Just Over 12 Hours Left for Your Chance at Free Books!

You've still got time to enter book drawing #3. Head on over to this post and leave a comment for your chance to win some NPR themed books. So far, no one has entered, and it's hard for me to believe that no one wants books. You've got a little over 12 hours left to leave a comment--why wait?

This Week's Book Give-Away (#3)

This week, I'll be giving away books that are somehow tied to NPR. Here's the one that you'll know about, plus there will be a surprise.




Leave a comment, and I'll enter you into a drawing for this book. In one week, I'll draw a name, and if you're the lucky person, I'll contact you and mail you not only this book, but a surprise book too.

Last 22 Hours to Enter Book Drawing

In case you've missed it, I'm holding a book drawing tomorrow (and every Sunday that I'm near a computer) both at this blog and at my theology blog. You've still got 22 hours to enter. I'll draw the lucky winners at 2 p.m. tomorrow. If you're the lucky winner, you'll get the book plus a surprise book.

To enter the drawing for Flirting with Monasticism: Finding God on Ancient Paths, go here and leave a comment.

To enter the drawing for Exiles, go here and leave a comment.

And come back to both sites tomorrow for the next books to be given away! I'm leaning towards a cookbook extravaganza for the Creativity blog . . . everyone gets pairs of cookbooks until they run out. What will I do for the theology buffs? Something extravagent to match . . .

Thursday Tidbits: The World's Great Traditions

This morning, I was catching up on past NPR shows, and I had the pleasure of hearing Karen Armstrong on Talk of the Nation. She's written a new book on compassion, a book that sounds full of wisdom.

Here are some nuggets from the interview:

"And there's a mood of despair around - whether we're Easterners or Westerners - and despair is a dangerous thing because once people lose hope, they can resort to extreme measures."

"But there have been people who have practiced compassion in our lifetimes. I'm thinking of Martin Luther King; I'm thinking of Gandhi; Nelson Mandela, who walked out of that prison - 27 years - and instead of inculcating a policy of revenge started one of reconciliation. And one sees what one person can do, the effect of one person, and I think we all have to step up."

"Well, I think if you think you know what we call God is - you're on the wrong track, because all the religions tell us that what we call God or Brahma, Nirvana or Tao, is inexpressible, that nobody has the last word, that we are all stumbling in our attempts to either experience or contain it."

Go here for the whole interview, either to listen or to read a transcript.

I don't have her book to give away, but the two book give-aways this week do shed light into monasticism, one of religion's great tradition. Go here and leave a comment for a chance to win Exiles, Ron Hansen's book about Gerard Manley Hopkins (part of a great poetic tradition) and the nuns who drowned on their way to emigrate to America and the great poem that Hopkins wrote about their plight. And go here to leave a comment for a chance to win Flirting with Monasticism. Remember that each winner gets the book listed and a surprise book.

And the winner is . . . And the next book is . . .

Jemma is the lucky winner of book #1. But happily, there's a new book drawing almost every week, so be sure to check back on Sundays.

This week's book is Flirting with Monasticism: Finding God on Ancient Paths by Karen E. Sloan. This book tells the story of a woman who meets a man who is entering a monastic order, and under different circumstances, this story would tell of a very different flirtation. Sloan comes out of an Evangelical tradition, so her flirtation has some added nuances that others would not (for example, Catholics).

Leave a comment, and I'll enter you into a drawing for this book. In one week, I'll draw a name, and if you're the lucky person, I'll contact you and mail you not only this book, but a surprise book too. Happy reading!

Last 26 Hours to Enter Book Drawing

In case you've missed it, I'm holding a book drawing tomorrow (and every Sunday that I'm near a computer) both at this blog and at my theology blog. You've still got 27 hours to enter. I'll draw the lucky winners at 2 p.m. tomorrow. If you're the lucky winner, you'll get the book plus a surprise book.

To enter the drawing for Women, God and Food, go here and leave a comment.

To enter the drawing for Idea Catcher, go here and leave a comment.

And come back to both sites tomorrow morning for the next books to be given away!

Tuesday Tidbits

--My friend is recovering nicely in the hospital. We even chatted for a few sentences worth on the phone last night. Hurrah!

--As I prayed for her, I broadened my concerns to pray for surgeons and patients everywhere.

--Now the hard work begins, the healing and the learning to use the new hip--and the refraining from behaviors (like bending and lifting) that will damage her body before it's had a chance to grow new bone around the titanium.

--Let us pause and say, "Great show, God!" How amazing these bodies that can grow new bone and blood. How amazing our brains, that figured out how to replace joints that no longer work. How amazing this creation that commits to resurrection on a daily basis!

--I have two book give-aways going on, one at each blog: go here and here for details. All you need to do to be entered in the Sunday morning drawing is to leave a simple comment (something like "Me!").

--I'm supposed to have a blog post put up at Living Lutheran today: resolutions that will help you take small steps towards being a peacemaker.

2011 Book Give-Away: #1

Leave a comment, and I'll enter you into a drawing for this book. In one week, I'll draw a name, and if you're the lucky person, I'll contact you and mail you not only this book, but a surprise book too.



Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'll admit that this book doesn't have as much to do with God as the title would lead us to believe. But it seems like a good book for the new year, when so many of us are making resolutions. Also, you're not getting a brand new copy--before I realized I wouldn't be keeping it, I did underline some passages. But if I draw your name, the book is yours: to keep forever, to pass along, to donate, whatever you like!

Don't delay. The drawing will take place on Sunday morning, January 9. Leave me a comment, and you're in the drawing.

Book Give-Aways Coming Soon!

At my other blog, I wrote this post about book give-aways. And then I thought, why not give away some of my theology books here at my theology site as well?

And so, on the first week-end of the new year, I will announce the first book give-away, both here and at my creativity blog. If you're the lucky winner, your mailing will include the book that was advertised as well as a surprise book.

The first book that I'll give away on this blog will be Geneen Roth's Women Food and God. I've written about this book in this post. Even though it has some failings, and it's not a book of theology in the strictest sense (and not even in a fairly loose sense), it seems like a good book for the new year.

So, on January 2, I'll post, and if you want to be entered into the give-away, you'll leave a comment. A week later, I'll have a drawing.

My plan is to announce a new book every Sunday, until I'm grow weary of the process. I could say that I'll do this weekly book give-away until I run out of books, but I don't even like to think about how many weeks I could go until I run out of books.