C.S. Lewis - Surprised by Joy

I've been reading a lot of Lewis lately. If you haven't come across him, or if there is anything by him you have not yet read, I strongly suggest that you attempt to get him as high on your reading priority as you possibly can.

Here are two quotes - they are quite long, but do give them the time, they are worth it.

"We now settled into a routine which has ever since served in my mind as an archetype, so that what I still mean when I talk of a 'normal' day (and lament that normal days are so rare) is a day of the Bookham pattern. For if I could please myself I would live as I lived there. I would choose always to breakfast at exactly eight and be at my desk by nine, there to read or write till one. If a cup of good tea or coffee could be brought to me about eleven, so much the better. A step or so out of doors for a pint of beer would not do quite so well; for man does not want to drink alone, and if you meet a friend in the tap-room the break is likely to be extended beyond its ten minutes. At one precisely lunch should be on the table; and by two at the latest I would be on the road. Not, except at rare intervals, with a friend. Walking and talking are two very great pleasures, but it is a mistake to combine them. Our own noise blots out the sounds and silences of the out-door world; and talking leads almost inevitably to smoking, and then farewell to nature as far as one of our senses is concerned ...... The return from the walk, and the arrival of tea, should be exactly coincident, and not later than a quarter past four ...... At five a man should be at work again, and at it till seven. Then, at the evening meal and after, comes the time for talk, or, failing that, for lighter reading; and unless you are making a night of it with your cronies...there is no reason why you should ever be in bed later than eleven."


"Even in peacetime I think those are very wrong who say that schoolboys should be encouraged to read the newspapers. Nearly all that a boy reads there in his teens will be known before he is twenty to have been false in emphasis and interpretation, if not in fact as well, and most of it will have lost all importance. Most of what he remembers he will therefore have to unlearn; and he will probably have acquired an incurable taste for vulgarity and sensationalism and that fatal habit of fluttering from paragraph to paragraph to learn how an actress has been divorced in California, a train derailed in France, and quadruplets born in New Zealand."


Genius.

The Big Essay Push - Day One.

I've just returned home from day one of the big essay push. Cup of tea is sitting next to me, BBC live text coverage of Transfer Deadline Day open on the tabs (where, incidentally, they have just reported that Robbie Keane is in talks with Celtic over a loan move - I can't help feeling that perhaps Benitez was justified to sell him back to Spurs last January, considering that he now cannot get ahead of Defoe or Crouch... just a thought), and I begin my little blog series on the two week run up to my own deadline day - 15 February, 4pm.

Today has been productive. I have over 1000 words of a plan plus notes written, plus read a bit of Jimmy Dunn. Also discussed the essay over coffee with Helen Morris, which was fantastic - quite a brain she has indeed, and immensely helpful in formulating my own thoughts. Thank you, Helen.

So, upon reflection it has been a remarkably productive day. And to add that magical touch, picked up some free books that included the BST commentaries on Isaiah and James. Can't argue with that.

Now it's time to catch by breath, perhaps have a little lay down, and then it's off to a meeting tonight. Let's hope my energy returns by then!

End.

The Dissertation is now in.  Both an anti-climax and a relief.  

If I were to recommend one book to read following my dissertation, it would be this one:

Peter Holmes - Trinity in Human Community.

Easy to read, accessible and earthed in the experience of his own church.

If I were to take one quote from my dissertation that has perhaps to most importance for how we understand who we are it would be this:

"Jesus is the human person properly for God and others, and therefore properly for Himself - both his relations and his identity are undistorted.  To be fully in God's image, to make a right response to God and others, is therefore to be conformed to Christ."  -- McFadyen, The Call to Personhood, p. 46-7.

It was an edifying experience writing the dissertation.  I'd recommend it.

Let's Not Do This, Please?!

The following quote comes from 'Why We Are Not Emergent" by DeYoung and Kluck.

"After going to a Christian college, it seemed as if it was almost a requirement, when meeting with college friends, to serve alcohol..., talk about how newly open-minded we were, and how oppressive our school had been.  Shock value was king.  It was almost an unspoken race to see who could shock whom the most.  Questions were the new answers."

This is one of the biggest and most subtle problem with our college.  To rebel for the sake of rebellion is to turn your face away from Christ.

The Shack

I am about the embark on the reading of the book, The Shack.

I am sure that rumours of this book have made it to your ears.  And as I read I intend to keep a blog regarding my ruminations surrounding this book.  Opinion is divided - whilst a near unprecedented number of people have told me to read it, not many can find good reason to recommend it.  On the other hand, many who I respect have taken issue with some of the theology evident in the fictional story.

So, with Foy Vance as the backdrop, I begin my reading...

New Look, Books, and Sounding Like Other People

I decided to update the image of the blog.  I quite like the new look, especially the continuous nature of the lists down the right hand side... subtle but nice.

Listening to snippets from Jon Foreman's E.P.'s - he is the Switchfoot front man, and has released four E.P.'s over the last year.  They are good, chilled out, stripped down tunes.  Check him out here.

I have been attempting to write a number of book reviews, reviewing the numerous books I have recently read.  It has only happened in skeleton form, and already I don't really like what I've written.  I seem to end up sounding like the many, many book reviews I've read - and not sounding like myself.  Which I suppose is bound to happen to some extent, but I'm not a big fan of it.  So for now my reviews will continue to be skeletons - one day I may post them up here.

The books I have read have brought up numerous things to talk and think about.  The most prominent are epistemology and postmodernism.  But those two subjects will take up another post (or indeed posts), once I've come to a decision about them or build up enough courage to air my questions and limited understanding.