What books are you willing to read?

13 Responses to "What books are you willing to read?"

• Comment by: Laura M.

  1 06/28/07 4:31 AM | Comment Link |

  More interesting questions.

  I’d be willing to read all of those kinds of books, the problem would only be finding the time to read them all.

  So I guess the question for me becomes, which would I want to read first? Hmmm…

  Let’s see, a book about atheism written by a Christian sounds really interesting, so I’d start there.

  Actually, I guess I’ve already read these kinds of books, or something similar.

  How about a book about Christianity written by someone who isn’t an atheist or a Christian? Actually, I’ve kind of read something like that too.

  How about a book about atheism written by someone who’s not Christian or atheist? That sounds good.

• Comment by: John Koh

  2 06/28/07 7:30 AM | Comment Link |

  I’m a christian, so I’ll answer from that point of view.

  I’m always reading stuff, even if its contary to my beliefs - after all, if i am sure of what i believe, questions shouldn’t harm my beliefs. If what I believe can be shaken, it means that I need to really re-evaluate my beliefs.

  I’ve read through quite a few non-christian books that speak against christianity- and I’ve visited ex-christian websites often.

• Comment by: Helen

  3 06/28/07 7:42 AM | Comment Link |

  Laura, maybe this sounds silly but I used to think one cool thing about heaven would be having enough time to read everything I wanted to read :) (It would still be cool if heaven is real and I’m going there - those are things I’m not sure about these days)

  My experience of books about X written by people who don’t have viewpoint X is that they tend to be inaccurate. So I’d be wary of a book about atheists by a non-Christian non-atheist would be. If it was good then, sure, it would be interesting!

  Hi John, thanks for your comment and welcome to Conversation at the Edge :)

  I’m glad you’re willing to read a variety of books. I think what you’re indicating is “I’m not afraid to read things which disagree with me” - which makes sense to me, because the only reason it would change your beliefs is if you found something better/more credible. In which case wouldn’t you want to know about it and change anyway? And besides, it seems to me that surely Christians could trust God to preserve their faith - and so they needn’t be afraid.

  I used to be afraid atheist books would hurt my faith so I didn’t read any. But isolating me didn’t keep my faith safe anyway - because from within the Christian system I started to wonder “Why is it so easy for Christians to be mean? And why is it so hard for them to realize when they are being mean?” (Others may disagree about Christians being mean - and I respect that - this is just my subjective experience and perception)

  So, isolating myself from atheist books didn’t help anyway. Once my faith was broken anyway, so I had nothing to lose, I started to a lot of what atheists wrote. Now I read a variety of things including books by conservative Christians sometimes. (I’ve reviewed at least 3 on here this year)

• Comment by: trissa

  4 06/28/07 12:02 PM | Comment Link |

  My experience of books about X written by people who don’t have viewpoint X is that they tend to be inaccurate.

  I agree with you Helen. When I was in high school (and still a Christian) I read a book about the theory of evolution by a conservative Christian. Two years later I took an anthropology class and realized the book was completely inaccurate. Whether one believes in evolution or not is not the point, simply that what the conservative Christian put forth as a warning was a complete misrepresentation of evolution.

  I say if you want to know about something go to the source.

  As a someone who would not define themselves as either a Christian or an atheist, but something in the middle (maybe a leaning toward atheism), I don’t often read books about conservative christianity. Mostly because I grew up in it. However, I really don’t have any desire to read The God Delusion either. I guess I would rather read a more moderate book. I don’t want to read anything scathing because it doesn’t really improve my life or mood. However, I do like to be informed.

• Comment by: Helen

  5 06/28/07 12:06 PM | Comment Link |

  Thanks for your comment, trissa. I agree that going to the source is the way to learn about something.

  I just started The God Delusion and I’m enjoying it more than I expected (I thought it might be a bit dry). I won’t say it’s not at all scathing (even though Dawkins implies that he could have been meaner, which I suppose is true)

• Comment by: Laura M.

  6 06/28/07 6:19 PM | Comment Link |

  Helen,

  I was thinking that it’s interesting to see what the misconceptions are and maybe find out why/how things are misunderstood in the first place. It’s also interesting to see when those of opposing viewpoints actually have empathy for the others’ view, and how and why that comes about.

  Maybe I’m just too easily entertained.

• Comment by: Helen

  7 06/29/07 5:47 AM | Comment Link |

  Laura, yes, I see what you’re saying. I find it frustrating to read inaccurate representations of the views of others - it is hard for me to be dispassionate enough about it that I can enjoy it. Maybe my personal experiences of being misrepresented/misunderstood have affected me more deeply than yours (I expect you’ve had some too).

  I think that’s more the reason for the difference than that you’re more easily entertained than me ;-)

  On the positive side, yes, I would love to explore how people acquire empathy for others who have opposing viewpoints.

• Comment by: Stephan

  8 06/29/07 7:23 AM | Comment Link |

  Most of the good books by atheists have long waiting lists at the library, but I’m interested to read them. I’m not interested in reading a book by a Christian about atheism because I already know all of the misconceptions. I would be somewhat curious to read what an atheist has to say about Christianity, but I’m sure I would be frustrated by the misconceptions, so it might not be all that helpful.

• Comment by: Helen

  9 06/29/07 12:46 PM | Comment Link |

  Stephan, like I was saying, I get frustrated by misconceptions too.

  If I think I could learn from a book then I might I try to put up with possible misconceptions I might encounter. If I think I’ve already seen everything in a given book then I doubt I would subject myself to the frustration of the misconceptions.

  And I try to be careful in making those sorts of prejudgments, so as not to miss out on a useful learning opportunity.

• Comment by: Eliza

  10 06/29/07 4:40 PM | Comment Link |

  Excellent questions, Helen!

  If you’re not a Christian…
  * Would you read a book about Christianity?

  Yes, in fact I’ve read quite a few books about Christianity over the past 2 years, many of them on recommendation of people at the various OTM blogs (thanks for those recommendations, y’all!). Topics vary from history of Christianity, to Christian views on the second coming, to apologist writings, to several of Brian MacLaren’s books (how would you categorize those?). It’s been interesting, except the apologist writings get frustrating quickly (for reasons others have mentioned here - someone writing as if their viewpoint is different from what it actually is).

  * If so, would you rather read one by a Christian or someone who isn’t a Christian?

  Depends on the topic & the reason I’m reading it. I find it easier to follow & agree with an author whose viewpoint is similar to mine. Who doesn’t?! But it really takes a Christian to explain, for example, a Christian interpretation of a topic.

  I’d be interested in reading something written by an atheist/agnostic who’s really trying to put himself/herself into the Christian apologist viewpoint from which to make his/her arguments. (That’s different from Lee Strobel’s view - he SAYS that he knows the atheist viewpoint because he was one, but his writings are just not compelling or convincing imo as apologism!)

  * Would you read a book about your beliefs/non-beliefs by a Christian?

  Not sure why I’d want to - it would likely be quite frustrating (as were Lee Strobel’s books, see above). Makes more sense, imo, to look to an author like this for a viewpoint on something I wouldn’t otherwise run across, if I only read stuff written by people with beliefs like mine.

• Comment by: Helen

  11 06/30/07 6:58 PM | Comment Link |

  Hi Eliza, thanks for your comment!

  I agree that the writings of someone who has not assumed he/she understands a different viewpoint and therefore has worked hard to understand it would be interesting.

• Comment by: julie marie

  12 07/2/07 9:00 PM | Comment Link |

  I was looking over a journal I started back in 2000 and saw that even doubting was considered a sin by my former church. (or that is how I interpreted something I heard at whatever seminar I was writing about). So if that was the case, I can see why I “protected” myself from reading anything that might cause me to doubt.

  Funny, now I try to protect myself from the kind of reading I confined myself to several years ago. I still like to read about Christianity, but from a historical/anthropological perspective.

  Right now I’m looking for something to read on forgiveness that doesn’t come from the christian pov. or at least not the “forgive as you have been forgiven” pov.

  *btw, I like the new edit function*

• Comment by: Helen

  13 07/3/07 5:40 AM | Comment Link |

  I used to do that too, Julie Marie - protect myself from reading what would cause me doubt.

  Now I try to protect my emotions from what I used to read - because it can really push my buttons if I’m not careful.

  Suggestion about forgiveness: look for secular psych books about dealing with anger. Forgiveness comes under ‘managing/letting go of anger’ .I’m fairly sure it’s been established that that has health benefits, so secular psychs encourage it.

  It’s very grace-filled to read ‘let go of anger i.e. forgive, because it’s best for YOU’ rather than ‘forgive because God says you MUST forgive’. Although that’s probably an unfairly polarizing statement.

  Yes, the new edit is neat! :) I’ll tell the author you like it (I let him test it on my personal blog - we have had some e-mail exchange)