So, instead, I'll tell you about a book I just ran across. I'm only part way into the first chapter and I'm thinking, "Everyone should read this book!" You know--you've read that kind of book. This one is Original Sinners: A New Interpretation of Genesis by John R. Coats. No, it isn't a book about religion per se, but one about human nature--about me, for one, and I suspect about all us human beans. (smile) Here's what Coats says about his book:
"When I began writing Original Sinners, I wanted to create something different, a study of Genesis that would not be doctrinal, that would be light but not lightweight, and relevant to modern life, whether the reader was religious or not. So, rather than following the usual path of focusing on the significance of the stories, I decided to employ the method of scriptural interpretation I learned almost forty years ago when a mentor taught me to focus on the characters in the stories, to look deeper, beneath the overlays of doctrine and history, and find their humanity. What do their stories reveal about motive, strength and weakness of character? What do their lives have in common with my life—with our common life? and, By studying their lives, might we learn about our own? What I found, again, was a humanity all too familiar in its flaws, its tragedy, yet moving, funny, and often outrageous—in other words, a humanity much like my own, and yours."[http://www.johnrcoats.com/about-the-book/]
Just to give you a little taste of his writing (because chances are you'll smile at my enthusiasm and move on to your own latest novel, or textbook, or whatever).
"Imagine yourself as the first human being. You've popped into the world inside the body of a full-grown adult. You've gone from being a nonbeing to being and become fully conscious, although you have no memories, no parents, no siblings, friends or enemies. No clothes and no language, though it seems reasonable that from thy bowels, as our Elizabethan ancestors were wont to say, would arise some expression of, What the' . . . ? as you stood, lay, or sat, blank-brained, absorbing those first burst of fivefold sensory input. This wordless sense of being and identity is just the sort of abstraction that your big Homo sapiens brain is designed to ponder and dissect. Advanced queries such as Who am I? and What am I? will follow, in time." [From the chapter Act One: Adam and Eve, but Mostly Eve: pg. 9, first paragraph.]
I fully intended to rant on about all the choices of tasks I found overwhelming each morning--the things that prevented me from writing a post in my blog. Instead, I've reviewed a wonderful book. A better choice, don't you think? (smile)
Bye for now. Enjoy life.
