2016 Reading Review – Part III
In this segment: Non-Fiction and Religion. (See the full list of my 2016 reading here.) My non-fiction reading is a bit eclectic, usually recommendations from others. This year was no different. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | This was really just a short essay. And while I like Adichie’s reading, I don’t really remember […]
The Messiness of Grace
As a parting gift (before we move to Utah), my wife’s pastor gave her a copy of Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber, founding pastor (or pastrix) of House for All Sinners and Saints church in Denver. I quickly scooped it up and was delighted by the read. […]
Equality as a Christian Value
I just finished Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey. It constitutes a very compelling case for equality and justice being Christian virtues. A small part of the book directly addresses the Pauline passages in the New Testament that suggest a lesser, subordinate role for women in the Church community, and I think she deftly parries any […]
2014 Reading Review – Part 2
[You can find the first part of my 2014 reading review here] Novels * Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold – This has been sitting on our shelf for years, thanks again to my wife having picked it up at some point. It was a great novel to get lost in, with a little […]
Peaceful Revolution
In a 1962 speech to the Alliance for Progress, John F. Kennedy declared, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted that line five years later in his speech to Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, in which he denounced the U.S. involvement in the war and […]
Religion and This World
Perhaps because I know less about the context of Cry, The Beloved County, I found myself drawn more to the religious tensions addressed in the book. For instance, after recording a powerful sermon by one of the most saintly characters in the book, Alan Paton writes this: It is good for the Government, they say in Johannesburg, that Msimangu […]