Category Archives: Writing

ROMAN HISTORY…THE ANCIENT VARIETY

Leave a reply

Mary Beard’s book on Roman History is terrific.  SPQR is the famous Roman catchphrase Senatus Populus Que Romanus or The Senate and People of Rome.  If you know anything about Mary Beard (perhaps via BBC specials) you know this Cambridge professor is as feisty as she is brilliant.  Her writing is magnificent.  She knows how to tell the stories of ancient Rome in a way that are accessible and entertaining.

Some who are able to spin a good yarn are not careful with the details.  Beard goes no further than the evidence will allow for telling this story.  In other words, she does not traffic in speculation or try to fill in details we would love to have, but simply do not.

She does include details that make the story interesting throughout, but these are details we can be pretty confident of.  For example, did you know that ancient Rome had one million inhabitants and that no city would have that many people until the nineteenth century?

Ancient Roman history is extremely relevant to the hurly-burly of twenty-first century America.  

Highly recommended!

 

 

POOPING ELEPHANTS, MOWING WEEDS

Leave a reply

Perhaps you have noticed that the book icon for Pooping Elephants, Mowing Weeds: What Business Gurus Failed to Tell You does not take you to Amazon.  Well, that shall soon be remedied.  Pooping Elephants, Mowing Weeds…will be released this March in ebook format for less than two bucks. 

This was a fun and gratifying ebook to write.  Like many ebooks, it is short at about 7,500 words.  I believe it offers some needed perspective, especially for those who are in the business community.

Stay tuned!

 

NEW YEAR=COMMONPLACE BOOK!

4 Replies

I write down many things as I read.  One of my commonplace books is pictured above.  They are wonderful friends who have been with me for many years.

If you are not familiar with a commonplace book, listen to this description by Tracy McKenzie of Wheaton and consider using one yourself!:

Last week I began a new feature on this blog that I am calling “From My Commonplace Book.” A commonplace book is a journal in which you record favorite quotes from what you are reading, and sometimes the thoughts that they evoke. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, it was not uncommon for students to be required to keep a commonplace book, and many of the leading lights of the American revolutionary generation did so. I’ve been doing so now for more than a year, selecting quotes that help me to think through my calling as a Christian, historian, and teacher.

I could type them on my laptop, but I like the idea of writing the quotes out by hand. For one thing, it heightens the sense that I am following in the footsteps of those who have gone before me. We live in a present-tense society that dismisses 94 percent of all the human beings who have ever drawn breath on this planet simply because they are no longer living. When I sit down to my commonplace book with pen in hand, I am self-consciously engaging in a countercultural act. It’s a symbolic gesture but no less important for that. It helps me, imaginatively, to think of myself as entering into a grand conversation about enduring questions, something far bigger than the transient fads and obsessions that so easily steal the best days of our lives.

Writing the quotes out by hand also forces me to slow down, and that in itself is a countercultural act as well. By lingering over a passage and recording it with painstaking care, I am symbolically setting it apart from the ocean of information that inundates me daily. Much of that information may be valuable, but the passages that go into my commonplace book are life-changing.

GEORGE ORWELL’S BRILLIANCE

1 Reply

Image result for Why I write orwell penguin

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Write-Penguin-Great-Ideas/dp/0143036351

I have loved these Penguin Great Ideas books since the time when I first laid eyes on them.  Why I Write by Orwell was one of the Christmas gifts my wife gave me.  I finished it on the plane this past Thursday.  What a book!  Only 120 pages, but packed with arresting insights and keen observations.  Orwell is a master of both.

Here are a few samples:

On Neville Chamberlain

“His opponents professed to see in him a dark and wily schemer, plotting to sell England to Hitler, but it is far likelier that he was merely a stupid old man doing his best according to his very dim lights.”

The way we talk and think:

“It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language.  It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”

And there is so much more in this funny, wise, and brilliant book!

 

 

YALE LOG PART 2

6 Replies

Click on any picture below to enlarge.

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale is one of the world’s best.  Unlike Harvard’s collection, you don’t need to wear white gloves.  Once we were vetted, we were shocked by the freedom they give to scholars.

Here are a few things we looked at.  First, is Jonathan Edwards Bible.  Paper was rare, but Jonathan liked to write…a lot.  You will see that the small sheet has the passage of Scripture and then two blank pages to take notes on what he was reading.  And did he ever take notes!  I did somewhat of a quick count of his handwritten notes on Genesis and each page has about 2500 words!  On a similar size sheet of paper I write about 250 words. 

Jonathan’s wife, Sarah, along with their daughters, made fans.  When the fans were no longer of use, Jonathan would take the delicate scraps and weave them into a book where he could write down sermon notes, etc.

Doreen got choked up when she held Jonathan’s Bible in her hands.  The word that kept coming to my mind was “humbling” as you see the great effort Jonathan exerted to make sense of God’s Word.

Fabric from Sarah’s wedding dress.

Our dear friend, Dr. Dave Mahan, is the director of the Rivendell Institute (www.rivendellinstitute.org) and teaches at Yale Divinity.  Dave set us up with Susan Howe, who is a world-renowned poet.  In 2017, she won the Robert Frost Medal for “distinguished lifetime service to American poetry.”  Susan was a sheer delight to be with.  We spent two terrific hours at her beautiful home in the country.  Susan is candid about not being a Christian, but she is captivated by the beauty and respect for language she finds in Jonathan and Sarah Edwards.

I headed over to Yale’s Sterling library and was thrilled to see they have my first book. 

Michael McClymond is Professor of Modern Christianity at St. Louis University.   Doreen met Mike in college some thirty-five years ago!  She had not seen Mike since, but he happened to be at Yale the same time as us.  Mike told us about his various writing projects, one of which he happened to remember quoting my book, The Battle for Hell.  Mike is a wonderful guy, expert on Jonathan Edwards, and graciously offered to be a resource for Doreen with her book on Sarah.

Check out Mike’s work here: https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/michael-j-mcclymond/

The great folks at the Overseas Ministries Study Center made our time fun and fruitful.  Many thanks to Dr. Tom Hastings, Pam Huffman, Pam Sola, Michael Racine, Ray Sola, Judy Stebbins, and the ever present help of Chee-Seng and Sharon!

Check them out at www.omsc.org.

I will close with a foodie picture.  This is Nica’s Market (www.nicasmarket.com), a terrific and reasonable place to grab a bite (or many bites!) to eat.  The guy behind me seems skeptical about my choices, but trust me, they were good.