Leaside United Church

Please note that the next meeting of the Leaside United Church Book Circle will take place on Sunday, November 20 in the Hearth Room, staring at 9:15 am.. At this session, we will continue with and complete our discussion of Karen Armstrong’s book “The Bible: A Biography”. We, in particular, welcome those who were not able to attend our first discussion of the book a few weeks ago. You will not feel left out of this discussion. For this session, I expect our discussion will focus on what Karen Armstrong says in the “Epilogue” at the end of the book. At page 224, Karen Armstrong states – “Because scripture has been so flagrantly abused [in the modern era], Christians, Jews and Muslims have a duty to establish a counter-narrative that emphasizes the benign features of their exegetical traditions.” Do we agree with this statement? And, as one of our participants inquired at the first session, what importance, if any, do we attach to all of this?

For our first Book Circle session of 2017, I want to pick up a suggestion from Wendy Arnold that we read and discuss a book titled “Precious Cargo: My Year Driving the Kids on School Bus 3077” by Craig Davidson. This amusing and touching account of the author’s relationships with a number of special needs children while driving their school bus will be a nice change of pace after two sessions with Karen Armstrong. I mention this book now because there is a bit of a waiting list for the book at the Toronto Public Library, so you may want to get on the waiting list as soon as possible if this is your preferred means of accessing the book. I hope to see many of you for our discussion on November 20.  All are welcome (even if you aren’t familiar with the books).

David Phillips
Book Circle Leader