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Monday Morning Blog Open Thread: What Book(s) are you Reading Right now?
Posted in * Culture-Watch, Books
The more specific you can be about the work, the more readers can benefit. Thanks.
For my morning reading I have Rowan Williams, “Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another.” The book is his reflections on the teachings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and is quite profound. Also, I’m working through Rene`Voillaume “Faith and Contemplation.” He is founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus and writes in the tradition of Charles de Foucauld. On my evening reading nightstand is a book given to me by a friend — “The Life & Times of Michael K.” It feels like a more tender version of Franz Kafka’s “The Hunger Artist.” It was a slow horse out of the gate but now has me completly hooked!
Still reading thru [I]The Hobbit[/i] as a bedtime story for a ten-year-old. We are up to the point where the adventurers have found themselves trapped inside Smaug’s lair. Sometimes he falls asleep after little more than a page. Always I review the storyline before I begin.
Timothy Keller, [i]The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism[/i].
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition – Payton
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House – Meacham
Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
I just finished John Polkinghorne’s [i] The God of Hope and the End of the World[/i] which is something of a summary of a collaborative work in which Polkinghorne participated called [i]The End of the World and the Ends of God[/i].
Currently I have on the go [i]Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations[/i] by the UMC bishop, Robert Schnase and an older (1996) work by Miroslav Volf entitled [i]Exclusion and Embrace[/i].
The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Benjamin R. Merkle
The Fathers of the Church: From Clement of Rome to Augustine of Hippo by Pope Benedict XVI
J.W. Mackail’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. It is good to read about a man who’s life is characterized by devotion and submission to the will of Heaven. Whether he is real or fictional is of secondary import. He inspires me to do the same.
[i] Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge [/i] by Dallas Willard
Since I’m on break here in the States for a month, I’m mostly reading fiction right now. Just started [b]”The Story of Edgar Sawtelle”[/b] by David Wroblewski which I picked up in Charlotte Airport on Friday. I’m about 120 pages in and enjoying it immensely. It looks like a must for any dog-lover!
I just recently finished an interesting book for single women: [b]”Revelations of a Single Woman: Loving the Life I Didn’t Expect”[/b] by Connally Gilliam which was part of the assigned reading at a retreat I was on in September. I have not found singleness a huge struggle, actually, but I read this book avidly because I’m increasingly playing a role in mentoring younger single women in our organization, and I found this very well-written and extremely practical, and above-all very Christ-centered. Highly recommended as a resource for those working with young adults / college & career groups.
Copleston, History of Philosophy; The Odyssey; Hart, Atheist Delusions.
#9: if you subscribe to iTunes, you can download 5 excellent lectures on The Aeneid by Prof Susan Braund (of Stanford?) – highly recommended.
David McCullough – 1776 – for the second time.
Rebecca Manley Pippert “Out of the Salt Shaker”, 20th Anniversary revised edition. Leading a Sunday morning small group discussion on same, one chapter per week. We just finished chapter 4.
Also, Phillip Yancy “Where is God When it Hurts” A friend’s son was killed in a freak rush-hour traffic collision. NW Bob is about half way through.
[i]People of the Book [/i], by Geraldine Brooks, a novel centered around the Sarajevo Haggadah and its history as imagined by the author. All I will say is I was disappointed, given the hype the book got.
Reading now: A LIfetime of Wisdom: Embracing the Way God Heals You by Joni Eareckson Tada. Great book on disability, but not as good as her book When God Weeps.
Just finished: The Body Broken: A Memoir by Lynne Greenberg – an interesting book about dealing with chronic pain. A bit sad as she lacks a perspective of faith that can bring meaning to her suffering.
Just finished: What I THought I Knew by Alice Eve Cohen – a horrific pregnancy memoir that I read because it received excellent reviews in secular magazines. Pregnant with a disabled child, the mother obsesses about abortion throughout the pregnancy. After the child is born with minimal problems, the mother still sees herself as pr0-abortion and comes up with bizarre rationalizations for this. Sad because the conclusions are so wrong.
#2 Br_er–Good for you! I used to enjoy reading to my sons when they were young. One of my fondest memories now. Their favorite (and mine) was the Tintin comic series, I guess for me because I myself read and fell in love with them as a very young boy while in the ship’s nursery of a British ocean liner, the Oronsay,* going from Hawaii to Canada (when they still had such things for getting from place to place rather than simply being floating hotels). Reading the Tintin series again with my kids allowed me to re-live the experience.
At the risk of being accused of heresy, I think “The Hobbit” (which I also read to my sons) was Tolkien’s best work.
*See http://www.ssmaritime.com/ssOronsay.htm (I still have a small mother-of-pearl pen-knife my father bought for me while on board, with the outline of the Oronsay in gilt pictured on the side.) Life was much more civilized then, at least as I remember it.
#17 Jim the Puritan
The Oronsay, well that is a blast from the past. My travel-mad parents took a trip on her although I didn’t, but I did travel with them on voyages on the Orsova, Cathay, Arcadia, Canberra and one or two others. You are right it was a less hurried and more civilised life and the world seemed less brutal and troubled. I used to hate going into port, it was much more fun at sea. As a youngster I just thought oh no, another day, another temple. Now I appreciate all the places I went and all the sights I was very lucky to see.
…Oh and I am reading John Stott’s ‘The Living Church’. I agree with Brer on the Hobbit but I didn’t really understand it until I had read the ring trilogy and everything fell into place.
I always liked the three trolls in The Hobbit. Tom, Bert and Bill, as I remember.
Ok, Kendall – you need to share as well. What are you reading?
Bryan Caplan’s [i] The Myth of the Rational Voter [/i]
Just finished the old, easy-to-read introduction to Anglicanism by Peter Moore called [b]A Church to Believe in[/b], from 1994, about 175 pages. I’m intrigued by his selection of five essential traits that he things make Anglicanism distinctive, i.e., being simultaneously evangelical in experience, catholic in spirit, reformed in doctrine, charismatic in ministry, and (perhaps surprisingly for the conservative former dean of TSM in Ambridge) liberal in ethos. His approach has interesting similarities to my “3-D Christianity” model.
I’m also part-way through heavier stuff, mostly +N.T. Wright’s controversial [b]Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision[/b], which ably defends the so-called “New Perspective on Paul” (NPP) from the frequent but mistaken charge that it undermines the classic Protestant doctrine.
And on a related theme, I’m working slowly through Alistair McGrath’s marvelously thorough and balanced history of the doctrine of justification, [b]Justitia Dei[/b]. In the expanded, (one-volume) second edition, of course. Very instructive and well done, but it’s quite scholarly and technical, with untranslated foreign words, etc.
Finally, on a lighter note, I’m really enjoying conservative female Episcopal priest Fleming Rutledge’s theological commentary on Tolkien’s LOTR epic. Called [b]The Battle for Middle Earth[/b], she sheds considerable light on the theological implications of that great work of a baptized Christian imagination, where God “is never absent and never named.”
David Handy+
I’ve been adventuring in Middle Earth recently too, but a bit farther back in time with the [i]Silmarillion [/i]. I’m also reading [i]Basic Economics[/i] by Thomas Sowell. There’s so much going on in the world that I don’t understand, so as a librarian my first instinct is to turn to books to learn something about what I don’t know!
BTW – David (#23) I love Rutledge’s book too!
All a bit hectic at present as I have had to put together a talk on TF Torrance for next month, while continuing with ‘normal’ material.
Re-reading a few of Torrance’s major works has convinced me that Paul Molnar (of St John’s University, NY) now has the best intro available, [i]Thomas F Torrance: Theologian of the Trinity[/i] (Ashgate, 2009). The format of Paul’s book works through the major loci of systematics: the Centrality of the Doctrine of the Trinity in Torrance’s theology; God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth – understanding creation through the Incarnation; Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, [i]Homoousion[/i] with the Father and with Us in our Humanity; Atonement: Incarnation and Reconciliation are One in Jesus Christ; Torrance’s Pneumatology; Resurrection and Ascension; Torrance’s Understanding of the Church, Sacraments and Ministry; finally, considering some Criticisms of TFT’s Theology. Am half way through and it’s a stunning achievement summarizing Torrance’s oeuvre this way. Though note: Molnar does not attempt the likes of Alister McGrath’s engagement with Torrance’s engagement with the natural sciences; it’s simply not his field as it is Alister’s, whose [i]Thomas F Torrance: An Intellectual Biography[/i] (T&T Clark, 1999) needs to consulted on account of this most important side of TFT’s work.
Three other texts worth mentioning. (1) [i]Love’s Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness[/i], compiled by G Rowell, K Stevenson, & R Williams (Oxford, 2001) is my current morning book, using brief entries at a sitting. Extracts are arranged chronologically, starting with Hugh Latimer and ending with John Gaden/ASB 1980. Frankly, delightful! And pretty powerful too … (2) Evening book this year is James Houston’s [i]Letters of Faith through the Seasons[/i] – Two Volumes (Honor Books, 2007). Each day is but two pages, with a brief letter (historical, contemporary or Scriptural), with a meditation, thought for the day and a prayer. Fascinating! (3) As per the parable thread: we are using Eugene Peterson’s [i]Tell it Slant: a conversation on the language of Jesus in his stories and prayers[/i] (Eerdmans, 2008) in our fortnightly bible study at present. It is a joy; easy to read – though occasionally hard to swallow the challenges! The Study Guide is useful much of the time, though not always.
For refreshment, I have been reading Ian McEwan’s [i]On Chesil Beach[/i]. Characteristically insightful into the human lot and well crafted.
Last night before going to bed I looked around for something to read and happened on the book my wife was reading, Oxygen, by Carol Cassella.
I read a few pages and was hooked. It is a mystery about an anesthesiologist written by an English major who is now, you guessed it, an anesthesiologist.
Re #17: The Oronsay was the ship that had the typhoid outbreak onboard when I was a kid. Scary.
I just finished reading “The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Paisios” by Dionysius Farasiotis (a pseudonym). It was recommended by a couple of folks over at Ancient Faith Radio (http://ancientfaith.com). It’s the story of a man who grew up immersed in Marxism and the occult, but through the prayers, teaching, and miracles of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, was converted to Christianity. He went on a very remarkable journey through some of the leading ashrams of India, and his account of the different manifestations and personalities of the gurus vs. those of the Athonite monks rings completely true to this ex-New Ager.
Next on the list is De Caussade’s “Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence”, which I’ve heard many good things about, but hasn’t arrived from ABE books yet.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
I am reading Rome and Jerusalem, The Clash of Ancient Civilization by Martin Goodman.
I just finished Heaven on Earth, The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service by Rev. Dr. Arthur A. Just Jr.
[i]The Summer of the Danes: The Eighteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael[/i] by Ellis Peters.
I’m amazed at how on-target her theology is in these little mysteries (set in the 1100-1200’s — the same time period as [i]The Pillars of the Earth[/i] by Ken Follett, with the conflict between King Stephen and the Empress Maud!). I’m not reading them in order, but each one has a spiritual lesson set into the background (or rather, woven into the tapestry) of the novel.
Brother Cadfael is a real treasure. Not only is the theology spot on, but the history is accurate as well. A painless way to get some insight into what life in a Benedictine monastery was like.
It is a shame that the publisher has let them go out of print!
I just finished [i]Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie[/i] by Barbara Goldsmith. It is a short biography of the world renowned scientist that gets behind the myth (that Madame Curie herself helped to create) and reveals an even more remarkable life story. I was fascinated again by this remarkable woman.
I am currently reading [i]Absalom, Absalom![/i] by William Faulkner. He creates another world with his words. His very sentences depict a South very real but also foreign to most Americans. But I would read him just for the richness of his vocabulary and the intricate layers of his word pictures.
Just picked up a copy of [i]Lincoln: President-Elect[/i] by Harold Holzer. I am waiting for a copy of Oden’s Systematic Theology…I need a little lite reading… 😉 And, as I was home this weekend for my Alma Mater’s Homecoming I picked up a copy of [i]Pro Christo et Patria: A History of Geneva College[/i] by David M. Larson and Bicentenial History of Beaver County, PA. After all, I am a history nut.
[i]Breaking Dawn[/i], the fourth in the Twilight Series – just to be conversant with the girls in the Youth Group.
After finishing [url=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/174352/june-19-2008/bishop-n-t–wright]Surprised by Hope[/url] by NT Wright, I’m on to [i]Justification[/i].
(the link is to Bp. Wright on The Colbert Report promoting Surprised by Hope – funny stuff if you haven’t seen it!)
“Surviving Financial Meltdown – Confident Decisions in an Uncertain World” by Ron Blue and Jeremy White.
The Trinitarian Faith by TF Torrance. For a theology class. Presentation due in 3 weeks. I have done the first read-through with markings and now must re-read to set the paper and presentation.
Challenging. But this is a remarkable work with spectacular documentation. I just hope that I do it a bit of justice.