Dear Folks,
I hope you will all have a chance to get away and spend some time with a good book when you do. I usually get a lot of reading done during August vacation. Here are a few of the titles that I’m going to be loading up the Kindle with and taking with me in old-fashion print form.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch—I recommended this to a number of you Kindle owners when the price was $9.99. Now I look and it’s more expensive to buy on Kindle than in hardback. That being said, I ordered a used copy for $20.00 from Amazon. MacCulloch is a top level scholar and, in his own words, ‘sympathetic to Christianity’ if not a true believer. He’s the son of an Anglican Cleric and author of a biography on Thomas Cranmer and an acclaimed account of the Reformation. The narrative style of the book is readable and yet contains no shortage of serious scholarship. I may not put this on my ‘beach list’ but it will get some serious reading time. More on this one later.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670021261/ref=oss_product
- The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by James Martin S.J.
- Fr. Martin is an engaging writer who has found a following on Facebook and other social media sites. He’s in much demand as a speaker across the country in Catholic and Ecumenical circles. He writes in this book about his experience as a Jesuit and how that God’s presence permeates all of creation. The Jesuit emphasis on education informs a spirituality that encourages humanity to take seriously our role as co-creators with God of the Kingdom. I’ll read this one on Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Jesuit-Guide-Almost-Everything-Spirituality/dp/0061432687/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279310118&sr=1-1
Glamorous Powers by Susan Howatch
- This is the second in the Starbridge series of books about different segments of the Church of England in the 20th Century. These are an interesting look at the structure of the church with no shortage of solid background to the different streams of Anglicanism. There are six books in the series and you can find links to all of them here http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Howatchs-Starbridge-Series/lm/RKO5ZKKV41XL8. I started reading these in seminary and picked them up again from the beginning while recovering from surgery. They are often available very affordably from used book stores. Check with Ben Franklin Books across the street from the Worcester Public Library.
The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others by Scot McKnight
- I first encountered McKnight on a podcast where he talked about teaching Jesus in college as professor of Religious Studies at North Park University in Evanston, IL. The first of McKnight’s books I read was about how we relate to the Bible, The Blue Parakeet. He writes accessibly with humor, insight, scholarship and joy. This would make a great book study (hint, hint!) http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Creed-Loving-God-Others/dp/1557254001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279310861&sr=8-1
Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith by Nora Gallagher 
- This is one of those books that’s been on my stack of books for way too long. Gallagher writes about her life lived in a community of faith and the joys and struggles of living that are best shared with the Church as living body of Christ. Another that would make a great study, methinks. http://www.amazon.com/Things-Seen-Unseen-Lived-Faith/dp/0679775498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279311175&sr=1-1
All Fishermen Are Liars by Linda Greenlaw
- No trip to the Maine Coast is complete for me without reading a book on the fishing industry. Last year it was Greenlaw’s The Lobster Chronicles. Greenlaw came to notoriety in Sebastian Junger’s A Perfect Storm the true story of swordfishing. She’s the author of several other books including The Hungry Ocean and her most recent Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea. Her sense of place is wonderful. A sense of fishing as vocation permeates her book and she writes well! http://www.amazon.com/All-Fisherman-are-Liars-Adventures/dp/0786888784/ref=pd_sim_b_1
If I get through this list I’ll be surprised, but time will tell….
Have a great summer y’all!!!!!
