Misquoting Jesus : The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, by Bart D. Ehrman (Clicky 1). Looks most interesting!

Having read Rev. Jim Wallis's God's Politics : Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (Clicky 2), from another thread on Mudcat I heard about Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, by Michelle Goldberg (Clicky 3. Pretty damned scary book. Read the Publisher's Weekly blurb. This, in turn, led to Thy Kingdom Come : How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America : An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer (Clicky 4). From the blurb:   "The distinguished author of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory returns with a searing examination of a new generation of evangelical leaders who have hijacked the Christian faith on behalf of the Republican Party."

This is another in a growing number of books by Christians who are fed up with various Right Wing fundamentalist groups claiming to speak for all Christians. On all of the Amazon pages I've linked to, scroll down a bit for lists of other books on the same subject.

But trying to regain a sense of a solid, scientific view or the universe, I'm thoroughly immersed in Parallel Worlds : A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos, by Michio Kaku (Clicky 5). Absolutely fascinating book! But since it deals with quantum physics, other dimensions, and parallel universes, rather than feeling my feet solidly on firm ground, I find myself suffering from a bit of vertigo. . . .

The more I look around me, the more I think about the interpenetration of dimensions and universes, the possibilities of encountering the theoretical worm-holes or other portals that Dr. Kaku talks about, then slipping through and checking to see if it's at all saner over that-a-way.

Don Firth