Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76Plough Quarterly • Summer 2015 69 The Buried Giant: A Novel Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf) In the Britain of Ishiguro’s mythic tale, grass grows on Roman ruins, Britons and Saxons share an uneasy peace, and a wanderer might still cross paths with an ogre or dragon. A spell of forgetfulness seems to envelop the country like fog. An elderly couple, Axl and Beatrice, set out from their village to find their son and recover their lost memories. Will they break the spell, or are some things best left unre- membered–especially in the wake of wholesale slaughter? Throughout the ensuing drama, the tender love Axl and Beatrice share shines like a jewel. Can it survive if the buried giant of their for- gotten past reawakens? Ancient Christian Worship Andrew B. McGowan (Baker) How did the first Christians worship? The New Testament tells us they gath- ered daily to pray, sing, and share meals. McGowan fleshes out this picture using other early sources to show how much of the rich diver- sity of Christian worship today–singing, dancing, praying, baptizing, anointing, teaching, preach- ing, prophesying, feasting, and fasting–has its roots in the first through fourth centuries. When did Sunday church services start? What about Christmas? Why did many early Christians pray five times a day? This thorough, authoritative work gives a challenging glimpse into the lives of our forerunners in the faith. Scavenger Loop: Poems David Baker (Norton) The masterful thirty-page title poem has it all: a whirlwind of poetic forms, our tempestuous love affair with nature, lost innocence, a dying mother, materialism, GM corn, trash pickers, and our inevitable return to dust. Baker, poetry editor of the Kenyon Review, rarely fails to bring us back down to earth: “. . . I’ve read / the dust of long-blown stars seeds empty / space. / Go get your saw, he says. I’ll grab my E d i t o r s ’ P i c K s gloves.” Though the shadow of loss, absence, and regret falls across many of these poems, it doesn’t dampen the poet’s obvious love for his language and his land. In “Heaven” all it takes is a cicada: I don’t know what has shocked me more, that you are gone, that I am still here, that there is music after the end. See the author’s poem “Errand” on page 23. Where the Cross Meets the Street Noel Castellanos (IVP Books) In this spiritual memoir, Castellanos, who leads the Christian Community Development Association and has written on immigration for Plough, takes us back to his roots in a Mexican farmworker family in Texas. He honors those who helped form him–a fifth grade teacher who believed in him, a football coach who brought him to Jesus–and describes landing in the white, evangelical world of Chris- tian college. Inspired by his mentor John Perkins and by Latin American liberation theologians, he moved to a Chicago barrio with his young family to found a church that confronts injustice and restores community. In his candid description of both the rewards and failures he’s experienced, Castel- lanos shows us why God’s love for those at the margins–a love demonstrated on the cross–should be the center of every Christian’s life. The Road to Character David Brooks (Random House) A leading pundit, Brooks confesses that in his rise to fame he’s neglected certain fundamentals. Like many ambitious souls, he has focused on “resumé virtues” instead of “eulogy virtues”: courage, kind- ness, honesty, generosity, depth of character. These are traits shared by the “deeply good” people whom we all want to resemble. Though Brooks’s moral vision blurs at times (don’t “follow your heart” into adultery, for instance), we’re heartened that a bestseller is pointing so many people in the right direction. The Editors McGowan fleshes out this picture using other a wanderer might still cross paths with an ogre or written on immigration for