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Raising Them

June 14, 2023
Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative ParentingRaising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting by Kyl Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A memoir of one family's effort to raise a child without assigning them a gender at birth based upon their genitalia, allowing the child to form their own identity and gender expression. For all parents trying to be more open and less binary in the way they raise their kids, this should be helpful.

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Posted at 09:15 AM in Books, LGBT Community | | Comments (0)

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Sacred Nature

June 07, 2023
Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural WorldSacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World by Karen Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Armstrong turns her vast scholarship to the climate crisis and presents us with the practices we currently need to change our lives by drawing upon the wisdom of ancient spirituality. Most interesting to me was the vast resources of neo-Confucianism she presents as being quite helpful today.

As she writes near the end, "So, if we want to save our planet, we too must cultivate this ancient conviction that every natural thing is inseparable from our ultimate concern."

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Posted at 05:03 PM in Books, Ecology/Environment, Religion | | Comments (0)

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Essay on the Freedom of the Will

May 18, 2023
Essay on the Freedom of the WillEssay on the Freedom of the Will by Arthur Schopenhauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though I disagree with Schopenhauer's position on the freedom of the will (basically, that there isn't any), I recommend this essay as a model of fine philosophical writing. Well structured, clearly written, with cogent arguments, and reflecting an incredible breadth of scholarship and reading.

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Posted at 09:14 AM in Books, Philosophy | | Comments (0)

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Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse

May 17, 2023

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42249869-healing-the-wounds-of-sexual-abuse" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse: Reading the Bible with Survivors" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1540837076l/42249869._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42249869-healing-the-wounds-of-sexual-abuse">Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse: Reading the Bible with Survivors</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/673279.Elaine_A_Heath">Elaine A. Heath</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5500505007">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is an excellent book that I highly recommend. Both pastorally helpful and also full of rich interpretations of biblical stories from the perspectives of survivors of sexual abuse. So a helpful book for the preacher as well.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2239289-e">View all my reviews</a>

Posted at 02:33 PM in Books, Religion | | Comments (0)

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Good Christian Sex

April 21, 2023
Good Christian Sex: Why Chastity Isn't the Only Option-And Other Things the Bible Says About SexGood Christian Sex: Why Chastity Isn't the Only Option-And Other Things the Bible Says About Sex by Bromleigh McCleneghan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a good book. A helpful book. Even a fun book.

McCleneghan states that her goal is to "lay out some of the theological and ethical questions that arise in your average, everyday experience of adult sexuality, and to walk readers through those discussions in a clear and engaging way." I think she achieves her goal.

Her authorial voice is funny and relatable, as she uses her own stories and experiences to explore pleasure, intimacy, being single, dealing with exes, being married, etc.

I highly recommend this book and know that I'm going to use it in my pastoral care for years to come.

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Posted at 07:51 AM in Books, Religion | | Comments (0)

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The Books of Jacob

April 21, 2023
The Books of JacobThe Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yes, it is long. Yes, it took me a long time to read (I took breaks and read other things). Yes, there were times, particularly in the long middle, where it was less engaging and I sometimes felt lost in the thicket of characters.

But the book was enchanting in the beginning and held my attention for quick reading in the final two hundred plus pages. And I love Tokarczuk's style of using multiple voices to narrate a story.

And what the book seems to do is reveal how modern Europe also contained strange, mystical strands that also contributed to its growing cosmopolitanism. Clearly Tokarczuk's novel was a challenge to the current dominant narrative in Polish nationalism.



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Posted at 07:21 AM in Books | | Comments (0)

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Far Down Stream

April 21, 2023
Far Down StreamFar Down Stream by Philip W. Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Phil's career was as an infectious disease physician. He founded and ran the biopreparedness unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center which distinguished itself during the Ebola epidemic and has expanded its leadership during Covid. As he pastor, he shared with me the spirituality of being a doctor. Much of that feeling and reflection appears here in a lifetime of poetry.

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Posted at 07:15 AM in Books, Poetry | | Comments (0)

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