It's hard to imagine, but in 6 weeks I am finished with formal education - at least for a season.
Which means, I can read whatever I want. About this time every year I make a list of books of all types
(theology, philosophy, spiritual formation, dissertations on the politics of Jesus, biography, leadership,
fiction, poetry, history, etc). Here is where I need your help. If anybody still reads this, I would like you
to give me of few of your "must reads." I need to start building my Amazon "wishlist." As of now, it has
one item:
"The Politics of Jesus" - John Howard Yoder
What else would you add?
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ReplyDeleteHere we go, friend, in the order they occurred to me, not in the order you should necessarily read them:
Jesus and Empire, by Richard Horsely
The Pax Romana and the Peace of Jesus Christ, by Klaus Wengst
Live to Tell: Evangelism for a Postmodern World, by Brad Kallenberg
The Peaceable Kingdom, by Stanley Hauerwas
Water, Faith, and Wood, by C. Christopher Smith
Friendship and Ways to Truth, by David Burrell
Theology After Wittgenstein, by Fergus Kerr
The Original Revolution, by John Yoder
He Came Preaching Peace, by John Yoder
Faithfulness and Fortitude: In Conversation with the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas, edited by Mark Nation and Samuel Wells
The Faith of Jesus Christ, 2nd ed., by Richard Hays
Early Christianity, by Roland Bainton
Christian Attitudes to War and Peace, by Roland Bainton
Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed, by William Herzog
Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God: A Ministry of Liberation, by William Herzog
Hidden Transcripts and the Arts of Resistance: Applying the Work of James C. Scott to Jesus and Paul, edited by Richard Horsely
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, by Marcus Borg
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ReplyDeleteOh yeah.
And Body Politics, by John Yoder.
Very important.
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any lighter reading? :)
ReplyDelete...
ReplyDeleteYeah, sure. Read the Chronicles of Narnia or something.
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Here are a few from my wishlist (sorry, I'm not sure how many of these are of the 'lighter reading' fare):
ReplyDeleteThrough New Eyes by James Jordan
The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society by Henri Nouwen
Lighter Side of the Dark Ages (Anthem Classics) by Rose Williams
On the Incarnation: The Treatise De Incarnatione Verbi Dei by Athanasius
For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy by Alexander Schmemann
The Trinitarian Faith: The Evangelical Theology of the Ancient Catholic Church by Thomas Forsyth Torrance
On Thinking the Human: Resolutions of Difficult Notions by Rober Jenson
Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith by Richard Foster
Beowulf: An Imitative Translation by Ruth P.M. Lehmann
The Consciousness of Jesus, by Jacques Guillet
ReplyDeleteHow on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus, by Larry Hurtado (unless you've already read "Lord Jesus Christ").
The Fall of Interpretation: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic, by James K.A. Smith
The Preexistent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark and Luke, by Simon J. Gathercole
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, by Richard Bauckham
The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature, by John J. Collins
Exegesis at Qumran: 4Q Florilegium in its Jewish Context, by George J. Brooke
What's the Use of Lectures?, by Donald A. Bligh
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ReplyDeleteHow could I forget?
The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Bruggemann.
JPB,
"Exegesis at Qumran"?
You're such a nerd. :)
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Agreed! :)
ReplyDeleteSome good "light" reading :)
ReplyDeleteSex God - Rob Bell
The Jesus of Suburbia - Mike Erre
Some fiction that I've really enjoyed:
ReplyDelete"The Brother's Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"The Princess Bride" (an absolute classic, very hilarious)by William Goldman
"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz
The whole Harry Potter series (you'll have an instant conversation starter for most 5-12 graders in America)
"The Three Musketeers" by Alexander Dumas
"Gilead" by Marilyn Robinson
Poetry? "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. The best of the best, and forever will be.
what would jesus deconstruct?: the good news of postmodernism for the church -- john caputo
ReplyDeleteagainst ethics: contributions to a poetics of obligation with constant reference to deconstruction -- caputo
the end of modernity -- gianni vattimo (particularly the postmodern hermeneutic discussion)
fiction:
lucky wander boy -- d.b. weiss
American Gods neil gaiman
I'm looking forward to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows...
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I have immersed myself in leadership books: Good to Great, 5 Dysfunctions of a team, Death by Meeting, Find Your Strengths Now, 5 Temptations of a CEO, etc.
Song of Solomon
ReplyDeleteBrad Young- Jesus the Jewish Theologian
ReplyDeleteDawkins- The God Delusion
Our Father Abraham-Hershel (i blieve)
Jesus and the Empire ..nevermind Stark rec. it.
i've really enjoyed Young/ "Our Father Abraham." I"ve been enjoying reading the Jewish side of Jesus. it's helped me out a lot in my preaching/teaching.
The audacity of Hope-Obama (looks intertersting but needs to go down in price more....)
ReplyDeleteChicka Chicka Boom Boom
ReplyDeleteamen to rob bell's sex god.
ReplyDeletei just finished david crowder's "everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die". amazing. its about the soul, grief, mourning, and bluegrass.
phew yes! Harry Potter! wow...
ReplyDeleteand The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.