Continuing Donna's post of Friday on her favorite books, I want to mention a book that I have not been able to put down - literally - since a friend loaned it to me on Thursday. This book is The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules by Carolyn Custis-James. When I come across a book like this, a book that literally spins my thinking around, I want to share it. I hadn't gotten through half of it before I was ordering three copies - two for friends and one for me to keep. She writes about widowhood and barrenness with a sensitivity and realness that is rare in Christian non-fiction where we are often told to 'trust in God and all will be well.' She goes deeper. What if it's not well? What happens then? We all think we 'know' the story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz, but the fresh insights she brings to that familiar story will never have me looking at it the same.
I love the writings of Custis-James, anyway. Her Lost Women of the Bible was so startling to me that I went through the book with my senior ladies Sunday School class, just in case I missed something the first time.
I know that my last two postings here have been about books - and mostly nonfiction books, which is odd for me, since I write fiction and read probably a novel a week. I promise that in my next blog posting I will mention a few novels that have changed my thinking or spurred me on to better writing.
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2 comments:
Does Custis-James deal with the statement found in Deuteronomy 23:3? It says a "Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation their descedants shall not enter into the asembly of the Lord forever."
Then Ruth, the Moabitess, becomes an an ancestor of Jesus.
Is that God breaking the rules?
Linda, as one who seldom reads novels (although I enjoy them when I do), I was not aware of Carolyn Custis-James; and so I thank you for bringing her to my attention.
I won't tackle Marion's question (it's a doozie!). However, God's seeming to break His own rules as stated in the Mosaic Law, such as in the case of Ruth the Moabitess, is a fascinating point of study.
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