by Andrew Peterson
I’m sure there was a day when I would not have enjoyed this book at all. TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY! I thought the names were playful and many of the footnotes were fun (I’ve always wondered how to make booger gruel) and I care about what happens to the Igibys. I’d start rereading it tomorrow if there weren’t three more books in the Saga.
by Euripides
2015: We only read The Bacchae (not the “and Other Plays”) but I quite enjoyed it. My pleasure wasn’t in the idolatry, or the madness, or the savagery, but rather the opportunity to celebrate how the Triune God of the Bible is so much more glorious than Dionysius and how He provides true, everlasting joy. Our Lord gives rather than takes, He shares His glory rather than hoards it, He gives wine to gladden hearts rather than deaden hearts, and He forgives the repentant rather than punish all without mercy. This play also makes Lewis’ inclusion of Bacchus as a servant of Aslan in Prince Caspian no small coup.
2019: Read again for Omnibus Tenebras.
by C. S. Lewis
2019: I had to do it, I’m now giving 5 of 5 stars. I reread it because I’m talking about it at our upcoming Fiction Festival (update: see the notes from the talk I gave here), and enjoyed it more than ever.
2018: (4 of 5 stars) There is one page in this book that is the worst. The rest of it creates the right kind of longing to fight, and if necessary die, for Aslan. There is a better home where we belong.
2010: Alright, again, I enjoyed the fiction. What is this world coming to?
Also, I choked up a couple times especially near the end.
by Plato
I didn’t get to finish reading this in Omnibus I, but I was leading the discussion for Omnibus Tenebras a few weeks ago so I figured I should, you know, make it all the way through. I was…unimpressed, and increasingly annoyed by Socrates.
by Sophocles
Sometimes in Greek tragedy you lose, and sometimes you lose big. Spoiler: Oedipus loses BIG.
Why You Matter and How to Deal with It
by Rachel Jankovic
How could I not give 5 of 5 stars to a book dedicated to my wife?!
It is, though, in light of the dedication, sort of ironic that Rachel has an entire chapter against personality tests, while Mo enjoys them, and I’d say uses the insights she gets from them with great wisdom and charity.
I think the review by my oldest daughter and by my friend, Leila, are also helpful.
Though I’m not a woman, and have never wanted to identify as a woman, I am married to one, am a dad to three young ladies, and help shepherd a flock with many females who definitely will benefit from this book.
I mentioned in my previous post that our next Raggant Fiction Festival is coming up in a couple weeks, March 23rd to be precise. This year’s theme revolves around The Chronicles of Narnia and other things Lewisian, and you can get tickets through March 18th. A ticket gets you a great lunch, some other goodies, and opportunity to hear the following talks:
We’re going to be talking about resurrection in church for the next couple months leading up to Resurrection Sunday, and, for that matter, we’re going to be talking about it forever in the resurrection. In the meantime, prior to our resurrection, God’s Word reminds us that when we think about God we should think about His resurrection power.
In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul wrote about his afflictions and then about the comfort God gave him in his afflictions. His afflictions were actually pretty bad.
“We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. (2 Corinthians 1:8)
He had just told them that he was comforted, and that his affliction was for their comfort and salvation (verse 6). But the heaviness and pain and sufferings were real. He thought he might die any moment, and it was bad enough he might have preferred death. Believing the gospel doesn’t make life more easy but it does tell us that there is more after this life.
We endure as we hope in God, and God wants us to remember who He is.
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9)
God is the Dead-raiser. Jesus called Himself “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:24). He is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3), and His ability to comfort us is tied to His ability to raise the dead. Therefore, “Let us hold fast the confession our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
It can be discouraging to realize that most new content is only old content. Very rarely does someone have a brand new idea, a completely new story idea, or a never-before-found life hack. Solomon wrote a long time ago that there is nothing new under the sun, things are just repackaged. Whether it’s investment strategies, or weight loss/exercise plans, or, even as Christians, how to live godly lives in the present age, most of the time what we get are reminders. There’s no new shortcut, there’s no hidden mystery, there is a lot of what we already knew.
I think one of the reason’s that’s discouraging is because that means I’m the one not doing what I already know. Most of the time I can’t blame how hard it is or how badly I failed on lack of information.
Yet what is maybe more discouraging is how easily I forget. That’s another way of saying that reading the same five principles or steps or encouragements is often good for me. I might have been looking for something other than reminders but what I actually needed was the reminders.
Peter wrote, “I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it is right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder” (2 Peter 1:12-13).
He was reminding them about pursuing growth in faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. We also need to be reminded about these qualities, reminded to confess our sin rather than blame our ignorance, and reminded that Christ died and rose again for our salvation. That’s old news, and very good news.