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Thread: What are you reading 2018?

  1. #31
    Williamsmith
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    Please share your thinking after you read Tolstoy. I have The Kingdom of God is Within You on my Kindle but I haven't gotten around to reading it. But as a Catholic (lapsed, but born-and-bred), I've always wondered about the religious spin on "just war."
    I think you will be challenged by Tolstoy’s direct interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount and his impassioned criticism of the “Church”. He claims that Churches were a direct result of men failing to accept the clear teachings of Christ regarding things like nonviolent resistance to evil. That the disagreements resulted in the establishment of churches in order to define right doctrine from wrong doctrine. That church leaders and infallible Popes were given the authority to interpret and pass along dogma which serves only the purposes of the very same leaders. In short, your Catholic Church, among the many others is as far from real Christianity as the heathen. My paraphrasing. But I am still reading.....maybe there is a surprise ending.

  2. #32
    Williamsmith
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    I will provide an excerpt in support of my above statement.....

    “Every branch in a tree comes from the root in unbroken connection; but the fact that each branch comes from the one root, does not prove at all that each branch was the only one. It is precisely the same with the Church. Every church presents exactly the same proofs of the succession, and even the same miracles, in support of its authenticity, as every other. So that there is but one strict and exact definition of what is a church (not of something fantastic which we would wish it to be, but of what it is and has been in reality)--a church is a body of men who claim for themselves that they are in complete and sole possession of the truth. And these bodies, having in course of time, aided by the support of the temporal authorities, developed into powerful institutions, have been the principal obstacles to the diffusion of a true comprehension of the teaching of Christ.”

    What Tolstoy would say about the church and war is probably something like... churches legitimized certain wars based in their illegitimate position of speaking for Christ ..when clearly Christ taught nonviolent pacifism as a means of bringing the kingdom of God to man not as merely an analogy but as direct instruction for living. But......I read on.

  3. #33
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    I am reading Under The Dome by Stephen King. Unbelievably gripping novel!

  4. #34
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Under the Dome was a good one. He has such a talent for creating characters and populating a town with people and interactions and relationships that feel so real.

  5. #35
    Senior Member Gardenarian's Avatar
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    "The Essex Serpent" by Sarah Perry. This book did not live up to its excellent reviews. The characters were muddy, the plot did not seem thoroughly considered, and the ending was bland.

    I've been rereading some books by Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine) and she is a terrific author. Her descriptions, particularly of nature, are phenomenal. And of course she is a master of plot and character.

  6. #36
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    I just finished a rather neat book, "The Death of Bees" by Lisa O'Donnell. It's about 2 sisters in Scotland. Their useless drunken, drug addicted parents die, and they keep it a secret and bury them in the garden so that social services won't take them away and separate them.

  7. #37
    Yppej
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    Hillbilly Elegy was finally on the shelf at the library today. The rest of this week's haul:

    The Children of Light and The Children of Darkness by Niebuhr
    Fiction by Michael Chabon, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Junot Diaz, and Nicholson Baker
    Luis Rodriguez's autobiography about gang life
    Class Matters by New York Times correspondents

  8. #38
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Hillbilly Elegy was excellent.
    I'm reading Rabbit Run by Updike. Pretty dismal so far.

  9. #39
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Loved Hillbilly Elegy.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  10. #40
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    “Dawn” from the exogenesis trilogy.

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