Welcome to our Reading Club!
We will be starting up a parish reading group in January 11, 2024 to meet every second Thursday thereafter at 7:00-8:30 pm in the multi-purpose room at the parish centre.
We will discuss seminal works of literature, theology, philosophy, and Scripture which offer us important insights and ideas to ponder deeply; ideas which can increase both our sense of clarity and direction as we mature along the Christian path, and the meaning and purpose in our lives.
All are welcome!
Coffee, tea, beverages, and nibbly bits (snacks) will be provided.
The glory of God is a human being fully alive. – St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Our first selection will be:
Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
Publisher’s Overview
One of the most important philosophy titles published in the twentieth century, Josef Pieper’s Leisure, the Basis of Culture is more significant, even more crucial, today than it was when it first appeared more than fifty years ago. This edition also includes his work The Philosophical Act.
Leisure is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans, understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure — a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture.
Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture — and ourselves.
Author
Josef Pieper, perhaps the most popular Thomist philosopher of the twentieth century, was schooled in the Greek classics and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. He also studied philosophy, law, and sociology, and he was a professor at the University of Munster, West Germany. His numerous books have been widely praised by both the secular and religious press.