Against Nothingness

Do you ever get tired of creeping people on facebook? Does the sound of chirping birds just gets to be too much to follow? If so, you can always get that little social media stalking fix by glancing down the sidebar of my blog. The observant reader will find there a librarything widget labeled "Currently Reading." Indeed, this is precisely what the widget contains; a list of books I am currently reading, complete with cover image. I do my best to keep my library thing account up to date, so while it may not be up to the minute, you can still know something about me that you can't find anywhere else. You may also find out, if you pay attention for long, that I read a lot. I do not say this to brag; it is just the way I am. I have read fiction as a fun hobby for as long as I can remember. I started reading non-fiction which was not part of a textbook in high-school, and I began to take joy in it by university. I have never looked back. Not only is it just the way I am, th...

Make sure you read  the first post in this series  for disclaimers and explanations  and links to the full series . We are almost done with these lists; I hope they have been helpful.  This last list contains 5 books that I want to strongly recommend to you but which, for one reason or another, did not fit well into any other category.  1. "To Change the World" by James Hunter. There is no better book on church and culture and how we ought to interact with our world.  2. "Telling the Truth" by Frederick Buechner. A wonderful little book on preaching and the gospel; Buechner helps even the most jaded and tired pastor to see it all with fresh eyes.  3. "The New Testament and The People of God" by N.T. Wright. Yet another difficult text. Not sure which is harder: this one, or Sources of the Self (which I recommended earlier). Either way, very much worth reading as a great help in reading the New Testament well (which is so important for us as pasto...

Make sure you read the first post in this series for disclaimers and explanations and links to the full series. Lets face it, most of us don't read many books which are over 100 years old. But we should. Most of the best books ever written are old. Here is a list of five books over 100 years old which pastors should read. 1. "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton. Ridiculously good book. Still highly relevant. Chesterton writes a vision of what orthodoxy should be, breathing life into a tired word, and on the way tells you why he has faith. This book will reinvigorate your faith and your mind.  2. "Enchiridion" or "Faith, Hope, and Love" by Augustine of Hippo. I know, everyone will tell you to read "Confessions" by Augustine; and you should. It is quite the book. However, part of why it is so renowned is due to it being the first of its kind, another reason is because of the deep philosophy, and a third reason is because of Augustine's amaz...

Make sure you read  the first post in this series  for disclaimers and explanations and links to the full series. This is a list of books that are not entirely focused on Christianity or religion in their topic matter (if at all) but are nonetheless very important for pastors to understand. Heads up, this will probably strike you as the strangest of all the lists I am posting.  1. "Thinking in Systems: A Primer" by Donella H. Meadows. Systems theory is an incredibly rich, rewarding, and important area of study for a pastor to understand. The fact is that we are mired in systems and there is nothing we can do about it. Not only that, but lacking an understanding of the systems you work in will inevitably lead to frustration, especially when dealing with change. Ever wondered why the more you push, the more 'they' push back? Or why you meet resistance to change despite everyone agreeing that the change is necessary and good? Or why the more things you try to chang...

Make sure you read  the first post in this series  for disclaimers and explanations and links to the full series. Yes, you read that title correctly. I think there are some important works of fiction that pastors ought to read, and here are my top 5.  1. "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. The classic tension between law and grace is depicted nowhere so well as in this work. Hugo's insight into the human condition, the compassion he arouses within the reader, and his depiction of the utter destitution of our world without God are all unmatched in literature.  2. "The Brother's Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Anything by Dostoevsky is worth reading, and this book is, perhaps, his best. The exposition of the problem of evil/pain/suffering offered by Ivan within these pages has yet to be matched in my opinion; the new atheists could learn a thing or two here, and all pastors ought to consider the force of the arguments and objections offered in these pag...

Make sure you read the first post in this series for disclaimers and explanations and links to the full series. When Chris first asked me for this list I asked a couple of other guys at the retreat what they would put on it. We started talking about picking the best books in some important categories. That is the origin of this first list, "The Basics."  1. " Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness " by Eugene Peterson. Category: Pastoral Soul Care. Comment: This book is a must read for all pastors. Peterson speaks to the heart of the pastoral experience and offers excellent advice about avoiding common temptations in ministry.  2. " The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (Biblical Theology for Life) " by Christopher Wright. Category: Missional Ecclesiology. Comment: It was hard not to put Wright's much larger volume, "The Mission of God," here. Howev...

Nearly a month ago, while I was at  a youth pastors retreat ,  Chris Throness  asked me if I would blog a top 5 book list for pastors. Naturally, I said yes. I think I said yes before he even finished the sentence.  But I am not sure if Chris realized that asking a book addict for a list of recommendations is a bit like asking Solomon to get married. 700 women later.... Well, thank the Lord, I am not that bad. No, my top 5 list only contains 25 books... OK, 27.  How, you ask, does a top 5 list contain 27 books? Well, I have cleverly justified this five-fold expansion by writing up 5 top 5 lists. Yes, that's right, 5 for the price of 1!  Not only that, but since I have five lists, I am going to spread out the posting of them over the rest of this week. So, not only have I cleverly found a way to recommend way more books than you want to hear about, I have also used said misdirection as a way to fill my blog for a week.   For those of you with ...