Recommended
Readings
from
Margaret
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| In this challenging, inspiring, and enjoyable
book Epperly, a process theologian, squarely takes on Rick Warren’s The
Purpose Driven Life
and addresses the same soul questions through the lens of progressive
Christianity. He says that God does not in fact have a single preordained plan for each of us, which we have to struggle to figure out and obey, but rather that God has formed us to be marvelously creative and trusts us to be partners in the fulfillment of God’s vision for all creation. At the Ministry Fair we will have opportunities to sign up to study and discuss this book in small groups. |
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Wright, the prolific former Bishop of Durham, England, has written “for Everyone” volumes on Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the Acts of the Apostles, the letters of St. Paul, and Hebrews…so far. They are among the most accessible yet deeply nourishing companions to the study and application of scripture I have encountered in a long time. |
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This is an
excellent book about the basics of our identity as Episcopalians. It
explores |
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Every summer I have the illusion that the pace of my work will let up and I will sit on the shore of a lake (with a cool breeze, I might add) and read fluff. Well, there may be no lakeside Adirondack chair in my immediate future, and no cool breeze anywhere in the outdoors, but I’m going to take the recommendation of a dear friend whose taste in literature I admire and make time to read this and the others in the series. I mean, after all, the sleuth is a sister Episcopal priest and her church is St. Alban’s! |
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Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faith by Marcus Borg |
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From the back of the book: “This book is dangerous. Once you have read it, you can never again mumble the Creed complacently, without thought. Joan Chittister kindles fire in its dry formulations, setting them ablaze with renewed meanings, making each phrase light the way to profound meditation. Read it at your own peril.” (Robert Keeler, Pulitzer Prize-winning religion writer, Newsday) |
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The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein |
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| This
is a dear and wise novel, narrated by a labrador terrier mix named
Enzo, who rides shotgun with his racecar driver owner. If you love
dogs and/or people, you will enjoy its quirky wisdom. |
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The Beatitudes for Today by James C. Hall |
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| Howell, a Methodist minister from North Carolina, begins by discussing what the Beatitudes are not: prescriptions for a more affluent, productive, or powerful life. Rather, focusing on Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, he offers an accessible discussion of God's love for the weak and downtrodden in the world and our responsibility as Christians for caring for them. | |||
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| This is the fifth and
last volume in Peterson’s series on spiritual theology. Here he
looks at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in depth and explores our
call to become ever more mature in our relationship with Christ. He invites us to come to a fuller understanding of what it means to be the church by claiming our gifts and living out our ordination to be the saints of God. |
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| Lose is a professor at Luther Seminary. In this book he explores the most basic and ambiguous questions about the Bible, questions that lie under the surface for most of us no matter where we are on our spiritual journey. I recommend it for anyone who feels inadequate in their relationship with Holy Scripture as well as for those who know their way around the Bible already. It is fresh and engaging and wise. | |||
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| I recently went to a
full-day workshop given by the author in which he presented the core
of his learnings and teachings as expressed in this book. I don’t
know when I’ve been as excited about a book as I am about this one,
in which he explores the four gospels in the sequence they follow in
the Bible as the representation of the pattern of spiritual
transformation on both an individual and communal level. It is accessible to people who are biblical novices as well as seasoned scholars. If you read it, let me know what you think. |
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| Miles, whose
earlier book, Eat This Bread , told the story of her conversion to Christianity at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, now relates her transformational experience as director of ministries, especially as it relates to the ministry of their food distribution program. Its chapters – Come and See, Feeding, Healing, Forgiving, Raising the Dead, and Follow Me – reflect the mandate Jesus gave to us as the church in the Great Commission, and are a good structure for our Lenten meditation this year. |
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| In this Booker
Prize winning novel, you have 532 pages of immersion in the court of
Henry VIII during the pivotal time when Europe and England were giving
birth to the Protestant and Anglican churches. The tensions and
intrigues are navigated -- or not -- by some of the most complex
characters ever to interact, and author Hilary Mantel chooses possibly
the most enigmatic of all, Thomas Cromwell, as her focal character. It
is a familiar story told in intricate detail and from an unusual
angle. It was one of those books I savored as long as I could and
hated to
close. I hope the author is working on the sequel and writing fast! |
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| “If you put
aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as
though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges
as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. Cynthia
Bourgeault is a masterful guide to Jesus's vision and to the
traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teachings for yourself.” |
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The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See by Richard Rohr |
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This book takes direct aim at the
hold money has upon us, especially upon our spiritual lives, and
examines the ways in which it is an unhealthy attitude towards money
rather than a lack of enough cripple our inner growth. It calls to
mind the story of Jesus and the man who chose to keep all his
possessions rather than follow Jesus. At this time of year when we are
contemplating making our pledge to God at St. Alban’s, this is very
helpful to me. |
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This, the seventh volume of the Church’s New
Teaching Series, is both an introduction to the
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The Way of Transition: Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments by William Bridges My friend Will
Thompson recommended Bridges’ work to me, and I’m currently
reading this one. Bridges’ career had been as a business consultant,
who traveled all over the world speaking on the dynamics of change and
transition. When his wife died of breast cancer he found himself lost
within that dynamic and in this book he writes of his own experience. Anne Morrow
Lindberg wrote, “There is no sin punished more implacably by nature
than the sin of resistance to change.” I’m hoping that reading
this book will help me to accept transition as not only inevitable but
as positive and life-giving. |
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This is a
fascinating and engaging novel about a most reluctant novice in a
sixteenth century Italian convent.
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by Dallas Willard Willard is one of
the great teachers of Christian spiritual practices today, and in this
new book he deals with the question “Is Christianity true?” He
argues that Christian faith is not a different category than other
forms of knowledge and gives the reader security in “restoring faith
and morality to issues of truth and challenges us to overcome our
ignorance and reclaim our faith and morality as people of God.” |
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America, America by Ethan Canin I remember a writing teacher who said years ago that possibly the worst literature in any bookstore is to be found on the Christian fiction shelf, and that all true literature that deals with what it means to be a fully human human being is at heart spiritual, even if Jesus is never mentioned by name. This is a very engaging, challenging, readable novel by one of my favorite writing teachers. It shares much with The Great Gatsby. |
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A
People’s History of Christianity: the Other Side of the Story Bass says that western
Christianity is suffering from
a massive case of spiritual amnesia. Using |
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Actually, this is a
trilogy (the third volume to be released soon) of books about the
fictional daughters of Rashi, the real eleventh century rabbi and
Talmudic scholar. They provide a |
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The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rolheiser |
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Rolheiser was asked to write this primer of spirituality by his editor at Doubleday who wanted him to articulate for his grown children the reasons why he still attends church and to remind himself on those days when he himself questioned. It is a rich and wise book about what it means to be a Christian. |
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| The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith; How We Can Be Passionate Believers Today by Marcus Borg |
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The author of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time explores Christian doctrine in such a way that it reclaims for the broader church terms and ideas that have become identified with fundamentalism. This is a statement of a very generous Christianity. |
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| Sabbath:
Finding
Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy
Lives by Wayne Muller |
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| Our Sunday morning Adult
Christian Formation group read this lovely and gentle book. It offers a vision for restoring the sacred rhythm
of rest in our lives. It reminds us that the observation of Sabbath time is a commandment, not
a suggestion, and offers many ways in which we can incorporate this holy time into
our modern lives. |
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Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson |
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This too-short novel won the author her second Pulitzer Prize, which means she's batting 1000. Her only other novel, Housekeeping, was written 25 years ago. This narrative is in fact a letter written by an elderly pastor to his very young son, whom he know he will never be able to tell the rich stories of his life.
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