Tags - Books

... All of which suggests the board should probably purchase The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible, which says that "most people admit that when it comes to knowing what's between those covers, their comprehension is, well, holey."

So, as a public service, we offer the following handy test.

A notorious tree in the Garden of Eden bore: a) pomegranates b) kiwis c) papaya d) forbidden fruit.

continue reading "Solomon had left the building by Jim Coyle"

... All of which suggests the board should probably purchase The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible, which says that "most people admit that when it comes to knowing what's between those covers, their comprehension is, well, holey."

So, as a public service, we offer the following handy test.

A notorious tree in the Garden of Eden bore: a) pomegranates b) kiwis c) papaya d) forbidden fruit.

continue reading "Solomon had left the building by Jim Coyle"

PS. This is about the author, Mr. Christopher Hitchens. And, "Hitchens, one of our great political pugilists, delivers the best of the recent rash of atheist manifestos." Publishers Weekly, on his God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

continue reading "Atheist, Naturalist, Secular humanist, Or None-of-the-above"

You can learn something about a person by the books they read. Even the books we buy but never get around to finishing, tell others quite a lot about our interests. And so, in these days of global, online friendships and conversation, taking a glimpse at someone's library gives an insight into that person that we could not otherwise glean.

Recently, I ran across another form of online community that's

continue reading "A Thing About Books and Libraries"

I have made my way through half of John Spong's lastest book The Sins of Scripture: Exposing Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love. It is by far his best work.

I know a few of you have read some his other books and were not too impressed overall. I confess that his other books were too destructive to be helpful in many ways. However, the title of this book intrigued me. So I gave him another chance. I am glad I did.

continue reading "The Sins of Scripture"

Today I finished reading Beyond Belief, by Elaine Pagels and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a clue as to what Christianity might look like in the post Christian era. Also check out the introductory review that Brian wrote earlier this week. Here are some of my random thoughts.

Pagels distills 35 years of study and 7 years of specific research into 200 pages of very readable yet scholarly writing. She gets personal and describes her own journey away from, and back into Church. In doing so, she describes—in my opinion—the path back to faith, necessary for thinkers who've found that the more they know about church history, the less they want to know. If you know what I mean. One can have knowledge, and faith, after all.

continue reading "Beyond Belief"