The Divine Comedy

A Medieval Journey Through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven

Loved the poetry.
Could have done with less
medieval astronomy.

This was my first reading of The Divine Comedy. I was blown away by some fragments of poetry. The amalgamation of classical and biblical references with modern (for Dante) political and religious intrigue was interesting. On the other hand, I kept losing the flow of the poem because I didn't recognize Dante's contemporary references--I had to either stop and check the notes or continue without understanding

The Divine Comedy takes a lot of its structure from Ptolemaic astronomy which I have very little familiarity with, so again, I depended heavily on the notes. It's kind of hard to know the constellations when you live in Tokyo and can usually see only a few stars at night.

After being totally engrossed by The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid, I found The Divine Comedy tough going. If it weren't for some insightful bits of beautiful poetry (like the one below on the inability for humans to fathom God's justice), I might have put the book down. A second reading will surely help, but I'm not interested enough in teh book to tackle it again right away.

"therefore, the vision that your world receives
can penetrate into Eternal Justice
no more than eye can penetrate the sea;
for though, near shore, sight reaches the sea floor,
you cannot reach it in the open sea;
yet it is there, but hidden by the deep."
Divine Comedy, Paradiso XIX, 58-63

A Praying Life

Let go of guilt about prayer and live connected to God as he intended.

Prayer is part of life,
Not just for some holy few.
Talk to the Father.

Paul Miller, in A Praying Life, addresses all the normal obstacles to prayer--from short attention spans to honest doubt about what good prayer does--and encourages us not to give up. He reminds us of the relationship we have with God and urges us to make that relationship a natural part of our everyday lives. Miller's theology is rich and practical. He refers often to struggles that he and his wife face with their adult daughter who is autistic. I've read several books about prayer, and this is the one that has benefited me most so far. Just writing this makes me want to go back and read it again!

New Testament History

Revitalize your reading of the New Testament

Knowing the background
Brings God's holy word to life,
So read history.

Besides the epic poems, I'm reading books that help me with my life of faith. F. F. Bruce's New Testament History has been on my shelf for a long time. I'd used it for reference before, but read it cover-to-cover for the first time this January. It helped me understand, among many other things, the complicated status of Judea; who the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes were; and why Paul's preaching to God-fearing gentiles in the synagogues was so successful and controversial. My daily devotions have been enhanced by what I learned in this book.

The Iliad of Homer

Where Western literature began

Unquenchable rage,
Even when it's justified,
Leads only to hurt. 

So begins my mission to read good books well. This was my third reading of the Iliad, but my first time as a father. Two scenes that touched me in new ways are when Hector returns to Troy and meets his wife and baby son, and when Priam goes to the Greek camp to beg Achilles for his son's body.

How to Read a Book

The book that inspired the mission

Pretentious title?
Maybe. But it does the job
It sets out to do.