The Web Log
As time goes on my blog truly has become weblog; it feels more centered on my own thoughts and feelings and less on an audience. Though I love when people read! I'm just not writing polished articles, or sometimes even including background information that would make my posts more meaningful. Web log. This has mostly been a factor of time. I do know I still have a few friends who read here from time to time; it's deeply appreciated.
On that note: right now I'm reading four books. S and I are reading the fifth Harry Potter in pieces before we go to bed (we finished the sixth out of order). The novel is starting to pick up...on page 300. Sorry, gang, I'm just not a huge fan. In four, five, and six the novel took forever to get moving. It does seem like a great book for younger readers, but while some kids' books (The Wind in the Willows) continue to entrance me, HP needs an editor and just doesn't do it. We are struggling on, though, knowing the story will pick up, is beginning to pick up. At the very least, Professor Umbridge is sadistic and I'm hoping Dumbledore or Hagrid kicks her butt (the scenes of Harry's enforced self-torture during detention are very disturbing).
Also I'm in the middle of Herbert's Dune for my sci. fi. class. I read this novel in high school and maybe once a few years later, but it's been many years since I had the joy. It is sci. fi. which bumps against the mainstream canon. Imagination moving on multiple levels. An all-bad villain, true, but at least the relationships are fleshed out at times. The sub-creation, as Tolkien would say, is very engrossing; I feel like I'm on Arrakis breathing in the spice.
Then there's N.T. Wright's What St. Paul Really Said. Yes, for it's less than 200 pages, I'm still reading it. His ideas are so revolutionary I have to step back and gestate. The term'gospel' in Paul is equivalent to imperial proclamation of victory or new kingship; okay, but what Protestants usually mean by 'gospel,' you know, we're sinners and Jesus died for our sins if we place faith in him...that's not what Wright thinks Paul means by the word at all. Wright is clearly a Christian, and the strength of his first-century reading of Paul is breathtaking at times. But Wright is essentially reinstructing us how to read Paul, utterly. It's a strange feeling and it's taking me time to absorb, evaluate, adjust. The book is simply one of the most original Christian things I can remember reading (not that I've read a ton).
Finally, a book I got based on Amazon reviews though I cringed at the title, Lewis Agonistes. I just started it tonight and my opinion may change, but so far I'm only cautiously impressed. I think a reader is better off to cover the dozen or so books at the center of Lewis' theological canon; what Markos is doing (generally, and so far) is distilling information already found in Lewis. Only fifty or so pages into it, I find some things I like or have forgotten; I also find oversimplifications which drive me insane. Yes, the Genesis account and Darwin's evolution are both myths and they are both unrepeatable; however, there is very powerful circumstantial evidence for evolution of life forms (with or without divine intervention, no one can say; science has not answered all the questions or replicated the process from inanimate matter). Markos blows right over that (and Lewis, I thought, cautiously accepted evolution as likely). Also, Markos' whole 'top down' vs. 'bottom down' theory of philosophy...things just aren't that simple!
I know he's intentionally modeling Lewis and writing for a lay audience. Awesome. This I applaud. But he's still an academic and I expect more.
S is almost home from school; time to cut it short.
The coolest thing I did today was make her a cd of love songs, about twenty. Louis Armstrong, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Harrick Connick, Frank Sinatra, Karen Carpenter, Peter, Paul, and Mary...I haven't done anything like this for her in a long time, and I love the fact that I am feeling love right now, without criticism or fear or tension or distance. Healing is happening. I cherish it. Yes I'm in therapy, but I give God credit as well. As in any relationship, there are good days and bad days. I'm getting to where I can feel the good ones. My gratitude is enormous.
Oh, and Curious George opened! I am such a fan of the books (since I was three or four). Any input on the movie is appreciated. I'd like to go if it keeps the george-faith.
Be well all.
On that note: right now I'm reading four books. S and I are reading the fifth Harry Potter in pieces before we go to bed (we finished the sixth out of order). The novel is starting to pick up...on page 300. Sorry, gang, I'm just not a huge fan. In four, five, and six the novel took forever to get moving. It does seem like a great book for younger readers, but while some kids' books (The Wind in the Willows) continue to entrance me, HP needs an editor and just doesn't do it. We are struggling on, though, knowing the story will pick up, is beginning to pick up. At the very least, Professor Umbridge is sadistic and I'm hoping Dumbledore or Hagrid kicks her butt (the scenes of Harry's enforced self-torture during detention are very disturbing).
Also I'm in the middle of Herbert's Dune for my sci. fi. class. I read this novel in high school and maybe once a few years later, but it's been many years since I had the joy. It is sci. fi. which bumps against the mainstream canon. Imagination moving on multiple levels. An all-bad villain, true, but at least the relationships are fleshed out at times. The sub-creation, as Tolkien would say, is very engrossing; I feel like I'm on Arrakis breathing in the spice.
Then there's N.T. Wright's What St. Paul Really Said. Yes, for it's less than 200 pages, I'm still reading it. His ideas are so revolutionary I have to step back and gestate. The term'gospel' in Paul is equivalent to imperial proclamation of victory or new kingship; okay, but what Protestants usually mean by 'gospel,' you know, we're sinners and Jesus died for our sins if we place faith in him...that's not what Wright thinks Paul means by the word at all. Wright is clearly a Christian, and the strength of his first-century reading of Paul is breathtaking at times. But Wright is essentially reinstructing us how to read Paul, utterly. It's a strange feeling and it's taking me time to absorb, evaluate, adjust. The book is simply one of the most original Christian things I can remember reading (not that I've read a ton).
Finally, a book I got based on Amazon reviews though I cringed at the title, Lewis Agonistes. I just started it tonight and my opinion may change, but so far I'm only cautiously impressed. I think a reader is better off to cover the dozen or so books at the center of Lewis' theological canon; what Markos is doing (generally, and so far) is distilling information already found in Lewis. Only fifty or so pages into it, I find some things I like or have forgotten; I also find oversimplifications which drive me insane. Yes, the Genesis account and Darwin's evolution are both myths and they are both unrepeatable; however, there is very powerful circumstantial evidence for evolution of life forms (with or without divine intervention, no one can say; science has not answered all the questions or replicated the process from inanimate matter). Markos blows right over that (and Lewis, I thought, cautiously accepted evolution as likely). Also, Markos' whole 'top down' vs. 'bottom down' theory of philosophy...things just aren't that simple!
I know he's intentionally modeling Lewis and writing for a lay audience. Awesome. This I applaud. But he's still an academic and I expect more.
S is almost home from school; time to cut it short.
The coolest thing I did today was make her a cd of love songs, about twenty. Louis Armstrong, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Harrick Connick, Frank Sinatra, Karen Carpenter, Peter, Paul, and Mary...I haven't done anything like this for her in a long time, and I love the fact that I am feeling love right now, without criticism or fear or tension or distance. Healing is happening. I cherish it. Yes I'm in therapy, but I give God credit as well. As in any relationship, there are good days and bad days. I'm getting to where I can feel the good ones. My gratitude is enormous.
Oh, and Curious George opened! I am such a fan of the books (since I was three or four). Any input on the movie is appreciated. I'd like to go if it keeps the george-faith.
Be well all.
Comments
thanks so much for posting. I don't know if it came through in this post, but I've been dissatsfied with blogging of late. I have what funkiller calls blog envy, wishing my blog looked/read like others, and also have experienced what all of us may have felt. We bounced together 18 mos. ago as this sudden community of pals online, some new, some old, and it was wonderful for me. But as time pulled at each of us, and the non-intimate reality of the web sank in, there was less time to post and interact. Some blogs have found other friend communities. All this is very cool, but in some ways this post was an appology: sorry guys I'm not doing 'serious' writing; this is all I've got right now.
And A, your post is very sweet. Truly.
BTW, Krav mom's site is quite cool. When I first saw the reference to Augstine's city of god and the 'krav' name, I thought this might be another incarnation of an old blog friend who went offline. Whether so or no, it's a nice site and I read the George post.
I never thought about why I liked George so much, but his curiosity is part of it, his getting into and out of trouble...plus he's just button cute.
Thanks again you two. And KMJ, nice to see you in the blogsphere again.
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