Making our history one step at a time
OK, so I originally read this book out of a feeling of self-importance (we engineers virtually made the modern world as you know it, y'know), but it actually leaves you feeling humbled with an appreciation for the imperfect as well as the ultra-precise.
Lewis and Chesterton were both authors that helped me realize that my own religious tradition doesn't have a monopoly on truth. Abraham Heschel (and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks) has helped me expand that sphere a little further into the Jewish tradition as well (if you have any recommendations from other faith traditions, please let me know).... Continue Reading →
My proposed alternate titles: When Mormons Got Their Horns What Religion Are You So I Can Hate On You Correctly Before Fake News: The Penny Press and Portrayals of Mormonism
Does every English teacher always pass on the myth that Dickens was paid by the word? Rather, more people should know that Dickens' novels targeted injustices, like debtor's prisons and workhouses-- and it worked.
The Taylor Swift of Victorian era poetry, Robert Browning. OK, jk, not really, but I did quote a T-Swift song in my review 😉
Can Chesterton just write every biography? Before, Browning was just another faceless poet to me, but GKC convinces you by the end that poetry wouldn't be the same without him.
Don't mind me, just trying to read everything GKC every wrote, down to this little pamphlet on divorce. It includes a lively discussion of vows and marriage of interest to the Latter-Day Saint reader.
I was feeling fiscally conservative this past month, so I picked this book up. I'm not very loyal when it comes to politics-- I'm not good at being a team player, I hate mud-slinging down purely partisan lines, and I like to try to find the good in everyone. But I do like a good... Continue Reading →
If I took anything away from this book, it is that turning paradoxes into an either/or is an over-simplification that can have dire spiritual consequences. Trying to retain the mystery of paradox isn't to be lukewarm (neither hot nor cold, as the book of Revelation says), as some may accuse. On the contrary, picking a side is the easy way out, and is morally lazy.
