STILLPOINT Archive: last updated 12/14/2007
I'm not very good at maintenance. There always has to be a challenge for me to be happy. I suppose it's a little bit of ADD combined with a desire to leave things better than I found them. My friends accuse me of being a rolling stone, but my 31-year marriage and the fact that I've only worked for two institutions in 30 years attest that for some, keeping things fresh is just as important as getting things done. I've pledged myself to reading 52 books this year, and so far I'm on schedule. But as I look at my list I'm seeing a reflection of that far-too-eclectic nature of mine.
Cliff Hersey, Ed.D.
Dean for Global Education
[email protected]
The Crisis of the Standing Order
Peter S. Field
In this rather obscure volume, Field probes the development of the Boston Brahmins and their particular affinity for liberal theology. It is amazing to read the early sermons of the Unitarians and recognize that these sermons would be perfectly acceptable in most evangelical 21st-century pulpits.
Oracles of Science
Karl Gilberson and Mariano Antigas
Dr. Karl Gilberson, a good friend of mine, takes on the issue of celebrity scientists (Dawkins, Hawking, Sagan, Wilson, et. al.) and the ways the popular press has used the writings of these men to shape public views of God and religion. It is another subtle way that our culture contents itself--by believing in the mutual exclusivity of science and religion without fully investigating or understanding the facts.
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
My list includes, of course, the Robert Ludlum and Ken Follett novels that make for good airplane reading. But I have also gotten around to reading Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, which tells of Afghanistan's political turmoil through the story of the friendship of two young boys: Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant.
Snow
Orhan Pamuk
I have also enjoyed Orhan Pamuk's Snow, the story of a Turkish poet who, having spent 12 years in political exile in Germany, returns to his homeland and experiences the clash between radical Islam and Western ideals.
