Sign in with Facebook
299 books
—
227 voters
to-read
(143)
currently-reading (5)
read (422)
herstory (122)
best-nonfiction (110)
essential-reads (91)
best-fiction (87)
currently-reading (5)
read (422)
herstory (122)
best-nonfiction (110)
essential-reads (91)
best-fiction (87)
philosopy-religion
(75)
best-21st-century (72)
dystopian-tales (72)
science-fiction (67)
the-long-game (65)
brilliant-short-books (60)
best-biography-memoir (55)
best-21st-century (72)
dystopian-tales (72)
science-fiction (67)
the-long-game (65)
brilliant-short-books (60)
best-biography-memoir (55)
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
―
―
“A God who kept tinkering with the universe was absurd; a God
who interfered with human freedom and creativity was a tyrant. If God is
seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that
relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect, he becomes a
being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all‐knowing tyrant is not so
different from earthly dictators who make everything and
everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism
that rejects such a God is amply justified.”
―
who interfered with human freedom and creativity was a tyrant. If God is
seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that
relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect, he becomes a
being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all‐knowing tyrant is not so
different from earthly dictators who make everything and
everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism
that rejects such a God is amply justified.”
―
“And sometimes it's the very otherness of a stranger, someone who doesn't belong to our ethnic or ideological or religious group, an otherness that can repel us initially, but which can jerk us out of our habitual selfishness, and give us intonations of that sacred otherness, which is God.”
―
―
“[T]he family is a school of compassion because it is here that we learn to live with other people. (68)”
― Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life
― Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life
“Theology is-- or should be-- a species of poetry,which read quickly or encountered in a hubbub of noise makes no sense. You have to open yourself to a poem with a quiet, receptive mind, in the same way you might listen to a difficult piece of music... If you seize upon a poem and try to extort its meaning before you are ready, it remains opaque. If you bring your own personal agenda to bear upon it, the poem will close upon itself like a clam, because you have denied its unique and separate identity, its inviolate holiness.”
― The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness
― The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness
BETH’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at BETH’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
510 books
|
14 friends
270 books
|
656 friends
110 books
|
64 friends
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by BETH
Lists liked by BETH
