Saturday, February 25, 2006
Books, books, books. Recently recieved my latest shipment of books from amazon which included several travel books and four books on religion/theology. If one is looking for self guided travel books I would highly, highly, recommend the Moon Handbooks series. I currently own about ten of their books and I appreciate the fact that they are not commercial advertisements in the way that many travel books tend to be. I also appreciate the attention to detail that is found in all of their books. Hiking and biking trails, campgrounds, museums, tourist attractions, maps, hotel accomodations, and even quaint local coffee and donuts shops are mentioned and desribed in all their books. Generally if I am travelling and planning to stay in an area for a week or more I will generally pick up a copy of one of their books. The books are generally written by local people who have actually been to most of the places they are describing. I have yet to be disappointed by any of their books......My religious book purchases.... I recently purchased four books which included Introducing Theologies of Religion, Paul Knitter, The Resurrection of Jesus, Crossan and Wright, and Lost Christianities, and Misquoting Jesus, both by Bart Ehrman. My reading has been really sporadic over the past couple of years but recently found myself energized to tackle some new relgious works which were recommended by friends or people I know. Am currently reading Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. Am really enjoying the book. Ehrman spent a significant amount of time in the conservative/fundamentalist Christian subculture during his youth and even graduated from Moody Bible College. Later he went on to Princeton where he recieved his doctrinate and is currently the head of the religious studies department at the University of North Carolina. Really like the book because it is written in a user friendly style for folks like myself who are interested in Textual Criticism/recent academic discoveries, but can get can bogged down trying to hang with some of the big dogs who roam the hallways of religious academia these days. My knowledge of religious modern scholarship is more than most average religious laymen/women but still is pretty general compared to the academics. Ehrman's book goes into alot of detail but in a way that any educated layperson who is interested can follow. I don't have much detailed knowledge about the whole canonization process or the theories behind how the biblical texts were copied and passed down. Ehrman's book provides plenty of detail and would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the subject. Will probably tackle Crossan/Wright's book on the resurrection next considering it is Easter season and look forward to Knitter's book on Theologies of Religion because I have become increasingly convinced that Christianity does not contain the "exclusive" truth about God or the way we should live and look forward to learning more about the relationship between Christianity, world religions, and religious pluralism. Just hope I can stick with it all. My life gets pretty hectic during the week and it has become increasingly difficult as I have gotten older to sustain any strict reading schedule.......
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3 comments:
I can't wait to hear what you think of Knitter's book. I think it is fabulous! I had him for ethics last semester. He is one of the kindest people I know and a wonderful teacher.
That book was especially pivotal for me in understanding how to hold a variety of positions in my head and hand at the same time. Knitter goes out of his way to honor each position without revealing his hand (what position he takes) and that modeling was even more important than the content at the time.
For me now, I enjoy reading about the positions that Christians take vis a vis the religions and find myself on the far end of the continuum (what else is new?). :)
Will be interested to see what it stirs in you.
I have the Misquoting Jesus too and wish I had more time to read it... and the Crossan book. Looks like you and I have some theological interests in common (not all that surprising, really. :)).
Hi Julie,
I probably won't get around to the Knitter's book until after Easter, hopefully. I'll let you know what I think when I read the book or if time permits I'll post something on my blog. I've known about the book for awhile and I have seen his name mentioned numerous times in discussions over the years but have yet to get around to reading his books. I did read a book he co-edited years ago with John Hick called The Myth of Christian Uniqueness: Towards a Plurastic Theology of Religions. Got me thinking about how Christianity may/probably was influenced by other religious traditions at certain points which is something I hadn't considered up to point in my journey. Tunnel vision. I know youv'e been there, done that one....
Hey Bilbo, nice summary of your recent book purchases and I'm definitely interested in reading your thoughts on the titles you picked up. I have Knitter's book already, and have also browsed the others that you mentioned previously and could see myself buying them if I didn't already have such a big backlog of unread books on my shelves and laying elsewhere around the house. I'm trying to really make a dent in that pile before I go purchase new volumes. So I'll be content to learn from your insights for now.
Nice tree pix too, btw. I will try to repay the courtesy once the trees around here are worth photographing. Nuthin' but a bunch of spindly twigs'n'sticks for another month or two, except for the boring evergreens!
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