Daily Synaxis: An Annunciation Launch

TWO SUMMERS ago I was in Birmingham, Alabama peddling books and culture at the annual conference organized by the Society for Classical Learning. As usual, we had about 25 boxes of books displayed on tables, all of them driven in from Wichita, KS by yours truly. While browsing the selection of books, one of the attendees made a remark I frequently hear while on the road: “Who’s in charge of choosing the books? This is a remarkable selection!” After telling the soon-to-be customer about Warren Farha, founder and owner of Eighth Day Books, who hand-picks each and every book for every single event we do (and over the course of a year, there are many of them), the gentleman went on to make a statement that I have never forgotten: “In an age so overwhelmingly full of readily accessible information, I can see the need in the future for a vocation in curation.”

Indeed! 

The more I’ve considered that statement, the more I’ve realized how spot-on it was: we already desperately need folks to be curating. I’ve also come to see how such a vocation applies to both Eighth Day Books and Eighth Day Institute.

I’m convinced that in the same way that Warren’s vocation primarily consists in the curation (and peddling) of book selections – in the brick-and-mortar store, at events on the road, or in the recently revived catalog – my vocation also largely consists in curation (and peddling), just in a different way. I select speakers and themes for events, as well as books to peddle at those events. I select texts from the Bible, the Fathers, the Liturgy, and Literature for seminars. I select essays (old and new), passages from the Fathers, book reviews, hard-to-find material from people like Florovsky and Oldham and Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, all for our blogs and print publications. In the process of selecting all that material, I spend a great deal of time devouring a wide range of reading material.

Yesterday I was inspired. The source of inspiration was threefold:

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