Currently Reading

What is everyone reading at the moment? I've got a variety of stuff going at the moment.

River of Fire River of Water by Taitetsu Unno for a seminar I'm taking on Buddhism. Its about Pureland Buddhism. A school so different from all other forms I've always thought it stretches the label, but its proving to be an interesting read.

Love Without End: Jesus Speaks by Glenda Green. Green claims Jesus appeared to her back in the early 1990's and sat for a painting as well as extensive discussions about his true teachings. Whether or not he actually appeared to her or not, I like this version of his teachings and its emphasis on Love as something more than a mooshy feel good thing a lot more than the Original Sin everybody's evil version that gets passed off as Christianity these days.

the Farthest Shore by Ursula K Le Guinn. Although I've read a Wizard of Earthsea before, this is the first time I've read farther in the series, and I'm really enjoying it.

Child:

Am reading Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell, The Birth of Christianity by John Dominic Crossan, and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins...Interesting mix, no? Am trying to get my thesis done sometime in this century as I work FT and have just moved to west coast...

Pureland Buddhism is very cool...Spent some time on that in one of my classes in grad school in CT...Yeah, it does almost seem to be a non-Buddhism Buddhism. A good volume on Buddhism is The Story of Buddhism...Concise, nice overview of lots.

I love Powell's too. ;)

Also, Child, you may be interested in this: Ursula's new book, Lavinia...

http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Index-Lavinia.html

The Earthsea trilogy (or more properly, I guess, sextology (?), if we include the latter three) still stands as some of my best-loved books of all time (and, of course, even served as a handy source when picking my LT username). Lavinia sounds interesting and may be worth a look.

Currently I'm finishing up American Priestess: The Extraordinary Story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalem, which is a great read in addition to being chock-full of both American and Middle Eastern history and religion.

>>2 allisondudo:
Pureland almost seems like Christian Buddhism to me. The emphasis on faith is especially intriguing in a religion that is so much about self effort.

I think Pureland is at least like Christianity in that it offers a sort of heaven, common enough in religion. What is far from the rest of Buddhism is an interesting question.

Zen is, it seems to me, far from Mahayana in general. Mahayana, it seems to me, is far from what we suspect we know about the Buddha's enlightenment and teachings.

Where do we turn for "correct" (note the scare quotes) Buddhism?

I am reading Acedia and Me by Kathleen Norris.

Robert

I finished Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach. Good but short.

Recently finished Christ the Lord out of Egypt by Anne Rice. It only covers the period Jesus is 7 and 8 years old. I wouldn't recommend it unless you really believe Jesus can stop rain and let it snow.

Currently reading Volume 2 of The Perfect master: Talks on Sufi stories by Osho. It's about Sufism. Excellent.

Next I plan to read the 12 volumes of The Dhammapada: The way of the Buddha by Osho.

Have read all of Katheen Norris' work...That is on my list. Tell me how it is. :)

Currently reading Integral Psychology by Wilber. He's one of my favorite thinkers, but he's really not an easy read at all. Next I'll probably start the Great Transformation.

Right now I'm reading The Gospel of Thomas The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus by Jean-Yves Leloup.

I have been reading The soul of Christianity : restoring the great tradition by Huston Smith. He, of course, writes from the perspective having studied and written a number of books on world religions, and is somewhat in the traditionalist camp.

Just finished Buddha for Beginners and loved it. In the middle of the Wise Heart, and the Great Transformation for personal reading. Reading Jack: a Life of CS Lewis and a Christian America for school. Jack is a biography of CS Lewis, and very interesting. I'm a bit behind, as I was supposed to have finished it today, and I'm only on page 200 something and its ~400 pages. Should be done by the end of the week. Thankfully it makes a great alternative to Handy's book, which is so dry it just about makes me fall asleep.

I'm reading Chopra's book Jesus: a Story of Enlightenment. This is the first book I've ever read by Chopra, although I have his novel about the Buddha, as well as the Third Jesus. Just finished the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which I got to read for the seminar I'm taking on CS Lewis. I say get to, because I love the Chronicles, having grown up reading them, so its more of a privilege than a requirement. I haven't read any of the actual books in a while, and I've seen the BBC movies and the new Disney films in the intervening years, so it was a really cool experience going back and seeing how much my memory of the books was colored by those movies.

We finally finished a Christian America in the History of Religion in America class I'm taking, and we're reading a much more engaging work called Jesus and the Disinherited, by Howard Thurman, a black prophet-mystic of the black church in the second half of the 20th century. I've read some of his work before, and he can be a bit difficult at times, but I'm really enjoying this one.

I've been reading Kabbalah: a very short introduction by Joseph Dan. This is a very balanced history of how it came about up through the present. It is not designed to give a deep feel of the subject matter. It's only about 110 pages, so it easy to get a little idea of the kabbalah from this.

I was reading Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush, by Abdolkarim Soroush, a prominent Iranian Muslim intellectual (who now resides in the U.S.). But, although it was interesting I found I was unable to concentrate on it as well as I would like. So I recently took up Faithfully yours : selected rabbinical correspondence of Rabbi Samuel S. Cohon during the years 1917-1957 : with some 2007 commentary, which deals with American Reform Judaism (and whose touchstone won't work for some reason). Being a collection of letters, it reads fairly quickly and steadily. It's also rather interesting, especially as I've not studied much of the Reform movement before.

The only religion related book I'm reading at the moment is God in the Dock for the CS Lewis seminar I'm taking. As much as I disagree with Lewis, I'm enjoying reading him. The man had some serious brains, and I would have loved to hear him speak. Unfortunately I was born 75 years too late.