Summer Reading Follow-up

15 08 2009

Summer is rapidly coming to a close, and my prediction that I’d make it through maybe half and do some other, lighter reading came pretty close to true. So, here’s what I actually read from the list:

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Holy Conversations by Gil Rendle & Alice Mann

As it turns out, after a semester of really intense theological reading, it was difficult to force myself to do much academic reading. Instead, I rediscovered my love for literature, with a little bit of theology sprinkled in. I started to type out all the titles, but it began to feel like I was showing off how much leisure time I had. Here are some highlights: Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, A Blueprint for Discipleship by Kevin Watson, The Fidelity of Betrayal by Peter Rollins, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman, and Jesus Christ for Today’s World by Jürgen Moltmann.

Of all of these, Diaz, Rollins, and Moltmann were the top three. Oscar Wao tells the story of a family of immigrants to New Jersey from the Dominican Republic, and Diaz weaved the history of the DR into the narrative in a way that was very informative, but still compelling. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

In September, I’m heading to Chicago for the Emergent Village Theological Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann with some friends (and lots of people I don’t know well or at all), so the Moltmann book was part of my conference prep.  I’m excited about getting to hear more from him and to catch up with friends whom I haven’t seen in a while.





Summer Reading List

18 04 2009

Well friends, it’s final paper time at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and that means it’s a great time to distract myself with blogging. Inspired by Blake, I went through my shelves, put some up for sale, picked some that I’ve been meaning to read. After careful consideration, I came up with the following:

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Living on the Borders: What the Church Can Learn from Ethnic Immigrant Cultures by Mark Griffin and Theron Walker

The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt

The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James

Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann

And, in case that isn’t enough, a little more light reading…

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

There will also be some Rumi sprinkled in. I think this may be overly ambitious. I’ll probably make it through about half, plus a few unlisted, lighter books.

What’s on your summer reading list?