Pastor – Coach – Reader – Cook
#10 - The Patient Ferment of the Early Church by Alan Kreider This was a brilliant work on the mission, methods and mindset of the early church. There is so much we could and should learn today. Here is the big takeaway I got from the book: “The earliest church (100-300 AD) rather than having…
Continue reading ➞ My 2021 Top Ten Reads: #10 and #9: Church History and Spiritual Practice
Who Should Read This Book - Readers interested in theology, specifically wrestling with questions of God, hell, love and eternity. What is the Big Takeaway - God is Love and through this Love desires all persons to be saved and will never give up until all are saved. And a Quote - “If supreme power…
Continue reading ➞ The Inescapable Love of God by Thomas Talbot (Review)
Who Should Read This Book - Readers who are into theology and are desiring a deep dive into the work of one of the greats, perhaps the greatest, Russian theologian of the 20th century. What’s the Big Takeaway - Bulgakov presents a beautiful story, an image of one humanity and all creation (the creaturely Sophia),…
Continue reading ➞ The Bride of the Lamb by Sergius Bulgakov (Review)
Who Should Read This Book - Readers interested in history, especially the history of the transition from the medieval to the modern world. What’s the Big Takeaway - The years from 1490-1530 were a huge confluence of factors, some due to gifted people and others due to luck, that changed the entire world. And a…
It seemed appropriate to (finally!) read this classic work during the season of Halloween. Everyone knows the basics of the story of Frankenstein and the monster has become ubiquitous in horror and culture. Most people even know that little tidbit of trivia, that Frankenstein is actually the name of the scientist who creates the monster…
Who Should Read this Book - Anyone who wants to understand how the secular modern world came into existence in the centuries following 1500. What’s the Big Takeaway - The story of secularism and modernity that people learn science and reject religion, is deficient and not grounded in reality. Taylor offers a much more nuanced…
Who Should Read This Book - Anyone who prays or wants to pray. What’s the Big Takeaway - We can learn to pray from the great tradition of the church, specifically the prayer at night (compline) which gives us words to pray when we don’t know what to say. And a quote - “When we’re…
Who Should Read this Book - Readers, specifically persons who are Christians, who may struggle with understanding the Bible but love Jesus and desire to read the Bible in a Jesus-shaped way. What’s the Big Takeaway - The central revelation of the Bible is that Jesus is the clearest revelation of who God is and…
Who Should Read This Book - Readers who desire to sit at the feet of an ancient Christian spiritual master. What’s the Big Takeaway - Ancient Christian poetry beautifully communicates the wonder of who God is in Jesus. And a quote: “The shepherd of all flew down in search of Adam, the sheep that had…
Continue reading ➞ The Harp of the Spirit: Poems of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (Review)
You’ve probably heard people talk about going through times of deconstruction. It seems I’ve heard more people speak of this just in the last few weeks, from articles to students sharing stories. At the same time, this is not new at all. Working in campus ministry, I have always met students who are rethinking and…
Continue reading ➞ Deconstructing Faith: Part of the Modern World Since the Beginning
David Hershey 