Reading
What I’ve Been Reading Lately, A Selected List
Updated 10/11/2023
Curt Thompson, The Deepest Place: Suffering And The Formation Of Hope.
Such a timely book for Sharon and me right now. We’ve been through a lot, valiantly trying to see the hope through the suffering. Curt Thompson, a psychiatrist, reminds me that suffering is part of what it means to be human. Too often we nurture an illusion we can be rid of it. But it is through this very suffering we persevere toward hope. God’s love will endure. And then we catch a glimpse of singing for joy to the Lord.
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William Shakespeare, King Lear.
One of Shakespeare’s greatest works, I was alerted to read it for the umpteenth time as a wise statement on retirement and growing older. Indeed, for those of us in this season, there is so much wisdom here written as always in some of the most eloquent language ever. I will be writing in the blog on one passage in particular.
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Abigail Favale, The Genesis Of Gender: A Christian Theory.
If you’re looking for thoughtful, thorough, brilliant discussion of the gender issues of our day, this is the book for you. Bear in mind, she is a faithful Catholic Christian. Everything is ultimately seen through that lens. Simply stunning.
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Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way Of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination.
This is my third reading of this fabulous book on prayer. We have much to learn from the Celtic tradition of prayer and living. This is an outstanding introduction.
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Earl F. Palmer, Called To Be A People Of The Gospel: St. Paul’s New Testament Letter to the Ephesians.
Sadly this is the last book of our dear friend and mentor. He passed away last week. A week or so earlier, he sent me his new book, written at 90, with a touching note of love and affection. This is Earl at his best, studying, teaching, preaching, opening up his beloved Scriptures. You can hear his voice throughout.
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Mary C. Morrison, Let Evening Come: Reflections On Aging.
This is such a lovely reflection on growing older. It is quiet and poised, sharply insightful, graceful. Morrison is always quoting from literature and Scriptures, which I love.
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Carys Walsh, Frequencies of God: Walking through Advent with R. S. Thomas.
This is one of the best books I’ve read in some time. It is a detailed reading of the work of R. S. Thomas. As my readers know, I have become a huge follower of Thomas, the Welsh priest and poet who spent his life in the rugged hills of Wales. Walsh is a brilliant reader of this great poety.
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Henri J. M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved.
Nouwen is writing to a secular young friend, a journalist living in New York, who asks him to tell him what he believes in terms his friends can understand. Nouwen says it all, and finds he can’t say everything that will satisfy his friend. Extraordinary honesty about saying what we believe in an age of unbelief. A beautiful friendship.
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Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography Of Faith.
The book tells the story of Merton’s harsh, chaotic childhood, having lost his mother young, assigned to a vagabond artist as father. He was a brilliant young man, though not always devoted to his studies, and always exploring, intellectually, spiritually, socially. With fits and starts and regressions he came to catch glimpses of a loving God, for him through the Church of Rome. We follow his spiritual journey in great detail, his discoveries, his conversion, the deepening of faith that eventually led him to become a Cistercian Monk in the austere Trappist order. This is one amazing book.
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Kenneth Steven, Out Of The Ordinary: New Poems.
Steven is a new poet for me, a real discovery. Where has he been all my life? His poems speak of his love for the wild landscape of his native Scotland and Wales. He probes beneath the surface into the echoes of the Celtic Christian story, so surprisingly, startlingly beautiful.
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Kenneth Steven, Iona: New and Selected Poems.
One more by this amazing poet. These poems focus on the island of Iona where he visited often as a child. Each poem is a meditation, to be read slowly, perhaps one each day. We read these poems for spiritual nourishment.
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Henry Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry.
This, really a series of meditations, is among the best of Henry Nouwen’s deservedly admired writing. It is really a primer on prayer, with attention to the ancient practices of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. I have learned more about how to pray than from many other books.
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Russ Ramsey, Rembrandt Is In The Wind: Learning To Love Art Through The Eyes Of Faith.
In all the teaching I am doing these days, I find myself drawing from great pieces of art to place alongside various texts. This marvelous book is one of the best I have found exploring the interface between faith and art. I highly recommend this fine book.
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R. S. Thomas, Collected Later Poems: 1988 - 2000.
I’ve come to R. S. Thomas of late, that marvelous Welsh pastor and poet. Oh what I’ve been missing. His work is extensive, all written while being a faithful pastor to those hardworking, struggling parishioners on the rugged hillsides of Wales. I read this volume one poem at a time, about all one can manage in one sitting. They are sometimes difficult, elusive, but almost always bristling with profound insight and discovery.
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George Herbert, The Complete Poetry, edited by John Drury and Victoria Moul.
I decided I wanted to reread the complete poetry of the great seventeenth-century English master, educator, and pastor. I took this a poem at a time, each morning, reading to absorb and enjoy, almost devotionally. What a rewarding time it has been. This is a fine edition of the complete works.
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Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation.
This is perhaps my third reading of this classic on contemplative prayer. If you want to reflect more deeply on prayer, what it means to come closer to the heart of God, this is the book for you. From the Trappist monk who spent most of his life at the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky. This is among the most deepest reflections on the practice of prayer.
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Winn Collier, A Burning In My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson.
For those of you who are readers and followers of Eugene Peterson, the translator of The Message and so many other books, who recently passed away, Collier’s new biography is simply fabulous. A wonderful account of this amazing man and his work.
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Abigail Rine Favale, Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion.
This is a stunningly good book. I’ve read it twice. It is the journey of a bright, thoughtful, and deeply spiritual woman through childhood experiences of faith, through the college years of intellectual exploration, into a deeply moving conversion into the Catholic Church.
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Joy: 100 Poems, edited with an introduction by Christian Wiman.
These poems, along with the marvelous preface by Wiman, will bring exceeding joy, a counterpoint to the drag of gloom that surrounds us. We find here points of startling radiance. This book helped to launch me on my own journey to find joy.
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Jean Leclercq, O. S. B., The Love Of Learning And The Desire For God: A Study of Monastic Culture, trans by Catharine Misrahi.
This may be the third time I have read this extraordinary book. This consummate scholar writes with such eloquence because he believes what he is writing about. Anyone hoping to understand the monastics—their writing, their culture, their experience of God—this is a fundamental, and oh so delightful, starting point.
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James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.
For those trying to understand Charles Taylor’s monumental book A Secular Age, this companion is outstanding.
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Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Return Of The Prodigal Son: A Story Of Homecoming.
A reread for me, but this is Henri Nouwen at his best. This book is about the gospel story as seen through the eyes of Rembrandt’s great painting on the prodigal son. Just beautiful, reflective, deeply meaningful
Readings From My Recent Teaching
Updated 5/05/23
I’ve just completed teaching a four-week series at Valley Presbyterian Church. What an exciting opportunity to share with this lively group so much of my recent thinking and reading on Finding Joy. Much of this list pertains to the ancient practice of prayer. Some of these will be repeats reviewed elsewhere, but I am sharing the list I handed out in my class.
Henri Nouwen The Way Of The Heart: Connecting With God Through Prayer, Wisdom, And Silence.
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N. T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters.
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C. S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy: The Shape Of My Early Life.
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Thomas Merton, New Seeds Of Contemplation.
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Ester De Waal, The Celtic Way Of Prayer.
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John Cassian, Conferences.
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St. Benedict, The Rule.
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Ester De Waal, Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering The Spiritual Art Of Attentiveness.
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N. T. Wright, The Challenge Of Jesus.
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Michael Casey, Toward God: The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer. Michael Casey, Toward God: The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer.
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C. S. Lewis, The Problem Of Pain.
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Michael Casey, Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina.
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The Cloud Of Unknowing.
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Saint John of the Cross, Dark Night Of the Soul.
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Russ Ramsey, Rembrandt Is In The Wind: Learning To Love Art Through The Eyes Of Faith.
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David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest For A Moral Life.
Big Books In My Life
Updated 5/05/23
I was asked a number of years ago to provide a list of the most important books from a lifetime of reading. Impossible, I thought, and yet I had to give it a shot. Recognizing that the Bible is the central text of my life, from the beginning, here then is the list, compiled for that moment of the request. Surely there are many others to add here. Surely this list will change over time. But this was my take then as the big books in my life.
N. T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was And Is.
I could add at least six or seven other N. T. Wright books, subsequent to this one, that have influenced me greatly. Wright has become hugely important to my understanding of faith, Christian scriptures, and how to live faithfully in our pervasively secular world. But this book was where it all began for me. N. T. Wright’s big themes are all here, namely that Jesus fits within the ancient Jewish narrative of the long-awaited Messiah, that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ announces the arrival of a new king and a new kingdom, now as it is in heaven, and that God will make all things right in the end.
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Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel And Western Culture.
If I could require one book to introduce Christians to the prospect of cultural engagement, this is it. This incredible book was written in 1986. Dated, some might say. I don’t think so. As with N. T. Wright there are so many other books by Newbigin that have influenced me, but this was the starting point. Lesslie Newbigin — philosopher, theologian, pastor, and missionary to India for most of his life — is quite simply incredible talking about how to live and think as vibrant Christians in a modern, postmodern, secular culture that resists our intrusion.
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Walter Brueggemann, Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech For Proclamation.
I believe that not much is accomplished without imagination. Life requires imagination. Leadership requires imagination. Changing the world requires imagination. Brueggemann guides us into the unique and powerful biblical imagination. The great poets of the Old Testament, mainly those voices from exile in the sixth century B C, “discerned the new actions of God that others did not discern,” but they also “wrought the new actions of God by the power of their imagination, their tongues, their words. New poetic imagination evoked new realities in the community.” This voice becomes “real and winsome,” Brueggemann says. It becomes “authorized and authorizing — in the face of ideologies that want to deny, dismiss, and preclude.” That’s the kind of imagination we need for our day.
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George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography Of Pope John Paul II.
George Weigel is an important lay Catholic public intellectual and here tackles a biography of one of the great popes of all time. This book is both an endearing, appreciative biography of John Paul II as well as an intellectual history that surrounds the life of one of the influential Christian figures of the twentieth century. Through Weigel, John Paul has influenced my faith immensely
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Max De Pree, Leadership Is An Art.
Among all the books on leadership, this one stands tall for me as a classic. This is a wise, practical, and articulate guide from my mentor and friend Max De Pree. I have read and reread this great little book so many times. In my leadership roles, I could quote from it on the fly. I recently wrote to Max to tell him that everything I know about leadership I learned from this little book (almost at least). This is a gem. It is quiet and understated and penetrating. There is a philosophy here, worked out over a long period of time as a leader, grounded by his quiet Christian faith. It’s driving principle is that people matter. It’s other guiding principle is that ideas matter. Shaping one’s leadership around those two principles is the challenge and the art of every leader.
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Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
Published in 1880, set in nineteenth century Russia, this great novel captures all of the swirling philosophical, spiritual, religious, cultural change of the late nineteenth century. It is one of the great Russian novels, perhaps one of the great novels of all time. It raises all the big questions that matter with relentless honesty, stunning character portrayal, and unforgettable social context.
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William Shakespeare, King Lear.
How to pick among the great writings of this master poet and playwright (the list must also include Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello). King Lear may stand above if only because its tender, delicate familial relationships are overwhelmed by the stormy, passionate overweening ego of the tragic father. As always we witness here the consummate poet, clearly one of the greatest masters of language ever to have written in English.
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Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories.
The title story of this collection is one of the great short stories in all of American literature, though O’Connor has a bunch of them that might qualify. O’Connor is quintessentially a writer of place, in her case, the American South of the early twentieth century. Her situations are always jarring, jolting, the only way, she would contend, to understand the intrusion of Christian faith in a pervasive culture of prejudice, complacency, and self-centeredness. She jars us all into surprising, new understanding.
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Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Janie Starks, the central character in this beautiful, early-twentieth-century novel, was trapped in a deeply racist, pre-civil-rights South. She was born into a family that came apart at the seams. She was raised by an abusive grandmother and “whipped like a cur dog and run off down a back road after things.” One day Janie realized something or someone “called her to come and gaze on a mystery.” This “stirred her tremendously. . . . She had been summoned to behold a revelation.” That revelation was basically this: “She found a jewel down inside herself and she wanted to walk where people could see her and gleam it around. . . . Janie had tried to show her shine.”
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The Norton Anthology Of Modern And Contemporary Poetry.
My list of influential works must include selections from various modern and contemporary poets: Gerard Manley Hopkins, T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Czeslaw Milosz, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, William Stafford, Theodore Roethke, Wendell Berry, Maxine Kumin, among so many others. These are the keepers of the record—in the delicate, eloquent, graceful music of words—of the individual in a specific place and a poignant moment, swept about in a changing world, revived in situations of wonder and beauty. Not sure what I would do or who I would be without this great poetry of our age.
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Chaim Potok, The Gift Of Asher Lev.
While the setting is the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, its theme the coming of age of a Jewish American artist, its importance to me spilled out into my own search for independence from an almost-fundamentalist upbringing. This book was a profound defining moment in my own journey of faith to find both the freedom of grace yet still the anchoring stability of rich roots of Christian tradition. I came to glimpse the astounding power of Torah, not only for Jewish faith, but for the formation of Jewish community. I yearn for the Christian Bible to be lifted up in this way. Early on in my presidency at Seattle Pacific, I invited Rabbi Potok to campus and hosted a large gathering from the Jewish community in our home for a kosher dinner.
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Herman Melville, Moby Dick.
The poet and critic John Ciardi once told me and a group of my students that he learned more in two weeks on the Pequod (Melville’s ship that carried the monomaniacal Captain Ahab on his journey to annihilate the great White Whale) than he learned in his years in the nose of a B-52 bomber in World War II. While this novel has many competitors for a spot on my list of twelve—I think of the Henry James’ The Ambassadors, Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, George Eliot’s Middlemarch, even F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby—this massive, brooding reflection on faith, doubt, meaning, darkness, achievement, and obsessive ego stands as one of the classics of American literature.