The Weekly Wrap: August 31-September 6
Reading and Spirituality
I see a lot of memes and quotes from bibliophiles. Sometimes I think that there is a religion of bibliophilia. Libraries are our temples and bookstores our local places of assembly. And books are a way of life. I fear I sometimes proselytize for that faith.
I’ve recently picked up Jeff Crosby’s new World of Wonders, subtitled “a spirituality of reading.” He reminds me that there is a difference between reading as one’s spirituality and how reading might be part of a more encompassing spirituality.
It’s interesting that sacred texts ground many of our major religions. We not only experience the spiritual but understood it through the reading of texts. My own faith, Christianity considers words quite important. God speaks the cosmos into existence. And One who was the Incarnate Word accomplishes our salvation.
Therefore, it is not much of a leap to see reading as something that discloses a “world of wonders.” Reading helps me make sense of the world as well as imagine what could be. Reading has helped me to probe the ineffable and challenged me with the practical implications of loving God and neighborhood. Through biographies, I’ve been mentored by people I’ve never met.
Although I could go on, I’ll just say reading is one of the practices that shapes my spiritual life. However it is not my spiritual life. Rather, reading provides signposts and trail blazes for the journey. And reading captures and holds my imagination in hope amid the world’s bleakness.
Five Articles Worth Reading
Agnes Callard has led a revival of sorts in interest in Socratic philosophy. Mary Townsend reviews Open Socrates, Callard’s latest book in “Agnes Callard’s Insistent Answers to Life’s Deepest Questions.”
But is there a hubris in our flights of philosophy, particularly when we act with abusive superiority over other creatures? William Egginton reviews Christine Webb’s The Arrogant Ape in “Think You’re at the Top of the Food Chain? Think Again.” He also pushes back on her critique of “human exceptionalism.”
Lauren Grodstein is a novelist whose fiction includes a novel set in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. In “What I Learned From the Georgia Protests” she reflects on how Georgians defense of democracy challenged her.
‘Dark academia” is a thing, I’m learning. “Dark Academia Grows Up” uses R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis to explore these questions; “What is the magic that scholars find in the academy?… What are the wrongs they’re asked to quietly endure—the things that make academia, so to speak, dark? And is the magic worth the darkness?”
Finally, Nick Burns contends “AI Isn’t Biased Enough.” While AI has biased based on the material used to train it, AI has no intellectual commitments, no personal biases. It responds sympathetically, even agreeably to whoever engages it–fascist or social progressive. Humans don’t do that, which Burns argues is a good thing.
Quote of the Week
Novelist Frank Yerby, born September 5, 1916, observed:
“Maturity is reached the day we don’t need to be lied to about anything.”
If he’s right, the quote suggests to me that some may never reach maturity!
Miscellaneous Musings
I haven’t read any Dorothy L. Sayers for several years. But recently I picked up a collection of short stories by her featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg. As a result, the stories remind me of both what an exquisite writer Sayers is, and how delightful Wimsey and Egg are as characters!
My son picked up the first of Martha Wells Murderbot series, and all of a sudden I am hearing how good this series is. This piques my interest!
Finally, Buckeye dropped this week and everyone seems astir about this novel set in small town Ohio. So, I picked up a copy to see how true to life it is for this native Buckeye!
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: John H. Walton with J. Harvey Walton, New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis
Tuesday: Clemency Burton-Hill, Year of Wonder
Wednesday: Janet Kellogg Ray, The God of Monkey Science
Thursday: Miroslav Volf, The Cost of Ambition
Friday: Andrew J. Bauman, Safe Church
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for August 31-September 6
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