Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Goodreads and Linking Good Lutheran Books

 If you enjoy Goodreads, you will want to link up to Alec Satin, the Lutheran Librarian. This is his link to follow him.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19730326.Lutheran_Librarian?from_search=true  <- for Mequon graduates, control-click.


 Beware of the wrong Gregory L. Jackson, who also writes religious books.
This is the correct profile photo.

This is my Goodreads link. I am practicing SEO, so links proliferate on my posts.

SEO means Search Engine Optimization: using the associations on the Net to give good books a high level of visibility.

 "How dare you use Leonardo da Vinci to promote Lutheran books! How dare you!"

The same information (one book) can be described or distributed via:

  1. Blogs - more than one, overlapping and linking to each other.
  2. Facebook - including multiple pages.
  3. Dropbox - a great way to distribute free books.
  4. Website - boo, too much work.
  5. Email.
  6. Graphics based social media.
  7. YouTube.
  8. Goodreads.
  9. Amazon author pages.
  10. LinkedIn.
  11. Ustream.
  12. Twitter (not secure).
That is why I ask people to click on links, because simply looking is a way to lead people to faithful, Lutheran books.

 "How did you know I was reading the kitty edition of Pilgrim's Progress?"

Friday, January 17, 2020

Help This Angel Sing "A Mighty Fortress"



Long ago, I sent this Luther quotation, above, to Patsy Leppien, who was working on ways to show what the LCA/ALC synods - now ELCA - were teaching. The author was extremely careful in showing what was taught in the ALC/LCA and how those articles of faith were revealed in the Scriptures.

ELCA's birth was midwifed by Seminex, the Missouri contingent led by Richard Jungkuntz, the UOJ fanatic and future Seminex chairman of the board. Seminex became the official seminary for the rainbow Metropolitan Community Church.

Difficulties did not come from the ELCA corner of the Lutherverse, but from the conservatives imagined rejoicing at Leppien's efforts to clarify the differences. But no, the conservatives raved at her. I called that the highest compliment and a true honor.

 Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, print version at Amazon.


The last Beatitude certainly came true when WELS put Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant on its printing schedule, only to withdraw that "until your attitude changes." Valleskey was on the board and I was supposed to lie weeping, prostrate before the Fuller alumni of WELS, begging forgiveness and hoping the terms of absolution would not be too severe.

Blessing? Yes, that catapulted me into independent book publishing.  Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant was the first of over 30 titles - now in print. Likewise, being kicked out of Free Republic caused me to start this blog, now approaching 8 million views. Various irritations moved me to make all titles non-profit and pubic domain.

Lutheran Synodical Publishing - rainbow, anti-Justification by Faith,
anti-Biblical text.


Monopolies Crumble, Screaming as They Crash to the Ground

Not long ago, the book publishing industry was a powerful business, and that included the nodes in each denomination. A few people could decide to publish a few titles within their areas of interest. Who else would publish

  1. The Wonders of WELS or 
  2. Isn't WELS Fabulous! or 
  3. WELS and Church Growth: Perfect Bedfellows?
Those were just the initial titles - the language had to be toned down to keep people from laughing out loud.

Now anyone can publish anything at a very low cost and distribute it through channels already set up for that purpose.



 The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine


The Modular Book of Concord

The Lutheran Librarian, Alec Satin, began publishing long-lost and hard-to-find Lutheran classics through the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, with over 150 titles listed already, free ebooks, portable, easy to quote from.

Once attracted to The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine, Satin could not stop. He began publishing in print - on Amazon - those titles he had already prepared as ebooks.

Many of us know the Triglotta, a library - or museum - in one, very heavy and tiny-print volume. It uses three languages, though most seminarians barely know English and hardly know Lutheran doctrine - plus Bente's Historical Introductions.

 Lutheran Librarian print books pages.
Nota bene - pages.

The Lutheran Librarian has put together separate titles from the Book of Concord, very useful for people who want to ready and underline the printed material.

 Bente's Historical Introductions are great background reading for the development of the Book of Concords, heroes and villains.
 The Augsburg Confession, 1530, Jacobs edition, with the Saxon Visitation articles.


 Luther's Small Catechism

 Luther's Large Catechism is based upon his sermons and includes essential teaching for pastors and laity.


 The Formula of Concord summarizes the Biblical teaching of Luther and Melanchthon, from the Reformation scholars of that era.
 Every time you click a link, an angel sings "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Wednesday 7 PM Course To Become a Book on The Pilgrim's Progress, Part 1

 The work has two parts. We will cover Part 1, about Christian. That will become a small book to help people study and appreciate this masterpiece.


The Pilgrim’s Progress as an Allegory

 The burden on his back - his sins.
He is studying the Bible to find his way.


We use figures of speech in our normal conversation, but seldom think about their use. Some come from the Bible, where the best known ones are called parables. Luke 15 is an example of parables used to introduce one of the most significant parables.
Luke 15:1-7 is the Parable of the Lost Sheep.
Luke 15:8-10 is the Parable of the Lost Coin.
Luke 15:11 begins the Parable of the Prodigal Son, illustrating the Old Testament custom of moving from the lesser (the sheep and the coin) to the greater – the Prodigal Son. The two introductory stories get us accustomed to the feelings of loss and recovery. The story of the impetuous son, the forgiving father, and the self-righteous brother teaches us the nature of our gracious heavenly Father. Concrete images and associated emotions embed the Biblical lesson.

We are heirs of Greek and Latin literature as well. We use these figures daily:
·        I almost died – Exaggeration or hyperbole.
·        The salad was like twigs and pine cones – simile.
·        He is a dog – metaphor.
·        That was no small task – litotes, a double negative used for a positive, considered an understatement for effect.
·        He gave the wrong reason for the wrong evidence to the wrong person – anaphora, repetition of a phrase for emphasis.
Many more figures could be listed.

The allegory is the grandest tool of our language. An entire book can be an allegory. Used poorly, the result is odd or tedious. The Marriage of Mercury to Philology by Jupiter belongs in a special class – unread, unloved, and largely unknown, except among Medieval scholars. The Lord of the Rings can be seen as an extensive allegory, especially because J. R. R. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic. Likewise, the movie E. T. suggests similar themes, the script written by a Roman Catholic. Some allegories are quite obvious in their intent:
1.      Animal Farm, by George Orwell
2.      The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis – children see Aslan as Jesus, but adults miss that entirely.
3.      Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
4.      The Faerie Queen – by Spencer
5.      Herman Melville Moby Dick
6.      St. Paul – the armor of God – Ephesians 6

The Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory, which might be described as a parable with fictional characters. This means we should read The Pilgrim’s Progress slowly and considers its lessons. This work is not a novel, but a way to explain essential lessons from the Bible. The wealth of the book comes from its details. The author explored the challenges and temptations of Christian, the allegorical hero, on his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The names and mishaps are often humorous and always instructive.



Reformation Seminary Tonight - The Two Natures of Christ

  Reformation Seminary Lecture Tonight at 7 PM Central -  The Two Natures of Christ Zoom link -  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86825663862?pwd=M...