What are you currently reading?

Very good. He’s respectful, no staw arguments, he looks at the data or councils, confessions, catechisms, and core beliefs of Roman Catholicism and compares them to Protestant dogmas. It is a scholarly work, not a “bash Rome” book.

For example He says, “If you ask a Protestant the difference between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, the Protestant will typically say: “We believe that justification is by faith but Roman Catholics say it is by works. We believe it is by grace but Roman Catholics say it is by merit. We believe it is through Christ but Roman Catholics believe it is through one’s own righteousness.” These are terrible slanders against Rome. From the sixteenth century to today, the Roman Catholic Church has said that justification requires faith, the grace of God, and the work of Jesus Christ. The debate arose because Protestants said justification is by faith alone, whereas Rome said justification requires faith plus works, grace plus merit, Christ plus inherent righteousness. It was those pluses that became so problematic in the sixteenth century, particularly with respect to the works of satisfaction that were part of the sacrament of penance.” (Are We Together?, Chapter 2, Justification, pg 34).

Sproul examines the differences as stated by both sides, even letting the reader read The Council of Trent, Vatican I and II.

 

The Histories of the Latin American Church by Joel Morales Cruz. This book is available in 2 editions, a short introductory volume and a massive corpus filled with appendices and profiles. I ordered both, discovered that the shorter form is just the first 1/3rd of the longer handbook published as it's own volume and sent that one on to my bishop. Morales is a liberal Lutheran that was educated here in the USA. The longer form is the most comprehensive volume on the subject in English.

It was a necessary study for some of the work I do for my Communion.

 

Putting it on my reading list. I am reading The Gateway Chronicles and the Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arnet.

 

I am interested in the origins of Totalitarianism, is it a good survey and introduction or should I read another book first?

 

A Very Private Grave, first title in The Monastery Murders Series, by Donna Fletcher Crow.

 

You could try Mein Kampf, (a self help guide to Totalitarianism)? Just a bit dated but still highly recommended by some in the USA.
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Sorry it is not a survey but a deep dive. It is written at least on a senior in college level if not a graduate level and expects a good amount of knowledge already known.

 

Orwell understood it quite well.

 

I am currently reading 'Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism,' edited by Hixon and Gurry. I am just getting started so can't be sure if it will hold my interest through 350 pages, but it is pretty good so far. The back cover claims that the book "will serve apologists and Christian students even as it offers a self-corrective to evangelical excesses," so I couldn't pass up the chance to check it out.

 

Tell us how gripping it is as you get through the chapters. The title doesn't make sound like a rivetting page turner though, does it. Not like "Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows".
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I am currently reading 'Secular Lives, Sacred Hearts' by Alan Billings, SPCK 2004 ISBN 978-0-281-05704-7

I am about half way through, and feel it is very insightful.

 

I admit it is not as exciting as Harry Potter, but I've been known to totally geek out over textbooks, so this may be right up my alley. I am still on chapter 1 though, and waiting for it to get thrilling

 

Today I finished "Christian Mission in the Modern World" by John Stott,
and started "Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God" by J. I. Packer.

 

I am reading Dominion. How Christianity shaped the modern world

 

I have just finished Liturgical Reflections of a Papal Master of Ceremonies by Guido Marini (translated by Nicholas Gregoris) and was most disappointed by it. The blurb gave me the impression it was going to be inciteful whereas it is basically a description of the history behind a variety of liturgical objects and practices. I feel I wasted my money in purchasing it. So for light relief, and because I am prohibited from buying more books, I am re-reading an old Robert Ludlum novel: The Sigma Protocol. I cannot decide whether next to read Gregory Dix's Shape of the Liturgy or Loss and Gain The Story of a Convert by John Henry Newman.

 

I am reading Dix's Shape of the Liturgy now myself. The content is enlightening but the style is tough going, as we say across the pond.

 

I’m so sorry for all you sufferers from under the Dix curse. The Yoke of the Dix. A Dixine Anathema.

As for me, I’m reading The Light in the Church; Cathedrals as Solar Observatories, about incredible sunbeam clocks that were built into some churches during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

 

I am not sure what you are trying to say.

I have not read Dix yet so I personally have no opinion on him one way or the other.

 

In another thread I’ve talked about the opinion shared amongst many traditionalists that Dix and the liturgical revision he spearheaded led to the 1979 Prayerbook, and single-handedly unraveled the once majestic Episcopal Church in the US. It was very similar to Bugnini’s reforms of the Roman Catholic liturgy, which with one stroke made the Roman Catholicism seen in old back and white movies a relic of the past.

 

Oh! I shall definitely read Dix first and with a fresh pair of eyes. I had always understood him to be a traditionalist.