Opus 2011-40, New Book: Idols for Destruction

I have begun another book, Idols for Destruction, by Herbert Schlossberg.  This will be my third time through the book.  The theme comes from the book of Hosea:

(Hosea 8:4 ESV)  They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

He is looking at the different areas of modern life where we as a culture have substituted false objects of worship.  He covers history, humanity, Mammon, nature, power and religion.

It will not be a fast read.  I will try to share some of the juices that he stirs up in my mind.

homo unius libri

Opus 42, New Book: Letters and Papers...

I am beginning to read a book I have had for years, Letters and Papers from Prison by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I am about 30 pages in and will be throwing parts of it at you.  In a normal work week I will only be able to do any reading on week ends so don’t expect a book review soon.

Bonhoeffer was a martyr to Nazi Germany.  He was safe in America in 1939 and returned to Germany fully aware that it could lead to his death.  It did.  This book is set in the context of Nazi tyranny.  Although we are still a long way from those extremes it is strange how what he has to say echoes what is happening in our government today.  In the context of hope and change I offer this quote from Nazi Germany:

“What matters in the long run is whether our rulers hope to gain more from the folly of men, or from their independence of judgement and their shrewdness of mind.”

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.  Letters and Papers from Prison.  New York:  The Macmillan Company,1953, p. 24.

Does it apply?  You be the judge.