About our Minister » Nathan's Reading List
The following is a list of books I have found helpful in my ministry and which I would recommend. Most of them I have and am happy to lend out.
Lighter Reading...
- Blue Like Jazz: Non-religius thoughts on Christian spirituality, Donald Miller, 2003
First read this book because I saw it was being recommended by Brooke Fraser! A classic, enlightening and entertaining book which I would describe as coming from the 'emergent' side of the Christian Church. Advocates for a more narrative reading of the Bible. I also bought his next book which has a great over-all message but some shaky sections which would make me hesitate to lend it out.
- Irresistable Revolution: Living as an ordinary radical, Shane Claiborne, 2006
Read this book at your peril! It has been transforming lives all over the planet, turning young believers into 'extremists for grace.' Both rooted in and inspiring the 'New Monastic' movement. Took me a long time to read as there is so much in it to reflect on. Read it now as its discussions about Bush and the Iraq War will date quickly!
- Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian call to action, J. Matthew Sleeth, 2007
A call to care for God's good Creation from a medical and evangelical perspective - the foreward is by Richard Cizik, then vice-president of the US National Association of Evangelicals. This book also has the potential to change your life though in smaller ways, e.g. we no longer use plastic wrap in our house and have gone down the cloth nappy road...
- The Shack, William P. Young, 2007
An at times painfully sentamental, but also a theologically profound and well grounded novel. The storyline involves a father whose young daughter is brutally murdered, naturally having a significantly negative effect on his faith. Then, one day he recieves a note from the Trinity, inviting him to spend a weekend with them at the shack where his daughter's body was discovered. They meet there and begin to process what happened and the problem of evil in general. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it works. Keeps the discussion rooted in pain and crisis, not just an intellectual excercise. I have however yet to meet a male over 50 who enjoyed this one...
- What's So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey, 1997
An oldie but a goodie.
- A New Kind of Christian: A tale of two friends on a spiritual journey, Brian D. McLaren, 2001
The first book in a trilogy of novels charting the frinedship between a disillusioned pastor and his mentor who gradually restores his faith and vision. You can tell that it began life as yet another non-fiction work of theology, because in the first book they are always going off to lectures together! A hopeful and moving series, a good primer on the whole "postmodern" thing, its implications for the Chrsitan faith, and a new vision for engaging missionally with a new generation.
Weightier Reading...
- Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the neighbourhood Church is transforming the Faith, Diana Butler Bass, 2006
An easy read but still more overtly theological. This is a description of "mainline" (i.e. historical, non-Pentecostal Protestant) churches in the US which are bucking the trends by thriving and living out their mission as the Church. This book seeks to distill what they have in common that allows the Spirit to work through them.
- Saved From Sacrifice: A theology of the cross, S. Mark Heim, 2006
I haven't finished this yet, but will recommend it anyway! A study of one of the most potent questions for the Christian faith, namely "why did Jesus die on the cross?" It covers and affirms numerous of the main theological understandings, while seeking to introduce and advocate the benefit of adding to them a Girardian Atonement theory.
- People of the Lie, M Scott Peck
This book is very 1980's and a bit dated now, but it still remains for me the classic study of the problem of evil. Mr Peck was a psychologist with Catholic leanings, and his book follows that path. Broken up with lots of case studies, it looks at narcissim, individual evil, group evil, as well as the demonic. Powerful in that it reminds us that evil is something that dwells within us all, and not just something we can externalise onto the "other."
- The Lost History of Christianity: The thousand-year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Asia and Africa - and how it died, Phillip Jenkins,
Church history is a passion of mine, and this book relates the history of a church most of us would be unfamiliar with. Did you know that Christianity was established in Tibet and China before Buddhism? Did you know that Mosque design and the way Muslims prostrate themselves during worship was copied off the Nestorian Christians of Mesopotamia? Did you know that Asian Christianity had pretty much reached the Pacific Ocean by the time Rome sent its first official mission to Britain?
The first part of the book tells of the growth and expansion of mainly the Nestorians and is very inspiring reading. The second part relates the gradual decline and virtual annihalation of Christianity in Asia from the coming of Islam to the Crusades to the Mongols, and right through to the genocides of the 1900's - as well as the repercussions of the 2nd Iraq War.
The last part analyses why some churches survived, even under intense persecution (e.g. in Japan and Egypt) while others vanished (e.g. Persia and Turkey), as well as looking at the origins of Islam and how perhaps it was not initially viewed as a different religion by Christians. Jenkins then goes on to try to develop a theology of extinction as we try to understand the loss of these churches.
- The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A contemporary introduction to New Testament ethics, Richard B. Hayes, 1996
Not a book I would read cover to cover (too long!) but a great reference book and starting point for an educated and balanced exploration of New Testament ethics. Very exhaustive. It looks at the voices of the different authors of the NT, ways of finding some coherence between them, issues involved with applying the Biblical text to today, and some test cases applying his method to issues such as violence, divorce, homosexuality etc. Even if you don't agree with his conclusions, this book will give you a much deeper awareness of the issues in relation to what the NT itself has to say.