New York – Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel by Ray Keating is the story of a pastor who years ago was a CIA assassin and now must use his experience as both an agent and a theologian to meet a new, deadly challenge. But there’s more to this book than just being a fun thriller. A host of moral, ethical and religious topics are touched on as well.
The new Discussion Guide for Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is meant for group or individual study and reflection on topics like terrorism, war, prayer, public life and the Church, sex and marriage, going to church, ecumenism, and church architecture.
The Rev. Fred Schumacher, the executive director of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, offered the following about the novel: “If I were not retired from serving in a parish, I would certainly create an adult book discussion group using Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel as an interesting starting point for a discussion of issues in regard to church and society; ecumenism in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the greater Church; the many moral and ethical issues facing individual Christians; and much more.”
Keating said, “Pastor Schumacher was very kind in his remarks. He also motivated me to produce this discussion guide, just in case anyone actually carries through on his suggestion.”
The Discussion Guide for Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is available from Amazon.com’s CreateSpace at https://www.createspace.com/3558267, or directly from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Discussion-Guide-Warrior-Monk-Stephen/dp/145658569X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297632120&sr=1-1.
Ray Keating is the author of Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel (2010). He also is a weekly columnist with Dolan Media Company (including Long Island Business News and Colorado Springs Business Journal), a former Newsday weekly columnist, an economist, and an adjunct college professor. His work has appeared in a wide range of additional periodicals, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Post, Los Angeles Daily News, The Boston Globe, National Review, The Washington Times, Investor's Business Daily, New York Daily News, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Providence Journal Bulletin, and Cincinnati Enquirer.
This is a post about the book, not about the discussion guide. But I didn't see any better place to hang comments about the book in general.
ReplyDeleteI read the book and liked it a lot. It is a reasonably well executed suspense novel, and it is a reasonably well executed bit of Christian fiction. It is unique so far as I know in being written from a liturgical Christian perspective, neither sola-scriptura Protestant nor Catholic. The characters were not cardboard cutouts and the temptations were not straw men and at least one significant event had the Christian inversion of what the world considers success.
I do not know if similar books exist because I have not hunted for them. If I see "Christian" fiction anywhere I assume it is non-liturgical Protestant and I am just not up for reading that. I found this book because of a pop-up ad on Facebook. If there are similar books I would like to know of them.
I have one minor complaint: The book makes no mention at all of Orthodox Christianity. I realize that one can stuff only so much into a book, and I don't know the situation on Long Island, but I can't imagine a Papal gathering like that in the book that would fail to have a significant, visible Orthodox presence. And I'm going to bet (without having done any research!) that more traditionalist Episcopalians moved to Orthodoxy than to the traditionalist Anglican non-ECUSA churches. And I will bet there are more Orthodox in the USA than there are Episcopalians. Quite possibly I am wrong; but still Orthodoxy belongs in this picture. It would be fun to have an Orthodox discuss terrorism and torture with Pastor Grant.
At last, my primary point: I judge the book to be more important as a pattern or spark than considered in isolation as one book. It is a genre buster, in several senses, and a positive one rather than merely a negative, rebellious one. There are other areas in which I would like to see genre busters. For instance, a few years ago I got a bee in my bonnet that there ought to be three-dimensional liturgical-Christian horror books, in which the evils being confronted, and the final resolutions, would reflect deep liturgical-Christian principles rather than the principles of either sola-scriptura Christianity or of the world. The enChurched exorcist is different from the "independent and fundamental" exorcist. To overcome the evil the protagonist is going to have to depend on God and to die (somehow, in some real way) and not soldier through via self-reliance to a clean victory.
I would like to open up a more general discussion along these lines but I'm not sure where that might happen.
In any event, thanks very much for the book, Mr. Keating.