Chris Halverson’s top 25 books

1. Dawn by Eli Wiesel
2. The World as it is by Voltaire
3. Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
4. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
5. Various Poems by Emily Dickenson
6. The Chosen by Chaim Potach
7. The Hyperium/Endemion series by Dan Simmons
8. Song of Solomon by Morison
9. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
10. Dune by Herbst
11. Candide by Voltaire
12. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
13. Lord of the Rings JRR
14. Animal Farm by Orwell
15. Invisible man Ellison
16. We by Zamyatin
17. 1984 by Orwell
18. The Promise by Chaim Potach
19. The Orestrian Trilogy by Aescyus(sp)
20. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi (or Night by E. Wiesel)
21. The Foundation Trilogy Azmov
22. Red Badge of Courage
23. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
24. Tale of Two Cities
25. Catcher in the Rye

Check out Central Lutheran's website
For that matter here is another Lutheran's blog, Lutheran in a Tipi!

Indeed, may we preach so truthfully that people will call us terrorists. If you preach that way you will never again have to worry about whether a sermon is "meaningful."
Check this out!

Finished Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz last night. Here is a great quote.
"The conviction that life has a purpose is routed in every fibre of man, it is a property of the human substance. Free men give many names to this purpose, and many think and talk about its name. But for us the question is simpler.
Today, in this place, our only puropse is to reach the spring. At the moment we care about nothing else. Behind this aim there is not at the moment any other aim. In the morning while we wait endlessly lined up in the roll-call square for the time to leave for work, while every breath of wind penetrates our clothes and runs in violent shivers over ouor defenceless bodies, and everything is grey around us, and we are grey; in the morning, when it is still dark, we all look at the sky in the east to spot the first signs of a milder season, and the rising of the sun is commented on every day: today a little earlier than yesterday, today a little warmer than yesterday, in two months, in a month, the cold will call a truce and we will have one enemy less."

Another day of big news. I just sent my "Application for Entrance to Candidacy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" off!
Man, if this week without school is any indicator this summer I should be able to write a couple of novels, a few screenplays, a dozen sermons... heck, I might even be able to conquer the earth!
Peace,
Chris

Good news! Fun news.
Not only did I call a literary agent, I also sent out 6 query letters! Hopefully Faith and Grace will actually be published sometime within the next year or two!

Just called my first literary agent since in the last 4 years. Sure, they can turn away 16 year olds, but now I'm 20 ha ha ha. We'll see. I think I'll call a few more today.
Peace,
Chris

Why Miriam? Maybe she was the Author...So I was going along reading Numbers, and the footnotes note for Numbers 12:3 says "This verse is an age-old stumbling -block to the belief that Moses wrote the whole Pentateuch." Well... who else in mentioned in this verse, talking amongst themselves w/out Moses' knowing? Miriam and Aaron. Why do I say Miriam must have wrote this, not Aaron? Because In 12:1 it is Miriam who is written first, not Aaron. It could be that Aaron was just being polite, sort of like writing "you and I instead of I and you" yet, looking at the context, that of ancient patriachy, that does not seem likely. Further in the hebrew it is not "Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses..." but "She spoke, Miriam and Aaron" or something to that effect! Of course it also can be seen as a anti-feminine piece, see, it was Miriam that spoke against Moses, and Miriam who is punished by God.
Just a little brainstorm/midrash for the morning.

Some quick shout outs, check out the following blogs, some meaty stuff
Progressive Protestant
Bizzaro Chris
Sick Soul

A note about ol' Dan Simmons Micah commented that simmons would be interested in my use of the Void Which Hears.
Cool.

Well, it seems others can now leave comments on my blog! that's really cool. Of course keep your posts respectful and try to keep foul language to a dull roar.
Today I started working on my application for semiary, and I also wrote a quick poem about "enlightenment"
Here it is.

They all want to be enlightened

They want to be mystics.
They talk for hours about rejection of books for the sake of contemplation.
They talk for days about abandonment of self.
They talk for years about individuals phrases and words,
Mere sounds which have penetrated their babbling bubble of words.
Sisters, brothers, comrades, achi, achoti
Enlightenment is like fight club. The first rule of enlightenment is that you don’t talk about enlightenment.
Some say the first rule is “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Others say it is “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
Still others simply say, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, The LORD is One.”
These last ones, they are not far from the kingdom of God.
“Hear.”
Hear.
Hear is the first cobblestone upon the way that can not be told.
To extend this truth
To make you listen, to think
I shall use your own dull language:
Still yourself.
Find the silence of The Void Which Hears.
Become the absence of self within the inaction of submission, which is listening.

What do you think about the poem?
I really do like what Merton has to say, but I think this poem is a response to him (along with a whole group of "mystics" here in Eugene).
Well, I'm going to wander outside and read a bit, maybe work more on the essay for Seminary.
Peace,
Chris

I think I have made it so others can publish on my blog. If you can try leaving a message on my blog. Thanks,
chris

Check out this script from futurama.


{14832}{14888}Welcome to Bum base alpha.
{14891}{14950}The biggest hobo jungle in the quadrant.
{14953}{14997}Eh, I've seen bigger.
{15000}{15131}Oh, wait, I'm thinking a Eugene, Oregon.

You don't have to live in Eugene to get this joke, but if you do, you really get it.

I got my grades just now! I passed Post-bibical Hebrew (I took it pass or fail, I passed). Got an A in both my history classes and I got an A+ in Genesis! This is from the big D. Falk himself! So this term I ended up with a 4.1 and overall I have a 3.76!
I just finished running 1.5 miles, intended to go into the gym and do the stair step machine, but the gym didn't open till 10, my legs were feeling it anyways, so no trouble.
Right now they are testing the smoke alarm system in the building so every few minutes this man's voice comes on saying "There is an emergency in the building, please evacuate the building, don't use the elevators."
Oh, I am 1/5 through those essays about liberation theology, and I've started Shadow puppets by Orson Scott Card. Not bad books, although Shadow Puppets is no Ender's Game.
At any rate, things are going pretty well here.
Peace,
Chris.