Bøger af Harold Raley

IntroductionFor centuries Spain has been a country foreigners love to hate and Spaniards hate to love. Yet visitors swarm to it by the millions, seduced by the very things they publicly decry. It may be the most visited and most reviled country in modern times. Few nations have been more studied and probably none more persistently misunderstood.

This wonderfully entertaining picaresque novel by Harold Raley falls in the tradition of rogue literature established by 'Tom Jones' and other early novels. Set in the nineteenth century, 'Louisiana Rogue' will take you on a wild, fast-paced romp through all levels of Cajun society in the 1830s. The title page says the book promises to tell "The Life and Times of Pierre Prospere-Tourmoulin, Picketpocket, Thief, Gambler, Fugitive, Undertaker, Barber, Doctor, Priest, Prisoner, Bandit, and Count; Latterly penned in his hand for the gentle reader of leisure, Spanning the years 1831-1839." The title page claims the book was translated by Peter Tourmoulin."

Many entries in this book are my creations; others are gleanings and adaptations from several languages and cultures. All resonate to my experience.Aphorisms, witticisms, moral tales, and similar insights are akin to philosophy but with two main differences: first, whereas philosophy reaches a point after lengthy preliminaries, aphorisms and their relatives begin with the point and its immediate human application. Second, whereas philosophy narrate in a major key, these entries play on several registers: humor, irony, paradox, and moral insights that modulate the melody of human life.According to one of the aphorisms in this book, some of our ideas fare better in other minds. These have served me well as instruction and consolation. Now I release them in the hope that other minds will make even better use of them.

Immortal Destiny is the third of a trilogy of books on immortality. In The Light of Eden (2008) Raley invites the reader to a spiritual and intellectual feast featuring the mystery and reality of personhood and culminating in a new theory of human life. A radically new theory of life calls for a radically new theology, the main concepts and implications of which Raley explores In The Unknown God (2011). In it he argues for an expanded understanding of God, delves into theories of time, and offers fascinating perspectives of the Hereafter. The first two volumes of the trilogy set the stage for Raley's carefully reasoned but bold conclusions in Immortal Destiny. Summoning the discoveries of contemporary science, theology, and philosophy, Raley explores the dual modes of time and human life as creation, bodily reality, and survival. Raley peppers the pages of all his writings with rich perceptions and sidelong glances at many dimensions of truth.