Vacation Books

Here I am in the middle of vacation...I thought I'd give you some very short notes on books I've read or are reading lately.

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince - Another good book by Rowling; I sure wish, though, parents would read it before they let their kids read it. As Harry grows up, so do the books: there's some fairly harsh language in this one. Amazing storytelling, too.

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis - A really amazing book of which I'm sure I understood very little. Lewis retells the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche (which I don't know much about) into a mythical story about two sisters. Anyway, there's not much I can tell you about the book till I read it a few more times, but it's definitely worth your time.

The Life of John Brown by John Brown and William Brown - John Brown of Haddington was a Scottish pastor in the 18th century. This is a remarkable life story, of an orphan teaching himself Greek, Hebrew & Latin while plowing fields. The book includes some autobiographical fragments, a large portion of his "last words", some notes from his son, and pieces of his shorter writings. A couple thoughts: First, the writing isn't all that good and the book isn't well organized at all - yet it retains some power. Second, the religion of John Brown - or at least the religion he puts forth in his writings - seems quite odd or over the top. He is so often denegrating himself, casting himself in the worst possible light. This helps him exult more in Jesus' love, but it makes him seem like a religious manic-depressive. Lately, I've been pondering what good and bad self-esteem is. If I, as a pastor, met someone who spoke himself/herself like Brown wrote about himself, I would take them to the Scriptures and learn about definitive sanctification, about being a new creation in Christ.