Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Library Loot ~ November 30 - December 6

Children and Fire ~ by Ursula Hegi, 2011, fiction (Germany)
Set in Burgdorf, Germany, the fictitious village in which her bestselling novels Stones from the River and The Vision of Emma Blau took place, Children and Fire tells the story of one day in 1934 that will forever transform the lives of the townspeople.
The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus ~ by Amy-Jill Levine, 2006, religion
Country Western singer Kinky Friedman often performs a song entitled "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore," and New Testament professor Amy--Jill Levine would agree. In fact, her career is dedicated to helping Christians and Jews understand the Jewishness of Jesus, thereby deepening the understanding of him, and facilitating greater interfaith dialogue.
Zora and Me ~ by Victoria Bone and T. R. Simon, 2010, middle grades (Florida)
A fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston's childhood with her best friend, Carrie, in Eatonville, Florida, as they learn about life, death, and the difference between truth, lies, and pretending.  Includes a timeline of Hurston's life and an annotated bibliography.
Half the Church: Recapturing God's Global Vision for Women ~ by Carolyn Custis James, 2010, women's studies
Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life.
Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  If you would like to share a list of the loot you brought home from the library, Marg has the Mister Linky this week.

8 comments:

Helen's Book Blog said...

I'll be interested to see what you think of Zora and Me. Also, I've had Children of Fire lurking in the back of my mind for a while now since I loved Stones From the River by Hegi

Bonnie Jacobs said...

When I read Hegi's Stones from the River, I had to make a list of the town's people (the book's characters) to keep them straight. I don't know where that list is, so I wonder if I'll miss some allusions in this new book. I do remember Trudi the librarian, of course, since I read two other Hegi books she was in.

Marg said...

Enjoy your loot!

Cat said...

An interesting variety of titles. Happy reading!

Linda said...

A lot of interesting books there. Enjoy your loot.

Sean Wright said...

Bonnie, have you read any of Robert Price's books (they are bit heavy) of Bart Ehrman(much lighter and for those of us who don't have degrees in textual analysis)?

Bonnie Jacobs said...

No, Sean, I'm not familiar with Robert Price. I checked online and see that he's written about the gospel of Thomas -- I have several books about that gospel, including Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagals, who also wrote The Gnostic Gospels, which I first read about 30 years ago. Which of Robert Price's books do you like?

I'd like to read Bart Ehrman's 2011 book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. Even those of us with degrees in textual analysis are interested in his books.

Have you read any of John Shelby Spong's books? I'm more than halfway through his Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World that I got last week:
http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/11/spong-and-non-religious-world.html

Sean Wright said...

(cross-commented) I have Price's De-constructing Jesus, but I did find it very dense. I have heard him talk on a couple of occasions and he's easy to digest in that format.

I do prefer Ehrman. I haven't read any Spong but then I have probably moved along from the questioning/investigation of my religion of birth. I do still enjoy the history aspect of things but I am a humanist now and don't really see much value in continually examining the bible as a guide book for life. I try to be hands on in community service and be broader in my philosophical outlook. But I will check out the link :)