a pastor in Austin
Posts tagged as:
IVP has been kind enough to allow me to pick out some of their recent releases for review. I look forward to reading the books that caught my attention and sharing them with you here in the months to come. First up is a book called Deepest Differences: A Christian-Atheist Dialogue, by James Sire, and [...]
{ 1 comment }
I received a review copy of A New Kind of Conversation. The subtitle is Blogging Toward a Postmodern Faith. My first impression was that this was a book about blogging, and how this online conversation is helping shape postmodern faith. I thought it might be interesting. But on a closer look, I realized it [...]
{ 1 comment }
I’m not sure if I would have read On the Side of the Angels, by Joseph D’Souza and Benedict Rogers, if I hadn’t been sent a review copy. Heck…I hadn’t even heard of it. After reading it, I hope that neither of those statements will be true for others.
The subtitle is Justice, Human Rights and [...]
{ 0 comments }
After about six people had recommended it, I finally got around to reading TrueFaced. To be honest with you (that is what this book is about, after all), I bought the book two years ago, after about four different friends had recommended it. So it sat on my to-read shelf for two years. And since [...]
{ 5 comments }
I’ve worked through another small pile of books that I received as an Ooze Select Blogger. Publishers partner with the Ooze to send me free books, and I tell you what I think about them on my blog. Here are some titles I received throughout the fall that I’ve had a chance to work through:
Not [...]
{ 2 comments }
Maybe I somehow missed it, but I don’t recall hearing the same amount of buzz about A Thousand Splendid Suns as I did about Khalid Hosseini’s first book, The Kite Runner. That’s too bad…because it’s better.
This book represents everything about why I am serious about reading fiction. Hosseini does more than tell a story…evident in [...]
{ 1 comment }
It’s been over four years since I sat down with Jeff for a conversation that would mark me for the better.
Jeff had been in my high school ministry. Now, a few years out of high school, he was struggling with his church experiences. Jeff was always a writer, and he had written a book [...]
{ 2 comments }
This morning, Tim Keller’s apologetic work, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism came to my mind in one of those random and varied thought chains that I find myself in. Often.
You have those too, right?
Please tell me yes.
The next thought in the chain was alarm that I did not [...]
{ 0 comments }
At the beginning of 2008, I made one resolution. I was going to read more stories. I always wanted to have at least one work of fiction or a biography/memoir going. Pat me on the back, because I was successful.
With every visit to an online or virtual bookstore, I am overwhelmed with all that I [...]
{ 3 comments }
I know we have a few days of ‘08 left, but I don’t think I’m going to be finishing any more books this year. So…it’s time for post I always look forward to — my favorite books of 2008. (Previous years: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004)
It’s a good exercise to review my reading list. I [...]
{ 1 comment }
I’m excited to dig in to the parables after the first of the year. We are to beginning a study the parables in our Austin Mustard Seed gatherings.
Most teachings on the parables feel like they fall short to me. It doesn’t ring true to treat parables like one of Aesop’s Fable with a simple moral [...]
{ 6 comments }
Over the last few weeks, I read through The First Christmas, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The book didn’t live up to some of the hopes I had for it, but the end brought an insight that made me glad I stuck with the book.
Borg and Crossan ended the book by looking [...]
{ 4 comments }
This fall, I’ve been reading through Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love (Kindle version) with my friend Dave. The book has a lot of good, and challenging, things to say, but I haven’t enjoyed it as much as I hoped I would. I have crazy respect for Francis Chan, both from the things I’ve heard him [...]
{ 6 comments }
It has been nine months since I received my Amazon Kindle. It has been a great device, and I blogged some initial thoughts here, as well a post on Creativityist about how it has been helpful for research.
While the Kindle has been a convenient way to read literature, both classics and contemporary, it’s main appeal [...]
{ 6 comments }
Last week, I wrapped up three books that I had been working through. It has been a rich couple of weeks reading these books, and I wouldn’t be surprised if all three of these make it on my list of favorite reads of 2008. By the way, none of these were books I was sent [...]
{ 4 comments }