At last, another blog

It has been 3 weeks since my last blog. I have been busy with teaching, and we went out of town for a weekend. I also had a few technical problems last week that prevented me from blogging when I wanted to. Oh, and those of you who read Mark’s blog know that my most recent project, baby #4, has added a new challenge to my productivity.

While feeling a bit crummy, I can still read a book. Yes, I should be reading freshmen college essays. But they just aren’t as convenient to hold when one is reclining on the couch. So in the last week I read the novel Christy, by Catherine Marshall. A few weeks back I saw some episodes of a movie based on the book on the Hallmark channel, so I decided I wanted to read the book. I came across it for 89 cents at a junk store, so I couldn’t resist.

I finished the book last night. It is the inspiring story of 19-year-old Asheville, NC, socialite Christy Huddleston serving as a missionary teacher at a one-room school house in the appalachians of Tennessee in 1912. There is so much that happens to her, it is hard to summarize it here.

One interesting element of the story is that her mentor while she is at the mission is a Quaker woman. Much of what she (the Quaker woman) says made me want to understand a bit more of the theology of the “society of Friends.” I know their beliefs are problematic by my standards, but the thoughts presented by the character in this novel certainly presented this group in a positive light (although not perfect).

The situations in the story and the way Christy worked through them caused me to come away from the book evaluating my own reactions to difficult circumstances. In addition to the contemplative take-away of the book, it was also a good story with many details about living in poverty in a completely different culture 90 years ago.

2 thoughts on “At last, another blog”

  1. If you care to see something else about that period, the movie Songcatcher is quite interesting. Unfortunately it isn’t really kid friendly. A bit too much lesbianism. But a good story nonetheless.

  2. I used to work with a Quaker when I lived in St. Louis. I worked with him for three years and never really learned anything about Quakerism at all except that they believe just about anything.

    The belief centers around God (or a god) as Light, and everyone has the Light in themselves. However you find, meditate, and live with the Light is up to you. They think themselves very spiritual, although it is quite a New Age spiritualism.

    He would go to “church” every Sunday and they would all sit on benches, each half of the room facing each other. Whoever had an inspiration would just stand up and talk; no doctrine, no theology. Steve (the guy I worked with) told me that some people believed in Jesus, some people read the Bible, others just did whatever they felt in their bosom.

    Sounded quite Baha’i to me, and very menacing in a subliminal way at its core. Even though he said they were “tolerant” of others, I noticed he bristled whenever I mentioned any specific truth. They are complete relativists with their theology, although I can’t speak for their moral codes.

Comments are closed.