Reading Lists

In the latest issue of Christian Century there are lists of theology books the contributors think are essential reading if you want to know what has happened in theology for the past 25 years. The lists are interesting - you can read them here. Although the preamble is that these are essential for understanding what has been happening in theology I think they are more revealing of what has been happening intellectually for these contributors. But that's okay. I liked reading the list and have added a number of the books to my list of what I want to read. I also spent some time thinking what five books have influenced the way I think about things in a significant way so here is my list:

Daniel Boyarin, A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity

Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace

Sarah Coakley, Powers and Submissions

James Alison, Faith Beyond Resentment

Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon, Resident Aliens

and what would your list be?

New Book

The latest Christian Century came in the mail today and there is a reference in it to Sara Miles, author of Jesus Freak. I had a moment of excitement that the author of Eat this Bread had a new book, an even bigger rush of excitement when it turned out Chapters had a copy of it, and 40 glorious minutes reading it while sitting in the hospital emergency room. I can't wait for tomorrow's three more stints hooked up to an IV to read more.

It ain't sexy and it won't get you grant money

Check out Patrick Deneen's latest post on the importance of reading for education.

Happy Birthday A. J. Jacobs

According to the blurb he wrote about himself at the beginning of The Know-it-all, A.J.Jacobs is 40 today. This is the same A.J.Jacobs who wrote The Year of Living Biblically. I enjoyed that book so much I went out on Sunday (I gave up buying books for Lent - but Sundays aren't part of Lent - and Lent ends at Claresholm so it was okay to pick up a few things this week in Calgary too) and bought this earlier book. I remembered looking at it on the shelf while looking for Alan Jacobs bio of C.S.Lewis (this Jacobs is another really good writer - maybe it is something in the name). I thought it looked like fun then but didn't pick it up. I'm glad I did now because I'm enjoying it a lot. Jacobs decided to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica and the book starts at A and goes from there. I'm up to G and I'm learning a lot and laughing a lot.
In The Year of Living Biblically A.J. writes that he checks the Amazon ranking of his book all the time. Maybe he googles himself too. If he does maybe he will find this post. In case he does, let me say:
Happy Birthday A.J.!

crazy days

It has been a long week since I last posted - it has been incredibly busy.  Lay readers' preaching workshop last Saturday, AGM on Sunday, Lenten Bible Study Sunday, regular work stuff all week with a whole bunch of extra meetings thrown in and some pension/house/insurance details to look after.  There are times when I really wish I had a personal assistant who ran behind me taking care of the details of life.  But then I think maybe I just need to unclutter my life a little and find more time to pay attention to things.

One really enjoyable thing I did this week was to take a few hours break and go see The Great Debaters with a friend.  What an inspiring movie.  It is based on the true story of a black college in Texas in the '30s whose debate team was so good that they took on the national champions, Harvard University.  In some ways it is a formula film (underdog school rises over obstacles) but it is so well acted (Denzel Washington is amazing and so is Forest Whitaker) and it is gritty enough in its depiction of race and poverty that it doesn't seem like a formula.

I also finished Sarah Paretsky's Fire Sale and thought it was great.  Paretsky writes mysteries with a hard boiled woman detective named V.I. Warshawsky and I've always enjoyed them.  This one is about trouble in her old neighbourhood on the South Side of Chicago.  She gets sucked into a mess while filling in for her old basketball coach.  It gives a glimpse into the problems of poverty and race still occurring today without the same assurance that in the end the underdog will prevail.  Good read.

Now today is my day off and I have a long long list of things to do so....

First Time Tagged

Paul has tagged me - my first time.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five other people.

Since my computer is right next to a bookcase I had a hard time deciding what the nearest book to me was but settled on this one because it is a library book and therefore seems to be resting here more lightly.

From Christopher Lasch's The True and Only Heaven:

To forget, however, is also to forgive: at a time when the memory of former wrongs kept alive enmities that otherwise might have been allowed to die, even this curious plea for a historical scholarship afflicted with amnesia made a certain kind of sense.

Since the remembrance of past times had evidently done more to keep people apart than to bring them together, it is not surprising that cosmopolitan philosophers had little use for either of the disciplines formerly held in such high esteem, law and theology -- notoriously disputatious professions given to inclusive wrangling about precedents, about the interpretation of historical documents, and about the meaning of the past.

This is enough to remind me of why I wanted to read this in the first place - it moves up to the top of the pile on my reading list.

Now I tag Kevin, Mick, Aaron, Joe and Lindsey.

A Year of Living Biblically

One of the things I did while on retreat this week was finish A.J. Jacobs' book A Year of Living Biblically. I really enjoyed it but thought the publisher had a weird idea of how to categorize it. The book is listed as a humour book but while there are humourous things in it it isn't really a yuk yuk book. Instead it is really a lovely exploration of what happens when you begin to try to shape your life based on a literal reading of the Bible.

Jacobs expects to find that it is impossible to take the Bible literally and he does. Part of what he is doing is motivated by a secular liberal assumption that Biblical fundamentalism is highly problematic and in a way that is what he ends up confirming. But what seems to surprise him is that in the process of trying to observe the commandments he finds himself changing. He finds himself becoming more thankful and less angry. He begins to feel more connected to people, more generous, more aware of the needs of others. He discovers that by acting like a believer he begins to be a believer.

I remember hearing Tony Campolo say something similar about some students who wanted to work in his project in the Projects. He told them that they had to live like the Christian students and they said no problem. He warned them that they mind be changed by the experience and they laughed it off. By the end of the summer, however, they were Christians. In a way this is confirmation of the AA saying, "fake it 'til you make it." It runs counter to our tendency to think that feeling leads action/belief/commitment.

I'm Back!

Saskatchewan is great and my holidays were wonderful (as you can see Robbie enjoyed some relaxation too) but it is fun to be back to see my new back porch. The long list of work emails and phone messages were less exciting. I don't have pictures of my porch yet and cabinets of some sort still need to go in but here is the picture of the tile lay out that my friend who did the work sent me for approval. Love that cross design! Now that the tile is grouted it is straighter than it is in the pictures. And now that all the old carpeting is pulled out the dumpster is full! And I have a lot more purging to do yet.

The other treat I came home to was a brand new copy of Peter Erb's new book Murder, Manners, Mystery: Reflections on Faith in Contemporary Detective Fiction. Thank you Amazon! Peter and I share a love of detective fiction and this is his reflection on the theological themes that appear in some contemporary mystery writers. Peter was my MA supervisor and he has a delightful ability to make insightful comments on 19th cent. Catholic theology one moment and rhapsodize on the joys of cheezie movies the next. I've started the book already - haven't even finished unloading my van - and it is delightful.

On that note one of really enjoyable time of my holidays was spent reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. After a miserable divorce Gilbert takes a year to travel to Italy, to eat pasta, to an ashram in India, to pray, and to Bali to find balance (and incidently fall in love). She writes really frankly about her personal struggles (sometimes so frankly I blushed) and she sees the humour in a lot of it. I laughed outloud a lot while reading it.

Now I have to finish emptying the van.