The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Every so often, I read a book simply because it has been on The New York Times bestseller list for a long time. The presumption is that if a book has been highly successful, and the capsule description doesn't put me off, there'a a better-than-average chance I'll enjoy it. This book is the exception to that rule. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, it didn't appeal to me. It struck me as artificial, the situations and characters as contrived. I did read it to the end, though. I don't like to abandon a book partway through.

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Monkey Pox

My cold or Covid or whatever it is has turned into a deep cough that is, in clinical terms, “productive.” I had a teleconference appointment with a doctor this afternoon. It’s not my usual doctor, and not the usual way of visiting a doctor. This will be a teleconference with a “resident” who looks to be younger than our daughter. The practice is so busy that a resident is the best they can offer. 

Because of my symptoms, they wouldn’t let me come into the doctor's office. It’s not Monkey Pox. I am not plagued with itchy, scabby sores that crack open and ooze pus when you pick them. 

As I envision the pox spectrum, Monkey Pox sounds more disgusting than chicken pox, but perhaps not as dangerous as smallpox. With respect to size, I'm not sure whether a monkey pox is larger than a chicken pox. Some monkeys are smaller than chickens. Others are larger.

Back On My Feet Again

 Suffering with a wicked cold, I've devised a three-point plan for my recovery. 

1. Get my strength back
2. Get back on my feet 
3. Get back to 100%

This makes perfect sense to me. How can a man be said to function at 100%, if he isn't standing on his own two feet? And of course, you can't get back on your feet until you get your strength back. 

The Gospel According to John

Having completed my reading of The Gospel According to John (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Standard Revised Version), I have to say something about the numerous passages that blame Jews for the persecution and death of Jesus. I've decided to list the most egregious and allow readers to decide for themselves whether or not these are the roots of the anti-Semitism that plagues our society to this day.

• 5:16 - 18. "Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is still working, and I also am working.' For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his father, thereby making himself equal to God." 
• 7:1. "He [Jesus] did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him." 
• 11:53. "So from that day forward they planned to put him to death." 
• 19:15. "They [the Jews] cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!"

Taking these words at face value, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the author(s) of The Gospel According to John are telling us that Jews were responsible for Jesus' death. There's more of the same in The Gospel According to Matthew. See Matthew 12:14, 26:3, 26:59, and all of 27. 

Raised in the Episcopal faith, I was never taught that Jews were Christ-killers. This was never mentioned at all in the religious education that lead to my confirmation, nor in any church service I attended. But now that I have read The Gospel According to John word for word, I am disillusioned to say the least. 

I've been told that it's not right for an untrained person to pluck a couple of statements from the Bible and try to understand them. Some say that you shouldn't approach the Bible on your own, because it requires a learned seminarian, or at least the leader of a church Bible study group, to put these statements in a fuller context of church teachings. I don't feel the need to pursue that path. I've seen enough. Those seeking further perspective may want to read Constantine's Sword: The Church and The Jews, A History by James Carroll (2002).