not much reading lately.

only
- online newspapers/ newsletters (cbc news - to get Canadian news, bbc news - to get world news, Dutchnews.nl - to get dutch news in english, and Het Parool to get dutch news in dutch)
- blogs (in order to see a little different perspective on the world)
- bits and pieces of the Bible (for teaching English)
- the Confessions of the Reformed Church (I was searching for something for the English class i was teaching here)
- finishing both of the C.S. Lewis books previously mentioned; now moved on to the next Narnia book - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (though in Dutch)

Commentaries on Hosea 6 (for a presentation for class)

Hosea 5 talks about judgement as does Hosea 6:4 ff. Hosea 6:1-3 is a call to confession, which seems a bit oddly placed, especially since the judgment in chapter 5 is more in the future, 6:1-3 talks about being injured by God, and 6:4ff talks about judgment having already happened. So did the confession even make a difference? And shouldn´t there have been some kind of time or indication in the text that the people really did choose to reject God - and that the Confession wasn´t really sincere?
After doing research (and helping lead a class discussion on it), a couple of things came out:
1. the judgement throughout the passage is kind of an already but not yet thing - shown by the various verbal forms in each section.
2. perhaps the Confession was merely Hosea or the LORD´s putting words into the mouth of the people - saying this is what they should do.
3. perhaps the Confession is not really sincere - that it stinks a bit of pagan fertility religion or was only about sacrifices, as seem to be Hosea´s complaints throughout the book - and in the response of 6:6.
it was fascinating to look at it more closely - and to wonder about the connections between restoration, repentance, and judgement. and to see how Christ´s death and resurrection (the phrase, rising in 3 days, is in Hosea 6:2) helps us see how restoration, judgment and repentance can fit together.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves.

I'm reading it as a way to learn more how to love other people and the language for doing so. I picked it up because I don´t hear a lot of sermons anymore and was looking for something to compensate for the spiritual encouragement I miss in that.

i´m now in the middle of the friendship section, and as i read i delight in how the friends in my life are such a blessing. my favourite part of this section was his idea that friends are something that are better with sharing - and that my joy in spending time with one friend increase when i spend time with her and another who brings out different parts of me and different parts of my friend. and it reminds me of dinners together last year - when it was a delight to eat with Brenda, but even more so with Brian, too :)
and i´m delighting in now reading Lewis's Prins Caspian :)

I never thought this would happen to me: Prostitution and Traffic in Latin American Women in The Netherlands by Fanny Polanía Molina & Marie-

Along with providing a continuing perspective on prostitution (not that much of which was new considering all I´ve been reading), this book dicussed a lot of the advantages of the legalisation and making prostitution a business like any other - as it would provide a legal means for women for other countries to be prostitutes here - and possibly better their situation.
The more I read, the more I see how complicated prostitution is. With Latin American women, the introduction into (illegal) prostitution in the Netherlands is not so much trafficking by kidnapping but instead is through someone trustworthy offering a chance to make a better life, even if one is not fully aware of the cost involved. One woman put it this way: as a Columbian the only way she can get ahead is by being a criminal or a prostitute - so even if her story has belied that this is not a life that she is all that happy about, she ´chooses´ to remain in her window.

The Banner (January 2007)

when i lived in Grand Rapids, i have to admit that i didn´t always read The Banner - perhaps because one gets the idea that being in the centre of the CRC is more than enough to get a feeling for what´s happening in the CRC (but, as anyone living outside of Grand Rapids will vehemently argue, is not really true).
but now being a different continent away for several months, it´s a delight to read it again - to hear about our church and the hopes and the plans and the challenges. and even if we´re not perfect, i´m glad to be part of this church. and am encouraged to know that i get to participate in what´s happening, even if for now it´s mostly just praying.

The article, "Holland´s Post-Secular Future" (forwarded t

the article indicates a growing interest in Christianity in the Netherlands. but the growth is most significantly from immigrant churches, house churches, and non-traditional (often non-denominational) churches. as i participate in a very traditional (high church) Protestant Church, i don´t quite fit. and as excited as i am about the growth of Christianity here (and especially the growing number of prayer groups in various places and the flourishing Alpha programs), i´m a bit disappointed that the traditional churches aren´t growing - and the idea that more contemporary is better.

Jackie's blog

in procrastinating from doing homework, i read a friend's blog (Jackie). the blog does a great job of showing how she has allowed liveing in the Netherlands to shape her. and she has a lot of great thoughts and quotes. perhaps i appreciate it more because i agree with much of what she has to say - and am delighted that with our different theological backgrounds, we still have so much in similar about spiritual things. guess it goes to show that the right theology isn't necessarily the right doctrines but an active invitation for God to participate in shaping one's life - which i see in Jackie (and hope others might see in me).

Vrije Universiteit Thesis Reading

The boooks really needed for my thesis at the VU:
Kathleen M. O'Connor, The Confessions of Jeremiah: Their Interpretation and Role in Chapters 1-25 (1980s);
- very well done, although she can't entirely explain or prove her redactional theories;
A.R. Diamond, The Confessions of Jeremiah in Context: Scenes of Prophetic Drama (1980s)
- probably quite good technically (as evidence by the solid reviews he has made), however his writing style makes it a frustrating read;
Mark S. Smith, The Laments of Jeremiah and Their Contexts (1990 or so)
- provides a contrasting structure to the above but does not really add much to their work or even signifcantly dialogue with them.

And my dissertation is (hopefully) about how the confessions of Jeremiah fit into the context of the whole book of Jeremiah (thus expanding the work done by O'Connor). the immediate thesis is about how Jeremiah 15 (one of the confessions) fits into the whole book. and i need to figure out an outline for the thesis by tomorrow, so time to get to work :)

Jeremy Seabrook, No Hiding Place (2000)

a fairly technical book about instances when home countries have convicted someone for sexually abusing children in a foreign country. It was hopeful in the sense that countries and people are realizing the necessity of holding people accountable but still saddening in seeing how much we`d still like to deny that good people like us can do such things (and we have a habit of letting them get away with it).

Belinda J. Carpenter, Re-thinking Prostitution: Feminism, Sex, and the Self (2000).

This is part of learning about the world in which i live:
One of the main ideas of the book was that we needed to re-think some of the false dichotomies we have in terms of prostitution (for example that the prostitute is either the object (usually of abuse) or the subject (the one making all the choices)). As well, we need to consider how prostitution is both private and public. It was rather fascinating, although somewhat technical and a lot of sociological language. The points that stuck with me are that a woman is given money because as a female she tends to exist as a bodily person (i.e. having emotions and not just as a rational being) but yet most prostitutes see it as only a job - and they are not fully present in their body during their work, and that we have socially accepted the idea that men need sex.

Claude Jaget, ed. Prostitutes: Our Life (1980)

The book is prostitutes telling of their lives and their choices in becoming a prostitute. Although the book is a little old and discusses only the lives of street prostitutes (not those in the windows like we have here), it was fascinating to hear their stories - and their strong argument that they were ordinary people who had often taken this choice because there was limited other choices available to them. and they only did it for the money. and although they´d get out of it soon (and didn´t want their families involved) that the rules against them in France (and England) made it very difficult to lead normal lives once they´d been convicted - or even to have friends, as anyone associating with them could be charged with some kind of association with prostitution (like pimping). they seemed to be saying that this was their choice as a way to survive in a world that doesn´t give a lot of choices to women, especially single moms.

even though i know much was not said, i appreciated being able to see the real-ness and ordinary-ness of people who have felt the need to make such different choices than i. and i feel like my eyes are opening up a bit more to the world around me here.