Reading Update
Sheesh, somebody should really do something about keeping up this blog. Getting pretty thin on content!
We'll begin with a reading update. As most of you know, I like to read from time to time. Here are the current reads.
Richard Dawkins' - The God Delusion. I'll have some other posts on this (as I have already). I'm always struck with amazement that the folks who scream at Christianity the loudest have nothing better to offer than 'maybe you're not right!'. They scream it in different ways, but it all boils down to rather the same thing.
Aidan Kavanagh - Elements of Rite. I'll have a review on this shortly. While ultimately helpful to clergy, the book has some solid things to contribute to the ongoing debates about worship styles.
Neil Postman - Amusing Ourselves to Death. I'm about a quarter of the way through this rather short but interesting insight into some of the ramifications of our cultural shift away from the written word and towards images and television. Although the book is 25 years old, I suspect that's only going to make it more powerful as we can see some of the very things Postman was talking about.
Robert Benne - Good and Bad Ways to Think About Religion and Politics. About 1/4 of the way into this one as well. He's basically arguing that the Lutheran approach to politics and religion is a terribly helpful alternative to the two prevailing ways of approaching how these things interact - separationism and fusionism. He argues that expecting, let alone attempting total separation of faith and the public sphere is not only ludicrous, it's unhealthy. He also argues that attempting to fuse the two into a theocratic entity is fundamentally misguided (and not nearly the possibility that many secularists seem to fear).
Kenneth C. Haugk - Don't Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart. Published by Stephen Ministries, I'm interested to hear how this book approaches the issue of caring for and being with people who are struggling profoundly. Not very far into it, but looking forward to gaining some wisdom (hopefully!) through it.
What are y'all reading? Anything interesting? Thought-provoking? Delightfully relaxing and fun?
Just finished re-reading, "The Irrational Atheist: dissecting the unholy trinity of Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens" by Vox Day. Day shows atheism's claims against religion are logically, factually and scientifically unfounded. If you have a Kindle it's a cheap download.
About to start "Saving Leonardo A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning" by Nancy Pearcey.
Or at least I will attempt to start it until some other new and shiny book catches my eye. I can't count the number of books I have only half-read.
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Those definitely sound like interesting reads. I've heard of them both, but my reading queue is so long, I fear I may never get through it as it is!
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The Kindle is nice. I like it even more than I thought I would. Plus all the shelf space you save. I wouldn't recommend for reference type books, it's not so good for flipping back and forth. If you get the 3G version you can download a book anywhere anytime. Which is both a blessing and a curse since Amazon has your CC# and it doesn't even feel like you have to pay for the books.
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I imagine that last part is the most dangerous aspect of the crossover from hard copy to digital! It's already dangerously disconnected enough buying books from Amazon online - I can't imagine the ease of the monetary bleed if it were instantaneous and more literally transparent!
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