Well, January 2012 is
almost over. I fully intended to write
and finish a list of the best books I’ve read in the year 2011, by the end of
2011. But it didn’t happen. I went through my shelves, compiled a list and
began to write. Then… No excuses, I just didn’t finish it before the
New Year. So, here’s a list of 8 of the
best books I’ve read in the past year. I
haven’t attempted to provide a detailed review of each book, but I have said
just a wee little bit about each one in hopes you might be interested enough to
pick one of them up.
Most of these aren’t
really new books, although some of them are.
Some of them were recommended to me, some called to me from the endless recommendations
of Amazon.com and some were sold to me by book publishers who incited a giant
media storm just so I would buy their book.
All of them were good. All of
them helped me to learn in grow in some way.
So, here they are:
- The End of
Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness
for Mission: Towards an Evangelical Political Theology By David Fitch
This book was a challenging but fantastic read. At some point, after I read the book a second
or third time, I’ll write a review of it.
Until then, you’ll have to take my word for it that The End of Evangelicalism was a great read if you are interested in
theology, philosophy and the future of the church in America.
- The Lord of the Ring’s By J.R.R Tolkien
This summer I read all three of Tolkien’s books concerning that epic war
for Middle Earth. The books, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, were originally
meant to be one book. At the time,
however it would have been impractical and very expensive to print them as a
single volume. Even if you aren’t a fan
of wizards, hobbits, magic and flying dragon like creatures with ghostly
riders, you owe it to yourself to read these books. While not every character or event in The Lord of the Ring’s is imbibed with
deep meaning and significance, there is a great wealth commentary on things
like the nature of earth destroying evil, the unexpected coming of salvation,
hope, courage and brotherly love.
- The Gospel in a Pluralist
Society By Lesslie
Newbigin
Anyone interested in ministering to people today should read some Newbigin. In a world of competing claims about truth
and belief (and really, when has the world not be a place of competing claims
about truth and belief?), Newbign helps us discover how we should believe and
how we should engage in conversations about those beliefs with others.
- The Doctrine of the Word of
God: Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1.1 By Karl Barth
My wonderful sister bought me the entire 14 volume set of Barth’s
masterpiece, Church Dogmatics. Working my way through these pivotal books
may just take my whole life. But, the
first volume was rewarding and thought provoking enough to keep me
reading. It’s my hope to read a volume,
read something else, and then read another volume. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about Church Dogmatics in the future.
- Will Our Children Have
Faith? (Revised Edition) By John H. Westerhoff, III
Ok, so I read this book at the end of 2010. But I reread it in 2011, and I’ll probably
read it again in 2012. Westerhoff rocked
my world and gave me much to think about in the area of Christian education and
spiritual formation. What Westerhoff
makes very clear is that if our children are to have faith, it will be because of
the efforts of the entire believing
community living out its faith and teaching it to the next generation.
- Offering the Gospel to
Children By Gretchen Wolff Pritchard
So, I’ve become more concerned with the spiritual growth and formation
of children as a result of Will Our
Children Have Faith? As a youth
pastor, I’m deeply concerned with the formation our children receive before
they reach me. I want to make sure that
what I do helps to build on what has been learned and experienced at earlier ages. Wolff Pritchard helped me understand children
and their educational and formation needs in greater detail. Most of what she writes about takes place
within an Anglican context, but her insights and suggestions are helpful nonetheless.
- Love Wins: A Book about
Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived By
Rob Bell
I’m ordained now, so I can admit that I’ve read and, to a certain
extent, enjoyed this book. I have to
admit, however, that I fell prey to the media blitz and storm that surrounded
the releasing of Love Wins. I purchased the book because everyone
said what a terrible book it was –espousing all kinds of unorthodox and heretical
ideas. I love a good heresy. Bell asks a lot of questions and answers
some. I did not find Bell to be a
heretic. I don’t even find him to be particularly
dangerous to the Christian faith. I do think
he has a genuine interest in helping people find an authentic faith which makes
room for challenging assumptions and asking questions. The world needs more assumption
challenging.
- Almost Christian: What the
Faith of our Teenager is telling the American Church By
Kendra Creasy Dean
Creasy Dean’s book is kind of depressing. It builds on work done by Christian Smith and
Melinda Lundquist Denton and the National Study of Youth and Religion. Almost
Christian identifies the faith of American teenagers as “moralistic, therapeutic
deism” which can be described as “an adherence to a do-good spirituality that
has little to do with the Triune God of Christian tradition and even less to do
with loving Jesus Christ enough to follow him into the world.” (page 4) If
Creasy Dean is correct, and I believe she is, American teenagers believe and think
this way because their parents and their churches have taught them to. Not only does the entire community need to be
involved in teaching our children about our faith, we must make sure that the
faith we are teaching, and living out, is the true faith of a community that confesses
Jesus Christ is Lord.
I’ve read more than
eight books this year, but these were particularly enjoyable. I hope, at the end of 2012, I’ll be able to
post a similar list of intriguing and thought provoking books. Here’s a few of the books on the docket for
2012:
The Power of the Powerless: The Word of
Liberation for Today by Jurgen
Moltmann
The Doctrine of the Word of God: Church
Dogmatics, Vol. 1.2 by Karl
Barth
The God-Hungry Imagination: The Art of
Storytelling for Postmodern Youth Ministry by Sarah Arthur
The Open Secret: An Introduction to the
Theology of Mission by Lesslie
Newbigin
Preaching the Story that Shapes Us by Dan Boon
Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and
Cultural Formation by James K.
A. Smith
Real Kids, Real Faith: Practices for Nurturing
Children’s Spiritual Lives by
Karen Marie Yust
God in Creation by Jurgen Moltmann
This should keep me
busy for a while. What are you
reading? What do you think I should be
reading?
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
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