Sometimes books make me sleepy; something to do with my astigmatism, the optometrist tells me. But more often, books make me think. These days, books also make me write, which is essential to the task of being a successful Managing Editor here at Discerning Reader. As I’ve ceaselessly mulled over the components of a good review site since joining the team in autumn 2007, I’ve read and reviewed many books. Most of the time I close a book after reading it, I write up the review, and the task is done. But once in a while a book sticks with you. In this case, Rethinking Worldview by J. Mark Bertrand (Crossway, 2007). One of the reasons it has stuck with me is because Bertand addresses the issue of reviewing different types of media head-on. Bertrand writes:
When I consider the various Christians I know who are actively thinking about the surrounding culture, it is tempting to divide them into two groups – I’ll call them the Engagers and the Discerners…I see this distinction clearly when I read Christian book and movie reviews. All the critics are, in some sense, both engaging and discerning, but they tend to gravitate toward one pole or the other. Engagers are trying to introduce you to something good, while Discerners are trying to protect you from something bad. Engagers give a lot more space to fiction, while Discerners are more interested in testing the spirits of nonfiction. Engagers are more comfortable with aesthetic language, while Discerners speak in ethical/moral language.Of course, both trajectories can carry you into uncertain territory (Rethinking Worldview, 152).
My first thought after reading this section was to suggest a website name change to our founding editor: “Engaging/Discerning Reader” perhaps? After mortifying my people-pleasing tendencies, I began to pose some existential questions: Why is Discerning Reader attempting to do what it does? More fundamentally, what are we doing? These questions are concisely answered in Discerning Reader’s ‘About’ section. In this inaugural DR blog entry, I thought it might be helpful to suggest what Discerning Reader does not exist to do:
• To magisterially dictate which books Christians ought to read, and which to avoid
• To inordinately plug a single publisher or a cadre of similar publishers
• To apply a rigid doctrinal grid over every book we read and review
• To act as substitute discerners for the reader. If anything, we are growing in the discipline of discernment and are fellow pilgrims on the journey, not the fire at the head of the column
• To advance personal causes. That is to say, inasmuch as anyone can be objective, we truly seek to be objective, letting Scripture direct our estimation of the books we read
Obviously this issue cannot be exhausted in the space of one article. It’s a matter I hope I continue to wrestle with through the years (and possibly decades) of book reviewing. I have a feeling that if I ever discover the exact formula, reviewing wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding. Part of the pleasure is in the mystery.
