I Am Not Hamlet

  Reads of 2021 This is a little late (only three days to go in February as I begin this, but here it is nonetheless). As always these are in order of reading not in order of goodness. Three Cheers for the Paraclete * Thomas Keneally I got through three chapters and put it down. It just didn’t grab me. The Compleat Angler * Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton Interesting as a primary source, but about 50+ pages too long for pleasurable reading. There were some worthwhile pieces in it–poetry, etc. Entangled * Martin Sheldrake I listened to this as an audio book, so I probably missed some things, but overall it was fascinating. All about fungus and how “There is more in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy…” The Lost World of Genesis One * John H. Walton Another audio book; Walton asserts how the first chapter of Genesis explains that the earth is a temple and all creation has a function in this temple, rather than some pseudo-scientific creation myth. My last Protestan

Early on in Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer compares the Great Lakes people’s story or Skywoman with the Bible’s account of Eve. She does this to compare how indigenous people viewed the world versus Western ones who had been Christianized. She thinks Eve’s story is unfair. But Kimmerer compares fruit to vegetables as Eve is a created mortal, whereas Skywoman is at least some kind of demigoddess. The comparison is unfair as well because she only focuses on a part of the Biblical story. The Bible has been regarded as a story in four acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration/Glorification. Eve is centerstage only for the Creation and Fall, she doesn’t live to see redemption, though she receives the promise of it. The icon of the Resurrection depicts a risen Jesus pulling Adam and Eve from their tombs as he smashes the gates of Hell and death. This Kimmerer doesn’t mention at all. It should be noted that Kimmerer is Potowatomi. The rest of the book is good.