This tag comes my way thanks to Ben Johnson who gives these ground rules: What ten books would you want with you if you were shipwrecked on a desert island? Here's my 10.
1. Bible (Douay-Rheims; better, in many ways, than the KJV with all the books in their LXX places)
2. Anglican Breviary (actually, Monastic Diurnal preferred, but the AB includes Matins)
3. English Missal (also known as Knott Missal; most complete for my use)
4. Liber Usualis (offices are not said, but sung)
5. The Lutheran Hymnal (no joy without singing the sturdy hymns of my youth)
6. Commentary on the Gospel of St Luke by St Cyril (lacking in the breviary)
7. NPNF II.IV (select works & letters of St Athanasius; who can tire of him?)
8. Philokalia vol 2 (St Maximos takes quite a while)
9. Brothers Karamazov (maybe I'll finally finish it)
10. The Destinty of Man by Nicolas Berdyaev (maybe I'll finally start it)
Honorable Mention
NPNF II.VII (not so much for St Cyril of Jerusalem, as for St Gregory Nazianzen)
English Ritual (not sure what I'd do with it since I'm deserted, but it completes the set)
As you can see, I'll spend my days praying; and then stretching the mind. I'll have the time finally to do it. And whatever other reading material I'll need, I'll find on my PDA which, of course, will be on my person (so I can retrieve what I want--at least, as long as the battery holds out).
Now if I can just make sure I shipwreck where pirates have stowed an unlimited supply of Cuban cigars and 16 yr old Lagavulin...
Passing on the favor to:
Chris Jones
Holy Hauntings
Fr. Marco (you see, I can be trans-continental)
and Pr Petersen (returning the favor)
8 comments:
Father, I am disappointed you are not taking the Lutheran Confessions or something from Luther with you. :)
Goodness, Father, the KJV HAS all the books!
You just need the right edition:
http://www.hendrickson.com/html/product/631609.trade.html?category=all
In fact, KJV has something that neither Luther nor Douay-Rheims has, viz., 1&2 Esdras. Not that I make much use of those two books-though it was interesting for me to learn that the opening words of the Requiem Mass come from that text. Got my KJV, by the way, from Cambridge University Press, though it has been badly damaged in our fire. Just one more thing, though I tend to pray the Psalms in the Coverdale, I do love to look at them in the Douay-Rheims once in a while because of all the places where it has "Christ." Check, eg., Ps 2.
Fr. Fenton,
For your honorable mentions, could it be that you mean NPNF II.VII rahter than II.IX? Or is it that I am misreading your notation?
Shane R. Cota
Fr Vervoorst:
The Small Catechism I have committed to memory; the rest is on my PDA. But you're right--an awful omission for a Lutheran Pastor. As for Luther--I was limited to 10 books. :) Seriously, I considered his Galatians commentary--also on my PDA--but couldn't stomach the abriged version, and didn't have room for the 2 volume version on my shelf. And his greatest work--bar none--is 8 volumes; i.e., Genesis commentary. Besides (in my defense), I do have the best of Luther and the Confessions in the TLH hymns.
Fr Weedon:
Okay, you caught me (as I feared someone would). I know KJV has all the books--just not commonly in the US. I simply prefer the Douay-Rheims, even though I grew up with KJV. And I like the LXX ordering. (See revision on list.)
Mr Gaba:
I too am enamored with Coverdale Psalter for prayer; yet find myself flipping to the Douay-Rheims for study. AB uses Coverdale, so I devised a way to have both.
Fr Cota:
Thanks for catching the error. I had it write in the link--just not the pixels. I've revised it.
If I would have seen the post earlier, I would have beaten my bishop to the punch!
I love my leatherbound reproduction of the 1611 KJV. I bought it so I'd have all the books, and I got the idiosyncratic spellings as a bonus.
-The English Knott Missal
-The Anglican Breviary
-The Monastic Diurnal
Lex orandi, lex credendi...
Father, you pray as an Anglican. Are you sure you're not one? God bless you!
Fr Chad,
I pray as an English speaking Western Catholic. Hence, when there's a conflict between Anglican forms and the historic forms (e.g., the Advent collects), I always choose the Latin. That's why I prefer the English (Knot) Missal to the Anglican Missal; and why I prefer the Monastic Diurnal to the Anglican Breviary. No melding in Prayerbook forms for me. :)
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