From the reading chair: The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, Day by Elie Wiesel; A Simplicity of Faith: My Experience in Mourning and Free in Obedience by William Stringfellow; Christology: A Global Introduction by Veli-Matti Karkkainen; Emily Dickinson’s Approving God: Divine Design and the Problem of Suffering by Patrick J. Keane; Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic by Francis J. Beckwith; The Plague by Albert Camus; Changing the Conversation: A Third Way for Congregations by Anthony B. Robinson (reviewed here); Theological Investigations, Volume 19 by Karl Rahner; Playing God: Poems About Medicine by Glenn Colquhoun; For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question: A Story from Burma’s Never-Ending War by Mac McClelland; Naming the Silences: God, Medicine, and the Problem of Suffering by Stanley Hauerwas.
Through the iPod: Bach Cantatas 57, 110, 151 by Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki; Sacrificium by Cecilia Bartoli; After the Morning and Hill of Thieves by Cara Dillon; Hindemith: Viola Sonatas, Vol. 1 by Lawrence Power Lawrence Power and Simon Crawford-Phillips; The Near Demise of The High Wire Dancer by Antje Duvekot; Nicola Porpora: Orlando by Olga Pitarch, Betsabee Hass Robert Expert.
On the screen: The Idiot (Hakuchi) [1951]; Winter in Wartime (Oorlogswinter) [2008]; We Can Be Heroes [2010]; Breaking the Silence: Burma’s Resistance [2009].
Did you like “The Plague”? That was the novel that made me fall in love with Camus. More recently, however, I’ve often been thinking about “Les Justes” and discussing it with friends as we discuss where to do with our engagement with the political powers of our day.
Very much so, especially after I started to scribble a few notes about each of the characters. I’m afraid that I would had found myself getting lost in names otherwise. Your discussions sound interesting, and reflect something of the very reason that I was drawn to pick up this book when I did; I was at the time writing lectures on questions of theodicy, suffering and faith. What Camus should I read next?
I’m not sure… that’s the problem with reading an author’s best work first… everything else is going to feel like a bit of a let-down (I acciedently made this mistake when I first stumbled into the genre of Graphic Novels — I read “Blankets” by Craig Thomson, was absolutely gobsmacked, but then nothing else in that genre, even very good novels, has achieved the same response in me).
There is a free English translation of “Les Justes” online and, as a short play, it’s a quick read (start here: http://www.segnbora.com/justes/index.html ). There is a lot of good material for reflection there, so if you decide to dig into it, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
Thanks Dan. I’ll check it out.