Catholic Thought discussion
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The Future Church
The Future Church by John Allen
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The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church
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Reading one chapter per week sounds like a good idea to me.
I would vote for 2 chapters per week. Three months seem like a long time for one book. OK, I have to confess, I have a very short attention span.
Mod
I hear you Irene. I don't want to spend three months with this either. If I cut it in half, that would be six or seven weeks but it would mean 70 pages per week, and I don't think I can keep up with that. Let me get the book and maybe with judicious segregation we can cut that down to two months. I'll go ahead and order the Kindle version and look it over tonight. Is two months reasonable?
For me, 70 pages per week is reasonable, so I am not a good judge. I'll do whatever the group decides.
Yes, whatever schedule that works out best for those participating is fine with me too.
Mod
Week # Chapter # of pages
1 Intro & T1 54
2 T2 41
3 T3 46
4 T4 & T5 76
5 T6 39
6 T7 42
7 T8 & T9 77
8 T10 39
9 TTA & 21st C 43
That reduces it to nine weeks. I read the introduction last night. It reads fast, more like journalism than a weighty book. The problem with nine weeks is that it takes us through Lent, and I would have preferred a more spiritual read for Lent. Three chapters a week would get it down to a month, but I don't know if I can keep up. That would be a good 90-100 pages a week.
What do you guys think? Would you prefer to finish this before Lent? If I have to skip some chapters, I won't particularly mind.
Wow, lots of options. I had forgotten about Lent. It would be nice to finish the book before then. 100 pages per week is about 14 pages per day, so that does not seem too difficult especially if the book is fast reading.It sounds like three of us already have the book, so you could move the book discussion to a date earlier than Feb. 4 if you wanted to. I am willing to go with whatever you decide.
Mod
If we want to finish before Lent, (Ash Weds is March 1st) the schedule would look like this:
4 Feb: Intro, T1, T2 - 95 pages
11 Feb: T3, T4, T5 - 122 pages
18 Feb: T6, T7, T8 - 121 pages
25 Feb: T9, T10, TTA, 21st C - 129 pages
Now if we go with that I would definitely have to skip here and there. But it would also dilute the discussion. Talking about three or four chapters in a week would mean we only touch on highlights. It doesn't bother me. So there are your options.
If we read and discussed 2 trends per week, and started the discussion next Sunday, we could be done by the very beginning of Lent? Would we be able to discuss two trends per week without diluting the conversation?
Manny, “Silence” the last (and the first) book you moderated on this site was the best and most insightful job of leading a discussion I have ever seen in this group. Please look at “Future Church” closely and set a schedule that would permit you to deliver something approximating that level of discussion.
Mod
Mike, that is very kind of you to say. Bu that was a special case. It was in my "wheel house" since it was literature; I had read it before, so I knew what to expect, and I already loved the novel and had given it thought. I don't think I can do that with this book. But I'll do my best.
Let's do as Irene says and start discussions on January 28th. I'll lay out a plan tomorrow to complete before Lent. The book does read very fast.
As has been said above, the book is very journalistic and quickly digested. Many of the sections are short and composed of anecdotal, "colorful" episodes that can be easily skimmed through and don't add much to the understanding of the text. Just my 2 cents, as a new guy! Really looking forward to this and future book discussions!
Mod
OK, so here is what I think is the most balanced reading plan. Given that most of us are in the process of reading right now, we will start discussion this Saturday. This will give us five weeks to discuss by Ash Wednesday. Here's how it will break out:
28 January: Intro, T1, & T2 which amounts to 95 pages.
4 February: T3 & T4 which amounts to 83 pages.
11 February: T5, T6, & T7 which amounts to 120 pages.
18 February: T8 & T9 which amounts to 77 pages.
25 February: T10, TrThA'T, & 21st C which amounts to 82 pages.
Only one tough week! I don't think I can do better than that. I never thought I would have to use my project management skills on Goodreads. :-)
I'll set up the first folder in a day or two. Let's get reading.
Thanks for putting this together, Manny.
For people who have multiple books going on at a time, 35 pages a week for this one book is manageable. How about we do a chapter a week, which would make this read last us about three months? Does that seem reasonable? Is that too long a time to be with one book?
Let's start reading at February 4th, and so the first discussion folder will begin on February 11th. In the meantime let me have some feedback on whether the one chapter per month pace is acceptable.
Also it seems like the paperback is actually cheaper than the Kindle version. I'm still trying to decide which format I will buy. This is the type of book I wouldn't normally make a lot of notes in the margins, so the ebook would be ideal. But it ticks me off that the digital version is not cheaper than the paperback...LOL. I know, I'm cheap. ;)