Jeremy brian griffis biography of abraham lincoln
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Hearts & Minds Books
I know last week’s BookNotes included some thick heavy volumes. What with the important and fascinating new Charles Taylor and the big new one by James Davison Hunter and Life After Doom by Brian McLaren, you might now enjoy some suggestions about fiction and well-written memoirs, most as good as fiction. Read on, friends read on.
Last week I had the great opportunity to lead a retreat with a handful of Western Pennsylvania Presbyterian clergy. I gave four big presentations (some almost 2 hours long) and preached (in one of the most beautiful contemporary Catholic chapels I’ve seen.) It was about what Jennifer Holberg calls “nourishing narratives” in her great book by that title and I rambled on and on about why the reading life is essential for pastors and how creative memoir and novels and poetry can enhance the pastor’s imagination and make her a better preacher.
I read out loud from some very good books and told some stories and shared some dumb jokes. I trust it was as interesting for them as I had hoped and I pray it was as inspiring for them as it was for me. Thanks much to the Shenango and Beaver-Butler Presbyteries for hosting this refreshing time for your clergy and thanks for trusting me to offer something of use. I am hum
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In Memoriam
Beneath a starry sky in the early morning hours of September 30th, 2024, James Horace Jones passed away from Covid at his home in Woodstock, New Hampshire, with family by his side. He was 95 years old.
James was born to Horace and Ethel Jones on July 31st, 1929. He grew up in Rochester, New York, a place he recalled with considerable fondness in his final years, often mentioning his days at Allen Creek Elementary School, his childhood dog (an Airedale named Angus), and fishing adventures on Allen Creek.
James was a graduate of Nichols School in Buffalo, NY, and of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he was also a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. At Kenyon, he made lifelong friends, many of whom he kept in contact with through his final years. After college, he served as an officer in the US Army (stateside) during the Korean Conflict. He earned an MA in English Literature at the University of Buffalo, studied Scottish ballads at both the University of Edinburgh and Harvard, and completed a fellowship at the University of Notre Dame. He earned a PhD in English Literature at Indiana University (Bloomington), with a specialization in Shakespeare. There, he met his future wife, Julia; they married in 1959.
James became a Professor of English Literature at N
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