Topic: What is everyone reading?

[Shiny]

I want a recommended book list from Iconodule on Orthodoxy or anything in general. He's had some pretty nice recommendations recently that have grown my Christmas Wishlist.

Is Sherred Orthodox?

[Iconodule]

I want a recommended book list from Iconodule on Orthodoxy or anything in general. He's had some pretty nice recommendations recently that have grown my Christmas Wishlist.

Is Sherred Orthodox?

Sherrard is Orthodox, yes. He was one of the three primary translators of the Philokalia into English. He also translated a lot of modern Greek poetry. He had ties to the "traditionalist" school of thought (represented by Guenon et al) but his conversion to Orthodoxy seems quite genuine.

 One thing I noticed was that he seems to be believe that the act of creation was necessary to God, which seems to be contradictory to the general Patristic view. So (like anyone) he is not completely error-free.

[celticfan1888]

[Rufus]

Maximus Confessor: Selected Writings

Just be careful about brains exploding, &c.

[Shiny]

I want a recommended book list from Iconodule on Orthodoxy or anything in general. He's had some pretty nice recommendations recently that have grown my Christmas Wishlist.

Is Sherred Orthodox?

Sherrard is Orthodox, yes. He was one of the three primary translators of the Philokalia into English. He also translated a lot of modern Greek poetry. He had ties to the "traditionalist" school of thought (represented by Guenon et al) but his conversion to Orthodoxy seems quite genuine.

 One thing I noticed was that he seems to be believe that the act of creation was necessary to God, which seems to be contradictory to the general Patristic view. So (like anyone) he is not completely error-free.

Why wouldn't be necessary though? I mean isn't creation an act of love, and is God not love? So by that very love it was necessary for creation to happen?

Maybe that's his view, but I can sympathize with him.

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

RAVEN: The Untold Story of Jim Jones and His People
http://www.amazon.com/Raven-Untold-Story-Jones-People/dp/1585426784


A billiant and deeply disturbing portrait of politics, philosophical ideology, religion, psychology, and human nature. The author was a reporter that survived being shot as he and others tried to depart with Jonestown defectors. This is a very long book, but difficult to put down. It demonstrates the horrific ends that can result from the toxic mixture of politics and false religion.



Selam

[Jetavan]

 One thing I noticed was that he seems to be believe that the act of creation was necessary to God....

Well, without a creation, there is no Creator.

[Antonis]

No Creator, but still God.

[Shiny]

I am dropping everything now and I'm going to read Don Quixote. After reading a brief synopsis on the narration style, I am simply blown away. I hope I was not spoiled with how

*SPOILER*
Cervantes creates himself in the story
*END SPOILER*

But man, this sounds like a work of genius that everything must wait until I read it. Trying to find the best translation cause you know, me no leer en espanol

[Asteriktos]

May your windmills fall fast and steady!

[Ashman618]

Athanasius the life of Anthony and the letter to Marcellinus

[Shiny]

Ormsby or Starkie as the translators?

[Shiny]

Nevermind I think I'm going to settle with Edith Grossman's. Read the first chapter now and it's beautiful in its prose, much better than the Raffel translation by comparison.

I hate how there isn't really a definitive version of it, sure it's not possible, but I'm not a fan of reading multiple translations. Just give me the best one possible.

[Shiny]

I've read the prologue 3 times now. I love how Cervantes is self depricating himself and trying anything he can to not show as being pretentious. Also how he doesnt want to make a standard prologue but does so anyway. And the sonnet without the end syllable was hilarious. Ready to start chapter 1. I'm disappointed Grossman didn't use buckler but used "ancient shield" eh I guess it works lol.

[Shiny]

I'm going to a Motel 6 tomorrow to be knighted. This first part is hilarious. The giants turned into windmills!

EDIT: btw those sonnets in the prologue are just gorgeously rendered. I liked to recite them outloud.

[Shiny]

Wow. I mean don't get me wrong this book is funny, but what just happened to the Don is really tragic. Knight of the Sorry Face, I mean that's funny but in light of what happened with the herdsmen, man...

I ended up buying the Rutherford translation now and picked up where I left off from the Grossman one. I just couldn't stand it when Sancho kept saying "your graces" over and over again. I don't even see that rendered in other translations. And her syntax is awful, just how she wrote the dialogue and she could benefit from using alot of commas.

Rutherford seems good so far, except some words are a little jarring. Like bachelor.

[Shiny]

Ok I think I was too harsh on Grossman. However I still prefer Rutherfords dialogue which is very fluid. Grossman tries to have beautiful prose but at the expense of her syntax.

I was hoping someone from OC.net would recommend a great translation but has nobody else read it? In an odd way it has strengthened my faith (even though I don't suffer from any doubts)

[W.A.Mozart]

[Alpo]

Morocco: From Empire to Independence by. C.R. Pennell

[NightOwl]

The Law of God by Serafim Slobodskoy.

[Gamliel]

The Law of God by Serafim Slobodskoy.

Looks like an interesting book.  How do you like it?

[Severian]

The Gospels
St. Ignatius' Epistles
St. Polycarp's Epistle and Martyrdom
St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans
Fr. Shenouda Maher on the Original Sin
The Confessions of St. Augustine
The Divine Comedy

[Severian]

-Gospel of St John
-"Assassination Vacation"
-St Cyril of Alexandria's "On the Unity of Christ"
-Will be starting "Unseen Warfare"

High School Sweethearts a little daunting at the moment?

"Assassination Vacation" isn't too bad, fwiw.

[Cyrillic]

The Gospels
St. Ignatius' Epistles
St. Polycarp's Epistle and Martyrdom
St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans
Fr. Shenouda Maher on the Original Sin
The Confessions of St. Augustine
The Divine Comedy

I like them. I only don't know Fr. Shenouda's work.

[JamesRottnek]

On Becoming A Person by Carl Rogers

*Cue a critic by Orthonorm*

[Jetavan]

The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Federov and His Followers

"Suppressed during the Soviet period and little noticed in the West, the ideas of the Cosmists have in recent decades been rediscovered and embraced by many Russian intellectuals and are now recognized as essential to a native Russian cultural and intellectual tradition. Although they were scientists, theologians, and philosophers, the Cosmists addressed topics traditionally confined to occult and esoteric literature. Major themes include the indefinite extension of the human life span to establish universal immortality; the restoration of life to the dead; the reconstitution of the human organism to enable future generations to live beyond earth; the regulation of nature to bring all manifestations of blind natural force under rational human control; the transition of our biosphere into a "noosphere," with a sheath of mental activity surrounding the planet; the effect of cosmic rays and currently unrecognized particles of energy on human history; practical steps toward the reversal and eventual human control over the flow of time; and the virtues of human androgyny, autotrophy, and invisibility."

[Iconodule]

The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Federov and His Followers

"Suppressed during the Soviet period and little noticed in the West, the ideas of the Cosmists have in recent decades been rediscovered and embraced by many Russian intellectuals and are now recognized as essential to a native Russian cultural and intellectual tradition. Although they were scientists, theologians, and philosophers, the Cosmists addressed topics traditionally confined to occult and esoteric literature. Major themes include the indefinite extension of the human life span to establish universal immortality; the restoration of life to the dead; the reconstitution of the human organism to enable future generations to live beyond earth; the regulation of nature to bring all manifestations of blind natural force under rational human control; the transition of our biosphere into a "noosphere," with a sheath of mental activity surrounding the planet; the effect of cosmic rays and currently unrecognized particles of energy on human history; practical steps toward the reversal and eventual human control over the flow of time; and the virtues of human androgyny, autotrophy, and invisibility."

They sound like proto-Extropians.

[Jetavan]

The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Federov and His Followers

"Suppressed during the Soviet period and little noticed in the West, the ideas of the Cosmists have in recent decades been rediscovered and embraced by many Russian intellectuals and are now recognized as essential to a native Russian cultural and intellectual tradition. Although they were scientists, theologians, and philosophers, the Cosmists addressed topics traditionally confined to occult and esoteric literature. Major themes include the indefinite extension of the human life span to establish universal immortality; the restoration of life to the dead; the reconstitution of the human organism to enable future generations to live beyond earth; the regulation of nature to bring all manifestations of blind natural force under rational human control; the transition of our biosphere into a "noosphere," with a sheath of mental activity surrounding the planet; the effect of cosmic rays and currently unrecognized particles of energy on human history; practical steps toward the reversal and eventual human control over the flow of time; and the virtues of human androgyny, autotrophy, and invisibility."

They sound like proto-Extropians.

I think Teilhard was influenced by the Cosmists.

"To Fedorov and most of the religious Cosmists (Solovyov the exception), Catholicism stands for unity without freedom, Protestantism for freedom without unity, and Orthodoxy for sobornost', the synthesis of freedom and unity, wholeness, communality, spiritual consensus" (p. 35).

[jmbejdl]

Our priest gave me a book yesterday 'The Saint of the Prisons' about Valeriu Gafencu, who was imprisoned under the Communists in Aiud and then Pitești (famous for the brainwashing experiments) before eventually dying in Târgu Ocna. I've only read the first couple of chapters so far but it's very interesting, particularly because it contains extracts from his own letters as well as testimonies from those who knew him in prison.

James

[vamrat]

Sharpe's Tiger.  I've read them all once.  Starting again.

[Schultz]

Sharpe's Tiger.  I've read them all once.  Starting again.

Good choice.  I just got the latest Bernard Cornwell novel, 'Death of Kings'  from his Saxon Chronicles series from the library and am looking forward to delving into it soon.  I just finished plodding through Elizabeth Kostova's "The Swan Thieves" and am now reading "The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases" by Michael Capuzzo which his, thankfully, a quick read so I can get started on that latest adventures of Uhtred!

[vamrat]

Sharpe's Tiger.  I've read them all once.  Starting again.

Good choice.  I just got the latest Bernard Cornwell novel, 'Death of Kings'  from his Saxon Chronicles series from the library and am looking forward to delving into it soon.  I just finished plodding through Elizabeth Kostova's "The Swan Thieves" and am now reading "The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases" by Michael Capuzzo which his, thankfully, a quick read so I can get started on that latest adventures of Uhtred!

I read his four Civil War books and was kind of sad that he didn't go past Sharpsburg.  I read Agincourt and loved it but didn't get far into the other-English-Longbowman-looks-for-the-Grail series.  He is a very good author so if I get the chance I will look into his Arthur/Dark Ages stories.  I love the Sharpe series even though you have the whole Sharpe always wins, kills the bad guy, gets the girl thing, he does vary it up and while you know Sharpe will always come out on top he does get some major setbacks and loses many friends along the way...just not Harper.  he always lives as well!

[Gamliel]

Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire / Marcus Rautman

[Tommelomsky]

The Orthodox Way (in danish) by Bishop Kallistos Ware.

[Ansgar]

The Orthodox Way (in danish) by Bishop Kallistos Ware.

It doesn't exist in norwegian?

[Tommelomsky]

The Orthodox Way (in danish) by Bishop Kallistos Ware.

It doesn't exist in norwegian?

Not that i know of. Danish is ok, even if there are some words I cannot understand.

[Ansgar]

The Orthodox Way (in danish) by Bishop Kallistos Ware.

It doesn't exist in norwegian?

Not that i know of. Danish is ok, even if there are some words I cannot understand.

That's funny, because we get most of our orthodox litterature from Norway.

[Tommelomsky]

Interesting. We have a label here that publishes orthodox writings and think i will contact the priest that runs things when it comes to orthodox books.

[Frederic]

John of Damascus: Writings on Islam, The Orthodox Faith, Homilies on the Nativity and the Dormition of the Theotokos
Eusebius of Cæsarea: Ecclesiastical History

[stavros_388]

Finished reading most of Atheist Delusions, by David Bentley Hart. What a writer! However, I kind of skipped over much of the history in the middle. But I own it, so I can go back to it if I want to later.

Just started reading a Kindle sample of Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, by Alvin Platinga. Seems really interesting.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth a read?

[Iconodule]

Miss Emily's Fire by Archbishop Chrysostomos

I've long been an admirer of Emily Dickinson, so I was excited to see that an Orthodox (albeit schismatic) bishop had published an essay examining how her poetry aligns with Orthodox spirituality. I was hoping that a man knowledgeable in Orthodoxy might be able to unlock some of the more esoteric language in Dickinson's work from a fresh angle. Unfortunately, about half of this very short book is taken up with biographical details and general scholarly information that could be easily found elsewhere, and which was largely unnecessary to the author's purpose. What remains is an analysis of a very small portion of Dickinson's work which is rather vague and inconclusive. The book only cost me $5 but I think +Chrysostomos should have just put the thing for free online if this was all he could come up with.  

[Shiny]

So I got to the controversial section regarding Sancho's donkey and wow Grossman, IMO, made a mistake of not including what happened with Giles. It does not flow at all, and sure she adds footnotes but it doesn't work. Her methodology was criticszed by Tom Lathrop only using one source, the Riquer, and assuming that is the one to base it on. When the first edition was printed I am told only 70 copies survived. The subsequent editions suffer from editors correcting intentional mistakes and even inserting texts thinking they were more clever than Cervantes.

Nonetheless I think Lathrop makes a great argument in regards to the translation and how difficult it is because the book is so controversial.

I just ordered the Lathrop edition (that makes 3 translations I have) but too bad the illustrations from Jack Davis is out of print.

I don't think I could stand Grossman's translation any longer.

All this work I might as well learn Spanish.

[Shiny]

Finished reading most of Atheist Delusions, by David Bentley Hart. What a writer! However, I kind of skipped over much of the history in the middle. But I own it, so I can go back to it if I want to later.

Just started reading a Kindle sample of Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, by Alvin Platinga. Seems really interesting.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth a read?

I like Platinga alot, great theologian. Hart is awesome and thankfully does not engage in alot of sophistry. orthonormie would cringe at that atheist book however.

[neon_knights]

Just picked up A Game of Thrones again after a long hiatus.

[Ansgar]

Just picked up A Game of Thrones again after a long hiatus.

I have actually never read that.