Book Review: Ezra, of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament, by Ezra...
(Introductory note: I’ve been reading the Bible in Spanish as a means of learning a bit of Spanish—the Bible I use has the Spanish and English side-by-side in the text—and figured that in addition to...
View ArticleBook Review: “A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC”, Second...
Will anything of the history of today’s age be accessible to future historians? Perhaps not, unless we begin inscribing our histories on clay tablets. For it is cuneiform written on clay tablets,...
View ArticleBook Review: “The World’s Religions” by Huston Smith, 1958
I didn’t buy this book. My wife bought this book. She doesn’t generally buy books like this, tending more to ‘bubble-gum’ books (her words), stuff like murder mysteries and chick lit. This isn’t...
View ArticleBook Review: “Esther” of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament, Author...
I’ve been slowly, very slowly, reading the Bible, in Spanish, in an attempt to learn some Spanish and learn some Bible. I read about a chapter per day, and read each chapter for three or four days in...
View ArticleThe Day I Found Out My Son Had Leukemia, The First Time*
(*What follows is the opening chapter of A Tale of Two Transplants, a memoir I wrote about the experience of raising a kid who suffered two bouts of leukemia. ) Chapter One—Dad’s Office I was growing...
View ArticleBook Review: Hinduism–Past and Present by Axel Michaels (published in Germany...
Reading Huston Smith’s The World Religions piqued in me an interest in Hinduism, particularly the bits about there being more than one path to God, all of which are of equal validity (as they all lead...
View ArticleBook Review: The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the...
When I noticed this book on the shelf at my local library, I didn’t want to read it. Because I knew immediately what it was about from the title, and I didn’t want to confront the ignorance, naivete,...
View ArticleBook Review: “Job” of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament; author and...
But what about Job? That’s what I’d hear in my head anytime I listened to a preacher extolling the virtues of God—his grace, his goodness, his power, his presence. What about Job? Never, in all my...
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A bit of American Religious History
It’s been three weeks now. The rain won’t let up. The foundation trenches for the house I’m building look like mud-filled moats. I can’t get any work done. So I’m reduced to this, pontificating on...
View ArticleBook Review: “Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in...
I used to want to be a writer. I used to think I had a few poignant tales to tell. Then I read this book after stumbling upon it in the Birmingham Public Library. I needn’t bother. My tales have...
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