So, you're stranged on a tropical island...

[AveMaria]

So, you're stranded on a tropical island for a year. Please don't ask me how you got there, or how, by some miracle, there is a small air conditioned hut with a comfortable bed, a fully stocked kitchen, air conditioning, and a CD player. It's just one of those miracles.

If you could have, to help occupy your many hours of leisure time:

1) One book of the Bible (don't ask what happened to the other 73 or 66!)
2) One religious music CD
3) One Christian book (and the Bible doesn't count!)

What would they be and why?

[PaladinValer]

1. Prayer of Manasseh
2. Enya's Paint the Sky with Stars (not tectnically "religious," but it is spiritual to me)
3. Why, the Book of Common Prayer of course!

[romaneagle13]

For me, it would be:
1. Book of Revelation (one can interpret that one for hours and hours)
2. "Sacred arias" by Andrea Bocelli. I am fond of classical music and this one has some classics I never tire of, like "Adeste Fideles, "Panis Angelicus", "Ave Maria", "Cujus Animam" from Rossini's "Stabat Mater" and the beautiful Italian Christmas carol "Mille cherubini in coro".
3. "The story of a soul: Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux". A lovely portrait of my patron saint with her own desciption of ways to live and please God without having to do great things. I can take her example, created in her little island away from the rest of the world--the Carmel convent--and find my own way to listen to God and obey him.

[AveMaria]

Guess I ought to answer my own question.

1) Ask me tomorrow and I might have a different answer, but tonight I'm leaning towards the Bk of Luke. It's always been my favorite Gospel and I think I would find it quite comforting to have, during this mysterious year long tropical exile.

2) Miracles of Sant'iago: Music from the Codex Calistinus (Anonymous-4). (Aselection of chant and polyphony taken from a fascinating 12th-century manuscript that includes not only music but also sermons, stories, legends, and "an informative travel guide to the pilgrimage routes through France and Spain." The collection originated in France, but since the late 12th century it has resided in the famed Cathedral of Santiago in Compostela, Spain. )

Why? Not only is this a perfectly lovely CD, but it's also near to my heart because I'm hoping to someday make the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. (Yes, I'm clearly insane!).

3) Book of Common Prayer - like I could pick anything else?

[benedictine]

1-Like AveMaria, The Gospel of Luke.

2-Charlotte Church's Christmas CD.

3- Of Course, the Book of Common Prayer.(1979 or 1662, I'm not sure, but I think it'd be the '79)

[•Amadeus•]

1. The book of Matthew.
2. Anything of Mozart.
3. History of the Church by Eusebius.

I agree, tomorrow it would be another three choices. :)

[AveMaria]

Happy Birthday, *Amadeus* !

[SirTimothy]

1) The Gospel of John.

2) Vivaldi's Gloria. :)

3) Probably the first Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (For those of you who don't know Plass, it's Christian comedy--written by an Anglican!)

Timothy

[Cjwinnit]

1) The Gospel of John.

2) Vivaldi's Gloria. :)

Darnit, you beat me!

Well maybe Queen or Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor instead..

[Karl - Liberal Backslider]

1. Ecclesiastes. I'd be feeling pretty miserable so it's good to read something even more wretched.

2. Tough one. I don't tend to listen to religious music, being a generally unholy type of heretic (apparently)

3. The One Minute Mystic. Completely non sanctimonious and bovine waste material free, unlike 99% of Christian literature.

[Bonifatius]

1. St. John's Gospel
2. Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Claudio Monteverdi (I am absolutely convinced that good old Claudio went up to heaven to listen to the angels before he wrote this peace of music. The Ave Maris Stella is just divine!)
3. C of E's Common Worship

..and not even one novel?? Not a single one? What about "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann? O please, come on, you can't be so cruel !!!!

Greetz
Bonifatius

[UberLutheran]

1. St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Hands down, that is my favorite book in the entire Bible!

2. Franz Liszt's Christus Oratorio. Not well known at all, but it is top-drawer music, up there with Bach's B-Minor Mass, Händel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem - and I'm not being the liszt bit facetious! (;) )

(In fact, when I die -- hopefully not any time soon! -- that's the piece I want played at a memorial service: all fourteen movements with large orchestra, double chorus, four soloists, two organs!)

3. The Book of Common Prayer. The Lutheran Book of Worship is strongly derived from the Book of Common Prayer, so I'll just go with the original; and since I like to compose music, I'll just compose my own settings of service music!

[Bonifatius]

2. Franz Liszt's Christus Oratorio. Not well known at all, but it is top-drawer music, up there with Bach's B-Minor Mass, Händel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem - and I'm not being the liszt bit facetious! (;) )
(In fact, when I die -- hopefully not any time soon! -- that's the piece I want played at a memorial service: all fourteen movements with large orchestra, double chorus, four soloists, two organs!)


I just wonder how you get all this on ONE CD - we were talking about one CD, isn't it? ;)

The Brahms (Deutsches Requiem) is beautiful music, but for my funeral I have decided to go for the "Musikalische Exequien" by Heinrich Schütz. This music is so full of consolation - and you can do it with a small continuo group and a little choir of experienced singers, which will make my funeral much cheaper than yours! A bargain, really :D

Greets
Bonifatius

[pmcleanj]

1) Isaiah. If I didn't have a fair bit of the Gospels memorized, it would have to be the Gospel of John. But since I don't know how long I'm going to be stranded on this desert island, I want something with lots of chapters, different viewpoints, different historical context and different literary styles.

2) I'm not into pre-recorded music. Can I have a musical instrument, like a recorder or tin whistle, and the Book of Common Praise instead?

3) Richard Hooker's THE LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. I was going to say the Book of Common Prayer (ACC 1962), but I have all the parts I need on a daily basis memorized, and several other bits as well, and a stay on a desert island is my best opportunity to actually read THE LAWS.

[Bonifatius]

3) Richard Hooker's THE LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. I was going to say the Book of Common Prayer (ACC 1962), but I have all the parts I need on a daily basis memorized, and several other bits as well, and a stay on a desert island is my best opportunity to actually read THE LAWS.

All five volumes?

We'll have to extend your stay on the island to three years then ...:wave:

[UberLutheran]

I just wonder how you get all this on ONE CD - we were talking about one CD, isn't it? ;)

Three CDs. If you're going to buy a recording, get the one with Helmut Rilling conducting (I think it's on Deutche Gramophon).

It's hard for me to tell which is my favorite movement. The whole "Christmas" section (movements 1-5) is wonderful throughout; but the third section ("Passion and Resurrection") has probably the single best musical description of the Resurrection I've ever heard set to music.

OK: so I took out a life insurance policy just for my funeral. One way or another, Austinites are going to hear this piece!

[UberLutheran]

I'm not into pre-recorded music. Can I have a musical instrument, like a recorder or tin whistle?

You've already been drafted to sing in the Liszt Christus choir.

You also can't die before I do.

So there. ;)

[julian the apostate]

1. galatians to remind me i am free

2. "the village green preservation society" by the kinks *

3. richard wurmbrand's "victorious faith"


it will remind me of the pleasures and preciousness of everyday life*

[pmcleanj]

You've already been drafted to sing in the Liszt Christus choir.
Okay. That sounds like fun.

Stick me with the mezzo's, and stand me next to someone who can hit the high notes for both of us and stay solidly on key. I can intantaneous-echo, but you don't want me trying to carry a musical line alone, you truly don't.

[Inside Edge]

1. Ecclesiastes. I'd be feeling pretty miserable so it's good to read something even more wretched.
^_^

1) Genesis.

2) Ian Anderson's Divinities (I claim the same rationale as PaladinValer).

3) Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, by Thomas Merton.

[Brian Augustyn]

1. Luke

2. Joshua Judges Ruth by Lyle Lovett (or maybe Zero Church by Suzzy and Maggie Roche)

3. Travelling Mercies by Anne Lamott

Then I'd have to log onto Amazon(dot-com) and order more.


Brian

[pmcleanj]

Then I'd have to log onto Amazon(dot-com) and order more.

WAIT A MINUTE!

This desert island has satellite communication with the web?

Hooker's off then: I'll just take something light and fluffy!

[AveMaria]

Ack! Mutiny! Mutiny! Barratry!

[benedictine]

to arms! to arms!

[romaneagle13]

Okay. That sounds like fun.

Stick me with the mezzo's, and stand me next to someone who can hit the high notes for both of us and stay solidly on key. I can intantaneous-echo, but you don't want me trying to carry a musical line alone, you truly don't.

I'm a coloratura soprano, so I'll take care of them for you. BTW, I'm cantoring at Mass for the second time this Sunday. I did it for the first time in my life last Sunday and it was great! I was nervous as heck, but afterward it was such fun.So I think I have found my ministry: choir!^_^

[RThibeault]

The Book of Psalms
Handel's Messiah
Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students

[AveMaria]

I'm a coloratura soprano, so I'll take care of them for you. BTW, I'm cantoring at Mass for the second time this Sunday. I did it for the first time in my life last Sunday and it was great! I was nervous as heck, but afterward it was such fun.So I think I have found my ministry: choir!^_^

Oh, fantastic! We hardly ever have a woman cantoring, and when we do, it's a lovely change!

*sob* Sometimes, I get so tired of being an alto. We're useful, but always overlooked!

[UberLutheran]

Oh, fantastic! We hardly ever have a woman cantoring, and when we do, it's a lovely change!

*sob* Sometimes, I get so tired of being an alto. We're useful, but always overlooked!



Yeah. David Stevens is [u]THAT good. :)

[AveMaria]

He is amazing, isn't he?

(Not that I'm one of the choir types, I'm nowhere near good enough!)

[Bonifatius]

Three CDs. If you're going to buy a recording, get the one with Helmut Rilling conducting (I think it's on Deutche Gramophon).


Hi ÜberLutheran,

you like Rillling? You know he's based in Stuttgart where I live ... So I've seen him several times in the flesh. The last concerts were Bach's "Johannespassion" (St. John's Passion) and Arthur Honnegger's "Sainte Jeanne d'Arc au Boucher" (hope I got the title right - it's that piece about Jeanne d'Arc being burned at the stake). Especially the Honnegger was a very moving concert!

All the best
Bonifatius

[SirTimothy]

Darnit, you beat me!

Sorry. The Gloria happens to be one of my favourite choral pieces--great fun to sing. Now all I need is a decent choir out here to sing it with... :)

Timothy (Who floats somewhere around Tenor/Bass currently... and generally gets stuck playing the piano/organ rather'n singing)

[ps139]

1. Either Matthew or the Psalms

2. A CD my friends put out called "Scarlet Strand." Some great songs on that, lots of different styles, and very uplifting lyrics!

3. The Poem of the Man-God.

[Zacharias]

1) The Gospel of St. John the Theologian
2) Music from St. Gregory's CD
3) The Book of Common Prayer/1985 Hymnal

[Stormi]

This is an interesting question.

1. The book of Isaiah
2. J. S. Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Sleeper's Wake, Chaconne, etc.
3. War and Peace (haven't read it yet, but have been threatening to.)

[Wiffey]

The Gospel of St.John
A recording of the Divine Liturgy
The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus