Since you liked Orbis Pictus, you'll definitely appreciate The Way Things Work
Seven books I keep close because I love them
141–150 of 205 posts
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#142> I have trouble connecting with the thinkers of the Middle Ages. Their thinking seems to me to be frightened, so overcautious, so cramped and circumscribed, I can't read it without sadness for the way that medieval Christianity strangled the human spirit for so long. As I understand it, particularly for the bizarre natural sciences stuff, a lot of this is actually _Aristotle's_ fault, not Christianity's. Adding the…
It's good to read Ada Palmer's Inventing The Renaissance, because understanding whatever the Renaissance is (and Palmer says it is many different things), you need to understand the Middle Ages, since the Renaissance started with the fallout of Middle-Ages Christianity's love of Aristotle and ended with the beginning of real science.
Plus it's a fun book.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same, not a believer, I appreciate KJV for its artistic value and it being referenced in so much literature and cinema.
Am a believer, and appreciate the KJV for its language. However, it can be tricky, because words change over 400 years. So while there are many wonderfully translated passages that use very expressive language, you also have passages that are full of words that seem similar but actually are easy to confuse. For example: - "Prevent" in 1611 meant "go before, precede". Now it means "stop from happening". - "Suffer" in…
Almost no one is reading the 1611 version today though. Over 99% of the KJV bibles in existence today are the 1769 revision.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#144> This of course is the cornerstone of Western culture and no well-educated person can be without a knowledge of what is in it. > I would like to understand the world I live in, and there is no way to understand 21st-century America without understanding the Bible. Hard disagree! Yes, many of the more odious directions society has taken have been backed by Christianity (Christian Zionism anyone?) but we're already ov…
Have you tried living somewhere else or would you like to? For what it’s worth, several societies who were and are predominantly Christian have done quite well, such that most people immigrate to them as opposed to other countries.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I always look it up in the original Hebrew if I really want to understand Why do you assume a entire team of biblical scholars, working for years to translate the Old Testement for the NIV didn't know what they were doing? But you do?
Reading Hebrew is not about "opinion" or "theological insight". Hebrew is all about INTUITION (knowledge that rises spontaneously from YOUR OWN heart). The more you are SPIRITUALLY ALIVE, the more you will get out of every Hebrew sentence. It's a work-in-progress that lasts all of your lifetime. And it's PERSONAL: every time you read (or re-read) a passage, it adds understanding to the level/dimension that you are cu…
I think it's arguable that this "intuition" you call knowledge could very easily also be called "opinion".
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#146This is a solid collection, one that shows real intellectual curiosity. Something that would be interesting to add would be something that falls entirely out of the canon of Western philosophy - you have what is by all measures a diverse sampling of the various permutations of the intellectual procession of western thinking, but nothing reflecting traditions from outside that procession, eg Chinese, Islamic, Indian,…
What would you recommend?
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#147> This of course is the cornerstone of Western culture and no well-educated person can be without a knowledge of what is in it. > I would like to understand the world I live in, and there is no way to understand 21st-century America without understanding the Bible. Hard disagree! Yes, many of the more odious directions society has taken have been backed by Christianity (Christian Zionism anyone?) but we're already ov…
Have you tried living somewhere else or would you like to? For what it’s worth, several societies who were and are predominantly Christian have done quite well, such that most people immigrate to them as opposed to other countries.
I’ve lived in other Christian countries and also don’t like it. I’m actually more interested in indigenous American culture and history.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#148Since you liked Orbis Pictus, you'll definitely appreciate The Way Things Work
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Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#149Since you liked Orbis Pictus, you'll definitely appreciate The Way Things Work
Thanks! I'm a big fan of David Macaulay's other books, but I've never liked _The Way Things Work_.
_Castle_ and _Umderground_, though I love.
Re: Seven books I keep close because I love them
#150The New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible is by far the worst translation on almost any metric you can think of, except maybe understanding how evangelical Christians read the Bible in the 90s and 2000s. The NIV has so many inexcusable translations that reinforce a theological worldview that matched the conversation on atonement and justification that was happening in the 90s and 2000s. There's a g…
I've only ever read KJV and haven't heard of the others. Is the downside that KJV is 1600s English? That particular line: KJV: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. NRSV: For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. NIV: For I know that…
The NIV has as a stated goal to preserve the "infallibility" of the Bible, which means their translation opts for internal consistency over accuracy. I personally think it's the least trustworthy translation, a product specifically of the American evangelical movement in the Boomer heyday. The generation that really hates. The one that supercharged the anti-abortion movement as a direct response to the Supreme Court striking down racial discrimination in (private) schools that receive taxpayer monies.
This is all the same group. Bin the NIV.