Three by Viola, and the Sinking of the Whaleship Essex

I just received a precious payload of three Frank Viola books in the mail. They are Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, and From Eternity to Here.

These are all books I've been wanting to read since I first heard of them. Much ado was made over Pagan Christianity when it first came out a couple of years ago, as I recall. Viola can be controversial, but I always find he writes with insight and also grace.

While I'm on the subject of books, I've been reading Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea. Man this is one corker of a story. The true and hard-to-believe tale of a the wreck of the Whaleship Essex in 1819. You ever wonder what was the worst occupation in human history? Working on a whaleship in 1819 might just fit the bill.