I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time.

Book Reviews to come in the next few days:

This second section is what I read in the area of General Theology:

A Walk Through the Bible by Lesslie Newbigin
Wow. This little book is a pure gem! If you are looking for a quick summary of the narrative of scripture you have found your resource. This is not only great for those of us who grew up in the church to read through and reframe our lives, but it is great for someone who doesn’t know the story at all. I bought about 10 copies of this book and gave them away to people in the church. In fact, I need to do that again… be right back…

Church Dogmatics 4.3.2 by Karl Barth
Okay, so I didn’t read this whole entire volume. But, I started to and have read a decent chunk of it. I’ll tell you what, this section of the dogmatics is pure gold when it comes to understanding the church and its role in the world. I actually referenced it a few times in my paper on the missional church in suburbia. If you are feeling brave, pick up this volume from amazon. In my opinion, its well worth the time, money and effort.

Embracing Grace by Scot McKnight
Top 10 book. Ever. The thing that I love about Scot is that even though its clear that he is brilliant, he writes books that are both very readable to the non-academic and very helpful to the average person sitting in the pew. We’ve been using this book in my small group this year and I can honestly say that his discussion of the gospel of embracing grace has cultivated a lot of life change in our small little group. I feel like the best thing this book did was to give me language to explain how I have understood the gospel for so long. In fact, I think I am going to go and buy it as a gift for someone who reads this blog. Be right back….

A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight
Scot continues to write about important and deep issues in ways that are not incomprehensible. I am actually only about 1/2 way through this book at the moment but have found it really, really helpful as I think thought the different views of the atonement that have been proclaimed and argued throughout church history.

The Great Omission by Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard is pretty much a go-to kind of author. I had to read this book for a class I took early in the year and found to really to be helpful as we think about the lack of real discipleship that happens in the local church in America.

The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
I read this in 2001 (I think) and it was completely transforming to my understanding of salvation, faith and well, pretty much everything. I had to re(skim) it again for a class and it was better the second time. If you haven’t read it, you really should. If you have already read it. Pick it up for a few hours and take it in again. Its that good.