January 2021 Reading List
Last year I set out to keep track of all of the books that I read, and like so many goals, it simply fell by the wayside. This year, however, I want to write up monthly reports of the things that I am reading and their impact on me. In the long run, I think it will be helpful to look back on how the things I have learned shape me. Below are the books that I read in January of 2021.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
One of my new reading goals is to integrate more fiction and poetry into my reading cycle. Cormac McCarthy has quickly become a favorite novelist of mine. Blood Meridian is set against the stark, brutal landscape of the U.S. Mexico border in the 1850s. Its pages drip with violence and serve as McCarthy’s commentary on the complete depravity of humankind. The book is bleak and offers no happily ever after, which is why it is considered an important book.
In reading some of the commentaries about Blood Meridian. My favorite of which is this one from Christ and Pop Culture. I learned that many consider it the apex of McCarthy’s writing career. While it is undoubtedly an excellent work of literature, I believe that The Road stands out to me as the best of his work that I have read.
E.M Bounds on Prayer by E.M. Bounds
E.M. Bounds was a minister around the turn of the 20th Century. The great strength of this book is that Bounds takes prayer seriously as an action that makes dramatic changes in the real world. He sees prayer not merely as something that changes the heart of the one who prays but rather as something that moves the heart of God. One could not help but read his words and long for a richer prayer life.
Emotional Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
This book was recommended to me by multiple friends in ministry. Scazzero’s advances the central thesis that it is impossible to have a robust and healthy relationship with God if we do not first have a proper understanding of our emotions. He then leads the reader on an autobiographical journey of his reckoning with his emotional health.
Scazzero speaks candidly about how his emotional immaturity nearly destroyed his marriage, hindered his ministry, and damaged some of the most important relationships in his life. His candid nature invites his readers to consider their own lives and how their failure to handle their emotions may be leading to adverse outcomes.
I further appreciated that he gave his readers clear steps and questions to ask if they wished to follow the path he has laid out. One step in particular that stuck with me, since reading it earlier this month, is: “Another helpful way to measure your level of brokenness is to consider how ‘offend' able you are.” (Scazzero, 109)
In the end, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is a book that I found very helpful and will likely return to again throughout the years.
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
In The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein investigates housing policy in the United States. He invites his reader to consider both the intended and unintended consequences of decisions made over 100 years ago and those made today. If you are interested in real estate or are interested in why your city or town developed the way it did, this book offers a unique perspective.
Unclean by Richard Beck
Earlier this month, I preached a sermon on Luke 8:40-56. In this sermon, I looked at the interconnection between “the bleeding woman” and “Jairus” as they came to Jesus in search of healing. A friend of mine read the sermon and told me that I had to read Unclean by Richard Beck.
Beck is a Christian and chairperson of the psychology department at Abilene Christian University in Texas. The central thesis of his book is “psychology of disgust and contamination regulates how many Christians reason with and experience notions of holiness, atonement, and sin.” (Unclean, 4) In other words, the way our brains are wired towards being disgusted and viewing things as dirty impacts the way we interact with God, our relationship with Him, and sin.
As an example, Beck points out that our faith often calls us to do two things that seem opposed. We are to live holy lives. At the same, we are called to interact with and love sinners. Holiness requires drawn boundaries. Mercy and love tend to ignore boundaries. How can we do both?
In the end, I believe that Beck wants his readers to wrestle with questions like these, and I think that he is right that we should be wrestling with them.
