Review: Cross and the Floating Dragon: The Gospel in Ryukyu

Cross and the Floating Dragon: The Gospel in Ryukyu by Edward E. Bollinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is basically the history of Christianity in Okinawa. I thought it would be the most boring book I had ever read, but it turned out to be a gem, giving me a look into the history of something that touched the lives of millions of people in the island all told. It covers all types of Christianity (Catholicism, COE, Episcopalianism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Baptists, seventh day Adventists, and others) on the island.

The whole section on Bettelheim was extremely entertaining (and it turns out he has a Wikipedia page too), especially the tactics the locals used to discourage him, and how he kept persevering.

The "Village that lives by the Bible" story was also extremely interesting, including the truth behind it.

After the war, there was a general mentality that "America won the war, so now we must become Christians" (p. 189), which undoubtedly helped the Christian movement (although it had been going very strong before the war as well).

It was also interesting to read about the conflict between ancestral rites and Christianity, and how Catholicism was the most accommodating for this practice.

All in all an interesting and unique look into a subject I otherwise would never have read about.

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Review: Methodism: Empire of the Spirit

Methodism: Empire of the Spirit by David Hempton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This should probably be the second book you read on Methodism. It lacked a basic standard history and overview of the religion, with its beginnings, progress, changes, up to the present day. A book containing those details would be great preparation for this book.

As it stands, this book is full of details you probably can't find anywhere else. It has things like discussions on the parallels and differences between Methodism in the US and in Britain, but in one chapter it compares Kilham to O'Kelly, in another Bunting to Asbury, and then talks about Taylor expanding to 5 continents, and these names mesh together with those of other itinerant preachers and believers, so it's hard to form a coherent outline of the religious movement due to all the details that are given (and in no chronological order).

Here is another telling passage: "As every undergraduate knows, John Wesley had a particular genius for organization..." (p. 128). While I probably could have guessed he was good at organization, since the fact that he founded Methodism was pretty much all I knew about him before reading this book, I doubt that any undergraduate I ask would 'know' this.

In other words, knowing a basic outline of the history of methodism is almost required to get the most out of this book.

Having said that, there are some very interesting tidbits.

Some of my notes:
Wesley actually never left the Church of England, since he thought Methodism didn't veer from it at all. He also was against the American revolution, was against capitalism and against enlightenment rationalism. Given all this it's amazing how it thrived in the US.
Methodists and Baptists were much more popular among oppressed African americans than other religions.
By the 1850s, Methodists had built almost as many churches in the US as there were post offices.

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