Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

A Mystic for Our Time

Joel Harrington considers the medieval life of New Age favorite, Meister Eckhart

In Dangerous Mystic, Vanderbilt historian Joel Harrington explores the life of Meister Eckhart, a medieval theologian whose path to God has been embraced by New Age gurus and contemporary self-help writers. Harrington will discuss Dangerous Mystic at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 20 at 6:30 p.m

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Anything But Bland

Amber Wilson’s For the Love of the South began as a website of the same name

Like many beautiful books these days, Amber Wilson’s For the Love of the South began as a website of the same name—”a place,” she writes, “where I shared my love for the food, characters, and culture that helped shape who I am.” She will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 13 and at Novel in Memphis on March 15.

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Hacking Religion

Humor and wit are the most sacred virtues in Rami Shapiro’s Holy Rascals

“God is real. Everything we say about God is made up,” writes Rami Shapiro in his new book, Holy Rascals: Advice for Spiritual Revolutionaries. Shapiro will appear at two Nashville events this month: at Parnassus Books on March 14 and at the Scarritt Bennett Center on March 24.

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Goin’ to Memphis Where the Beat is Tough

Robert Gordon’s Memphis Rent Party captures the grit and heart of the blues

Memphis Rent Party: The Blues, Rock & Soul in Music’s Hometown is a fascinating journey through the back alleys and juke joints of Memphis as nonfiction author Robert Gordon searches for musical icons and forgotten heroes. Gordon will appear at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis on March 9, at Earnestine & Hazel’s in Memphis on March 10, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 17.

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Faith and Serpents

Julia C. Duin turns up a sordid tale at the fringes of American religion

With ln the House of the Serpent Handler Julia C. Duin depicts the lives of the faithful in Appalachian serpent-handling churches, charting the tragic fall of one its leading lights.

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The Spiritual Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Stephen W. Hines considers the religious faith of a very famous pioneer

Stephen W. Hines’s new book, A Prairie Girl’s Faith, discusses the spiritual legacy of beloved children’s author Laura Ingalls Wilder: “The sacredness of home and hearth are everywhere present” in the Little House books, he writes.

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