Posts about books that I’ve read.
Kant is a theist, but it is unclear to me what (if anything) he says about Christianity — which, however, is more a matter of history and, thus, might have been beyond the scope of his writing (cf. the bifurcated approach taken in my essay, elsewhere on this site, “Why I Am a Christian (and … [Read more…]
I reread this in 2013 as a Lenten study. Two thoughts: First, I’ve thought more about what Heaven will be like than what Hell would be like; I wonder if that’s true of most people. Second, if the raised body is, in some sense, solid, then Heaven must be, in some sense, an actual place … [Read more…]
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…]