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Free Books!

Posted by John on December 24th, 2006 at 11:38 pm · 6 Comments

I’m culling books (dozens of them) and thought that some of you might be interested in the following titles. If one looks enticing to you, email me or leave a comment below, and I’ll send you the copy (or hand it to you if you live in SoCal). Merry Christmas!

  • One of the two authors of Excavating Jesus is John Dominic Crossan, one of the leaders of the controversial Jesus Seminar, and one of the most important historical Jesus scholars today.
  • The Tale of Genji is a classic. This is the translation by Sir Arthur Waley. I’m keeping the Seidensticker and hope to acquire the Tyler version some day.
  • The Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books (so much so that I seem to have acquired two identical copies), by Nobel Laureate Mikhail Bulgakov. It’s like fruit cake: dense, filled with surprises and not for everyone. At the heart is Satan’s visit to atheist Moscow and the redemption of Pilate.
  • This Student Bible is the New Revised Standard Version, which is the version scholars are using more and more (it has more gender neutral language, is more likely to incorporate findings from earlier texts that challenge popular Christian doctrine, etc). If you don’t know much about Bible translations but are interested in learning about the differences, I’ll write some more about them in a later post. Anyhow, I have a Harper Collins NRSV (with Apocrypha) that is my current favorite, so this one is a bit redundant.

Tags: Book Reviews

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Elise // Dec 25, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    Hmmm….I notice no one has commented yet, and I hate to sound greedy, but if “Excavating Jesus” *and* “The Student Bible” are still available, I’d love to read both.

    Also, just wanted to check in and let you know that Ryan is still working on the book we borrowed from you. We haven’t forgotten and will get it back to you soon!

  • 2 John // Dec 25, 2006 at 9:39 pm

    Since no one else has checked in yet, they’re both yours. I can bring them next week, unless you’re eager to get cracking on them. :-)

  • 3 Miko // Dec 26, 2006 at 11:16 am

    ooo, Excavating and Son sound good…although, if no one claims Genji I’ve never read it…

  • 4 Elise // Dec 26, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    No, Ryan just gave me “The Art of Happiness” by the Dalai Lama and “Social Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman, so I’ll start those this week. I’m spending tomorrow reading by the lodge fire while he snowboards (we’re in Utah) so maybe I’ll finish one of them.

    Looking forward to seeing you this weekend, though!

    Miko, when are you guys back from Seattle?

  • 5 Elise // Dec 26, 2006 at 4:22 pm

    Oh, and hopefully the new book club book will have arrived when I get back home.

    So I can wait a few days to get “Excavating Jesus” and the “Student Bible” since I probably won’t start them until January anyway.

    Hopefully you’ve already read Excavating Jesus, John, since it is so much more fun to read a book and then discuss it with someone else! :-)

  • 6 Miko // Dec 31, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    Elise: Jan. 5th

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