I just updated the list of books that I have read, as well as the list of books I intend to finish by the end of the year. There are a few more books I need to add to the "to be read" list, but I'll pop those on the 'ol blog later. I dare not linger too long on what's left to be read, because it's pretty overwhelming. I'm not an overly fast reader, nor am I an amazing retainer of the things I've read, unless it's super good. Usually, I'm good for a few general summary sentences, but not a thorough review.

Anyway, the reading list alone should indicate why I haven't been blogging as frequently, as well as the likelihood that my frequency will change much in the near future. Maybe I'll just pop a bunch of YouTube videos on here to keep people entertained . . . as if anyone comes here for the entertainment value.

Labels: blogging, books, school

Charles Marsh, a professor at the University of Virginia wrote a devastating article (actually, an adapted chapter from his new book) in the Boston Globe a couple weeks back. Here are a couple of snippets:

These past six years have been transformative in the religious history of the United States. It is arguably the passing of the evangelical moment -- if not the end of evangelicalism's cultural and political relevance, then certainly the loss of its theological credibility. Conservative evangelical elites, in exchange for political access and power, have ransacked the faith and trivialized its convictions. It is as though these Christians consider themselves to be recipients of a special revelation, as if God has whispered eternal secrets in their ears and summoned them to world-historic leadership in the present and future.

and

If only holiness were measured by the volume of our incessant chatter, we would be universally praised as the most holy nation on earth. But in our fretful, theatrical piety, we have come to mistake noisiness for holiness, and we have presumed to know, with a clarity and certitude that not even the angels dared claim, the divine will for the world. We have organized our needs with the confidence that God is on our side, now and always, whether we feed the poor or corral them into ghettos.

The article makes note of the fact that evangelicals in the U.S. chose conservative national political alliances over global spiritual alliances. Christians from around the world overwhelmingly opposed the war in Iraq . . . Christians in the U.S. overwhelmingly supported it.


Via: Fast Company Expert Blogs

Labels: books, Christendom, culture, politics

This summer I get the pleasure of officiating two weddings - the first of which is this weekend. The second of these is a bit later in the summer, and I'm starting some premarital counseling soon with the couple - young, bright. fun, level-headed. The bride-to-be works with Michelle, and I made a book recommendation to the couple through Michelle this week. It's a book that we read together a few years back and found interesting, so I suggested it.

Apparently, without me noticing a thing, the book has a noticeable male bias. The bride-to-be had started the book a while back on her own, but found it pretty demeaning. Michelle's suggestion was that given that most of my theological positions have shifted around pretty significantly in recent years, perhaps it would be good to review my list of book choices that predate the era of shifts. Hmmmm, that's probably wise. I can already pull a few volumes off my mental bookshelf that I really valued when I read them, but are something less than helpful now.

Humbling to know that I'm still a chauvanist, despite all this pseudo-enlightening I've been up to.

So, anyone know of some good, healthy premarital books that are equally honoring and respectful to both genders?

Labels: books, friends

This past week during one of our class sessions, one of my cohort-mates, John, talked about some of the teachings he's been doing at his church recently. Today I've been bumping around with some reading from Dallas Willard, and was reminded of a sentence John said . . . I'd like to make it a mantra in the days to come:

Who are you becoming by what you are repeatedly doing?

Labels: books, friends, school

Andrew Jones is at it again with another critic of the emerging church - this time it's John MacArthur. I haven't read his book, so I won't comment . . . but Andrew did read the book, and has a stellar review here. Quite funny, generous, and fair.

Labels: blogging, books, emerging church

Earlier this year, I read David Bosch's game changing misiology book, Transforming Mission. It's long, thorough, and so good in so many ways. It's truly a remarkable work. Not an easy read, mind you, but well worth the work I put into it. I will re-visit that book many times in the years ahead.

As I was reviewing some of the notes I made on it this weekend, I came across something that was very curious to me. It goes a little something like this. If you were to take a poll of evangelical pastors in North America, and asked them what the three most important verses/short passages in the Bible are, what do you think they'd say? John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 11:6 . . . what else? I gotta think that Matthew 28:18-20 would be included in the list that many many pastors would give. I don't remember how old I was when that was one of my memory verses, but it had to be pretty early - I mean, it's the Great Commission, right?

So imagine my surprise when I read Bosch write that this short passage of the New Testament that I and countless others have come to think of as central was basically not elevated to any special status as Bible verses go until about 60 years ago. Are you kidding? The way we talk, and preach, and organize our church activities, you'd think that this would definitely have been a biblical staple throughout the entirety of church history. Alas, it seems that it wasn't.

So my question is, "What does this mean?" Why is it that something the church has so organized itself around wasn't always given such importance? Not that it was dismissed or marginalized. I'm just curious about this. Perhaps that's not very interesting to you. It caught my attention, though, so I figured I'd share.

Using the Great Commission has certainly led to the expansion of the Church, it's fueled a lot of efforts at serious discipleship, and motivated many to take sharing their faith in Jesus seriously. Cool enough. But that stuff also happened prior to 1940 . . . what motivated folks then?

Labels: books, evangelism, missiology