Middle Ground
by Jessa Crispin

Once again, we live in a land of extremes. It’s sometimes hard to remember that most believers, as White puts it, “combine, harmonize, and live with ambiguity,” when the people making the most noise are yelling that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, or that God is a lie and the only truth is science. White’s book is a helpful — and delightfully written, with real warmth and wit — reminder that science and faith are not mortal enemies, but have been intermingling and cross-breeding for generations.

Ah, Calvinism. Having grown up in Kansas in a Methodist household, I heard this doctrine referred to many times, but never really explained. It was usually in the context of something like "a Calvinist work ethic," or something else equally meaningless. Now all of the sudden my husband keeps telling me about the resurgence of Calvinism in modern times, but pretty much the only summary he's given me is that it's a lot about predestination. Which doesn't really do anything for me.

But, did you know that John Calvin was a crazy domineering bastard? Who installed a theocratic government in Geneva, Switzerland, outlawing playing cards, dancing, singing and burning women at the stake? Fun!

Middle Ground is a history of religion during the Victorian age -- torn between stoic Calvinism on the one side and revivalist evangelicals on the other, the rise of evolutionary theory and psychology as a science was accompanied by a serious attempt to rationally study religion, finding out how people really experienced it, and how to find healthier, more functional religious practices.

As usual, after reading one of Jessa's columns on Smart Set, I need this book to live.