441. Title: What to Believe?
Author: Caputo, John D.
ISBN-10:
ISBN-13: 978-0-231-55866-2
Date Finished: 2024-07-19
My Comments: Radical theology seems to be a exploration of the ghost of God, in which there is barely anything there. Gone are the OMNIs and all that's left is the possibility of something. The more Caputo I read (and listen to), the better I understand him. This book is written in 4 languages, German, French, Latin and English, and the better you know those, the more you will understand (I don't!). While it's a lot of work, I do think I got something from the reading. Recommended if you are willing to do the work.

Amazon Description: If you no longer “believe in God,” the Supreme Being of classical theology, or you never did in the first place, is there anything you still ought to believe, anything you should cherish unconditionally, no matter what? In this lively and accessible book, addressed to believers, “recovering” believers, disbelievers, nonbelievers, and “nones” alike - to anyone in search of what they really do believe - the acclaimed philosopher and theologian John D. Caputo seeks out what there is to believe, with or without religion. Writing in a lucid and witty style, Caputo offers a bold account of a “radical theology” that is anything but what the word theology suggests to most people. His point of departure is autobiographical, describing growing up in the world of pre-Vatican II Catholicism, serving as an altar boy, and spending four years in a Catholic religious order after high school. Caputo places Augustine’s Confessions, Tillich’s Dynamics of Faith, and Jacques Derrida and postmodern theory in conversation in the service of what he calls the “mystical sense of life.” He argues that radical theology is not simply an academic exercise but describes a concrete practice immediately relevant to the daily lives of believers and nonbelievers alike. What to Believe? is an engaging introduction to radical theology for all readers curious about what religion can mean today.

442. Title: Democracy at Risk: The Dangers of Project 2025
Author: Fowlers, J. E.
ISBN-10:
ISBN-13: kindle-none
Date Finished: 2024-07-27
My Comments: This is a very sparse description of seven of the many parts of Project 2025 with the same arguments against each part listed. You won't gain much by reading this. Amazon's idea of 'detailed analysis' is far different from mine. Not recommended.

Amazon Description: In a time of major shifts and challenges in US politics, Democracy at Risk: The Dangers of Project 2025 takes a hard-hitting look at the controversial proposals of Project 2025 and their potential to reshape American society. This book is timely and essential, offering a detailed yet accessible analysis of the project’s goals and the far-reaching implications for democracy, civil rights, and social equity that will impact every American. This book explores the impact Project 2025 will have on the United States, including: The centralization of power and its threat to checks and balances The dismantling of federal agencies and its impact on public services The rollback of civil rights and diversity initiatives The severe restrictions on reproductive rights The return to punitive criminal justice policies and their effect on marginalized communities The suppression of free speech and media control The economic policies that could widen inequality and undermine social safety nets Drawing on historical context and current political dynamics, Democracy at Risk provides a comprehensive overview of Project 2025's potential to erode democratic institutions, increase inequality, and roll back decades of progress in civil rights. But it's not too late to change America's future. Learn about: The importance of vigilance and civic engagement in safeguarding democracy Strategies for protecting free speech, civil rights, and social equity Grassroots and institutional responses to counteract regressive policies The critical role of citizens in defending democratic values Democracy at Risk is both a warning siren and a call to action for all who value justice, equality, and the democratic principles that underpin a free society.

443. Title: Prequel
Author: Maddow, Rachel
ISBN-10:
ISBN-13: 978-0-59344452-8
Date Finished: 2024-09-13
My Comments: This is an excellent description of how Hitler and the Nazi's tried to destroy democracy in the U.S. before and during WW2 and replace it with fascism. It looks too much like what is happening with Project 2025 today. It details the failure our our justice system to prosecute many in congress or to even allow the publication of what people discovered about these events. Highly recommended.

Amazon Description: Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens' confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule. That effort worked-tongue and groove-alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that stockpiled bombs and weapons and trained for mass murder and violent insurrection. At the same time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding. In 1941 the U.S. Department of Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court. None of it went as planned. While the scheme has been remembered in history-if at all-as the work of fringe players, in reality it involved a large number of some of the country's most influential elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the weight of political intimidation. That failure of the legal system had consequences. The tentacles of that unslain beast have reached forward into our history for decades. But the heroic efforts of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant tale in our own disquieting times.

444. Title: Paul the Pharisee
Author: Crossan, John Dominic
ISBN-10:
ISBN-13: 978-1-59815-217-3
Date Finished: 2024-10-03
My Comments: Crossan compares the authentic letters of Paul with the stories about Paul in Acts, and finds great differences. I enjoyed the comparison, but I was not as impressed by the evolution story I think he was trying to write. I agree that the story is there, but I would have appreciated more detail here. A longer book?? Still, recommended.

Amazon Description: Paul the Pharisee celebrates not just the New - Paul as Jew but the New - New - Paul as Jewish Pharisee. Granted past Christian, Jewish, and Roman matrices of interpretation, this book explores the historical Paul through the fourth matrix of Evolution. (Think of those matrices as four Russian nesting Matryoshka dolls.) We are not on the Titanic; we are the iceberg. What, then, does Pauline “resurrection” have to do with human evolution?

445. Title: God-Like:
Author: Brewin, Kester
ISBN-10:
ISBN-13: 978-0-9935628-7-7
Date Finished: 2025-02-13
My Comments: A description of Artificial Intelligence and a history over the last 500 years of how people have tried to make something intelligent, as humanity is. The front cover advertises "An excellent writer." with which I disagree. He has some good ideas but much of the book is comments on quotes from others. It is badly edited with many typos. Some of the sentence construction may be British English, but is probably just poor editing. My main take-away is that we are allowing big corporations to develop Artificial Intelligence that will soon take over the world. These corporations have more power than nations so are not being properly constrained. This is a great successor to "Superintelligence" by Nick Bostrom. Even with it's faults, it is recommended for it's ideas.

Amazon Description: In the year 1600, a monk is burned at the stake for claiming to have built a device that will allow him to know all things. 350 years later, having witnessed 'Trinity' - the first test of the atomic bomb - America's leading scientist outlines a memory machine that will help end war on earth. 25 years in the making, an ex-soldier finally unveils this 'machine for augmenting human intellect', dazzling as he stands 'Zeus-like, dealing lightning with both hands'. In this profound and urgent new book, leading thinker on technology Kester Brewin shows how AI is both stunningly new and rooted in the most ancient human desires. Hailed by the UK government's own lead on AI as 'god-like', as we finally welcome this stunning technology amongst us - with Frankenstein and Faustus, from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to the underbelly of Silicon Valley - Brewin skillfully leads us through the myths, machines and monsters that have influenced the development of our greatest and most longed-for invention, and how we can learn to live alongside it