Oh, thank you for asking.
- I’m not reading any fiction right now, but as is my wont during such seasons, I’m reading plays instead. This time its Angels in America. This was probably prompted by having watched the mini-series again recently in all its splendidness.
- I’ve a little theology on the go too. I’m taking another look at David Jenkin’s book The Contradiction of Christianity. I had to read it whilst I was studying Divinity in St Andrews a long time ago and didn’t make much of it then. It improves on second reading and with the space of 20 years to reflect upon it.
- There are a couple of different translations of the Cloud of Unknowing by the bed which I’ve been dipping in and out of. Again, these are old friends not new discoveries.
- I’ve had a go at the Rule of St Benedict too recently. This is new for me – I’d never read it before at all. The thing that strikes me most of all is how beastly it is towards children. I know that it is the product of its time and all that, but I’d never previously reflected on the possible spiritual roots of some of the child abuse of the Western Church before.
- I’ve had a go at Wikinomics too but still can’t work out why wikis have not gone mainstream in the way that blogs have done.
So there.
I almost forgot. I also picked up a copy of The Human Face of the Church when I was in the Diocesan Office. Its the one that Anne Tomlinson was recommending recently at the stipendiary clergy conference and somewhere or other on her blog.
could the wiki thing be about aesthetics?
Yes – I think it could be about aesthetics. Though in theory it should be no more difficult to theme a wiki than to theme a blog. (If you will pardon my verbing of a noun).
I have a vision, which I find strangely diverting, of you dipping in and out of bed …
😉
Esther de Waal’s four books on the Rule of Saint Benedict are excellent. Seeking God was an Archbishop’s Lent Book during Dr Runcie’s tenure. Seeking Life is her most recent. Living with Contradictions has central chapters given originally as retreat meditations.
— SEEKING GOD, The way of St Benedict [Canterbury Press (UK); Liturgical Press (US)]
— LIVING WITH CONTRADICTIONS, An introduction to Benedictine spirituality [Canterbury Press; Morehouse Publishing (US)]
–A LIFE-GIVING WAY, A commentary on the Rule of St Benedict [Continuum (UK); Liturgical Press]
–SEEKING LIFE, The baptismal invitation of the Rule of St Benedict [Canterbury Press; Liturgical Press]
JM
Have you come across ‘Doing Business with Benedict’? Kit Dollard in conversation with Anthony Marret Crosby and Abbot Timothy Wright.