New Books!

Now for a more lighthearted post. My last two posts on the Year of the Lord's Favor and Herod the Great were pretty heavy in NT theology. But I thought I'd share with you some of the new books that have made their way into my library:

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - by Eric Metaxas
A friend gave this book to me and I'm so excited to read it. I've heard many good things about this bio. It comes highly recommended.


40 Questions About The End Times - by Eckhard Schnabel (one of my profs)
I have only read a few chapters in this book so far, but it is very well done! It is a helpful study tool for anyone interested in learning more about eschatology (end times). It's not just for pastors or seminarians! Plus, Dr. Schnabel is brilliant and he is one of my favorite professors.


Shepherds After My Own Heart - by Timothy Laniak
I have not read this book in its entirety because of time constraints. I used it for a recent project at school, but I am looking forward to reading the rest soon. This book gives a biblical theology of leadership, and the author argues that the primary biblical metaphor for leaders is that of shepherd.

Early Christians

I just ordered a book on-line that I have wanted to read for months:

The Early Christians: In Their Own Words published by the Society of Brethren. I have heard so much about this particular book. I'm so excited to read the writings of these early Christians.

Also, in my excitement I checked out two books from the MLK Library at SJSU: Documents in Early Christianity and Justin Martyr. These are great so far.

A Must Read...

This book has articulated some thoughts, questions, and stuggles that I have been dealing with recently and you should read it. Shane Claiborne is a founder of the Simple Way (www.simpleway.org) and he has served alongside Mother Teresa (or Momma T as Shane calls her) and has been to Bible College and Seminary. This book gives incredible insight into raw discipleship, community, serving, and what the Church could be. I feel like this book is setting free some ideas and visions I have been having about what it means to follow Jesus. Please check it out. It is definitely on my must read list.

You can read a sample chapter from Irresitible Revolution here.

David Sedaris

I was in Santa Cruz last night hanging out with a couple friends. We went into Book Shop Santa Cruz in downtown and I picked up David Sedaris' book Me Talk Pretty One Day. So far, its quite funny. I've read the first two short stories and his stories are pretty fun to read. I decided that I need to read some books just for my own enjoyment. I've been reading a lot of dense theology books and books about church and such, not to mention text books for school (not that I don't enjoy these books, except the text books). This should give my brain some relief.

David Sedaris:
Also, last night we went into a couple guitar shops and music stores. My favorite was a small record store just off of Pacific Ave. I bought U2's album WAR on LP. It sounds amazing on my turntable.

New Books: Awesome!

I just got a few new books for my birthday! Here they are:

Stand Against The Wind by Erwin McManus


Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (this one is about 1290 pages)

I am so excited to read the lastest McManus book and I can't wait to get my nose into some Grudem Theology. This should keep me busy for a while.

Also! I have been reading Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis. This is a tough one for me. I read the whole thing and I agreed with a lot of it staight up. But some of it I wasn't sure about, so I decided to take a deeper look into what he was saying. Thus, I am now reading the book again, but this time I am reading all the endnotes and checking all of his references and discussing the book with a few close friends and mentors. It is a great book and I'd recommend it to everyone. But, you need to read it carefully. Absorb what he is saying and internalize it. Discuss, question, disagree, agree, whatever. It's a great book.



Happy reading!