Summary: Short profiles of 13 theologians from the 20th century.
Last year Fortress Press had a sale and I picked up several books. I started reading the Fortress Introduction to Contemporary Theologies almost immediately. But because it is a book that profiles different theologians and does not need to be read all together (or in order), I have spent more than 6 months dabbling in it. It was originally published in 1998, so it is not a new book, but I do not think it is a dated book either.
Francine Bryson is a national pie champion and a former finalist on The American Baking Competition. She’s written two cookbooks, “œBlue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen” and her recent publication, “œCountry Cooking from a Redneck Kitchen“ which is my most recent review. As my family contemplates a move a little further South in a couple of years, I thought it would be fun to dip my toe into the Southern culinary cuisine.
I spent a sold two weeks deciding which recipe I would try for this review and landed on “œThe Best Fried Chicken You’ll Ever Eat”. My husband is eager for any excuse to use his deep fryer so this had to be the one.
One of the best parts of physical books is the ability to share that book with friends. Digital books publishers have attempted to both encourage and limit digital sharing. Amazon allows publishers to choose whether to participate in sharing or not, about 1/3 of Amazon books are ‘lendable’. Now Audible has started allowing their audiobooks … Read more
Summary: A missionary to aliens has marriage problems.
The concept of The Book of Strange New Things is so simple that it really did not catch my attention when I first heard about it. But it was recommended several times by different people and when it was on sale I decided to pick it up. (Vikki Huisman reviewed it for Bookwi.se when it first came out.)
The story is simple, Peter, pastor with a history of drug abuse and alcoholism prior to becoming a Christian is hired to go to the planet Oasis to minister to the aliens there. A lot has been made of this being a genre defying novel, but I did not think that it was widely outside of either Literary Fiction or Science Fiction and fans of both should consider it part of the genre they prefer most.
The main story of the book is really about the marriage of Peter on Oasis and his wife, Bea, back in England. They can communicate, but only via email like plain text. And then, only when he is at the main human complex and not when he is living with the aliens. The physical distance matters. But the experiential difference matters more. For Peter, he is absorbed in his work and the transition from the alien settlement to the human settlement is always a cultural shock. Add to that the increasing desperation of Bea, and Peter emotionally hides.
Takeaway: If you are serious about learning about prayer and have not read this book yet, you need to.
I have read this book at least once previously (and I think twice.) It would not be the first book I recommend to someone that want to start out learning about prayer. But it is one of the more important modern books on prayer.
Prayer is one of those topics in Christianity that is hard to write about. It is something learned best by doing and by being mentored by others. Surrounding yourself with people that pray is much better than surrounding yourself with books on prayer.
That being said, when you have spent time learning to pray with others, it is good to spend some time reading about the why and how of prayer. No book will fully explain that, of course. But Richard Foster does a very good job showing the different ways that prayer occurs within the Christian faith. Few modern authors are as widely read and as fluent in different streams of Christianity as Richard Foster. That is both helpful, and the primary reason I would not suggest this to someone that is new to prayer. There is just too much here for someone that does not have a good grounding and idea about what type of pray-er they are.
Takeaway: Sometimes the best thing we can do in the face of tragedy is continue to face life.
I picked up The Comedians when it was on sale at Audible because it was by Graham Greene and I really liked The End of the Affair. I started reading it because Shusaku Endo was frequently compared to Graham Greene (and Greene’s endorsement of Silence is one of the more famous endorsement lines–“Endo, to my mind, is one of the finest living novelists”).
It was really my desire to understand Endo, more than my enjoyment of the book that kept me listening to the audiobook. The reader was intentionally dry. That matched the content, but did not enhance the listening. The book started and ended well, but there was some meandering in the middle that makes sense in the larger context of the books but I got a bored for a good 100 pages.
It really was not until about 1/3 of the way through the book that Greene references the reason for the title. In a public conversation with a woman that Brown (the main character) is having an affair with, he suggests that they are all really comedians. He is using an older meaning of comedian, the idea that Greek actors held different masks. But also (not mentioned, but I think understood) that Greek Comedies were usually poking fun at the powerful of the age. It is not really satire. But there is some hint of that idea.
The book opens with Brown, Smith and Jones all on a boat headed toward Haiti. Brown owns a hotel in Haiti during the oppressive government of Papa Doc Duvalier. Jones is an unknown, but suspected from fairly early on of being a con man. Smith (and his wife) are from the United States. He was a very minor presidential candidate that is a proponent of vegetarianism as a way of life and a method toward world wide peace.
The Amazon Kindle Oasis officially was released today. However, if you did not pre-order it, you will have to wait until June because they are back ordered. Virtually every review (and I read seven of them today) is the same. This is the best Kindle, and probably the best e-reader available. It is lighter and … Read more
I read Leeana Tankersley’s first book, “œFound Art” several years ago. I found it to be a fascinating read about life and faith as Tankersley lived in the Middle East with her husband as he served in the US military. Somehow she fell off my radar screen and I missed her second book “œBreathing Room”. I’m glad I didn’t miss her third production, “œBrazen: The Courage to Find the You That’s Been Hiding“.
Tankersley has grown as a writer since “œFound Art”. She’s just as thoughtful and introspective as before but her writing has gotten even better over time. Throughout this latest work, Tankersley seeks to reclaim the word “œbrazen” and return to its original meaning of “œwithout shame”. Women have so many moments in their lives when they silence themselves, attempt to make themselves metaphorically smaller or muffle their own voice. Bit by bit, Tankersley encourages women to reclaim who they are as a child of God.
Summary: Many of the shifts of theology and practice makes sense in historical context.
My first quarter of Divinity School I had a history of Christian thought class. There were four or five courses in the series but we were only required to take one. The one I took covered approximately 600 to 1400 AD, which was an era that I knew almost nothing about. I learned a great deal in the class, but I was a bit frustrated by the teaching style. Mostly we were covering philosophical issues, but those philosophical and theological movements were abstracted from the broader history of the era. I need context to help frame the theological changes and give reasons for why the theological and philosophical shifts were occurring.
The History of Christian Theology course covers a much longer history (all of it) and necessarily went into less depth, but also gave much better context to the theological shifts. The lecturer assumed Christian faith and background, although explained the nuances of the theology well.
One of the features that I found most helpful was continually thinking about the implications to the average believer. As theology shifted, the questions that plagued the average believer, and the pastoral care needed also shifted. So simple returns to these basic questions and comparing different theological systems was very helpful.
The new Marvel movie Captain America Civil War opens this weekend. The reviews are very good. I have been looking forward to it, but I still haven’t seen Winter Soldier or Age of Ultron. So I am probably not going to go see Civil War this weekend.
For the past two weeks I have been somewhat obsessively reading comic books, mostly the Marvel Civil War series. I started because the Ms Marvel books were on sale and I wanted to finish the series. Then I saw that the Civil War books were on sale, I picked those up. (I do want to note that if you are not interested in keeping them, Marvel Unlimited has a month free trial right now, so you can read all of these during a free trial and cancel.)
I have read one review of the movie and heard from some people that the comic and the movie have the same themes and broad outlines, but are very different in the specifics.
So on to the review of the comic books. I am not sure I read comic books correctly. I want a good story. And I want art that is interesting and enhances the story. These collections have different artists although mostly the art is somewhat similar in style.
The central idea of the series is that Iron Man and Captain America react differently to the governmental response to an accident that kills hundreds of people. A reality TV Superhero show (COPS style) tries to take down some minor league super villains. This goes badly when it causes an explosion that destroys an elementary school and kills over 600 people, mostly children, while being filmed.
That accident turns public opinion against superheroes and a movement starts to requires registration of all heroes and requires all heroes to work for SHEILD if they are going to use their powers, making all heroes government employees. Anyone refusing to register will be arrested.