May" Book" Review

The Teaching Company produces many university level courses on various disciplines. These courses are given by professors who are renowned in their subject matter and for their teaching abilities. These courses, whether tapes, CD's, YHS, or DVD's run 30 to 45 minutes in length per lecture and have a course guide. father Glen Fuller is willing to share these tapes with you in the hope that you will learn more about the history of Christianity, the development of many of our Christian traditions, and the people who helped shape our Christian doctrines. There are also some non-religious courses. Below is a list of the courses being offered for your' use. A synopsis of courses #1-#20 is available in the 3 ring Index Binder in the library area of the undercroft. The remaining courses are self-explanatory by virtue of their titles.

Our lending library is based on personal honor. Please sign out a course when you borrow it. Simply record the name of the course, your name, and the date on a 3x5 card which can be found in the front pocket of the index binder. Return the completed card to the back pocket of the binder. These courses are lengthy, so please return a course-part when you are done with a part of the course so it is available for another person's use.

These courses are interesting and informative, and they are a wonderful way to learn as you commute to and from work or while on a trip. Enjoy.

Courses available

Religious:

1. The Old Testament (24 lectures, tapes)

 2. The New Testament (24 lectures, Tapes)

 3. The Bible and Western Culture (24 lectures, Tapes)

4. Great Figures of the New Testament (24 lectures, CD's)

5. The Apostle Paul (12 lectures, CD's)

6. History of Christianity in the Reformation Period (36 lectures, Tapes)

7. God and Mankind: Comparative Religions (8 lectures, Tape)

 8. American Religious History (24 lectures, Tapes)

 9. The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon (12 lectures, CD's)

10. Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and Battles Over Authentication (24 lectures, CD's)

 11. St. Augustine's Confessions (24 lectures, CD's)

12. After the New Testament: The writings of the Apostolic Fathers (24 lectures, CD's)

13. Early Christianity: Experience of the Divin(24lectures,Tape)

14. Jesus and the Gospels (36 lectures, CD's)

 15. The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis (12 lectures, Tapes)

16. Great World Religions: Islam (10 lectures, Tapes)

17. Buddhism (24 lectures, Tapes)

18. Augustine: Philosopher and Saint (12 lectures, Tapes)

Non Reiigious:

19. The Ethics of Aristotle (12 lectures, Tapes)

 20. The Great Ideas of Philosophy (50 lectures , Tapes)

21. Energy and Climate: Science for Citizens of Global Warming ('10 lectures, Tapes)

22. The Search for Intelligent Life in Space(12 lectures, Tapes)

23. History of Science: Antiquity to 1700 (36 lectures, CD's)

24. The Joy of Science (60 lectures, Tapes)

25. Physics in Your Life (36 lectures, DVD's)

 26. Medieval Europe: Crisis and Renewal (16 lectures, Tapes)

27. The High Middle Ages (48 lectures, CD's)

28. The American Identity (48 lectures, CD's)

29. The History' of Ancient Egypt (48 lectures, CD's)

 30.The Vikings (36 lectures, CD's)

31. Change and Motion: Calculus Made Clear (3 VHS Tapes)

Visit OUR library

The Shepherd's Song: The Twenty Third Psalm by Julia Miner Dial

Books for Young Readers, 1993 ISBNG-8037-1196-4

The Twenty-third psalm describes God's love and protection for his people in the metaphorical image of a shepherd's constant love for his sheep. This children's book illustrates the King James version of this. well known psalm in a manner young children can understand.

3-Minnte Bible Stories by A.rme and David Anderson

Dalmatian Press, ISBN H0370-738-3

This easy-read book is a great introduction for young children to the stories of the creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Joseph's wonderful coat, Pharaoh's dreams, Moses and the Ten Commandments, Daniel and the Lion's Den, and Jonah and the Whale.

The Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey

Zondervan Pub. 1999 ISBN 0-310-22834-4

Too often Christians feel the New Testament is their bookand the Old Testament is the Jew's book and isn't very relevant to Christianity. Yet the Old Testament is the book that Jesus grew up listening to and reading from. In fact, the Old Testament deals with some issues that the New Testament only skirts over. Yancey will help you to read the Old Testament with a new outlook into the heart of God the Father. Reading with a fresh eye, the prayers, poems, songs, and stories Jesus so revered will also help you gain profound new understandings of Jesus Christ.

July Magazine Review:

Jesus' message to mankind is simple, yet profound, You shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Over the past two thousand years how this message has been delivered to humanity has been shaped by many factors including politics, geography, social pressures, etc. While the message is straight forward, how we have arrived at our present religious understandings and practices is anything but simple. Too many Christians stop their religious education upon confirmation, which for most of us occurs in our early teen years when we are not yet emotionally or intellectually mature.

Father Glen would like to share his collection of Christian History magazines with you, hoping that an increased knowledge and understanding of your church will strengthen your commitment to Christia.'1ity while affording you with a deeper understanding and tolerance for the other ways people worship God. This magazine collection is in the Undercroft library corner. Each issue is committed to one major person or period, but looks at it from various points of reference.

Since there are over 90 issues, you will need to refer to the INDEX notebook. You are encouraged to borrow the magazines, and asked to return them when you finish reading them.

Babs Fuller

What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

 Zondervan Pub.  1997 ISBNO-3IO-21327-4

Grace, God's love for the undeserving, is the one tl1ing the world cannot duplicate. What does it look like in action? Can it triumph over such brutalities as the Nazi holocaust? Can it forgive the unfaithfulness of a spouse, the hatred of a racist, the act of a child abuser. We are taught God's grace does not excuse the sin, but treasures the sinner. in this book Yancey searches for the presence of grace in his own life and in the church. This book wilt help you understand how Christians can contend graciously with the moral issues that threaten all they hold dear and how they can touch others with the mercy and hope that God gives us all .

Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus by Thomas Cahill

Doubleday, 1999 ISBN 0-385-48251-5

In this third book of his Hinges of History series, Cahill introduces us to the world Jesus was born into with it's oppressive Roman political presence, it's pervasive Greek cultural influence, and it's Jewish social and religious background. Jesus, the central figure in Western civilization, his mother Mary and the apostle Paul become real people who lived real lives. This book, with its unique presentation or Jesus and his times, is for the nonbeliever and as much as for the believer. Cahill wrote this book intending it to be an act of reconciliation.

Father, We Thank You, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

See Star Books 2001 JSBN 1-58717-072-8

Babs Fuller

If you have read a book that you feel is worthwhile, please send a review and we will share it with our church family.