/lit/ - Literature

>>20043455
checked and respect

"Bible-Thumper" is meant to be a disparaging word, but it's actually a pretty cool name.

For my American Literature course we have an extra credit assignment where we have to give a presentation on an American author. We have to give a biography and a criticism of their work and identify their 'magnum opus.'

I need help deciding which author I should choose. I've been thinking about doing Salinger because I've read nearly everything he's ever wrote. Steinbeck is another option because I've read a number of his books, but I haven't read East of Eden yet, and I feel like I ought've to give a proper presentation on him. Also thinking about Hemingway because I've read a good amount of him, and I can use that recent documentary that just came out as a source.

What do you guys think? Or should I go with someone else entirely?

There is no "nature", only Creation. God did not make nature and man dichotomous, but as a part of the same act of creation. Attributing transcendental qualities to those products of Creation, which are not man, is vanity. It is right and just that man look at Creation, and see that he is obliged and duty-bound to carry the burden of his fallenness and try to aid those who have fallen with him. Steward does not mean conserve, it does not mean cherish, it does not mean to idolize, it means to safeguard until the King returns. So far, our works have only proven man's vanity and apostasy.
Aside from that little rant, anything and everything by wendell berry (the unsettling of america), edward abbey (desert solitaire), gene logsdon (letter to young farmers), and jacques cousteau (the silent world) are top tier.

Hello dear anons,
Are you sometimes tempted to throw off all your book and just walk without any objective other than to break off all the spirituals and material chains that you rely upon ?
Are you sometimes tempted to go full pilgrim ?
If so, would you take a book with you ? Which one ? Where would you go ? Do you think literature is a constructed or natural need ? Do you think literature is just cheap travel and a mean to maintain the illusion that you are free from passions and servitude ? Maybe one doesn't need it if he becomes completely free with only God by his side.
I have a huge and lasting urge to do that, to go towards the east from france. I want to travel to holy places and maybe through Jerusalem to India. You might have some advice about it.

>>16963586
sauce for this post: http://coalitionforthomism.blogspot.com/2010/09/and-never-twain-should-meet-orthodox.html

It is a very long, fascinating and persuasive post that argues that Palamism in Eastern Orthodoxy - which considers Thomistic Divine Simplicity to be a fatal flaw in Catholicism and posits, instead, a distinction between God's "Essence" and His "Energies" - is a heresy rooted in Gnosticism.

Yikes.

>>16887345
Unqualified in terms of intellect? in which case stay and see if someone can enlightened us then. If you mean you sympathise more with the un-qualified point of view, then present your case.

>>16796587
The Orthodox Church is the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church baka

>>16799535
Getting a copy of the OSB wouldn't hurt, in addition to that the sayings of the desert fathers and the first hopko book on scripture should be enough. Orthodox theology is complex, but that's not something you should worry about immediately. The Church is designed for the illiterate, and higher level reading will only result in prelest. This is why most parish priests have a reading/prayer regiment they give inquirers to see how they do. So first just go to liturgy and talk to a priest. Also Antiochian parishes have a great track record for, and are most interested in, conversion. Thats my advice, because if you're fresh to orthodoxy the more ethnic parishes will be offputting.
t. orthofren

>>16755449
The Christian cosmology is both, and free will is not a "sin". Let's look at Crime and Punishment; in the beginning Rodya seems almost forced into committing the murder, with strange coincidences egging him on. The first few chapters make his fate seem inescapable, and after the deed he spends almost the entire book is him being sick over the fact that his most significant act (murder) shows a complete lack of self-actualization. He wants to get caught, but can't stand the thought of it. Yet Sonya is thrown into his path, and with the help of Dunya they get him to confess. His confession, although coerced, was his decision and it almost comes with relief. That's why the epilogue is so jarring, because it's relief after a 700 page internal struggle with his own free will. His confession and realized love for Sonya are his, and that's what God both gave to Rodya and what he gave himself. In essence, whatever God wants to happen will happen, but our faith and love only exist by free will. That's what makes free will so special in Christianity, that God wants you to have it to see if you want or have love in your heart. It really is one of the great mysteries of the faith.

>>16724474
The deep state is essentially a faction that the founders, and the Federalist Papers, did not foresee. Perhaps not surprisingly, that unforeseen faction has come closest to overturning the US of any faction in over 200 years, with the possible exception of the Southern slaveholders.

As I see it, the deep state is just an unusually effective and clever subgroup or department within the Cathedral. Perhaps, the deep state is to the Cathedral what the SS were to Nazi Germany.

>>16723659
>pol
If you have that in your soul you are already beyond saving my friend

>>16714889
The Church was literally designed for the illiterate. The Bible is by no means simple, but you could be blind and listen to every liturgy over the course of a few years and wind up with a decent biblical education. This is what protestants don't understand, that the structuring of the Church (even down to its minute details) is a living tradition from which anyone can draw from. As Saint Iranaeus put it;
>One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life.
So yes, even though lay people won't understand everything I'm siding with "for the masses" on this one.

>>16706572
Firstly you have no idea if my possessed by demons, which is why you should consult a priest about all theological matters instead of people on the internet.
Secondly Christianity is not dualistic, demons (like satan) are personages and they conspire individually. There is no essence of evil fighting God, God already won by showing humanity that death and sin are escapable, so all that's left is to see whether you're going be a retard and fall for the personages trying to prevent you from salvation. The battleground for spiritual warfare is at the individual level in Christianity, and your part to play is determined by how you use your free will.
Thirdly your post is borderline unintelligible.

Same boat as you OP, started stuttering out of nowhere in my last year of high school. The best advice I found is to force yourself to stutter, ie. Don't rely on turning sentences around to avoid block words but keep pushing through those blocks. If you avoid words you stutter on you develop an association of fear with them, eventually as you force yourself to say them you'll get over the embarassment and fear of messing up in front of others and your throat will relax. It's rarely ever a physical condition, just psychological. I hope that helps, I'll still block up on certain words from time to time and far more often in french or italian if it's not talking to family or myself, but it will get better. Don't make the mistake of shutting yourself indoors and living the mute life, I did it for a year and it wreaks havoc on your confidence and only worsens the stutter.

>>13561384
Very comfy choice anon

Are there any good books on Christian ascetism aside from the writings of the Desert Fathers, /lit/?