/plaza/ - General/Random

>>3475
Sounds like an interesting read, especially the "liminal" process even if it sounds arachic in other parts of the world.
>He thinks these kinds of experiences are essential for a healthy society but now that I think of them, we don't have many at all.
You mean western society?

Personally, I've been reading pic related and it's been a very enlightening experience. The authors go into depth analyzing a rediscovered non-canonical gnostic gospel from early Christian times that claimed that Judas was Christ' most trusted disciple. Elaine does a great job on setting the stage for how much insight this gospel gives into the chaotic and very underlooked beginnings of the early Christian Church. I recommend it if you're interested in learning more about history or are interested in Gnosticism in general (like I am).

>>3479
>you mean Western society?
Yeah... I mean there aren't these big events where people transition or transform in a Western society. You have graduation ceremonies, weddings etc. but they feel hollow. Turner believed communitas was connected to religion in some way. He saw it in Catholic ritual but also tried applying it to hippies. Other anthropologists have used it to study everything from EDM to sex clubs. Personally, I think these are a stretch. I guess the theory applies well to some Gnostic rituals too. I've been taking an interest in Christian theology lately, as a non-Christian. Its hard to know where to start but a fun time anyway.

A book that I poke in every now and then is "Great Modern Reading," edited by W. Somerset Maugham, 1943. In the introduction, Maugham talks about the need of the public for books, and how the need seems unmet; libraries are great but ultimately far short, and book stores are quite rare, so the needs are only able to be satisfied by an extensive mailing system. He says he put together this anthology to help remedy the situation. I found this interesting mainly because, reading through it, it reads like it was written just yesterday. I'm fortunate to live near a few used bookstores and near one pretty big new one, and have three libraries no more than fifteen minutes of driving from my house, but even with all this I find my wants to be lacking. The libraries are well stocked, and there's usually something cool at the stores, but even with all of this, 90% of the time the books I really want have to be ordered online. My tastes are too niche, I guess. The introduction has a few other things to say, like how the classics seem dull to everyone and such.
>>3483
There is a publisher called Crossway that generally has some pretty good theological books. They have a Reformed and Puritan leaning, so you'll be seeing that view. It's not comprehensive by any means, but it's something. Good luck on the journey.

Today I re-read Marcell Mauss' famous essay The Gift, which is about traditions of gift-giving in non-Western cultures. In Western societies, gifts are freebies that are supposed to come with no strings attached, whereas in Maori culture each gift has to be reciprocated by the receiver with a return gift. Mauss claims this is because of Maori belief in a mystical power called hau that inhabits objects and will kill you if you don't give back. Two years before Mauss, Malinowski studied reciprocal gifting in Melanesia. He states that this kind of gift exchange is really about reciprocity, not fear of death. You continually exchange gifts because of fear your partner will break off contact if you don't. Its interesting to see how these kinds of gifting have been slowly hollowed out by capitalism. As a child, I distinctly remember relatives from the countryside showing up at our door with a live chicken as a gift, which of course had to be repaid back in some way, albeit with cash.
Fun Fact: in the Indiana Jones TV movies, Malinowski is the guy who convinces Indy to become an archaeologist and gifts him a Melanesian vaygu'a.

>>3484
Thanks. I thought I'd start with Augustine, since he has influenced virtually all of Western Christianity. Thanks for the recommendation. Some of the prints from Crossway look pretty high quality. I guess I'll start with Catholic theology, then move on to the different strands of Protestantism.

Finished "At Home in the Heart of Appalachia" by John O'Brien. There is so much to say about this book. It was very painful to read, in the sense that everything seemed so real and so depressing to me. It was very insightful to the region and how it came to be so depressing, with an unreal portion of the land being bought by corporations to mine and deforest. There's a decent bit of talk of the philosophy that the "place" inspires and the fatalism that is both real and exaggerated in its people - I write it like that because the author cannot conclude that Appalachia is a "place," despite admitting to living there. He talks of how, really, the place is not unlike any other impoverished area of the country. I related very closely to the author's father, who is also a subject in the book. The like of routine, the feeling of never being able to escape destiny, of being torn between feeling like you could escape but didn't work hard enough and of tirelessly pursuing excellence and never being good enough to obtain it, of the embarrassment of everything you've ever done and trying to hide from anything from your past. I feel like this will definitely be a favorite of mind once enough time has passed for it to settle and cement itself.

Just finished John Milbank's Theology and Social Theory. A very boring and tedious read. The author tries to develop a postmodern critique of secular thought and calls for an updated Christian theology. While some of these criticisms are very insightful, the whole tone of the book is extremely obnoxious. Milbank's solutions are just not convincing or even clear. Over the years, Milbank has become more of a chud but by far the worst thing is the way he strips Christianity of all the things ordinary people like about it, turning it into a cult of aristocratic snobs. This read just felt like a near total waste of time.