Q & R: What have you been reading lately?
Here’s the Q:
I enjoy your books – and wonder what books you’ve enjoyed lately?
Here’s the R:
I’ve especially enjoyed two works of historical fiction lately, both about Irish saints:
Frederick Buechner’s Brendan
Steven Lawhead’s Byzantium
I also enjoyed Jason Derr’s “The Boston 395” – a hard-to-categorize work that gets inside your head by getting you inside someone else’s head.
I read tons of theology.
On a popular level, Greg Boyd’s “Benefit of the Doubt” will help a lot of people, especially those from conservative Evangelical backgrounds, to “break the idol of certainty.” Greg’s writing is always refreshingly honest, but this book goes beyond normal honesty to the level of personal confession at several points.
I loved Nadia Bolz-Weber’s “Pastrix,” and Peter Edward Matthews “King, Obama, and Me: Dreaming with Audacity.”
And I thought Rob Bell’s “What We Talk about When We Talk About God” was beautifully done on many levels. He does great work!
On a more theo-nerd level, I’ve been enjoying “Politics & Apocalypse: Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture,” edited by Robert Hamerton-Kelly. It reflects my ongoing appreciation for the work of Rene Girard and his colleagues. It has been useful in preparing for my upcoming class with Life in the Trinity, which will cover the Book of Revelation (among other things).
Apart from theology (strictly speaking), George Lakoff’s “Thinking Points” clarified a lot of political issues for me. It’s hard to draw a list like this to a close because I read a lot … and nearly everything I read is worthwhile. It’s a great time to be alive as a reader!