What'cha reading?
Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. –Proverbs 1:5 (NIV)
My mother was “well read”. At least that’s what she always told us. She knew a lot about a wide variety of subjects, from literature, to history, to art, to nature. When we had questions, she usually knew the answer. When she didn’t, she spoke authoritatively enough that you would find her answer well-informed and plausible if less than technically accurate. When asked how she got to be so smart, she would remind us, “Well, I am well read, you know.”
I wish I was more like my mother in that regard. I’m a slow reader, and I don’t read that much. I have good books that I have acquired over the years that I either haven’t read, have only skimmed, or have read a few chapters and never finished. I have aspirations of reading more. I just have a hard time following through. If I finish a book, one or more of these factors has to be in play.
It’s a short book.
I’m reading it with other people and don’t want to arrive at our next meeting unprepared to discuss the content.
I get far enough into the book that I am compelled to finish it as an exercise of willpower.
I find the subject matter and writing style so compelling that I can’t put it down.
So when I finish a book and like it well enough to recommend you read it too, that’s a rare thing. I have recently read two such books.
The first one is “Not in It to Win It: Why Choosing Sides Sidelines the Church” by Andy Stanley. In it, Stanley examines the problems the American church has often created for the cause of Christ by choosing to adopt and align ourselves with political philosophies that necessarily divide people. Using the example of Christ and the teachings of the New Testament, he makes a strong case that the practice of defining the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of worldly political alignments not only renders the gospel inaccessible to a large percentage of the population, but actually violates Jesus’ intent to institute a Kingdom that transcends such affiliations, swallows them up, and demonstrates to the world that His Kingdom is different. Even when tenets of a political movement coincide with biblical principles, making incorporation into “the party” a pre-requisite for acceptance in the body of Christ is wrong.
The second is “Death to Deconstruction - Reclaiming Faithfulness as an Act of Rebellion” by Josh Porter. Porter grew up in an evangelical church in Georgia, left to find his way as a member of a Christian punk rock band, became pastor for a church in Vancouver Washington, lost his faith along the way, planned his own suicide, and finally found his way back to faith in Christ. He identifies five predators of Christian faith that the enemy uses against those who are deconstructing their faith to enmesh them into belief systems that are just as dogmatic as the one they are escaping, but with fewer promises of any eternal purpose. The predators are Biblical illiteracy, the problem of evil, politicized Christianity, hypocrisy, and self-denial. In an often humorous and utterly irreverent way, he unpacks these threats, talks about the damage they did in his own life, and reveals how he was able to get past them, back to the core of the gospel.
I will offer one more as a bonus, “I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible” by Michael Heiser. Unlike the others, this is not a narrative that needs to be fully consumed to derive measurable value. Think of it more as a “bathroom reader” or something you’d enjoy on a plane trip. It’s a collection of articles, about 3-4 pages each, that explore odd passages from Scripture, obscure cultural customs that seem baffling to 21st-century Westerners, and what to make of supposed “inconsistencies” within the pages of the Bible. I have not finished this one, and do not necessarily agree with all Dr. Heiser’s conclusions (though I greatly respect his scholarship). This one is a fun read for me, but that may just be indicative of my inner nerd.
I probably won’t ever reach the status of “well read”, but I think Mama would be pleased to know I see value in feeding my mind and in the process, feeding my soul as well.
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out. –Proverbs 18:15 (NIV)