Reflections on the Psalms by CS Lewis

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Reflections on the Psalms by CS LewisSummary: Lewis reads the Psalms as an insightful outsider.

I am continuing my quest to read more CS Lewis after reading McGrath’s new biography a few weeks ago.  (And to justify the fact that I have purchased so many of Lewis’ books recently.  Many of his non-fiction books are less than $3, this one is currently $2.24 on kindle).

This was the first of Lewis’ non-fiction books I read after reading McGrath’s biography.  Psalms and I have had a difficult relationship.  I am not extraordinarily fond of poetry and for too long I have viewed Psalms as a book of poetry, not a book of prayers.

Part of this is that I grew up in a church background that values extemporaneous prayers, not written prayers.  So it has only been recently that I have started regularly using prayer books like Phillis Tickle’s Prayers for Summertime or the Book of Common Prayer.

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Abba, Give Me a Word: The Path of Spiritual Direction by Roger Owens

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Abba, Give Me a WordSummary: A guide to the need and experience of what it means to be under spiritual direction.

After reading fictional account of spiritual direction in Susan Howatch’s Church of England series, I decided to read a non-fiction account of spiritual direction.

In Abba, Give Me a Word, Roger Owens, a pastor, gives an account of how he found a spiritual director, and how to be under spiritual direction and use that form of spiritual direction (sort of mentoring/counseling/friendship/accountability) to grow spiritually.

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Offsite: Christian Century Short Reviews

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I am not a subscriber to Christian Century, but I do occasionally read it and I have an RSS on their book reviews (most of which are subscriber only.)  But today they posted 9 short reviews of a wide range of Christian non-fiction (mostly theology) books. Everything from Retrieving Nicea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine … Read more

Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (Church of England Series #1)

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Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (Church of England Series #1)Summary: Internal Church of England political intrigue from 1937.

This is another one of those books that someone recommended (Rhett Smith) and I bought, but then I waited 2 or 3 years to actually get around to reading, and then I absolutely loved.

I would chalk up the delay to divine intervention, but that is too strong.  The main character, Charles, is a professor of Theology at Cambridge and protégé of the Archbishop of Canterbury (head of Church of England.)  He is asked, very privately, by the Archbishop to go investigate Bishop Jardine.  Bishop Jardine has been publicly speaking out in favor of liberalizing the divorce laws and against the official teaching of the Church of England.

Charles is being sent to see if the rumors of Bishop Jardine being a womanizer have any truth.  Charles, with trepidation about undertaking the mission, goes and immediately falls for Jardine’s wife’s secretary  This leads to a myriad of issues, both with Charles’ official mission and his internal issues that the investigation dredges up.  Eventually, Charles breaks down and seeks the help of a spiritual director and Anglican monk, Jon Darrow.

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Why Frontlight is Important

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The guys at Goodereader.com ran through a comparison the Kobo Aura HD against all of the other major front lit ereaders. I was most interested in their comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite (since most agree that it had the best light prior to the new Kobo Aura.) After watching their demonstration I agree the Kobo … Read more

E-Readers and Reading Comprehension

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Salon posted an article (originally in Scientific American) about ereaders and reading comprehension on Sunday (h/t Marc Cortez) that I think sums up a lot of frustration on reporting on ereaders. First, and oddly the Salon article has a picture of a first generation kindle (which is much clunkier to use than the now 6th generation kindles). But more importantly early in … Read more

Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False

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The basic thesis is pretty self explanatory from the title alone; what makes it extra fascinating is that Nagel is an atheist. He argues that evolutionary natural selection has enormous obstacles to overcome in plausibly explaining man’s consciousness, his ability to reason, and his recognition of objective moral values–both in how they can currently exist … Read more

The Summer I Learned to Dive by Shannon McCrimmon

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The Summer I Learned to Dive by Shannon McCrimmon

Takeaway: Coming of age means realizing your dreams may not be what is important.

I am not sure why I enjoy reading young adult coming of age books, but there is something refreshing about the innocence of realizing that the whole world does not revolve around you that I find encouraging.

Finn (Finley) has lived her life believing that it was just her and her mom. Everyone else in her life has rejected her or was not around. So Finn focused on her dreams and studied and prepared for a future of being a doctor. On the night of her graduation (she was valedictorian with a full ride to a great college) she finds a stack of letters from her grandparents that her mother had hidden from her.

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