A severe mercy
by Sheldon Vanauken · first published 1977
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2011–2024first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
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…thing. So, marriage isn't just two people living in the same place. It's two people becoming something new together. One of the best examples I've seen of this idea is the second chapter of the book A Severe Mercy. The togetherness the author writes about is ridiculously complete. - The wedding, as much work as it takes to put together, is just the starting line. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you've…
on “Ask HN: getting married tonight - tips for success?” ↗I sympathize with this a lot. "A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken is one of my favorite books, if not my favorite. A significant theme of that work is "moments made eternity," where eternity is used to connote both a sense of timelessness and of…
on “The town's so full of these confounded dials (195 BCE)” ↗…up on it early on, but when I was going to Berkeley in the late 1970s, I attended First Presbyterian Church, where Earl Palmer was pastor. He extolled The Brothers Karamazov, Sheldon Vanauken's book A Severe Mercy, and Star Wars from the pulpit. His favorite part of TBK was the Grand Inquisitor chapter; I had to slog through that, but overall found the book quite rewarding, not least of all because it is a window…
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2024?” ↗