1 comments about The Dance Goes on.

1. A friend of mine who knew this family gave me this book. I couldn't put it down. This is one of the most inspirational books on the subject of a special child that I've ever read. Roberta's daily walk with God for almost thirty years revealed the blessings her son gave to her life. It showed how a boy who couldn't even talk and had to be fed and cared for daily could give more love, kindness, innocence and laughter than the outside world could ever provide. I have a much better appreciation of what families with special children struggle with, yet, if they rely on God for help, will reap the many blessings. God bless this family!

3 comments about Mary Dyer: Biography of a Rebel Quaker.

1. The execution of Mary Dyer is an unfortunate but important part of the early history of the American colonies. She is still a relatively unknown historical figure. I was eager to read this book, and my Quaker meeting's first day school group for adolescents read it together as well. I wanted very much to think highly of it, but it frustrated me, for some of the reasons given in the editorial review. I feel that it isn't sufficiently scholarly or serious--it often reads like a middle school social studies text, and I think Mary Dyer, in all of her own frustrating complexity, deserves better.



2. This is an excellent book about somebody to whom all Americans are indebted. We could benefit from her being less overlooked in our history. The title might require an explanation: Mary Dyer could perhaps be called a rebel in relation to the ruling party in early colonial Boston, but not in relation to other Quakers after she became a Quaker.
   
   I would not call the book "plodding" at all. Mary Dyer's life is a story almost too moving for words. The story is not fiction. In fiction, the telling is the thing, and by the rules we cannot understand anything at odds with the telling itself. But the events of this story actually happened, to be understood from the unembellished facts.
   
   I recently began rereading this book. It is simply not as bad as the criticsm may indicate, especially in view of how little there is in print about Mary Dyer, who may well be the most important martyr for religious freedom in American history.
   
   The word "antinomian" deserves more elucidation than the author provides. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives two definitions: 1. one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation, and 2. one who rejects a socially established morality. This word has its uses; the underlying issues are at least as old as the Epistles. Wanting to do away with the adjective itself as completely useless could be an indication of exactly what the adjective is about. As with any other adjective, the issue is whether the adjective rightly applies. Mary Dyer was among those accused of antinomianism in Boston, but they were far from being guilty of true antinomiansim, which might be called, after the Epistle of Jude, licentiousness in the name of grace.



3. I grew up in one of the towns through which Mary Dyer repeatedly passed both while being ejected from Massachusetts and while sneaking back into the intolerant theocracy that was Massachusetts Bay Colony. Later I crossed daily, on the way to work, the very land that she and her husband farmed in Newport, the city of their exile. Despite my Massachusetts public education about the pilgrims of Plymouth and the witch burnings of Salem, the state failed to teach me and my fellow students about the woman who should be remembered as the catalyst for the self implosion of that puritan theocracy and the birth of religious liberty, not only in the United States, but in the Western world. Mary Dyer was a true martyr every bit as courageous as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior. We all owe her a debt of gratitude. Had I not read this book, I would have remained ignorant of this heroic woman.
   
   As for the book itself, the author shows her inexperience with writing in her less than smooth prose and apparent unawareness of the ignorance of her audience. Some names of key players come up without needed introduction. She seems to believe that her readers can read the occasional French quotes without translation. This and many other flaws may discourage some readers, but the story itself is a beautiful and moving story well worth the effort of wading though the various defects of its telling. In a sense, I would expect this story to be told by a novice, for the professional writer most often writes for the masses and the masses are sadly unaware of the story of this beautiful woman.
   
   For the sake of having read this book, I've found a true hero. I recommend that you read it and then think about how this strong, intelligent, and independent woman changed your life more than 350 years ago.

1 comments about Disconnected: A True Hurricane Katrina Story.

1. This book gives a great insight of how others survived the aftermath of Katrina. I live in Metairie and area also affected by Katrina but not as much water. This book gave me a great idea of just how unimaginable life really was after the srorm. Thank goodness for people who cared...
   These nurses worked when work was not really possible.

No comments about Carlo Carretto: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters).

No comments about A Second Birthday: A Personal Confrontation with Illness, Pain, and Death.

1 comments about Charles de Foucauld: Journey of the Spirit.

1. Finally I just finished another new book Charles de Foucauld: Journey of the Spirit by Cathy Wright it is a biography that is an easy read, but the material and life it examines are so deep that you will have to come back to it again later. There is a great deal in this little volume and it wets one's thirst to find out more about de Foucauld or to find his own writings to devour. Here is a quote from one of his letters to leave off this post.
   
   "Anything that doesn't lead us to that - to better know and serve God - is a waste of time."
   -Charles de Foucauld

1 comments about Still Catholic (American Storytelling).

1. It was pretty weird to find a book written by my old High School Theology teacher. He was always telling stories in class... and often in costume!

   Apparently, Mr. Stivender still tells some pretty good tales. I really enjoyed the book.

2 comments about St. Rose of Lima : Patroness of the Americas.

1. Read this book this saint is a very good saint



2. This is a beautiful and inspiring book! Read this book and you will change your life!! Saint Rose of Lima is a holy saint who will help us all in our daily lives in order that we may one day attain Heaven as she does now!! Please read!!!!!!

No comments about Saint Benedict: A RULE FOR BEGINNERS.

2 comments about The Mathers: Three Generations of Puritan Intellectuals, 1596-1728.

1. This very well written book is a detailed study of the thought and psychology of 3 prominent New England Puritan clergymen, Richard, Increase, and Cotton Mather. Middlekauf uses a careful study of their life and thought to illuminate the nature and historical evolution of New England Puritan thought from the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the early 18th century. Father, son, and grandson, each of the Mathers is used by Middlekauf to explore the nature of Puritan thought and its adaptation to the different circumstances faced by each generation of Puritan divines. Based on a careful reading of the enormous amount of writings left behind by these remarkably productive individuals, The Mathers discusses the differing approaches to Puritan religious experience, church government, state-church relations, and eschatology developed by the Mathers. Middlekauf is both thorough and sensitive in his exploration of the nature of Puritan ideology and the differing psychology of these men. He does an excellent job of relating the changes in their thinking to the differing circumstances of the Massachusetts colony. Written for scholars in American history, this book does presuppose a fair understanding of American and British history of this time but could be read very profitably in conjunction with Francis Bremer's excellent survey of the Puritan experience.



2. Not an accurate portrait of their thought; the author writes from a modern bias that permeates the work. I was disappointed.