Book cover of The Discarded Image

Book description

The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, providing the historical and cultural background to the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It describes the 'image' discarded by later years as 'the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organisation of their theology, science and history into…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Discarded Image as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I read this book when I was struggling. 

I kept walking into wonderful medieval cathedrals or looking at extraordinary works by Renaissance artists and feeling the loss of an enchanted worldview that was theirs and is no longer ours. This is what C.S. Lewis calls the “discarded image.”

With a depth of knowledge particular to his nonfiction, he reveals how the stars used to shine with life in the medieval imagination, not just light, and myths spoke of a living vitality because they illuminated a deeper perception of things, not just offering moral insights.

This book taught me that the…

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Book cover of A Church More Like Christ

A Church More Like Christ by Gray Rinehart,

This book envisions the church as a place where the wounded find comfort and healing, the broken find repair and restoration, and the vulnerable find help and hope. A church that acts more like the Christ it serves would offer refuge for the oppressed, a hand up to the beaten-down,…

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