Summer Reading — Non-fiction

by john on 8/24/2010 · 1 comment

in books

As promised yesterday, here’s some of my non-fiction reading from this summer:

Linchpin, by Seth Godin
I heard from a lot of people who were challenged, encouraged, and moved by this book. I was distracted by the format which seemed more like a stream of consciousness. I thought what Godin had to say was good, but much of it compared to Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art, which I would recommend instead.

A Walk Through the Bible, by Lesslie Newbigin
Newbigin and I always get along. This short and simple book was designed as an intro to the larger story of the Bible. Like most of my favorite theologians, Newbigin takes large theological concepts and paints them in general strokes to make them available to a wider audience than academia.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, by Peter Scazzero
A follow up to Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Church, which is a valued book in my library. Both of Scazzero’s book are important because the advocate for a spiritual formation that shapes our whole life, integrating our emotions and relationships. I strongly recommend them for anyone in church leadership.

The Language of God, by Francis Collins
I picked this book up on a discounted remainder shelf at the bookstore — it seems like an overlooked book. After reading it, I’m surprised it didn’t generate more dialogue than it did, as I don’t recall hearing much about it. Collins in a respected scientist and openly Christian, and engages the two perspectives to show that they aren’t as at odds as they are portrayed to be. He openly supports evolution as a Christian and that’s why I’m surprised there wasn’t more conversation about the book.

Empire of Illusion, by Chris Hedges
I loved, and hated, this book. You have to love the subtitle (I guess you don’t have to, but I did): The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Hedges takes a thoughtful look at our cultural assumptions in the United States about entertainment, the economy and moreI enjoyed it because it has a certain “peel back the curtain and see the little man pretending to be the wizard” quality to it, but found myself squirming throughout the book — not because I often didn’t agree with him, but because I often did.

God in Creation, by Jurgen Moltmann
I’m sure I started this book before any of the others on the list, but I finished it after all of them. It’s the kind of read you have to take in thoughtful chunks. I’ve only started to read Moltmann in the last few years, but appreciate the unique voice and perspective he brings to my background. The first section of this book — the relationship between God and creation — and the last — Sabbath as an act of enjoying and experiencing God through creation — were excellent.

“Christian worship is…

by john on 8/24/2010 · 0 comments

in books

Christian worship is one of the primary arenas in which we participate in the practices that shape who we are. If our worship simply mimics the disciplinary practices and goals of a consumer culture, we will not be formed otherwise.” — James K. A. Smith

Summer Reading — Fiction

by john on 8/23/2010 · 1 comment

in books

School started today and I’m ready for rhythm to return. Between a few trips and a handful of large web projects, it’s been hard to find rhythm. I’ve still been able to read some, but I haven’t spent time blogging about it. So to celebrate the end of summer, here’s a look back at my fiction reading this summer. I’ll follow up this week, or month, with my non-fiction reading.

The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkienn
A classic that was worth reading a second time. I remembered that this book was geared a little more toward children than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I wanted to see if my daughter, who loves the Narnia books, would enjoy this. I don’t think she would yet.

The Time Travelers Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Often called one of the best books of the last decade, so I wanted to give it a shot. The storyline is interesting, and there is some depth to the characters, but I had already seen the movie. I think this is one of those instances where the book isn’t as good because the movie has already removed the intrigue of the unfolding plot.

Out of the Silent Planet, by CS Lewis
Struggled with this one as a kid and never finished it. Struggled with it as a grown-up too, but at least I can say I finished it. Grapples with some interesting philosophies, as you’d expect from Lewis, but I didn’t care much about the characters.

The Passage, by Justin Cronin
I heard a lot of buzz about this when it was released this spring, so I made plans to read it. I avoided knowing anything about it so I could enjoy it more. If I had know it was going to be about, um, vampires, I probably wouldn’t have read it. And I would have missed out, because I was engaged throughout. It’s one of those fiction books that stays with you between reading times, as you think about what might happen next.

The Imperfectionists, by Neil Rachman
I’m halfway through, but this is great. It is a series of short stories, each featuring a different character who works for the same newspaper. Reading this affirms two things to me: 1) character development matters to me more than anything when it comes to fiction, and 2) I need to read more short stories.

And a few I started, but didn’t finish:
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
I can enjoy SciFi and Fantasy books when I care about the characters. When I don’t, I struggle to stick with them. I know this one is well regarded, but I think I only made it a third of the way through. Stephenson unrolls a thoughtful future based on where we are now, but I didn’t care about the people who were living in it.

Perelandra, by CS Lewis
I was told that this one unpacks more ponderings than the first in the Space Trilogy, but again, I was detached from the central characters and decided to move on to something else.

Heaven Has Been Thrown Open

by john on 7/1/2010 · 3 comments

in midrash

But according to Christian understanding, the beginning of heavenly bliss is already present — and is also already experienced — in the grace of Christ and in the church of Christ; and this means that heaven has already been thrown open here.” — Jürgen Moltmann in God in Creation

Stages of Faith

June 23, 2010

I’ve spent a lot of time this year thinking about how spiritual growth happens, and how our church community can be intentional about moving each other toward maturity. I know there are all sorts of methods and programs and models for this. Some are helpful to a degree, and some, not at all. I don’t [...]

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Creativity and Mission, Part Two

June 18, 2010

This past weekend, I participated in Denver 2010 — a regional gathering for the Ecclesia Network. I was one of 12 speakers who gave 14 minutes presentations on a particular topic as it relates to mission. Below is the second half of my manuscript. Part one was posted yesterday. First, creative work, when properly understood, [...]

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Creativity and Mission, Part One

June 17, 2010

This past weekend, I participated in Denver 2010 — a regional gathering for the Ecclesia Network. I was one of 12 speakers who gave 14 minutes presentations on a particular topic as it relates to mission. Below is the first half of my manuscript. I will follow with part two tomorrow. Two years ago, our [...]

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@StrangeIdea and Some Other Stuff

June 17, 2010

I know that for many, Twitter has replaced RSS as their primary means of finding things to read. With that in mind, I’ve created a twitter account that will tweet whenever I blog here, as I don’t always prefer to post links on my personal twitter account. I couldn’t use @somestrangeideas — it is too [...]

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Hey Look…Austin is #1. Of course.

May 27, 2010

We first visited Austin in 2005 and considered moving here then. We took a minor detour to Seattle for three years before finally landing in Austin in 2008. But in those two years, and from afar for three years prior, I’ve seen Austin building momentum as a city. I feel like I’m around people every [...]

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Hello Houndstooth

May 25, 2010

If there is one thing I’ve had no complaints about in Austin, it has been the options available for coffee shops to work from. Last fall, I blogged about my five favorite coffee shops and I made a trip on Gowalla of all my favorite independent coffee shops. A few weeks ago, a new shop [...]

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Farewell Lost

May 25, 2010

I was a faithful Lostie over the last five years. I didn’t watch the first season when it aired, but I heard enough about the show that I caught up on Season 1 via DVD, er, Hulu, er, iTunes, er, um, BitTorrent, before season 2 began. From that point on, I kept up with the [...]

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The Good and Beautiful God

May 19, 2010

This past week, I finished working through The Good and Beautiful God with another guy from our church community. This book, penned by James Bryan Smith, is the first in The Apprentice Series — three books on spiritual formation. Admittedly, I was a skeptic, because I’ve seen lots of materials like this. But when I [...]

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The Hole in Our Gospel

May 18, 2010

North American, Evangelical Christianity, has seen growing pockets of conversation in the last five years or so about how Christians should face issues of poverty and injustice. I’ve seen the conversation going on in megachurch circles, emerging church circles, house church circles, and everywhere in between. The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, the [...]

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the ipad and ministry

May 10, 2010

I like being a pastor and neato church stuff. I like neato technology stuff. I like to write. So how could I resist when I had an opportunity to write an article about how churches might use the iPad… The iPad is Here and It’s Coming to Your Church

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