Peter Witkowski Book Reviews

How an Introduction Destroyed the Hope of Transcendentalism: A Review of the Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter grabs the reader’s attention in much the same way a wreck between a Ferrari and a Porch does. But the most remarkable facet of the book is not Nathaniel Hawthorne’s mishmash of tedious descriptions and keen insights into the psychology of shame and repentance but rather his inability to overcome with his own hubris. In his attempt to show how humanity has progressed beyond the cold and unflinching, intolerance of puritanism, he inadvertently reveals humanity’s nature to be unmovable. And he accomplishes all this before the reader event gets to chapter one.

Too Many Words

Before introducing readers to the firmly resolved Hester Pryne who is branded with the infamous letter for her infidelity, the unstable Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale who is the father of Hester’s child, and the ever-scheming Roger Chillingworth who seeks to covertly punish the pastor for his unconfessed sin, Hawthorne invites his readers to hear about the story behind the story. Although he could have recounted it in the space of two or three pages how he stumbled upon the scarlet letter that inspired this American classic, Hawthorne devotes some forty-seven pages to this tale. Those pages quickly put the transcendental author on the defensive. About a month after his book went to print, Hawthorn found himself having to add an addendum to the second edition of his book this story behind the story had “created unprecedented excitement.”

Somewhat understandably, Hawthorne’s first audience took exception to his negative description of those old men who propped up the Boston Custom House which once employed the author. Hawthorne portrayed his coworkers as being indolent if not outright incompetent government employees. Having, “flung away all the golden grain of practical wisdom, which they had…so many opportunities of harvesting (18-19), most of Hawthorne’s aged coworkers now spent their days mastering the skill of napping with one’s chair propped against the wall. Even the two people who managed to earn some respect from Hawthorne still proved less than laudable. Though the inspector did his job well, according to Hawthorne this leader still possessed “no soul, no heart, no mind, nothing.”  The patriarch of the Custom House knew nothing of beauty and talked only of food. Food. To quote Hawthorne, “It was marvelous to observe how the ghosts of bygone meals were continually rising up before him…A tender-lion of beef, a hind-quarter of veal, a spare-rib of pork, a particular chicken, or a remarkably praiseworthy turkey.” Hawthorne spoke a touch more kindly about the rusty general. Though Hawthorne avoided conversation with the now decayed man, the author still found some delight in watching the general’s “almost slumberous countenance” because he could at times display “a ray of humor” or some other praiseworthy trait (25).

Though Hawthorn believed that his soul had benefited from being forced “into habits of companionship with individuals unlike himself,” he still found those who had abandoned the ideals of nature for the doldrums of the Custom House as being less than good. He described them as having fallen victim to the “Devil’s wages.” Thankfully, Hawthorne ‘escaped’ from such enchantments among other things through his meditations upon the scarlet letter that produced the book by the same name. He was in the truest of senses, “a citizen of somewhere else.”

A New Letter for A New Age

Given the vast distance between myself and the author, I happily defer to Hawthorne’s knowledge of his coworkers and presume his descriptions of them to be accurate. But they cannot be said to be kind or needed. Criticisms of others that only highlights one’s own abilities and merits cannot help but appear selfish and thereby somewhat petty.

By going after his coworkers, Hawthorne reveals that his new ethic has not advanced beyond “the blackest shade of Puritanism” that had “so darkened the national visage.” The scarlet letters still exist in Hawthorne’s age albeit now slightly reworked.

Instead of condemning Hester and the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale for breaking a religious law that had been so mangled by society that it prevented the very displays of love and goodness that it should have protected, Hawthorn now condemns his contemporaries for a much less harmful crime, the crime of dullness. But instead of placing the criminals of his age on a platform for a few hours, our author has placed the objects of his disdain atop the pages of his book so readers can view his coworkers letters of shame for posterity.

Despite all his efforts to elevate humanity from the depressing confines of Christendom, Hawthorne’s ethic proves not to have reached upward but rather sidewise. The pettiness of his ancestors that he so hated is still alive and well in Hawthorne’s heart. Though freely critical of his coworkers, Hawthorne maintained a much more favorable view of himself writing, “I was, A Surveyor of Revenue, and, so far as I have been able to understand, a good a Surveyor as need be (28).” Just like the crowds who stared at Hester, Hawthorne failed to heed Jesus’s warning against seeing “the speck that is in your brother’s eye” while refusing to “notice the log that is in your own eye (Mat 7:3).” Ironically, Hawthorne sought to atone for his forefathers sins by committing them anew. To borrow the words of Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, one might say of Hawthorne, “He spoken the very truth, and transformed himself into the verist falsehood.”

How Sin Made the Book a Classic

Moreover, I suspect the book remains a classic because humanity has not fundamentally changed with the passing of time. The modern reader can still relate to Hawthorne’s description of the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale for they too have experienced shame, offered half-hearted confessions, and languished under the sorrow of unrepentant sins. Others know the sorrow that comes from nobly enduring injustice at the hands of the self-righteous. And I suspect many too have enjoyed the liberation that comes through confession described in the books closing pages. Moreover, the twenty-first century reader could just as easily say as Hawthorne did that his political opponents might “guillotine” him if given the chance. Humanity is still the same.

But perhaps most of all, today’s readers can relate to Hawthorne because they too long to find life outside the law. In one sense, such an urge is good and proper for salvation does not come through the law. As the apostle Paul notes in Romans 7:10: “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” But unfortunately for Hawthorne and his readers, it also does not come through the removal of the puritanical or biblical law. When men and women remove the law of Scripture, they always fill the newly created void with another law of their own creation, a new letter of some other color to be branded onto a new generation’s chest. Rather salvation comes through the fulfillment of the law in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who dies not so that we can discover ourselves but so that we can be good and know the joy of a clean conscience. In other words, we need not go to the woods but to the cross to find ourselves. Sadly, Hawthorne’s book reveals that he never grasped the beauty of this truth, the truest of truths that alone explains and redeems the human condition. In other words, Hawthorne understands something of the human condition but is powerless to improve it. And we discover all this simply by reading the introduction.

Peter Witkowski Book Reviews

My Top Reads of 2023

Though it is something to have one’s words appear on a printed page (unless of course said printer is the one found in your home office), it is still much more of a something to have those same words appear in print a decade if not even a century later. While not exactly hot off the press, the three volumes below proved the most edifying and stimulating to my soul this past year. Thus, I happily pass along some aging and well-aged volumes to you.

Confronted By Grace

By: John B. Webster

Making full use of his academic genius and renowned conversationalist skills, Webster skillfully presents deep doctrinal truths in a manner that quickly connects them with the readers heart. In the span of 247 pages, Webster provides his readers with manageable definitions of worship, anxiety, grace, faith, and many other topics that prove essential to the wellbeing of our souls. With his terms defined, the Anglican professor then thoughtfully applies the doctrines to his readers lives in the ensuing 4-5 paragraphs. In other words, Webster connects the Scriptures to his readers’ minds and emotions without devolving into the cheap sentimentality that has come to define so much of Christendom. As Michael Horton said of these short, doctrinal sermons, “One forgets the preacher and hears Christ.” Those who incorporate sermons into their devotional life or who are seeking to grow in their understanding of how to live out their Christian faith would greatly benefit from reading these sermons by the late John Webster. 

Excerpt:

Faith sees the truth about God and God’s merciful, gracious kingdom which is embodied for us in Jesus Christ. Faith is not just some crazy hope against evidence (indeed, when it becomes that it is itself a king of sickness). Quite the opposite: Faith is that deeply healthy state of the soul in which we let God be God. It’s that free, unhesitating, joyful assent to the one in the midst of whose kingdom we stand secure.

Devotion

By: Adam Makos

In the span of 445 up-tempo pages, Makos captures the essence of brotherly love against the backdrop of the Koren War. Though the movie that bears the same name as the book above portrays Jesse Brown as an angry black man, jaded by racism and Tom Hudson as a naive white man, lacking experience, the book teases out a much more complex, inspiring, and beautiful narrative. Though Jesse unquestionably encountered the brutalities of racism as children spat on him, teenagers assaulted him with eggs, and navy colleagues made unkind remarks, he was not an angry man on a mission, but rather a loving husband, father, and Christian, who longed to be home with his wife and daughter. Though much of the world was against Jessie, he easily inspired and won the friendship of men like Tom who shared the former sharecropper’s work ethic and love of neighbor. While on the ground attempting to save Jessie who had been shot down moments earlier, Tom said of his friend, “Jesse was so calm through it all, I’ve never seen anything like it…When we were on the ground, he was calming me down, when I should have been calming him down (393).” Tom, who almost never flew because of bouts with airsickness, also possessed remarkable fortitude. He stayed by Jessie’s side in the cold snow until his death and then stood with his wife and daughter in the years that followed. In a world of causes and movements, we would do well to spend more time reflecting on the bonds of friendship which can withstand even the strains of war. I fully agree with Makos that, “The world needs Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner, now more than ever.”

Excerpt

Against a backdrop of gray clouds, the two blue Corsairs dived toward the snowy mountains. Tom glanced at Jesse as their planes plummeted side by side. Jesse’s helmeted head scanned back and forth, his eyes searching for a place to crash. He was going down, seventeen miles northwest of Hagaru, deep inside enemy territory.

An Ark for All God’s Noahs

By: Thomas Brooks

Thomas Brooks’ 261-page volume serves as a spiritual b12 shot for believers who have been wounded and wearied by the world. Knowing that only a Christian’s unbelief could separate him from the glorious promises tied to the death and resurrection of Christ, Brooks wanted to help his readers get hold of their inheritance. He noted, “Nothing can make that man miserable that has God for his portion, nor nothing make that man happy who that wants God for his portion (xvii). In the first section, Brooks outlines, quantifies, and defines the nature of God’s promises, reminding the believer that God is the source of all goodness. The Puritan then explains why God freely bestows his goodness on those who believe before applying the doctrine to a host of practical concerns. He then ends the book answering objections that some of his readers had such as, could sin keep them from experiencing God’s promises. Though the book was first published in 1666, the promises of God that Brooks highlights remain forever relevant. And when Brooks makes use of a Latin phrase or even an awkward English expression, the Banner of Truth edition contains footnotes that quickly blow away any clouds of confusion that might otherwise disrupt the reading. If you want to be reminded afresh of just how amazingly good, loving, just, merciful, and patient our God is, I encourage you to read this book!

Excerpt:

If God be your portion, then every promise in the book of God is yours, and every attribute in the book of God is yours, and every privilege in the book of God is yours, and every comfort in the book of God is yours, and every blessing in the book of God is yours, every treasury in the book of God is yours, and every mercy in the book of God is yours, and every ordinance in the book of God is yours, and every sweet in the book of God is yours, if God be yours, all is yours.

Two Bonus Picks

Right Ho Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse – “You know how it is with some girls. They seem to take the stuffing right out of you. I mean to say, there is something about their personality that paralyses the vocal cords and reduces the contents of the brain to cauliflower.”

Expositions of Chapter 6: The New Man by Martyn Lloyd-Jones – “The cure for that [depression] is to realize that, whether you have sinned or not, you are in Christ; that sin does not affect you yourself as a person, that it cannot bring you again into its realm and reign; that sin only remains in your mortal body, and that – even that – because you are in Christ is going to be entirely set free.”

Peter Witkowski Christmas, Christmas Devotionals

The Story of Christmas: The Magi, A Mad King, & The Shepherd

Below you will find a reworked version of the readings used in my congregation’s last Christmas Eve Service. Each year, I attempt intertwine the message of the gospel with the Christmas narrative, exploring how the gospel would have shaped the worldview of those watching the birth of Christ unfold in real time. The set of four short readings below explores the Christmas story from the perspective of the wisemen. The readings and the Scriptures in the title sections can be read on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning before you dive into the goodies surrounding your tree. Or you could just read it now or anytime (for that matter) you are in need of some gospel cheer!

Merry Christmas!

Magi, Darkness, and a Star: Isaiah 9:2

Today, the presence of the wisemen, or the magi, in our nativity scenes proves to be rather unremarkable. We just stick them next to the shepherds and all the angels. But their role in that first Christmas was anything but ordinary.  

You see, the Magi were interlopers, foreigners. To use the Jewish word, they were “Gentiles.” They had no claim upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or upon the city of David. If anything, the wisemen most likely hailed from the ruins of the Babylonian and Persian empires. For generations, these people groups had made a name for themselves in-part through oppressing the nation of Israel. Consequently, God had never spoken through the Babylonian or the Persian prophets. The Magi’s ancestors were unquestionably the enemies of God. And yet, here they are in the middle of the Christmas story because they had seen a great light…the star of Christmas.

Though scholars have speculated a good deal about how the Magi found the Star of Bethlehem, the Bible gives us few direct hints about the process. We do not know if the star was a comet or if it was a supernatural orb that only the Magi could see. We do not know if the Magi came to Jerusalem because they had read Daniel’s prophetic calendar or one of Isaiah’s old scrolls. We do not know. We only know the God’s glorious light had penetrated the darkness of their hearts. Faith had sprung forth where once there had only been darkness.

The idea of God creating light from nothing, and darkness boggles our minds. Every time we create something, we always do so from something else. We build Lego cars out of Legos, and we build homes out of wood, bricks, and vinal siding. With us, everything comes from something. But this is not true of our God. In Genesis 1:1-4, the very first verses of the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, we read these words:    

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.

Where there was once nothing but darkness, now there was light, a pure and good light that reflected the glorious character of God! As John the disciple whom Jesus loved noted, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).” At its inception, the universe knew only this glorious light. All was good. Even Adam and Eve, our first ancestors, reflected God’s perfection. But the world did not stay good. The darkness of sin would swallow up the whole human race. Floods and judgements would come. And nations like the nation of Babylon would come and go without ever catching a direct glimpse of God’s light. The world of the wiseman was a dark world. But it would not stay that way. The light had come again. The Star a Bethlehem had appeared to them. Salvation had come!

Magi, a Mad King, & a Missing Baby: Matthew 2:1-4

The people of Jerusalem viewed the wisemen with a good deal of suspicion. Yes, Herod goes through all the protocols associated with hosting foreign dignitaries and welcomes them into the king’s house. But no one in Herod’s house is comfortable with them.

As we have already noted, they are outsiders, hailing from people groups that used to terrorize the Jews. But even more troubling than their presence is their message. They have come to see, “He who was born king of the Jews.” This proves to be a geopolitical problem for Herod. Though he calls himself the King of the Jews, Herod is not a Jew. Moreover, he is rather old having spent his youth hanging out with Cleopatra and Mark Antony. No one would assume that King Herod was the object of the Magi’s search.

But their message is not just a challenge to the king’s political relevance. It is a challenge to the very idea of human independence…human self-government…to the right to live and let live.

The term “King of the Jews” was a religious claim. In other words, the wisemen were looking for the Messiah, God in human flesh.  A few years later during his trial in Matthew 26, Jesus would boldly declare himself to be the “Christ the son of God.” The non-Jews who heard this claim transposed Jesus’s words into a sign that read, “King of the Jews (Matt 27:37).” In other words, to search for the king of the Jews was to search for the Messiah, for the ruler of the universe who demands our perfect obedience…our full allegiance.

We know Herod understood the nature of the wisemen’s claim for he immediately consulted not with the politicians of his day but with the religious leaders. But as Matthew 2:16-18 would make clear, Herod’s quest was not one of worship but of rebellion. He wanted to kill Jesus. Herod was at war with God.

But such animosity did not begin with Herod. Nor was it unique to him. The rebellion originated back in Genesis 3, that first book of the Bible. Following the advice of a snake, our first parents, Adam and Eve, sought to take a run at being God through the process of eating some forbidden fruit. But instead of conquering God, they lost their natural goodness and thereby corrupted human nature. They found themselves exiled from all that was good, holy, and pure. And when God came to check on them after that first sin, they hid. God was no longer a comfort. Darkness began to reign.

Being the children of Adam and Eve, we too are sinners cut off from the glorious light of God. As Jesus noted in Matthew 15:19, the evil that infects our lives comes from within. We do bad things because we are bad. Jesus says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” We have all lied once or twice to get out of a sticky situation or said something unkind that we regret. Though we try to be good, we must confess that we are not good. We too deserve to die for our sins. God is light and we are darkness.

But as the wisemen well knew, the light had come into the world not to condemn the world but to save it: to give life and light to men. You see the star was guiding the Magi not to Jerusalem but to Bethlehem!  

A City, A Messiah, and a Shepherd: Matthew 2:5-11

A city is much more than a dot on a map. It represents a culture, an ethos, a way of life. There is a great difference between being from New York City as opposed to Dallas. The same proves true of the towns in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus presence of the star over Bethlehem unveils more than Jesus’s birthplace. It reveals that he is the Messiah worthy of our worship.

In one sense, anyone can claim to be God. No one has an existential crisis when their weird uncle Al says he’s god, because infinite beings do not live in grandma’s basement. He also claims to be a piece of toast, but we don’t butter him either. Simply saying something does not make it true.

It is one thing to claim to be God, and another thing to empirically prove it. The biblical account of Jesus’s birth does just that. In Micah 5:2, God made the following promise: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathat, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be the ruler of Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days.” In other words, Jesus’s birth was not accident but the very fulfillment of God’s Word. And this was not the first time Jesus had fulfilled the words of God as a baby. Back in Matthew 1:22, the gospel writer informs us that the Mary conceived Jesus while a virgin fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:13-14 which says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.” While anyone can claim to be divine, the son of God, only the one born of a virgin and born in the town of Bethlehem can legitimately make sense of the historical witness of Scripture. If Jesus where any where else, he would not be the Messiah.

In addition to revealing his divine nature, the city also reveals Jesus’s character. Instead of standing aloof from his people and terrorizing others as Herod and countless other men and women have done, Jesus comes to shepherd his people. Though he could have called down angels to crush his opponents, he willingly dies for them. As Jesus told his disciples, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (Jh. 10:11).” He atones for our sins on the cross and then rises again so that all who repent and believe can have eternal life with him. The wisemen rightly broke forth into joy and worshiped Jesus when they entered his house. As evidenced by their gifts, the Magi realized that Jesus is both their God and their savior, the very antidote to the darkness of death that has enveloped us all. And not only does Jesus shepherd them and us to heaven, he also guides us through this life, guaranteeing our spiritual growth and righteousness. Even when we go through times of darkness, struggle, and sorrow, Jesus stays close by our side. As the great king David who also hailed from Bethlehem noted, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Ps 23:1).”

In other words, the star came to rest upon the tiny town of Bethlehem because baby Jesus was both fully man and fully God, the shepherd king who saves us from our sins!

Gifts, Worship & the Meaning of Christmas: Matthew 2:12

The story of the wisemen found in Matthew 2 is no sentimental tale. It does not belong on the fiction shelf but rather in the philosophy section. It makes an existential claim upon our life. It declares that the baby that the wisemen found was the Son of God and that he is worthy of our worship. And if Jesus truly is more than the small figurine in the center of our manger scene, then we must do something with the story of the Magi. We must either worship Jesus like the Magi did, or go to war with Jesus like King Herod did, or attempt to ignore Jesus like the religious whom Herod consulted leaders did.

I plead with you to avoid the latter two options. War in all contexts proves to be a ghastly thing. More importantly, It will end with our defeat and eternal judgement. Indifference also proves to be an equally bad choice. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me (Matt 12:30).” Though we are content to ignore God, Jesus will not ignore us. His righteous judgement will find you out. But it does not have to.  

If you will follow the Magi to Bethlehem and worship the baby in the manger, you too can experience the glorious light that is the life of men. If you will confess your sins and lay down your idols at the feet of Jesus, you too will have every reason to rejoice with exceedingly great joy this Christmas for Jesus’s blood will wash your sins clean. He will go from being your judge to being your good shepherd. As the apostle John once said, Jesus came so that we, “may have life and have it abundantly.” May we too follow the wisemen to Bethlehem this Christmas!