amazon.com/Legacy-Heart-Spir … 0671797840
An excellent book for those with troubled childhoods or those wanting to understand them. Wayne Muller is a kind, calm and wise counselor who shows some ways to find the spiritual strength that is, surprisingly, a gift from a bad childhood.
I’ve read it many times; the prayers and meditations are very useful.
Right now I’m re-reading Balthasar “Love alone is Credible” to make sure I can do a credible job of doing a book report on it - on a daily basis - and an old classic that will drive people absolutely nuts - “Thy Word is Truth” - my copy is from 1965 but the reasoned arguments are still great IMO.
And still working on Jason’s Sword to the Heart - good stuff.
I’ve just started “Do what Jesus did - a real life guide to healing the sick, routing demons and changing lives forever” by Robby Dawkins.
The first chapter gives the account of how God healed and saved a group of gang members in 2011. Rival gangs were starting to fight and it was looking like a gang war was on the cards. The gang members changed and became members of the church, and the war didn’t happen. In fact 2012 was the first year in which the town had had zero murders since 1948.
Bill Johnson writes an intro. Todd White appears in the first chapter.
This sort of thing is right up my street. I’m looking forward to the rest of the book.
That sounds like a GREAT book, Mike. I’m looking at another book on Amazon right now, so I’ll look yours up too. We NEED to make an impact, and while it’s not that popular in modern thought, Jesus made an impact by the miraculous things He did and then told His disciples they would do the things He did and more. Are we in the same category (regarding that promise) as the twelve and the seventy? I don’t know, but I really think we almost HAVE to be if we’re to have the sort of effect on the world that the early church was having.
I just bought Not For Sale by David Batstone last night and I am so shocked and so grieved and also so inspired. David Batstone doesn’t say whether he’s a Christian, but I think it’s undeniable that in his care for the weakest and most vulnerable, he and those he profiles are Christ followers whether they know it or not. IMO, everyone should read this book or another like it. This is a horrible secret about our ostensibly free world, and we need to do something about it. The first step is to know what’s going on.
Ultimately I think the only solution for this unfathomable exploitation and torture of so many human beings in the world today is the spread of true Christianity and love toward all. It seems undeniable to me that the heart of this has to be the conviction that our Daddy who loves us has chosen ALL of His children for blessing and reconciliation; they are ALL our forever brothers and sisters, and we owe ALL of them our tenderest love and care and deliverance from oppression – as well as the conviction the oppressors must be redeemed as well and given back to those they’ve victimized as beloved brothers and sisters to serve and love one another.
Thanks, Cindy. I believe we are in the same category as the 12 and the 70 via the great commission.
I find some common ground with healing and UR. For example, all the people I know who see people healed believe that God wants to heal all. This is not a universally held view. Sound familiar? lol I really must do a study on it.
That looks like a good and challenging book. I’ll look at getting it next.
Fresh blessings,
Mike
I just finished reading: Apocalypse and Allegiance, amazon.com/Apocalypse-Allegi … 1587432617 by J. Nelson Kraybill, a Mennonite theologian. He has some good insights and other interesting things to say. He encourages us not to read Revelation too literally, among other things; he takes a sort of simultaneously historical/ spiritual approach.
I’ve just started reading: Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation amazon.com/Reading-Genesis-1 … nversation
It’s a number of different authors within the evangelical tradition offering different opinions (through essay contributions) on how we might read the Genesis 1-2 account, as opposed to the “traditional Western” way of reading it. It looks like it’s going to be an interesting read.
I just got done reading “Ender’s Game”. I cried. Twice. Yes it’s “Teen Sci-Fi”. It is an easy read. At first I thought it was kind of simple, and the middle almost lost me, partly because I was upset with the psychological games. But that is the beauty of the book, he brings your right into place of Ender, and by the end its your story. I was looking for a light distraction, I was very surprised to find the depth I did. I’ve got the rest of the books, and will be starting on the next today.
I’m also finishing up “The Jesus Driven Life” by Michael Hardin. Very good. Its a hard read. A lot to chew on. Presents a very, very different God than that of modern christendom. For many he’s a heretic. For me, he was able to put into words, a lot of what I have come to understand over the past couple years. For almost a year I woke every day, and repeated over and over was the phrase “sacrifice and burnt offering I did not desire”, and “He is the exact imprint of the Father”, and “if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father”. These are some of the main premises of his book.
I can’t say I agree with everything Michael says, as that goes for pretty much everyone. I find some of his explanations a bit far fetched, though he never assumes, but gives much evidence of why he’s come to those conclusions.
I’d recommend this book also, as I think overall it gives a good look at non-violent atonement, and will at least make you think twice about your understanding of who God is.
Working through a bunch of things (including all the patristic-u books I have on hand, in order to collect and synopsize the arguments about various people); but recently finished The Genesis of Science which is a historian’s respectful-but-warts-and-all look at the progression of science from around the fall of Rome up through Galileo (i.e. roughly the Dark Ages through the High Middle Ages and into the start of the Renaissance. Although as a historian he does explain that those names don’t actually mean much. 
)
Sounds interesting…but which one? I see one by James Hannam, and another by Stephen Bertman.
I’m currently reading “Thoughts In Silence” by Thomas Merton, “Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then And Now”, “Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings”, and “Questions of Truth” by John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale.
Oh, sorry – the one by James Hannam. (We know each other distantly, in that he knows my Cadre apologist group, and we’re friends of friends.)
I am reading John Piper’s book “Does God Desire All to Be Saved?”, recently released I think. Essentially, it is a Calvinist/Reformed defense of the two wills of God, (that God wants all to be saved, but some are predestined to reject Him).
It is a very short book (64 pages); I would be interested to know others’ thoughts. Is Piper bringing anything new to the table, or is he rehashing old arguments? If this thread is just for indicating what we’re reading, then maybe somebody, or myself - I have to wait until next wk though 
, can start a new one for analysis of the book (or perhaps somebody has already done this?).
Old stuff; probably as old as Calvin. God cannot have two wills; A house divided against itself cannot stand. God is not a double-minded man. 
“that God wants all to be saved, but some are predestined to reject Him”
This is a ridiculous blasphemous non-sense.
There is no difference between single and double predestination, God is an evil moron in both cases.
If I am wrong and will eternally burn in hell, it does not matter since the almighty himself caused me to write that sentence.
Otherwise I am currently reading a book about Catholic critical scholarship of the OT called:
“Höre, Israel! Jahwe ist einzig.”
Can you guess what it means? 
I am currently enjoying The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts (2 Volume Set) by Craig S. Keener sites.google.com/site/drckeener/home/miracles. I have been wanting to do research on modern day miracles in Christian circles since the 1990s . In this case, the next best thing is finding that somebody else finally (2011) published an important start for this research.
I finished "** Hell: Three Christian Views of God’s Final Solution to the Problem of Sin ", By Steve Gregg.** I wanted to read this for the conditional viewpoint, but didn’t find anything new. It was a nice simple read if you are looking for an overview of the three views of hell ( ECT, Restoration and Conditional). I would recommend . The author does not endorses any particular view as correct ( refreshing), but I believe favors the Restoration view.
Currently reading Spiritual Terrorism: Spiritual Abuse From The Womb To The Tomb by Boyd Purcell. Pretty good so far, you should give it a look:
I’m currently reading Bible, Gender, Sexuality by James V Brownson (among other odds and ends), very interesting and though I think I might frame a few things differently I’m in agreement with the overarching narrative of his arguments. Controversial perhaps for evangelical and orthodox Christians but something worth reading and considering and reflecting about, given the importance of the situation and pain and hurt the current situation is causing for many on all sides.
Anyway, here is review to give some idea of it:
I have finished the previous one (I would really recommend it, even if you are of differing views) but as Jason recommended Phillip Jenkins ‘The Lost History of Christianity’ in my attempts to get to grips with Orthodox Christianity and explore it, I also picked up another of his work for only £2.99 on Kindle called ‘Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can’t Ignore the Bible’s Violent Verses’ looks very interesting and a good read at that cheap price (and reminds me of the recent article I was reading on Peter Enns blog about this subject, with a related article patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/ … the-bible/ , ). Anyway, I look forward to getting into these two so thanks to Jason for making we aware of this author .
I just started reading The Jesus-Driven Life by Michael Hardin. Looks like it’s going to be interesting!
I finished Peter Enns’s Inspiration and Incarnation as well as The Evolution of Adam a few weeks ago. I can’t recommend those books highly enough. If anyone has any concerns about how to view Genesis in light of scientific discoveries or has concerns about the “genocide” passages in scripture, these books may be very helpful.
That said, I’m currently reading The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion a book some might consider “Chick Lit” (ducks his head) but which is very well written, very funny and very human. My excuse (as a guy) for reading it is my mother recommended it knowing my interest in genealogy. So there! It’s actually very good and almost certainly will be a movie in the near future.