{"id":27899,"date":"2014-10-21T10:04:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T15:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=27899"},"modified":"2014-10-21T10:04:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T15:04:17","slug":"what-were-reading-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/21\/what-were-reading-2\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;What We&#8217;re Reading&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I first thought about what I have been reading lately, what came to mind is the undergraduate essays and papers I have been plowing through\u2014more on them at another time. \u00a0I offer some comments below on books I have been reading (in no particular order).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/consumed.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27900\" src=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/consumed.jpg\" alt=\"consumed\" width=\"171\" height=\"260\" \/><\/a>Benjamin Barber, <em>Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole.<\/em>\u00a0 I was part of a seminar on consumerism in summer 2014 and this intriguing book was among the readings.\u00a0 As the subtitle suggests, Barber argues that consumerism dumbs down notions of culture and citizenship by appealing to what is most infantile in human beings.\u00a0 Instant gratification, a focus on the self, it\u2019s all there.\u00a0 As I made my way through this text, I was reminded at times of Romano Guardini\u2019s question about whether persons in the present day are capable of liturgical action.\u00a0 Though simple, liturgical action is also dense and complex and, at its best, it is also unhurried.\u00a0 I would argue that quality liturgy is never impossible but Barber\u2019s book indicates some of the many ways in which consumer culture undermines quality liturgy.\u00a0 His book reminds me of just how important it is for theologians to read cultural critics if we want to speak intelligently about matters of faith and worship.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/200px-TheWayOfKings.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-27902\" src=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/200px-TheWayOfKings.png\" alt=\"200px-TheWayOfKings\" width=\"200\" height=\"303\" \/><\/a>Brandon Sanderson, <em>The Way of Kings <\/em>and <em>Words of Radiance<\/em> (books 1 and 2 of his Stormlight Archive).\u00a0 Ever since I was a child, I have loved the sci-fi \/ fantasy genre.\u00a0 I have read and re-read <em>The Lord of the Rings<\/em> more times than I care to admit in public. I came across the Stormlight Archive a few years back and just finished reading book 2.\u00a0 Sanderson crafts a remarkably intricate society of nobles and decorum along with slavery, war, and exploitation.\u00a0 Characters acquire fantastic powers and struggle to use them wisely.\u00a0 Religion plays an important role in this society, but Sanderson does not shy away from presenting characters who pray and offer sacrifice not out of devotion as such, but just in case there are divine beings who would look kindly on such offerings.\u00a0 Perhaps his approach speaks to the mindset of at least some \u201creligious\u201d people across all times and cultures.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/confirmation.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27903\" src=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/confirmation.jpg\" alt=\"confirmation\" width=\"176\" height=\"260\" \/><\/a>Timothy Gabrielli, <em>Confirmation: How a Sacrament of God\u2019s Grace Became All about Us.<\/em>\u00a0 A moment of disclosure here: I wrote one of the brief endorsements for this book\u2019s front matter.\u00a0 I used it this term in an undergraduate sacraments survey class.\u00a0 I think the text does a fine job of addressing the faith-culture nexus, describing how themes associated with the sacrament of confirmation changed as the relationship between American Catholics and the wider American culture changed.\u00a0 The book helped me to appreciate (and I hope it helped my students to appreciate) that Catholic faith and practice is dynamic, not static.\u00a0 Of course, I had been aware of this point; this book provides an important example of this dynamism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I first thought about what I have been reading lately, what came to mind is the undergraduate essays and papers I have been plowing through\u2014more on them at another time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[795],"class_list":["post-27899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recently-published-books","tag-what-were-reading"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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