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Toward Spiritual Conversation & Friendships

Toward Spiritual Conversation & Friendships

One of my favorite scenes from the movie “The Last Samurai” is between Katsumoto and Captain Algren (a captive). In several different places there are comments about having a “good conversation.”

In one place, like this scene, Katsumato askes him about his part in the war against the Native American Indians. Algren says, “Read a book!” Katsumoto replies, “I would rather have a good conversation.”

In another place, Katsumoto says, “”Many of our customs seem strange to you. And the same is true of yours. For example, not introducing yourself is considered extremely rude, even among enemies… [later]… I have introduced myself. You have introduced yourself. This is a very good conversation.” 

Finally, towards the end of the story, when Katsumto and Algren are no longer enemies but friends, and Katsumoto is facing his death, Algren says, “ I will miss our conversations.”

This is a beautiful example of how a “conversation”, even between enemies or those who hold opposing views, can become friends, perhaps even, spiritual friends.

Spiritual Friendship and Conversation is an important part of life and our spiritual journey; but one that is too often neglected. For those who hold onto their own perspectives and versions of belief, truth, and spiritualities with fundamentalist rigor, often cannot see beyond their own lense and wordview. As such, they tend to operate more out of fear and judgement than love and mercy; and spend more energy ‘preaching and proclaiming’ than listening, receiving and sharing. 

Father Raimon Panikkar says that if all we do is look out of our window and never talk to our neighbor, then we will think that what see out of our window is all there is to see and know; but if we talk to our neighbor and listen to his or her stories and narratives that they see through their window, then our own world and understanding will grow more beautiful and wonderful.

Its ok to share share our faith with others but too often our western form of evangelization (Catholic or Protestant) has been a Proclamation, Belief and Belonging System- we proclaim our faith only within the boundaries of Borders, Language and Culture (ex: Roman Empire or European Colonization); and people never really belong in our world or our church unless and until they believe.

The Celtic Church had a different model of Belonging, Proclamation and Belief. They went outside the boundaries and borders of culture and set up missions at the crossroads of life; and allowed people to belong to a community of friendship; and within that context their faith was proclaimed and many came to belief.

But Inter-spiritual conversation is also important. The ancient geographical boundaries and borders have been shattered by our ability to fly anywhere in the world within a matter of ours and of course the Internet. There is a collision of cultures, religions, worldviews, and spiritual paths today. Its important that we embrace this collision with honor and respect, seeking out areas of common ground, as well as honoring the essential and important differences.

I have many friends who are from other Christian denominations and faith traditions- Buddhist, Hindu, Pagan and Atheist. We all know where each other comes from, we share and honor or similarities and differences. Having a good conversation does not mean compromising our own beliefs; but requires that we hold our beliefs from a deeper heart of understanding, love and respect.

For example, I have a friend who does not believe in God but we have had many wonderful and deep conversations. Though we dont share all the same beliefs, we do share a friendship; and because of that friendship I’ve been invited to officiate a special ceremony in her life. Her term of endearment is “My priest says I’m a pagan!” I have another friend who came to me for ministry and we just sat on the porch and smoked pipes together while he shared his heart. I listened and we prayed together.

We put God, the Divine, and the Sacred in a very small box; but ultimate reality cannot be contained in our little boxes no matter how well our theological construction is. On of the saints said for everything true I could say about God, he is even less like that in his actual reality which is so far beyond anything I could say. St Thomas Aquinas, who wrote many great theological works including the Summa Theologica, after a spiritual experience with God said, “All I have written is only hay and stubble compared with all that God truly is.”

So, let us encounter others and have a “good conversation.’

Enjoy this scene from The Last Samurai on having a good conversation…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSR4S2oJ2hk

Toward Spiritual Conversation & Friendships

Toward Spiritual Conversation & Friendships

One of my favorite scenes from the movie “The Last Samurai” is between Katsumoto and Captain Algren (a captive). In several different places there are comments about having a “good conversation.”

In one place, like this scene, Katsumato askes him about his part in the war against the Native American Indians. Algren says, “Read a book!” Katsumoto replies, “I would rather have a good conversation.”

In another place, Katsumoto says, “”Many of our customs seem strange to you. And the same is true of yours. For example, not introducing yourself is considered extremely rude, even among enemies… [later]… I have introduced myself. You have introduced yourself. This is a very good conversation.” 

Finally, towards the end of the story, when Katsumto and Algren are no longer enemies but friends, and Katsumoto is facing his death, Algren says, “ I will miss our conversations.”

This is a beautiful example of how a “conversation”, even between enemies or those who hold opposing views, can become friends, perhaps even, spiritual friends.

Spiritual Friendship and Conversation is an important part of life and our spiritual journey; but one that is too often neglected. For those who hold onto their own perspectives and versions of belief, truth, and spiritualities with fundamentalist rigor, often cannot see beyond their own lense and wordview. As such, they tend to operate more out of fear and judgement than love and mercy; and spend more energy ‘preaching and proclaiming’ than listening, receiving and sharing. 

Father Raimon Panikkar says that if all we do is look out of our window and never talk to our neighbor, then we will think that what see out of our window is all there is to see and know; but if we talk to our neighbor and listen to his or her stories and narratives that they see through their window, then our own world and understanding will grow more beautiful and wonderful.

Its ok to share share our faith with others but too often our western form of evangelization (Catholic or Protestant) has been a Proclamation, Belief and Belonging System- we proclaim our faith only within the boundaries of Borders, Language and Culture (ex: Roman Empire or European Colonization); and people never really belong in our world or our church unless and until they believe.

The Celtic Church had a different model of Belonging, Proclamation and Belief. They went outside the boundaries and borders of culture and set up missions at the crossroads of life; and allowed people to belong to a community of friendship; and within that context their faith was proclaimed and many came to belief.

But Inter-spiritual conversation is also important. The ancient geographical boundaries and borders have been shattered by our ability to fly anywhere in the world within a matter of ours and of course the Internet. There is a collision of cultures, religions, worldviews, and spiritual paths today. Its important that we embrace this collision with honor and respect, seeking out areas of common ground, as well as honoring the essential and important differences.

I have many friends who are from other Christian denominations and faith traditions- Buddhist, Hindu, Pagan and Atheist. We all know where each other comes from, we share and honor or similarities and differences. Having a good conversation does not mean compromising our own beliefs; but requires that we hold our beliefs from a deeper heart of understanding, love and respect.

For example, I have a friend who does not believe in God but we have had many wonderful and deep conversations. Though we dont share all the same beliefs, we do share a friendship; and because of that friendship I’ve been invited to officiate a special ceremony in her life. Her term of endearment is “My priest says I’m a pagan!” I have another friend who came to me for ministry and we just sat on the porch and smoked pipes together while he shared his heart. I listened and we prayed together.

We put God, the Divine, and the Sacred in a very small box; but ultimate reality cannot be contained in our little boxes no matter how well our theological construction is. On of the saints said for everything true I could say about God, he is even less like that in his actual reality which is so far beyond anything I could say. St Thomas Aquinas, who wrote many great theological works including the Summa Theologica, after a spiritual experience with God said, “All I have written is only hay and stubble compared with all that God truly is.”

So, let us encounter others and have a “good conversation.’

Enjoy this scene from The Last Samurai on having a good conversation…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSR4S2oJ2hk

Eucatastrophe and Blunders...

Eucatastrophe and Blunders...

On the the spirituality of Imperfection, mistakes, Blunders and Eucatastrophe- or Happy Calamities, J.R.R. Tolkien speaks of this in the world of Faerie tales; and Jospeh Campbell speaks of it in regard to the Hero's Quest:

Eucatastrophe is a neologism coined by Tolkien from Greek ευ- "good" and καταστροφή "destruction".

"I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. It perceives – if the story has literary 'truth' on the second plane (....) – that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made. And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 89

A blunder—apparently the merest chance—reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces not rightly understood. As Freud has shown, blunders are not the merest chance. They are the result of suppressed desires and conflicts. They are ripples on the surface of life, produced by unsuspected springs. And these may be very deep - as deep as the soul itself. The blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny.”
~ Joseph Campbell, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Eucatastrophe and Blunders...Spirituality of Imperfection

Eucatastrophe and Blunders...

On the the spirituality of Imperfection, mistakes, Blunders and Eucatastrophe- or Happy Calamities, J.R.R. Tolkien speaks of this in the world of Faerie tales; and Jospeh Campbell speaks of it in regard to the Hero's Quest:

Eucatastrophe is a neologism coined by Tolkien from Greek ευ- "good" and καταστροφή "destruction".

"I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. It perceives – if the story has literary 'truth' on the second plane (....) – that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made. And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 89

A blunder—apparently the merest chance—reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces not rightly understood. As Freud has shown, blunders are not the merest chance. They are the result of suppressed desires and conflicts. They are ripples on the surface of life, produced by unsuspected springs. And these may be very deep - as deep as the soul itself. The blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny.”
~ Joseph Campbell, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Burial Rites? How do you want to go?

How do you want your remains treated? Burial in the ground or mausoleum? Shot into Space like Spock from a space torpedo? Cremated? Or burned like pagan kings of old?

Although I'm being a bit humorous, I'm also being quite serious. I shared by taste of dying and death, of friends, family and loved one's, for whom I still at times feel the pangs of regret, sorrow and pain.

For myself, I am inclined with those who favor fire, except that I would not like to burned in some crematorium stranger to me, but to be laid out in a boat of rushes in full priestly regalia, surrounded by friends and loved ones, given last rites and prayers by a priest, then set adrift with prayers and song, then let an archer send a flaming arrow over the waters to set my crypt on fire!!!

And it is my hope that when my time has come, that I might be able to say, as King Theoden in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings:


"I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed."

--Hix in the Morning (Jer-Bear Radio)

Christ's reality is not limited to saving souls....

A quote by Father Raimon Panikkar seems appropriate today when so many were expecting a rapture or the end of the world.

Although history must not be neglected, neither may Christ's historical role be ignored, Christ's reality is not limited to saving souls, making them, so to speak, ascend to heaven. Christ's full reality cannot be split into three nor reduced to one function. Christ is the Only Begotten and First Begotten, Mary's son and Son of Man, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, this is why his reality transcends the categories of substance and individuality, as well as other concepts that need to be reeaximined, like those of creation and redemption.

A spiritual comment may help us understand what such a christophany accentuates. Our fidelity to and love of Christ does not alienate us from our kindred—which includes angels, animals, plants, the earth, and, of course, men and women. Christ is a symbol of union, friendship, and love, not a wall that separates. Jesus is certainly a sign of contradiction, not because he separates us from others but rather because he heals our hypocrisies, fears, and egoism, while leaving us as vulnerable as himself. Instead of rejecting others because they are pagan, nonbelievers, sinners—whereas we are righteous and justified—Jesus impels us toward others and makes us see the negative which is in us too. Insofar as we share love, sympathy, suffering, and joy with all our neighbors, we discover the true face of Christ that is in all of us. “You have done it to me” (Matthew 25:40) is no simple moral exhortation to do good; it is rather an ontological assertion of Christ’s presence in the other, in every other, in the smallest of the small—not for the purpose of discovering an “other” hidden in the neighbor but in order to discover the neighbor as part of ourselves. In fact, neither those on the right nor the left are conscious of the presence of Christ (Matthew 25:37) because what matters is the human face of the neighbor.

[Part 3 Christophany: The Christic Experience: Chapter 6—The Protological, Historical, and Eschatological Christ Is a Unique and Selfsame Reality, Distended in Time, Extended in Space, and Intentional in Us p. 168]

about Real Anglo-Catholics

Awhile back I came across a blog about Real Anglo-Catholics at http://jjostm.blogspot.com/2006/01/real-ultimate-anglo-catholic-power.html However, since that time, the blog seems to have fallen off into oblivion. From what I could piece togther from other references to this once hilarious post is the following:

About Real Anglo-Catholics:

"Anglo-catholics can out-catholic any Roman catholic they want.Anglo-Catholics kick low-church evangelical asses ALL the time while chanting and genuflecting and don't even think twice about it.These guys are so crazy and awesome that they read Ritual Notes ALL the time.I heard that there was this Anglo-Catholic priest who was eating at a diner in his cassock. And when some dude said “and also with you” the priest killed the whole town and sung a solemn requiem mass.My friend Mark said that he saw a Anglo-Catholic totally uppercut some kid just because the kid used the 1979 Prayer Book....
_________________________

also from the Anglo-catholic Ninja:
http://anglocatholicninjas.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/anglo-catholic-ninja-weapons-and-gear/ :

"The Real Ultimate Anglo-Catholic, our Thurible Master Ninja, has listed a few Anglo-Catholic weapons and gear:The Anglican BreviaryThe BirettaAltar at St. Clement’s in Philadelphia (not sure how the AC ninja is supposed to conceal this)Gin Martinis (more than one per AC ninja, presumably)It’s definitely a RUAC (Real Ultimate Anglo-Catholic) selection. The thing is, these weapons are rather difficult to wield and, frankly, some of them are not even that deadly. If an AC ninja came accross a Calvinist, would he whip out his gin martini? The Calvinist would probably call him a wussy boy and smack him around town with a fine bottle of single-malt whiskey (just look at crazy Reformed lad RC Sproul Jr. checking out his collection). So, with due respect to the Master, AC ninjas have to be better armed, especially when on patrol in low-church zones. To develop dexterity and flexibilty at an early stage , we suggest that acolytes begin training with the…Double-bladed crosierDo not try this at home boys and girls. Seek the guidance of an Anglo-Catholic ninja master please."
_____________

"I've heard where ever you find four Anglo-catholics, you'll also find a Fifth!"
______________

If anyone know where the original blog went or the whole quote, please let us know.

The Papal Claims Examined from Catholic PrinciplesbyThe Revd Frank N. Westcott

excerpt from a book I recently read, Catholic Principles, byThe Revd Frank N. Westcott and also saw on another Anglican blog site at: http://anglicancleric.blogspot.com/

The Papal Claims Examined from Catholic PrinciplesbyThe Revd Frank N. Westcott

It is a sad and most unfortunate fact, yet one which is easily capable of demonstration by any competent historian, that all along the ages, Rome’s interests have been advanced by forgeries and falsification of the Fathers; and that such interpolations are quoted with approval today, in Roman controversial books; and that it is not safe to accept patristic quotations in such books, without verifying them at first hand.

There are plenty of historic facts which are utterly inconsistent with the assumption that the supreme judicial and spiritual authority of the Church, has always been in the hands of the Bishops of Rome. For example: the first difficulty which required judicial action in the Apostolic Church, was settled by a council of the whole Church at Jerusalem, under the presidency, not of St. Peter, but of St. James, who pronounced sentence in his own name, without any regard to St. Peter.

When Victor, Bishop of Rome, AD 196, undertook to excommunicate the Asiatic Churches, because they disagreed with him about the time of the observance of Easter, he was rebuked by the other Bishops, including Irenaeus, and his excommunication was ignored, and had no effect whatever.

In the fourth century, the Council of Sardica allowed a condemned Bishop to appeal to Rome for a new trial, not as a recognized right, but as conferring a privilege. This canon of Sardica, was misquoted by the Bishops of Rome as being a canon of the Council of Nice in a controversy with the African Bishops. But the latter consulted the Eastern Patriarchs, and, so discovering the misquotation, replied to the Patriarch of Rome through his legates, “We find it enacted in no council of the Fathers, that any person may be sent as legates of your holiness . . . . Do not therefore at the request of any, send your clergy as agents for you, lest we seem to introduce into the Church of Christ, the ambitious pride of the world.”

The great Arian heresy which denied the divinity of our Lord, was settled by the Nicene Council, which was called, not by the Pope, but by the Emperor Constantine. Hosius presided, and the heresy was finally refuted, not through the pronouncement of the Pope, but through the argument of Athanasius; while Pope Liberius himself became a heretic.

Then the heresy denying the divinity of the Holy Ghost, was settled at the Council of Constantinople in 381, at which the Nicene Creed was reaffirmed, and the sentences defining doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost added, and the Roman Bishop was not present either in person or through his legates. Meletius of Antioch presided at the council, and was succeeded by Gregory Nazianzen, Patriarch of Constantinople; and so in the settlement of the two greatest heresies, the authority of the Bishop of Rome counted for little or nothing; and it is interesting to note that the Bishops assembled in council at Constantinople in 381, in their Epistle to the Western Bishops assembled at Rome, called the Church of Jerusalem the “Mother of all Churches.”

Of course the most complete refutation of the Roman claim of supremacy has been the historic position of the four patriarchates of the Eastern Church, which have never acknowledged the claims of such universal jurisdiction, and yet were in communion with the patriarch of Rome until the twelfth century.

The claims of supreme and spiritual jurisdiction over the whole Church, on the part of the Bishop of Rome, cannot stand the test of catholicity, and so become articles of faith, unless they have been acknowledged always, everywhere, and by all Catholics; and this we have shown to be historically incredible.

Roman Catholics are very fond of asserting that a visible Church must have a visible head; and that as there is no other Bishop who claims to be the head of the Church but the Pope of Rome, therefore he must be that head. We reply, that in the Holy Scriptures St. Paul asserts that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church; and he nowhere recognizes any other head; though he constantly insists on the visible, organic nature of the Church itself. St. Augustine asserts the same fact, thus: “Since the whole Christ is made up of the head and the body, the head is our Saviour Himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who now, after He has risen from the dead, sits at the right hand of God; but His body is the Church; not this Church, or that, but the Church scattered over all the world . . . . For the whole Church, made up of all the faithful, because all the faithful are members of Christ, has its head situate in the heavens which governs this body: though it is separated from their sight, yet it is bound to them by love.” Then again, it must be remembered that the greater part of the Catholic Church is made up of souls in Paradise, and therefore is not visible to us; and Christ is the Head of the Church to them, as well as to us. To them He may be visible.

But supposing the visible Church must have a visible head: we reply, as a practical matter of fact, the universal episcopate assembled in general council was from the first regarded as the head of the Church; the ultimate source and seat of authority, to which the Bishop of Rome himself was always subject: as is proved by the fact, that the universal episcopate settled heresies, defined the Faith, and deposed Popes who were themselves heretics, and excommunicated them. Gregory the Great, as we have seen, expressly repudiated the title of "universal Bishop” which he most certainly would not have done, if he had considered himself the “head of the Church,” in the modern Roman sense.

It makes a neat turn of an argument to say that the visible Church must have a visible head; and then to set forth the Pope as that head; but after all, it is merely a question of historic fact, and history points to the universal Episcopate as the head, and not to the Pope of Rome. If the Pope of Rome is the head of the Church, then when the Pope dies, apparently the Church has no head, and remains a headless monster, perhaps for several months, until another Pope is elected and enthroned. Surely this is a curious condition of things, that the Church should be continually sloughing off its head, and growing another, every generation or so; so that every little while it has no head at all. The collective episcopate does not die; but lives on from age to age, and as the head of the Church, is abiding and permanent.

The whole growth of the papal claims may be summarized by four words: Primacy, Supremacy, Sovereignty, and Infallibility. The Primacy of Rome, Anglicans admit to be lawful; not as of divine appointment, but as a matter of precedence and executive convenience, originating from the prominence of the Imperial city. The Supremacy of Rome, Anglicans reject, as disturbing the original balance of power defined by the general councils and canon law of the Church. The Sovereignty of Rome, Anglicans repudiate, as mere secular Imperialism transferred to the Church, from the State. The Infallibility of the Roman pontiffs, the Anglican Church denies, as an assumption by one man in the Church of a power, or faculty, conferred by our Lord on the Church as a whole.

From what has been said, it seems evident that there is no scriptural evidence that St. Peter was appointed supreme head of the Church by our Lord, and that there is no historical evidence of any sort which proves that St. Peter ever attempted to transfer any authority, peculiar to himself to the Bishops of Rome; and that what the early Church conceded to the Patriarch of Rome, was a primacy of honor among equals, and not a supremacy of authority, by divine appointment.

A LIST OF SOME BOOKS I HAVE READ

A LIST OF SOME BOOKS I HAVE READ
This list is just for fun, to recall some of the many books I have read over the years; and is certainly not exhaustive. It includes books I have recorded in my journals as read or that remember having read. It is primarily limited to those I have completely read and omits the many other books that were only partially read, in some cases only certain portions or chapters of interest; and in others were simply never finished. But there are many books, I am sure, that I never recorded and do not now recall. Some categories overlap.

Prior to 1993
The Hardy Boys Mystery Series (vol. 1-50 approx)
Henry David Thoreau- On Walden’s Pond
Ralph Waldo Emerson- Essays
?- Shogun
Bruce Lee- The Tao of Jeet Kun Dao
Stephen King-
Pet Cemetery
The Eye of the Dragon
Misery
It
The Tommy Knockers
Anonymous- The Way of the Pilgrim
Thomas Merton- No Man is an Island
Benny Hinn- various books?
Kenneth Hagin- various books
Kenneth Copeland- various books
Urban T. Homes III- What is Anglicanism?
William Sydnor- Looking at the Episcopal Church (read ~1988)
The Little Russian Philokalia- St Herman of Alaska (1991)
The Little Russian Philokalia- St Seraphim of Sarov (1991)

1993-1997 (Books Read for B.A. degree at Eugene Bible College or during this time)
Fydor Dostoevsky-The Brothers Karasamov ( c. 1993-1997)
Brother Lawrence-Practising the Presence of God
Franky Schaeffer- Dancing Alone
Death of a Salesman
Lord of the Flies

1999-2005 (Books read for the M.Min. Degree program from St. Michael’s Seminary or during)
St. John of the Cross- The Collected Works
Dr. Thomas Oden- Systematic Theology
vol. 1
vol. 2
vol. 3
Fr. Alexander Schmemann-
For the Life of the World
Clenedin, Dr Daniel- Eastern Orthodox Theology
Bishop Kallistos Timothy Ware- The Orthodox Church
Moorman, JRH- A History of the Church in England
Some Incomplete Reads worthy of someday being finished
Gary Wills- A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust in Government
Daniel Boorstin- The Seekers
Robin Lane Fox- Pagans and Christians
T.W. Doane ( c. 1882)- Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions
Fydor Dostoevsky- The Idiot
William James- Varieties of Religious Experience (finished most of it)

1997 to 2006/2007
J.K. Rowling- The Harry Potter series (vol. 1-6)
G.K. Chesterton-
Orthodoxy
Father Brown Mysteries
The Everlasting Man
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
The Children of Hurin
Leaf by Niggle
Tom Shippey- JRR Tolkien- The Author of the Century
Ralph C. Wood- The Gospel According to Tolkien
C.S. LEWIS
Mere Christianity
God in the Dock (essays)
Out of the Silent Planet
Peralandria
That Hideous Strength
Till We Have Faces
The Abolition of Man
The Chronicles of Narnia (vol. 1-7)
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
The Great Divorce
Letters to Malcolm
The Screwtape Letters
Surprised by Joy
The Weight of Glory
George Sayer- Jack (bio about CS Lewis)
Sir Walter Scott- Ivanhoe
Louis L’amour
The Sackett series (vol. 1- ?)
Sensei Alan Dollar- Secrets of Uechi Ryu Karate and the Mysteries of Okinawa
Books on Eastern Orthodoxy
The Little Russian Philokalia- St Herman of Alaska
The Little Russian Philokalia- St Seraphim of Sarov
Fr. Alexander Schmemann- For the Life of the World
Clenedin- Eastern Orthodox Theology
Anonymous- The Way of the Pilgrim
Fr. Basil Pennington-
Centering Prayer
Centered Living
Obrien, Michael D- Father Elijah
Morton Kesley-
Tongue speaking
The Other Side of Silence
Thomas Merton- The Seven Story Mountain (10/05)

2006
Diana Gabaldon- (The Outlander series)
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums in Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of snow and Ashes
Thomas Merton
No Man is an Island
The New Man
Contemplative Prayer
The Ascent to Truth
Fr. Thomas Keating
Open Heart, Open Mind
Robert Louis Wilken- The Spirit of Early Christian Thought
Francis Schaeffer
Christian Manifesto
How Shall We Then Live?
Helen Waddell, ed., The Desert Fathers
Urban T. Homes III- What is Anglicanism?
Scott Hahn- The Lambs Supper- The Mass as Heaven on Earth
Clive Cussler
Flood Tide
Inca Gold
Sahara
Dragon
Deep Six
Raise the Titanic
Valhalla Rising

2007
Robert Jordan- The Wheel of Time Series
The Eye of the World- vol 1
The Great Hunt- vol 2
The Dragon Reborn- vol 3
The Shadow Rising- vol 4
The Fires of Heaven- vol 5
Robert P. George- The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion and Morality in Crisis (5/17/07)
Rev. E.J. Quigley (1920)- The Divine Office
Dante- The Inferno
Joseph Campbell- The Power of Myth
Paolini, Christopher- Eragon
Melville, Herman- Moby Dick (5/25/07)
I Maccabees- 6/1/07
Daniel Defoe- Robinson Crusoe
Robert Loius Stevenson-
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Kidnapped
Treasure Island
Bram Stoker- Dracula (6/14-6/23/ 07)
St John- The Apocalypse (6/29/07)
Johnson, Alan F- Revelation, a Commentary (TEBC)- (7/27/07)
Scott Hahn- The End: A Study of the Book of Revelation (7/7/07)
Omer Engelbert- St Francis of Assisi (7/26/07)
J.K. Rowlings- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows vol 7, (9/28/07)
J.R.R. Tolkien- The Children of Hurin
Obrien, Michael D- Father Elijah (Nov ‘07)
Beowulf (12/26/07)
J.F. Bierlin- Parallel Myths (Dec ‘07)
Alexander Dumas- The Count of Monte Christo
Kyriacos Markides- The Mountain of Silence
Bp. Mark Haverland- Anglican Catholic Faith and Practice

2008
J.R.R. Tolkien- The Fellowship of the Ring (1/13/08)
Rev. Frank N. Wescott (1902)- Catholic Principles (1/17/2008) ****
Galatians (1/08)
Ephesians (1/08)
Ezekiel (2/8/08)
Bishop N.T. Wright- "Simply Christian- Why Christianity Makes Sense," (2/9/08)
Claude Beaufort Moss, D.D.- "THE CHRISTIAN FAITH: AN INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY" (1943), [Anglican]- (2/21/2008 at 3:03am Byron, CA)

Reminders of Authors and Books to be recorded
Stephen Lawhead
The Pendragon series
???

Anglican Studies (books read or being read, regardless of date read)
George D. Carleton- "The King’s Highway: A Simple Statement of Catholic Faith and Duty" (1924)
Claude Beaufort Moss, D.D.- "THE CHRISTIAN FAITH: AN INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY" (1943)
Rev. Frank N. Wescott (1902)- Catholic Principles (from an Anglican Perspective)
Bishop N.T. Wright- "Simply Christian- Why Christianity Makes Sense"
Bp. Mark Haverland- Anglican Catholic Faith and Practice
Moorman- The History of the Church in England
Urban T. Homes III- What is Anglicanism?
William Sydnor- Looking at the Episcopal Church
????- Commentary on the American Prayer Book
Works of C.S. Lewis (various)
Anglican Devotionals
1928 Book of Common Prayer
1979 Book of Common Prayer
The Daily Office Book (DOB)
The Anglican Service Book
The Monastic Diurnal
The Anglican Service Book