Esther and Athaliah, two plays adapted from those of Jean Racine by Richard Bunning

As a tame introduction to the work of Jean Racine, this adaptation is most helpful, presenting the plays in abridged form and in contemporary English. Unfortunately, they thereby lose some of their claim to fame as “masterpieces of one of the greatest literary artists known”.

Both plays follow the biblical narratives rather closely, while adding some drama and appropriate chorus roles for its intended cast, the girls of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis in Saint-Cyr. This boarding school was founded by king Louis XIV at the request of his second wife, Madame de Maintenon, to cater for girls from impoverished noble families.

The Unquiet Dawn by Terri Nixon

Terri Nixon succeeds in combining the historic circumstances of village life in mid-seventeenth century Cornwall – blacksmiths, millers, peasants and squires, fishermen and pirates, all cringing under the peril of the fearful English Civil War – with glimpses of a parallel, supernatural world, whose inhabitants intervene and interact sporadically with that of the mortals they despise. 

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That Man Jesus by Martin Down

Did you know that Jesus experienced sexual temptation? See below.

Down relates Jesus’s life chronologically, including almost all the details from the gospels and adding occasional human touches, such as His heart searching concerning His identity and mission, and that He had a friend near the Jordan at whose house He stayed several days. Such details help fill in gaps and make some of the encounters more plausible.

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Call of the Druids by Fiona Tarr

The premise of this book is intriguing: Ariel, a Jewish priestess and niece of King David, is sent on a mysterious quest by the angel Raziel. Not to a far-off country, but to a period a thousand years later, at the height of the Roman Empire, and shortly after the Crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah. The customs of the time are savage but an elderly Druid woman with supernatural powers realises Ariel has been commissioned with a crucial task and ensures she is not molested.

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Der Klimawandel geht uns allen an!

Eindrücke aus der #StopArmut Konferenz über #Klimagerechtigkeit vom 17. November 2018

Unsere Heizungen, Klimaanlagen, Privatautos, Fleischkonsum usw. verursachen grosse CO2-Emissionen. Diese sind wichtige Faktoren bei der Klimaerwärmung. Wir im Westen erleben zwar ausserordentliche Hitzewellen, Überschwemmungen und verheerende Waldbrände. Aber es sind in erster Linie die ärmeren Länder, die unter den Folgen leiden: Dürre, Stürme, Ernteausfälle.

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Sergei and Hans by Dennis Santaniello

This is a very unusual book – both as regards the theme and the style. Two WWI soldiers experience the horrors of war, slaughtering mercilessly and seeing their comrades slaughtered. Each one finds himself alone in the most devastating conditions on a mountainside in the Romanian Carpathians. All of their respective companions have died – accidentally, by suicide or in the relentless gunfire while attempting to push a cannon up the hillside. Neither of them has any real hope or wish to survive. They are starving, bitterly cold, and totally lost among the snow-covered boulders.

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The Road to Nowhere by Catherine M. Byrne

 Isa and her young family emigrate from the tiny Orkney island of Raumsey to Alberta, where her parents are already living. An unfortunate young English girl, Sarah, happens to arrive at the same time, destined to marry a friend of her father’s, who is much older than she. The vastness of the prairie environment and the harsh climate prove enormously challenging for the newcomers. Hard work, tight finances and cruel weather strain Isa and Davie’s marriage and he spends months up north working on the paddle steamers.

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Mary Rosie’s War by Catherine Byrne

 This book, number 5 in the Raumsey series, not only portrays the horrors of WWII through the eyes of simple, ordinary participants, but sheds a sidelong glance at the morality of a war initiated at some high level, far away from those who are forced to carry it out without understanding why.

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Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

Eldredge has hit on something big! He dares to turn his back on the common modern Christian perspective on society (esp. masculine roles) and explore the deep, real motives and needs of men.

His analysis is rather one-sided (e.g. every man carries a wound given by his father P.60) and so is his remedy: accept and live out your desire to fight battles, experience adventure rescue your beauty. Continue reading “Wild at Heart by John Eldredge”

Die Schweiz sprach

Im Rahmen des von verschiedenen Schweizer Medien organisierten Projekt “Die Schweiz spricht”, das Begegnungen mit politisch Andersdenkenden fördern wollte, habe ich mich heute mit JP zum Austausch getroffen.

JP und ich haben uns 2,5 Stunden lang bei einer schönen Reusswanderung unterhalten. Die Begegnung war sehr offen und gegenseitig respektvoll. Hier einige unserer Gesprächsthemen:

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