Saturday, October 04, 2008

NEW TRANSLATION

Today in the mail I received 3 copies of a Korean translation of my book Left Behind in A Megachurch World. I was surprised---not even aware that a translation had been in progress. There are a lot of megachurches in Korea, and smaller churches are often dismissed as failures, so I hope the book serves to encourage pastors and parishioners of "left-behind" churches.

I continue to plug away at writing my church history text, still hoping to complete it in very rough form by the end of the year. This evening, granddaughter Kayla (12) asked me if I know the quote by Gertrude Stein: "To write is to write is to write is to write is to write. . . ." I needed to be reminded again of those words.

John continues to read to me every night and morning. We are right now in the midst of Abel Sanchez by Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), a Spanish author who writes provocatively about religious topics. This novella is about Abel and his best friend Joaquin (Jo-Cain). It is a Cain and Abel story and we are eager to find out how it ends. The first story we read by Unamuno was "Saint Manuel the Good, Martyr," the story of a priest who continued to serve both his parish and God long after he had lost his faith.