I am remembering Noli me tangere, novel written by Jose rizal, and do not know if u'd include in ur good teen Christian reads; it is required reading in high school here. As background, I do not know if Rizal ws actually Christian, although he was from a Catholic family. Some say he has converted for he was exposed to many different ppls and faiths, but that he recanted before death. Now I am not sure what is fact and what isn't, and hasn't delved into these recently anyway.
Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by José Rizal — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists_
from a review:
This book is the most important
literary work in the Philippines. One hundred twenty-six (126) after it was
written, its message is still relevant to us Filipinos. I have also read a lot
of other books written by local authors and, for me, the quality of Rizal’s
writing is still unsurpassed.
"Noli Me Tangere" (Touch Me Not) is a novel of the National
Hero of the Philippines,
Dr. Jose Rizal. The Latin title came from the Holy Bible, John
20:17 “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my father.” Biblical
scholars do not know exactly why Jesus told this to Mary when later, He invited
Thomas to touch His wound and in Matthew 28:9, when women saw Him, “they held
Him by the feet, and worshipped Him.” They were not told “not to touch
Him.”
However, in the book, this phrase is alluded to by
Elias referring to the impending revolution being planned by
the rebels. Through
Ibarra, he gives a warning to the Spanish
friars for the continuous killings and injustices being done to the native
Filipinos. He says that anytime, at a slight provocation, the revolution will
start.
This 1887 novel was originally written in Spanish (first
published in Germany). Its Filipino (Tagalog) translation is a required reading
in third year high school throughout the country. The first time I read this was
in school year 1978-1979 or more than 3 decades ago. I think the version that we
read was the one with red cover and was translated by Domingo de Guzman
(abridged, I think but it retained some Spanish phrases). However, just like my
classmates then, I read it with passing the Pilipino course as my only
motivation. I painstakingly memorized the plot, characters, events that had high
probability of being asked in the quizzes and exams. Now, during this second
reading, even after 33 years, I could still recall some names of the characters,
some scenes and events. Like probably all Filipinos who finished third year
high, we were all told that this novel caused Dr. Jose Rizal’s
death by
firing squad on December 30, 1896 or around 10 years after he started
writing this. The Spanish friars banned this novel in the Philippines because
this announced to the whole world the atrocities, injustices, killings and
maltreatments that they were doing then to the native Filipinos who they also
derogatorily referred to as
indios. Rizal’s death was said to be the
trigger for the Filipinos to work hard in their fight against the Spaniards.
So today I was wondering if there are any good teen Christian books that I should read? God Bless.
