What a week. Ya'll, my brain is so tired from the weight of thinking about.....everything. It's actually been difficult to read anything more serious than my boys' collection of "Tundra" comic books. (They're awesome, BTW, just not bastions of critical thinking : )
Binging on comics....sigh. I blame pandemics and fraught election cycles.
Nevertheless, I persisted. This Monday morning I picked up the books that I'd let go neglected for a week. I'd encourage you to pick up whatever you laid down in a fit of depression at the end of October. It's time to re-engage.
"The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime" by Phyllis Tickle
Tuesday nearest November 9
The concluding prayer of the church:
God be in my head and in my understanding
God be in my mouth and in my speaking
God be in my heart and in my thinking
God be at mine end and my departing.
A reading
Jesus taught us saying: "Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches." John 15:4-5
"A History of Western Philosophy and Theology" by John M Frame
I'm loving the lectures and book! It is so very interesting to learn about philosophers of the past. Understanding the foundations of philosophy makes dissecting modern iterations much easier. I'm still more of a Plato's girl in the long run (sorry Aristotle) though it's helpful to hear what makes his views distinct and ultimately opposed to Christianity.
"With Plato as with the pre-Socratics, the tension between rationalism and irrationalism has a religious root. If Plato had known the God of Scripture, he would have known in what fundamental ways our reason is competent, yet limited. And he would have understood that the world of change is knowable, but not exhaustively, because God made it that way. He would have been able to consult God's revelation for ethical guidance, rather than teaching his students to rely on the abstract Form of the Good, which has nothing specific to say to them."
"Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship With God" by Dallas Willard
Willard is a new author to me. His name has been referenced multiple times in other books and blogs that I've interacted with. After reading Packer's excellent (though admittedly...British and "aloof-ish") work on knowing God, I felt as though I should look at the same topic through a much more "relational" lens. And so I ordered this book. Already I'm seeing differences in the ways that both authors describe the topic of communicating with God. I'm enjoying the comparison.
"Sometimes today it seems that our personal relationship with God is treated as no more than a mere arrangement or understand that Jesus and his Father have about us. Our personal relationship then only means that each believer has his or her own unique account in heaven, which allow them to draw on the merits of Christ to pay their sin bills. Or possible it means that God's general providence for his creation is adequate to provide for each person. But who does not think that there should be much more to a personal relationship than that? A mere benefactor, however powerful, kind and thoughtful is not the thin as a friend. Jesus says, "I have called you friends" (Jn 15:15) and "Look, I am with you every minute, even to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20, paraphrase; cf Heb 13: 5-6)
Finished Books:
"The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure" by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
"Life in a Medieval Castle" by Frances Gies and Joseph Gies
"Knowing God" by J.I. Packer
"Food Fights and Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste" by Tom Nealon
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