What Are You Currently Reading?

[furay]

I'm currently reading A Guide to Orthodox Life: Some Beliefs, Customs, and Traditions of the Church by Father David Cownie and Presbytera Juliana Cownie. So far it has been quite an enriching read. I recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about the Orthodox Praxis. You can download a full copy of the book for free here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/pr_foundational.aspx

[Jack777]

I am currently reading this thread. Other than that I am reading the L. P. Stone Lectures of 1908-1909 delivered by Herman Bavinck at Princeton Theological Seminary.

[keith]

Well, I am finally on the last chapter of Ascension and Ecclesia by Doug Farrow (see earlier posting). I shall probably read it again at some point because it was very dense and contained a lot of material I had not covered before (e.g. development of medieval Orthodox ecclesiology). Good footnotes, lots of original sources quoted and lots of Irenaeus makes its alright by me.

Did read Craig Keener's 'The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts' at the same time. Keener said he intended the book as a companion to Gordon Fee's 'Empowering Presence'. Does not give exhaustive exegesis like Fee but is very good on the background at time of Christ. Asks questions like - what did the term Holy Spirit mean to a first century audience?

Am about to start a little volume called T F Torrance In A Nutshell (part of a series on various recent theologians) before having a go at some more Torrance after the Christmas break. Does anyone else find Torrance heavy going or is it just me?

[spiritmech]

I'm reading The Four Witnesses by some guy high up in the Anglican church. It's good but llight on actual scholarship. More of a "this is what I think after years and years of study."

Steve

[JillPole]

Aside from textbooks, I'm reading The Impossibility of God, Redwall, Chasing Vermeer, The DaVinci Code (by force), and I just finished A Brave New World. I'm like an ADD reader, I can't be reading only one book.

[Minnesota]

I'm just about done reading Raising Abel by Michael and Kathleen Gear

Much of the following is from an on-line review of the book (it is modified to keep from revealing too much).

Raising Abel doesn't waste any time delving into the moral issues surrounding genetic manipulation and cloning. And what a timely book, what with the cloning matters that are springing up in the media every day.
A small group of secretive genetic scientists are hell-bent on proving Creationists wrong by cultivating DNA from ancient tissue. Hypothetically, this idea isn't that farfetched. But when the scientists are found brutally tortured and murdered, the mystery begins! Are Religious Right Fundies really behind them?

The husband and wife team of Michael and Kathleen Gear write a believable and thrilling journey into the ethics of DNA replication, the moral quandary that comes with it, and manages to deliver a brilliantly written slam-bang novel that doesn't relent for any of its nearly 600 pages.

original review

[Dave G]

I just read The Jericho Sanction by Oliver North. It's about nukes in Iraq, only they have them this time. Also finished a coffee table book about Michelangelo.

[One Bad Pig]

I'm just about done reading Raising Abel by Michael and Kathleen Gear
...
The husband and wife team of Michael and Kathleen Gear write a believable and thrilling journey into the ethics of DNA replication, the moral quandary that comes with it, and manages to deliver a brilliantly written slam-bang novel that doesn't relent for any of its nearly 600 pages.

Color me skeptical. I forced my way through about 3/4 of his Forbidden Borders trilogy before giving up. The characters were one-dimensional and larger than life, and the plot was continually delivered via sledgehammer. I could've done without the psychotic lesbian assassins, as well. I kept on hoping it would get better, but it didn't. It is truly the worst set of novels I have ever tried to read. I doubt I will ever try any of his other material; there are much, much, better authors out there.

[One Bad Pig]

Just picked up The Burning Tigris by Peter Balakian. It's about the Armenian genocide and America's response at the time. I was utterly shocked when I first heard about the Armenian genocide last week (here on Tweb somewhere) that I'd never heard of it before. It apparently loomed large on the American consiousness for decades. I've always enjoyed leaning about history. Why did it take me 30 years to learn of an event of this magnitude?

I just finished this today. Apparently, the Turks have been aggressively trying to cover this up for the last 80 years. "Armenians? We have no Armenians.""Oh. Those Armenians. They attacked us first." Every time someone in Congress tries to commemorate the genocide, the Turks threaten to kick us off their bases and sever all ties with American corporations and the American government. If the commemoration bill actually passes, it's watered down to the point that may or may not even mention the Armenians, let alone the Turks. The only reason there's an Armenia today is because they held their noses and embraced the Soviets. Everyone else was willing to let them die.

[Minnesota]

Color me skeptical. I forced my way through about 3/4 of his Forbidden Borders trilogy before giving up. The characters were one-dimensional and larger than life, and the plot was continually delivered via sledgehammer. I could've done without the psychotic lesbian assassins, as well. I kept on hoping it would get better, but it didn't. It is truly the worst set of novels I have ever tried to read. I doubt I will ever try any of his other material; there are much, much, better authors out there.

Fair enough. I haven't read anything else by either of them, but would say the characters in Raising Abel are fairly one dimensional. But this never bothered me because I never cared anything more about them. To me, the story's major draw was the plot, with the characters being nothing more than vehicles to advance the plot. Like many such books, the Da Vinci Code a prime example, it's the plot that is being sold, not the fine points of the characters, or quality of writing. As long as the writing and character development are adequate for the job, I won't demand anything more of them, and be satisfied to let the story itself entertain me. Of course this isn't true for all books, but where it arises I can adapt. It's like enjoying a light hearted comedy on its own terms, and enjoying a classic on much different terms.

[SteveF]

Britain BC by Francis Pryor. Very interesting and well written.

[Catatle]

The Brothers Karamazov-Fyodor Doestoyevsky...So far it's pretty good, though I'm not even a third of the way through. I hope it turns out as good as Crime and Punishment.

Meno-Plato...typical plato, what can I say?

Next up are hopefully going to be Neitzsche-Also Zach Zarasuthstra (I probably spelled it wrong, but it looks so threatening in German), Cervantes-Don Quixote, Tolstoy-War and Peace, CS Lewis- Cupid and Psyche (or something like that), and lastly Spinoza-Ethics (short, so I should be able to toss it off in a day or two)

[spiritmech]

Also Sprach Zarathustra. Think "Speak" -> "Sprach". I hear Don Quixote is really good, but for some reason I couldn't get through very much of it.

[Dave G]

Man did I laugh when Don Quixote and Sancho Panza puked on each other.

[Raptor]

I'm currently reading Calculus: Single and Multivariable 3rd Ed by McCallum,Gleason,Hallett et al. (I have a calc II final on mon.) :bag: