VILLAGE OF SECRETS:
Defying the Nazis in Vichy France
by Caroline Moorehead
I first heard about the French pastor, Andre Trocme, and Le Chambon’s resistance to the deportation of Jews in Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath. Caroline Moorehead’s work gives us a fuller picture of this village and how its inhabitants, joined together in common faith, rallied together to hide thousands of Jews during the worst years of WWII.
Village of Secrets tells an inspiring tale; it is a testament to what people can achieve when they work alongside one another in defense of the common good against tyranny. It’s also complicated, since some of the “good guys” did good things out of self-interest, debated the use of force in resisting the Nazis, preferred French Jews over foreign ones, or treated poorly the Jewish children in their care. Moorehead doesn’t shy away from the complexities of this remarkable village. She lets us see the activities for ourselves and come to our own conclusions.
Moorehead is an accomplished author, but I was not impressed with the way she told this story. Because she wanted to document so many stories – of survivors and rescuers alike – the overarching narrative sags under the weight of too many details. The flow of the book makes it hard to get invested in any of the characters, to the point that the tragedy isn’t as heart-rending as it should be. I usually enjoy books that introduce me to lesser-known parts of history (see my review of In the Kingdom of Ice), but not so much this time.
LIFE ON MISSION:
Joining the Everyday Mission of God
by Dustin Willis and Aaron Coe
The evangelical church in North America was not built on professional mission workers and physical church buildings. It was the Holy Spirit’s use of everyday Christians living on mission, knowing their context, and seeing opportunities to start ministries and churches that fueled the spread of the gospel.
This book goes a long way in helping equip God’s people for the work of everyday mission and ministry. Willis and Coe have written an accessible guide that both explains why and how Christians can live on mission. The goal is “ordinary people with extraordinary power preaching, preaching, giving, and suffering for the spread of the gospel” (11).
THE STORIES WE TELL
How TV and Movies Long for and Echo the Truth
by Mike Cosper
Mike Cosper is one of my favorite writers. I’ve enjoyed editing the sessions he has contributed to The Gospel Project, and I’m always challenged by his insights.
Mike loves the arts, particularly movies and television, and in this book, he lays out different ways that our culture’s most popular stories point toward and away from biblical truth. From reality television like Honey Boo Boo to dramas such as The X-Files, Mike explains why these shows strike a chord in the hearts of viewers, the deeper messages they communicate, and how they usually leave us dissatisfied.
Mike also explains the appeal of shows he does not recommend (Dexter, for example, because of its gratuitous violence), giving readers the ability to grow in understanding of our culture’s entertainment choices without having to watch them. The book wasn’t written to give Christians help in deciding what we should watch and stay away from, but even so, I wish there had been more along these lines, especially since I fear the evangelical pendulum has swung too far to the “anything goes…” side.
