Letters to the Editor: If you binge watch TV, you have time to read a ‘long’ book.
The last two books I read were “Goliath: A Life of Saint Paul” by Michael Williams, a biographer, and “Fate and History: Ancient Rome and the Rise and Fall of Eastern Power” by Thomas R. Donlan, a history. Both books took me about two hours to read. The books were both well organized. I don’t have space to review all the books I have read but here are a few selections.
“Goliath: A Life of Saint Paul” tells the story of Saint Paul, a man ahead of his time. He was a leader, but also a man of humility. He wrote to the Thessalonians, “If anyone should refuse to receive the truth, and be convinced that Jesus is Lord, let him be anathema.” He had a humble spirit (when he faced the death sentence for practicing an illegal religion), yet his humility was a tool God used to gain the hearts of millions.
The second book is called “Fate and History and gives an overview of the rise of the Hellenistic world, Roman politics and the Roman Empire. It is a very simple and practical introduction to the subject. I got the idea for the book while listening to an interview with a professor of Greek history at a university. The professor had the following comments: “The Romans were great at fighting, but not at winning wars. They were not great at governing.” Many people would agree. The Romans also did not have the time or resources to rule large and powerful empires. Rome was a city state, there was no bureaucracy. We will talk about this further in our next book.
The next book is a compilation of essays on history and theology. It is a collection of the papers made at a symposium called “The Making of History: Ancient History as a Discipline” at the University of Notre Dame School of Divinity. The main theme of the symposium was the nature and importance of ancient history as a profession. It was a two day conference and the papers were given by three professors of