What art thou currently reading?

[arnoldo]

1984, by George Orwell.

This book is about {edited}.

[arnoldo]

I finished reading Heretics of Dune. A lot better than God Emperor of Dune. The characters were a lot stronger in this one, also. I'll probably pick up Chapterhouse Dune from the library tomorrow.

I've read the entire dune series probably over a dozen times so far in my lifetime. Chapterhouse is a literary masterpiece.

[JB DoulosChristou]

I rather enjoyed Theodore Abu Qurrah. Will enjoy hearing your thoughts. "This is the theology of one who is insane."

He was an enjoyable read. "Mani reels like a tottering drunk. If he [inclines to this side], he falls down. If he [inclines to the other side], he also falls down." His writings could profitably be used against such varied views as atheism, Calvinism, and open theism. As usual when reading the Fathers, I copied out the best bits for future use.

For my part, while I take a break from The End of Protestantism, I'm reading:
The Diary of James A. Garfield, 1848-1871
Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources, edited by Lincoln H. Blumell

I might have to track these down. (weird - Amazon didn't want to admit to having the diary, but Google found it for me there)

Now reading:
Papyri from Hermopolis and other documents of period by B. R. Rees
Two Coptic homilies attributed to Saint Peter of Alexandria: On riches, On the Epiphany by Birger Albert Pearson, Tim Vivian
Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War by Gary E. Weir, Walter J. Boyne
Ambrose of Milan: The Letters (Fathers of the Church series) - reading on my Kindle when all else fails

A good list! Curious if any of the papyri from Hermopolis are of particular value.

As for me, I've finished most of the books I've listed and also completed an extra volume of Jonathan Edwards' Miscellanies. I'll be driving over to the library on Monday to make some major exchanges.

In the meantime, though, I've been reading Armando Valladares' Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag - finally started it in 'honor' of Castro's passing. In parts, possibly one of the most horrific things I've ever read. The repulsiveness of the torments he and the others endured, the savagery, the raw filthiness of the conditions (at one point, they were all beaten bloody and then forced to dive repeatedly in a river of raw sewage, with one man barely saved from drowning in it)... That's about as good an argument for the justice of hell as I can imagine. On the other hand, there are a couple pages that portray a fellow prisoner, a pastor nicknamed "The Brother of the Faith," whose vibrant encouragement and fearless witness in those very conditions is as profound and inspiring as anything I've ever read in the lives of the saints.

[One Bad Pig]

A good list! Curious if any of the papyri from Hermopolis are of particular value.

Not especially.

Now reading:
Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources, edited by Lincoln H. Blumell

Greetings in the Lord: Early Christians and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri by Annemarie Luijendijk

The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper - wanted to reread an old favorite, and this one caught my eye first

The Correspondence of Athanasius I Patriarch of Constantinople: Letters to the Emperor Andronicus II, Members of the Imperial Family, and Officials trans. Alice-Mary Maffry Talbot - not as useful as I'd hoped; it turns out that a bunch of his pastoral letters and homilies have survived too, but they'd already been translated into a modern language (German, IIRC), so she didn't bother.

Letters from the Desert: A Selection of Questions and Responses (Barsanuphius & John), trans. Father John Chryssavgis

The Old Testament in Eastern Orthodox Tradition by Eugen J. Pentiuc

Also having a second go at Demonstratio Evangelica (The Proof of the Gospel) by Eusebius of Caesaria (trans. Farrar)

[One Bad Pig]

Now reading:
Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources, edited by Lincoln H. Blumell

I am disappointed to note that this is not as complete as I thought it was; the editors note that there are fragments of 72 distinct MSS of the NT from the relevant time period (counting up the totals for each book both in papyrus and parchment),, but only present 52 of them.

Greetings in the Lord: Early Christians and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri by Annemarie Luijendijk

Wow, was this boring. I don't expect novel-level excitement in scholarly works, but I had a hard time keeping my eyes open for this one. Also, note to self: Harvard Divinity dissertations are rather likely to lean liberal. It did make some useful points, though. It turns out that the Decian edict requiring proof of sacrifices very likely applied to everyone, not just suspected Christians, and Sotas (likely bishop of Oxyrhychus in the late 3rd century) was probably present at the council in Antioch which condemned Paul of Samasota.

[JB DoulosChristou]

I am disappointed to note that this is not as complete as I thought it was; the editors note that there are fragments of 72 distinct MSS of the NT from the relevant time period (counting up the totals for each book both in papyrus and parchment),, but only present 52 of them.

That is a bit odd. I wonder what the reason was for omitting twenty of them.

Wow, was this boring. I don't expect novel-level excitement in scholarly works, but I had a hard time keeping my eyes open for this one. Also, note to self: Harvard Divinity dissertations are rather likely to lean liberal. It did make some useful points, though. It turns out that the Decian edict requiring proof of sacrifices very likely applied to everyone, not just suspected Christians, and Sotas (likely bishop of Oxyrhychus in the late 3rd century) was probably present at the council in Antioch which condemned Paul of Samasota.

Those are all good things to know. (Not too surprised about the stuff coming out of Harvard Divinity, sadly.) What was the evidence for Sotas' presence at the synod(s?) in Antioch?

Here's (most of) what I'm currently reading:

Jeremiah & Lamentations by R. K. Harrison

The Book of Jeremiah by J. A. Thompson

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich

Old English Shorter Poems II: Wisdom and Lyric

The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 19: Sermons and Discourses, 1734-1738

Ruricius of Limoges and Friends: A Collection of Letters from Visigothic Gaul, edited by Ralph W. Mathisen

Natural Rights and the Right to Choose by Hadley Arkes

The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller by Carlo Ginzburg

Juan de Segovia and the Fight for Peace: Christians and Muslims in the Fifteenth Century by Anne Marie Wolf

The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State by Graeme Wood

[One Bad Pig]

That is a bit odd. I wonder what the reason was for omitting twenty of them.



Those are all good things to know. (Not too surprised about the stuff coming out of Harvard Divinity, sadly.) What was the evidence for Sotas' presence at the synod(s?) in Antioch?

Going off the top of my head here, but an Olympic athlete wrote home from Antioch and advised that Sotas "the Christian" would be carrying two talents(!) for delivery to the family (about the right time period), and account(s) of the synods referenced bishops from Egypt being there. It's not rock solid evidence, but the connection seems plausible.

[KingsGambit]

I'm reading the twin volume For Calvinism and Against Calvinism by Michael Horton and Roger Olson, respectively. I find it highly unlikely that I will be convinced of Calvinism but I'd at least like to see a decent defense of it. Olson's arguments against Calvinism, for his part, seem largely emotional and dependent on an eternal torment view of hell that I do not hold to.

[Raphael]

I'm reading a very interesting book called Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, by Deneys Reitz.

A very interesting read, with Reitz giving his autobiographical account about fighting against the British and Colonial forces in the Second Boer War.

(the word Commando actually comes for the name for the Boer forces during this war)

[MsJack]

I'm reading Anna Karenina. I want to work through all of the books on this list (Ultimate List: 100 Books to Read Before You Die), at least 10 of them in 2017, and figured I would do one of the longer ones. I've only read 13-14 of them in my life and feel like that number is kind of sad.

Feel free to add me on GoodReads, btw: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/...idget-jeffries

[hansgeorg]

To thread:

Georges Sokoloff Nos ancêtres les nomades (time to return to library)
Plus pages by TFP : on Catholic History, Crusades, suspicions against Catholic Clergy vs laxity over other pederastic and similar cases, Hollywood's take on intellectual property, by professor Madden and by John Horvat II.

[QuantaFille]

I have (re)started listening to Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series in audiobook format. I listened to the first book years ago but did not have an opportunity to listen to the rest. I have recently started a new job which is a very tedious one in manufacturing and I plan on listening to quite a lot of audiobooks. Next on the list is Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, another that I started and never got to finish.

[Raphael]

I have (re)started listening to Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series in audiobook format. I listened to the first book years ago but did not have an opportunity to listen to the rest. I have recently started a new job which is a very tedious one in manufacturing and I plan on listening to quite a lot of audiobooks. Next on the list is Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, another that I started and never got to finish.

I must admit, I finished reading Wheel of Time and the final book (which was good) made me not want to reread the series....it came to a very definite conclusion.

(I re-read series a LOT. I've not reread WoT since finishing the final one)

[One Bad Pig]

I must admit, I finished reading Wheel of Time and the final book (which was good) made me not want to reread the series....it came to a very definite conclusion.

(I re-read series a LOT. I've not reread WoT since finishing the final one)

I re-read the series when I got the final book. There was a quite noticeable shift when Brandon Sanderson took over, and it wasn't for the better IMO. I'm not sure I'll read them again, even though I have the entire series in hardcover. I do re-read series on occasion (just finishing a re-read of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books which I have on hand, which may also be for the last time; there's a noticeable dropoff in quality with the later books, which I understand her son Todd had a significant hand in writing).

[Sparko]

I get to listen to audiobooks. I have started Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and have a loooooong list of books I want to listen to after that.

The wheel of time series is great. I listened to them also. The only irksome thing is Robert Jordan can get really tedious in his description of women's clothes and repeats the same phrases over and over. Count how many times he says "crossed her arms under her breasts" for instance. what is up with that?