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The Real Romney, Part 4

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 20th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Books, Politics|

The Real Romney

Michael Kranish and Scott Helman (Harper: 2012)

After reading The Real Romney, by reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, I committed myself to reading the new David Maraniss biography, Barack Obama: The Story. (I also got this book from my public library right after I returned the Romney book.) David Maraniss’s moving treatment of Bill Clinton, First in His Class, remains my favorite biography of the former president. It was both fair and a deeply insightful study of the life, character and formation of President William Jefferson Clinton. David Maraniss is a superb writer! I will write about this book in blogs that will published next week.

One of my more pressing personal concerns, in trying to understand Mitt Romney, was answered by this biography, yet not to my complete satisfaction. I admit to remaining doubts about the impact of Mormon beliefs in a leader. Let me explain. My question, in particular, is about the Mormon doctrine of eschatology, or “end times” theology. The question goes like this: “Would a Mormon president be inclined to lead this […]

The Real Romney, Part 3

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 19th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Books, Politics|

The Real Romney

Michael Kranish and Scott Helman (Harper: 2012)

There are several things that I can now say about Governor Mitt Romney, with some degree of confidence, after reading the interesting and fair-minded biography, The Real Romney. (This, by the way, is a well-written book that was quite easy to finish in a short time.) I can safely say that the real Mitt Romney is not the star of every deal and decision that he has ever made. His campaign will obviously stress his positives this fall but seeing how he had failed, at least in some decisions, and then how he responded to these failures, made this book exceptionally useful. If the goal in reading such a book is to gain a sense of the character and leadership abilities of Mitt Romney, both learned from actual life experience, then Kranish and Helman provide the reader with some great stories and keen insights. When all is said and done Romney’s leadership record is quite impressive, at least in terms of what he has done and how he conducted himself in doing it. He clearly understands the free market, has successfully worked within […]

The Real Romney, Part 2

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 18th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Politics|

The Real Romney

Michael Kranish and Scott Helman (Harper: 2012)

Since our national election is less than four months away I recently concluded that I knew very little about Governor Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee. (I have not read his memoir and believe that such political memoirs are not likely to reveal anything deeply important to my knowing the person better anyway.) As I thought about a Romney candidacy I realized that I had some profound questions about the man, his faith and his style of leadership that I wanted to see answered. Some of these questions troubled me. I find a lot to like about Mitt Romney, in a broadly uninformed way. I certainly do not see him as a bad man in any sense of the word bad. I just did not feel like I know enough about him to have an educated opinion regarding his person, character or leadership abilities. For this reason I plunged into my reading of The Real Romney with significant interest.

It should be noted that the authors of The Real Romney, Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, are journalists, not historians. […]

The Real Romney, Part 1

By John Armstrong|2012-07-17T04:00:06-05:00July 17th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Books, Politics|

The Real Romney

Michael Kranish and Scott Helman (Harper: 2012)

Every four years America conducts a slightly troubling, but almost always peaceful, national process that we call a general election. We choose all 435 members of the House of Representatives, approximately one third of the 100 members of the Senate and, of course, a president to a four-year term. The results of these elections are what millions of us talk about for months, sometimes even years. From as far back as I can remember this process has been contentious and highly partisan. This is what you would expect in a democracy, especially a democracy with a two-party system. Our first president, George Washington, warned that a two-party system could undo us. So far he has been wrong but it does make you wonder doesn’t it? The major difference in the last decade or so seems to be that we hear about this general election, and the ideas that come from the respective campaigns, almost nonstop. This news cycle is virtually 24/7. We will read about President Obama and Governor Romney until early November. We will watch them discussed […]

Fr. Robert Barron on Douthat's Bad Religion

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 16th, 2012|Categories: Books, Religion|

I am quite often deeply encouraged through my growing personal friendship with Fr. Robert Barron. He has shared several occasions with me, in both public and private dialogue, and has consistently proven to be a gentle, gracious and engaging Christian man. He is also one of the best Christian preachers and communicators in America. While Bob Barron is deeply intellectual he has that unique quality that allows him to speak clearly to the ordinary person. He recently did a presentation on Ross Douthat’s book, Bad Religion, that is a great follow-up to my extensive review of the book from several weeks ago. This last nearly nine minutes but it is worth the entire time. You will get a balanced and fair critique of our unique American heresies from this clip.

The Righteous Mind

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 13th, 2012|Categories: Culture, Current Affairs, Ideology, Psychology, Unity of the Church|

Author Jonathan Haidt has written one of the most intriguing, and potentially helpful, books that I have come across this year. The title intrigues me instantly: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (New York: Random House, 2012). I published a comment about this book, along with a clip from NPR, on my Facebook page several months ago. Finally I began to read the book yesterday. It is, so far, everything I hoped for and more.

Jonathan Haidt is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and a visiting professor of business ethics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is the author of a previous popular book, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. But Haidt is not just interested in psychology as science but in what he calls “moral psychology.” He says people who study something often come to the conclusion that their object of fascination is the key to understanding everything. Books have been recently been published on the transformative role of […]

Wherever I Wind Up: The R. A. Dickey Story

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 12th, 2012|Categories: Baseball, Books|

My friends know that I am a huge baseball fan. I have loved the game since I was four or five years old. I got this love, like so many fans of the game, from my dad. There were many summer nights when my tired father would come home from work and take me “out to the ball game” because I begged him a great deal. One of my greatest remembrances was leaving a minor league game in Nashville before the ninth inning when the home team was down 10-1. Dad assured me it was OK to leave since Nashville could not win. As we drove home we listened on the radio as the hometown Vols rallied and won the game 11-10. I never let my dad forget that night. I hope he forgave me for reminding him so often over the years.

I introduced my children to the sport and at ages 39 and 35 they enjoy it too, especially my daughter! My son will watch a game in person but my daughter watches box scores, can keep score, and understands the nuances of the game […]

Focolare: A Catholic Movement of Love and Unity

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:20-05:00July 9th, 2012|Categories: Love, Missional-Ecumenism, Roman Catholicism, Unity of the Church|

A New York Times obituary described Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) as “one of the most influential women in the Roman Catholic Church.” Chiara passed away peacefully on March 14, 2008, at her home outside of Rome but the movement she began, almost six decades ago, continues to grow and mature around the world. During World War II, while bombs were destroying the famous Italian town of Trent, Lubich had a powerful religious experience that she described as “stronger than the bombs that were falling on Trent.” She shared this experience with her closest friends. After her friends heard her account they declared that, should they all be killed, they wished to have only one inscription carved on their tomb: “And we have believed in love.”

Until early 2012 I had never heard of Focolare, much less of Chiara Lubich. Now I have shared several evenings of wonderful fellowship over meals with Focolare members here in Chicago. Today I am an invited guest and speaker for their Midwest retreat being held at Valparaiso University (Indiana).

The Focolare Movement is […]

Muslim Attacks in Kenya: "Blessed are the Peacemakers"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:21-05:00July 6th, 2012|Categories: Islam, The War on Terrorism|

On July 1 International Christian Concern reported that suspected members of the Islamic radical group, Al-Shabaab, attacked two Christian churches and killed 17 Christians in Harissa, Kenya. These attacks took place during Sunday morning worship services. The news is now global and viral.

Pastor Ibrahim Magunyi, of the East Africa Pentecostal Church, confirmed the incident to ICC and said, “Many people were injured and rushed to Garissa Provincial hospital.”

The Islamists killed two policemen guarding the African Inland Church before entering and throwing grenades among the worshippers and shooting people randomly. This apparently coordinated attack also prompted grenades to be thrown at the town’s Roman Catholic Church.

Al-Shabaab has infiltrated Kenya over recent months and placed the nation, and especially Kenya’s Christians, on terror alert. I wonder if we even begin to imagine what it would be like attending worship with fear and terror surrounding us when we gathered? I wonder who would consider “forsaking the assembling of ourselves” to be a serious option in order to save our lives?

But there is another side to this horror story. The […]

What We Believe and Why: Theology the Way It Should Be

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:21-05:00July 4th, 2012|Categories: Theology|

My good friend, Fr. George Koch, is an Anglican pastor who really gets it. He understands that theology is about knowing God and loving him in all that you do. He understands that having theological knowledge is good, but using that knowledge to live well is the real goal of good theology. To this end George has written a magnificent new book, What We Believe and Why. Check the book out at the website George has set up to explain his approach. You can find further vital information at the site. I confess that I have been looking for a book like this for a long time.

In a recent ad George sent me he used some “negative” marketing to tell why you should buy the book. Here is how he does it. I wish I was this clever.

SIX REASONS NOT TO BUY THIS BOOK:

1. IT’S TOO BIG Oversize: 7 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches. Almost an inch thick. Big. Won’t fit in your pocket.

2. IT’S TOO LONG Over 350 full pages. That’s a lot of reading.

3. IT’S NOT CHEAP Retail […]