The Bible Wasn’t Written to You by David Ker- this is a short, witty little book that is actually a collection of 25 blogs written by a Wycliffe Bible Translator who works/worked in Mozambique. His main thing is the Bible wasn’t written just for us today, it was written to a people and a culture- “we don’t know what the Bible is saying to us until we know what it was saying to them.” He presents and discusses four different methods or schools of thought concerning exegesis- it gets a little out of my league, but I held on thanks to his jokes and asides. I recommend it for anyone interested in studying the Bible especially for those teaching the Bible transculturally.
Getting Love Right by Dallas Willard- My teammate is all about Dallas Willard. And several other books I read this last year reference him a lot too. This is actually a paper he presented at a conference a couple years ago. He is a smart guy. I could stand to reread this several times to glean from it. He tries to define agape love based on Jesus and Paul’s teachings. Favorite summary quote: “It is not an action, nor a feeling or emotion, nor, indeed an intention……it is holistic, not something one turns on or off for this person or that person or thing. Its orientation is toward life as a whole.”
No Argument for God by John Wilkinson- Brittany and I read this one together; the author is actually her old youth minister! I really enjoyed this book, were I doing ministry in the states, I would probably memorize parts of it! Wilkinson says the irrationality of the Christian faith is its greatest asset, that we should not make it our goal to outsmart or talk an unsaved person into heaven. He talks about how human reason should not be the standard to which we hold the credibility of Christianity, because God is in fact outside of human reason. Here is a little taste:
“If we are not careful, we can rob Christianity of its distinctive flavor. To make it more friendly to the consumer we have robbed it of its difficulties. ‘Look! 100 percent faith that is convenient and easy to figure out- and it fits entirely in your brain!’ No, faith is difficult; it is hard to believe and requires risk and effort to grasp. Faith is wild and demands a lot from us as rational human beings. It requires humility and forces us to accept that we are not as smart as we think we think.”
Bonhoeffer- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas- oh man. So good. If I have a son I may name him Dietrich. The size of this book was a little intimidating, but as soon as I got through the award listings, endorsements, introduction, and most of all, the prologue, I knew it was going to be powerful. I learned so much about Bonhoeffer, the German church, and WW2 history in general from this book, not to mentioned being challenged by the faith, courage, and foresight of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you see it in the bookstore just pick it up and read the four page prologue- you’ll probably cry.
Heaven’s Flame- A Guide to Solar Cookers by Joseph Radabaugh- Borrowed this one from the Brolliers. That’s right; we got a solar oven and are experimenting with it! As if the white girls weren’t weird enough, they have started putting a huge unidentifiable box on their roof in the mornings and leaving it out there all day! It is currently rainy season, so that limits cooking somewhat. But I have successfully cooked granola, soup, and a beef stew in the oven! Sun dried tomatoes were probably one to try again in dry season.
