What is everyone reading?

[Jonathan Gress]

I'm reading the life of the Theotokos published by Holy Apostles Convent.

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Virgin-Mary-Theotokos/dp/0944359035

I highly recommend it. It is full of fascinating information and is written in a pious, hagiographic style, while at the same time richly sourced (the bibliographic notes are several pages long).

[Lauren_Elisse]

The Beekeepers Apprentice

[Justin Kissel]

American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide (Revised and Updated 3rd Edition), by Roberta Larson Duyff. I haven't really read enough yet to get a feel for the book, other than what I saw leafing through it, which seemed to be sticking pretty closely to the whole governmental food pyramid thing. *shrugs* The ADA are the people that I'll have to get certified through, so I figured I might as well read their book.

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, by Walter Willett, with Patrick Skerrett. Again, I haven't read enough to know for sure what I think of it, but from leafing through, these guys seem to try to offer a counter point to the whole governmental food pyramid approach, and instead give their own modified food pyramid. A chunk of this book is actually recipes, though I don't know how much of that section I'll actually use.

Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding: The Complete A-Z Book of Muscle Building, by Robert Kennedy. I'm not too far into this book, but it's been pretty good thus far, except for a thing here and there. For instance, bodybuilders generally cry bloody murder when people bring up the usage of the BMI, yet many seem to fully embrace Sheldon's somatotypes, which are just as flawed (or accurate, depending on your perspective). *shrugs* Other than that and one or two other things, I've really enjoyed it so far.

[yochanan]

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 

--Very childish yet not so childish novel. 

Book on C

--Geek stuff for amateur programmers (like me)

Introduction on Divine Liturgy (with Greek Translation)

--prepares me before that great day when I become Orthodox

[Heorhij]

I started to read St. John Chrysostomos's "Homilies on the Gospel According to St. John" yesterday night. Thought it would be a proper Passion Week reading. What a disappointment. First two chapters shocked me. Extremely angry, and, honestly, silly attacks on Plato and Pifagoras, mixed with "rosy," sentimental and very sticky, "epileptic," repetitive praise to St. John the Apostle, whom St. John Chrysostomos apparently sees as being personally divinely inspired... Stopped.

[chatelaa]

I'm reading ORTHODOX PSYCHOTHERAPY by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos.  First of all, I'm a recent Convert (August 7, 2009).  I decided to read the book, judging by the title, because  I've read so many books by Carl Jung and his followers and books by more recent psychotherapists and I wanted to see what the Orthodox had to say.  Well....I don't think I can express how this book has changed my life!  Whereas, here in the West, we tend to look at all behavior as 'Mind/Brain', this book talks about the balance of the Soul, heart, Nous, as well as Mind--and stresses that this understanding is the way to bodily and mental health!  This broadened my view tremendously and I felt as though my Mind (Soul, Heart, Nous) was opening up; I'm in awe.  If you haven't already read this book, I highly recommend it.  There's no tone in it that's 'pushy' or arrogant; and all of it makes perfect sense to me and I think it will make perfect sense to many, here.

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

I started to read St. John Chrysostomos's "Homilies on the Gospel According to St. John" yesterday night. Thought it would be a proper Passion Week reading. What a disappointment. First two chapters shocked me. Extremely angry, and, honestly, silly attacks on Plato and Pifagoras, mixed with "rosy," sentimental and very sticky, "epileptic," repetitive praise to St. John the Apostle, whom St. John Chrysostomos apparently sees as being personally divinely inspired... Stopped.

You have now caused me to put this book on my "must read" list.


Selam

[Papist]

Socrates Meets Kant - Peter Kreeft

[Rafa999]

I started to read St. John Chrysostomos's "Homilies on the Gospel According to St. John" yesterday night. Thought it would be a proper Passion Week reading. What a disappointment. First two chapters shocked me. Extremely angry, and, honestly, silly attacks on Plato and Pifagoras, mixed with "rosy," sentimental and very sticky, "epileptic," repetitive praise to St. John the Apostle, whom St. John Chrysostomos apparently sees as being personally divinely inspired... Stopped.

You have now caused me to put this book on my "must read" list.


Selam

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities. Thanks, I can't wait to read his sermon.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities.

Wow. You're actually placing yourself as equal to St. John Chrysostom? Not that I'm all that surprised, actually....

[Justin Kissel]

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities. Thanks, I can't wait to read his sermon.

And St. Basil disagreed with you. Protestants have Biblical proof texting, in Orthodoxy I guess you have proof sainting  

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

St. John Chrysostom or Plato. Hmmm... perhaps the one you choose will disclose whether you love Sophia or sophistry.


Selam

[GabrieltheCelt]

I started to read St. John Chrysostomos's "Homilies on the Gospel According to St. John" yesterday night. Thought it would be a proper Passion Week reading. What a disappointment. First two chapters shocked me. Extremely angry, and, honestly, silly attacks on Plato and Pifagoras, mixed with "rosy," sentimental and very sticky, "epileptic," repetitive praise to St. John the Apostle, whom St. John Chrysostomos apparently sees as being personally divinely inspired... Stopped.

Hmm.  Now I really want to read more of St. John Chrysostom's works.  This morning on my way to work, I listened in on a Protestant radio program about how much Judaism influenced Christianity.  Don't know why this surprised me, but rather than talk about something legitimate, two of the guests lamented on how much St. John Chrysostom is responsible for anti-Semitism (their words).  The way I see it, if so many people dislike the Goldenmouth, he must be onto something.   

[Entscheidungsproblem]

Samuel Delany's Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia

[GabrieltheCelt]

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities. Thanks, I can't wait to read his sermon.

And St. Basil disagreed with you. Protestants have Biblical proof texting, in Orthodoxy I guess you have proof sainting  

Maybe you could say more in    **this**    thread? 

[Rafa999]

I started to read St. John Chrysostomos's "Homilies on the Gospel According to St. John" yesterday night. Thought it would be a proper Passion Week reading. What a disappointment. First two chapters shocked me. Extremely angry, and, honestly, silly attacks on Plato and Pifagoras, mixed with "rosy," sentimental and very sticky, "epileptic," repetitive praise to St. John the Apostle, whom St. John Chrysostomos apparently sees as being personally divinely inspired... Stopped.

Hmm.  Now I really want to read more of St. John Chrysostom's works.  This morning on my way to work, I listened in on a Protestant radio program about how much Judaism influenced Christianity.  Don't know why this surprised me, but rather than talk about something legitimate, two of the guests lamented on how much St. John Chrysostom is responsible for anti-Semitism (their words).  The way I see it, if so many people dislike the Goldenmouth, he must be onto something.  

Considering that Chrysostom was against the intrusion of Judaism in Christianity and protestants are showing a disturbing trend to go over what the rabbis say word for word but reject the teachings of the Apostles and Fathers...then yes, he is on to something as are you in making the connection.

[Altar Server]

I just finished reading The Way Of The Pilgrim, The Truth, Intoducing The Orthodox Church, and Mountians Beyond Mountians All great books 

[Heorhij]

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities.

Wow. You're actually placing yourself as equal to St. John Chrysostom? Not that I'm all that surprised, actually....

Folks, don't get me wrong. I admit that St. John Chrysostomos was a great teacher of the Church. Actually, beginning from Chapter 3, his polemic tone becomes gradually calmer, and he begins a thorough analysis of the verses of the Gospel. What shocked me at the beginning was not as much a content as an approach. We all are brought up (hopefully!) on a balancedand impersonal tradition of academic discourse. Of course, in the 4th century A.D. such a tradition was simply not there.

Rafa, you are not serious, brother, are you?

[Heorhij]

St. John Chrysostom or Plato. Hmmm... perhaps the one you choose will disclose whether you love Sophia or sophistry.


Selam

Apparently, some Fathers preferred "sophistry," because they were a lot closer to Plato than to St. John Chrysostomos. They could not reconcile themselves with the notion that "matter," flesh, substance, "earth" are worth something. While St. John fiercely argued that Paradise was ON EARTH and that the redeemed mankind after resurrection will live ON EARTH (transformed, transfigured - but still material; I even found one sentence in his Homilies on Genesis that "NOWHERE the Scriptures say anything about any "spiritual Earth"), - some of them tried to banish everything earthly, everything material, substantial from their thought. In St. John Chrysostomos, there is no symbolic interpretation of "animal skins" from Genesis 3:21 (in Homilies on Genesis, he praises God for quite literally clothing quite literal fleshly Adam and Eve in these clothes, to protect them from cold!), - while in other Fathers these "animal skins" is the allegory signifying that Adam and Eve were not quite fleshly by design and acquired their "crude matter of the flesh" as a result of their fall into sin. Platonism, most definitely, prevailed over Aristotelianism in much of the patristic thought, and it poisons the Church till today, I am afraid...

[Rafa999]

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities.

Wow. You're actually placing yourself as equal to St. John Chrysostom? Not that I'm all that surprised, actually....

Folks, don't get me wrong. I admit that St. John Chrysostomos was a great teacher of the Church. Actually, beginning from Chapter 3, his polemic tone becomes gradually calmer, and he begins a thorough analysis of the verses of the Gospel. What shocked me at the beginning was not as much a content as an approach. We all are brought up (hopefully!) on a balancedand impersonal tradition of academic discourse. Of course, in the 4th century A.D. such a tradition was simply not there.

Rafa, you are not serious, brother, are you?

Deadly serious, Chrysostom bashed Plato and Pythagoras because that's what Julian the Apostate who lived while he was around loved quoting when he slew Christians. Just read "Against the Galileans", see how much Plato the heathens read and used to pit against the teachings of the one true Church. We have Julian in that tract defending Plato's account of the creation in Timaeus versus Moses's in Genesis, contrasting Solomon to a guy called Polycrates, etc. Read Celsus too to see what I mean, even Justinian who was a Greek emperor shut down the schools of philosophy.

[GabrieltheCelt]

Re-reading "Abba Dorotheos- Practical Teaching On The Christian Life" translated by Constantine Scouteris.

Could you tell us a little about it?  Do you think it helpful for those of us who are living in 'the world'?  I have access to this version.  They seem to be the same. 

[Heorhij]

See? Even Mar John Chrysostom agrees with me that Plato and Pythagoras are a waste of time, pagan vanities.

Wow. You're actually placing yourself as equal to St. John Chrysostom? Not that I'm all that surprised, actually....

Folks, don't get me wrong. I admit that St. John Chrysostomos was a great teacher of the Church. Actually, beginning from Chapter 3, his polemic tone becomes gradually calmer, and he begins a thorough analysis of the verses of the Gospel. What shocked me at the beginning was not as much a content as an approach. We all are brought up (hopefully!) on a balancedand impersonal tradition of academic discourse. Of course, in the 4th century A.D. such a tradition was simply not there.

Rafa, you are not serious, brother, are you?

Deadly serious, Chrysostom bashed Plato and Pythagoras because that's what Julian the Apostate who lived while he was around loved quoting when he slew Christians. Just read "Against the Galileans", see how much Plato the heathens read and used to pit against the teachings of the one true Church. We have Julian in that tract defending Plato's account of the creation in Timaeus versus Moses's in Genesis, contrasting Solomon to a guy called Polycrates, etc. Read Celsus too to see what I mean, even Justinian who was a Greek emperor shut down the schools of philosophy.

The teachings of the true Church you mention in fact incorporated a lot of Plato... And speaking about who slew whom, well...

I hoped you would say, no, I am not serious, I am polemic.

[ozgeorge]

Re-reading "Abba Dorotheos- Practical Teaching On The Christian Life" translated by Constantine Scouteris.

Could you tell us a little about it?  Do you think it helpful for those of us who are living in 'the world'?  I have access to this version.  They seem to be the same.  

I have both versions, but I much prefer the "Practical Teaching" version to "Discourses and Sayings". "Practical Teaching" has excellent explanatory footnotes and places the scripture references in the text, whereas "Discourses and Sayings" uses the footnotes for scripture references only. Also "Practical Teaching" comes with a CD ROM with great audio visual material accompanying the book.
On the question of whether it is suited to "those of us living in the world", I have to say that the "Practical Teaching" versions explanatory notes make it much more readable. Also,  I was listening to an old AFR Podcast, "The Path" yesterday which I somehow managed to download last year and not listen to, and it was discussing the senses, and this episode was on hearing. St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountains was discussed, and he says things like: there should not be music at Christian wedding receptions, and that we should not get carried away emotionally with music etc. The point St. Nicodemos was making is that God is ultimately beyond everything and all concepts- He neither contains anything nor is contained, but He is Beyond everything, and therefore, in order to reach Him, we must go beyond every created thing (including sounds and music)- and this is true whether we are a monk or a innkeeper. So all Orthodox spiritual teaching is a bit like that. Rather than setting up "rules" ( a common mistake, especially among converts from heterodox Christian traditions) Orthodox Spiritual teaching sets up the the ideal and goal towards which each of us must strive in our given circumstances. If we keep this in mind, I think we will all get much more benefit from texts like Abba Dorotheos, the Evergentinos, the Philokalia, the Ladder, Unseen Warfare, etc.

[JLatimer]

St. John Chrysostom or Plato. Hmmm... perhaps the one you choose will disclose whether you love Sophia or sophistry.


Selam

Apparently, some Fathers preferred "sophistry," because they were a lot closer to Plato than to St. John Chrysostomos. They could not reconcile themselves with the notion that "matter," flesh, substance, "earth" are worth something. While St. John fiercely argued that Paradise was ON EARTH and that the redeemed mankind after resurrection will live ON EARTH (transformed, transfigured - but still material; I even found one sentence in his Homilies on Genesis that "NOWHERE the Scriptures say anything about any "spiritual Earth"), - some of them tried to banish everything earthly, everything material, substantial from their thought. In St. John Chrysostomos, there is no symbolic interpretation of "animal skins" from Genesis 3:21 (in Homilies on Genesis, he praises God for quite literally clothing quite literal fleshly Adam and Eve in these clothes, to protect them from cold!), - while in other Fathers these "animal skins" is the allegory signifying that Adam and Eve were not quite fleshly by design and acquired their "crude matter of the flesh" as a result of their fall into sin. Platonism, most definitely, prevailed over Aristotelianism in much of the patristic thought, and it poisons the Church till today, I am afraid...

While I admire and venerate St. John, I feel the need to speak up for Plato in this instance! Plato does not equal Platonism. There is untruth in Plato, but there is also much truth. Many fathers throughout the ages, from St. Basil the Great to St. Nektarios of Aegina in modern times realized this. Take the good from out of the bad and give thanks to God for everything true and beautiful!

I really like this passage from the Meno:

virtue is found to be neither natural nor taught, but is imparted to us by a divine dispensation without understanding in those who receive it, unless there should be somebody among the statesmen capable of making [ποιῆσαι] a statesman of another. And if there should be any such, he might fairly be said to be among the living what Homer says Teiresias was among the dead—“He alone has comprehension; the rest are flitting shades.”1 In the same way he on earth, in respect of virtue, will be a real substance among shadows.

I consider this to be almost a sort of prophecy of our Lord.

[Lauren_Elisse]

I am reading your minds!!!!!!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene

[Schultz]

I'm about to start on Russka by Edward Rutherford once I finish up A Masterly Murder by Susanna Gregory.  I thoroughly enjoyed the other two Rutherford books I've read and am very much looking forward to this one.

[Papist]

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis (for third of fourth time)

[Papist]

The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis

[Entscheidungsproblem]

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower

[Justin Kissel]

Chemistry Demystified, by Linda Williams
Science 101: Chemistry, by Denise Kiernan and Joseph D'Agnese

Anyone wanna guess what class I expect to have problems in next semester? 

[Entscheidungsproblem]

Chemistry Demystified, by Linda Williams

If that the one with the 'mad scientist' on the cover?

[Justin Kissel]

Chemistry Demystified, by Linda Williams

If that the one with the 'mad scientist' on the cover?

Lol, yeah, I had to go check, but it is that one. It was the "real world" part on the cover that got my attention at B&N, as I find that I can pick up scientific concepts easier if I can relate it to something of practical use.

[Justin Kissel]

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward
Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person, by Panayiotis Nellas

[Justin Kissel]

The Jesus Prayer, by A Monk of the Eastern Church

[Alveus Lacuna]

[Fr. David]

For one critical analysis paper in Iconology:

Ouspensky's two-part series, The Theology of the Icon

And for another in Patristics on "How and Why St. Cyril Proves that Christ is One":

Primary Literature:
St. Cyril of Alexandria's That Christ is One (transl. Fr. John McGuckin)

Secondary Literature:
St. Cyril of Alexandria: the Christological Controversy: Its History, Theology, and Texts by McGuckin

"Divinization in Cyril: The Appropriation of Divine Life" in The Theology of St. Cyril of Alexandria by Thomas G.Weinandy and Daniel A. Keating (the latter contributed this particular article)

Cyril of Alexandria by Norman Russell

[Justin Kissel]

Just got my copy of The Ancestral Sin by Fr. John Romanides, which I've never read before. Is it as good as I've heard?

[Ebor]

Lots of books for my dyad class including:

"Negotiating with Iran" by Limbert
"Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics" by Lind (fascinating study of Japan and Germany in the last fifty years or so)
"The Purpose of Intervention" by Finnemore
"Paradise Lost: Haiti's Tumultuous Journey from Pearl of the Caribbean to Third World Hotspot" by Girard
"Danish Neutrality" by Holbraad
The textbook for the history part of the class

and more

[Ebor]

The Beekeepers Apprentice

The first Holmes/Russell book by Laurie King?  I've enjoyed her work

[Ebor]

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower

I haven't read this yet.  Did you like it?

[Papist]

I got the collected works of Plato for my birthday so I will be reading that for a while.

[Entscheidungsproblem]

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower

I haven't read this yet.  Did you like it?

I've read both Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents countless times now, and I think they are both absolutely brilliant.  It is a shame a third book never came to fruition before Butler's death.

[Justin Kissel]

How Are We Saved? The Understanding of Salvation in the Orthodox Tradition, by Met. Kallistos
Women and Men in the Early Church: The Full Views of St. John Chrysostom, by David C. Ford

[DeathToTheWorld]

Eternal Mysteries Beyond the Grave.

The Orthodox Study Bible.

The Evergetinos.


Our thoughts Determine Our Lives




Its very good to hear such words of wisdom from the Holy Elders of our days.


St Dorotheos tells us that the devil rejoices over those who are without guidance, because he always seeks our destruction.

The devil loves those who trust in themselves, because they are cooperate with the devil and they themselves are responsible for their fall.

The Devil even hates the desire of us to seek words of guidance which will benefit us, and reveal the criminality of the devil.

There is nothing the devil hates and fears so much as to be known.
He wants to harm us and rejoices even more over those who are with no guidance.
Because they fall like leaves, as it says in the Proverbs.

Those words were from this chapter, which you can listen to for free on this website:

http://www.philokalia.org/abba_dorotheos.htm

Lesson 5, That One Should Not Trust His Own Understanding.

I'm ordering Elder Porfyrios Wounded by Love

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