Logocentric (adj).Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
I have always enjoyed the longer distance running and skiing. The Marathon in Summer Olympics and the 50km Mass Start in the Winter. My wife can't understand how I can watch the same race for several hours. But they are fascinating to me. I like the Downhill Slalom, Bobsled and Luge sports. Attending a Winter Olympics remains on my bucket list.
My favorite sporting events in the Winter Olympics are the Luge, Bobsled, Figure Skating and curling. Initially, I thought I would be bored with curling but I'm not. It's fascinating how they determine each glide's angle and potential score.
When my children were younger we built them a luge course, they loved it. We were lucky that winter to have lots of snow to build up the walls and with some help with pallets that we covered with snow, it kept them and the neighborhood kids busy until it warmed up and melted. I was a lot more at ease with the luge course than I was when they decided to try arial jumps off our house roof. Never a dull moment when you live in Maine.
I am reading ESV through the Bible this time. Like you, I've explored a bunch of translations. My church uses NIV but my women's Bible study group (part of the same church) varies based on what Bible study we're doing.
Hope you enjoy the Olympics! I agree that the every four year thing makes them feel more special.
I read the New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible. (NABRE) They include Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, which generally aren't included in other versions of the Bible. I would be curious to read an orthodox bible or the Ethiopian Bible as I hear they have differences as well.
As for the Olympics, I love the Winter Olympics. I'm just crossing my fingers I have time to watch!
In terms of the original texts the NASB has the best reputation among conservative scholars. It looks at more translations, has a sensible hierarchy of text selection and the best principles for approaching the translation task. It favors original texts when possible. The ESV and NKJV are on a similar level. The Net Bible gives the best overview of the discussions in its commentary. The NIV renders the original text to make it more readable. It is a more functional text which is why many churches use it but it is also less precise. Greek or Russian orthodox are more Septuagint orientated and there is a considerable amount of ethical or emotional rendering to the text.The disadvantage of the NASB is that it loses much of the Hebrew poetical style in its effort to be precise as this does not translate into the English
I'm very fortunate to have met some practicing and humble Christians. Truly humble people seek to serve, not attain power and influence. The actions of many Christians make me run the opposite way... as fast as I can.
In his book, Sit, Walk, Stand, Watchman Nee states: "Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others. We become preoccupied with what is and what is not right. We ask ourselves,' Have we been justly or unjustly treated?' and we think thus to vindicate our actions. But that is not our standard. The whole question for us is one of crossbearing".
Jeff, this is an excellent book. Perhaps one for your reading list?
"Blog Harbor" PROMPT (DAY 28): Opening lines/paragraphs are usually the very first hook to a book when you start reading. If you are a novelist, and if you handle your work with such care, you'll probably want to start your novel with something that readers will capture at first, something that will tickle their mind or give that sensational feeling of curiosity for everything you'll go through by the time you finish the reading. How often do you notice opening lines and how often you memorize those? Are they important to you as they are important to me? Do you have favorite opening lines and if so tell me what are those?
I generally don't pay much attention to the opening lines of a novel. Sure, I can appreciate a good one, but since novels are longform writing, I'm much more concerned about the character and story development in the first 20% of the book than I am the specific construction of any one particular sentence. When I write my own books I do put a lot of thought into the first line just as a general challenge to myself, but I don't agonize over it unnecessarily.
Opening lines are much more important to my short fiction. With so few words to work with, every one counts and especially when you're first trying to hook a reader. I try to pay really close attention to the opening lines of my short stories and those that I review from others; when you've only got a few thousand or maybe even a few hundred words to work with, making a good impression with a strong first line is critical.
One of my favorite opening paragraphs is from Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind: "It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts." It instantly makes you want to keep reading because you're automatically filled with a bunch of questions. How can a silence have multiple parts? What are the three parts? Mystery abounds!
Some other book openings that really piqued my interest right away:
"I'm pretty much fucked.
That's my considered opinion.
Fucked.
Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare.
I don't even know who'll read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe a hundred years from now." From The Martian by Andy Weir
"The galaxy is a dumpster fire.
That's not the way the Senate and House of Reason want you to hear it. They want me - or one of my brothers - to remove my helmet and stand in front of a holocam, all smiles. They want you to see me without my N-4 rifle (I'm never without my N-4) holding a unit of water while a bunch of raggedy kids from Morobii or Grevulo, you can pick whatever ass-backward planet garners the most sympathy this week, dance around me smiling right back. They want me to give a thumbs-up and say, "At the edge of the galaxy, the Republic is making a difference!
But the galaxy is a dumpster fire. A hot, stinking dumpster fire. And most days I don't know if the legionnaires are putting out the flames, or fanning them into an inferno." From Legionnaire (Galaxy's Edge Book 1) by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
"Tommy Wiseau has always been an eccentric dresser, but on a late-summer night in 2002 he was turning the heads of every model, weirdo, transvestite, and face-lift artist in and around Hollywood's Palm Restaurant." From The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero
"Nate Tucker found out about the apartment as people often learn about the things which change their life forever - by sheer luck." From 14 by Peter Clines
"The circus arrives without warning.
No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local papers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not." From The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
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