Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
My right sidebar had gotten a bit unwieldy as I continued to add links. I’ve consolidated my lists of links to political analysis, foreign and military affairs, and other non-blog sites into a single Outside the Beltway: Recommended Reading list which I’ve linked at the top of the right sidebar.
About James Joyner
James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. Follow James on Twitter.
With summer vacation about to get underway for you in academe, you’ll be needing some summer reading. Tacitus recommends the Bible, especially the Book of Ecclesiastes:
Ecclesiastes has it all — Kierkegaardian reflection, Dostoevskian woe, ’80s-style excess, a strong central figure in the brooding Qoholeth, an easily-digestible episodic format, an endorsement of intellectualism, a strikingingly postmodern skepticism toward God, and of course a happy ending. But first comes the angst and the debauching. . . .
Now that’s entertainment. And, in all seriousness, a spirituality I can appreciate. I know it’s all the rage to be into Romans, with its impenetrable passages and baffling allusions; and of course Ezekiel has the UFOs. But I’m not one of the in crowd — give me Qoholeth.
Hmm. I’ll have to go re-read that one. Been some time since I delved into the Old Testament.
About James Joyner
James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. Follow James on Twitter.
How can it not be good when it starts by telling us that everything is meaningless…
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You ought to love this, James:
“The heart of the wise inclines to the right; but the heart of a fool to the left.” (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
Still, for great summer reading, 1 Kings 18 is good (Elijah taunts the prophets of Baal), but you can’t beat Song of Solomon. How they ever let soft-core porn become Holy Scripture, I’ll never figure out.
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How they ever let soft-core porn become Holy Scripture, I’ll never figure out.
Just shows that when God created men and women and sex, He wasn’t kidding around when He said, “It is good.”
:wink:
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