Tag Archives: religion

An Antidote to Chaos

Posted on August 25, 2020 by smellincoffee

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos © 2018 Jordan Peterson 402 pages Life is pain. We can surrender to it — or we can make it meaningful. Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson here offers a prescription to those facing … Continue reading →

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Tornadoes, the stars, and eternity

Posted on March 19, 2020 by smellincoffee

I aim to minimize the amount of un-commented-on books in 2020, so here follows some housekeeping! Back in February,  I read Braving the Elements: The Stormy History of American Weather.  It opened with the importance of climate to the various … Continue reading →

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How Jesus Became God

Posted on January 7, 2020 by smellincoffee

How Jesus Became God: The Exhalation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee © 2014 Bart Ehrman 416 pages When did the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth begin to regard him as not just a prophet worth following, but actually … Continue reading →

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The Lost Gospel of Mary

Posted on December 21, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Lost Gospel of Mary:  The Mother of Jesus in Three Ancient Texts © 2012 Frederica Mathewes-Green 178 pages   We are presently in the season of Advent,  an ideal time to take a look at a question of mine: … Continue reading →

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Of stars and saints

Posted on December 14, 2019 by smellincoffee

Two also-reads in recent weeks have been Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Solar System and Kevin Vost’s 12 Life Lessons from St. Augustine. I’m familiar with Cox from his many appearances in Symphony of Science videos (a YouTube series in  … Continue reading →

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A Plain Life

Posted on November 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

A Plain Life: Walking my Belief © 1998 Scott Savage 224 pages You have to be careful about working in a library. Sometimes books change your life.  Scott Savage and his wife were both librarians whose environmental interests put them … Continue reading →

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Welcome to the Orthodox Church

Posted on December 3, 2017 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the Orthodox Church © 2015 Fredrica Mathews-Green  384 pages What it means to be liturgical can’t be encapsulated in a creed; liturgy has to be practiced,  experienced.  In Welcome to Orthodoxy,  FMG creates a fictional Orthodox parish and … Continue reading →

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My Life with the Saints

Posted on September 15, 2017 by smellincoffee

My Life with the Saints© 2007 James Martin, SJ414 pages The church I grew up in consistently referred to Rome as the whore of Babylon, so needless to say I didn’t learn anything about saints. I knew Biblical personalities, sure, … Continue reading →

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The Benedict Option

Posted on March 23, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Benedict Option © 2017 Rod Dreher 269 pages Christendom has fallen; long live Christendom.   In The Benedict Option, Rob Dreher argues that the Christian church in the United States is at a crisis point and must now think … Continue reading →

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