[lit-ideas] The True Christian Religion
- From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 00:09:17 EDT
HI, Paul,
Okay, you go read the titles that were recommended to you by Brian.
I am going to go begin reading about this fellow because I met a 77 year old
woman today who wants to display her masterpiece in our library system.
She was an intriguing person to meet. Her artwork was also interesting.
(though she said it was not really considered 'art' because what she did was
take pictures of six panels of creation and enlarged them and then created
them
on leatherwork which was also handled in an creative manner. They are then
framed in intricately carved wood.
She took years to make these panels (quite large) and they are on display in
a local museum so I will go look at them tomorrow, I think.
So, all that was fine and (as always in my workworld) kind of fun as I am
always happy to see people create and use their gifts and talents. If I have
faith, it is because I see that creative spark in people and want to honor it.
People like this woman make it easy...of course, panels that will take over
a library are kind of easy to see, too...
It has taken her years to finish this work.
What struck me as relevant to the faith discussion, though, was that the
panels are all on Creation. All fine--but a little different in that she went
on to explain some of the aspects on the top part of the leatherwork above the
pictures themselves. They are, she told me, about the life of a cell--(she
drops the term Zohar as she quotes something about creation -- and then, of
course, my interest was even more picqued...<g> Some of you can imagine...)
Apparently, two years before she finished, she had fallen asleep before the
panels and when she awakened and looked at the orbs in the pictures, she
thought she saw more than just the creation of The World--she saw Life itself
being created...by a cell. (she talked, earlier, about the whole concept of
creation myths, etc. We did get a little distracted with the whole Kansas/ID
discussion and how that would play out with a display like this in our
branches)
Then she mentioned this fellow--and so, I have been looking at his
information and will begin to read his stuff (just for kicks and grins,
though--not
because I am in need of faith right now. I have enough to deal with...but it
might be useful in the whole Theory of the Month Club as I was wondering which
set to subscribe to next...)
Here is a bit about him--anyone else know anything about him? Like his
theological slant? Not? Positives and negatives? Is he very different from
Orthodox Christian religion? What is different and what is the same? What
about the more evangelical or fundamentalist types?
It sounded like he was a bit more 'mystical' than some--but not sure if that
was him or my 77 year old library patron. How would that be different from
the more charasmatic churches, I wonder?
As an aside, before she left (with my promises that we would discuss her
desire to have us display her work), I asked her how someone who did not have
faith got faith. She said: "Well, it IS a gift." But, then she did go on
and
talk about how we all do have faith in various and assorted things and that
was what we ought to be looking at. Was a fun break from analyzing whether
or not we are actually targeting the users we should be targeting with our
program catalog...
Making a public apology for ever coming across as patronizing,
Marlena in Missouri
Emanuel Swedenborg,
Here is a bit about the reprint out now of his first title, Heaven and Hell:
The Swedenborg Foundation has done handsomely by its eponymous visionary
with this first volume in a new 25 part set of translations for his of his
work.
They have begun with a fine new translation of Emmanuel Swedenborg's most
famous work, a description of the many heavens and hells that make up the
great
18th-century thinker's cosmology, at once perfectly logical and perfectly
eccentric. Swedenborg's afterworld is a kind of reflection and amplification of
our own, and his vision of moving and active collective of heavens, occupied
by the very real blessed dead, has been a tremendous influence on Goethe,
Emerson, and Jorge Luis Borges, among many others. Dole's translation has the
clarity and simplicity of Swedenborg's Latin, and the notes and supplementary
material are wonderfully balanced and informative. Highly recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Okay, and his last title: The True Christian Religion
Book Description
Published in 1771, Swedenborg's last major work; reinterprets traditional
Christian beliefs and practices in the light of his spiritual insights;
discusses topics such as God, the Trinity, salvation, Scripture, faith, free
will,
and the Last Judgment. (2 volumes)
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Latin--This text refers to the _Hardcover_
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/087785291x/ref=dp_proddesc_1/103-7621404-56838
37?_encoding=UTF8&n=283155&v=glance) edition.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] The True Christian Religion
