Books Read in 2011

At the end of the year for the last few years, I've recapped the books I've read in the past year. Mostly this is one way for me to keep track of what I've read. This may be the most fiction (I know, it's embarrassing) I've read in a year, which was one of my goals. Not only did I finish the Harry Potter series before the final movie came out I also really enjoyed the Hunger Games. I'd really love to create a youth ministry curriculum exploring empire, consumerism, and faith utilizing the Hunger Games.

This past year in theology was really a discovering and delving into process and weak theology which has been very intriguing and helpful for me. I kept putting off reading Barth's Dogmatics, one of my resolutions from last year, until I didn't read them at all. I may find a resource to read the more important and interesting parts.

Anyways here's my list of books that I finished in 2011. If you have any recommendations or comments I'd love to hear them.

1. Sustainable Youth Ministry- Mark Devries. 1/1
2. Practicing Passion: Youth & the Quest for a Passionate Church - Kenda Creasy Dean 1/6
3. Out Of Babylon - Walter Brueggemann 1/19
4. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream - David Platt 1/23
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling 1/25
6. The Next Christians- Gabe Lyons
7. The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation- Jurgen Moltmann 2/2
8. Fall to Grace- Jay Bakker 2/9
9. When Helping Hurts- Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert 2/17
10. The Nature of Love: A Theology- Thomas Jay Oord- 3/22
11. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- Rowling 3/27
12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling 4/6
13. Velvet Elvis- Rob Bell 4/11
14. The New Christians- Tony Jones 4/12
15. Transforming Christian Theology - Phillip Clayton 4/25
16. Ishmael- Daniel Quinn 4/28
17. After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters- NT Wright 5/15
18. One Fine Potion- The Literary Magic of Harry Potter- Greg Garrett 5/25
19. The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event- John Caputo 5/24
20. Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers is Telling the American Church- Kenda Creasy Dean 5/25
21. Christ of the Celts: the Healing of Creation - Philip Newell 5/25
22. The Knight & The Gardener: Worldview makes worlds- Cassidy Dale 5/26
23. Welcoming Justice: God's Movement Toward Beloved community - John Perkins 5/30
24. Quantum Physics and Theology - John Polkinghorne 6/10
25. Presence Centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation- Mike King 6/17
26. The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of The Ancient Didache Community - Tony Jones 6/22
27. Gilead. Marilynn Robinson 6/22
28. Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political meaning of the church- William T. Cavanaugh 7/5
29. Cat's Cradle- Kurt Vonnegut 7/15
30. On the Mystery: Discerning God in Process- Catherine Keller 8/29
31. Invitation to the Great Experiment: Exploring the possibility that God cam be known- Thomas E. Powers 9/2
32. Christ the Key - Kathryn Tanner 10/17
33. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke 10/17
34. missional youth ministry: moving from gathering teenagers to scattering disciples - Brian Kirk & Jacob Thorne 10/30/11
35. Love Wins- Rob Bell 11/07/11
36. King Jesus Gospel: The Original Gospel Revisited- Scot McKinght 11/10/11
37. Difference Heaven Makes: Rehearing the Gospel as News- Christopher Morse 11/16/11
38. Disgrace: A Novel- J.M. Coetzee 11/17/11
39. Hunger Games- Suzann Collins 11/26/11
40. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins 11/29/11
41. Mockingjay- Suzanne Collins 12/05/11
42. The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture- Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove 12/23/11
43. Exiles:Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture- Michael Frost 12/27/11
44. Insurrection: To Believe is Human, To Doubt is Divine- Peter Rollins 12/31/11

2010 in Books, What I read last year

Though 2010 only consisted of 11 blog posts, I find posting up what I've read the past year a good practice for myself to look over what I've read, reflected upon, and found new friends among. So, in order to continue this practice, here's my "books read" list from 2010.

The Myth of Religious Violence, William Cavanuagh

In the Name of Jesus, Henry Nouwen

Christianity and Capitalism, American Style, William Connolly

Turtles all the Way Down, Gordon Atkinson RLP

Can these Bones Live? A Catholic Baptist Engagement with Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, and Social Theory- Barry Harvey

A New Kind of Christianity, Bryan McLaren

An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible, Walter Brueggemann

The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity, Slavoj Zizek

On Theology, John Caputo

Deep Church, Jim Belcher

Flawed Families of the Bible, the Garland's

Better Hope, A Resource for a Church Confronting Capitalism, Democracy and Postmodernity, Stanley Hauerwas

What Would Jesus Deconstruct, John Caputo

Practicing Discernment with Youtht: A Transformative Youth Ministry Approach, David White

All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

Transforming Bible Study, Walter Wink

Moral Vision of the New Testament, Richard Hays

Introduction to the Missional Church, Alan Roxburough

For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public, John Howard Yoder

OMG: A Youth Ministry Handbook, Kenda Creasy Dean

Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel, John Howard Yoder

Outliers: the Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell

Sun of Righteousness, Arise! God's future Humanity and the Earth, Jurgen Moltmann

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry, Andrew Root

Signs of Emergence, Kester Brewin

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of our Worst Fears, Stephen T. Asma

The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Para church Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and other Modern Maladies, David Fitch

The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, Willie James Jennings

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling

Messy Spirituality, Mark Yaconelli

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, R.K. Rowling

He doesn't like it...

So, I'm almost done with Brian McLaren's newest book and will have my thoughts on it up soon. But I thought I'd post this guy's review, because it is very different from what mine will be. I mean, I do not agree with McLaren 100% and think "A New Kind of Christianity" leads to a dangerous place at times, but I'm generally sympathetic to the project. Also, I like a lot of what he says thus far. So, before I get my thoughts up here's a tidbit from someone who wouldn't agree with my take on McLaren:

Finally – and most importantly – this is not a minor tweak of Christianity. It is a repudiation of the church’s understanding of God and the gospel. It really is tearing up the contract and starting all over again. McLaren says we’ve got the whole Biblical storyline, as well as our ideas of God and Scripture, all wrong. He’d rather be an atheist, he says, than believe in the God that many of us think is found in the Bible. You don’t get any more basic. We are talking about two fundamentally different versions of Christianity and the gospel.

and you can read the rest here.

A New Kind Of Christianity, McLaren's Newest Book

As part of the ViralBloggers network, I have the honor of being one of the few (elite?) people to receive author, speaker, pastor, and networker Brian McLaren's newest book "A New Kind of Christianity (browse inside it)," which hits the store shelves, as well as virtual shelves on Feb. 9th. HarperCollins is publishing Brian's newest quest

Brian has been a faithful friend, I mean that's what books are written to be right, along my pilgrimage. I haven't read much by him but in seminary I read A Generous Orthodoxy after reading Richard Foster's Streams of Living Water. These two pilgrims helped me move away from the strictness of fundamentalism wrapped tightly in denominationalism and see truth in the many doctrines, dogmas, and denom's of Christianity. Needless to say when I was deconstructing and struggling to find words and new ways of viewing the church, God, and my own faith McLaren gave me the gift of perspective. Later in seminary one of my night stand books became More Ready Than You Realize in which again Brian aided my perspective in reinventing evangelism away from the evange-cube/tract/guilt tactics toward befriending those were are different from me. Thus, began my conversation. These two themes play strongly in my faith still: the necessity of bearing and seeking truth in its many forms as well as the need (for myself) to be converted (continually) as well as love others toward Christ.

Then last year at First Baptist Austin, our Easter Tide (that's the time after Easter before Pentecost on the church calendar that lasts about 7 or 8 Sundays) we studied in small groups Everything Must Change. For myself, while not groundbreaking or even really new, this book guided me in leading "real" people, nonseminarians in the conversations that I found so important and true. Moreover, before leading these groups my wife and I as well as a bunch of other CBF baptists heard McLaren speak at Current retreat. So, in ways I feel like Brian and I are friends. We talked...at the conference...in his books...on the web...blogs...facebook...I'm not sure he'd know who I am, but way I feel towards my friends is the way I feel toward this newest book by McLaren.

I get excited about my friend's stuff, tweets, etc; but I'm also familiar with them. It's not that I'm bored, complacent, or even contempt (familiarity breeds what?) with Brian's work, but more...familiar...comfortable...I don't know how to describe it. But the reason I enjoy genuine friends so much is the same reason I'm looking forward to breaking open "A New Kind of Christianity," friends make you remember: remember who you are, where you came from, what the questions are, what makes life worth the living. While I'm not expecting to have my mind blown away in amazing revelations (though it could happen), I'm expecting to be reminded. Was it Augustine who said prayer is learning deep memory?

If you are still reading and haven't perused the book yet, here are the ten questions Brian seeks to answer in this newest book. These ten questions seek to unite our inner lives with our outer lives in a search for a "faith for tomorrow:"

• The Authority Question: How Should the Bible Be Understood?
• The God Question: Is God Violent?
• The Jesus Question: Who is Jesus and Why is He Important?
• The Gospel Question: What Is the Gospel?
• The Church Question: What Do We Do About the Church?
• The Sex Question: Can We Find a Way to Address Sexuality Without Fighting About It?
• The Future Question: Can We Find a Better Way of View the Future?
• The Pluralism Question: How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?
• The What Do We Do Now Question: How Can We Translate Our Quest into Action?

As you can see, these questions are seemingly perennial questions to confront in our context. Hope you find room on your shelf or IPad or Kindle for

Also, check out the video (and all of Ooze.Tv's stuff) below of Spencer Burke driving Brian McLaren around talking about the power of questions to produce a new journey, a conversation driven by questions asked all around the world of people seeking to follow Jesus.

A (Half) Year in Books: 2009ish

Here's a look at some books I read last year. I only posted the ones I finished starting in June or July, I can't remember. The only book I read last summer was Dostoevsky's beautiful (and thick) Brothers Karamazov. I definitely slacked off in posting up what I was reading throughout the year and giving feedback, reviews, and thoughts...but I'm hoping to do more of that this year. There were several books I didn't finish, read in a group, or am not remembering right now, but we won't count those. So starting with the most recently finished, here's a look at the book I've read this month and the second half of 2009.

Rollins' Interview with CC

If you haven't heard of Pete Rollins, you should get acquainted soon. He's a writer, thinker, and story teller from Ireland wrestling with ideas from apophaticism, Lacan, Zizek, and postmodern philosophy/Christianity. He's one of the key ingredients to IKON in Belfast, the inspiration for VOID in Waco created by my friend Adam Moore.

Here's an interview in Christian Century. Beyond that I recommend his books (1st & 2nd), especially his newest one, Orthodox Heretic, which I think will become a very valuable teaching tool for myself and Christians in the West. Paraclete is providing the first story in the book at their site. Check it out.

And the man was very happy

For the Ooze Viral Bloggers, I am reviewing "Enough: Contentment in an Age of Excess" by Will Samson. Though only 1/3 of the way through (I just began it yesterday), the parts that have stuck out the most to me is Samson's introductions to the each chapter with a midrash-like paragraph on Jesus and the "rich young ruler." I'll be posting my review in the days to come, but here's a few of the said paragraphs:

One day Jesus was walking down Main Street on his way out of town, and a rich and influential lawyer came up to hima nd asked: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus replied, "Give what you can to the synagogue. Ten percent is a good rule of thumb, but whatever you do, don't be a legalist about it. And make sure you have enough left over to contribute to the economy. You know, 'Give to Caesar...'"
And the man went away very happy, because that was exactly what he was already doing..

..."what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus replied, "Become a better you. Awaken to your life's purpose. Be a good person. Eat what I eat. And vote right."
And the man went away very happy, because that sounded exactly like the kind of life he had been seeking.

...
And Jesus replied, "Great question! I've never thought of that before. Give me time to get back to you on that one."
And the man was pleased, because he really wasn't ready for any big changes at thi point in his life.

...
And Jesus replied, "Don't marry someone of the same gender, and don't allow someone you have gotten pregnant to have an abortion."
And the man went away very hapy, because he was already doing these things.

Reading Log

Back on the book shelf
Consuming Faith: Integrating who we are with what we buy by Tom Beaudoin
Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
Beyond Homelessness: Christian faith in a culture of displacement by Bouma-Prediger & Walsh
Body Politics: Five practices of the Christian community before the watching world by John Howard Yoder
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sitting in the just finished stack:
Becoming a Thinking Christian by John Cobb
The Way of a Pilgrim
The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the ways Jesus is the Way by Eugene Peterson
Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

In my backpack, on the table, on my nightstand, and on my Iphone's Kindle:
The God of Hope and the End of the World by John Polkinghorne
The Way of Jesus Christ by Jurgen Moltmann
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

In the soon to be read stack:
Original Sin by Alan Jacob
Subverting Global Myths by Vinoth Ramachandra

Help Publish RealLivePreacher

Gordon is up to something new, trying to get his second book published. Though I've never read the first, what I've heard about it and the little I've perused I'm sure the second will be worth it. So check out RLP's new project to get his second book published.

The Shack, William Young

I recently finished reading what has become a sort of Christian pop culture phenomenon, the Shack.
I'd rather not give a lengthy review of my own since reviews are numerous and widespread on this internet thing. Actually, Andy Rowell has compiled a good list of reviews if you're interested.

A few things that I would say:

• Those who've denounced this novel have really missed the point. It's quite obvious as in any fiction that this book is not meant to be a theological treatise. The book has a good storyline about healing and the power of relationship with God. I'm not as huge a fan of the book as some who have praised it highly (E. Peterson claims this book to be the next Pilgrim's Progress. I highly doubt it). I enjoyed the imaginative writing and dialog with God. Overrall I thought the book was worth the read, but I would not say I loved it.

• There were some places I felt like it lacked:
  
• Young is creative in his approach to the Trinity (which some have claimed to be modalistic, which is a case in missing the point), but often the dialog is uncreative, slow, and full of cheesy Christian quotes.
  
• Also, I think Young stepped out in allowing Papa, the "head" of the Trinity to actually be God the mother, a large African American woman. I appreciated that he first tried to defy the male-centered lens of the church, but in the end he fails by allowing God to resemble the form that the main character presumed God would be in the first place, a Gandalf-like old man.
  
• I do like that Jesus resembles a middle eastern man, but Young fails in his presentation of Jesus. There are two things that I didn't like. One was that Jesus seemed to be against the institutional church or religion in any sense. Not that I don't think the institutional church or religion doesn't need critiquing, but Jesus came across more as the "my buddy" or "homeboy" Jesus who has been created by our consumer culture. Jesus as anti-religion and best buddy were weak representations.

• Other then these critiques, Young delivers a book that I would recommend to anyone that has suffered lost and is struggling with questions of faith, doubt, love, life, and God. Furthermore, Trinitarian theology has become quite popular as of late and this work witnesses to the beauty, complexity, and creativity bound up with this important doctrine. Check it out, read it, mull it over.