Jason B. Ladd
One of the Few: A Marine Fighter Pilot’s Reconnaissance of the
Christian Worldview
Boone Shepherd; October 27, 2015
Paperback: 318 pp, $16.99 or AUD
22.94
Jason Ladd’s
non-fiction work is his first offering and sits virtually on his Amazon
alongside The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything
Important that Happens in Between by Gregory Koukl, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout
Muslim Encounters Christianity by Nabeel Qureshi and You Are Special by Max Lucado, a heavyweight in the Christian
Living genre.
I have chosen to contrast
the book with Ann Voskamp’s New York best seller for 60 weeks One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully
Right Where You Are. Both authors
are quiverful parents of a growing family, Ann a farmer’s wife with then six
children, Jason husband and father to seven children; both have experienced a
death of a child in their immediate families, and are living away from urban
life.
Academic journal writer Allan Fisher attributes the
start of Christian non-fiction book publishing to evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Fisher via Christianity Today says Moody “was the catalyst for two of
America's largest religious book publishers”.
“While preaching in mid-western and western states, he became aware that
Christian books were stocked by few book stores and were prohibitively
expensive.
Drawing on his earlier business
experience, Moody conceived of a series of pocket-sized paperback books that
would be priced right: 10¢! The volumes would be reprints of established books
or new books by established authors, books that were readable and
non-denominational.”
Despite the expected violence from a
book about an Iraq War veteran and mom and butter cake expectations from a west
of Ontario stay at home mom, the reverse is true, of Ann at least. It was this perception of Christian life as
unmanly that discouraged Jason from joining his wife’s faith.
“Is God for Girlie Men? It was within
this milieu that as a young man, I
assigned femininity to the Church. If there were strong men with powerful
voices calling their flocks to wield the sword of the spirit, I didn’t know
about them. I had never heard of Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, or John
MacArthur. I was unfamiliar with church history, tradition, the role of men in
the church, the increasing feminization prior to the 19th century, or the more
recent “muscular Christianity” movement. I did not attend church regularly
until I had children of my own.”
It was the insightful
information that I enjoyed about Jason’s book.
I have been to many bible studies and fluent in Christianese, but found
fresh scriptures that were useful to me and fresh ways to approach topical
debates. Considering Jason has
first-hand knowledge of hot spots in the world, I value his opinion.
