Thursday, September 20, 2007

Catching up: Book Reviews and Recommendations

I can't believe I've gotten so out of the habit of blogging. What can I say? It's been a busy summer and we had a baby. I am planning on getting back to it now though. Today I need to catch up on a few short book reviews and recommendations I've been promising. In the next few days I'll be posting (in short, readable sections) a paper I wrote on Creation stories and theology in Genesis (read the whole thing before you write me off). On to the reviews:


  • The Voice of Luke: Not Even Sandals (The Voice) by Brian McLaren -- This is absolutely my favorite offering from The Voice so far. Brian McLaren does a masterful job of translating the book of Luke and offering devotional commentary in this stunning volume (Brian worked with a committee of Biblical scholars to ensure the accuracy of the translation, though this is by no means a word-for-word translation). Brian's work here is absolutely beautiful. In this book, he re-captured my imagination and re-invigorated my passion for the story of Jesus. When I finished it, I immediately grabbed The Voice of Acts: The Dust Off Their Feet: Lessons from the First Church (Voice) back off of my shelf because I was so engaged with the story. If you have lost your passion for reading scripture, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Fall in love with the story of Jesus all over again, or even for the first time.
  • The Powers That Be (Power)--Simply put, this book changed me. It changed how I view and relate to the world, and how I react to criticism or even outright aggression. It added dimensions to the story of scripture that I never knew were there. It changed me to the point that in the middle of some particularly difficult situations we were going through, my wife asked me what I had been reading. I can't say enough good things about this book.
  • Static--This is an excellent, accessable summary and synthesis of the thought you would find in McKnight, Wright, McLaren, etc. It is done in the context of a discussion of evangelism and is wrapped in a narrative that keeps you wrapped in. Really enjoyable and highly recommended.
AE

1 comment:

Phil said...

Yay!!! Adam's back!