Zorba the Greek: Nikos Kazantzakis. Found this in a second-hand bookshop in Jhb. So far the author and Zorba-the-philosophical-Greek-labourer have arrived in Crete in order to mine lignite.
2 Samuel 18 & 19: The political intrigue in David's time was phenomenal. Joab, Ahimaaz and David himself. Jacob Zuma and co are nothing new!
Showing posts with label Bible - 2 Samuel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible - 2 Samuel. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
19 - 20 May 2009 (Steven)
Bible
Continuing with the saga of Saul, who seems hell-bent on destroying David. I'm finding, though, that although the Old Testament seems filled with blood, guts, and gore, there are still many examples of grace. for instance, David had numerous opportunities - which he did not take - to kill Saul.
I've not said much about my New Testament readings, but this morning I read about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This account seldom fails to bring a tear to my eye, as it shows Jesus as a very real, loving person who is not only God but God in human form.
TEEC material
In the "Journeying in Faith" material, I've been reading about the expressions of spirituality as applicable to young children as well as to married couples. Not good when your family is 1000km away!
Continuing with the saga of Saul, who seems hell-bent on destroying David. I'm finding, though, that although the Old Testament seems filled with blood, guts, and gore, there are still many examples of grace. for instance, David had numerous opportunities - which he did not take - to kill Saul.
I've not said much about my New Testament readings, but this morning I read about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This account seldom fails to bring a tear to my eye, as it shows Jesus as a very real, loving person who is not only God but God in human form.
TEEC material
In the "Journeying in Faith" material, I've been reading about the expressions of spirituality as applicable to young children as well as to married couples. Not good when your family is 1000km away!
18 to 20 May (Jenny)
I haven't done too well, because I can't remember what I've read over the last couple of days! Scratch, scratch think . . .
Life Together: Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Hm, this should sound impressive. Actually, it's a short book and I have only read the chapter called Community. I like Bonhoeffer's stand. We ARE the community of Christ, we don't need to create it. We are it. The way I like to put it is that we need to work on expressing it - so my Master's dissertation tends to speak of ways of expressing Christian community. Interesting how this 'old' work relates to stuff that is being written today - so-called 'third culture' thinking. I've ordered 'The Monkey and the Fish' on this. I'm looking forward to a good challenge.
Church and State: Karl Barth. It's really cheating to put this here. I read it quite a while ago and wrote up the relevant part for my thesis and was reworking it yesterday. I so like the clarity of thinking that Barth had. In a sense it is my confort zone. I don't like the fuzziness that we encounter nowadays.
You Magazine: I'm proud of this. I keep meaning to read something that the rest of the world reads. I've only read a couple of articles, but I might manage more! I also bought a Popular Mechanics. Again I've only read a couple of articles. So, I learnt about Jacob Zuma's daughters and um, can't remember. There was an ad for this sony underwater camera/ video camera that looked quite awesome.
TEE College Workbook: Still working on the same course as last week. This material is uninspiring. Almost negatively inspiring. Bringing your psychic energies under the headship of Christ - where the headship of Christ is put in almost as an afterthought. And where the word psychic is not used in a technical sense as Bonhoeffer uses it!
2 Samuel 9&10: David attempts to act altruistically in a cynical and self-serving world. Hooray for David! That's inspiring. Even if it didn't work out too well for him.
Life Together: Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Hm, this should sound impressive. Actually, it's a short book and I have only read the chapter called Community. I like Bonhoeffer's stand. We ARE the community of Christ, we don't need to create it. We are it. The way I like to put it is that we need to work on expressing it - so my Master's dissertation tends to speak of ways of expressing Christian community. Interesting how this 'old' work relates to stuff that is being written today - so-called 'third culture' thinking. I've ordered 'The Monkey and the Fish' on this. I'm looking forward to a good challenge.
Church and State: Karl Barth. It's really cheating to put this here. I read it quite a while ago and wrote up the relevant part for my thesis and was reworking it yesterday. I so like the clarity of thinking that Barth had. In a sense it is my confort zone. I don't like the fuzziness that we encounter nowadays.
You Magazine: I'm proud of this. I keep meaning to read something that the rest of the world reads. I've only read a couple of articles, but I might manage more! I also bought a Popular Mechanics. Again I've only read a couple of articles. So, I learnt about Jacob Zuma's daughters and um, can't remember. There was an ad for this sony underwater camera/ video camera that looked quite awesome.
TEE College Workbook: Still working on the same course as last week. This material is uninspiring. Almost negatively inspiring. Bringing your psychic energies under the headship of Christ - where the headship of Christ is put in almost as an afterthought. And where the word psychic is not used in a technical sense as Bonhoeffer uses it!
2 Samuel 9&10: David attempts to act altruistically in a cynical and self-serving world. Hooray for David! That's inspiring. Even if it didn't work out too well for him.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
16 to 18 May (Jenny)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Finished this. Enjoyed it much more than the first time. JKR is really good.
Emily's Quest: LM Montgomery. An Anne of Green Gables type of book. My head was too sore to do anything constructive yesterday afternoon. Unexpectedly struck a chord with loneliness as a prominant theme.
Sticky Church: by Larry Osborne. Almost the opposite to Total Church - how to do community in a busy world (and more). I bought this book because I wanted to call my Masters dissertation 'How to Make Sticky Christian Communities'. I thought that he and I must be on a wavelength. And we are.
The Serenity Prayer: Live one day at a time. I was a little overwhelmed by the list of things that are expected of your 'one day'. But I gather you are supposed to choose one thing from the list. Something to remember - if you live all of your todays carefully, all of your yesterdays will be good.
2 Samuel 7 & 8: David gets stuck in with establishing his kingdom. For years David was a hero because of his conquests. Now this pacifist generation cannot understand how God allowed it. How we love to judge the past that we never knew!
Emily's Quest: LM Montgomery. An Anne of Green Gables type of book. My head was too sore to do anything constructive yesterday afternoon. Unexpectedly struck a chord with loneliness as a prominant theme.
Sticky Church: by Larry Osborne. Almost the opposite to Total Church - how to do community in a busy world (and more). I bought this book because I wanted to call my Masters dissertation 'How to Make Sticky Christian Communities'. I thought that he and I must be on a wavelength. And we are.
The Serenity Prayer: Live one day at a time. I was a little overwhelmed by the list of things that are expected of your 'one day'. But I gather you are supposed to choose one thing from the list. Something to remember - if you live all of your todays carefully, all of your yesterdays will be good.
2 Samuel 7 & 8: David gets stuck in with establishing his kingdom. For years David was a hero because of his conquests. Now this pacifist generation cannot understand how God allowed it. How we love to judge the past that we never knew!
Saturday, 16 May 2009
15 to 16 May (Jenny)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Harry needs to decide whether to trust that Dumbledore really had his best interests at heart or not. I don't know if JK Rowling would like it or not, but the themes in Harry Potter relate well to Christian themes. We also need to decide whether we can trust our apparently absent God. Does he really have our best interests at heart?
The Serenity Prayer: The wisdom to know the difference. How to decide whether to accept or change. Ask God, look for an inner conviction, pursue the choice that seems to bring peace to your heart.
Rick Warren: I read an article from his Toolbox that says pastors should 'come clean with God'. It gives six steps that lead to confession and a closer walk with God.
Lance Witt: The dangers of ambition and self-promotion. How to avoid overdoing it.
2 Samuel 7: David becomes angry with God.
The Serenity Prayer: The wisdom to know the difference. How to decide whether to accept or change. Ask God, look for an inner conviction, pursue the choice that seems to bring peace to your heart.
Rick Warren: I read an article from his Toolbox that says pastors should 'come clean with God'. It gives six steps that lead to confession and a closer walk with God.
Lance Witt: The dangers of ambition and self-promotion. How to avoid overdoing it.
2 Samuel 7: David becomes angry with God.
Friday, 15 May 2009
13 to 15 May (Jenny)
I have to concede that I'm not managing to note everything I read. And maybe that's good - except sometimes the stuff I read just because I pick it up and it interests me is what I want to note. But I only realise it later.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: (JK Rowling) Another reread. This is the first time I am rereading it and I think I am enjoying it more than the first. The plot was at such a pitch last time that all that really mattered was finding out what was going to happen!
The Serenity Prayer: (Trevor Hudson). The courage to change the things that you can. This being yourself. Myself.
2 Samuel 4 & 5: Are we a twisted people? In that the most studied part of David's life seems to be his relationship with Bathsheba? In 2 Samuel the love and respect that he gives Saul and Saul's family, in spite of their persecution of him, is phenomenal. We see David being a 'man after God's heart'.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: (JK Rowling) Another reread. This is the first time I am rereading it and I think I am enjoying it more than the first. The plot was at such a pitch last time that all that really mattered was finding out what was going to happen!
The Serenity Prayer: (Trevor Hudson). The courage to change the things that you can. This being yourself. Myself.
2 Samuel 4 & 5: Are we a twisted people? In that the most studied part of David's life seems to be his relationship with Bathsheba? In 2 Samuel the love and respect that he gives Saul and Saul's family, in spite of their persecution of him, is phenomenal. We see David being a 'man after God's heart'.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
12 to 13 May (Jenny)
TEE College Course Notes: This is not my favourite course and I don't find the notes well-written. Academic material should not be written with a bias, unless that is stated or obviously expected (a Christian bias is expected in Christian studies).
Total Church: I need to get a basic understanding of this model if I want to include it in my Masters - which I do. But I don't think the book explains it enough. I will look up Crowded House on the internet. The chapter I read was about church planting. I think they like small congregations, like households, and I gather they grow by dividing the plants.
The Serenity Prayer:I forgot to record this yesterday. Accept what we cannot change - amongst others, the past Aad other people. Good point, that last one.
2 Samuel 3: Treachery and heartache. God lives in our world. How does he stay sane? I hope he has. Would I know? Yes, I think so!
Total Church: I need to get a basic understanding of this model if I want to include it in my Masters - which I do. But I don't think the book explains it enough. I will look up Crowded House on the internet. The chapter I read was about church planting. I think they like small congregations, like households, and I gather they grow by dividing the plants.
The Serenity Prayer:I forgot to record this yesterday. Accept what we cannot change - amongst others, the past Aad other people. Good point, that last one.
2 Samuel 3: Treachery and heartache. God lives in our world. How does he stay sane? I hope he has. Would I know? Yes, I think so!
Monday, 11 May 2009
11 to 12 May (Jenny)
The Church's Mission and Post-Modern Humanism: I've been waiting for this - a really impressive title! by MM Thomas. His thesis is that people are able to be Christians while remaining within Hindu community and have no need of an explicit Christian community. What he says makes a lot of theoretical sense and may be possible given the flexible nature of Hinduism. One wonders how long someone could sustain a commitment to Jesus under those conditions - without a specific calling. I've read other stuff relating to this today - part of Lesslie Newbigin's response to Thomas and also a Time magazine article with a contemporary western perspective.
Chocky: Finished this. Things were somehow simpler in the old days. When people seemed less complicated. And tried to be nice.
2 Samuel 2: Bloodthirsty. This always stresses me until I am reminded that God is a real God of real situations and real life. He and his people are not disjoint from realities, but engage with them. And that was a bloody affair in certain periods of history.
Chocky: Finished this. Things were somehow simpler in the old days. When people seemed less complicated. And tried to be nice.
2 Samuel 2: Bloodthirsty. This always stresses me until I am reminded that God is a real God of real situations and real life. He and his people are not disjoint from realities, but engage with them. And that was a bloody affair in certain periods of history.
10 to 11 May (Jenny)
Chocky: by John Wyndham. Another reread. So far, Matthew seems to have an imaginary friend.
The Serenity Prayer: What actually is serenity? Even after reading the chapter, I'm not sure.
Total Church: I'm not letting myself read any more, until I've gone back and made proper notes!
2 Samuel 1: Ah, this is where the verse is that makes some people say that David and Jonathan were homosexual lovers. At the risk of offending, I would say that this is not even a proof text -more like a proof subtext. But it is part of a puzzle. Part of the journey to finding the truth.
The Serenity Prayer: What actually is serenity? Even after reading the chapter, I'm not sure.
Total Church: I'm not letting myself read any more, until I've gone back and made proper notes!
2 Samuel 1: Ah, this is where the verse is that makes some people say that David and Jonathan were homosexual lovers. At the risk of offending, I would say that this is not even a proof text -more like a proof subtext. But it is part of a puzzle. Part of the journey to finding the truth.
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