The Queue

I found Ross Douthat's conclusions in Bad Religion to be insightful, well-argued, & well-supported. The great oversight of the book is a lack of analysis of the New Atheism. It is sprinkled throughout the chapter on Christian accommodation & the chapters on the various 21st century heresies, but never confronted directly. Mayhap Douthat thinks it too small, too much the preserve of a genuinely tiny minority, to be addressed in greater detail, but I was slightly disappointed. I recommend the book to all, believers & non-believers alike, & would be only too happy to loan out my own copy. The Guy? I'm looking at you. California Dreamer?

Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics
Prologue: A Nation of Heretics

Part I: Christianity in Crisis
One: The Lost World
Two: The Locust Years
Three: Accommodation
Four: Resistance

Part II: The Age of Heresy
Five: Lost in the Gospels
Six: Pray and Grow Rich
Seven: The God Within
Eight: The City on the Hill

Conclusion: The Recovery of Christianity

I am drawn to several of the non-ficton books that I was gifted for my birthday, but remain convinced that I must adhere to the queue as given below, in no small part because so many of those books have sat there for so long & been so often the victims of line-jumping by other more immediately-favored books. They deserve their chance.

Recently
Thor Heyerdahl, translated by F. H. Lyon, Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft
Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" & "Rip Van Winkle"
Ross Douthat, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics

Currently
Matthew Kelly, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic: How Engaging 1% of Catholics Could Change the World

Presently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Synthetic Men of Mars
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Llana of Gathol
Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter of Mars
Richard Price, Clockers
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, "Sinbad the Sailor" from The Arabian Nights
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill ***shelved***

Autobahn
I had occasion on Thursday to drive into the heart of Grand Blanc, my hometown, & what should I spy? A Maserati GranTurismo cabriolet, styled the GranCabrio. A Maserati, perhaps the only automobile in the world as beautiful as an Aston Martin. Grand Blanc, I love ya!