Potok, to me, is an excellent example of how the more particular one gets in relaying the people and context of the story, the more universal its connection becomes…if I’m articulating that well enough to be understood. From the Potok books I’ve read (The Chosen, The Promise, My Name is Asher Lev, In the Beginning), the thing I find tremendously helpful in my formation as a Christian is the theme of persons navigating the intersection of their religious community with its formative tradition and the secular modern world.

And I love how he takes the reader into an experience so foreign—New York City Hasidic Jewish communities in the mid-20th century—against the backdrop of the historical realities of Jewish persecution, the Holocaust, and the formation of the modern state of Israel.

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God
Anthony Thiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine
Michael Budde, Conflicting Allegiances: The Church Based University in a Liberal Democratic Society
Stephen Russell, OVercoming Evil God’s Way
Murray Rae, History and Hermeneutics.

I’ll also read plenty of fiction – mostly science fiction & mysteries. Just finished Elizabeth George’s latest.

You haven’t included “The Shack” – was there a reason against, or did you just not think it as good as some of those you’ve mentioned?