What I'm Into (September 2014 Edition)

September has been a very busy month for me as I moved into my first apartment at the end of August and started Seminary at the beginning of September! I've been wanting to do the "What I'm Into" link up for a long time and so now I finally am!

My first house guests in my new apartment!
Books:

I read 13 books in September. I highly recommend the ones I've highlighted below:

The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life*	Guinness, Os
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting...*	Corbett, Steve
Fight Club	Palahniuk, Chuck
The Importance of Being Earnest	Wilde, Oscar
Ministry in the Image of God: The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service*	Seamands, Stephen
10 People Every Christian Should Know	Wiersbe, Warren W.
The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis	Jacobs, Alan
Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture*	Desilva, David Arthur
The Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith	Downing, David C.
A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation*	Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth
Betrayal of Trust: Confronting and Preventing Clergy Sexual Misconduct*	Grenz, Stanley J.
Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions	Evans, Rachel Held
Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation*	Green, Joel B.

The ones with the asterisk* were required reading for my seminary classes =)

See all the books I've read and am reading on Goodreads

Writing:

My post on LEGO theology was pretty fun to write! =)

TV:

Doctor Who (I love Sarah Bessey's write-ups too!)
The Big Bang Theory
Girl Meets World
Marvel Agents of Shield

I also just got into Revenge, binge watching all of season one in one weekend...

Music:

New discoveries: All About that Bass, played on a stand up bass!

I saw The Piano Guys in Concert and they are amazing!


My friend Ashley also introduced me to 2Cellos, so there is that.


So what have you been into this month?

I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer for What I’m Into (check out the rest over at her site).

Book Review: A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C.S. Lewis by Devin Brown

A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis by Devin Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was looking forward to reading A Life Observed by Devin Brown, primarily because I had the pleasure of meeting Devin at Taylor University’s Colloquium on C.S. Lewis and Friends. (One of the many wonderful things about this event is the opportunity to dialogue with other Lewis enthusiasts, scholars, and authors!)

However, having just re-read Surprised by Joy, Lewis's autobiography of sorts, I found the first half of Brown's book to be a bit of a repetitive experience for me as he seems to be summarizing and quoting from it predominantly until chapter five. Yet, Devin does a fine job of illuminating areas Lewis did not write about in his book.

He does this primarily through various letters written by Lewis over the course of his life, along with correspondence about him by friends and family, such as J.R.R. Tolkien and his brother, Warnie. The Pilgrim’s Regress and A Grief Observed are two additional autobiographical works which Devin explores. He also points out examples in Letters to Malcolm and The Screwtape Letters that would seem to give us even further insights into Lewis’s own spiritual journey. Because of these added sources, I enjoyed the second half of the book far more than the first half.

I also appreciate that unlike some biographies on Lewis that may seem to lack heart, leaving them stale and dry, A Life Observed is truly engaging and full of the life of Jack. Or as Douglas Gresham wrote in the forward, of the numerous biographies that have been written, “some of them are very good books about Jack, but – here’s the rub – Jack is not in them.” Then, about Devin’s book, Gresham writes, “I grew up with Jack as my guide. This real Jack whom I knew walks the pages of this book.” I can’t think of much higher praise than that!

Overall, it was well written, enjoyable to read, and I will most likely read it again in the future.
(4/5 stars)

View all my reviews

See the list of books I've read in 2014.

Some of the books mentioned above:

Book Review: The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning

The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It breaks my heart that there are so many harmful messages (i.e. bad theology) out there that are keeping people away from the God who IS LOVE.

Thankfully, Brennan Manning's books are refreshing water for dry and thirsty souls who so desperately need to hear of the furious longing of God for them. (And this one is a pretty short read also, for those who may appreciate that!)

Brennan reminds us that Love is not just a quality of God, but his very Identity. One of my favorite quotes from the book is this:

"Jesus spoke of the life of grace, amazing grace, not as some theological abstraction or concept. For Jesus, Grace was relationship - the presence of Abba himself in our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Now I want to re-read Abba's Child and The Ragamuffin Gospel!

View all my reviews

See the list of books I've read in 2014.

Book Review: Letters from a Skeptic by Greg Boyd

Letters from a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father's Questions about Christianity by Gregory A. Boyd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Letters from a Skeptic takes place over the course of three years, as Greg Boyd does his best to answer his father’s questions about Christianity through a series of correspondence. Boyd is as articulate as ever here, and very readable for those unfamiliar with theology, as he tries not to get too technical or use too many big theology words. His father wrestles through many questions I have found myself asking over the years. Some of the questions addressed are:

Why has Christianity done so much harm?
Why is the world so full of suffering?
Is the risk of freedom worth all the suffering?
Does God know the future?
Why did God create Satan?
Why trust the Gospel accounts?
How can you believe that a man rose from the dead?
Why do you think the Bible is inspired?
What about the “holy books” of other religions?
Why does God make believing in Him so difficult?
Do all non-Christians go to hell?
How could an all loving God torture people in an eternal hell?
Isn’t the Christian life impossible to live?
How can another man’s death pardon me?
How can I be sure it’s all true?

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone: to the doubter and to the one for whom faith comes more easily, that you might better understand those who doubt.

(I can also recommend the audio version; I liked hearing the letters written by Greg Boyd in his own voice.)

View all my reviews

See the list of books I've read in 2014.

Reading Update 1/21/2014

I just finished my 4th book of the year, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels by N.T. Wright, so I'm a little behind pace. But that's okay, because I'm almost finished with The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and about halfway through C. S. Lewis: A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet by Alister E. McGrath.

I've also started this one (which is a bit more time consuming):
Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy, Edited by James R.A. Merrick, Stephen M. Garrett; Contributors: R. Albert Mohler Jr., Kevin J Vanhoozer, Michael F. Bird, Peter E Enns, John R Franke

These are the books I'm hoping to read next:

Theology
- Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church by Robert E. Webber

- Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
- Liturgy as a Way of Life: Embodying the Arts in Christian Worship by Bruce Ellis Benson
- God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict by Gregory A. Boyd
- God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God by Greg Boyd

- Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan
- Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy by Gregory A. Boyd
- The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture by N.T. Wright

C. S. Lewis and Inklings
A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis by Devin Brown
The Most Reluctant Convert by David Downing
Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of a Friendship by Colin Duriez
Light on C. S. Lewis by Jocelyn Gibb
Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis by Douglas H. Gresham
Poetic Diction by Owen Barfield
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers

Fiction
An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4) by Rick Riordan
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Book Three of 2014: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Pi Patel is the 16 year old son of a zookeeper. His family is in the process of moving from India to Canada when their ship sinks. Pi is the lone survivor on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra with a broken leg, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Before long it is only Pi and the tiger left to coexist for 227 days at sea.

I wavered back and forth between 2 and 3 stars for this one, so I think I needed a two and a half star option. I like the themes of philosophy and religion that are explored. I actually saw the movie first and then decided I wanted to read the book, and I remember thinking it would be a good movie to spark discussion, so the same is true of the book. The other thing I liked was some of the reflections and statements Pi makes at the end reflecting on the nature of truth, reality, and story. In some ways it reminded me of the book/movie, Big Fish, but I liked Big Fish much more!

Ultimately, the ending leaves me disappointed at best. In fact, if it ended in a different way, I am certain I would have liked it more. But there is also the gruesome factor, meaning there was so much in the book that made me cringe, I just can't see myself wanting to read it again, hence the "It was okay" rating.

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Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley by Peter Kreeft

Book Two of 2014: Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley by Peter Kreeft
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What do C.S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy and Aldous Huxley have in common? They all died on the same day in 1963. As the title says, Peter Kreeft imagines a conversation between the three of them in some kind of in-between place after death.

I liked this fictional dialogue well enough. I'll probably even peruse it again at some point. (It was a very quick read for me.) However, I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I thought there would be more of a conversation between all three men, but really it was more like two separate conversations. The first one was between Lewis and Kennedy (Christian Theism vs. Modern Humanism), the second between Lewis and Huxley (Christian Theism vs. Eastern pantheism).

I did enjoy the Socratic dialog, as well as the arguments Lewis made from a literary point of view when talking about the Gospels as truth or made up stories. I also enjoyed recognizing so much of what Lewis said as he would reference things he wrote or even just allude to them. I would consider assigning this book to students in an Introduction to Philosophy class or even Apologetics.

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The Kite Runner

Book One of 2014: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are definitely disturbing parts in this book, but in the end, the theme of redemption is what kept me engaged with this story and made it worth my time. I didn't love it, but I liked it, and it seemed fairly well written.

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