Cristi Cîrdei
A short but comprehensive history of Christianity.
DBH tells a story of Christianity spanning from the first decades of our era to the 21st century, and from Israel-Palestine to the ends of the earth, extinguishing a few myths along the way and paying due attention to the East as well as the West. The book helps one appreciate, somewhat more fully, the relation between Christianity and the world around, its politics especially.
Having completed the original trilogy, I cannot avoid the sense of disappointment and unmet expectations. Asimov's universe is, no question, impressive. But his writing doesn't rise to the occasion.
Of the three books, this has been the best one.
I have to say that the writers of the TV show have done an outstanding job. The series convinced me to finally read the books that have been on my TBR for quite some time.
As to completing the Foundation series, I am not convinced yet to move forward through it.
“To conceive of history as a process of human liberation is to consider freedom as a historical conquest; it is to understand that the step from an abstract to a real freedom is not taken without a struggle against all the forces that oppress humankind, a struggle full of pitfalls, detours, and temptations to run away. The goal is not only better living conditions, a radical change of structures, a social revolution; it is much more: the continuous creation, never ending, of a new way to be human, a permanent cultural revolution.”
“To know Yahweh, which in Biblical language is equivalent to saying to love Yahweh, is to establish just relationships among persons, it is to recognize the rights of the poor. The God of Biblical revelation is known through interhuman justice. When justice does not exist, God is not known; God is absent.”
“To preach the universal love of the Father is inevitably to go against all injustice, privilege, oppression, or narrow nationalism.”
In the past year (2023), Christian denominations like The Church of England and the Catholic Church have taken, what by some are still very little steps towards the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, by allowing priests to bless same-sex couples. Their official position on the issue of homosexuality has remained, however, unchanged. Same-sex activity is immoral or sinful and marriage is exclusively heterosexual. To uphold this traditional view of sexuality, the Church refers to a collection of arguments based on Scripture or tradition. But are these arguments cogent? Are they relevant and most importantly, are they true?
Enter the stage Gareth Moore O.P., Dominican friar, member of an Order whose motto is Veritas. Aptly titled, A Question of Truth is an inquest into the legitimacy of the Church's doctrine of human sexuality concerning non-traditional sexual orientations and sexual activity. The thesis of the book “is that there are no good arguments, from either Scripture or natural law, against what have come to be known as homosexual relationships. The arguments put forward to show that such relationships are immoral are bad. Either their premisses are false or the argument by means of which the conclusion is drawn from them itself contains errors.”
Gareth Moore examines in this book a series of the most important and best arguments put forward to support a traditional view of homosexuality, including the clobber passages. For obvious reasons, the arguments are drawn from the debate on the issue within the Roman Catholic Church. Still, there is wisdom in this book for people of all faith traditions.
To support his thesis, he uses thorough analysis and rigorous reasoning to show the faults of the arguments he is evaluating. I highly appreciated his commitment to Truth and his trying to be as unbiased as possible. This approach made his arguments more convincing to me personally. While it may be difficult to follow at times, I think it is still an accessible book.
In his approach, he is charitable towards his opponents, seeking the best in their arguments. Toward the people whom all these arguments and teachings concern, he is understanding and empathetic, something that I highly appreciated, having grown tired of debates that fail to consider their lived experience and essentially, their humanity.
Concluding, if the Church insists on keeping her current position on the issue, she needs to develop better arguments; a highly improbable thing to happen considering that centuries past and crowds of bright minds have failed to put forward a cogent argument. A different path has to be considered.
I would like to end this by quoting his final conclusion from the book:
“The conclusion of this book is, therefore, not that it is good to be gay, but that it is irrational for serious, reflective [queer Christians] to accept church teaching on homosexuality. This is in itself a serious conclusion, for there are clearly many such Christians; that is why the debate exists within the churches in the first place. The only rational course at the moment for such Christians is to continue to believe in the possible goodness of homosexual relationships. This is not a matter of dissent or materialism; it is simply that the church at the moment produces no good arguments to assent to. Regrettably, in this area, the church teaches badly.”
I have been, for a few years now, resisting reading Fredrik Backman, on account of his writing not being my style. (I judged the book by its cover. I should have known better)
Now that I have read this book I can only say that I loved it. I have yet to be sold on the style, but that doesn't even matter. I love the story, the characters, the mind that conceived it all and every “idiot” that this book is about.
Fredrick Backman is, above all, a story teller. I couldn't help but wonder how it would be like siting next to him around a campfire or at a dinner table.
Like every book about people, this book made me cry and not just a few times. The last chapters made me want to bury my face in a pillow. (Maybe I should have waited to finish it alone in my bedroom and not on a train)
I don't plan on reading any other books by Fredrick Backman, but I somehow know this is not the last one.
Maybe I've set my expectations wrong.
That is not to say that this was a bad book or a poorly written one, but most of the time the stories didn't do it for me. I found the ideas the stories are built upon intriguing, but I personally felt that they weren't exploited to their real potential. The stories started with a good premise that got lost in a fog on the way.
The last stories (which were also the longest) are the ones that I enjoyed the most and the ones that felt complete and had a satisfactory ending.
As an end note, I couldn't but wonder how some of these stories would have looked like in a Ted Chiang book.
END OF THE YEAR BOOK OVERVIEW2022 – the year I got back into reading My thing this year (and the years to follow as I build my taste in books) has been people. Messy people. Strange people. Lonely people and misfits. Somehow this theme has aligned itself with the works of Carson McCullers and Flannery O'Connor, and the genre of gothic. More precisely southern gothic. A considerable number of books I've read this year were, coincidentally, set in the south of the United States. Besides the works of Carson McCullers and Flannery O'Connor (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, and The Complete Stories respectively) I also read an emotional memoir, which I don't know how I stumbled upon but I am glad I did, of a man's journey away from his fundamentalist upbringing (the book that made me cry the most) and the journal of a journalist's quest through the Deep South to see for himself the struggles of African-Americans amid racial segregation.Other nonfiction books I read this year include an overview of the earth's history and a very interesting book on the origins of language (rocks and words, two of my all-time interest – readings on natural science are so fun)I also read some classics such as The Invisible Man, Lord of the Flies, and Animal Farm. And poetry. My first time reading proper poetry on my own enterprise. Brad Aaron Modlin and Pádraig Ó Tuama are two of the poets that graced my readings. Science fiction has made it on to the list again with the latest installment of an action-packed series I started in high school and Ted Chiang's collections of short stories.And talking about short stories, this has been the genre (apparently, I can call it that) that I enjoyed the most this year and has made a lasting impression on my taste in literature.The gothic novel The Devil All the Time (which I devoured) and the-most-beautiful One Hundred Years of Solitude (I couldn't imagine such a charming story could exist – I'm a rational person and all but a word permeated by magic like Macando doesn't sound bad at all) count among the books read in 2022. . . .Some conclusions I feel like this year I've been the most conscious and intentional with my readings and choices of books. I think it's safe to say that I've read the most beautiful literature of my life these past months and I hope this will be true in the years to follow as well.I've also extended my horizons this year, discovering some gems along the way and starting to build my taste in literature, and I learned some things about myself (or at least had them brought to my attention), which is definitely a win.In matter of books, this year has been a great one and I'm looking forward to the next one. . . .[bc:The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 37380 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385265834l/37380.SY75.jpg 860196][bc:One Hundred Years of Solitude 320 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327881361l/320.SX50.jpg 3295655][bc:The Complete Stories 25630779 The Complete Stories Flannery O'Connor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1432988398l/25630779.SY75.jpg 886814][bc:The Dawn of Language: Axes, Lies,Midwifery and How We Came to Talk 58874484 The Dawn of Language Axes, Lies, Midwifery and How We Came to Talk Sverker Johansson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630157220l/58874484.SY75.jpg 71244753] [bc:Everyone at This Party Has Two Names 31851874 Everyone at This Party Has Two Names Brad Aaron Modlin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479244671l/31851874.SY75.jpg 52522532][bc:The Country Funeral 41713579 The Country Funeral John McGahern https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552103254l/41713579.SX50.jpg 65061353][bc:A River in Egypt 41713584 A River in Egypt David Means https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552103388l/41713584.SX50.jpg 65061357][bc:The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories 45791 The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories Carson McCullers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388247157l/45791.SY75.jpg 952665][bc:Black Like Me 42603 Black Like Me John Howard Griffin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311696842l/42603.SY75.jpg 2444552][bc:In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World 23398580 In the Shelter Finding a Home in the World Pádraig Ó Tuama https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414558660l/23398580.SY75.jpg 42955181][bc:Dark Age 29226553 Dark Age (Red Rising Saga, #5) Pierce Brown https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525464420l/29226553.SY75.jpg 49464237][bc:The Name of the Rose 119073 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415375471l/119073.SY75.jpg 3138328][bc:Întotdeauna diavolul 55260466 Întotdeauna diavolul Donald Ray Pollock https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599495800l/55260466.SY75.jpg 15005760][bc:Lord of the Flies 55304668 Lord of the Flies William Golding https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599874805l/55304668.SY75.jpg 2766512][bc:Where the Light Fell 56637947 Where the Light Fell Philip Yancey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617074089l/56637947.SX50.jpg 88500928][bc:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 23692271 Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1595674533l/23692271.SY75.jpg 18962767][bc:A Little Life 22822858 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446469353l/22822858.SY75.jpg 42375710][a few of the books I enjoyed - visible on the Desktop Version]
"Woe to the man whose child is on the verge of a diagnosis"
The man in question is Cavanaugh. A father, standing with his son in a hospital room – the sweat chamber as the nurse called it. As little Gunner is tested for cystic fibrosis, his father tries to distract him, minute by minute, until he breaks into “a true breaker on the scream scale” and Cavanaugh sees himself forced to cup his hand over the boy's mouth.
This is the scene unfolding as the nurse enters the room, leading to a beautifully penned act of contemplation and introspection by a man “suspended between two sides of life”.
The few pages of this short story were enough to convince me of its value. I want more of what this story offered.
two kids talk about their inebriated mothers. one of them says something along the lines of: that's what alcoholics want — to die. it's just that some take the long road.
and: there is nothing you can do to help.
Shuggie Bain is a book about losing one's self to the coldness of addiction. losing what you were and what you could be, and losing the people you care about.
it is also about finding oneself. or rather, finding out that you are not actually lost, you just are. and you should start owning your self.
i liked this book. it is an emotional story. a good story, in its tragedy and realism.
i'm always going to be a nerd for things like this.language, words, and etymologies have been an interest of mine since childhood and the origins of something, be it the origin of the Universe or a nation, a rock or a system of thought is one of the most interesting things to learn about (isn't it.?); so when i saw a book on the origins of language i immediately picked it up.the book is divided into three main parts meant to set up a few generalities about language, to review the (biological) necessities for language to emerge, and lastly show how all the pieces fall into place and lead to the actual origins. [a: Sverker Johansson 842111 Sverker Johansson https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] uses knowledge from various fields and presents different theories and interpretations to give the reader a complete picture of the work that has been done in studying the origins of language while covering the various aspects/faces of the problem.the book is well structured (even though i had at some point some issues with this very matter) and insightful. it's a good summary of our current knowledge on the subject and has some sensible conclusions. as a popular, non-scholarly book it accomplishes what it sets to.also, my appreciation to [a: Cristian Iscrulescu 16256874 Cristian Iscrulescu https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] who did an outstanding job at translating and contextualizing this book from Swedish and into Romanian.
for me, one thing that made itself noticed is how whole and encompassing this book feels. it is not only a description of a topographical place or of a certain period, not only a story about a girl on one side and the entire world on the other. it is all of these and more.
it touches on every aspect of life. rich in themes and emotions conveyed.
what is also remarkable is that the author knows her space. no surprise Delia Owens is a wildlife scientist; she is more than capable to describe and tell stories about the marsh and the interconnections of the ecosystem.
the subplot of the Walker family is well built and i enjoyed it, probably, the most.
in the end, it is a well-written book and a good story.
i think i've just read the most beautiful thing written by man
the way that i love this book. from the first pages, i knew that it will enjoy it.
ghosts searching for water and company, flying carpets, yellow flowers raining from the sky, intoxicating beauty, obsessions of undoing for the sake of doing, and death. even death is curious in this enchanted world of Macondo.
generations come and generations go. no one remembers people from long ago and all the people yet to come, they too will be forgotten by those that come after them – time runs. it is a spinning wheel bound to break
' because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.'