A friend asked me if I'd read any good books lately, and I figured I'd post it to the group so that everyone can check them out if they feel like it.
I've read several books by Timothy Keller now, and they've all been fantastic. My favourite so far is probably "The Meaning of Marriage" which he wrote with his wife as co-author. Others include "The Prodigal God" and "King's Cross." I'll also mention here that Timothy Keller has a podcast series simply titled "Timothy Keller Podcast" which has been amazing. There are 64 episodes, all around 40 minutes long, and I've listened to them all, some of them multiple times. Great sermons for all sorts of issues within Christianity.
I've also read three of Francis Chan's books, the first of which was "Erasing Hell." It's an interesting read, but I suggest that you listen to Timothy Keller's podcast and the episode titled "Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an Angry Judge?" before reading this one. Helps to put things into perspective. If you're really interested, Erasing Hell was a book that Francis Chan wrote in response to another book called "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. If you love to read, I'd suggest reading Rob Bell's book first, and then read Erasing Hell right after. It helps to compare and contrast good theology with not-so-good theology, and helps you to identify the features of a book that is likely to be trustworthy. (At least, that's what it did for me. However, absolutely do not read only Rob Bell's book. It will lead you down a path that is not biblically supported.)
Francis Chan also has a couple of other books that I really enjoyed, one called "The Forgotten God" and the other called "Crazy Love." I found Crazy Love to be a very challenging (in terms of living out a Christian lifestyle) book, and so I bought the study guide to go with it and plan to read it a second time.
Another prolific writer that I've discovered is C.S. Lewis, and I've read several of his books so far. The first one I read was called "Mere Christianity," and is probably a great one for all of us to read while we're doing Biblical Foundations. On that note, I think I'll go back and read that one now. :)
I've also read "The Screwtape Letters" and "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" which are fascinating reads, but take your mind for a bit of a twisted ride. Wonderfully educational though.
And that leads us to the book I'm currently reading... well two books actually. I'm reading a book called "Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity" by J.P. Moreland. Some of the ideas about evolution and creation that I talked about in the first week of Biblical Foundations came from this book. It's a book that you've really got to push through the first little bit to get into, and then there's so much information that it's taking me a while to digest and get through it. It is, however, a great way to strengthen your faith, and to defend it against others should you really get into the material.
The other book I'm reading right now is called "Radical" by David Platt, which is a book that Anna gave me for my birthday. The author does a good job with it, but he tends to take a long time to make a relatively simple point. Still, a good book, but it has made me feel that I could really simply discover most of what he says by reading the bible on my own and taking to heart the things that Jesus says and putting them into practice in my life.
Anyway, now that I've written a book of my own, I'll stop here. If anyone else has a good read to recommend, send it my way. I'd love to add to my reading list!
David
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