Ryan Handermann (Author of Shepherding Shards of Vapor)

Ryan Handermann rated a book really liked it My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
My students read this for early 20th century American literature. I laughed at his description of the American University.
Dec 16, 2025 03:20PM · like · see review
Ryan Handermann rated a book liked it By What Authority: The Rise of Personality Cults in American Christianity by Richard Quebedeaux	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The religious landscape of America has long been shaped by and a beneficiary of the mass media. Can we understand the American Church without reference to the mass media? I don’t think so and Richard Quebedeaux provides an excellent starting point f ...more
Dec 16, 2025 03:18PM · like · see review
Ryan Handermann finished reading Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come by John Daniel Davidson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 16, 2025 03:16PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Pagan America by John Daniel Davidson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Pagan America by John Daniel Davidson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Ryan Handermann rated a book liked it When a Baby Dies by Ronald H. Nash	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In 1619, the Canons of Dordt addresses this hard providence: “godly parents have no reason to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.” The great comfort to Christian parents who have lost a child ...more
Jul 29, 2025 03:12PM · like · see review
Ryan Handermann rated a book liked it How We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Nuland	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Review How We Die Sherwin Nuland describes the many complex, and often horrific ways that we die. From the sudden cardiac arrest of a chain smoker (and the author’s subsequent attempt to save him by cutting out his heart and manually restarting it) to ...more
Jul 29, 2025 01:22PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of How We Die by Sherwin B. Nuland. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — How We Die by Sherwin B. Nuland <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Ryan Handermann rated a book it was amazing A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A Grief Observed This was my first time reading CS Lewis’ private (not originally intended to be published) journals. He has a gift of expressing himself so well. Because I had heard others describe his work, I really was not sure what to expect. Lewis ...more
Jul 29, 2025 01:17PM · like · see review
Ryan Handermann rated a book really liked it Evil and the Cross: An Analytical Look at the Problem of Pain by Henri Blocher	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Evil and the Cross by Henri Blocher Dr. Blocher’s work has great value for the reformed and evangelical pastor. Where he is most valuable is in the first three chapters where he briefly gives an overview of the various answers to the “problem of evil” ...more
Jul 29, 2025 01:15PM · like · see review
Ryan Handermann wants to read Thomas Cranmer by Diarmaid MacCulloch	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 04, 2025 05:07PM · like
Ryan Handermann rated a book really liked it Religion and American Culture by George M. Marsden	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Marsden speaks in a broad, brushed terms in this book, which is helpful for an overview, but presumes that you have background in the details of the history. However, he has helpful and perceptive comments for understanding our peculiar Americanized ...more
Dec 16, 2024 03:59PM · like · see review
Ryan Handermann rated a book it was amazing Measures of the Mission: A Survey of the Bible, Church, and Family by Rich Lusk	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Why should I read this book? "The Lord's house in ruins all over our land." (184) If you have been a church-going, evangelical Christian for any amount of time, then you know this is true. You hear this, you see this, and you experience this. While thi ...more
Dec 12, 2024 11:04AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Measures of the Mission by Rich Lusk. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Measures of the Mission by Rich Lusk <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Ryan Handermann rated a book really liked it

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My students read this for early 20th century American literature. I laughed at his description of the American University.

Ryan Handermann rated a book liked it

By What Authority: The Rise of Personality Cults in American Christianity
by Richard Quebedeaux

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The religious landscape of America has long been shaped by and a beneficiary of the mass media. Can we understand the American Church without reference to the mass media? I don’t think so and Richard Quebedeaux provides an excellent starting point f ...more

Ryan Handermann finished reading

Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come
by John Daniel Davidson

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When a Baby Dies
by Ronald H. Nash

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In 1619, the Canons of Dordt addresses this hard providence: “godly parents have no reason to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.” The great comfort to Christian parents who have lost a child ...more

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How We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter
by Sherwin B. Nuland

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Review How We Die

Sherwin Nuland describes the many complex, and often horrific ways that we die. From the sudden cardiac arrest of a chain smoker (and the author’s subsequent attempt to save him by cutting out his heart and manually restarting it) to Review How We Die

Sherwin Nuland describes the many complex, and often horrific ways that we die. From the sudden cardiac arrest of a chain smoker (and the author’s subsequent attempt to save him by cutting out his heart and manually restarting it) to the slow, ugly, and gut-wrenching pain of homosexually transmitted diseases like HIV – this book gives you a glimpse of an ugly reality that most of us would rather not think about.

Nuland’s keen grasp of the many physical and psychological traumas that bring about death is combined with a warm and personal tone. But, at the same time, his skill is tainted with a lack of recognition of the human soul. This means that his insights and observations are like a man looking at the world with one eye – not only is his perspective limited, but it is also tilted.

This, for example, becomes clear in his analysis of euthanasia. He cannot make the clear ethical and moral distinction between letting someone die of natural causes and killing them. For him, this line is too blurry to make a definitive claim. At one point, (this was back in the 90s) he has the audacity to claim that the mutual affection of gay men somehow resembles “family.”

This isn’t because he is non-religious. Listen to his description of AIDS: “Although there is a great deal to be learned from the plague of AIDS, the lessons it teaches lie in the realms of science and society, and certainly not within the purview of religious elucidation. We are dealing not with a punishment, but with a crime – one of those random crimes that nature now and then perpetuates on its own creatures.” (168). It is truly remarkable that whenever a work of so-called science tries to describe the world in the Darwinian categories of evolution and change, it simply cannot do so – but must revert to the language of purpose and meaning. “nature perpetuates” and “its own creatures” and “crimes.” Elsewhere, as he tries to describe the degeneration of cancer cells, he slips into describing the human body as if it is “ordered” and “designed” to function in a particular and “correct” way. Everywhere God’s hand is revealed in the world, even Nuland cannot escape this, the best he can do is deny it like a two year old, shutting his eyes, and declaring that no one can see him.

Still, this book was helpfully provocative on the real life degeneration that happens to all of us. There are truly horrible ways to slowly and painfully die. Yet, precisely because this book is about death, the absence of Jesus is glaring. Jesus is the life. And therefore any book that dares to describe for us something of how we die, which does not also bow down to the One who is the way, the truth, and the life has not yet given enough consideration to the subject. ...more

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A Grief Observed
by C.S. Lewis

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A Grief Observed

This was my first time reading CS Lewis’ private (not originally intended to be published) journals. He has a gift of expressing himself so well.

Because I had heard others describe his work, I really was not sure what to expect. Lewis ...more

Ryan Handermann rated a book really liked it

Evil and the Cross: An Analytical Look at the Problem of Pain
by Henri Blocher

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Evil and the Cross by Henri Blocher

Dr. Blocher’s work has great value for the reformed and evangelical pastor. Where he is most valuable is in the first three chapters where he briefly gives an overview of the various answers to the “problem of evil” ...more

Ryan Handermann wants to read

Thomas Cranmer
by Diarmaid MacCulloch

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Religion and American Culture
by George M. Marsden

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Marsden speaks in a broad, brushed terms in this book, which is helpful for an overview, but presumes that you have background in the details of the history. However, he has helpful and perceptive comments for understanding our peculiar Americanized Marsden speaks in a broad, brushed terms in this book, which is helpful for an overview, but presumes that you have background in the details of the history. However, he has helpful and perceptive comments for understanding our peculiar Americanized Christianity throughout - and its broader application in our own time.

"Lacking long established traditions and rituals, Americans have been susceptible to waves of popular enthusiasm for people who are stars. This pattern had its beginnings in revivalism and remains a prominent dimension of American cultural and religion life." Needless to say, this remains true of our presidential candidates, and particularly of the current evangelical fascination with Donald Trump, even before he takes office again.

I had often wondered about the origins of Baptists in America, and the 1700s was formative in moving the small Baptists movement to, by the end of the century to "the largest religious group in the country." (33)

KEY: "In American wars, national loyalty has always been demanded above church loyalty. Presbyterians killed Presbyterians during the Revolution; Anglicans killed Anglicans. In the Civil War, Baptists killed countless Baptists, Methodists countless Methodists, Catholics and Jews killed fellow Catholics and Jews, and so forth. This has been the practice in every war." (49)

The novelty of the Constitution: "The new Constitution was indeed conspicuously revolutionary in creating the first major government in Christendom that was not officially Christian." (51). As a side note, the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 required its representatives to take this oath: I do believe in one God, the Creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration."

An interesting anecdote is that state taxes used to go to support local churches. This was true as late as 1818, when the last state tax in Connecticut was ended, which had supported the Congregationalist Churches. ...more

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Measures of the Mission: A Survey of the Bible, Church, and Family
by Rich Lusk

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Why should I read this book?

"The Lord's house in ruins all over our land." (184) If you have been a church-going, evangelical Christian for any amount of time, then you know this is true. You hear this, you see this, and you experience this.

While thi ...more

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	Shepherding Shards of Vapor really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Ryan’s Year In Books

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Ryan’s Friends (225)

Ryan Handermann

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Combine EditionsRyan Handermann’s books

Ryan is Currently Reading

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Preview — Pagan America by John Daniel Davidson

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