Review: Jerusalem: The Biography

Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This really does read like a biography of a city. And, given the many millennia of history, not to mention how central it has been to history, religion, politics and pretty much everything else, I can say that reading this book once isn't nearly enough to confidently say I know the history of Jerusalem.

Many of the incidents and issues will be familiar to most, from Bible stories, history books, newspapers, etc. Here they are all interwoven into a thread, with tidbits that (at least to me) are entirely new. For example it was interesting to read how, after Jesus' death, his brother James had been the de-facto head of the religion until Paul came around and insisted on preaching to non-Jews (and after James' death his cousin took over).

Regardless, this book is packed with way too much information to remember, but it is definitely a journey. One reviewer recommended reading it like a work of fiction, and I think I'd agree. It reads like an adventurous history of a land that was (and is) important to so many different people.



https://4201mass.blogspot.com/




View all my reviews

Review: The New Testament: A Translation

The New Testament: A Translation by David Bentley Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've always thought the profession of Translator should be more respected when dealing with (a translation of) the Bible. All too many interpretations are taken from commonly accepted faulty translations, and yet very few people are actually qualified to translate ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek from the original/oldest sources. 

Obviously I'm not one of the those people, so I can't really judge the accuracy of Hart's translations, but at least it is something he takes very seriously. His introductory and concluding chapters detail this. In this translation, he endeavors to not only provide an accurate translation (dealing with words like "spirit", "fornication", "eternity", etc.), but also tries to convey the voice of the original text (when it was erudite, when more coarse, when not necessarily written by a native speaker, etc.). 

The result is very interesting indeed. Plus it gave me a chance to revisit the New Testament, which, like it or leave it, is one of the main canonical texts of our age. 

View all my reviews

Review: Nathan der Weise

Nathan der Weise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Better than I thought. I feel like a politician or two would benefit from giving this a read.

I really liked Nathan's parable with the father and the three rings as related to the three main religions in the Holy land.

View all my reviews

Review: Cross and the Floating Dragon: The Gospel in Ryukyu

Cross and the Floating Dragon: The Gospel in Ryukyu by Edward E. Bollinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is basically the history of Christianity in Okinawa. I thought it would be the most boring book I had ever read, but it turned out to be a gem, giving me a look into the history of something that touched the lives of millions of people in the island all told. It covers all types of Christianity (Catholicism, COE, Episcopalianism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Baptists, seventh day Adventists, and others) on the island.

The whole section on Bettelheim was extremely entertaining (and it turns out he has a Wikipedia page too), especially the tactics the locals used to discourage him, and how he kept persevering.

The "Village that lives by the Bible" story was also extremely interesting, including the truth behind it.

After the war, there was a general mentality that "America won the war, so now we must become Christians" (p. 189), which undoubtedly helped the Christian movement (although it had been going very strong before the war as well).

It was also interesting to read about the conflict between ancestral rites and Christianity, and how Catholicism was the most accommodating for this practice.

All in all an interesting and unique look into a subject I otherwise would never have read about.

View all my reviews

Review: The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament

The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

This is way beyond my pay grade, so I'm not really in any position to give it a rating. It also went into much more detail than I could handle. But I did find many of the concepts fascinating, such as Docetism, and the idea that, since Jesus was divine, he wasn't really human and only ate food to make his apostles relate to him (then debunked in instances when, for example, he asked for some water because he was thirsty on the cross). Or that he had Simon of Cyrene go on the cross in his stead, since he was divine and couldn't die on the cross.


View all my reviews

Review: Paul: A Biography

Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent biography. This book goes very much into detail about Paul's life, at least as far as we can know from the material available. Wright does an excellent job of tying it all together into a coherent (and very in-depth) narrative.

Interesting to read about how Paul (and all his contemporaries) never said we should be good so we can go to heaven when we die, but rather that the Kingdom of God should come to us on earth as it is in heaven. And apparently they meant this quite literally.

I did feel a tad unprepared for this. He goes into tremendous detail, and I probably would have gotten more out of it had I had more than a cursory knowledge of Paul's writings beforehand.




View all my reviews

Review: What Catholics Really Believe--Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith

What Catholics Really Believe--Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith by Karl Keating
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had this book for close to 10 years now, and I finally got around to reading it. All in all it is a quick read (so shame on me for not tackling it earlier). It just basically lists 52 false claims about Catholicism, and refutes them one by one. In doing so, Keating provides an explanation for the Catholic view on many different subjects.

So basically, if you are interested in learning more about Catholicism, this is probably a great place to start. It won't go much into detail, but will probably mention more than a couple points you hadn't considered (I was raised Catholic, and I confess I didn't know quite a few of these points).

Also, it goes without saying that you don't have to be Catholic to read this. In fact, you'll probably get more out of it if you're not. I'm not saying you'll necessarily agree with his points, but it'll be an enlightening read nonetheless.




View all my reviews