A new book, “The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream,” brings to mind Howard Nemerov’s poem “Boom!” The book’s author argues that prosperity theology is not an aberration but was present from the beginning of American Puritanism.
Tag Archives: George Eliot
When Christianity Becomes a Money Cult
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Boom!", Adam Bede, Calvinism, Capitalism, Daniel Defoe, Howard Nemerov, Ian Watt, Max Weber, prosperity theology, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Robinson Crusoe, theology of abundance Comments closed
My Great Grandmother Read for Courage
Reading over the memoirs of my great grandmother, I have been impressed by how reading literature helped her get through the hard times. The authors included Tennyson, George Eliot, Susan Warner, and Charlotte Yonge.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "May Queen", Alfred Lord Tennyson, ancestors, Charles Kinglsey, Charlotte Yonge, Daisy Chain, family memoirs, Heir of Redcliffe, Mill on the Floss, Oscar Wilde, Susan Warner, Wide Wide World Comments closed
Unwanted Pregnancies, Desperate Women
As reproductive service centers are closed down by conservative state legislatures, attempted self abortions are on the rise. For a literary depiction of a desperate woman there is Hetty Sorrel from George Eliot’s “Adam Bede.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Abortion, Adam Bede, Planned Parenthood, TRAP laws Comments closed
Can Lit Also Be a Force for Evil? A Debate
The classics are capable to doing great good but can they also do harm? Even as they powerfully open up the mind to new possibilities, can they also close it down? A debate.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Anabelle Lee", Aristotle, Bridge to Terabithia, Charles Dickens, Earth Sea Trilogy, Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jane Austen, Katherine Paterson, Middlemarch, Old Curiosity Shop, Percy Shelley, Plato, Pride and Prejudice, Sir Philip Sidney, Twelfth Night, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ursula Leguin, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Top 10 Parent-Child Classics (Positive)
A top ten list of classics with positive depictions of parent-child relationships.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mother to Son", Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Golden Bowl, Harper Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Fielding, Henry James, Huckleberry Finn, Langston Hughes, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Mark Twain, Parent-child relationships, Silas Marner, Tempest, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Jones, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Shakespeare Comments closed
England’s Most Humane Novel
A new bibliomemoir on “Middlemarch” shows a book shaping a life.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged bibliomemoir, Middlemarch, reader response, Vladimir Nabokov Comments closed
Will GOP Base Play the Sap Yet Again?
Is the Republican establishment simply exploiting its base, like Tom (in “Mill on the Floss”) exploits Maggie and as Brigid O’Shaughnessy (in “The Maltese Falcon”) tries to exploit Sam Spade?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dashiell Hammett, Maltese Falcon, Mill on the Floss, Presidential politics, Tea Party Comments closed
Literature about Health Care Reform
At present I am one of those liberals in a high state of anxiety about the prospects of Obama’s attempts to bring us universal health care. I find myself careening through the highs of hope and the lows of fear. I watch the political proceedings minutely, then turn away discouraged, then read some columnist […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Emily Dickinson, health care, Hope is that thing with feathers, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Middlemarch, Old Ironsides, Oliver Wendell Holmes, politics Comments closed
