Heads up for next month! November’s book is Rob Bell’s Love Wins. Here’s the video that states his thesis. Rob’s questioning of what he calls Christian absurdities is a rock that has hit the hornet’s nest of his fellow Evangelicals and has stirred some angry buzzing. Love Wins is an easy, but thoughtful, read. Hope you can join us. Bring a friend!
At the book discussion Sunday evening, it turns out nearly everybody loved The Galilean Secret — for different reasons.
- Barb appreciated the clarity about finding wholeness within oneself.
- Thora was happy to realize this was just a novel.
- Colleen mentioned the Author’s Notes; he wrote the book because he had visited the 9/11 site and wanted to offer hope for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. She also appreciated how Mary was depicted as very human, a woman who struggled with her feelings and grew.
- Jane felt that combining Biblical facts with fiction, like the DaVinci Code, makes a good read. She enjoyed learning about the zealots — because the Bible doesn’t tell us much.
- Bob was surprised that Mary was presented initially as such a weak character, although she did grow by the end of the story.
- Sandi loved how Nicodemus was portrayed — someone who really thought about his puzzling conversation with Jesus, and learned from it.
- Susan really liked the portrayal of the jilted brother Gabriel, as someone who learned love and forgiveness.
There was plenty of discussion about balancing the masculine and feminine qualities, and how our culture is set up in a way that would put male and female in opposition to each other. But the necessity of life is to find our own unique expression of these qualities. And how the Beatitudes about the Pure in Heart, the Peacemakers, and the Meek are Beatitudes that value the feminine qualities.
Tim felt the author had not read the Gnostic Gospels, because he didn’t draw on the considerable information they provide. Especially missing from Mary’s character was the consistency of Mary’s spiritual grasp of Jesus’ teachings as found in the Gospel of Mary.
Perhaps the strongest section was from Brother Gregory’s journals, clear writing on what love is and isn’t, such as: “Before we can be happy with another person, we must learn to be happy alone. In matters of the heart, no one can give us what we don’t already possess.”
Some conclusions were that the message of this book is that life is all about love. This book helps us learn how to bind up the broken-hearted.
I think there must be some mistake here. What is this video doing on the CS Fellowhsip website?
Brad,
Thanks for letting us know you saw something odd. Apparently these are ads that only appear to some viewers. We are in the process of taking steps so our readers will not be subject to random ads.
Do you have a list of books that this book club has already read and that this group would recommend? I am curious as to how many books I’ve already found on my own and what new books are out there.
I did send an email to some of my church members and website committee members about this group, so I hope you get some south Louisiana interest!
Hi Colleen,
It has been wonderful having you join us for the monthly book clubs. Perhaps your enthusiasm will be contagious, and some of your friends will try us out as well.
Yes we do have a list. The main requirement is that books should have spiritual substance.
Occasionally everybody likes a title, as happened in October. Most often there are a variety of opinions. And occasionally we have selected a real bummer. Not too often!
We try to read a variety – a few best sellers, some Interfaith, usually non-fiction, sometimes a novel. It’s always helpful if someone has read a book in advance and can recommend it — otherwise you’re making your best guess.
This list shows what we’ve been reading this past year, our very first as a conference call book club. And what’s projected for the first part of 2012.
1-Jan Amish Peace Suzanne Woods Fisher
2-Feb The Gentle Art of Blessing Pierre Pradervand
3-Mar Gospel of Mary… First woman disciple Karen L. King
4-Apr The Faith Club Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
5-May The Shack William P. Young
6-Jun Acts of Faith Eboo Patel
7-Jul The Mirror Theory Betsy Otter Thompson
8-Aug Compelled by Love Heidi Baker
9-Sep Messy Spirituality Mike Yanonelli
10-Oct The Galilean Secret Evan Drake Howard
11-Nov Love Wins Rob Bell
12-Jan The great emergence Phyllis Tickle
13-Feb Here if you need me Kate Braestrup
14-Mar I refuse to lead a dying church Paul Nixon
15-Apr What good is God? Phillip Yancey
16-May Replenishing the Earth – Spiritual values for healing ourselves and the world. Wangari Maathai
I think you said there was supposed to be a video on Love Wins. I too saw the video add about an IT guy?
Just to let you know. No need to respond.
Jill
Hi Jill,
Glad you asked about the video. The link is there. If you let your cursor rest on the phrase, Here’s the “video that states his thesis.” in the blue intro, the dotted line underneath those words turns into a solid line, and that is the active link.
Although it’s easy to miss, once you know it’s there, the link will take you to the video!
There is another link in the last sentence of the November paragraph — the title of the book. That link goes to Amazon. It’s also a dotted line that becomes solid when you rest your cursor on the title.