About our Minister » Nathan's Reading List
The following is a list of books I have found helpful in my attempts to follow in the way of Christ, and which I would recommend. Most of them I have and am happy to lend out.
Airport Reading...
- From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium, Willaim Dalrymple, 1997
Dalrymple's third book as he re-traces the path of the ancient monk John Moschos around the empire of Byzantium. Fascinating, depressing, funny and inspiring. A must read for any interested in the situation for Chrsitians in that part of the world today.
- The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1951
A spiritual classic from the famous Jewish mystic Rabbi Heschel. It's a short book so I put it here, on a topic that in my mind is God's greatest gift to us as our lives spiral out of control. Even just reading the 10 page prologue could change your life.
- Against the Tide, Towards the Kingdom, Jeny and Justin Duckworth, 2011
The story of the vision and growth of local Wellington movement Urban Vision. It inspired me to read "The Sabbath."
- The Double Rainbow: James K. Baxter, Ngati Hau and the Jerusalem Commune, John Newton, 2009
Not a Christian book, but a look at a fascinating and colourful part of NZ history. Also a good reflection on the Chrsitian concept of 'community' and how it can be lived out in a Kiwi context - the highs and lows, the practical challenges, relations with tangata whenua, and the impact a strong charismatic leader can have.
- The Year of Living Biblically A.J. Jacobs,2007
One man's quest to live by the Bible literally for a year in central New York. Jacobs is a secular Jew, so again this isn't a 'Chrsitian' book - but it is insightful and hilarious. A are combination.
- Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memior, Stanley Hauerwas, 2010
The autobiography of the man Time labelled "the best theologian in America." A fascinating insight into the thought life and the processes that formed the thought life of a theologian I greatly respect (FYI: most of my encounters of Hauerwas have come via. videos on the website www.theworkofthepeople.com). He does name drop A LOT, and I have no idea who many of the people he mentions are, but that wasn't an insurmountable obstacle.
For theology geeks...
- Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, NT Wright, 2008
Wright is one of the Bible scholars I most respect, and this book is a necessary corrective to our usually neo-platonic understandings of the afterlife. A hard read at times - I had to go over some paragrpahs several times to really internalise the message - but he paints and beautiful and scripturally sound picture of the age to come.
- A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, Diarmaid MacCulloch, 2009.
I like these kinds of books anyway, but I particularly apprecaited this one. Although MacCulloch isn't an orthodox Chrsitian, he grew up in a vicarage and also spent time as an Anglican Deacon in the UK. With that background he has a powerful insight into the workings of a simple country parish, the rhythms of community worship and pastoral care. This gives his writing another dimension as he applies the grand upheavals of history to the daily workings of simple village life.
- A Community Called Atonement, Scott McKnight, 2007
A very readable attempt to address 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 retaining a long-running golf analogy. This book moved and inspired me, and it has been the genesis of more than one sermon.
- The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the role of worship leader, Mark Pierson 2010
A fresh and inspiring book for those who lead worship anywhere. The rigour of its proposed theological analysis of one's worshipping community is daunting, and many of the examples he gives are too techinical or lavish for most of us - and although Mark urges us to stick within the culture and talents of your context, feelings of innadequacy do threaten to well up! However, the strengths of this book are 1) the encouragement to dream dreams and think outside the boxes when trying to create a context within which your church community can encounter God, and 2) a call to retain the sense of a service as an 'organic whole' rather than a succession of different songs and readings etc.
Books I used to rave about and still recommend...
- Blue Like Jazz: Non-religius thoughts on Christian spirituality, Donald Miller, 2003
- Irresistable Revolution: Living as an ordinary radical, Shane Claiborne, 2006
- Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian call to action, J. Matthew Sleeth, 2007
- The Shack, William P. Young, 2007
- Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the neighbourhood Church is transforming the Faith, Diana Butler Bass, 2006
- People of the Lie, M Scott Peck, 1983
- 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, 2008
- What's so Amazing about Grace? Philip Yancey, 1997
- The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, Richard B. Hays, 1996
- Take This Bread, Sarah Miles, 2007 (her sequel Jesus Freak is also a good read)