Library News

December 2010

As I look out the window, the first snow is icing the tall grass, and the first hint of winter is in the air.

Exciting News! The Library now has a computer to thanks to Bruce Roe who donated his used Dell computer to us. The Library Committee also wishes to thank Don Bailey and the Audio Visual Committee for their time and effort in setting up the computer and getting it running. Thanks everyone!

Book Review:

• Idliby, Ranya, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner. The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew: Three Women Search for Understanding. Free Press: New York, c2006.
  Shelf Number: 201.5 ID FA

After September 11, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, faced constant questions about Islam, God and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classroom. She decides to meet with two women - a Christian and Jew - to try to understand and answer her children’s questions. I was very impressed with their courage, forthrightness, and ability to stick together through difficult discussions and misinterpretations. The authors provide detailed advice on how to start a faith club with a 5 Step Faith Club Plan. I think it would be interesting to have a dialogue with other religions, including Muslims, whether in a formal faith club or not.

Peace, love and happiness from Marilyn, Rosemary and Carla, to you and yours during this Holiday Season.

Library News

November 2010

This column is a little shorter than last month since I will be spending most of October in Meaford, Ontario visiting with my family. However, Rosemary and Carla will continue with cataloguing, shelf reading and ordering books so there should more news for the December column.

Book Reviews

I was looking for members of the congregation to review library books and I immediately thought of Don Ayre to review two new books on Emerson and Thoreau. He kindly agreed and has reviewed the following titles which are available on the Library shelves at the shelf number indicated.

• Andrews, Barry M. Emerson as a Spiritual Guide: A Companion to Emerson’s Essays. Skinner House: Boston, c2003.
  Shelf Number: 814 AN EM
• Andrews, Barry M. Thoreau as a Spiritual Guide: A Companion to Walden for Personal Reflection and Group Discussion . Skinner House: Boston, c2000.
  Shelf Number: 814 AN TH

Here is Don’s review:

“Barry M. Andrews, a UU minister of several decades who now is the minister of religious education to the congregation at Shelter Rock, Long Island has written two booklets - 1) Thoreau as Spiritual Guide (2001) and 2) Emerson as Spiritual Guide (2003). Published by Skinner Books, they were intended as companion pieces to the writings of these two great minds but I found them to be more like “theological Big Macs” - they are highly readable, bite sized at about 60 pages and truly fast food for deep thought.

And in fact Andrews wrote them that way for a reason. In today's busy, hi-tech world, Andrews notes that “we have a hard time making a commitment to the care and feeding of the soul” and argues that whereas Thoreau and Emerson are more than qualified as contemporary guides, they are in danger of being lost in time. Hence, the need for fast-reads reconnecting them with society today.

Andrews is concerned that Thoreau and Emerson are in danger of being lost in time a) to Unitarian Univeralists because “for too long, we've been viewed – and even have seen ourselves – as an alternative to religion rather then a religious alternative, which is what we truly are”; and b) to the North American culture in general because we haven't managed to pass on the real genius of the UU movement – “to be inclusive of different religious backgrounds and to be open to the wisdom of other spiritual traditions." As Transcendentalists, Thoreau and Emerson were voracious readers and read everything from Kant to the Bhagavad-Gita. In balance, Thoreau tended to be Taoist; Emerson, more Buddhist. Andrews himself is more Taoist in his Unitarian beliefs.

As Thoreau said of Walden Pond, there were three chairs – “one for solitude; one for friendship; and one for society.” Andrews serves up his Big Macs from the chair for friendship having apparently gained a feeling of accord that reaches back through the years; and he invites us to join with him in spirit in the chair for society – as contemporary representatives. To assist us, he ends each section of his booklets with a series of mind-provoking questions about today's values.

Consistent with Unitarian Universalist principles, Andrews comments: “I do not want to take anything from those who have found wisdom in other traditions nor to diminish the importance of what other religions have to offer...I think that we are enriched by the exposure to different forms of spirituality. But I also believe that, unbeknownst to many, we are the inheritors of a deeply and profound spiritual tradition of our own. What is more, this tradition is not only uniquely Unitarian Universalist, but also typically American, and offers us a valuable model of the cultivation of the soul.” Recently added to our library, these two booklets are well worth the read! In combination, they give a powerful impression of late night discussions at Walden.”

~ Reviewed by Don Ayre

Have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends and I’ll see you in late October.

Marilyn Brooke,
Chair, Library Committee