So, my friend Barb asks what I am reading this summer (while I’m not posting as often)…
Well, here’s some stuff that’s on my list. I hope I will read much of it this summer. I’m not a quick reader. I am pretty steady though, and I can go in spurts and read a good deal. I don’t know if that will be this summer or not; remains to be seen. However, I can share what I’m interested in reading this summer. I do think I’ll get to a fair share of these.
What I’m reading right now
- The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen
What’s in my summer reading list pool – theology, history, fiction, self-reflection/improvement, etc.
- Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by David Garrow (have started, aim to finish)
- Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance, by Tony Dungy
- Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by NT Wright (have started, aim to finish)
- Maybe the Harry Potter books, by JK Rowling (have read #1, would like to bust out the series)
- Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile, by Rob Bell and Don Golden
- 1776, by David McCollough
- The Chosen, by Chaim Potok (a favorite novel and author, I’m thinking of rereading this classic)
- Prayer for Beginners, by Peter Kreeft (highly recommended by my father-in-law, a UM pastor)
- Developing the Leader Within You, by John Maxwell
- Maybe reread Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
- Maybe the Malcolm Gladwell books: Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers
- Maybe the next in John Updike’s Rabbit novels for me: Rabbit is Rich
Here are my recommendations for persons looking for good stuff to read this summer, one in each of three categories: ficiton, history, spirituality.
- Fiction – The Chosen, by Chaim Potok
- History – The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, by Candace Millard
- Spirituality – Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, by Henri Nouwen
What’s on your summer reading list/pool of potentials?
What would you recommend to others?
Guy M Williams 
Surprised by Hope – yes, excellent. Very clear as always with Tom Wright.
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?
The Shack was a fine book, but not on the level of Potok and others.
I loved all Potok’s stuff. He actually inspired me to chase after being a Bible scholar (which I’m not). I thought it was really cool that all those Yeshiva students discussed Torah the way they did. I liked David Allen’s book, too. I’m reading Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls by Gary W. Moon and David G. Benner (the writing is as good as the concepts). A couple favorites: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and Walking on Water by L’Engle (one a “children’s” fantasy, the other a reflection on faith and art); Kathleen Norris’ A Cloister Walk and Amazing Grace. And anything by Frederich Buechner.
Looking ahead the rest of the summer, some books I’d like to finish include:
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.
Mmm, yes to the coolness of the Yeshiva students and their casually-worn intellectualism. Chatting about Torah and Talmud like they were baseball stats. I really like that aspect too, actually.
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.
Thanks, Richard. Excellent authors on that list. I’ve got a copy of Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, but haven’t started it yet.
Well said on Potok. Having ideas and ideals and finding out where your line is the sand is. Being a person who had trouble learning to stand and be present in conflict situations, I considered the possible application of the characters’ choices in my own life. What’s the Jesus and the Eyewitnesses about?
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses is an exploration of the role of eyewitness testimony as source material for the gospels. Bauckham also takes on some of the old conclusions of Form Criticism.