Spirituality
The Great Omission, Dallas Willard
Besides the Bible, this just might be the best book I have ever read. Seriously. If you've never read any Dallas Willard before, he's phenomenal. This book takes a deep look at what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ, as well as what practically we can be doing to develop our own personal character and spiritual formation. If you're looking for a challenging book, this is it. You can order it on Amazon here.
AfricaA Time for Machetes, Jean Hatzfield
This book combines two things that I love: Africa and history. However, this book is certainly not for the faint of heart. Hatzfield tracks down ten friends who are currently in prison for the atrocities they committed during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Through numerous interviews, the killers speak out about their experiences of slaughtering men, women, and children, many of whom had been their own neighbors and acquaintances. Some parts of this book make my stomach churn, but I think it's important not to sweep the parts of history that we don't like under the rug. This book teaches us a lot about the human condition and the sin nature that dwells in each one of us.
PhilosophyThe God Who is There, Francis Schaeffer
This book comes from The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer, Vol. I: A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture. It's the first book in the five volume set, which contains all twenty-two of Schaeffer's published works. This specific book, The God Who is There, is dealing with the degeneration of moral absolutes in society. Schaeffer outlines the historical reasoning for society's shift in abandoning moral absolutes and turning to the modern view of truth: relativism. He contends that this shift began in philosophy, then sifted down to art, music, general culture, and finally, theology.
FinancesThe Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy, Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. & William D. Danko, Ph.D.
This is a fun and enlightening read. The authors have really done their research in searching out what kind of people are really wealthy in America. Interestingly enough, America's millionaires are not exactly what you might expect. As the book's title suggests, the majority of America's millionaires are living among us, among the "middle" or "working class" Americans. Generally, these people are first-generation millionaires, entrepreneurs who accumulated wealth through good old-fashioned hard work, smart investing, frugal living, and saving. What I really like about this book is the way that it critiques/criticizes the mentality in American culture that "you are what you own." According to these authors, lavish lifestyles and over-consumption are just downright foolish and irresponsible. Those who are truly wealthy understand this--and that simple understanding is a huge reason why they are wealthy!
Missionary BiographiesBrother Bakht Singh of India, T.E. Koshy
To be honest, before opening up this book I had never heard of Bakht Singh before. A few years back George Verwer, founder of Operation Moblilization, was speaking at a missions conference at Bethel College. He brought a bunch of books with him and gave them out to students for free. So, I snagged as many books as I could get my hands on, and this was one of them. It was actually published and printed in India by OM. I'm only about 60 pages into this 600 page biography so far, but it's downright inspirational. Singh came to know Christ in the late 1920's and then spent the next 70 years of his life literally pouring out his life to the people of India, sharing Christ wherever he went. He truly considered his own life worth nothing, and he allowed the Spirit to lead every aspect of his life. Encouraging. Challenging. Inspiring!
Hopefully as time allows I will be able to share more about what I'm learning through these various readings.
So, what good books are you reading these days?
2 comments:
I recently read most of "The Blind Side" about Michael Oher and how football has changed in the last 30 years. It's really good. I just need some time to finish it.
Last night I read the first 10 pages of "The Slave Across the Street." It's a memoir/autobiography written by Theresa Flores, a survivor of human trafficking. It's already a very difficult book to read, but I agree with you that it's important we not sweep these kinds of things under the rug.
Nate Saint wrote a book by the same title -the Great Omission which was fabulous.
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