Eighth Day Books
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Eighth Day Books is an independent bookstore founded in 1988 and located in Wichita, Kansas known for its curated focus on books that are classics of their genres or else modern or contemporary works linked to the intellectual, artistic, and religious traditions of East and West.
History
Farha has written on the notion of bookselling as a vocation, citing a personal tragedy as the turning point in his life that led him to devote his life to the trade.[1] The name of the store is drawn from the Patristic notion of the Eighth Day, referring literally to Sunday, and metaphorically to the eternal "day" of resurrection.
Philosophy
According to their website, Eighth Day "offer[s] an eccentric community of books based on this organizing principle: if a book—be it literary, scientific, historical, or theological—sheds light on ultimate questions in an excellent way, then it's a worthy candidate for inclusion in our catalog."[2] The writer Lauren Winner reports that Farha defines the store's specialty as "the 'lasting' books...perennially important books."[3] In addition, they are known for their collection of religious—especially but not exclusively Christian—texts, particularly Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox works. Farha, who is Antiochian Orthodox, has summarized his vision for the bookstore as "about the unbreakable connections between all things that are true and good and beautiful. We'll live and die for Fr. Schmemann's insistence that you can't compartmentalize reality — separating things into 'religious' and 'secular, not religious.' We believe that doing so is a denial of God's 'very good' creation."[4]
Eighth Day Press
To date, Eighth Day Press has published seven books, focused primarily on works exploring or emanating from Catholic and Orthodox spirituality.[5] The Press publishes the two most significant works of German writer Max Picard, Flight From God and The World of Silence; Recovered Body, a collection of poetry by Scott Cairns; Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature of Theology, by Andrew Louth; Clinging:The Experience of Prayer, by Emilie Griffin; Orthodox Spirituality and the Philokalia, by Placide Deseille; and The Feast of Friendship, by Fr. Paul O'Callaghan.
Catalog
From its inception, Eighth Day Books has published an annual catalog following the model made famous by A Common Reader, annotating each book with intimate, often whimsical, reviews.[6]
Notes
- ^ Farha, Warren. Lecture on Vocation
- ^ About Us. www.eighthdaybooks.com
- ^ Winner, Lauren Book Notes: A Visit to Eighth Day Books
- ^ Farha, Warren. Lecture on Vocation
- ^ Hilliard, Juli Cragg. Publishers Weekly. [http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20020513/19085-eastern-orthodox-books-on-the-rise-.html "Eastern Orthodox Books on the Rise," April 13, 2002
- ^ Shapera, Todd (1999-07-11). "Personal Missions Fuel Small Publishers". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-19.