More Books!!!

Earlier I listed a couple of books that I had received for Christmas.  Following are the rest of the books that I received and hope to read in the coming year:

• How (Not) to Speak of God by Peter Rollins – already read this one since I got it!  It was excellent and my friend Chris and I plan on creating a discussion group at Starbucks to read through it together and discuss it.
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – A book that has been highly recommended from several friends.
• Simply Christian by N.T. Wright – Brad, a friend of mine, has always been a fan of Wright’s so I have wanted to get into his writing.  This may have not been the best book in which to accomplish that goal, but it’ll do.
• What Would Jesus Deconstruct by John Caputo – Caputo is one of the premier continental philosophers in the U.S. and has always been recommended by one of my former professors.  Speaking of which…
• Interstices of the Sublime by Clayton Crockett – Dr. Crockett was one of my Religion professors at University of Central Arkansas.  In this text he brings together three modes of thought:  psychoanalytic theory (Lacan & Freud), continental philosphy (Zizek), and theology.
• The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay – As I think I have said somewhere on this blog before, I find missional ecclesiology and theology to be very refreshing and challenging.  I am also interested in it because Hugh Halter is involved with Church Resource Ministries, an organization that I have a lot of respect for and would enjoy being a part of (Nieucommunities, who Amber and I went to Vancouver with, is one branch of CRM).
• Creating a Poverty Free World by Muhammad Yunus – As wierd as this sounds, I have become fascinated by the world of economics.  I still absolutely hate math and numbers, buy when I listen to men like Yunus and Jeffrey Sachs I genuinely believe we have the ability to end poverty if we can get over our greed and move beyond consumer capitalism (I emphasize consumer because I still believe that capitalism is a good system, but can be very destructive in its current form).  Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank and is one of the men responsible for the micro-lending revolution in third world countries.
• Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw – My wife and I had the privelege of hearing Shane and Chris speak in Orlando.  When you read this book or hear these men speak you must call into question the role of Christians in politics.  What role do we play?  Why do we constantly seek political power?  And a myriad of other questions.  Perhaps the most challenging book on Church and Politics out there!

So these are the books I will be reading over the next year along with the other two that my wife bought me that I mentioned before Christmas and some other that I have not finished yet (The Divine Conspiracy – hopefully I will make it through that over the summer).  Hopefully I will blog through a few of them because I would love to get some input from others on some of the ideas I will be engaging.

Books!!!

Those close to me know that I always ask for books for Christmas. Its nerdy, I know, and I think it annoys my wife, but I do it because I get stocked up for the following year. So Amber bought me my first two books:

• Foolishness to the Greeks by Leslie Newbigin – I always encourage my family to buy me used copies and this one is used.  I love it because it is full of underlined sections and commentary by the previous owners.  Newbigin argues that Christians must now approach the western world as a mission field.  The book was written in the 1980s and from what I can gather from other books I have read on the subject, is one of the foundational books for missional theology and the missional movement.
• The Great Giveaway by David Fitch – Fitch is one of my favorite bloggers.  I remember the first time I found his site he had a post up about politics and Zizek, which in my mind, any pastor/theologian who engages Zizek in a constructive way is worth respect and worth reading.  The book is essentially about how the modern evangelical church has given away so much of what it means to be the church (be it to big business, parachurch organizations, psychotherapy, or consumer capitalism) that it has become barely distinguishable from other societal institutions.

So these are the first of hopefully many that I will be reading in 2009!