Catholic Thought discussion

It's time for nominations of our next long term read. I have defined long term read as such:

A long term is read is one of many pages long, one that would be too long as a regular read, and we break it up into parts. We read a part, and then go on to the next category, and then when we cycle back to the Long Term read we read the next part. And we keep cycling and reading a part until we finish reading the book. This allows us to engage a read that would normally be too long.

I have found that voting for a long term read is a commitment. We have to live with this one book for a long time. Our last long term read was St. Augustine's City of God, which I think ran like 1300 pages and we divided it into four segments. We started City of God in January of 2020 and finished it in August of 2023, three and a half years!!! By the time we finished, I think I might have been the only one still reading...lol...and that's probably because I am moderator.

But I will say I am very pleased I read City of God. I think my life would have passed by without this long term read selection.

So there is great value and some danger in these long term reads. Think it over what you nominate and more importantly what you vote for.

So with the last long term read, which was St. Augustus's City of God, we finished it.

Now, I wanted to get the book club revved up again like we did in the past with lots of participation. So I thought this over and tried to come up with the one long term read that can hold lots of people's interest, And so here's my nomination.

JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings

I'm sure you have all heard of it.

Good one :)

I nominate The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary: From the Visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich.

This isn’t in reply to your question here, Manny, but at some point do you think our group might read Peter Berger’s powerful book on the transcendent, A Rumor of Angels and/or Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, one of the greatest of books, and very timely just now. But I’m just mentioning them here for possible choices later this year. I’m still thinking about the long term read.

I may be mistaken but I think Mel Gibson based many scenes in his film ‘’The Passion of the Christ’’ on Anne Catherine Emmerich’s visions. And the book you mentioned, the obscure one few have read, I think it was made into a film, too.

I nominate Joseph and His Brothers, a hefty at 1492 pages, that I have long wanted to read.

Manny wrote: "It's time for nominations of our next long term read. I have defined long term read as such:

A long term is read is one of many pages long, one that would be too long as a regular read, and we bre..."

How about:
Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, by Saint Thomas Aquinas, CI Litzinger, Translator
https://amzn.to/4aeElv4

OR:
Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man, by Henri de Lubac
https://amzn.to/4dEUhtE

Disclosure: I have earned about twenty dollars from my affiliate links the past three years.

Frances wrote: "This isn’t in reply to your question here, Manny, but at some point do you think our group might read Peter Berger’s powerful book on the transcendent, A Rumor of Angels and/or Viktor Frankl’s Man’..."

In the reflections on CS Lewis I posted today, I have several reflections from Man's Search for Meaning, since they both wrote about the challenges faced by Jews and Christians in the World War II era.

Frances wrote: "This isn’t in reply to your question here, Manny, but at some point do you think our group might read Peter Berger’s powerful book on the transcendent, A Rumor of Angels and/or Viktor Frankl’s Man’..."

Frances, neither are Catholic but they do fall into a general moral society catagory which the Catholic Church would be sympathetic. You can nominate them when a regular read category is up. The sequence is the following:

Catholic Fiction
Regular Read
Long Term Read
Catholic Classic

Mere Christianity was the most recent Regular Read. Since those books don't fit the other categories, you will have to wait until Regular Read cycles back again.

That's a good pick Michelle.

Interesting pick Celia. Thomas Mann was Protestant by birth but actually agnostic by choice, but a wavering agnostic. This is quite a sympathetic rendering of the Genesis narrative, and a good pick. You caught me attention.

Bruce, both good picks but you can only nominate one. Pick one.

So with Bruce's one, my pick, Michelle's and Celia's, we have four nominations so far. Let's cap it at five nominations. Too many nominations dilutes the vote. So when there is a fifth legit nomination, we will close nominations down.

I am all for Tolkein as the long read. I believe Frances and I talked about that very thing while we were still doing City of God, didn't we, Frances?

Yes. I think Joseph Pearce described Lord of the Rings beautifully: “The truth of Christianity, to Tolkien, is at the very root of reality.” What he meant was that human persons are story-tellers, and are redeemed in a manner consonant with their nature: by a moving story.

Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man, by Henri de Lubac
https://amzn.to/4dEUhtE

Frances wrote: "Yes. I think Joseph Pearce described Lord of the Rings beautifully: “The truth of Christianity, to Tolkien, is at the very root of reality.” What he meant was that human persons are story-tellers, ..."

Yes, very much so.

Nominations are closed. The nominations are:

J.R.R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings: The Trilogy
Ann Catherine Emmerich, The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary: From the Visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich
Thomas Mann, Joseph and His Brothers
Henri de Lubac, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man

I'll set up the poll to vote.

Poll should be here:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Let me know if there is a glitch in the setup. I'm not the greatest at this.

For those considering the kindle version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it's $1.99 in the U.S. kindle store today!

Michelle is right. Here is the Kindle Lord of the Rings for $1.99, all three volumes, all 1206 ages.

https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-One...

Even though I have the hard copy, I'm buying it so I can easily copy and paste quotes I might wish to add in the conversation.

Manny wrote: "Michelle is right. Here is the Kindle Lord of the Rings for $1.99, all three volumes, all 1206 ages.

https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-One......"

Thank you for posting the link, Manny. I have the hardcovers, but bought the kindle version for the same reason.

Amazon has used copies for ten dollars, including shipping. My experience is usually the used copies are brand new, or nearly new.

Ask Dr Google about: "tolkien catholicism" and you will get several Catholic resources on what to look for when reading this work

Bruce wrote: "Ask Dr Google about: "tolkien catholicism" and you will get several Catholic resources on what to look for when reading this work"

Thank you, Bruce

It’s very interesting and helpful. Thanks, Bruce.

Just my choice but I want to read the Bible again. Both Old and New Testament. I did before but it never hurts to read it again. It really helped me reading it.