What I've Been Reading Lately...
Romans
Cloning of the American Mind, B.K. Eakman
Invitation to the Classics, Louise Cowan & Os Guiness, ed.
Raising Maidens of Virtue, Stacy McDonald
Emotional Purity: An Affair of the HeartHeather Paulsen
Let My Children Go, E. Ray Moore
Myths, Lies, & Half Truths, Gary DeMar
Some of these are quite long, so I've only started them, and then got interested in something else. I guess that would mainly be the Moore and DeMar books. They were interesting, but I just got sidetracked.
The Eakman book is HUGE with extremely small type. Not something you could call pleasure-reading exactly, but it is interesting. I'm not even a quarter of the way through it yet. The subtitle is "eradicating morality through education". The author describes how the computer age is making it possible for every person to be tracked in their preferences, opinions, and consumption. Maybe once I get through it I'll post some more on this, because it is definitely worth learning about, even IF comprehensive dossiers aren't being compiled on every person in the nation. It seems far-fetched, but is it? Who knows...
The Moore book is going back on the shelf. The subtitle of this book is "Why parents must remove their children from public schools NOW". While I agree that public schools are not the fine institutes of learning they (perhaps) were at one time, it seems rather offensive and arrogant to me to insist that Christian parents should never send their children there. I think the author believes that doing so is a sin. In my view, the problem with public schools is not the parents who send their children there, but the "public" nature of the schools. There is no such thing as a spiritually "neutral" education, so government sponsored education is necessarily supporting one "religion" over another. I could go on... :-)
The McDonald book is just lovely. I'll certainly be rereading it. I think that the McDonald family is coming from a Reformed perspective, which to me means Calvinism. It seems that almost everything I read that was written by a Calvinist I agree with wholeheartedly - other than that whole predestination issue. My husband and I have been talking about this lately, and what I want to know is this: how does the doctrine of election effect their view of life and culture? If I agree that "Culture is religion externalized", does that mean that somehow I endorse the doctrine of election unconsciously? They (the Calvinists) seem to have views that I never hear other evangelicals endorsing (roles of men and women, raising children, modesty, etc.). Does that make these views necessarily Calvinist?
O.K., so maybe too many weighty subjects to be putting in a blog. Maybe I should lighten up a little. But seriously, if you have any thoughts on these subjects, HOW ABOUT POSTING A COMMENT? COMMENTS CAN BE ANONYMOUS IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO KNOW WHO'S INSULTING ME!!! Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks about these kinds of things...Maybe I'd better get back to the laundry.
Cloning of the American Mind, B.K. Eakman
Invitation to the Classics, Louise Cowan & Os Guiness, ed.
Raising Maidens of Virtue, Stacy McDonald
Emotional Purity: An Affair of the HeartHeather Paulsen
Let My Children Go, E. Ray Moore
Myths, Lies, & Half Truths, Gary DeMar
Some of these are quite long, so I've only started them, and then got interested in something else. I guess that would mainly be the Moore and DeMar books. They were interesting, but I just got sidetracked.
The Eakman book is HUGE with extremely small type. Not something you could call pleasure-reading exactly, but it is interesting. I'm not even a quarter of the way through it yet. The subtitle is "eradicating morality through education". The author describes how the computer age is making it possible for every person to be tracked in their preferences, opinions, and consumption. Maybe once I get through it I'll post some more on this, because it is definitely worth learning about, even IF comprehensive dossiers aren't being compiled on every person in the nation. It seems far-fetched, but is it? Who knows...
The Moore book is going back on the shelf. The subtitle of this book is "Why parents must remove their children from public schools NOW". While I agree that public schools are not the fine institutes of learning they (perhaps) were at one time, it seems rather offensive and arrogant to me to insist that Christian parents should never send their children there. I think the author believes that doing so is a sin. In my view, the problem with public schools is not the parents who send their children there, but the "public" nature of the schools. There is no such thing as a spiritually "neutral" education, so government sponsored education is necessarily supporting one "religion" over another. I could go on... :-)
The McDonald book is just lovely. I'll certainly be rereading it. I think that the McDonald family is coming from a Reformed perspective, which to me means Calvinism. It seems that almost everything I read that was written by a Calvinist I agree with wholeheartedly - other than that whole predestination issue. My husband and I have been talking about this lately, and what I want to know is this: how does the doctrine of election effect their view of life and culture? If I agree that "Culture is religion externalized", does that mean that somehow I endorse the doctrine of election unconsciously? They (the Calvinists) seem to have views that I never hear other evangelicals endorsing (roles of men and women, raising children, modesty, etc.). Does that make these views necessarily Calvinist?
O.K., so maybe too many weighty subjects to be putting in a blog. Maybe I should lighten up a little. But seriously, if you have any thoughts on these subjects, HOW ABOUT POSTING A COMMENT? COMMENTS CAN BE ANONYMOUS IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO KNOW WHO'S INSULTING ME!!! Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks about these kinds of things...Maybe I'd better get back to the laundry.
2 Comments:
I won't insult you, so I can post openly. ;-)
I've actually been to an Eakman seminar, and I roomed with Moore's daughter for awhile. Both of them seem like people with some good ideas who get a little carried away with them. :-)
I share your perspective on Calvinism. I used to say I was only a Calvinist on odd-numbered days--now I'm not sure it's even that often. Yet I often find them having the most interesting stuff to say. (And now I'm finding Lutherans also having some really cool insights--yet I'm sure I don't agree with all their doctrine, either.) Most perplexing.
Invitation to the Classics sounds like it would interest me. What is it like?
It is a summary of a number of classic literature selections. There are several good original essays at the beginning as well. What I like about it is each author is Christian, and they discuss how the particular work has influenced Christianity as well as society in general. Now if I can just get started on the works THEMSELVES instead of just reading ABOUT them...
I don't know much about the Lutherans. Maybe I should study up on them. :-)
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