Mystical Paths by Susan Howatch (Church of England #5)

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Mystical Paths by Susan HowatchSummary: The son of Jon Darrow, Nicholas, has to come to his own faith and purpose.  

I am continuing to really enjoy the Church of England Series.  Mystical Paths is the fifth of the Church of England series and is the start of a spinoff series about Nicholas that starts with High Fliers.  There is one more in the Church of England Series, Absolute Truths.  But that book goes back to the 1960s again and revisits the original protagonist that started the series, Charles Ashworth.

Mystical Paths broke the series format again.  This book is mostly a mystery/thriller.  Christian Aysgarth, the oldest son of Neville (subject of books 3 and 4) died in 1965.  But Katie, his wife is still troubled with the thought that it was not an accident, but a suicide (and she is to blame).

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Jesus is Lord, Ceasar is Not: Evaluating Empire in the New Testament

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Jesus is Lord, Ceasar is NotSummary: Jesus is Lord does not necessarily mean that early Christians were also saying Caesar is not.

Jesus is Lord, Caesar is Not sounded like a great book that I desperately wanted to read.  In the end I found it was a good book that I probably could have read a review of instead.  That is not to say it isn’t worth reading.  Just to say it was not worth reading for me.

You see I have previously thought that thinking about Christianity in terms of Empire or Anti-Empire could be useful, but either way often put more emphasis on the writer’s political views than on the actual biblical evidence.

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Overdrive Launches Big Library Read

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Overdrive is the system that most libraries uses to distribute ebooks and downloadable audiobook via the web to its patrons.  Starting last week (May 15th) until June 1st, Overdrive is trying a new pilot project, Big Library Read. In more than 3000 library systems across the US, The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone … Read more

Third Shift – Pact – Part 8 of Silo Series by Hugh Howey

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Third Shift - Pact - Part 8 of Silo Series by Hugh HoweySummary: The final of the second series.

Hugh Howey is an independent author phenomenon.  Most authors do not make $15-20,000 a month and decide to turn down a 7 figure advance on a book contract after selling the rights to their books to Ridley Scott.

But Hugh Howey, after a little over a year gets an article in the Wall Street Journal about his writing/marketing prowess.

Third Shift (Pact) follows the same basic mold.  This is the third (and last) of this second series.  Donald (who was sort of tricked into working in the Silo initiative) is again woken up to deal with a problem.

And Solo’s back story is finally revealed.

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Scandalous Risks by Susan Howatch (Church of England #4)

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Scandalous Risks by Susan HowatchSummary: A young woman recounts her affair with the Dean of Starbridge.

One of the things I have enjoyed about reading the Church of England series is learning more about the actual Church of England.  A Dean of a Cathedral is essentially the pastor of the Cathedral.  In Scandalous Risks, Neville (Stephen) Aysgarth has risen from his role of Arch Deacon (assistant to the Bishop that oversees a geographical area of Churches) to the Dean of the Cathedral.

As Dean of one of the most prominent (fictional) Cathedrals in England Neville has risen to become one of the most powerful clergy in the Church of England.  Unfortunately for him, the Bishop of Starbridge is now Charles Ashworth, Neville’s conservative rival.

But Scandalous Risks is not simply a continuation of Ultimate Prizes (#3). It is narrated by Venetia Flaxton.  Young Venetia is 26, wandering around trying to find purpose in life.  Her best friend, Primrose (daughter of Neville) draws her to Starbridge and Venetia finds a number of friends, a job working for the Bishop and eventually an affair with the Dean (Neville).

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Pandora Park by Piers Anthony

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Summary: Two children find their way into a magic park. This is Piers Anthony’s first children’s book and it shows. It isn’t horrible, but Anthony doesn’t really know his audience and it alternates between middle grade and older and I kept having this feeling of dread that some of his more erotic work was going … Read more

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

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Ella Minnow Pea: a Novel in Letters by Mark DunnNollop is a (fictional) sovereign state on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, named for the man who purportedly composed the famous pangram: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” The citizens revere and almost worship Nollop; when the letters of the pangram, which are engraved on a memorial statue, start to fall off due to wear and tear, the government interprets this as instruction from their faux-deity to stop using said letters in any form, written or spoken. The new laws are enforced by public flogging, banishment, and possibly execution.

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Who’s Tampering With the Trinity? by Millard Erickson

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Who's Tampering with the Trinity?Takeaway: Erickson focuses on how to disagree well and evaluate different Christian positions. 

As I have been reading about the trinity over the past two years I have realized that it is actually fairly small questions that are at the root of the big debates.

This makes sense because Christians agree about the vast majority of Christian theology. There is very little debate about the fact that the Trinity has three members.  That all three members of the trinity are God. Or that the Trinity is made up of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

But a relatively small debate has gained importance over the last 30-50 years because of another debate within the church, the role of women.

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