Friday, April 13, 2012

Books I got at Q

If you've been hanging around here or on Twitter, you know I spent the first part of the week at the Q Conference in Washington, D.C. I loved it, actually, and the challenging thoughts and insights of the diverse speakers (some of whom I disagreed with) made for stimulating conversation.

As part of the conference package, we were gifted with some books, and I thought you'd be interested to see what they were:

The Books of the Bible New Testament. The idea behind this Bible was to remove all the commentary, footnotes and chapter breaks and read the scriptures without all the distraction, keeping the emphasis on the text rather than all the centuries of commentary that have grown up around it. I love this. I spent a good amount of time on the plane ride home reading from the book of Luke, which read a LOT more like a fun book that didn't require that I stop after a chapter of dutiful reading.

Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life by Nancy Sleeth. Nancy spoke at Q, and in this book she looks at the Amish lifestyle to see if there's anything we might want to take advantage of in our own lives. I haven't read the book yet, but I enjoyed the presentation and I'm sure I'll check it out. Also... it's published by my friends at Tyndale, in case you care about such things.

Next we have a re-packaging of Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper's Wisdom & Wonder: Common Grace in Science & Art. Kuyper talks about the Christian duty to engage in public life, not just the Church, because of God's sovereign control over every aspect of life. As he said, "If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." This one looks interesting and I'll definitely give it a read.

A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars by Jonathan Merritt hasn't been officially released yet, but that didn't stop it from being in our goody bag. Merritt suggests we can find a way to engage in culture and politics without jumping in on the culture wars or snagging power for ourselves. Should be an interesting read.

Global Warming and the Risen LORD: Christian Discipleship and Climate Change by Jim Ball. I assume the name says it all. I guess I'll flip through this one and see if I want to read it carefully.

Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate by Matthew Soerens and Jenny Hwang. Jenny did a great presentation at Q about immigration (legal and otherwise) and I spent a good amount of time with her and a few others yesterday morning, running around D.C. and meeting with various officials who are heavily involved in this issue. I'll write more about that soon (probably next week). But in the meantime, I wanted to read Jenny's book, so I bought it.

How about you? What books are on your shelf or the towering to-be-read pile by your bed? Anything I should be reading?





3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:53 PM

    I read A Heart for Freedom, by Chai Ling and Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, by Lauren Winner last week. I recommend both.

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  2. Chai Ling was actually at Q! My wife read her book and loved it. Thanks for the suggestions.

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  3. Anonymous5:47 PM

    So cool! I would love to meet her.

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