hypothesis and results, they delve deeply into the conundrum of how the current scientific community predisposes itself to the modernist and materialist worldview, even (at times) in the face of scientific evidence that points elsewhere. The authors seek to expose some of these philosophical foundations to allow them to confront some of the underlying worldview issues.
 
But before going deep into reviewing “The Spiritual Brain” and its premise, let me examine the context of thought that is being dealt with here. How can we question and evaluate a framework (IE. modernity and materialism) that has served mankind for the last few hundred years with increasing absolution from critique? In this, post-modernity does us a service in opening the door for questioning long established assumptions. The most essential assumptions to be confronted are modernity and materialism (in the classic philosophical sense).

Modernity and materialism (both scientific and cultural) have played key roles in western thought for the last 300-400 years. The impact of these ideologies has been felt not only in secular life but the Christian community as well. The deep impact of modernity in the church, and even in its pastoral leadership, is echoed well by Thomas Oden, who says:

Modern chauvinism has assumed that all recent modes of knowing the truth are vastly superior to all older ways, a view that has recently presided over the precipitous deterioration of social structures and processes in the third quarter of the twentieth century. My frank goal has been to help free persons from feeling intimidated by modernity, which while it often seems awesome is rapidly losing its moral power, and to grasp the emerging vision of a postmodern classical Christianity.[1]

Oden’s statement scratches the surface of a festering boil within our faith community - we have lost our foundational trust in the classic wisdom of our tradition. We have replaced it with an underlying trust in society’s secular pillars of modernity and materialism, and those have influenced almost every pastoral and leadership discipline in Christianity. We have tried to nuance our statements and practices with faith language, but our underlying assumptions were still founded on the principles within modernity and materialist reductionism.

Challenges to the materialist worldview have not only come from pastoral and theological leaders such as Oden (above), but also from scientific experts themselves, such as Dr. Mario Beauregard. He and Denyse O’Leary are the authors of the recent book “The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul.” Hence, we get to our promised review of this book.

In this work, Beauregard appropriately confronts the philosophical constructs of materialism before getting to the scientific theories, experiments and studies. He does this to explain how the scientific findings are being interpreted through the materialist mindset, and bent to reinforce the same. The following extensive quote gives an example of one such point where Beauregard deconstructs the materialist arrogance that has been injected into the scientific work of neuroscience.

American culture critic Tom Wolfe put the matter succinctly in an elegant little essay he published in 1996, “Sorry, but Your Soul Just Died,” which expounds the “neuroscientific view of life.” He wrote about the new imaging techniques that enable neuroscientists to see what is happening in your brain when you experience a thought or an emotion. The outcome, according to Wolfe, is:

Since consciousness and thought are entirely physical products of your brain and nervous system—and since your brain arrived fully imprinted at birth—what makes you think you have free will? Where is it going to come from? What “ghost,” what “mind,” what “self,” what “soul,” what anything that will not be immediately grabbed by those scornful quotation marks, is going to bubble up your brain stem to give it to you? I have heard neuroscientists theorize that, given computers of sufficient power and sophistication, it would be possible to predict the course of any human being’s life moment by moment, including the fact that the poor devil was about to shake his head over the very idea.

Wolfe doubts that any sixteenth-century Calvinist believed so completely in predestination as these hot young scientists. The whole materialist creed that Wolfe outlines hangs off one little word, “Since”—“Since consciousness and thought are entirely physical products of your brain and nervous system…” In other words, neuroscientists have not discovered that there is no you in you; they start their work with that assumption. Anything they find is interpreted on the basis of that view. The science does not require that. Rather, it is an obligation that materialists impose on themselves. But what if scientific evidence points in a different direction? As we will see, it does. But before we get to the neuroscience, it may be worthwhile to look at some other reasons for thinking that the twentieth-century materialist consensus isn’t true. Neuroscience is, after all, a rather new discipline, and it would be best to first establish that there are also good reasons for doubting materialism that arise from older disciplines.[2]

We don’t have to be neuroscientists to understand the implications of the materialist reductionism being presented by Wolfe and his contemporaries. Beauregard works with careful tension between scientific and philosophical arguments to bring his thesis to the forefront - that we have built both our worldview and our scientific methodologies on a foundation that has begun to crack. We cannot move forward with true exploration (scientific or otherwise) without resetting those foundations in a system that incorporates the possibility of something non-materialist. Like the labels of modernity and post-modernity, Beauregard has no nomenclature for the new worldview, other than calling it the antithesis of its predecessor- “non-materialist”.

Without giving a essay length review of Beauregard’s excellent book, we can summarize his efforts to

1. articulating the presumptions of materialist reductionism within scientific thought
2. presenting an alternative non-materialist philosophical viewpoint
3. detailing scientific studies and findings that support the non-materialist viewpoint
4. presenting the specific details and summary findings proving the existence of the mind outside of the brain.

This work has some excellent power points made along the way. Each one confronting a remnant of materialist thinking that is answered with thoughtful nuance. One such example is this:

A teleologically oriented (i.e., purposeful rather than random) biological evolution has enabled humans to consciously and voluntarily shape the functioning of our brains. As a result of this powerful capacity, we are not biological robots totally governed by “selfish” genes and neurons.[3]

This is in direct response to scientific claims that genes force not only our structure and biology, but our actions and choices. Beauregard's response here is supported with much detail, but I wanted to highlight just such a conclusion that he comes to so you can understand the scope of the work he is attempting to do- to provide both a scientific and philosophical reset on the materialist/reductionist worldview which he says is wrongly assumed and embedded in the modern scientific community and work.

The book ultimately provides extensive study and data related to Beauregard’s thesis, along with summation of the reasons that he attributes the human soul with existence beyond the brain. But you cannot get to that conclusion without first travelling long (and sometimes hard) through the depths of his philosophical deconstruction and reconstruction.  That said, it is a worthwhile journey and I highly encourage you to make it if you are interested in the topics brought up here.

Amazon Book Link:  http://amzn.to/OCjQhg

Review by Kim Gentes

[1]Thomas C. Oden, “Care of Souls in the Classic Tradition” (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984), Pg 24
[2]Mario Beauregard, Denyse O'Leary, “The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul”. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2007), Pg 4
[3] Ibid., Pg 45

"Embracing Obscurity" is a book of challenge meant to confront the church of western society which lives squarely in a culture of self-seeking, goal-oriented, achievement-centered structures and people. For the most part, the book starts with the premise that the church hasn't escaped these cultural trappings. The approach taken with "Embracing Obscurity" is to try to deconstruct the evils of the culture, explain how unbiblical they are and pursue a higher devotion to God’s purposes than the "me"-centric ideals of our western world.

At first blush, honestly, I found the book to seem weak in its theological composition of any ideas that weren't just a "U" in the Calvinistic acronym of TULIP. Yes, we are all bad, all worms, and God is great, up on His high throne. This is how the book starts, and it doesn’t help itself in starting this way. I understand the compulsion to begin with the affront on the standard culture infiltrating church and Christian values. Shock the reader into realizing they are attaching their actions to values that aren't Christ-centered. But ultimately this approach may scare away people who might want a more substantive foundation of understanding of where to center their lives and value. The patient reader will find that the book does indeed make its final claim of human worth in the valuation as being through being God’s family and finding our eternal rewards in Him (as opposed to the temporal rewards of self-centeredness).

I say this upfront to make the point that the book starts weak but ends strong. In fact, by the fourth chapter, the author (who has notably remained completely anonymous to make a further point about their thesis) turns the ship towards reconstructing a new understanding of self, of value, and of living life within the obscurity of the world so that one might be known by the One to the glory of God.

By the end of the book, I was wanting more. It felt like the author had turned the ship towards God's goodness enfolding man's destiny, leaving us squarely with a hopeful understanding of where to pursue life. The author sparks the conversation about eternal significance and eternal rewards- and the validation that pursuing God’s offered rewards are proper and just for the Christian. This is joyous and good. The reason I say that I felt like the author ended the book too soon was that while they centered the conversation properly, they didn't really explore the obvious next step of significance based on the imago dei, a concept of human value centered in God from creational theology. I kept waiting for this to be a main point and the author seems to leave without making the point, which is where the book seemed to be leading.

Like almost all modern Christian books, it has some weaknesses in presentation that are partly due to needing to fill the needed number of pages for publication. I felt like a reading of CS Lewis' "The Weight of Glory" would have accomplished much the same adjustment of heart and mind (with a similar goal and topic) in less than 20 pages. I also am not convinced that the author remaining anonymous really accomplishes the goal the author intends, since even within the book the reader is encouraged to embrace the spotlight that God brings, but with a new perspective of giving glory to God. I originally had a printed pre-release version of the book to use for my reading, but (after forgetting the printed copy in seat back pocket of an airplane seat) I ended up purchasing a Kindle version of the book. Because of the extensive notes and support references used in this book, I found the Kindle version to be better simply because I like working through all the support material while reading through the main text. Something to consider for those of you who might be reading for school studies or such.

Those things said, this is a topic that needs to be addressed, and addressed with new words and new perspectives to our generation. For that I am grateful and this work accomplishes that goal. Given my critiques above, the book ends up being strong and worth reading.

Amazon Book Link:  http://amzn.to/WS7VwO

Review by Kim Gentes

The last 20 years has changed the church music landscape drastically. But do choirs need to be a casualty of this change? Dave Williamson, one of the most respected voices influencing modern choirs in the last 20 years, says an emphatic "no". His brilliant new book, "God's Singers", reshapes the vision of the church choir from performance group to a God-centered, worship leading troupe.

The book alternates between both heart and practical issues of choirs, helping you move into gradual change of developing a choir that can be good technically and in its motives. You will be challenged, encouraged, and wisely taught from one of the best minds and practitioners in church music.

The book is divided into 2 main parts-

●     A “What & Why” section

●     A “How” section

As you can guess the first section deals with biblical and philosophical foundations of Dave’s thesis. And what a clear thesis it is. Even before the book proper begins, Dave lets the cat out of the bag when he lays out his premise: "the choir is potentially the most powerful worship leader in any congregation."  The naysayers won't be long in hearing the what and why of Dave’s statement, as he lays out the facts for about 140 pages of insightful, loving, wise and even humorous dialog about why this is important and what we should hope for in a choir. What's more, Dave doesn’t spare himself in the dialog. In fact, many of the stories contained in the book are examples both of Dave’s failures (and learning from them) as they are times when God brought success through his grace. I love this about the book, because Dave sounds like a real person and we aren’t talked down to by someone who’s “made it”.

The second section jumps immediately into the fray of building and developing your choir with everything from helping pastoral leadership to understand and support the choir (for churches adding choirs for the first time), to transforming existing choirs, how to do interviews of choir members (prospective and current), how to organize a choir (including excellent job descriptions), how to creating a transformative choir retreat weekend, head-chart harmony, singing techniques, how to introduce a new song to your choir, leading a rehearsal, memorization, planning a service, sound check, working with praise teams, and on and on. Dave has packed this book so full of material, the only thing I caution is trying to go through it too fast! It’s rich and deep and helps on so many levels. In addition to all that (and I've skipped a lot of other things too numerous to mention) the back inside cover of the book comes with a full audio CD of exercise, samples and workout materials related to the book sections. Fabulous!

Whether you are thinking about starting a choir in your modern church or need direction for moving it forward from its current languishing, I can't urge you more strongly to consider Williamson's new book "God's Singers". Every church pastor and worship leader should read this book! You won't be disappointed!

Amazon Book Links (Dave's book is available in two forms)

Director's Edition: http://amzn.to/JOHHbt (Amazon)  or CBD (much cheaper)

Singer's Edition: http://amzn.to/Nc1Ed5

Review by Kim Gentes

NOTE: you can watch a video interview with Dave Williamson about both the book and his wisdom on worship leading choirs. The video is located here.