Some notes: The patronage system was embedded not only in the culture generally but in the religion (polytheism) specifically. Religious strife and division for Jews, with each other and with Rome, was a big deal in the first century, including how to relate to Gentiles. Jews and the early Christians thought that the Septuagint was … [Read more…]
Bloom is a traditionalist when it comes to criticism, but he is not a believer. He takes issue with C.S. Lewis a few times; Lewis apparently objected to the whole enterprise of reading Scripture as literature. I read only the introduction and the New Testament part (not the Old Testament or Apocrypha, which are by … [Read more…]
The author is a Catholic professor and counselor; the book is not just for Christians. It’s a quick and easy read: about 200 pages, with small pages and lots of white space. Some notes: Here’s a good Thomas Merton quote (133): “Admit your mistakes, then move on.” The book emphasizes the importance of being 95 … [Read more…]
The author is a Jewish environmental scientist and archaeologist, the latter by experience if not by training. He is fairly secular and moderate, which may make his arguments harder to dismiss. A few notes (I read only up to page 25 and then skipped to pages 221-240 — i.e., I read the prologue, the first … [Read more…]
The author was, when he wrote this, a professor of the history of Christianity at Notre Dame. It’s worth reading, and has some good insights, but I found it only good, not great. The basic organization of the book is to show the way a series of important, representative Romans looked at Christians (and Christianity) … [Read more…]
This book is a series of short essays (on average less than five pages each) on a number of apologetic topics. They are uniformly good, and the authors have impressive academic credentials (though I have heard of only a few of them). There’s quite a bit on intelligent design, but that is by no means … [Read more…]
This very enjoyable 155-page book features portraits of Saul, Jonah, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Joshua. Wiesel is a Jew, of course, so the Christian perspective is lost; also, he relies not just on Scripture but on other (Jewish) authorities (Talmud, Midrash) and perhaps does not always distinguish them. But these are not disqualifiers; his analyses … [Read more…]
The author is the Archbishop of Canterbury, and I’m sorry to report that finishing the book was a struggle, even though it’s only 141 pages, given a lack of clarity that made it hard to follow but still revealed a high b.s.-to-nugget ratio. The author appears to be quite liberal, but Wikipedia says he does believe … [Read more…]
The author acknowledges that he “is a believer and, further, a Christian theologian.” He seems to dismiss deconstructionism (vii), and takes Scripture seriously but critically; he uses the Apocrypha, and includes the Gospel of Peter as an appendix. There are no big surprises here, but his bottom line is (implicitly) that, yeah, it happened. By … [Read more…]
And that’s what this is — less than 200 pages, covering from A.D. 33 to the present. Not profound, and without any big surprises for me, but straightforward and with little bias. A couple of tidbits: Ephesus’s Artemis/Diana cult became a Mary cult (31). The Christian as wayfarer originated with Augustine (44). And there’s this … [Read more…]