15 June 2008

Big Question for Readers

NB. Read all the way to the end. . .there's a Question there for you to answer. . .

I seem to be recovering from dental surgery just fine. . .I was able to gnaw on a Subway roasted chicken breast sandwich for lunch without too much winching and bleeding. . .

My apologies for not having a Sunday homily posted. Since my jaws are starting to swell, I thought it best to find a substitute for this morning's Mass. I am up again for preaching this coming Tuesday morning. . .

In the meantime, check back later on tonight for a new post titled, "F.A.L.Q's: Frequently Asked Liturgical Questions." In this post, I try to answer some of the liturgical questions thrown at me from time to time. Forgive me if my answers sometimes seem a little cranky. . .

And while you wait for my cranky responses, why not check out the UPDATED WISH LIST? Because of the generosity of benefactors, I have been able to rustle up from Half-Price Books a number of good Italian and French language programs for my laptop, several excellent dictionaries and verb conjugation books, and even a cheapo sci-fi/fantasy novel or two. . .however, what I am really excited about is this new series from Cambridge University Press called "Contemporary Philosophy in Focus." I ran across the volume featuring Thomas Kuhn this afternoon at HPB, and I've added several other volumes from the series to my WISH LIST. For the most part, I know almost nothing about these philosophers. . .and thus the excitement!

Now here's the Big Question: if you could have me write a book in my areas of academic interest (poetry, theology, spirituality, philosophy), what sort of book would you have me write? I'm thinking of this as something for a more general but well-read audience not necessarily an academic audience. I've been told that though my homilies are publishable (!), no one really buys collections of homilies anymore. So, anyway, suggest away!

Thanks for stopping by. . .and God bless, Fr. Philip, OP

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:57 PM

    Father Philip,

    How about something on the state of contemporary Religious Life--or Dominican life, for that matter? A critique of the last
    75 years or so, and in particular the last 40, with an evaluation of current trends and some theological reflection on the direction you believe it needs to go.

    Fr. Martin Farrell, op

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  2. Anonymous11:19 PM

    This is not academic at all really, but I would love some type of interdisciplinary Prayer Through Poetry book where you analyze all kinds of poetry for spiritual truths. There's a book called Poems to Heal a Broken Heart that is really fun and profound which includes a lot of poems from different genres and subjects which illustrate the different phases of loving and losing - I would love to see something like that for spiritual life!

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  3. Anonymous8:06 AM

    I would love to see a book written by a priest that is a "how to..." As an example, your how to make a good confession, or something like how to prepare for Mass, how to receive Holy Communion worthily, how to invite your priest for dinner, how to act when around a priest (they are real people too!), and on and on and on. I would defer to your imagination, as it is much better than mine, for more ideas about how an average layperson (like me) can practice the faith better and how an exceptional layperson (like many holy people I know) can take it to even a higher level. Maybe this type of book has already been done. If so I would like to know. If not, I think you would be a good person to write it.

    May the merciful heart of Jesus fill your heart with His gentle peace.

    Greg Keuter
    Divine Mercy Podcast
    http://divinemercypodcast.com
    divinemercypodcast@mac.com

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  4. Anonymous12:52 PM

    how about an autobiography, your conversion story is surely an interesting tale. you could have "the catfish jumping over the pecan pie" as the cover art.
    please, pretty please.

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  5. Anonymous10:27 AM

    I disagree that collections of homilies don't sell. We just don't call them that any more. We call them "reflections" or "meditations" or essays, "a year with Scripture" or something like that. Even some of the pope's homilies get marketed as something else, with the info. stuffed in the introduction that they're actually homilies.

    I'm teaching homiletics for the first time right now and I assure you that even with the Internet, it's work to find a set of exemplary homilies for the men to study.

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  6. I'd vote for a philosophy book. Tell me about virtues and how to practically live the good life as a Christian. On the other hand, I've enjoyed your comments on the liturgy. Rather than tell me how to enjoy Mass, I like how you've emphasized how we're to worship God (the enjoyment is secondary, a result, not the purpose of the Mass).

    Please let us know when the book is finished.

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  7. Anonymous3:52 AM

    Comparative religions. I have not read one book - including by Benedict XVI. that convinced me (a critical lay person, admittedly) that the Christian version of god is "more true" than the versions of god other religions believe in (or the other way round). I suppose it can't be done. *sigh

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  8. I'd love to see an exposition on the history and theology of the prayers of the Mass. Maybe something like the soon-to-be-posted podcast of the Feb 27th Mass workshop that I couldn't make it to...

    By the way, I actually gave my Dad (who doesn't use a computer, and probably couldn't if he wanted to) about 3 hours worth of your homilies on CD for Christmas with accomanying text. I told him there was more, and he told me to wait for Father's Day/birthday/next Christmas because they made such a great gift!

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