This is a straightforward and valuable book: He just takes the four Gospels and makes them into a straightforward, chronological narrative of all that Jesus said and did. I did not notice any editorializing or omissions/additions. The book is 183 pages. (The author is a retired Catholic priest. I note that one website says he … [Read more…]
This is Chesterton’s first and supposedly best collection of the Father Brown stories, and they are indeed enjoyable — but there’s not really a lot of Christianity in them (except maybe implicitly), and alas he is rabidly anti-“Puritan.”
This is a very good and recent (2013) biography. One annotation I made (139): The fact that Lewis’s conversion was bifurcated — that is, first he became a theist, then a Christian — is “Interesting/reassurring” re my short essay (elsewhere on this site), “Why Am I Christian (and You Should Be, Too), in 600 Words.”
I read this because of a review by Joseph Bottom in The Weekly Standard, which makes some good points. The book is solid but doesn’t really offer a lot of insight into Christianity. One point I liked (irrelevant to Christianity) is that Rome was unique in that its leaders/elite wrote poetry (297). This point (286-87) … [Read more…]
This is very good, especially in the facts and history it provides. Some of the analysis toward the end is confused and too speculative, and I think he is too harsh on Joel Osteen and too insistent that Christianity cannot be upbeat (he’s Catholic, FYI and FWIW).
There are about forty excerpts from a Who’s Who of Christian theologians (Luther, Calvin, St. Thomas, Wesley, C.S. Lewis, etc.). Needless to say, there is some good stuff in here; there’s also a biography, bibliography, and questions for each. Note: I did not read the whole book (my notes don’t say why). I read the … [Read more…]
This is a very interesting selection (made by “Renovare,” by the way). First there is commentary and then there are excerpts from each. Some notes: Calvin is much more accessible than I would have thought. He also interprets Scripture with an eye on what is implicit as well as explicit in it; it’s very … [Read more…]
I read this because Professor Timothy Shutt of Kenyon College recommended it in an audiobook lecture as a great way to see what life was like in the provinces of the Roman Empire; because it’s the only surviving ancient Latin novel, and a rare documentation of life in the lower classes; and for the story … [Read more…]
It’s reassuring how much archaeological evidence there is supporting the Bible’s history. Fun fact to know and tell: There were seven key crops in Bible times, namely wheat and barley; grapes and figs; and olives, pomegranates, and dates.
This book illuminates very well the Catholic-versus-Protestant approach to Biblical interpretation — and my proclivities are indeed Protestant (my notes say there’s a good example on page 81). I found the book very engaging — both the specific subject matter (do Catholics focus too much on Mary?) and the window it provides on the theological … [Read more…]