Sunday, August 19, 2007
Curiousity Assuaged
Catalog copy (Oxford University Press, no less) for a new book by Richard North on the origins of Beowulf caught my eye. The review of the book by Michael Lapidge (http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/lapidge.html) satisfied my curiousity (and saved me the price of the book). Caveat lector.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Titles I left behind
The kids and I have just returned from over a month in England, and in cramming our belongings and acquisitions into our semi-expandable luggage, some things had to be left. Among them were a few books--left only because some future occupants of the HC flats may pick them up and read them. I'll mention two of them here in case they are of interest to you.
1. Dissolution by C.J. Sansom.
This is a novel set at the time of the dissolution of monasteries (1538 or so) by Henry VIII (boo hiss); the central character is a hunchbacked lawyer named Matthew Shardlake who is sent to investigate the sudden execution-like death of another 'commissioner' sent to prod the abbot of a south-coast monastery into voluntarily surrendering to the crown. It's a mediocre novel, but pretty good social history. It's interesting too in that the author tries to present the very real tensions between the shortcomings of the existing, exhausted monasticism, and the excesses of the emerging, brutal reformist impulses. For those interested in a creative interpretation of social history, I recommend the title, and will probably read at least one more in what appears will be a series.
2. Without roots: the west, relativism, Christianity, Islam by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) and Marcello Pera, an Italian philosopher turned politician.
In this volume, two lectures (one by each author) are published along with letters between the two. The topic is the role that Christianity has played in the development of European culture and the difficulties that contemporary European politicians are having in understanding and framing that role (particularly in the language of legal frameworks for the EU). I valued the insight it gave me into the current occupant of the Holy See; also, as the other author is an agnostic academic, it was interesting to see the similarities in their arguments that contemporary Europe must acknowledge and re-embrace it's Christian heritage. Both point out, for example, that the heritage of tolerance that allows Islamic intolerance (not that all Muslims are intolerant, but that strain is of particular concern) is a Christian heritage, and that the tension between accepting difference but insisting on reciprocity will require difficulty confrontations. I recommend it.
Sorry this is slim on details, but it's time for the sweet corn to go in the pot! (There are a FEW things that Western NY has that England has not :-)
1. Dissolution by C.J. Sansom.
This is a novel set at the time of the dissolution of monasteries (1538 or so) by Henry VIII (boo hiss); the central character is a hunchbacked lawyer named Matthew Shardlake who is sent to investigate the sudden execution-like death of another 'commissioner' sent to prod the abbot of a south-coast monastery into voluntarily surrendering to the crown. It's a mediocre novel, but pretty good social history. It's interesting too in that the author tries to present the very real tensions between the shortcomings of the existing, exhausted monasticism, and the excesses of the emerging, brutal reformist impulses. For those interested in a creative interpretation of social history, I recommend the title, and will probably read at least one more in what appears will be a series.
2. Without roots: the west, relativism, Christianity, Islam by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) and Marcello Pera, an Italian philosopher turned politician.
In this volume, two lectures (one by each author) are published along with letters between the two. The topic is the role that Christianity has played in the development of European culture and the difficulties that contemporary European politicians are having in understanding and framing that role (particularly in the language of legal frameworks for the EU). I valued the insight it gave me into the current occupant of the Holy See; also, as the other author is an agnostic academic, it was interesting to see the similarities in their arguments that contemporary Europe must acknowledge and re-embrace it's Christian heritage. Both point out, for example, that the heritage of tolerance that allows Islamic intolerance (not that all Muslims are intolerant, but that strain is of particular concern) is a Christian heritage, and that the tension between accepting difference but insisting on reciprocity will require difficulty confrontations. I recommend it.
Sorry this is slim on details, but it's time for the sweet corn to go in the pot! (There are a FEW things that Western NY has that England has not :-)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
