What are you reading?

Rolanddeschain said:

I just reread an incredible book by our own @First_Warrior
If you haven't read it,you should.
My continuous audio book choice is The Dark Tower by Stephen King.....start with book 1-7 and start again......because Ka is a wheel

Actually got my wife to do book 1 on audiobook just today while driving to Marty's. she seemed to enjoy it.

Rolanddeschain

ElJimbo said:

Rolanddeschain said:

I just reread an incredible book by our own @First_Warrior
If you haven't read it,you should.
My continuous audio book choice is The Dark Tower by Stephen King.....start with book 1-7 and start again......because Ka is a wheel

Stephen King's the best, Blaine the riddle train! Have you read the Bachman books?

https://youtu.be/ZcoweoZ6jpM

I have. I read all of his stuff.

Rolanddeschain said:

I have. I read all of his stuff.

His short story collections are the awesome.

YankeeMan

"Below the Belt" by Stuart Woods.

peter4jc

Car and Driver.

Martel

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.

The flat Eathers won't like it.

Stephen King, End of Watch. Of the Mr. Mercedes series.

Guitarded

The Heart of Everything That Is.
The untold story of Red Cloud.
It was ok, but I would reccomend Empire of the Summer Moon.

First_Warrior

Off the Chart, James W. Hall

Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man.

ElJimbo said:

Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man.

Wow, funny I was thinking about that last week, and I haven't read it in over 40 years.

Amos_Umwhat said:

ElJimbo said:

Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man.

Wow, funny I was thinking about that last week, and I haven't read it in over 40 years.

If you want to reread it and can't find a copy, I can send you mine after I'm done.

https://youtu.be/GjwfqXTebIY

YankeeMan

Deliver Us From Evil, by Sarchie and Cool. He's the NYC cop who became a demonologist. Very interesting. Of course, I watch all the ghost shows.

silvermouse

Stoic Philosophy as a Cognitive-Behavioral

Therapy

http://www.abct.org/docs/PastIssue/42n2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3Fx42TXkHi-0GdaJrBDn_mM5HoRfASw7hm2rrZ5wgKDjrGwfya0iRi92M

Cigarsonist

Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut

wish I had known this thread existed. You guys just added a lot to my list

The Triumph of Christianity; How a forbidden religion swept the world. Bart Ehrmann.

CalvinAndHobo

Act of war - Brad Thor

Captain_Call

Wool, Shift, and Dust. All three by Hugh Howey. Some nice dystopian fiction

Rhamlin

Just finished the Hornblower series. Thanks to @CalvinAndHobo
Well I got one more anyway. It should be waiting for me at home. Right now I’m finishing up with Wilderness Empire by Allan W Eckert.
The follow up book to The frontiersman but it actually takes place first. Both great books.

First_Warrior

Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke. One of his early works, a Edgar award winner..A friend used to go to a New Orleans bar way back and said that Burke would trade copies of his first book for drinks.
Next up Swift Vengeance by T. Jefferson Parker. Our local library has a new C.
J. Box ready for me to pick up.

Martel

@Cigarsonist I'm a huge Vonnegut fan. I find myself referencing him a lot, but he wrote so many short stories that I can't remember which collection they're in or the name of the story most of the time. My favorite novel is Cat's Cradle. Give it a shot if you haven't read it.

@Amos_Umwhat I'm curious about that Ehrman book. He's an odd dude. Terribly smart. I respect his technical work on textual issues of the New Testament, but he's not really a historian. I find his whole "deconversion" story odd. I use him as an example of the problems of rigid fundamentalism and strict innerrancy. The things that bother him about Christian scriptures just don't bother me, I guess.

@Rhamlin I read Hornblower a couple years ago for the first time since I was 12. It aged pretty well. Try the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian next if you like Napoleonic sea battles. It's Hornblower for grown-ups. He died before he could actually finish the series, though. Still, I felt satisfied by the end. Also, if you want something different but in the same vein, Naomi Novik's, Temeraire series imagines what the Napoleonic era would have been like if there were aerial combat...on dragons. Lots of Hornblower influence. Also, the Honor Harrington books by David Webber (there's a ton in the Honorverse) at least start with a feel similar to Hornblower, but set far in the future with space navies.

I know all you "degenerate" MAGA retroverts (love you!!!) won't like it, but I'm reading a really well-written look at America by historian Richard Hughes called Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories that Give us Meaning. If you do check it out, make sure you're getting the Second Edition with this subtitle. It's a significant re-working of his first edition to the point of really being almost an entirely new book. And a far better book at that. He uses the word "Myth" in the academic sense, fairly neutrally. He then looks at what he considers some formative myths that have been used to tell the story of America, considers how another, inherently harmful myth of White Supremacy has shaped them all, and asks us to consider how we might reframe and reclaim the positive aspects of the other myths. For example, "The Myth of the Chosen Nation" suggests that the notion of Covenant was central to various European groups who settled the American colonies. Hughes argues that "chosenness" lost its tie to covenant, which demands care for others, and replaced personal care with impersonal individualism, freedom, and liberty. At any rate, it's a provocative read, meticulously researched, and remarkably nuanced. I don't think people do well with nuance, in general, so I'm afraid people on all sides of the central issue will miss some of what he has to say, unfortunately.

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss (Old Skool Paper)
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (Audiobook)
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher (Audiobook)

Martel said:

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@Amos_Umwhat I'm curious about that Ehrman book. He's an odd dude. Terribly smart. I respect his technical work on textual issues of the New Testament, but he's not really a historian. I find his whole "deconversion" story odd. I use him as an example of the problems of rigid fundamentalism and strict innerrancy. The things that bother him about Christian scriptures just don't bother me, I guess.

@Martel , Regarding Ehrman''s other works I've read, 'Misquoting Jesus' etc., I'd have to agree with your assessment, however this book is much more historical in nature. I too find the deconversion story odd. I was bothered by many of the same questions as he, and his explanations made Christianity more valid, real and true to my way of thinking, rather than lessening my belief.

The obvious conflicts within the scriptures always nagged at me. Why do the different gospels tell different stories? I accept readily that the Romans certainly subverted, redacted, and guided the stories to their own ends. Also that the early Christian intellectuals, many of whom were former priests of the current religions, felt a need to incorporate certain cultural norms into the story so as to make it palatable to the public. Proofs of divinity, as it were.

However, at least to some extent, the conflicts could indicate validity, since no two humans memories of events are ever quite the same. Ehrman tends to use this fact to prove his point when he needs to, or to refute that which he cannot accept when that suits him. But then, he's human too.

Another author in this genre is Geza Vermes. I'm going to have to check into Hughes.

Cigarsonist

@Martel my wife just gave me a first edition cats cradle for my birthday

Cigarsonist said:

@Martel my wife just gave me a first edition cats cradle for my birthday

Avoid the audio book. This one is impossible to follow if your not reading it yourself.

Cigarsonist

Wylaff said:

Cigarsonist said:

@Martel my wife just gave me a first edition cats cradle for my birthday

Avoid the audio book. This one is impossible to follow if your not reading it yourself.

I’ve read it so many times that my paper back just fell apart

Cigarsonist said:

Wylaff said:

Cigarsonist said:

@Martel my wife just gave me a first edition cats cradle for my birthday

Avoid the audio book. This one is impossible to follow if your not reading it yourself.

I’ve read it so many times that my paper back just fell apart

busy busy busy

Martel

Amos_Umwhat said:

@Martel , Regarding Ehrman''s other works I've read, 'Misquoting Jesus' etc., I'd have to agree with your assessment, however this book is much more historical in nature. I too find the deconversion story odd. I was bothered by many of the same questions as he, and his explanations made Christianity more valid, real and true to my way of thinking, rather than lessening my belief.

The obvious conflicts within the scriptures always nagged at me. Why do the different gospels tell different stories? I accept readily that the Romans certainly subverted, redacted, and guided the stories to their own ends. Also that the early Christian intellectuals, many of whom were former priests of the current religions, felt a need to incorporate certain cultural norms into the story so as to make it palatable to the public. Proofs of divinity, as it were.

However, at least to some extent, the conflicts could indicate validity, since no two humans memories of events are ever quite the same. Ehrman tends to use this fact to prove his point when he needs to, or to refute that which he cannot accept when that suits him. But then, he's human too.

Another author in this genre is Geza Vermes. I'm going to have to check into Hughes.

Yeah, I gathered it was historical in nature; I just don't consider him to have a lot of expertise in that area. Certainly he can analyze historical texts and is probably more skilled than most "laymen" in the area.

And I'm with you on his concerns re:Christianity. I probably should have expounded more. It's not that I don't see how some of his concerns and criticisms are based in evidence, I just don't see the answers, even the ones he comes to, as denying the validity of Christianity. I also don't have the same inerrant view of Scripture that he was raised with, so a crack in consistency here or there doesn't bug me.

I think that was the case even before seminary for me, though I was raised in a pretty conservative Christian home. I was always a questioner. And since the Bible itself doesn't come out and say exactly how the process of god-breathed-inspired-composition works, well, I'm content with a little holy mystery. And manuscript errors don't bug me. Humans mess up. Even the "difficult" readings aren't that much concern to me, though I don't go around teaching much about them since lots of people aren't where I am with their faith.

I'll answer honestly when those questions come up. I'll talk cannon and ante-Nicene Christology to someone who's really in need of that. I just find it few and far between who really need that deep dive. And the idea of "errors" in the Bible really can throw people. It just doesn't throw me, especially since most of those transmission errors are understandable. In fact, there's only really one or two textual variants in the NT that might change my theology, and then not significantly.

As to conflicts or contradictions between gospels and between any parts of the Bible, really, I just don't have the same concerns. I'm a pretty smart dude, but I don't know it all. I like to say I have strong convictions loosely held. When I can't reconcile a contradiction, I am comfortable with a couple approaches: human variance in recall; a more literary/narrative/rhetorical approach concerned with the theology of the text rather than seeing it as propositional TRUTH about stuff (or it needing to be 100% accurate in all details); shrugging it off to my lack of understanding (and encouraging me to dive deeper); or just accepting what seems a contradiction and saying maybe there's some truth in the tension.

I mean, if Proverbs tells me both that I should answer or not answer a fool according to his folly, I know something is up. In that case, I think Wisdom is a process and must be applied situationally. I'm not generally a proponent of situational ethics, but I see the pursuit of Wisdom as something different that allows for contextual sensitivity.

Okay, well now I'm just rambling. I can talk this stuff all day and into next year. If you're interested in another book recommendation, let me suggest Michael J. Gorman's Scripture and Its Interpretation: A Global, Ecumenical Introduction to the Bible. It looks like a textbook (and it could be) but it's a very different "intro to the Bible" from a lot of books out there. It does deal with some backgrounds and such, but also looks at how different traditions approach the text without giving much of a primer on the individual books. As such, it's useful as a beginning to breaking "us" out of our own contexts to understand that the Bible isn't a product of our culture specifically to our culture. And while it's not wrong, per se, to read it through a cultural lens, if we don't also listen to those who read it through a different lens we might be faulty in our approach and limited in our understanding.