Read last month:
Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough, Michael Wittmer -What an enjoyable book this was! Wittmer writes like I hope I will. He covered topics that postmodern innovators (his name for Emergent folks) question or deny. The only chapter I didn’t like was the one on hell but other than that, it was pretty good. I’m just not sure how I would ever use this book. Perhaps if I had some friends flirting with the Emergent church or something. Still, I enjoyed it. Might have to read Wittmer’s other book Heaven is a Place on Earth.
Ongoing reading:
Getting Things Done, David Allen – I didn’t really finish this and I’m not sure I ever will. I’m going very slowly and am implementing as I go. This will obviously be an on going project. Great stuff and I very strongly recommend this book!
The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story, Craig Bartholomew & Michael Goheen – Still working through it for the Sunday school class. Going slowly through this as well.
Didn’t get to but will be this month:
Leading With a Limp, Dan Allender – Already started this one and it is good so far. There is some repetition in it but it seems like it will be worth reading.
Starting this month:
Instruction in Faith, John Calvin – It’s Calvin’s 500th birthday this year and I’m not going to read the Institutes. Dr. Tiénou quoted part of it during a sermon a few weeks ago and I ordered it two days later.
3 Comments
Tim,
I am interested to hear more about the first book you talked about, Don’t Stop Believing. Can you go into more detail? I really don’t have too much of an opinion on the Emergent Church (actually, most seem to distinguish between Emerging and Emergent, with Emerging being the main stream movement), but I am really intrigued with Postmodernism. I personally don’t find modernism to be all that appealing, it was after all, just the outcome of the Enlightenment period that sought to make believe in God irrational. I find the Postmodern movement to be refreshing because it allows for some of the mysticism to come back to Christianity, if Christianity were to appropriately respond to it. If taken too far, I do believe Postmodernism could lead down a very stray past, but honestly, I don’t really feel that the modernist path Christianity is on now is all that much better. I guess I just see Postmodernism (in the Christian world) as a movement of surrender that first seeks to find the truth in a relationship with God that doesn’t need explanation to others, and then is content to live in that wonder and awe. Modernism almost always seems to ask “how?” and “why?”, but Postmodernism just seems to want to ask “what do I do for more?”.
Tell you what Andrew, you asked some good questions and made so good points. I’ll answer you with a post instead of a comment. How’s that?
I look forward to it. In the mean time, I am going to do some more reading on the topic as well.