I have a very weird Lenten practice which I’ve attempted to hold to over the last few years. I’m a reader. I’ve always read books. It is the thing I am most likely to do given more than a few minutes free time. Somehow a few years back at the start of Lent, a rhyme that brides use for their preparations for their wedding garb stuck in my head. “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” is the rhyme. It’s not completely inappropriate as the Church is the Bride of Christ and we are preparing for a feast. Anyhow …
I’m going to ask a friend to lend me a book. So I’m set there. But, and isn’t there always a but?
Every year I use the same “blue book” for now as I’ve found there are facets to it I’ve barely scratched. This book is my “blue” one, Saint Silouan, the Athonite.
So, and old book and a new book. If anyone has any suggestions, please … that’s why blogs have com-boxes. When I mean old, I mean from the 11th century and earlier.
March 2nd, 2010 | 9:16 pm | #1
Something new: Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time by Sarah Ruden
March 2nd, 2010 | 10:39 pm | #2
Something old: Athanasius’ Life of Antony & On the Incarnation.
I just finished re-reading the Life of Antony (fabulous! it really helped me develop a better understanding of how to deal with spiritual attacks), and I am in the middle of reading On the Incarnation for the first time. Athanasius’ clear, beautiful prose is a delight; after reading the thick muddle that is all too common in modern theology books, it is like a drink of fresh, cool water on a hot day to read Athanasius explaining and elucidating core doctrines in a clear, readable, understandable way.
March 2nd, 2010 | 11:21 pm | #3
Do you want specifically Christian suggestions?
If not:
Something old: Xenophon’s Anabasis, a totally overlooked and underrated student of Socrates who led a stranded army of Greeks across 1000 miles of hostile territory- the first adventure biography!
Something new: Roger Crowley’s 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, reads like Lord of the rings :)
If so:
Something old: The Apostolic Fathers in English translated by Michael Holmes, a much needed modern translation.
Something new: Either George Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards’ a Life or Kenneth Silverman’s The Life and Times of Cotton Mather, both totally deserving the Pulitzer, the second of which actually won it.
March 3rd, 2010 | 8:31 am | #4
My old suggestion would be Augustine’s Confessions. I have only read parts of this book, but I do want to read more of it. My dream is to read The City of God next year, but I do not think I know enough Scripture to attempt that feat yet.
Otherwise I agree with Ms. Ordway. I think either of her suggestions are wonderful. Athanasius’ ideas are entirely in line with what any Christians should think. I have read On the Incarnation, and I want to read Life of Antony.
March 3rd, 2010 | 8:57 am | #5
I’ve found it useful to keep a list of a dozen books I think important..list changes less and less over time and the “dozen” is a bit flexible; still, I find the exercise useful. Currently:
* Bible, Revised Standard Version
* The Confessions; Saint Augustine
* Rule & Homilies; Pope Gregory I
* The Gregorian Missal; Solesmes
* Summa Theologica; Thomas Aquinas
* Dante’s Paradise; Anthony Esolen
* Poems & Twelve Plays; Shakespeare
* Complete English Poems; John Donne
* Nature Writings & Essays; John Muir
* Poems, Plays & Prose; Robert Frost
* Credo for Today; Joseph Ratzinger
* Compendium to the Catholic Catechism
March 3rd, 2010 | 11:02 am | #6
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
;-)
March 3rd, 2010 | 11:19 am | #7
Last fall I read “On the Priesthood” by John Crsyostem (sp?) and found it hilariously weird (for a Presbyterian) but quite helpful in showing blind spots in contemporary ministry.
Something new? How about “Deep Church” by Jim Belcher?
Can you tell I’m thinking about ministry leadership these days?
March 6th, 2010 | 8:30 pm | #8
If you haven’s yet read Chesterton’s Orthodoxy You’re missing out.
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