My Mom lives in Ireland and was on holiday in Scotland recently.
She and a couple of other folks from the village went with their local Reverend, and stopped in at Rosslyn for him to do a bit of business.
She said the place was mobbed with tourists talking about Da Vinci Code, presumably prompted to travel there after reading the book, though she said a few were carrying copies.
Rosslyn is also among the sites featured in Uriel's Machine, which I thought was more interesting.
Da Vinci Code reminded me of paperback pulp fiction sprinkled with gems of reality.
Uriel's Machine reminded me of comprehensively connected research. (Didn't agree with all it's conclusions, but is seemed more scholarly in its construction).
Da Vinci code is most definitely not historical fiction. It takes one crazy theory - that Jesus has direct descendants who are known today - and makes a clever novel out of it.
There's probably no such thing as a factual history of Christianity. Most people think the Bible is the factual history of Christianity. But for some non-faith-based perspectives on the life of Jesus, check out some books by Crossan, Frederiksen, Borg, and Funk. A good non-academic introduction is called Gospel Truth by Shorto.
For a history of post-Jesus Christianity, there's a really good TV documentary called Christianity: The first 2000 years. It's available on DVD. Not sure about books.
Rosslyn is also among the sites featured in Uriel's Machine, which I thought was more interesting.
Da Vinci Code reminded me of paperback pulp fiction sprinkled with gems of reality.
Uriel's Machine reminded me of comprehensively connected research. (Didn't agree with all it's conclusions, but is seemed more scholarly in its construction).
I checked out that book's description on Amazon, and to be honest, it seems absolutely absurd. But everyone who wrote a review seemed to love it.
Another recent novel that I've heard people talk about and compare favorably to Da Vinci code is "The Rule of Four." I haven't read it yet, but I guess it's a mystery about a medieval book or something. And of course there's "Name of the Rose" by Eco, who also wrote Foucault's Pendulum.
while it is a carbon copy (style wise) to the Davinci Code, I liked the finale of Angels and Demons more and the story in general... although the helicopter "scene" was... a bit over doing it...
It already has a nice Hollywood ending, that's the problem.
I know. I actually thought the book was pretty good, until the ending. That was just stupid. Terrible. Seems like he wrote it the way I used to write term papers: start to finish. Just start writing then end. No outline or thinking about how to make the conclusion. And when I think about it, yes, the characters were shallow. Good thriller though, and good topic.
Quote:
Most American Christians are about as interested in the true historical record of their faith as they are about how their TV works.
Holy crap that was funny!
Because it's true. I tend to think Jesus was just some cool guy who was egalitarian and believed what he was saying, and got other people to believe some of his exaggerations like "miracles" and some people willingly made up crap or took parables and allegory literally. Doesn't everyone have a friend like that, who lies but believes his own lies? Like, always bragging about something that isn't true, obviously, but he seems to believe it and so does everyone else, or at least they don't say anything. Christianity itself seems mostly like a big parable. But it seems to me like people act good just so they can go to Heaven. Not very selfless. Would they still do it if there wasn't anything in it for them?
Anyway, reading real non-fiction about Jesus, christians and the Catholic church is a lot more interesting and put together much more interesting theories than silly half-formed conspiracies that can't tie piecemeal trivia together into an actual theory -- aka, Dan Brown's books. Hell, I thought the Catechism of the Catholic Church was a lot more insightful about the Church and Jesus than Angels and Demons.
What non-fiction books would you recommend? I haven't read the Da Vinci Code yet, but will try to soon; I liked Angles and Demons until the end though.
I read The Da Vinci Code in a few days and liked it very much. So I then decided to read the reast of Dan Brown's books. If you liked the Da Vinci Code, You'll probably like the others although they're vrey predictable.
Christ as a coo guy? Jeez, growing up with the church and al that, and all you "see" and hear is this ass serious person who never smiles or laughs or has any sense of humor. Life is about joy and happiness... and you are presented with this image of austerity and whatnot.
No wonder the Church is going to shambles. At least gospel has a sense of joy... and no wonder I havent gone to Church in about 4 years for mass... out... of... touch...
Yeah we should go down and hear what Rev. Cleofus has to say. (Blues Brothers) White folks are so stuffy. I want to go to one of those Southern churches sometime and hit up the piano or something. When I was little and still went to church I used to make up a lot music and play it on the piano and organ. A lot of it was too "fast" and "rock n roll" for the staid congregation.
Christ as a coo guy? Jeez, growing up with the church and al that, and all you "see" and hear is this ass serious person who never smiles or laughs or has any sense of humor.
I almost thought you were discussing a character from Dostoyevsky...
Comments
She and a couple of other folks from the village went with their local Reverend, and stopped in at Rosslyn for him to do a bit of business.
She said the place was mobbed with tourists talking about Da Vinci Code, presumably prompted to travel there after reading the book, though she said a few were carrying copies.
Rosslyn is also among the sites featured in Uriel's Machine, which I thought was more interesting.
Da Vinci Code reminded me of paperback pulp fiction sprinkled with gems of reality.
Uriel's Machine reminded me of comprehensively connected research. (Didn't agree with all it's conclusions, but is seemed more scholarly in its construction).
Some people believed in the Chtuluh myth nowdays, and think that Lovecraft really experienced what he write.
There's probably no such thing as a factual history of Christianity. Most people think the Bible is the factual history of Christianity. But for some non-faith-based perspectives on the life of Jesus, check out some books by Crossan, Frederiksen, Borg, and Funk. A good non-academic introduction is called Gospel Truth by Shorto.
For a history of post-Jesus Christianity, there's a really good TV documentary called Christianity: The first 2000 years. It's available on DVD. Not sure about books.
Originally posted by curiousuburb
Rosslyn is also among the sites featured in Uriel's Machine, which I thought was more interesting.
Da Vinci Code reminded me of paperback pulp fiction sprinkled with gems of reality.
Uriel's Machine reminded me of comprehensively connected research. (Didn't agree with all it's conclusions, but is seemed more scholarly in its construction).
I checked out that book's description on Amazon, and to be honest, it seems absolutely absurd. But everyone who wrote a review seemed to love it.
Another recent novel that I've heard people talk about and compare favorably to Da Vinci code is "The Rule of Four." I haven't read it yet, but I guess it's a mystery about a medieval book or something. And of course there's "Name of the Rose" by Eco, who also wrote Foucault's Pendulum.
It already has a nice Hollywood ending, that's the problem.
I know. I actually thought the book was pretty good, until the ending. That was just stupid. Terrible. Seems like he wrote it the way I used to write term papers: start to finish. Just start writing then end. No outline or thinking about how to make the conclusion. And when I think about it, yes, the characters were shallow. Good thriller though, and good topic.
Most American Christians are about as interested in the true historical record of their faith as they are about how their TV works.
Holy crap that was funny!
Because it's true. I tend to think Jesus was just some cool guy who was egalitarian and believed what he was saying, and got other people to believe some of his exaggerations like "miracles" and some people willingly made up crap or took parables and allegory literally. Doesn't everyone have a friend like that, who lies but believes his own lies? Like, always bragging about something that isn't true, obviously, but he seems to believe it and so does everyone else, or at least they don't say anything. Christianity itself seems mostly like a big parable. But it seems to me like people act good just so they can go to Heaven. Not very selfless. Would they still do it if there wasn't anything in it for them?
Originally posted by BuonRotto
Anyway, reading real non-fiction about Jesus, christians and the Catholic church is a lot more interesting and put together much more interesting theories than silly half-formed conspiracies that can't tie piecemeal trivia together into an actual theory -- aka, Dan Brown's books. Hell, I thought the Catechism of the Catholic Church was a lot more insightful about the Church and Jesus than Angels and Demons.
What non-fiction books would you recommend? I haven't read the Da Vinci Code yet, but will try to soon; I liked Angles and Demons until the end though.
No wonder the Church is going to shambles. At least gospel has a sense of joy... and no wonder I havent gone to Church in about 4 years for mass... out... of... touch...
Originally posted by ZO
Christ as a coo guy? Jeez, growing up with the church and al that, and all you "see" and hear is this ass serious person who never smiles or laughs or has any sense of humor.
I almost thought you were discussing a character from Dostoyevsky...