Letters to the Clergy on the Lord's Prayer and the Church

Ruskin, John, 1819-1900Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
322K words
Chapters
33

Tags

English Originals Religion Prayer CommentaryLiterary GiantsFaithSpiritual PracticeSocial CritiqueMoral CultivationIntellectual CommentaryReligious EpistlesChurch InstructionVictorian Era

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Letters to the Clergy on the Lord's Prayer and the Church by John RuskinAuthor: Ruskin, John, 1819-1900,Language: English, Class: BV: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Practical theology, Worship, Release Date: Mar 27, 2012

Editor's review

This collection is Ruskin's late-life work in epistolary form, discussing the Lord's Prayer and issues of the Church. Ruskin is not known for building theological systems; rather, with the sensitivity of an art critic and the sharpness of a moral critic, he examines line by line the tension between the petitions in the Lord's Prayer and church practice. The epistolary form gives the argument a conversational quality, allowing readers to follow his thought from close reading of the text to questions about the practice of faith. Its value lies not in providing standard doctrinal answers but in modeling a way of reading religious language seriously: treating the prayer as a text open to question and examination. For readers interested in Victorian religious thought, the full range of Ruskin's thought, or epistolary writing, this book offers a supplementary perspective beyond the main text. Reading it requires some English reading ability and familiarity with basic Christian concepts, otherwise one may remain at the literal level.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. First read the text of the Lord's Prayer, then read each letter alongside it, noting Ruskin's questions about each petition.
  2. Keep pen and paper to record core words that recur in the letters, and after finishing, review whether their meanings have changed.
  3. Compare with Ruskin's other social criticism to observe how his moral concerns extend into religious discussion.
  4. If English reading is difficult, start with the introduction or related research literature to build background before entering the main text.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33

FAQ

Is this a systematic theology work written by Ruskin? No. It is a work in epistolary form discussing the Lord's Prayer and issues of the Church, with strong personal criticism and moral concern; it is not a systematic theology textbook. Readers should read it as thoughtful letters, not a doctrinal manual.
Can someone without a Christian background read this book? Yes, but one should first understand the basic content of the Lord's Prayer and common Christian liturgical knowledge. Otherwise Ruskin's questions about the wording of the prayer can easily lose focus. It is advisable to first consult the text of the Lord's Prayer and brief background materials.
How difficult is the English in this book? Ruskin's style is elegant, the epistolary sentences are long, and the text involves religious vocabulary and Victorian conventions of expression; the English difficulty is above average. Readers with university-level English reading ability who are willing to look up words can progress gradually.
What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition? This edition is a public-domain ebook, freely available and easy to search and excerpt. It has no notes or introduction from a modern translation; readers need to supplement background materials themselves, making it suitable for readers with some research habits.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Ruskin, John, 1819-1900 Author

John Ruskin (1819–1900) was a renowned British art critic, social thinker, and essayist. The library holds 52 of his works, spanning art theory, architectural study, drawing instruction, and commentary on political economy. Representative works include the three volumes of The Stones of Venice, Modern Painters, Volumes 1 and 3, The Elements of Drawing, in Three Letters to Beginners, and Unto This Last, and Other Essays on Political Economy. His writing is marked by meticulous observation, eloquent prose, and a strong moral concern, blending art appreciation with social criticism and exerting a broad influence on Victorian taste and public thought. Some of his works are classified here under inspirational growth. Public information is limited, and this introduction is based only on the library's holdings and general knowledge.