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Discussion » Questions » Books and Literature » What book or author has moved you/affected you profoundly or even seeped into your very core?
Adaydreambeliever

What book or author has moved you/affected you profoundly or even seeped into your very core?

I think for me it's been Donald Harington... I have been reading his books now since 2014 apparently, (I looked up when I bought the first book) and the thing is.... I just cannot understand why everyone's not shouting his name from the rooftops!  In case anyone's unfamiliar with his work he is an American author, who writes, mostly fictionally, about a (mostly) fictional town in the Ozarks.  

We hear about Steinbeck... and others...but not Harington... odd because imo he's truly the most talented and imaginative author I have ever encountered and, dare I say it, that includes my favourites Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. 

I feel like part of me resides in the Ozarks.. well my mind does... and that's quite a feat really when you think about it - that a Brit who has never seen, nor experienced that territory almost feels as though part of it resides within. 

So what books/authors have gripped you in such a way?

Posted - February 6, 2018
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Responses


  • 13277
    Or did people create God and associated narrative to explain how the heavens (is there more than one?) and earth came to be in the first place? No way to know, is there? All you have is blind faith.
      November 4, 2019 9:56 AM MST
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  • 7280
    Faith is never blind when reason illuminates it.
      November 4, 2019 10:16 AM MST
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  • 13277
    But faith is not concrete knowledge or proof, and that's the salient point.
      November 4, 2019 10:40 AM MST
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  • 7280
    And that begs the question of whether the supernatural is subject to the extrapolation of the rules and logic we in the natural order attempt to impose upon it.

    And therefore if Faith is indeed a supernatural virtue freely given by God, then it is precisely both necessary and sufficient to accept the reality it purports to exist.
      November 4, 2019 10:56 AM MST
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  • 13277
    Which is just a roundabout way of saying that belief in the existence of God is based on faith. But we already knew that.
      November 4, 2019 11:54 AM MST
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  • 7280
    My belief is also based on reason.

    And since we have reasoned to different opinions about the existence of God, one of us is most likely wrong.

    Determine your opportunity cost and then place your bet---I already have.
      November 4, 2019 3:06 PM MST
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  • 13277
    Good for you. Actually, since such belief is merely a self-fulfilling prophecy in the absence of objective reality, God exists in your mind. So neither of us is wrong.
      November 4, 2019 3:21 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Invalid syllogism

    Do you really think the Abrahamic God hides Himself from those who know He exists and never reveals Himself to them?
      November 4, 2019 3:26 PM MST
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  • 13277
    In your opinion. I disagree. How many angels do you think can dance on a pinhead?
      November 4, 2019 3:39 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Are you finished counting yet?
      February 17, 2020 4:32 PM MST
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  • 16829
    Damn it, the question asked "WHICH BOOK". Semantics or my personal opinion of the content is completely irrelevant. It's not a science textbook, it's a very detailed history of the Jewish people and a simple set of guidelines on how to get along with one another.
      November 4, 2019 9:15 PM MST
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  • 13277
    Fair point. But my thing, and the reason for my initial response to you, is that the core text you quoted puts forth a questionable assumption, presenting it as an immutable fact. But the only basis for its acceptance without doubt is faith and belief - a choice, not objective/empirical/ scientific proof. Whether God created us or we created God et al is an intellectually honest and reasonable question. 
      November 4, 2019 9:51 PM MST
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  • 16829
    I tend to answer obtusely on occasion. The Bible has affected me more profoundly than any other literature - and I answered the question by quoting the first line. It's so iconic a book that everybody recognises that line, including you.
    Personally I read much of the OT as Parables - it can't be taken literally as it's not internally consistent - and the NT has many accounts of another Teacher using parables to make a point. "Like Father, like Son" perhaps?
      November 4, 2019 11:51 PM MST
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