Book: Interpreting the Psalms: Issues And Approaches
This book is compulsory reading for the Preaching Psalms subject I’m doing later this year. It’s a collection of essays, each by a different academic. I found it a bit of a tough read in places. Most of the essays were useful, but there was the occasional one that [...]
Book: Australia’s Money Secrets of the Rich
A friend was moving overseas, and when I helped him move some of his furniture, he gave me a number of books on investing. This was one of them. I’ve often wondered about this genre of books - normally, they’re very expensive, but this one (from the pricetag on [...]
Book: The Power of One
- Bryce Courtenay
The audiobook was free for download at the iTunes Music Store, so I grabbed it at the time; I’ve never read this book before, nor (despite listening to no small number of podcasts) listened to an audio book, and this one is a monster at somewhere around 20 hours, [...]
Which Bible?: A Guide to English Translations
David Dewey has surveyed the literature surrounding the different translations of the bible into English, as well as giving a good overview of the range of issues involved in translation. If you’re wondering how the bible came to be, and specifically how a series of ancient documents ended up [...]
April 21, 2007 – 10:19 pm
Book: The God Delusion
Is religion really to blame for the world’s ills? Why is religion afforded special protection from public scrutiny - everything else can be argued about, but if you talk about religion, it’s a private matter, and not to be argued about.
In this book, (famous atheist) Richard Dawkins presents atheism as a worldview. [...]
April 10, 2007 – 12:53 pm
Dancing in the Dark: The Privilege of Participating in the Ministry of Christ
This is the last book on the bibliography list for one of my current college subjects, and the one I’ve chosen to write a 1500 word book review on. It’s also the book that I’ve enjoyed least.
Buxton has a lot of different ideas: [...]
Book: Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading
Another Eugene H. Peterson - this one called out to me from the "new book" shelf in the library, and having already worked through a couple of his books, I thought this one would also be useful. Indeed it was.
Peterson spends one chapter late [...]
March 27, 2007 – 11:06 am
The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers
David Hansen has written this book as a reflection on nine years spent as the minister of a church in rural America. I still have to write a proper book review on this, so I’ll keep my remarks brief, but it was a helpful book in thinking [...]
Book: Speedcleaning
A bit of a departure from the theological works, this is very much a how-to book. Written by a cleaning expert and a journalist, it steps through every room in the house with tips on how to clean, and how to clean fast and efficiently.
While it could be a more enjoyable read, it certainly [...]
Book: Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work
Another Eugene H. Peterson work for the ministry formation course. Here, he takes the Magiloth (never heard the term before, myself) - five books of the old testament - Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther - and interprets them for pastors.
A few traps that he is warning [...]
February 25, 2007 – 10:08 pm
Book: Creative Ministry
Another week, another Henri Nouwen book. This one is less personal, but still has the mark of a learned author trying to challenge the way that ministry is put into practice. Nouwen contrasts the current way of ministering - being a professional in the way that you blend psychology with management [...]
February 20, 2007 – 2:03 pm
Book: Stirrings of the Soul.
I first heard Michael Raiter speak at a Katoomba convention years ago; a missionary at the time, he’s gone to to be an academic, and now a theological college principal. Here, he’s written a book in response to the wave of spirituality literature (and general interest) that has arisen in recent [...]
February 14, 2007 – 8:31 pm
Book: A Little Exercise for Young Theologians
Helmut Thielicke was a German theologian who lived from 1908 to 1986. He wrote this exceedingly short book that is nonetheless jam-packed with advice to budding theologians.
The kind of temptation that a college student faces:
- to convert their friends’ real-life questions into opportunities to unleash buzzwords without concern for [...]
February 12, 2007 – 10:27 pm
Book: The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction
Eugene H. Peterson is the pastor / author here. Rather than peddling a formula for church growth, or how to be more effective, he returns to the basics of Christianity in his search for the basics of Christian leadership.
There are a few tips on how [...]
February 12, 2007 – 2:20 pm
book: The Leadership Pill: The Missing Ingredient in Motivating People Today
Saw this in the "new books" section of the library, and proceeded to read the whole thing while standing up at the library. As with most of these books, there’s not a lot of words: this one felt (more than most) like an annotated powerpoint [...]
February 9, 2007 – 6:10 am
Book: In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership
I’ve heard of Henri J. M. Nouwen before, but this is the first of his books that I’ve even looked at. A welcome change of pace from the academic works I’ve been looking at, and a healthy reminder of the spiritual side of Christianity.
Spirituality itself - [...]
January 28, 2007 – 9:03 pm
The Architecture of Happiness by Alain De Botton.
Sometimes, someone lends you a book, and it so grabs you that you immediately throw everything else to one side, and finish that book, regardless of everything else you are reading. This was one such book.
Mostly about architecture, and a little about art and human perception, this was [...]
January 27, 2007 – 10:16 pm
Book: The Tinderbox Way by Mark Bernstein.
Tinderbox is a hard-to-describe program that was the main catalyst keeping me on the Mac platform. It’s a tool for notes that lets your organise, import and export them in many different ways. The biggest problem with the software, though, is that its flexibility leaves people wondering how to [...]
January 11, 2007 – 5:42 am
Book: The Message of Jonah
If you’re after a commentary on Jonah (a book that a scholar has written that explains what they think the book means), this is a good place to start. It’s not too heavily academic, but it contains reference to a lot of what has been said. If reading 200 pages on [...]
December 31, 2006 – 3:52 pm
Book: The ESV Bible
Thanks to a late catch-up read this afternoon, I managed to finish reading through the bible (including reading the New Testament and the Psalms twice) this afternoon. I would highly recommend the M’Cheyne plan if you’re searching for a new year’s resolution along the lines of "Read my bible more" - it [...]