lilbrattyteen's challenge

Greetings!

After joining this site in 2007, I went away for a few years and now found my way back. I am here mostly for group reads. Most of what I read falls into two categories:

1. nonfiction - mostly religion, philosophy, and theology, with a heavy dose of theology and Buddhism.

2. fiction - I like books that engage the mythological imagination. This spans a wide variety of genres, from "biblical fiction" (books based on bible stories) to Jack Vance to Neil Gaiman.

In 2012 I read 153 books. I hope to make it 200 this year. This year I have several goals, including my 13 in 13 category challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/141759

I am also coordinating discussions for the various heritage month celebrations in America. Link to January's read is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/147257

Right now I have a stack of books on Paul for a paper I need to write, a few books on conversion for a paper I need to revise, and a stack of books on early Christianity and Church Fathers just for my own curiosity.

Happy new year!

Last year's list:

April 2012 and earlier 2012
1. Toward a Psychology of Being, Abraham Maslow
2. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, Abraham Maslow
3. The Portable Jung, ed. Joseph Campbell
4. Man And His Symbols, Carl Jung et al.
5. The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James
6. The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto
7. Consciousness Explained, Daniel Dennett
8. Minds, Brains, and Science, John Searle
9. The Concept of Mind, Gilbert Ryle (read enough to realize it was bonkers)
10. New Testament as Literature: a Very Short Introduction, Kyle Keefer
11. Revelation and the End of All Things, Craig Koester
12. The Living God and Our Living Psyche, Ann Ulanov
13. The Gospel and Epistles of John: a Concise Commentary, Raymond Brown

May 2012:
14. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle
15. Out Of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis
16. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
17. Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl Jung
18. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Burton Raffel
19. Beowulf, trans. Burton Raffel
20. The Song of Roland, trans. Robert Harrison
21. Pearl, trans. Marie Borroff
22-26. Alan Moore, Promethea books 1-5 (whole series)
27-33. Neil Gaiman, Sandman volumes 1-7
34. Mark As Story: an Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel, by Mark Rhoads et al.

June 2012:
35. Matthew as Story, Jack Dean Kingsbury
36. Tales of The Dying Earth, Jack Vance
37. Whose Bible Is It?: A Short History of the Scriptures, Jaroslav Pelikan
38. By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Paulo Coelho
39. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
40. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
41. Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
42. Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, Fr. Robert Barron
43. Jataka Tales: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta, trans. Sarah Shaw (about 1/3 of it)
44. Stardust, Neil Gaiman
45. Buddhism Observed: Travelers, Exiles, and Tibetan Dharma in Kathmandu, by Peter Moran (skimmed)
46. The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India, by Sheldon Pollock (Chapter 1)
47. Book of Judges for Club Read

July 2012:
48. Look Again, Lisa Scottoline
49. Social and Cultural Anthropology: a Very Short Introduction, Peter Just and John Monaghan
50. Dreamworlds of Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism: The Third Place, by Angela Sumegi

51. Either/Or, Soren Kierkegaard (actually read in January-February)
52. Self, Shadow, Spirit, Michael Daniels (actually read in January)
52. Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: a Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality, Jorge Ferrer (actually read January)
53. Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge, Alan Wallace (actually read January)
54. The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud (actually read February)
55. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (actually read February)
56. Darkness Visible, William Styron

57. The Christ and the Bodhisattva, ed. Donald S. Lopez Jr. and Steven C. Rockefeller
58. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language, Joel M. Hoffman
59. The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen
60. And God Said: How Translations Conceal The Bible's Original Meaning, Joel M. Hoffman
61. Wisdom Energy: Basic Buddhist Teachings, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche
62. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
63. The Art of Biblical Narrative, Robert Alter
64. God, Language, and Scripture: Reading the Bible in the Light of General Linguistics, Moises Silva
65. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History, and Practices, Peter Harvey (read parts of for my Buddhist Studies course)
66. Uniting Wisdom and Compassion: Illuminating the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, Chokyi Dragpa (read for my Buddhist Studies course)
67. Buddhist Philosophy and Textual Studies Course Reader, ed. Lara Braitstein (read for my Buddhist Studies course)
68. Grimms' Household Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (read half of for Coursera class)

August 2012:
69. The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods, by A. G. Sertillanges, O.P.
70. Dracula by Bram Stoker (read for Coursera)
71. The Life of Milarepa by Tsagnyon Heruka
72. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
73. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (read for Coursera)
74. A Life of Jesus, Shusaku Endo
75. When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold Kushner
76. Death: The High Price of Living, Neil Gaiman (graphic novel)
77. Selected short stories and poems of Poe and Hawthorne (read for Coursera)
78. The Great Poems of the Bible: A Reader's Companion With New Translations by James L. Kugel
79. The David Story: a Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel by Robert Alter
80. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (read for Coursera)
81. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

September 2012:
82. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (read for Coursera)
83. Death: The Time of Your Life by Neil Gaiman (read in June)
84. David's Truth: In Israel's Imagination and Memory by Walter Brueggemann
85. Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
86. That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis
87. The Lilies of the Field by William Barrett
88. Jesus Christ - Special Issue by Amar Chita Katha (comic book)
89. Goliath by Tom Gould (graphic novel)
90. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
91. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (read for Coursera)
92. Cain by Jose Saramago
93. Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson by David Grossman (September TBR Challenge)
94. Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola (read for HIST 103)
95. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (read for Coursera)
96. Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time, by Kristin Swenson (read for SCTR 19H)
97. The King David Report by Stefan Heym
98. Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Religious Borders by Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

October 2012
99. The Art of Discernment: Making Good Decisions In Your World Of Choices by Stefan Kiechle, S.J.
100. Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God's Everything by Anonymous
101. Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn
102. Introducing Theology of Religions by Paul F. Knitter
103. Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Tibet by Trent Pomplun (RT: Jesuits in Asia)
104. Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux
105. Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi by Donald Spoto
106. Flavius Josephus, Between Jerusalem and Rome by Per Bilde

November 2012
107. Brokers of Culture: Italian Jesuits in the American West, 1848-1919 by Gerald McKevitt S.J.
108. English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew by Miles V. Van Pelt
109. God's Soldiers: A History of the Jesuits by Jonathan Wright
110. The Heart of the Buddha-Dharma: Following the Jodo Shinshu Path by Kenryu T. Tsuji
111. The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas by Geshe Sonam Rinchen
112. In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience by James Martin, S.J.
113. Technology for Social Justice: Course Reader, Fall 2012 by Keith Douglass Warner
114. Jesuit History and Spirituality: Fall 2012 Course Reader by Gerald McKevitt, S.J.
115. The Gospel according to Oprah by Marcia Z. Nelson
116. Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints by James Martin
117. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium by Vatican II (RT: Vatican II)
118. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium et Spes by Vatican II (RT: Vatican II)
119. All other documents of Vatican II (RT: Vatican II)
120. A Concise Guide to the Documents of Vatican II by Edward P. Hahnenberg (RT: Vatican II)
121. Darwin And Intelligent Design by Francisco J. Ayala
122. The Historicity of the Gospels by Pontifical Biblical Commission (RT: Catholic Biblical interpretation)
123. The Interpretation of Scripture: In Defense of the Historical-Critical Method by Joseph A. Fitzmyer (RT: Catholic Biblical interpretation)
124. Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers by Christopher A. Hall (RT: Catholic Biblical interpretation)
125. The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World by John Elkington
126. The Church in the Making: Lumen Gentium, Christus Dominus, Orientalium Ecclesiarum (Rediscovering Vatican II) by Richard R. Gaillardetz (RT: Vatican II)

December 2012
127. Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel
128. The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity by Jon D. Levenson (read partially)
129. 101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II by Maureen Sullivan (RT: Vatican II)
130. Ecumenism and interreligious dialogue : Unitatis redintegratio, Nostra aetate (Rediscovering Vatican II) by Edward Idris Cassidy (RT: Vatican II)
131. Still interpreting Vatican II : some hermeneutical principles by Ormond Rush (RT: Vatican II)
132. Five by Endo by Shusaku Endo (Author Theme Reads)
133. Evangelization and Religious Freedom: Ad Gentes, Dignitatis Humanae (Rediscovering Vatican II) by Stephen B. Bevans (RT: Vatican II)
134. The New Evangelization: What It Is and How It Affects the Life of Every Catholic by Ralph Martin
135. True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty by Timothy M. Dolan
136. Introduction to Ecumenism by Jeffrey Gros
137. Deep River by Shūsaku Endō
138-140. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, vols. 1-3
141. The Silent Dialogue: Zen Letters to a Trappist Abbot by David G. Hackett
142. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller
143. Conversion in the New Testament by Ronald D. Witherup
144. America's Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America (P.S.) by Bruce Feiler
145. The Social Conquest of Earth by Edward O. Wilson
146. Scandal by Shusaku Endo
147. Scripture, The Soul of Theology by Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J.
148. From Darkness to Light: Aspects of Conversion in the New Testament (Overtures of Biblical Theology, 20) by Beverly Roberts Gaventa
149. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
150. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
151. Future Tense by Jack Vance
152. A Short History of the Interpretation of the Bible by Robert Grabt and David Tracy
153. The Killing Machine by Jack Vance

That's quite a list! I had to do a little double take when The Hunger Games and Uncle Tom's Cabin showed up. And a triple take when The Walking Dead showed up! My zombie loving son who loves movies about them and loves to kill them electronically asked for the TV series for Christmas. Never thought of reading the books ......

Amazed at your list of books read, while a full-time student. Looking forward to your 2013 list.

> 3

Ms. Mom - I had never even heard of The Walking Dead until my girlfriend bought the graphic novels. I read the first three and was reminded of why I don't like horror stories - I don't like the feeling of always being on the edge of my seat wondering which character will die next.

> 4

Thank you, Dan! The secret is that I include my course textbooks in the list. And I am in a book-heavy major. Even then I specifically sign up for classes that use real primary or scholarly sources rather than the boring, digested, commercialized pulp that too often passes for textbooks. Yes, I have a bias. :)

Out of curiosity, do you know how many pages you read, or the avg amount per book?

> 6

I don't think I read too many giant tomes in 2012. So the list would be shorter if I were reading Aristotle and aquinas. My laziness, I know.

Welcome back!

I'm glad that your thread will be here to read this year, too. And thanks for arranging the heritage month reads. Anything that has me rooting through the books in the back rows of my bookshelves is a good thing!

Thank you, Rebecca and Ridgeway! I've been tickled by the reception of the heritage reads. It's amazing how many group reads we can have going on this site. I think people like the open-endedness of this one.

Haven't seen you around in a while -- hope all is OK!

Ditto what Rebecca said!

Jonathan's still posting on facebook (although I haven't been following, really). Insanely busy as he is, I do hope he comes back and posts here some more.

I am alive, everyone! I feel vaguely reassured that people noticed I was gone! :D

What happened: the first two weeks of school happened. Now I am settled into the grind, know what I need to do, and always seem to have a reservoir of free time no matter how much work I have. (I blame magic.)

I will reopen with a picture of one of the saddest ads I have ever seen. I saw it last night in a BART station in San Francisco.



I am not sure what more I can add to this. It just about broke my heart, especially considering I have NEVER heard of a movie adaptation that was better than the book. (Maybe some of you know of one?)

The Graduate. Also a lot of Scorsese (Catch Me If You Can, Goodfellas) made for wonderful movies from very average books, IMO. Jurassic Park was a decent movie.

But I'm with you. As much as I have wanted a tattoo of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen I have refused to see the movie!

Great to see you back, Jonathan! And, yes, that is a depressing ad.

Interesting that you should mention Watchmen, aliay. I love the graphic novel, but there was one thing that the movie did better than it, concerning the giant alien at the end. I won't go into details, as I might spoil both the book and the movie, but it made more sense in the movie.

I actually preferred the movie of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe to the book - I've loved the book (the whole series) for years, but I read it immediately after seeing the movie and...the movie made more sense. The characters were less wooden...there were some things that struck me as unnecessary additions (which I can't remember at the moment) but overall the movie was better. Which is why I haven't seen any of the other movies yet - I'm scared they'll be better than the later books too (and make me dissatisfied with the books!). Or else they'll be awful.

However, I could list quite a few bad (and some _bad_) book adaptations - what they did to My Side of the Mountain was a crime. So in general, yeah, I agree.

But those Roku ads are awful in general. Encouraging being couch potatoes and mindlessly watching what the Roku streams. Bleah. There's three or four between the Bay Bridge and the airport, that I've seen a couple times now.

Glad to see you back and that your absence was a result of the busy-ness of the start of the semester.

I go to very few movies of books that I love. On the other hand, The Godfather I and II are great movies, and the book was trash (albeit with some scenes I enjoyed as a teenager!).

It isn't better than the book, but the Russian (Soviet) multipart movie of War and Peace is excellent.

I'd throw Sideways in there as a movie that was better than the book. That Roku ad makes me very sad.

>14 JDHomrighausen: I'm going to have to think about that one. Generally books are better than movies, but I think when books are written based on movies, they often don't make particularly good books...

I'd say The Reader.

Perhaps I have not heard of any because the books that are surpassed by their movies were not as popular or lasting to begin with. Interesting.

Well, the Narnia series was pretty popular and has lasted quite a while...but they are kids' books (or usually presented that way, at least).

This is an article I wrote for the Christian Apologetics Alliance weblog; so it is geared toward a particular audience. Still, I thought I would post it here nonetheless.

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken
Finished 1/19/13

From a famous skeptic of Christianity:

“But we must examine this question whether anyone who really died ever rose again with the same body. … While he was alive he did not help himself, but after death he rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who say this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of those who were deluded by the same sorcery, who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination … or, which is more likely, wanted to impress the others by telling this fantastic tale, and so by this cock-and-bull story to provide a chance for other beggars?” (Wilken 111)

This quote could easily come from any contemporary critic of Christianity. But in fact it comes from Celsus, second-century Roman, whose massive attack on Christianity, On the True Doctrine, evoked an eight-book reply from Origen. Celsus is one of the cultured Roman despisers of Christianity covered in Robert Louis Wilken’s fascinating and compact book, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them. On the surface, Wilken’s book is only a historical work. But it does not take long to find that his subject, apologetics in the apostolic age, can teach us a thing or two about apologetics now.

So what can we learn?

First, we can learn that all criticism of Christianity is contextual. Some of the criticisms we hear today may be nothing new, but their context can be very different.. The claim that Jesus never claimed to be divine and that the early Christian community later divinized him is not new. That was advanced in the third century by Porphyry. Yet Porphyry appeals not to Jesus Seminar theories, but to the fact that most Jews do not accept Christ as divine, and only a small number of Jews have ever been in the Christian sect. If this man was their god, would they not follow him?

WIlken also drives home the point that early Christians learned from their critics. For example, Galen pointed out that the creation story in Genesis runs counter to the Greek concept of creation. Some Christian thinkers such as Justin Martyr had stressed the parallels between Plato and Christianity, as both described a deity who creates the world. But, Galen noted, Plato described a god who created the world out of existing matter. And this runs counter to the description of God’s creation ex nihilo in Genesis 1. Thanks to his criticism of what he considered to be the philosophical school of Christianity, Christian thinkers clarified and solidified their view of creation ex nihilo.

For apologists almost two millennia later, this can be a reminder of the commonality we share with our skeptical, nonbeliever friends: we both seek truth. On one level, we seem antagonistic, because we engage in debate and seek to persuade them of our truth. But on another level, we are also partners in the act of truth-seeking, a quest that many people don’t bother to engage in. And in seeking truth together through debate, we may better understand our own positions as well as better seeing the flaws in others’. So we should thank our skeptics for helping us grow in wisdom.

So did early Christians take their critics seriously? Back to Wilken:

“Christian apologists believed that the Christian way had significance for all people. If it were to be intelligible it had to be set forth in the universal language of reason. The ‘teachings of our faith,’ wrote Origen, are ‘in complete accord with the universal notions.’ That pagans continued to write books against the Christians for three hundred years is evidence that they took the ideas of Christian thinkers seriously.” (199)

And it is our calling to represent Christian thinking seriously enough that the pagans of today will still take us seriously. Wilken’s book is worth reading to see how Christians of a different time and place did so.

The Sandman, Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Finished 1/24/13

It is impossible not to love Gaiman's Sandman series. After all, it contains personifications of death and dream, esoteric Western magick, trips to hell to see Lucifer and his exquisitely-drawn demons, a brooding protagonist with rock-star hair.... the list goes on. Gaiman's Sandman series is completely one of a kind. Along with Alan Moore, he is one of the oligarchy of graphic novelists living today.

I've read the whole Sandman series before, and every time I get so sucked into the story that dreams seem real, dramas in the story come alive. But this time I was not as entranced by the plot I already knew, I and let myself linger over the art. It did not fail to deliver. Gaiman and his artists have a real collaboration going on, and it is obvious to see!

Looking forward to reading the next installment for the LT group read.

>24 JDHomrighausen: Very interesting review, Jonathan. I've often been sceptical about apologetics in the past (for many reasons, which I won't go into here), but I understand the need for their body of work. I would be very interested in reading about the Romans' views about the early Christians. I also like the idea that both apologists and non-believers seek truth. Whether one believes in the Christian God or not, I've always thought it highly commendable when people admit that they have differences, and sit down around a table of mutual respect to hammer out their differences. Most of the "New Atheists" are merely insulting in their criticism, which does not, in my opinion, get them anywhere useful.

>25 JDHomrighausen: I like Gaiman, especially The Sandman graphic novels. Thanks for the enthusiasm!

ETA: you might be interested in a review I recently wrote about Ludwig Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity, as I see that you've got the book in your library.

> 26

*waves* Hello! How goes the master's thesis?

Wilken writes in his introduction that he was originally writing a work on early Christian thought, but detoured into the Roman critics of Christianity. He claims that this is an under-examined subjects. I would love to know if there is a comparable volume discussing early Jewish criticisms of Christians.

Insulting tones can be found on all sides of the debate. The stuff that worries me is the "anything goes" kind of thinking many people have today: my religion is "true for me," but not "true for you." (When I was a philosophy this stuff would drive me batty in class discussions.) What makes the apologetic discussions possible is that significant numbers of Christians and atheists (especially the science-influenced atheists as Dawkins/Harris/Dennett are) share the belief that the universe is to some degree intelligible, that we can use our intellects to make sense of it, and that we can debate this truth with others.

But yes, I have been skeptical of apologetics too, perhaps because some of their practitioners are insular intellectually. For me there's always a tension between openness to secular thought and allegiance to Christian thought. As a Catholic, this problem is much less sharp than for Christian groups who see a much bigger sacred/secular or reason/faith or world/God divide, such as some Evangelicals.

Kudos on using "précis" in your review of Feuerbach. What did you think of his ideas? You only said you didn't agree with all of them.

Fascinating stuff, as usual!

>27 JDHomrighausen: The master's thesis goes well, I guess. Thanks for asking!

On Feuerbach, I would say that I wasn't completely convinced by his arguments as a whole, but this may be because I tend toward a Kierkegaardian, theistic-existentialist type of belief. I don't, for example, accept Feuerbach's idea that Christianity (or religion in general) is only a result of human projection. To me, belief is a choice; it may very well be an absurd choice, given the lack of evidence for supernatural, miraculous or divine phenomena, but it is still a choice for each individual human being. I think that there may be certain things that transcend logic and rationalism, "God" being one of them (I say "God" because I don't want to get bogged down in forcing a monotheistic criterion onto belief). That said, I think that logic has its place in argumentation, and that empiricism has a role to play in science and philosophy. I would, however, categorically deny the implication that either logic or empiricism are the be-all and end-all of human experience.

One of my favourite American writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote that "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." The phrase can certainly be used as a cop-out to evade accusations of inconsistency. I would, however, claim that logical consistency of Feuerbach's kind serves its purpose in pointing out the contradictions in religion, but falls short of refuting all grounds for belief in the divine.

By the way, I respect your strong stance as a Catholic, and your willingness to debate topics that many religously-minded people ignore or attack.

24, 26, 27, 29 - great review essay and interesting discussion.

My own views are along those of Feuerbach described by Dewald in#29 - that god is a human projection. But, to me, in that sense, God essentially does exist as long humanity is here to ponder the question.

I can't prove that God doesn't exist outside the human context because you can't prove god doesn't exist. There is no watertight logic. So F. Is doomed, as are his successors. But his point that God exists in human context seems really important, it makes the argument more complicated, less universally relevant.

Of course, you also can't prove god's existence.

(Further, I'm not convinced atheism gains me, personally, anything. I'm still human, and still reverent of some things. My atheism doesn't remove that from me.)

There are those thinkers starting, I think, in the middle ages who believe that it is inappropriate to speak about the existence of God. I have more reasons, at least one of them pretty private, than the notion that existence is not a predicate to sympathize with them, and so, when talking about a faith like the one you describe in 30, Dan, I talk about the reality of God. This is mostly in conversation with myself, and I realize that it is perhaps a specialized or idiosyncratic lexical distinction.

Robert

Robert - OK, admittedly I'm not 100% sure I follow the sentence structure of your second sentence, and so not 100% sure I'm understanding it correctly...but if you are saying what I think you are saying...well, it puts my understanding on you in a slightly different light. Seems like you and I are closer than I thought in this regard.

In a little bit different take on it: I believe in the reality of God and have a relationship with Him. I think that it is likely inappropriate to speak of the existence of God. So it is trivial that He does not exist.

Believe in infant baptism? Hell, I've seen it.

Robert

Just catching up, and enjoying your reviews as always.

Hello Jonathan--It looks like you're MIA; hope it's due to the crush of school work. I understand how busy it can get!

Are you going to continue threads for your monthly history challenge? I would love to see one for the women's history month, but can't seem to find it.

And please weigh in on the Science, Religion and History book choice if you get a chance!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/146538

I was also just thinking that it's been a long time since we've heard from you. Hope all is OK, and look forward to your reviews whenever you have a chance to post some.

> 35

Hi streamsong - I will put one up if you'd like. I myself haven't found time to continue with them, so it feels hypocritical to put up pages for others to do! Would you do one if I did?

> 36

Thank you, Rebecca. I was just thinking today that I would get back into LT today. I've been needing to.

I resolved to start back on LT today, so here I am. This quarter has hit me pretty hard, but I'm getting through it. Yikes.

My reading so far this year:

January:
The Roman Empire and the New Testament: An Essential Guide by Warren Carter
The World is Charged: The Transcendent with Us by Francis R. Smith
The Critical Meaning of the Bible by Raymond E. Brown
The Anome by Jack Vance
The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken
An Introduction to Theology in Global Perspective by Stephen B. Bevans
The Sandman, Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

February:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Book of Daniel (Cambridge Bible Commentaries on the Old Testament) by Raymond Hammer
Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West by Donald S. Lopez Jr.
The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
Megillat Esther by JT Waldman
Space Opera by Jack Vance

I am in week 9 of 10 in my academic quarter, and over spring break hope to get some more done. I am writing a paper on stories about Jesus in India and Tibet - will gladly post some of my thoughts when they are more fully crystallized.

*whew*

And how is everyone else?

Also - the course list for next quarter is in -

RSOC 131: Tantra in Theory and Practice
RSOC 106: Zen in Theory and Practice
CLAS 23: Ancient Greek
PHIL 53: Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
SCTR 170R: Darwin and God
TESP 199: Independent Study on St. Francis and his tradition

Each one of these courses (except Greek) has a reading list of at least 4-5 books. So I will be getting some good reviews up here. :)

All I can say, is Wow! Very impressive.

I'm scared. It's daunting.

Wow--we won't see you at all spring quarter.

Yes, if you start the thread, I will read.

Actually, there is a women's history month catagory on the 75'ers TIOLI, so if you post on the group reads list, you may pick up those already reading there, too. I always think the more the merrier! I am currently reading a book of very short biographical sketches called Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era by Autumn Stephens.

You have certainly been busy -- and it looks like you'll be even busier in the spring term. Very interesting, and as everyone says impressive, reading! Thanks for posting!

>41 JDHomrighausen: I'm scared. It's daunting.

Daunting, schmaunting. You can do it! Easy peesy. :)
Glad to see you back posting.

Good to have you back! I had a rather bum reading month too.

Happy to see your posts and know a little bit about what you're up to in the book world. Good luck with your (insane) class loads. You're missed here, even if you have very good reasons to be away.

The quarter is finally winding down and I'm enjoying finishing textbooks and putting them away to make room for next quarter's.

For my theology class I finished The World is Charged: The Transcendent With Us by Francis R. Smith, a Jesuit who teaches at my school. The book is a look at the relation between God and the world in philosophy, theology, and spirituality, essentially arguing that a proper understanding of the mutual interrelationship and distinction between the two is a necessary part of the Catholic understanding of reality. This, as I understand, is stock Thomism, the analogical principle of reality. The other book was An Introduction to Theology in Global Perspective by Stephen B. Bevans, which was not very interesting to me. Bevans covers a lot of the process of doing theology without actually doing much. So it gave me a great overview of the relationship between theology, academia, and the magisterium, the different sources of Catholic theology, the nature and importance of tradition in Catholic thought, etc. But it felt like he could have made this book half of its length and still gotten his point across. It felt too lightweight. Given my bias toward primary sources, I didn't like how this class lacked them; but we did read excerpts from real theological works, including Karl Rahner, and I was satisfied with that.

For my class on Catholic mysticism, we read three great books. The first, Mystics of the Christian Tradition by Steven Fanning, was a historical overview describing many mystics both Catholic and Protestant. We also used a primary source anthology, Light from Light: An Anthology of Christian Mysticism, to read Origen, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Clare of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, The Cloud of Unknowing, Teresa of Avila,. and Thomas Merton. (For the record, my favorites are Bernard, Teresa, and Merton.) We also practiced contemplation and kept a journal for the class, using the centering prayer technique taught by Cynthia Bourgeault in Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. Her book merits a complete read-through so I will post on her later.

For Roman empire, I had fun with some of The Letters of the Younger Pliny. Pliny is the first non-Christian Roman author to mention Christianity. As a provincial governor in the early second century, he wrote many letters asking for advice to emperor Trajan, and these letters give us the best picture of how day-to-day imperial governance operated. He mentions a group of Christians, whom he knew little about, and asks Trajan if he should torture them; Trajan says no, it is not in keeping with "the spirit of our age." Another gem of a book, highly recommended, is unexcitingly titled Roman Civilization: Selected Readings: The Empire. This book groups sources and excerpts from sources around certain themes. So if you want to find different sources describing the siege of Jerusalem in 70, they are all in one place. It's a great book to dip into whenever one wants to explore the past. One book we read bits of but I want to finish is Lives of Roman Christian Women, which sadly is often told by men.

For "Bible and Empire," really a course on postcolonialism, we read articles and chapters from The Postcolonial Biblical Reader and Empire and Apocalypse: Postcolonialism and the New Testament. I have ambivalent feelings on postcolonial biblical criticism, but I am glad that I have spent some time with it. Another book from this class that will get a fuller review is Warren Carter's The Roman Empire and the New Testament: An Essential Guide.

It feels so good to put books away.

Hello there

The topic "postcolonial biblical criticism" caught my eye. I have done a fair amount of reading in postcolonial topics, but have never come across this. Could you please explain it a bit and what it is that makes you ambivalent about it?

Has your theology class discussed the election of Francis at all?

Congrats on another successful term! It feels so good to put books away reminded me of that wonderful feeling of getting them all off the floor around my desk and shelving them in an ordered way at the end of each semester, and then to watch new piles build up next term.

Congratulations on finishing the term and putting those books away! It is always an education for me to read about your reading.

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Hi SassyLassy - postcolonial biblical criticism, closely related to postcolonial theology, stems from Christians in postcolonial nations making sense of how the Bible was read and taught to them, and how it was used as a vessel of cultural imperialism. If you're curious, some of the main authors we read include R.S. Sugirtharajah in Sri Lanka and Musa Dube in Botswana.

It's well-known that Christianity was used as a tool of colonial imperialism. The Bible was just one tool of it. By bringing indigenous people into Christianity, but denying them the ability to interpret the Bible (through lack of the accepted qualifications of historical-critical method), missionaries supported the colonial task. Postcolonial biblical scholars might also look at parts of the Bible that create their own "subalterns", such as the meeting with the Canaanite woman ("even the dog eats the scraps under the table") in John.

It's a small field, even within biblical studies, but it's been an eye-opening quarter.

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Thank you Rebecca! I am just glad to start again. The reading for spring quarter looks very interesting; expect some full reviews.

Interesting area of study and thanks for explaining it. I can see multiple studies of this in the same country based on the denomination of the missionaries. Thanks for the references.

It sounds like you have a fascinating course of study. I'm jealous. :)

#50 - this reminded me of the Desmond Tutu quote, "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened our eyes, we had the Bible and they had the land."

> 54

I saw Desmond Tutu speak once. That quote captures well his sense of humor and depth. But, as with slaves here in America who read the Bible against their slaveholders, now we see the Bible being used as a tool in the other direction.

Passionate Enlightenment by Miranda Shaw
Finished 3/18/13

Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Finished February 2013

One issue I've become more aware of in the past academic quarter is Orientalism and the study of Buddhism. What assumptions and presuppositions do we bring to other religions? How might these hinder us from fully understanding them? Shaw and Lopez answer these questions in different ways.

Shaw's work aims to refute the received notion in studies of early Tantra that women were oppressed and used by the male Tantric masters. She looks at the "Golden Age" of Tantra - seventh through twelfth century beginnings of Tantric traditions in India - and finds that far from being low-caste consorts used by monks for religious ends, women were spiritual teachers on par with men. When Tantric rituals refer to deity yoga in the form of goddess worship, sexual uniting as a mode of awakening, and great female masters, these are not exceptions to the rule or fictitious masters invented by a male voice. Women were equal to men in the development of Tantric texts and lineages.

Shaw argues that previous scholars were unable to see this because they had blinders on. They may have been sexist themselves, unable to view women as equal teachers. Shaw's book, which dropped like a bomb in 1994 and is still controversial today, may suffer from its own blinders. First, Shaw bases her entire book on Tantric texts, but fails to address the always-thorny issue of how texts relate to lived practice. As is clear with the Bible and Christians, different groups emphasize certain texts to the exclusion of others, which often lies at the heart of debates on issues like women's' ordination or gay marriage. Second, Shaw's approach seems biased from the start: "one of my operative principles is to view women as active shapers of history and interpreters of their own experience rather than as passive objects or victims of history" (12). This almost seems to presuppose her conclusion. Perhaps she wishes to see Tantric Buddhism in a positive light because she herself is a Buddhist (so she hints at).

But the brightest red flag to me is how her view of liberated women in Tantra comes out. They are liberated in the way a Western 21st-century feminist is: equal in ability and power, in a very individualistic way. That to me indicates that she is reading her opinion into the text. I would have taken her analysis more seriously if she qualified her thesis by looking at ways in which women negotiated power differently than they do in contemporary contexts.

This issue, of reading one's desires into the text, shows up in the history of Westerners' views of Tibet. Lopez documents the strange fantasies of noble savage or lost primal utopia that Tibet is often viewed in terms of. (The title of the book comes from 1940s film Lost Horizon, in which stranded Westerners land in Tibet and find a land where nobody ages and spiritual perfection is easily reached.) He looks at anachronisms such as "Lamaism," a colonial term for Tibetan Buddhism effectively excluding it from "real" Buddhism. His most interesting passages are his indictment of current Tibetan studies, such as Jeffrey Hopkins' doctoral program at UVA in which students had a stripped-down version of a Geluk monastic curriculum. He sees vestiges of Orientalism in Buddhist Studies' overemphasis on texts and its preservationist mentality. Lopez has a great ability to be self-critical, even (in another work) analyzing and criticizing the process of writing his own dissertation!

Overall, both good books, though I wish Lopez's dived more into Christian biases in viewing Buddhism and Tibet.

Oh, and some more notes on reading. Today I turned in my essay on the pseudo-gospels of Jesus in India. (This was the essay I read the above Lopez book for.) I focused on two gospels, Nicolas Notovitch's The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ and Levi Dowling's The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. Both fill in details from "the missing years of Jesus," portraying him as having gone to (between the two of them) India, Tibet, Greece, Assyria, Persia, and Egypt. Dowling's Jesus in particular is quite a busy guy: he masters the teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism, learns the Hindu art of healing, studies Greek philosophy with Apollo (!), preaches to the Zoroastrians, and reaches the highest stage in the secret Egyptian temple brotherhood - all before returning to Judea and doing the ministry recorded in the canonical gospels.

One fascinating thing about these pseudo-gospels is their literary dullness. Jesus does not tell challenging parables; his statements are all straightforward, non-puzzling, blank and obvious. Often he lapses into a vague and bland pantheism or universalism. There's no sense of enigma about him as in Mark. I found myself feeling drained reading these texts.

Although both texts have been discredited - the "lost manuscript" Notovitch publishes has never been discovered, and the monk who supposedly showed it to him later said he never met the man. Dowling never claimed to have a manuscript, but wrote down his work from direct divine revelation in the Akashic records; unfortunately, his obvious factual errors casts this into doubt. Yet in the New Age community these gospels, and the whole idea of Jesus in India, remain popular. As for me, there is only one context to understand the Jesus of history in: that of a first-century Jew.

Very interesting comments about women and tantric Buddhism. Do you feel that everything in Shaw's book is suspect because of the way she portrayed the women as like 21st century women?

Personally, I prefer a version of Jesus that learned his wisdom by a mixture of common sense and experience rather than him going farther East and studying/preaching. After all, in the Bible he had only one youthful incident of preaching...I would assume that if he had a heavy preaching life as a child, there would be more about that in the Gospels.

But I suppose the important point is that people feel inspired by what Jesus taught and not get caught up in historical details which can never be confirmed. It's quite interesting reading about other peoples' thoughts.

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Exactly - that and all of the unknowns of an argument totally based on texts alone. I don't know the sources she cites as evidence, so I can't comment on whether or not she is reading them correctly. The book is for a class next quarter so I am sure our professor will give us the other side of the story.

> 59

I feel the same way. It's like, why make up stories about Jesus when we have so much to work on from ancient sources alone? It's possible that Jesus went outside Judea, but there's simply no way to prove it. A lighter form of the argument I've heard might also say that concepts of Buddhism came to Judea from the Silk Road and Jesus drew on them for his ministry. Again, we simply can't know.

But even if Jesus had gone to India, I don't see how that would theologically significant either. Unless you accept the Ahmadiyya (a Muslim sect) belief that Jesus didn't die on the cross, but took his mom to Kashmir with him and lived a long life.

Yes, I agree...it makes much more sense to say that Jesus learned the philosophies of far-Eastern religions because there was a lot of trade going on between the regions. There was certainly a lot of movement between Persia and Israel at the very least. And the Persians were all over the place trying to conquer the world - at the very least, they CERTAINLY had Zoroastrianism.

King David by Kyle Baker
Finished 3/20/13

Baker's graphic novel is a retelling of the story of King David, complete with sex, violence, and naked Bathsheba. Being a sucker for retellings of biblical stories, I picked it up at a local comics shop. It was an unsure buy. Now I see why.

The art in this book is very hit-or-miss. It can be grand and beautiful. Baker illustrates with vibrant colors, and his rendering of characters such as Goliath could be great. But the panels often look chintzy, amateurish, even done with 3D animation from the 1980s. Even worse, the panels often don't march the words; a character's facial expression will be angry and his picture looks scared. David himself is animated very poorly; in the scene with Goliath he looks too young. I understand the biblical text emphasizes David's small statue, but he looks about 7 years old in the battle with Goliath. Somehow he morphs into a seven-foot tall man almost overnight.

The words don't help either. Baker adds contemporary lingo to the story, but it never fits. For example, when Jonathan is introduced he is asking his dad for the keys to the chariot, and Saul reprimands him, wanting to know what time he will be home. WTF? I understand the desire to creatively add to the story, but it comes off as misplaced and whimsical.

Overall I can't recommend this book. Unlike Megillat Esther, which was thoroughly researched and supplemented with added details from rabbinic tradition - details that fit - Baker's study seems to be a quick sketch by someone who has spent little time with what Robert Alter refers to as the "David epic."

Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar by Page Kelley
Finished 3/21/13

After over a year with this book, I am glad to say I've finished it!

Advantages of Kelley's book:
I love how he combed through the Bible and found actual verses for the exercises in each chapter. It gives a feeling of authenticity to the book, and the joy of working through the Bible rather than fabricated textbook examples. Each chapter has a LOT of helpful exercises of many different kinds, particularly verb identification. There is also an answer key (sold separately) which makes this book ideal for self-study.

Disadvantages:
I thought the way he handled weak verbs was unhelpful. His book is very step-by-step: he teaches almost everything about nouns, then moves into verbs, then weak verbs. So there are 10 chapters at the end of the book that focus on weak verbs alone. Some of these chapters were unnecessary, such as certain types of weak verbs that don't lose any of their root consonants - only the vowels change, but one can intuit these pretty easily. Other chapters he overcomplicated immensely, focusing on intricate phonological rules that don't seem necessary to understand biblical Hebrew.

Given the verbs are the most difficult thing about Hebrew morphology, I feel he should have introduced them from the get-go, introducing individual weak verbs along the way and treating them as special irregular cases. Then one is dealing with strong and weak verbs while learning everything else rather than slapping them all at the end of the textbook.

I am not sure where I'll go from here - perhaps into Ehud ben Zvi's Readings in Biblical Hebrew: An Intermediate Textbook, as I didn't care much for Robert Chisholm's A Workbook for Intermediate Hebrew: Grammar, Exegesis, and Commentary on Jonah and Ruth. There is also the thrilling prospect of jumping straight into texts and commentaries.

3D animation from the 1980s That instantly created a mental picture in my mind! Well, it was a good idea, too bad it kind of missed it on the execution.

I'll skip Baker's King David. I've been a bit surprised of late at how many bad graphic adaptions of different classic stories there are out there.

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It's so true. But then there are other ones that are really good. I have a tradition of getting my mother (an English teacher) graphic adaptations of classic works every Christmas, and she is often amazed at how much research went into each one. For example, she remarked that the Pride and Prejudice graphic novel got the clothing and interior decorations of houses very accurately for the time and place. Baker's King David fell flet, but you would love Megillat Esther, referenced above.

Mmmm, yeah...I guess I'm also a pass on Baker's King David. But it LOOKS interesting on the outside. :)

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

I originally read this for the biblical fiction category in my 13 in 13 challenge, but now that I've finished it I think it is much more of a work of women's' literature than a work of biblical fiction. And that's fine, because it was a great read.

Shaw's book on women in early Tantric Buddhism (reviewed above) begins with the premise that women had agency in their own histories, and that we don't see it because scholarship blots it out. In a way, Diamant begins with the same premise. She retells the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, a very minor character in Genesis who is raped by a prince of a foreign city. Dinah's brothers retaliate by slaughtering all the men of the city after requesting they be circumcised before the prince can take their sister in marriage. Rather than focusing on this episode, Diamant tells the story of Dinah, from Dinah's perspective, from her infancy to her death.

This book created some controversy when it came out. Rather than being about Jacob or his God of Israel, this story focuses on the women in his family: his wives Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah. "The Red Tent" is the tent of menstruation the women go into every month - a space for women only. These women do not believe in Jacob's God, but worship the local polytheistic gods and goddesses, even naming her seraphim (statues of goddesses). While Jacob has his masculine deity, who is portrayed as tyrannical and strange, the women's' female deities are in tune with the rhythms of life, filled with the lore of forgotten deities. And Dinah, along with her aunt Rachel, is a part of the most female profession imaginable: midwifery.

With this background, the story mostly follows the saga of Dinah and her family. What I really like about it is seeing how the characters change over time, how Dinah evolves and changes, and in what ways this story does not match up with the biblical version. I had a hard time putting this book down.

I also enjoyed this one. I guess I had read the biblical version by then, but I had entirely forgotten it. So I wasn't comparing, but was thinking about whether it all made sense to me in an antheistic/historic way. Interesting review.

There is also Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers, which retells some of the same stories.

Rebecca had a very nice review of that a few years back...I had forgotten about it...

Thanks, Dan. It is a VERY long book, but more readable than a lot of other Mann, and I thought it was amazing. I highly recommend the translation I read by John E. Woods who, in a compelling argument in his introduction, notes that he is using the more down-to-earth language that Mann himself used, rather than the "biblical" language of an earlier translator.

I enjoyed The Red Tent when I read it. I didn't really know there was controversy when it first came out, though of course I can see why. Such things don't really bother me - in fact The Red Tent depicted how I would expect such women to respond to the God of Jacob.

The story of Joseph is my favorite in the bible, for some reason, though when I look at it from an adult point of view instead of a child's I can see how seriously flawed Joseph was instead of only his good points. The Red Tent had no qualms about making Joseph flawed.

I read The Red Tent years ago when it came out as well and enjoyed it. It did cause some controversy as it didn't portray the story as history had always told it on one hand, and the emphasis on the gods that the women held to (the ones they'd grown up with) that were 'pagan'. I think the portrayal of Joseph with flaws as he was seen in this book ruffled some feathers too. I liked the book, but then again, I am always curious to see the rest of the story (to quote Paul Harvey), or the view from the other side.

#72 rebeccanyc - requested the Woods translation from the library...but...goodness...1492 pages. Not something to pick up so capriciously. At least I can take a look at it before I consider purchasing.

> 72

Rebecca - I think you picked the correct translation. According to what little Google Books will let me see of The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Mann, the first English translator for Mann's works, Helen Lowe-Porter, was not his first choice. She was appointed by his editor/publisher and while he supported her, in other letters to friends he wrote how disappointed he was by her work. So now people like Woods are re-translating her stuff in a less stilted and more accurate idiom.

Dan - the Mann book will have to wait for the summer! So long!

I remember a funny similar situation when I took a seminar on Kierkegaard. The professor, who had spent his life studying Kierkegaard and wrote his first book on the thinker, thoroughly despised the common translations of Howard and Edna Hong, who translated pretty much everything Kierkegaard wrote in a series published by Princeton. Of couse the Hongs' translations are very popular and still much-used. So goes life.

> 74

I wasn't bothered by the paganism, because it only makes sense that the line between Israel's god and the others was not so clear-cut back then. The Hebrew Bible wouldn't spend so much time railing against 'idol worship' if there weren't plenty of people doing it!

Dan, it is very long, and as I recall it took me several months to read it, not least because it is definitely NOT a subway book. I did try to read some every day, but it is not the kind of book where you forget what you've read if a a few days go by in between readings.

Jonathan, I've read several Mann books translated by Woods, starting with The Magic Mountain several years ago. I had wanted to read the old paperback that had been on my shelves for decades, but it started falling apart when I took it down, so I was forced to buy a newer copy and that was the Woods translation.

This has been a hectic month or so; I am glad to make time to get back on LT. As usual, I take a heavy course load, so every book I read is either course-related or something very light and fluffy for fun.

Saints and Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000-1700 by Donald Weinstein

I read this for a directed reading course I'm doing on St. Francis and the "Franciscan Question," the Francis version of the quest for the Historical Jesus. Weinstein and his co-author Rudolph Bell use medieval hagiographies to examine the social and ecclesiastical history of the Western middle ages. The conclusions were not well-organized, but some key points rang clear:
- the transition from ecclesiastical, bishop saints of the eleventh century to popular, penitential, poor saints in the thirteenth
- the very schematic depictions of saints' lives, organized by age of conversion: from the child saints who abstain from the breast as ascetic babies, to the rebellious adolescent saints, to the adult saints
- the elitism at work within canonization processes and religious orders: a disproportionate percentage of Western medieval saints are from upper nobility

Of course, Weinstein and Bell describe Francis as "the model saint of the thirteenth century." An interesting book, though one I am hesitant to recommend because of the meandering and disorganized writing.

Autobiography of Charles Darwin by Charles Darwin

Darwin's autobiography, less read than his scientific works, describes how he came to be a scientist and what some of his views were on science and religion in his old age. I really liked this book, in part because of the asides. For example, Darwin was clearly a brilliant man and was well-respected in his day, but he admits to being a failure at certain pursuits. Darwin could not carry a tune and struggled with classical languages in primary school.

My Life with the Saints by James Martin, S.J.

Jim Martin, Jesuit editor of America (a Jesuit magazine), explores the lives and meanings of his favorite saints in this accessible work. My favorite would have to be Thomas Aquinas, John XXIII, Pedro Arrupe, and Thomas Merton. What's great about Martin is that he is deeply Catholic while not preachy. I am Catholic, but I think my non-Catholic friends would enjoy this book.

On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: The Essence of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Read for a course on Socrates. Much more philosophical than I first envisioned. These excerpts were mostly speeches given for or against destroying a given city or doing some other political/military action. Some tough questions arise: should we destroy rebel states to teach other possible rebels a lesson? Is it fair to kill the women and children? How much mercy should we show, if any? Thucydides is a great writer, and the translator's commentary in this edition makes the speeches clear and comprehendable.

Nice to "see" you back here, Jonathan, and thanks for those brief reviews!

Yes nice to see you posting Jonathan. I think my friend Machiavelli would have been 'on board' with those questions raised by Thucydides. The Autobiography of Charles Darwin sounds interesting.

The Clouds by Aristophanes

A delightful and raunchy play by Aristophanes poking fun at Socrates and the sophists. Really gets at the ambivalence the Greeks had about rhetoric. It was respected and useful but it was also seen as deceptive - as if the truth should speak for itself and not need fancy language! This was a particularly great translation (by Peter Meineck) that didn't try to make euphemisms out of anything.

The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

Last fall I discovered Librivox - free audiobooks of public domain works - and got hooked. First it was Uncle Tom's Cabin, so this is the second one. Chesterton's series of short stories about Father Brown, the country priest and crime sleuth extraordinaire, hints at the Catholic worldview of its author. Several of the evil villains are involved in various esoteric religions or secret practices, whereas the main cleric is upright, quiet, discreet, and possessed of a power no police officer can practice: the ability to reform souls. The quality of these stories varies, but I love the way Chesterton sets up the whole story for that moment when Brown solves the crime. The Librivox reading is also good - they can be uneven since it's completely volunteer!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

My girlfriend got me to read this YA epistolary novel about a teenage boy coming into himself and learning how he fits in the world. I'm not in YA lit, and I'm too removed from high school to identify with the main character, but this book was well-written and had some good moments. Of course, now I'll see the movie and kvetch about how much they ruined the book. Because they do….they always do.

The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain

This was another Librivox book. This very short novella explores the human side of a foundational Judeo-Christian myth, from a day or two after the creation of Eve to the casting out of Eden. Twain makes full use of hilarious gender stereotypes to project a fanciful depiction of Adam and Eve's relationship. Adam, the simple-minded oaf, wants nothing more than to be left alone to laze around all day. He wishes the woman would just stop talking. Eve reads his silence at her conversation as a sign that he enjoys it greatly, and follows him around talking for hours on end. Eve is flighty, emotional, somewhat silly: not good stereotypes. But she is also more imaginative, more multidimensional, and for me more likable. Worth listening to.

This book adds one more to my biblical fiction category.

Nice to see you back and posting! I loved Twain's Diaries of Adam and Eve - especially what Adam says at the end. One of the last books I read, Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church has an essay on Chesterton. It sounds as if he was a real character! Librivox is tempting but the use of volunteer narrators has me a little skeptical.

> 83

It's hit and miss. The ones I have listened to have been very good, some even near-professional quality. Some were terrible - I tried a selection of Gerard Manley Hopkins and I couldn't stand the woman's voice. I get them from iTunes and you can read reviews in the itunes store. It's not a perfect system, but audiobooks are expensive and I don't want to bother going to the library to get them.

I have just GOT to check out Diaries of Adam and Eve - that will be my first Twain believe it or not.

> 85

No worries. It was my first Twain too! He's one of those authors I don't have an intrinsic interest but in feel I should read one of his major books just because he's so famous.

>85 mkboylan: & 86 I think you're both in for a treat! I didn't read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn until I was in my late 30s and loved them both. :)

Good to see you back again! I, too, have been distracted by real life. In addition, I let my Club Read thread drop off again this year...I just can't keep up more than one, I think, and the 75ers one gets more traffic. :)

I really loved Diaries of Adam and Eve when I read it years ago. Quite funny!

Book bullet! I just ordered the Diaries of Adam and Eve for my next audiobook.

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
Imagine a world in two dimensions. You are a square. Your best friend is a pentagon. You navigate social situations by a complex process of feeling those around you to see how many angles they have.

Can you guess that Flatland is a strange novel? In fact this is one of the strangest novels I have ever read. Part geometrical fiction and part Victorian satire, this book begins with lengthy descriptions of the strictly regimented society of flat shapes the author is a part of. More angles translate to great social status; so common laborers are triangles, working professionals are squares, and high priests are circles. Women, being lowly and of childlike intelligence, are flat lines, and because of the danger of their points must be constrained in tight quarters.

Things start to get interesting when the dimensionality aspect of the novel is explored. The narrator encounters a one-dimensional universe where the king, a line, becomes outraged at being told his domain is minuscule and unimportant. Later, he finds a zero-dimensional universe, consisting of a single point. Quite a pathetic spectacle. But things really get fascinating when he gets a visitor from the 3-D world.

This book was very slow and Victorian in its long-winded prose, but if you want a novel that is really a glorified thought experiment, this was a fun read. I listened to the Librivox recording, which was of good quality.

Lilith, A Romance by George MacDonald

I first heard of MacDonald as a mythopoeic writer, much like Tolkien and Lewis but a generation earlier. I found Lilith available on Librivox and gave it a try. I'm glad I did!

Lilith tells the story of a bookish and distant man, friendless save his books, who stumbles into another world where he finds himself embroiled in a quest to save a race of child-like people from the evil queen Lilith - God's first created woman who rejected Adam and became queen of hell. Although the characterization is light, the imagery and puzzles the protagonist encounters are food for the imagination.

Like Lewis and Tolkien, MacDonald imbues his work with theology - including his controversial belief in universal salvation. For MacDonald, even absolute evil will be purified and made good in God's providence. Definitely a sentiment I can agree with. A bit dense and slow-paced, but for those who like mythical tales I can recommend this novel.

Oh, I read Flatland decades and decades ago -- it was fun, wasn't it?

Naturalism, Theism and the Cognitive Study of Religion: Religion Explained? by Aku Visala

In 2006, Daniel Dennett wrote his notorious Breaking the Spell, a book purporting to open the discussion on religion as a natural phenomenon. If religion can be explained by cognitive science or evolutionary psychology, then why do we need God? This is not a new conversation; psychological explanations - and reductions - of religion go at least back to Freud. Only now the discussion is taking new forms and is bolstered by scientific data. In this dense book (it is clearly his PhD dissertation), Visala examines atheist uses and implications of CSR (cognitive science of religion) and reframes it from a theist perspective.

A little background: CSR is a relatively new subfield, populated by authors such as Justin L. Barrett, Jesse Bering, Pascal Boyer, Scott Atran, and Harvey Whitehouse. CSR seeks to find cognitive mechanisms in the mind underlying common religious phenomena such as spirit possession, belief in deity/ies, and ritual. As an example, one of the most well-known theories in CSR is the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD). Essentially, we have built-in "promiscuous teleology," tending to see conscious intent behind many happenings. Our belief that there are deities or a deity controlling events that seem, by naturalistic standards, to be mere coincidences stems from our HADD. Suppose lightning strikes a wicked man. Is it a coincidence that he was wicked, or was a wrathful deity punishing him?

Visala finds that some CSR researchers and atheist philosophers employ CSR as a tool against belief in God. If belief in God can be reduced to cognitive mechanisms, then what use is God? If our sublime experiences can be traced to neural firings, then we don't need a God to explain our feelings of God. Further, these cognitive mechanisms are not always rational. Not only is belief in God superfluous, they say, but irrational. CSR is able to explain all of religious phenomena in a naturalistic way. Eventually CSR and other hard sciences will replace religious explanations of experiences of the sublime. The key term here is emergentism, the idea that more complex phenomena emerge from simpler phenomena but cannot be reduced to those phenomena. So cultures emerge from minds, minds from brains, brains from cells, cells from atoms, etc. We may not be able to explain culture in terms of brains, but why could we not someday? "Why do we instinctively believe in God?" no longer needs to be answered by "Because God calls us to him," the answer in the first page of the Catholic Catechism.

Visala calls for 'explanatory pluralism,' the idea that science need not form emergentist hierarchies, but instead see explanatory models as patchworks. This already exists in the social sciences, e.g. sociologists can take Marxist, symbolic-interactionist, and other approaches, each one with a different take on the problem. This opens the door to theism as compatible with CSR. So an individual's belief in God can be explained by cognitive mechanisms - but also by social conditioning, by emotional makeup, by the reasons the person herself would give, and perhaps by theological frameworks as well. Another way to put this: CSR can explain broad beliefs in deities, but not particular deities, particular people, etc. It provides ultimate explanations, not proximate ones for particular cases.

Not being much of a hard science person myself, I don't take much stock in the kind of science that sees itself as able to explain everything even in theory. So I liked Visala's book. Being a dry dissertation that put in a lot of extraneous information to show off its own erudition, I read the intro and conclusion to the first three chapters (literature review) and skimmed the fourth and fifth. I hope Visala will come out with more concise and readable explorations of this niche topic.

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex by Charles Darwin

The book that started evolutionary psychology. Right now I'm taking a course called "Darwin and God"* in which this book was assigned. Our professor believes that The Origin of Species is often over-emphasized, and that some of Darwin's most powerful ideas come from this lesser-read book (on LT, Origin has over 7000 copes, and this only 751!). Because this is the book where Darwin looks at human nature.

Darwin amasses a lifetime of evidence-gathering to argue for his thesis that many features of homo sapiens are derived from other species. Even features that seem unique about humans, such as our moral sense and belief in deities, are a difference of degree, not kind, from our close mammal relatives. Darwin humorously employs the example of a dog's devotion to his owner as a precursor to human devotion to God. And while our moral sense is unique, being in part derived from conscience (which requires rationality), are our basic social instincts not shared by many other mammals?

Darwin, though a wealthy and secluded Englishman, took copious notes on various cultures and peoples (not just birds and bugs!) on his journey around the world on the Beagle. He uses these observations in this book, but along the way reveals his racism, or at least its more benevolent cousin ethnocentrism. Primates are to savages what savages are to Europeans. Darwin's casual ranking of cultures often stemmed from ignorance about them and is jarring to this modern reader. His frank support of eugenics in the last three pages of the book does not help:

"The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem: all ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the other hand, as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage, whilst the reckless marry, the inferior members tend to supplant the better members of society."

But of course, he was a product of his time, and it was the same British colonialism that fueled his journey around the world in the first place. This book caused quite a stir when it was published. The captain of the Beagle, a conservative Christian, was outraged that his journey had spurred the writing of what he was as an amoral and atheistic work. As a writer, Darwin rambles on interminably, but employs so many fascinating examples to make it worthwhile. (Although I must admit I did not read the chapters about insects.) If you want to know where modern evolutionary theory applied to homo sapiens began, this is the book.

* In case anyone is curious, the reading list beyond this book:
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Theodosius Dobzhansky, The Biology of Ultimate Concern
William Paley, Natural Theology
Charles Darwin, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
David Pleins (my professor), The Evolving God: Charles Darwin on the Naturalness of Religion

Some fascinating reviews Jonathan. I enjoyed your foray into early fantasy novels and might be tempted to read both Flatland and Lilith, A Romance

I will also get to Darwin eventually and note your point about the importance of The Descent of Man.

More interesting reviews.! Flatland sounds interesting - I first heard of it on the Big Bang Theory! HA! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wqtqo3DFdo

Lilith - I would like to learn more about her. Hmmm.... what a bit of irony there with the captain of the Beagle being a conservative Christian!

> 95

That video was 50% funnier having read the book. And it was clear the script writers had too!

Agreeing with Barry, really interesting, well-written reviews, Jonathan. Flatland and Lilith are both on my wishlist already, but your reviews tempt me.

I remember reading about universal salvation, or Apocatastasis, in Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici. It seems a fascinating topic, but Sir Thomas would have none of it.

Lives of Roman Christian Women, ed. Carolinne White

Two chapters of this book were assigned reading for my Roman Empire class last quarter - but it was so interesting I read the rest of it. White has collected a great selection of works from the first 3-4 centuries of Christianity that describe individual women and the lives they led. Like much of women's' history, we have little in their own voices, but much description in mens' writings. The writings in this book range from famous patristic authors such as Gregory of Nyssa and Jerome, down to ones I had never heard of such as Palladius. They range from eulogistic letters to advice on how to raise a virtuous daughter to a story of two women martyrs and the miracles surrounding them.

Half of the selections in the book are by Jerome, who was known for being a spiritual and intellectual mentor for wealthy Roman widows. Jerome, despite being perhaps the greatest biblical scholar of patristic Christianity, was also a difficult man to be around. It was said that Paula the Elder, who he writes a forty-page paean to, was the only person who could put up with his moods and soothe his temper. (This was, of course, further proof of his holiness.) This book also includes his "Education of Little Paula," exhorting the parents of this young girl to shield her from idle gossip, educate her only in Christian authors, and rarely let her leave the house for fear of spoiling her virtue.

From a faith perspective, some of the stuff in here was hard to connect with. Paula the Elder's abandonment of her children for the sake of her leaving society and becoming a wandering ascetic? Nope. If Paula tried that today she's be tried for child neglect. I do not resonate with miracles of martyrs very much either. But it is hard to not be inspired by some of the exemplars of holiness in this book, especially when described in Jerome's brilliant rhetoric so crammed with biblical allusions.

Thankfully, Penguin Book has another volume titled Early Christian Lives, so I can read up on mens' lives too. Even better, it's the same translator and editor, British scholar Carolinne White, whose introduction to this volume was illuminating and readable.

Saint Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter, John Tolan

Eight centuries after his death, Francis of Assisi continues to be one of the most well-known and beloved saints of Christendom. Pivotal moments in his life and legends, such as his nude renunciation of his father, his stigmata, and his preaching to the birds, continue to inspire popular spirituality. One that is particularly drawn on in our age of ecumenism and peace building is Saint Francis' encounter with the Sultan Malek al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. Tolan, a historian of medieval Christian-Muslim relationships, has written an erudite history of this event and its portrayals from Jacques de Vitry (medieval historian) and Thomas of Celano (Francis' first hagiographer), to Bonaventure (Francis' most well-known hagiographer), through 18th- and 19th-century colonial depictions of Francis and modern attempts to appropriate him as a Crusade-opposing peace builder. Tolan argues that Francis has been painted anew in every age to meet current theological needs and politics.

I am reading this book for a class I am taking on St. Francis, and I only needed to read four chapters, so here goes.

In his introduction, Tolan gives the basic facts. After two unsuccessful attempts to join the Crusades, Francis finally reaches Egypt with the Fifth Crusade in September 1219. After leaving the crusaders' camp and deliberately getting himself arrested, Francis demanded to meet the sultan, an educated man known for his peacekeeping attempts. He attempted to convert the sultan to Christianity, failed, refused a money offer by the admiring Muslim, and was returned safety to his camp. Francis failed in two regards. Not only did he fail to convert the sultan, he did not even gain his desired martyrdom, though five brothers did the following January. The only direct reference to this episode in Francis' scant and scattered writings was in Chapter 16 of his Earlier Rule of 1221, which exhorts the Lesser Brothers to go among the Saracens and live subject to them as lambs among wolves, while preaching Christianity in word and deed. The Earlier Rule, which was full of Francis' deep spiritual advice but impractical and poorly written as a constitution for a religious order, was replaced by the Later Rule, which reduces Chapter 16 to two sentences stating that a brother can go "among the Saracens" if they choose.

Francis' first hagiographer, Thomas of Celano, wrote his First Life in 1228, shortly after Francis died, to satisfy the ecclesiastical need for an official hagiography of this new saint. Celano portrays Francis as a saint seeking martyrdom and preaching to the sultan. The sultan's offer of money was not an act of interfaith hospitality but a hagiographic trope of temptation akin to Jesus' assault by Satan in the desert. Francis' fearlessness was not due to his vulnerability and trust in the sultan, but to his desire to be martyred by the sultan. Celano later wrote a Second Life, including popular stories he did not put in his first volume. One of these was a story in which Francis tells the Crusaders to not fight that day. They ignore him and are miserably defeated. While modern commentators trot this out as proof of Francis' pacifism, Tolan points out that this strange story only shows Francis enjoining crusaders to not fight that day.

Bonaventure's vita, written around 1260, became the official hagiography of Francis. Bonaventure ordered all previous hagiographies to be burned. According to Tolan, Bonaventure made a less human Francis, one who always knew what to say, one who was marked by God from birth for his destiny. Bonaventure's vita is less chronological than Celano's, instead organized according to Bonaventure's spiritual theology. Bonaventure portrays the sultan in an even worse light than Celano, and even includes a story in which Francis proves his holiness by stepping into a burning fire and being unharmed (a trope drawn from the Book of Daniel). Bonaventure also portrays the event in his sermons, in which Francis not only impresses the sultan but converts him!

The final chapter on Francis' appropriation in the twentieth century chronicles interfaith and peace/justice advocates who now see Francis as open to the Muslim faith, against the Crusades, and even, according to Sufi author Idries Shah, a "Christian Sufi." John Paul II drew on this when he proclaimed Francis the patron saint of ecology and when he chose Assisi for his infamous interreligious prayer days. Tolan does not disagree with these high-minded aims. He just thinks they have little to do with Francis' historical encounter with the Sultan.

This was a dense book, full of context and historical detail lacking in modern Franciscan commentaries on the topic. (See my coming review of Kathleen A. Warren's book.) But unlike the Franciscan commentators, Tolan seems to lack a broader view of Franciscan spirituality, the vision that impels modern Franciscans to peace work. How do we proceed after recognizing that we are interpreting and inventing history for current needs?

Daring to Cross the Threshold: Francis of Assisi Encounters Sultan Malek al-Kamil , Kathleen A. Warren, OSF

Warren, a Franciscan sister, has written the ideal counterpoint to Tolan's more history-focused work. Warren seeks to appropriate Francis for a contemporary praxis of interreligious dialogue. She does so by looking at specific events in his life and drawing out what she sees as their implications.

Warren is best when she is examining Franciscan spirituality. But as a historian she fails to draw out the complexities of Francis' life. Some examples:

Warren argues that the scene in Celano's Second Life in which Francis urges the crusaders not to fight that day represents Francis' opposition to the crusades. Unfortunately she does not explain why Tolan's interpretation of the event is wrong, only states that it's possible Francis was a counter-Crusader. But Celano, as official hagiographer of the founder of his young religious order, would hardly put anything so subversive of the Church into his writings.

Warren argues that Francis, while in the Sultan's camp, "never insults the Prophet nor denigrates the religion of Islam" (45). Unfortunately there is little to no evidence for this speculation. She even speculates on what topics Francis and the sultan would have discussed: the unity and oneness of God, the practice of salat, or daily prayer, Sufi spirituality,

Unlike Tolan, she analyzed Francis' own writings. There are two places in which Francis alludes to Islamic. The first, covered in the above review of Tolan, is chapter 16 of the Earlier Rule. Warren interprets his injunction to be peaceful not as part of an attempt at martyrdom, but as interfaith respect. The second is in his First Letter to the Custodians, in which he encourages civic leaders to have scheduled prayer times, marked by a bell or announcement throughout their cities. The similarity to Islamic call to prayer is obvious, but could this not be Francis' chagrin that the infidel Saracens seem more prayerful than the Christians rather than any openness and desire to Islamic faith? Other sources, such as Francis' enigmatic drawing on the back of the Blessing to Brother Leo, are too vague and unsubstantiated to be related to Francis' thoughts on Islam in any way. You tell me:



But outside of Francis' own writings, Warren does not offer much depth. Her knowledge of Islam comes from introductory popular works and doesn't examine the specific Muslim practices and ideas of the sultan's time and place. She lumps together all the post-Francis source on Francis into one, failing to ask the historians' questions about genre and political background when she quotes from Thomas of Celano, Bonaventure, and other hagiographical sources. It is also obvious that she does not know Latin, which hampers her ability to work with the medieval sources.

But Warren returns to what she knows best in her final chapter on Franciscan spirituality and interreligious peacemaking. For example, Francis' vision of universal harmony and peace in his famous "Canticle of the Creatures" can be a model for human societies today. But given that her historical appropriation falls flat and relies on scant evidence and invention, it is hard for me to take the meat of this book seriously.

Love's Executioner: And Other Tales of Psychotherapy, by Irvin Yalom

This is one of the most enthralling books about psychology I have ever read. Yalom is a psychiatrist at Stanford University and a practitioner of what he calls existential psychotherapy. This method of therapy seeks to help patients come to and cope with core existential realities and problems: the inevitability of death, our ultimate loneliness, the need to create/find meaning in life, and our terrifying freedom. While these are rarely openly discussed, they often linger in the background of other issues his clients bring to him. This book is composed of case studies of different clients who came to him, how the therapy worked, how he felt and reacted, and what the outcomes were.

Yalom is not afraid to be self-critical. He includes one chapter in which his method didn't work at all. In another chapter he openly (perhaps too openly) reveals his disgust at a client who was obese. I discussed this book with my therapist (a Jungian) and we agreed that Yalom seems rather guiding than what we are doing. He knows where he is going and tries to bring the session there, whereas my therapist follows what I do and only suggests possible directions. More starkly, my method of therapy affirms the reality and importance of the sacred, whereas Yalom sees it as an illusion to avoid existential reality.

So this book not only helped me see more of how Yalom's mode of therapy works, but also how mine works by contrast. I enjoyed the book but would not want Yalom to be my therapist.

On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, by Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Rabbi Abraham Skorka

When I found out Pope Francis was our new pope, I immediately googled around to see what he had written. To my dismay, nothing - at least not in English. Of course, this book was translated rapidly, and I received it in the mail the day it was released.

This book consists of a series of dialogues between Bergoglio and Argentinian rabbi Abraham Skorka on issues ranging from the nature of faith, contemporary moral issues facing society, and the history of Argentina. Bergoglio and Scorch are clearly friends. Their relationship reminds me of that between John Paul II and Elio Toaff, late chief rabbi of Rome.

The impression I get of Pope Francis in this volume is a man who is firm, perhaps conservative in his moral values, but also not afraid to reach out across divisions and learn how to coexist with other people. For example, Bergoglio tells a funny story where he was at a prayer meeting with an Evangelical group. They asked him if he would kneel to be prayed for, because they wanted to show that they supported his episcopal ministry. The next week, photos of him kneeling to the Evangelical congregation ran in a newspaper with the headline: "Sede vacante: the Archbishop commits the sin of apostasy"!

The Pope's comment: "For them, praying together with others was apostasy. Even with an agnostic, with his doubt, we can look up together to find transcendence, each one praying according to his tradition. What's the problem?" (221)

Another great quote: in one chapter devoted to discussing the Church's history of anti-Semitism, the rabbi says: "I believe that the point of this dialogue we are having is to break these vicious cycles; to get a fresh start and to remind us of our shared heritage. If some people believe that Jesus is G-D made flesh, and we say that G-D would not do that because no human can represent G-D in bodily form, that discrepancy is no reason to breed hate or resentment. Some day we will know the truth, but in the meantime we can and we should be working together." (187)

Overall, this book was a good window into the current pope's thought. But it was a fogged window: it stayed at a very general level, covered many subjects, and did not penetrate too deeply. The middle part of the book, where they discussed moral issues, was the most bland. Perhaps I am expecting too much considering our last two popes were philosopher-theologians who wrote original theological treatises. But in some ways I feel the fact that this book was written at all - an interreligious book! - says more than its contents themselves.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

I am seriously glad to be done with this book. I first read it in high school, and it was assigned for my Darwin and God class this quarter. When I first read this book, I was an atheist and I liked what he said. Now I am Catholic and I find his tone annoying and off-putting, his ideas amateur.

For those who have been under a rock in the science/religion debates, Dawkins' book dropped like a bomb when it came out in 2006. Along with the other three of the "Four Horsemen" of the New Atheism (Harris, Hitchens, and Dennett), Dawkins argued that science has ousted religion, that religion causes violence and division in the modern world, and that we would all be better off without religion. Dawkins argues with the authority of being an Oxford Professor and eminent biologist.

Why don't I like this book? Dawkins masks some pretty facile argumentation under brilliant rhetoric and emotional appeal. In his world, no real scientist is religious. If a scientist claims to be religious, Dawkins dismisses him/her with sarcasm, sometimes saying that the scientist is just afraid to express their true atheistic opinion. If a Christian is non-fundamentalist, they are not a real Christian. Dawkins dismisses far too many viewpoints with sarcasm and creates too many straw men to be of much use. When I read him I just feel insulted. I also found mistakes in his facile summaries of various academic fields (e.g. biblical studies).

Did I say I was glad to get this book over with? Save your time, watch one of his debates, read a more enlightened book.

Collected Public Domain Works of H. P. Lovecraft by H. P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft, like MacDonald, is one of those authors I am all too glad I discovered. Lovecraft was an obscure American writer of horror fiction, influential to many of the genre's current luminaries but often forgotten as a figure in his own right. This collection of his public domain (and therefore early) work was compiled as a Librivox audiobook. The stories were read well with the exception of "Memory" and "The Picture in House," read by non-native English speakers with difficult accents.

From these stories, I get the impression that Lovecraft was less of a story-constructer and more of an idea-spinner. He has some shocking or horrifying image or concept, then spins some characters around it. If you want a great plot with suspense and action, this is not your guy. But the inventive images captivate my imagination and inspire a sense of horror and awe. Lovecraft has a perfect sense of dread and melancholy and packs his stories full of these moments. In some stories it works; in others it just seems melodramatic.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed these stories, and Lovecraft is an author I would like to dive into more. Onto the summer reading list...

It seems to me I've heard of Yalom before, maybe here on LT or in some other review I've read. His ideas always sound intriguing, but I certainly wouldn't want a therapist who knows where he's going before the session starts!

Really enjoyed your review of Love's Executioner. My wife was a counsellor/psychotherapist and I know she found the book very interesting, but not a method she would want to follow professionally as she is a person centred counsellor. The book is kicking around here somewhere, I must dig it out.

Nice analysis of Yalom and Dawkins.

>101 JDHomrighausen: I would be interested in reading that one as someone interested in Argentinan history. Very interesting stuff here!

> 107

They do spend a few chapters discussing Argentinean history. For me those were the most uninteresting chapters because I didn't know the background, but given Bergoglio's rumored involvement in the "dirty war" I'm sure he has SOMETHING interesting to say (even if in self-defense!).

What? No more lilbrattyteen?
*sniff*
They grow up so fast.

> 109

A friend of mine pointed out that it's a little strange using that now that I'm turning 23 next month. :P

Also, I believe using my real name on online forums keeps me honest. I have some real discomfort with online anonymity. It's not as if I'm reading anything here that I would be embarrassed to admit to my university professors or future employers. If I ever want to read 50 Shades, maybe I'll get a secret account with a fake name.... LOL!

I just worked my way through your thread. There is a lot of food for thought in your reviews and comments. I'm glad I took the time to read it.

Good for you Jonathan. I found Jeff Jarvis Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live to be very inspiring in addressing that issue of going public. He thinks going public may not only keep us honest, but help us to accept our humanity, freeing us up to become more creative. very interesting.

> 111

Thank you! Do you have a thread that I may follow?

> 112

As someone who taught university, you may have heard of the facebook "confession pages" that are springing up. These enable you to anonymously say whatever you want. A lot of insults get said. I think the whole idea is pretty strange. While it is true that some deep conversations have been started on there - people secretly struggling with homosexuality, people commenting on my campus' subtle racial separation, etc. - I'm not sure how far such conversations can go when nobody can say who they are, and may end up causing more hurt than healing.

Thank you. I do have a thread on Club Read. No anonymity intended in my user name... Colleen seems to be a very popular name.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/149024

Catching up. I like the username change...about time. I just read your last 19 reviews here and, I hate to say it, but the longer the review, the better. You have a lot of interesting things to say and talk about with these books.

Fascinated by On Heaven and Earth, skeptical about Love's Executioner but loved your review. Enjoyed reading about all the Darwin-related books, and on St. Francis and the history of his history. I'm not personally drawn to reading Dawkins, but enjoyed the thoughts in your review...especially comparing your response from when you first read it.

That's my long way of saying I enjoyed reading all this.

> 115

Thanks, Dan. You said "I hate to say it..." what do you mean?

I don't really want to read any more Dawkins either. Or if I do I'll only read his science books, not his atheist polemics (The Magic of Reality, The Blind Watchmaker). He really is a good scientist, even if, as Fern Elsdon-Baker points out, he sometimes represents his own ideas as the consensus of his field.

I'm glad you enjoyed this stuff!

I just mean I don't want to encourage longer reviews...or, maybe I don't want to want to do so...something like that.

My continuation thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/154796