January Reading List
January Reading List
I set out this year with the goal of both reading and writing more than I ever have before. My reading goal was 35 books, and for writing, I want to create a place to write that was not tied directly to my job as a youth minister. Below is the list of books I completed in January. I got a head start on several of them in December. I am hopeful that both reading and writing help to slow me down so that I can pay better attention to the world.
Disruptive Witness
Alan Noble is an English professor at Oklahoma Baptist University and one of the editors of christandpopculture.com. In this book, he writes about how our current relationship with technology, and the distractions that it provides us, keep us from doing the self-examination that a robust spiritual life requires. Noble argues that as a Christian community we have uncritically adopted the communication modes of our culture and that his adoption is hindering our ability to communicate the uniqueness of the gospel message. In Noble’s mind, the antidote to these problems is to become disruptive witnesses which he defines as: “[shifting our ends] from ourselves to a transcendent God, and then letting that shift shape every aspect of our lives” (Noble, 90).
Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions
Most people’s hearts race when the topic of money comes up in the church. We love to resists the idea that our cash really belongs to God. This book is from a series called New Studies in Biblical Theology, and its goal is to briefly interact with every passage of christian scripture that deals with our possessions. At times this made for challenging reading, but it serves as a helpful reminder that scripture has plenty to say about how the money God has entrusted to us is to be used for the betterment of others. As the new year began it made me consider how I was spending the money that I had.
Genesis
It seems like cheating to divide the books of the Bible individually, but Genesis is lengthy enough to stand on its own. I set the goal this year of reading the whole Bible cover to cover at least twice, and finishing Genesis was the first step towards this goal. I had not read Genesis straight through since Dr. Ngan’s class in seminary and it is interesting the things that stood out this time. Particularly how Mamre showed up again and again throughout the text. When I read it again later this year I want to focus on the importance of the different places we see the characters go.
Leading Kingdom Movements
The author of this book Mike Breen has spent much of time in ministry reimagining what church can, or should, look like in the 21st century. In Leading Kingdom Movements he argues that the church of the future will look far more “movemental” than it does currently. He means that the church is likely to become more like a decentralized connection of Jesus’ followers than the institution it is today. Many will find this scary, but Breen thinks that this is a recovery of the way things once were in Acts. It will be different but different doesn’t mean worse.
The Road
This year I am working on adding more fiction into the rotation which is an easy goal to accomplish because I did not read any fiction last year. The Road is the first book I have ready by Cormac McCarthy and it is the gritty story of father and son trying to cross a bleak, post-apocalyptic wasteland. The world is covered in layer upon layer of ash as father and son strive towards the salvation of the coastline.
Pioneering Movements
In Pioneering Movements, Steve Addison makes the case that the church, in the 21st Century, will need to focus energy on what he calls movements. He argues, using both Scripture and modern examples, the Christian faith grows through the pioneering spirit of its adherents. He invites the reader into a world where discipleship can be multiplied by careful investment in key leaders. He rounds out his call to action with the words of the Apostle Paul from Romans 15:23 “there is no place left for me to work in these regions.” What if there was no place left for us to work because the message of Jesus got out?
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
This book read partially as the confessions of a workaholic, which if we are honest most of us are, and partially as a call back to the Christian practice of Sabbath rest. The author John Mark Comer laments at what we have lost in our unrelenting quest to get just a little more done. He describes the moment that he realized he was in desperate need of recovering a full life with the haunting question “Why was I am I in such a hurry to become someone I don’t like?” (4) John leaves us each to sit and wonder: would my life be better if I just slowed down?
