Recently noted good bits in books I've used

"At Assisi once, when a theologian attacked Fra Egidio by the usual formal arrangement of syllogisms, the brother waited till the conclusions were laid down, and then, taking out a flute from the folds of his robe, he played his answer in rustic melodies."

Quoted in Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder. The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination (San Francisco: Harper Collins), 1991.   Peterson has never written a better book.

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"Do you want to know what goes on at the heart of the Trinity?

I'll tell you.

At the heart of the Trinity,

the Father laughs and gives borth to the Son.

The Son then laughs back at the Father,

and gives birth to the Spirit.

Then the whole Trinity laughs,

and gives birth to us."

Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)  

I know. Eckhart jumps right into the filoque controversy despite the playful language. Still like the idea of laughter as creative and life-giving though!

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"A shallow mind is a sin against God", Chaim Potok, In the Beginning.

Potok was one of the finest interpreters of Hasidic Judaism, and his novels remain a source of delight and instruction for me. But don't read them if you have a shallow mind - they move in a world of spiritual intensity and serious reflection on the collision between faith convictions and the pressures towards cultural accommodation. His novel, My Name is Asher Lev, is I think a masterpiece as an account of a young man growing up under the dilemma of being faithful to his artistic calling and remaining within the community that confers identity.