Thanks for this James! You certainly had me dancing to your merry tune, all the way to the end. Except I have yet to click on any of the links. I haven't followed the thread of advice / instruction through all permutations, but I think to have followed every directive we would need to have read a chapter of a book on our shelf, read an IPCC report and not clicked on some of your video links. Some of which seemed mutually exclusive - which added to the curiosity creation! Respect! I have recently read two Dickens doorstops entirely due to curiosity - and stalled on some other ostensibly more interesting offerings. Your thesis is totally correct - but alas leads to me suddenly reading an article in a free magazine that has been on the floor under some lego for a few weeks ahead of a book I know I'll probably like but never seem to be 'in the mood for'. Also, on Genesis - what did you make of 'the LORD raining down fire from the LORD out of the heavens' in ch. 19? Or even earlier - Genesis 3:8 'They heard the Voice (not sound) of the LORD God walking in the garden in the (S)pirit (not cool) of the day' - a.k.a first explicitly Trinitarian verse in the Bible? Final PS - thank you for the Sacred art of Joking: curiosity provoked and sustained. Read that one with great relish in a few days. Would love more where it came from - hence I suppose why I'm here.
Good questions about Genesis. Probably not going to address them in the comments section of the blog. Interesting you mention the sulphur in Genesis 19. I was literally looking at that this morning. It says sulphur. So it's sulphur raining down, then! But what really struck me in that whole chapter is the amazing similarities with Noah. You have the people of that town wanting to have relations with angelic beings (as in Gen 6), a family behind the safety of a (wooden) door, except the sons-in-law won't listen. And then as they run down the valley, there are worries of being swept away (like a flood - except it turns out there's sulphur coming) - and then Lot is drunk and naked (although it's not his fault...) with his offspring... bleurgh.
Wow - rapid and full reply - thank you! Will perhaps take some of these things to C&C - you're right that this probably not the place for Genesis chat...
I'm slightly curious as to how you survived Monkton without Dickens or Austen? That was how I got through prep! I used to be an avid reader, never without a book. I would hide in the loo at work to read final chapters. Something's happened and books have become a slog which is horrifying to me.... clearly I need to work on my curiosity 🙄.
I read Jane Eyre for the first time at age 40.... I've read it about 4 times since. It's wonderful...take it off your shelf and read it.
Hey, Sarah! Well, I didn't actually do English for A-Level. I think I was only one of about 17 that didn't. So I was never made to read Measure for Measure. I did Far from the Madding Crowd during GCSE, but I just didn't want to read it. And still don't. I suspect if kids had more choice, they might read more of the books on the syllabus. That said, the teacher has to teach what they're enthusiastic about...
Thanks for this James! You certainly had me dancing to your merry tune, all the way to the end. Except I have yet to click on any of the links. I haven't followed the thread of advice / instruction through all permutations, but I think to have followed every directive we would need to have read a chapter of a book on our shelf, read an IPCC report and not clicked on some of your video links. Some of which seemed mutually exclusive - which added to the curiosity creation! Respect! I have recently read two Dickens doorstops entirely due to curiosity - and stalled on some other ostensibly more interesting offerings. Your thesis is totally correct - but alas leads to me suddenly reading an article in a free magazine that has been on the floor under some lego for a few weeks ahead of a book I know I'll probably like but never seem to be 'in the mood for'. Also, on Genesis - what did you make of 'the LORD raining down fire from the LORD out of the heavens' in ch. 19? Or even earlier - Genesis 3:8 'They heard the Voice (not sound) of the LORD God walking in the garden in the (S)pirit (not cool) of the day' - a.k.a first explicitly Trinitarian verse in the Bible? Final PS - thank you for the Sacred art of Joking: curiosity provoked and sustained. Read that one with great relish in a few days. Would love more where it came from - hence I suppose why I'm here.
Good questions about Genesis. Probably not going to address them in the comments section of the blog. Interesting you mention the sulphur in Genesis 19. I was literally looking at that this morning. It says sulphur. So it's sulphur raining down, then! But what really struck me in that whole chapter is the amazing similarities with Noah. You have the people of that town wanting to have relations with angelic beings (as in Gen 6), a family behind the safety of a (wooden) door, except the sons-in-law won't listen. And then as they run down the valley, there are worries of being swept away (like a flood - except it turns out there's sulphur coming) - and then Lot is drunk and naked (although it's not his fault...) with his offspring... bleurgh.
Wow - rapid and full reply - thank you! Will perhaps take some of these things to C&C - you're right that this probably not the place for Genesis chat...
I'm slightly curious as to how you survived Monkton without Dickens or Austen? That was how I got through prep! I used to be an avid reader, never without a book. I would hide in the loo at work to read final chapters. Something's happened and books have become a slog which is horrifying to me.... clearly I need to work on my curiosity 🙄.
I read Jane Eyre for the first time at age 40.... I've read it about 4 times since. It's wonderful...take it off your shelf and read it.
Hey, Sarah! Well, I didn't actually do English for A-Level. I think I was only one of about 17 that didn't. So I was never made to read Measure for Measure. I did Far from the Madding Crowd during GCSE, but I just didn't want to read it. And still don't. I suspect if kids had more choice, they might read more of the books on the syllabus. That said, the teacher has to teach what they're enthusiastic about...