I've been reading quite a bit lately, borrowing more books than I can read from the library, and eagerly eyeing books that Robin's been receiving as gifts or loans from various sources.
Read recently:
- God Raising Us: Parenting as a Spiritual Practice, by our very own Quaker blogger Eileen Flanagan. This Pendle Hill Pamphlet would make a great topic for a discussion group among parents and other people involved with children in various ways in their lives.
- Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw.
- A Christianity Worth Believing, Doug Pagitt.
- Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, Tony Jones.
- National Treasure: Changing Tides, kids novel based on the Disney series.
Okay, now here's what I'm in in the middle of:
- Where Should I Stand? A Handbook for Monthly Meeting Clerks, by Elizabeth Boardman, my friend, a Friend, and a predecessor as clerk of San Francisco Monthly Meeting, and my current helpmeet as assistant clerk. Highly recommended for practical advice and good humor (as in good-humored, not that there are jokes in it). She created a blog with Robin's help at http://whereshouldistand.blogspot.com/ which is just getting started.
- The Secret Message of Jesus, Brian McLaren
- The Plain Reader, edited by Scott Savage. I still have a bunch of original issues of Plain magazine. It's been interesting to dip back into these essays after nearly a decade.
- Soul Grafitti, Mark Scandrette. Robin recommends this one more than some of the other ones listed above, but this particular volume is not due back at a library so I'm not reading it actively right now.
- The Changing Faces of Jesus, by Geza Vermes. I love Vermes. He seems to keep writing the same book over and over, or variations on a theme at least, but they still seem fresh. I believe the first one on the topic was called Jesus the Jew, back in 1974. His reminder of Jesus's essential Jewishness strongly informs the messages of McLaren, Pagitt, et al.
Finally, I'm figuring to read Robin's copy of The New Conspirators by Tom Sine soon, too. This also means that the copy of The Rich Heritage of Quakerism by Walter Williams, which I bought for my birthday last fall, will continue to languish. I've read the epilogue by Paul Anderson, but haven't really dipped into the main text yet. Thank you, Barclay Press, for reprinting it, in any case!
To sum up, I guess I operate with the subconscious belief that salvation comes through reading books. Lord, have mercy on me!
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