Category Archives: Books

Hey Dol! Merry Dol! Where are the Big Yellow Boots?

Yesterday we all awoke to the news that Tom Bombadil would appear in the upcoming second season of The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime.  Here’s the picture from Vanity Fair: I will, of course, hold off on judgment until … Continue reading

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Mortal (and Immortal) Goods

Tonight is the season finale of Survivor which, for all intents and purposes, marks the end of the 2023-2024 television season.  Summer television is less an odd duck than it used to be, since reruns are mostly a thing of … Continue reading

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Pentecost and the Passage of Time

Yesterday was the day of Pentecost in the church calendar, a celebration of the sending of the Spirit 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus.  I marked the occasion yesterday with a song, but I want to say one or … Continue reading

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On Ascension Day

In the Eastertide narrative, today marks Ascension Day, forty days after Jesus’ resurrection and ten days before Pentecost.  Erik Varden reflects well on the day in Entering the Twofold Mystery when, using Luke’s account of the moment in the book … Continue reading

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The Deity and the Details

A couple of weeks ago, back in my fifth Lenten reflection using Erik Varden’s The Shattering of Loneliness, I mentioned his use of the church father Irenaeus, particularly his “notion of God and man getting used to each other.”  I … Continue reading

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Remembrance Part Six

Throughout The Shattering of Loneliness, Erik Varden brings to attention a number of instances in the Biblical Story where remembrance is key.  He started with the Ash Wednesday reminder that we are dust.  From there he revisited call to remember … Continue reading

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Spring Break Photostream

I’ve spent the last few days over in Fresno, California visiting friends.  Pictures to the right in the photostream for receipts, right?  The pictures are from a Monday afternoon hike to Pincushion Mountain Peak, which is just outside Fresno.  The … Continue reading

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Remembrance Part Four

In one of two chapters on the theological virtue of faith in Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis encourages his readers to see the battle of faith as being between “faith and reason on one side and emotion and imagination on … Continue reading

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Spring Break Scramble

This last week has gone by in a blur.  That’s to be expected, of course, at the end of a quarter or semester.  The week has been packed with classes and grading and meetings and trying to wrap things up … Continue reading

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Remembrance Part Three

Perhaps the most sobering of Erik Varden’s reflections on remembrance in The Shattering of Loneliness comes in the third chapter.  The chapter is centered on Jesus’s command in Luke 17 to “remember Lot’s wife.”   The command to remember Lot’s … Continue reading

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