Showing posts with label 2016. Reading List. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2016. Reading List. Show all posts

03 February 2016

January Book Report: Searching for Sunday



Rachel Held Evans is divisive.  She’s a blogger and writer.  And she’s made a career out of doubting her faith, asking tough questions, and writing about them.  It’s a nice gig, if you can get it.

To date, I’ve read two of her books.  This doesn’t mean I’m a fan of hers or that I agree with her positions.  I do agree that she’s bold enough to speak her mind and not shy away from admitting that she doubts and has questions.  Just like the rest of us.

In Searching for Sunday, Evans uses a beautiful literary device transposing the traditional sacraments of the Church with her own struggles and journey of faith.  While discussing Baptism, Confession, Holy Orders, Communion, Confirmation, Anointing the Sick, and Marriage, she navigates the journey she’s been on for the past several years.

Her story isn’t new and it isn’t revelatory, but it is necessary.  I don’t always agree with her conclusions and I rarely agree with her theology, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this book.  Like with most of her writing, you don’t have to agree with where she ends up, you just have to understand the journey.

And I do.

I often struggle with doubt.  Mine may not be in the same ways or on the same scale as Evans, but that doesn’t mean I can’t relate.  In addition to the beauty of her writing, Evans is a master of bringing forth conversations that need to be had, sometimes unapologetic and sometimes overly apologetic.

Evans writes what she knows and this book is no different.  It is largely personal and covers what she’s gone through over the past several years struggling with Evangelicalism, a foray into the Emergent, and landing in a small Episcopalian church.  It deals largely with her hurts and her pains and how God has healed and helped her, as well as the areas where she’s still hurting.


In the end, even though I enjoyed this book, I don’t know that I would recommend this book to just the average reader or faith doubter.  You have to be on a certain foundation, I think, to get the most out of Ms. Evans’ writing.  However, for those who have the basics down, but still question would be as enamored with this book as I was.

05 January 2016

It’s All About The Books



Reading is one of my favorite pastimes.  I’ve posted pretty extensively about it here.  So, without further ado, I will post my reading goals for 2016.

Help My Unbelief by Barnabas Piper
Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey
Housewife Theologian by Aimee Byrd
The Making of an Ordinary Saint by Nathan Foster
Something by Wendell Berry (I’ve yet to decide on a title)
The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung
The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis
The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst
Simply Jesus by NT Wright
Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider
Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton
Hipster Christianity by Brett McCracken
The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight
Father Brown Mystery by GK Chesterton
Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler
The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken
Heretics by GK Chesterton

I only have 18 books on my list this year.  I will explain a little more of the reasoning behind that soon.  I also usually like to leave a couple spots open for recommendations.  Otherwise, this is pretty much it.

I do realize that this list is a little unbalanced.  There’s a lot of Chesterton and not a lot of fiction.  Those kind of go hand-in-hand.  I actually added Father Brown to compensate for the lack of fiction.  A good portion of this list is actually heavy on books that I already own.  Other than that, I will see how it goes.  I have a lot of books that I’d like to read, but this list is pretty skewed.  I may either learn a lot or it could backfire and I may get bored with the same topics.


So, there it is.  What are you reading this year?