Austin Books

This handy, attractively produced, and inexpensive volume is thoughtfully edited by two Durham University authorities on the writings of Austin Farrer. This book is especially timely and useful because at this moment so much of Farrer's work is out of print. Here in this book are excerpts--long enough to give the reader the meat and the context--from Farrer's writings from books, sermons, meditations, and essays. (There are about 30 excerpts at 5 to 7 pages each.)

How to sum up why you should consider reading Farrer? A big reason must be that, yes, this is Christian orthodoxy, but no, this is not boring stuff. Farrer is continually exciting not only because of the unsurpassed beauty of his language (he can't be paraphrased without significant loss) but also because his thought remains so fresh and invigorating. He's capable of looking at anything from a brief story in the Bible to a huge problem in theology--such as why evil exists--and dealing with it in a gripping fashion, in a memorable way. The editors have been careful about their task: the introductions to each chapter helpfully orient and guide the reader.

Farrer, it should be pointed out, was part of the postwar flourishing of Christian thought which was all the more remarkable because it had to deal with a radical new faith in science (scientism, really). Though not a member of C. S. Lewis's Inklings coterie, Farrer was part of that larger group that is still an important touchstone for many of us: Dorothy Sayers, Michael Ramsey, Basil Mitchell, Eric Mascall, and, in the larger English culture, T. S. Eliot, John Betjeman, and others.

People today who care about thinking and living their Christian faith, or who are just starting to explore what the Christian life is all about, would do well to consider reading the words of a wise soul like Austin Farrer. He knew how to weave together thought, language, and spirituality. This was no dry-as-dust theologian or boring biblical scholar but a vital presence who continues to engage us--which he certainly does in this very nice and representative collection.

Perhaps it is only inevitable that a theologian as brilliant as Austin Farrer would come to be most widely listened to and studied nearly 40 years after his death. In The Truth Seeking Heart, his brilliance is on full display, as each page is quite literally saturated with insight upon insight. To read Farrer - and I had never read more than a few, shorter pieces before - is to step, however briefly, into a world that is richly decorated with theological wonder and philosophical rigor. The editors, Ann Loades and Robert MacSwain, have done a wonderful job in letting Farrer's "voice" be heard; rather than short samples from Farrer's many works, lengthy selections from larger pieces are placed side-by-side with a number of complete, shorter works. One thus engages - and is engaged by - Farrer on a number of different topics, but always at considerable depth. It is no surprise, upon finishing this book, to understand why the front cover contains a quote by Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, stating that Farrer was "possibly the greatest Anglican mind of the 20th century."

There are 29 total entries in this volume, arranged in in three distinct but related sections: Scripture, Tradition and Reason. The introduction does a fine job placing Farrer into the larger context of Anglican theology, as well as placing him in the context of the philosophical and intellectual currents of his day. Farrer was close with such Anglican luminaries as Michael Ramsey, C. S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers; he was a part of a philosophical-theological group called "The Metaphysicals" that included Eric Mascall, Ian Ramsey and, before she lost her faith, Iris Murdoch. A priest at Oxford, he delivered both the Bampton Lectures and the Gifford Lectures in his lifetime, wrote works on philosophical and Biblical theology, authored the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book in 1965, and penned several works of a more devotional orientation. One gets a little bit of all of Farrer in this volume.

Farrer, like much of the Anglican tradition, defies easy categorization. He is deeply steeped in the liturgical and sacramental facets of Anglican identity, has a great love and devotion to the Bible, and believes in nurturing and passing on the tradition that he has received; deeply philosophical, he uses his reason as a way into and through theological issues. Yet, he also has a strong sense of the poetic; such a "fourth leg" on the traditional three-legged stool (Scripture-tradition-reason) may seem unusual, but Farrer is ultimately interested in theology as a type of revelatory art than as dogmatic exposition. His statement that the Gospel of Mark is a fusion of "inspired image and historical memory" (33) points to his willingness to be deeply and creatively rooted, opening up new views upon not just the text that has been received but - ultimately - upon the infinite God. He desires to read with "devout imagination" (230).

An example of this is seen when he writes of the body of Christ as "a web of bodily relations binding our bodies together. But it is a web of created by the insertion of the sacraments into the context of our bodily existence, not a web already there" (119). This is ultimately because "the sacramental body of Christ creates the whole texture of mystical body by turning men into communicants. The words 'This is my body' are creative words; and as they consecrate the Host, so they constitute the mystical body" (120). The liturgical repetitions are, for Farrer, not so much things done as things experienced, turned over in his mind again and again like a prism, refracting the light in multiple ways, yielding color upon color. One cannot hope for more from a theologian; one cannot hope for more from theology. Farrer gives the word "theologian" more than the capacity to signify; he presents the very real possibility that a theologian that is "both with and under authority" (to use a statement of C. S. Lewis' pertaining to Farrer) might cause the signifier of "theologian" to be a genuine sign.

I am now looking forward with the greatest of anticipation to the multi-volume set of Farrer's Major Works due out next year. In the mean time, this volume will be a wonderful introduction to a mind whose pursuit of depth ultimately opened up into the infinite depths of God.

Against the backdrop of the approaching Christmas holiday, her role in the church play, and her family's wonderful holiday traditions, young Vicky Austin experiences feelings of rivalry for a sibling not yet born, and whose impending birth threatens to disrupt the holiday. This is a warm, loving book. It is an excellent story for older children, and I would recommend making the reading of it, chapter by chapter, part of a family's preparation for Christmas, like a literary advent calendar

If you love Madeleine L'Engle's books, then this is a definite "must have" for the holidays. Read about the Austin family as they prepare for Christmas, the church pageant, and a new addition to the family. Their warmth and love for each other are contagious, and yet they are a "real" family, growing pains and all. This is a fabulous book for young girls - and one to read every year in preparation for the holiday season.

I work in the nursery at my church and recently got a position with 18 mo. - 3 year olds. There are often situations that come up that are trying and this book really opened my eyes to a lot of things. It is a wonderfully written heart-warming book that gives hope to all who have struggled but are still passionate about caring for the little ones.

This is a phenomenal book! It is not a "how to" book per say but do you ever learn a lot about children and what makes them tick. I learned so much from these true stories that I know it will help me tremendously as a childcare provider and as a parent. I read a library copy but am going to purchase this book - more than a few times I wanted to highlight some things. Very good and highly reccommended.

Up against the wall by Curtis Austin is a superb achievement. This is the
first book in my opinion which brings a long overdue objective perspective
to the history of the Black Panther Party.
The author highlights historical evidence related to the BPP while
carefully placing the facts into context and avoiding sensationalism.
It is a crucial contribution to Afro-American history.
It is a compelling book and I profoundly appreciate the author's
understanding of the party. Luce Masset

This book provides an important look at the Black Panther Party in all of its complexities. Although the main focus is on violence in the creation and deterioration of the BPP, the book has a wealth of historical information about the time period as a whole. As someone who has only a limited education on the Black Panther Party and the Black Power movement, I found this book to be a major contribution to my knowledge base, understanding and awareness. Austin gives insight into the climate of the nation prior to the founding of the party, so it was easy for me to see why the Black Panther Party was initially needed in the local community and why it later gained national popularity. As the book unfolded, it also became easy to see why the party had failures in some areas...
This book has truly been invaluable in my understanding of not just black history, but also of American history. I would not only recommend this book to those who wanted to increase their historical knowledge---I would recommend the book to anybody who is looking for an engaging read. This book is an absolute page-turner! It is filled with story after story detailing the rise and fall of the BPP, which includes anything from day-to-day life as a Panther and armed defense against police attacks to the COINTELPRO operation and government infiltration. Although I started the book slowly because of my busy schedule, I became increasingly engrossed as it went on---the more I read of the book, the less I wanted to put it down!

I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism. He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive. Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori. Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about. Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong. However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles. Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong. Mill would disagree. Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example. In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying. A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain. This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration. Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure. Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is. Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality. Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains. So, they say that one of two things must be going on here. Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another. Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity. So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater. Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure. So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved. In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value. So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value. Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.

I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

Mill develops a theory of morality in Utilitarianism. He argues against the group of people who think that morality is intuitive. Intuitionists think that God put morality in us, thus, morality is a priori. Moral rules or principles were programmed in us, we can see these rules, they are binding, however they do acknowledge that on a case by case basis we still need to use them to reason out the ultimate answer for a particular case.

Mill also believes that there are a set of moral principles that we ought to be thinking about. Intuitionists today think that case by case we can reason out what is right or wrong. However, they would be suspicious that of believing there were general moral principles. Intuitionists say it is not up to us to investigate what is right or wrong. Mill would disagree. Mill doesn't like Intuitionists theory because they can't prove their view; and they can't explain why "lying is wrong" as an example. In addition, they do not provide a list of these innate morals we are suppose to have, and they do not have a hierarchy for them to resolve the conflict between two morals when they arise.

Background on essay, written in 1861 came out in 3 magazine articles, pretty scanty which sometimes drives one crazy trying to deduce what Mill is saying. A lot of interpretation is necessary.

Chapter 2: The second paragraph is official statement of the theory.

"The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

Happiness=pleasure and freedom from pain. This makes him a Hedonist philosophically.


Higher Pleasures Doctrine- Jeremy Bentham says how valuable pleasure was based on 2 dimensions that we evaluate our experience of pleasure by, intensity and duration. Bentham says this determines quantity in pleasure. Bentham said this determined how much a given experience adds to a person's happiness.

Mill adds a third value to evaluate pleasure by and that's its quality, how good it is. Many don't understand Mill's idea that pleasure has value and quality. Most people think that Mill is really talking about quantity, or they don't believe one can be a hedonist, that pleasure is the only thing that has value, and yet think that there is something more to judging how valuable an experience is than the intensity and the duration of the pleasure it contains. So, they say that one of two things must be going on here. Of course, some people are sure it is one thing, and some are sure it is another. Either what Mill is talking about when you get right down to it is quantity in pleasure and different experiences, or all the different things he says about quality can be somehow resolved into quantity. So that really what is going on is that when Mill talks about a pleasure being of a higher quality that just means that there is a lot more pleasure there that the quantity is much greater. Or, Mill is giving up on hedonism at this point and he is admitting that some things are valuable aside from pleasure. So, when he says an experience like reading a good book or something like that is more valuable than an experience of some kind of animalistic pleasure, that really what he is saying is this experience is more valuable for reasons that go beyond the amount of pleasure involved. In addition to how much pleasure is involved there is also that maybe the experience is more beautiful or more noble or something like that and this gives it additional value. So something other than the amount of pleasure involved gives it additional value. Mill can be a consistent hedonist and he can consistently say that pleasure is the only thing that can have value and yet it is still the case that some pleasures are just more valuable than other pleasures.

This is evidently just a re-issue of "The Eye of Osiris" with a different title.

I am 100% a fan of R. Austin Freeman,s mysteries. He wrote
mysteries at a time at beginning of 1900's when some of the
best mysteries were ever written. His mysteries are getting very hard to find and I won't rest until I have read all of them. His main character,
Dr. Thorndyke is a brilliant scientist and lawyer who eventually
solves the crimes.

we bought the book for friends returning home to germany. when we looked through it, we knew we also would buy one for ourselves. it somehow grabs the spirit of the puget sound.
buy it.

This book does a terrific job of capturing the beauty of the Seattle area. It's a perfect blend of landscapes, lighthouses, animals, city landmarks, mountain ranges, and waterways in each season.
Even though it is titled "Wild Seattle" it encompasses much more including Skagit Valley (tulips), the San Juans, Deception Pass, orcas, the Olympics, Cascades, and plenty of written information as well.
It's my favorite Seattle book!

No pioneer woman, I. This book, however, caused me to kiss the vibrant earth and see far more clearly the lush gorgeousness of nature. The accompanying writings were an eclectic mix of humor, adventure, fearsome experience and the transcendent joy of meeting one's self in all the life surrounding us. Hard to beleive this is out of print!

I ordered this book sight unseen and found it provides spiritual sanctuary. It is a perfect gift for a woman who has suffered a loss in her life...the death of a loved one, a broken relationship, the loss of health or employment. When one is at the crux of loss, there are benefits in reaching out and touching the elements of "creation." In reading and meditating upon the beauty of this book, I find myself savoring each word, each photo. I highly recommend that this book be added to categories relating to "grief." It is a book that I will return to again and again in years to come. Thank you Susan & Ann Zwinger!

Lou Austin has done a masterful job at comparing one's spiritual relationship with God to a partnership where we are the junior partner who is constantly blessed by allowing the senior partner to lead. He teaches a very simple yet profound exercise for keeping God uppermost in your mind by repeating and practicing the concept "Breathe in God. Breathe out ego." He teaches clearly, as Rumi also taught, that "The idol of your self (ego) is the mother of all idols." (Rumi) The greatest happiness we will find comes in subletting our puny mortal will to the will of the Father who will never guide us amiss. Austin teaches that Christ taught by perfect example this concept: " I do nothing of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." This is obviously not a book for everyone. those caught in the snare of the ego, believing they are something of themselves, will only scoff. This is a book for believers. Very rewarding!

Lou Austin has done a masterful job at comparing one's spiritual relationship with God to a partnership where we are the junior partner who is constantly blessed by allowing the senior partner to lead. He teaches a very simple yet profound exercise for keeping God uppermost in your mind by repeating and practicing the concept "Breathe in God. Breathe out ego." He teaches clearly, as Rumi also taught, that "The idol of your self (ego) is the mother of all idols." (Rumi) The greatest happiness we will find comes in subletting our puny mortal will to the will of the Father who will never guide us amiss. Austin teaches that Christ taught by perfect example this concept: " I do nothing of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." This is obviously not a book for everyone. those caught in the snare of the ego, believing they are something of themselves, will only scoff. This is a book for believers. Very rewarding!

[...]

This gave us a whole new outlook on what belongs to God (everything) and what belongs to us (nothing). We are stewards of everything he gives us...from jobs to kids...from cars to money. We have just started the 10-week small group class with this as the main reading. I've read it once and plan on reading it again. I am also going to buy copies for my grown children and family members.

I recommend Howard Dayton's financial ministry, Crown.org, and books written by his late partner Larry Burkett. Very wise counsel. Both of them.

your money counts is an excellent book.

Make sure you get the lastest version when ordering.... it has a green and gold cover, with a small picture of money on the front. Date is from 1996.

ISBN is: 0-9651114-0-7

make sure you get the latest copy. :)