FILM REVIEW
The Ghost Writer (PG-13) depicts a ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister and uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy. This is the rare political thriller that deals intelligently with today’s headlines. It is also artfully shot.—Gordon Houser
DVD REVIEW
In Brothers (R) a young mother learns of her husband’s death in Afghanistan, only to find out later he survived. The film alternates between scenes of his captivity and torture in Afghanistan and the family’s attempts to heal. His return illustrates the horrific ripple effect of post-traumatic stress disorder from war.—Anna Groff
BOOK REVIEWS
Hunger and Happiness: Feeding the Hungry, Nourishing Our Souls by L. Shannon Jung (Augsburg Books, 2009, $15.99) exposes the atrocities of a global food system whereby the affluent “feed” at the expense of others. It explores how complicity in the hunger of others contributes to the “spiritual malnourishment” of the well-fed. Jung calls us “to access the spiritual abundance that gives meaning and purpose, satisfaction and joy … to human life.”—gh
Whose Community? Which Interpretation? Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church by Merold Westphal (BakerAcademic, 2009, $19.99) introduces current philosophical thinking related to interpreting the Bible. He says “our interpretations are relative to (conditioned by) the presuppositions we bring with us,” and these are not absolute. Such relativism, he writes, “is by no means the same as the relativism in which ‘anything goes.'”—gh
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