Yesterday's books

As I may have mentioned, I've had a hacking cough for almost two weeks now. I've suspected allergies all along, and sure enough, getting out of Chico seemed to make a big difference with the sneezing and itching throat & eyes. The cough, however, has lingered with only gradual improvement. I mention this not to complain, but to explain why I've not been able to visit my mother-in-law in the hospital. She is on immune suppressant therapy. I can't take the risk of infecting her should my malady turn out to be contagious after all.

So Paul and Terry (my father-in-law) have been visiting the hospital morning and evening while I stay here catching up on reading and dinking around on the Internet.

So, yesterday afternoon Terry directed us to the money they'd been saving up to spend on us when we came down for our now-cancelled vacation in June. Dixie wanted us to spend it on our trip, and most particularly at the used book store that's going out of business up the road. And that's what we did. I highly recommend taking a bloody-sounding allergic cough to book sales. It keeps the competition (I mean fellow shoppers) from elbowing you. It gives you whole rows to yourself, for the most part. Anyway, we got lots of books, a few for the business, a bunch for Paul, and a couple for me.

Look what I got!:
You likely have no idea how rare it is to come across anything specifically "reformed" in nature in a used bookstore. The closest thing is the occasional book authored by John MacArthur or R.C. Sproul, but these are usually more general titles. So this book by Boettner was a real find. I wanted to run about squealing, but I figure my coughing was probably already obnoxious enough. (Gosh, in Chico, everyone in the whole town walks around hacking and sneezing all spring! Here in O.C. I haven't seen a single tissue.)



The Bill Bryson book was a surprise that Paul found for me. It's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Paul had checked it out from the library recently and just raved about it. Now I can read it at my own leisurely pace. (I don't fare well with library books, for two reasons: it often takes me more than the alloted time or two to read them; and I can't write in them.)






The Luther biography by Bainton is a standard I can't believe we didn't already own as part of our collection of all things Luther.
The other, C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, is a work that caught my eye for three reasons: 1) It has to do with C.S. Lewis and we'd never seen it before, 2) It's authored by a man with my maiden name, same uncommon spelling and all, and 3) It is a fascinating topic. Lewis is known as a medievalist, and also is somewhat notorious among evangelicals for his unorthodox stance on purgatory. So, I am very interested to learn about his perspective on the Catholic church.

We also found another Luther biography: Luther, by those who knew him - edited by Elizabeth Rundle Charles; and a classic of theological debate: Kerygma and Myth, by Rudolf Bultmann and Five Critics. All very exciting indeed!

Comments

Ancoti said…
I have the Boettner book. An interesting read by a man of very definite opinions.

Not a light-hearted read, and not for those who do not appreciate Calvin's position.
Laurie M. said…
I find the subject in general fascinating albeit almost of necessity at least in part speculative. We have to let the Scripture set our boundaries, and not everyone is altogether successful at remaining within them. I enjoy a bit of speculation, but only when it is recognized as such (I hope I recognize my own as such!). Oh, is it frustrating to hear philosophical speculation pawned off as gospel-truth. I like to read different views, and have held to different views myself. So I'm looking forward to this one as well. I've also got Gordon Clark's book on the subject on my to-read stack.
WhiteStone said…
Congrats on the book finds. We love old book sales. As for tissues? I've switched to hankies. Cleaner. No lint. And they don't melt in my nose. LOL. Hope your allergies recede for the summer. Hope Paul's Mom is able to soon return home.
Betsy Markman said…
What a treasure trove! I hope you enjoy them thoroughly.
haithabu said…
It looks like an interesting selection you have there. I believe Peter Kreeft also has written on Lewis and the Catholic church - from the point of view of a Catholic apologist.

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