I lead a very quiet life. I have routines, which I follow, and they serve me well, and keep me healthy. I sleep well these days - 8 or more hours, with lots of weird dreams, which I usually don't understand, and I don't try to analyze them. I simply enjoy them.
Every morning, seven days a week, I swim after breakfast, 25 or 30 lengths, 30 minutes more or less. I spend an hour morning and afternoon at Tim Hortons, the national coffee shop. There I read. I sometimes sit with people I know, but that is tiring. They're mostly conservative folk, sometimes quick misogynistic and racial bigoted, so I either argue or keep quiet. In any case, it's tiring, and I go there to relax. So I sit alone.
I read a lot, much of it in that place. Since my reading is for my own growth and enjoyment, I thought I would share with you some of the reading I have done recently, as part of my general education and relaxation. A few weeks back I read Jesus Before the Gospels by Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is a Biblical historian, who, in this volume, lays out the documentation (such as it is) for an understanding of Jesus prior to the writing of the four New Testament gospels. The first of these was written some 45 to 60 years after Jesus death, so there was a long period of oral transmission before the "official" gospels were written. Of course, the Nag Hahmadi discoveries have shown us that many more gospels were written, but have been deemed "heretical" by the official church over the centuries. These present a varieties of slants on Jesus' life, and would enrich our knowledge of hm if they were more widely known.
I also read John Spong's final book (or so he says, at 85), Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, a book attacking and refuting the notion that then Bible is in any way literally and inerrantly the "Word of God." This is such an obvious truth that it seems silly to write such a book. However, much of North American Protestantism stubbornly holds to this dogma, and thus totally screws up theology and the practise of the faith.
A weird and enjoyable book that fascinated me was Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower. I have been fascinated by the holocaust and the Nazi's participation in it for years. This was a new departure for me, to examine the females who were active in the murder of Jews - adults and children - during the Second World War. These were teachers, nurses, secretaries, women who exercised power by the personal killing of helpless and captive Jewish individuals. It was a fascinating and sobering read.
On a completely different track, I read The Illegal by Lawrence Hill, a Canadian novelist. This is the story of an African marathoner, who lives in a poor black country, probably Soweto, and struggles with his identity in "Freedomland" - most certainly South Africa. Running is the key to his freedom, but along the way we learn of the policies and practises that keep the African man from attaining full human status.
Then there is St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate by Karen Armstrong. Armstrong leads us through the story of Paul's life as we know it from New Testament sources, and how he was in conflict with the Jerusalem Church over his insistence on bringing gentiles into the Christian community, when the followers of Jesus were almost exclusively Jewish, and desired to remain so, having seen their Messiah come. Paul was a fractious and enthusiastic man, and was involved in a lengthy struggle with Peter and James, Jesus' brother in the early years of the Followers of Way, long before they were anything like a "Church."
The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns was a particularly enjoyable read. Enns main point is that "belief" is not so much about 'things to be believed' as it is a matter of "trusting" - in this case, trusting God. He points out that if your life is all about being certain about your faith because of all the things you must believe, then you don't really trust God at all. Trusting God still leaves you with lots of uncertainty, which is why you must trust, rather than being certain.
John Grisham's The Confession is a surprisingly rich novel about capital punishment in the State of Texas. Gripping drama, as people attempt to get a pardon for a young man who clearly did not commit the murder of a young girl, and then the equally drama of attempting to get the death penalty outlawed after the young man is executed, and the real killer shows up. A wrongful death blows the whole situation sky high, and Grisham milks it for all its worth. Good read.
The last book I'll mention is God in My Head by Joshua Grisetti. This is a personal memoir written by a Southern Baptist who becomes an atheist, and then, while knocked out in a dentist's chair, has an extended out-of-body experience and a conversation with God. The book is irreverent, funny, quite profound and controversial. Lots to think about, and disagree with. But quite a hoot to read.
So you can see that I am not quite idle all day, but stimulate my brain as best I can. A problem with this is that, because of my stroke a few years back, I have a very poor memory, with holes in it. Retaining what I read is a problem at times. For example, I have read all the Rebus novels of Ian Rankin, but as I go back and re-read them, they are mostly new to me! The joys of aging.
Enough for tonight. Perhaps I have peaked your interest in one o more books, that you will check out yourself!
Every morning, seven days a week, I swim after breakfast, 25 or 30 lengths, 30 minutes more or less. I spend an hour morning and afternoon at Tim Hortons, the national coffee shop. There I read. I sometimes sit with people I know, but that is tiring. They're mostly conservative folk, sometimes quick misogynistic and racial bigoted, so I either argue or keep quiet. In any case, it's tiring, and I go there to relax. So I sit alone.
I read a lot, much of it in that place. Since my reading is for my own growth and enjoyment, I thought I would share with you some of the reading I have done recently, as part of my general education and relaxation. A few weeks back I read Jesus Before the Gospels by Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is a Biblical historian, who, in this volume, lays out the documentation (such as it is) for an understanding of Jesus prior to the writing of the four New Testament gospels. The first of these was written some 45 to 60 years after Jesus death, so there was a long period of oral transmission before the "official" gospels were written. Of course, the Nag Hahmadi discoveries have shown us that many more gospels were written, but have been deemed "heretical" by the official church over the centuries. These present a varieties of slants on Jesus' life, and would enrich our knowledge of hm if they were more widely known.
I also read John Spong's final book (or so he says, at 85), Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, a book attacking and refuting the notion that then Bible is in any way literally and inerrantly the "Word of God." This is such an obvious truth that it seems silly to write such a book. However, much of North American Protestantism stubbornly holds to this dogma, and thus totally screws up theology and the practise of the faith.
A weird and enjoyable book that fascinated me was Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower. I have been fascinated by the holocaust and the Nazi's participation in it for years. This was a new departure for me, to examine the females who were active in the murder of Jews - adults and children - during the Second World War. These were teachers, nurses, secretaries, women who exercised power by the personal killing of helpless and captive Jewish individuals. It was a fascinating and sobering read.
On a completely different track, I read The Illegal by Lawrence Hill, a Canadian novelist. This is the story of an African marathoner, who lives in a poor black country, probably Soweto, and struggles with his identity in "Freedomland" - most certainly South Africa. Running is the key to his freedom, but along the way we learn of the policies and practises that keep the African man from attaining full human status.
Then there is St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate by Karen Armstrong. Armstrong leads us through the story of Paul's life as we know it from New Testament sources, and how he was in conflict with the Jerusalem Church over his insistence on bringing gentiles into the Christian community, when the followers of Jesus were almost exclusively Jewish, and desired to remain so, having seen their Messiah come. Paul was a fractious and enthusiastic man, and was involved in a lengthy struggle with Peter and James, Jesus' brother in the early years of the Followers of Way, long before they were anything like a "Church."
The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns was a particularly enjoyable read. Enns main point is that "belief" is not so much about 'things to be believed' as it is a matter of "trusting" - in this case, trusting God. He points out that if your life is all about being certain about your faith because of all the things you must believe, then you don't really trust God at all. Trusting God still leaves you with lots of uncertainty, which is why you must trust, rather than being certain.
John Grisham's The Confession is a surprisingly rich novel about capital punishment in the State of Texas. Gripping drama, as people attempt to get a pardon for a young man who clearly did not commit the murder of a young girl, and then the equally drama of attempting to get the death penalty outlawed after the young man is executed, and the real killer shows up. A wrongful death blows the whole situation sky high, and Grisham milks it for all its worth. Good read.
The last book I'll mention is God in My Head by Joshua Grisetti. This is a personal memoir written by a Southern Baptist who becomes an atheist, and then, while knocked out in a dentist's chair, has an extended out-of-body experience and a conversation with God. The book is irreverent, funny, quite profound and controversial. Lots to think about, and disagree with. But quite a hoot to read.
So you can see that I am not quite idle all day, but stimulate my brain as best I can. A problem with this is that, because of my stroke a few years back, I have a very poor memory, with holes in it. Retaining what I read is a problem at times. For example, I have read all the Rebus novels of Ian Rankin, but as I go back and re-read them, they are mostly new to me! The joys of aging.
Enough for tonight. Perhaps I have peaked your interest in one o more books, that you will check out yourself!
You've given me some titles to add to my reading list...for the next decade, perhaps? Thanks!
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