Books from 2006 worth reading
Here’s four excellent books I’ve read this past year which are worth getting a hold of…
They are Eat This Book (Eugene Peterson); Death By Suburb: How to keep the suburbs from killing your soul (David Goetz); Leading With A Limp (Dan Allender); and Exiles: Living missionally in a post-Christian culture (Michael Frost).
If any of the titles spark some intrigue, read on..
Eat This Book: a conversation in the art of spiritual reading (Eugene Peterson)
Eerdmans (2006)
Eugene Peterson has done it again! His latest gem is yet another thoughtful and challenging read. This poet and wordsmith is a master of metaphor. So, if you’re looking for a meal on the run or a fast food fix (a “how to” book), this is not the book for you. This is a meal to dwell long on – a tasty morsel here, a rich, deep seasoned mouthful there.
If you like to ‘chew’ on things and extract the full flavour and sensation of the food, you’ll really appreciate Peterson’s style, though there are times when he can be a little frustrating – where you’d love him to be more specific and spell out the implications of what he’s saying, rather than just leave you hanging!
Of course, the metaphor ‘eat this book’ he develops is not directed at his own writings (though it certainly could be) but rather at the Bible, as reflected in the instructions of the angel to John, in Revelation 10, to “Take it (the scroll), and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.”
Peterson is calling for more than just a reading of the scriptures, but a devouring of it so that it gets into the very fibres of our lives. This is what ‘spiritual reading’ is – “…participatory reading, receiving the words in such a way that they become interior to our lives, the rhythms and images becoming practices of prayer, acts of obedience, ways of love.” (10)
He reflects: “Reading is an immense gift, but only if the words are assimilated, taken into the soul – eaten, chewed, gnawed, received in unhurried delight.” (11)
“Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.” (18)
Peterson spends the bulk of the book reflecting on how the Bible can and should be internalized, so that we become what we read. In doing so he doesn’t minimize the place of good exegesis but instead presents it within the context of a more holistic approach to the scriptures.
Death by Suburb (David Goetz)
HarperCollins (2006)
Subtitled “How to keep the suburbs from killing your soul”, Goetz’ book is a thoughtful and challenging reflection on learning to live faithfully in the suburbs. He suggests that even though we may initially think that it’s incredibly difficult to follow Jesus in the ‘burbs, the answer is not to exit them and go rural, but to strive for what he calls “the thicker life” (the rich, multi-dimensional life) in the midst of the often bland and flat suburban existence.
As he notes “I think my suburb, as safe and religiously coated as it is, keeps me from Jesus. Or at least, my suburb (and the religion of the suburbs) obscures the real Jesus. The living patterns of the good life affect me more than I know. Yet the same environmental factors that numb me to the things of God also hold out great promise. I don’t need to escape the suburbs. I need to find Jesus here.”
Goetz proceeds to identify several “environmental toxins” to face up to, and spiritual practices that can counter their toxic effects. The toxins he addresses are:
“I am in control of my life”
“I am what I do and what I own”
“I want my neighbour’s life”
“My life should be easier than it is”
“I need to make a difference with my life”
“My church is the problem”
“What will this relationship do for me?”
“I need to get more done in less time”
This is an excellent little book. Goetz is refreshingly honest about his own struggles and yet at the same time inspiring and full of hope. The only negative about the book is the price.
Leading With A Limp (Dan Allender)
Waterbrook (2006)
This is quite simply the best book on leadership that I’ve ever read. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. This is not to suggest that I pretend to understand everything Allender writes! Sometimes I was caught between wondering whether his words were a little too profound for me to grab hold of, and the sneaking suspicion that if he’d been able to say it in simpler and more precise ways, mere mortals such as myself might have found it easier to understand. I suspect there’s a little truth in both.
Dan Allender speaks from personal experience as the president of a fledgling theological seminary. His own professional background as a therapist also informs much of his perceptiveness about the human psyche and probably contributes to his very disarming transparency about his own weaknesses and struggles as a leader.
Allender’s core assumption in this book is that, “to the degree you face and name and deal with your failures as a leader, to that same extent you will create an environment conducive to growing and retaining productive and committed colleagues” and conversely “to the degree you attempt to hide or dissemble your weaknesses, the more you will need to control those you lead, the more insecure you will become, and the more rigidity you will impose – prompting the ultimate departure of your best people.”
As the backcover of this book notes, “(flawed leaders are)…not preoccupied with protecting their image, they are undaunted by chaos and complexity, they are ready to risk failure in moving an organization from what is to what should be. God chooses leaders who aren’t deceived by the myths of power and control, but who realize that God’s power is found in brokenness.”
Depending on your view of yourself and the task of leading others, this paradoxical nature of Christian leadership will either be very hope-full and encouraging, or very depressing and defeatist. I’ve taken the former view and that’s why I recommend it. Allender has done all of us budding leaders a great service.
Exiles: Living missionally in a post-Christian culture (Michael Frost)
Hendrikson (2006)
I’ve long been a fan of Mike Frost’s writing. His earlier books such as Jesus the Fool (Albatross, 1994) and Eyes Wide Open: seeing God in the ordinary (Albatross, 1998) were insightful and well written (though I found Frost’s combined effort with Alan Hirsch – The Shaping of Things to Come (Hendrikson, 2003) less engaging).
His latest effort is, I think, a very good apologetic for building missional community. As the title indicates, Frost employs the biblical motif of ‘exile’ to capture some of the essence of what it means to live missionally in the post-Christian culture we’re a part of. Exiles are “Christians who find themselves caught in that dangerous wilderness between contemporary secular Western culture and an old-fashioned church culture of respectability and conservatism…those who can’t remain in the safe modes of church and who wish to live expansive, confident Christian lives in this world without having to abandon themselves to the values of contemporary society…Such Christians live with the nagging tension of being at home neither in the world nor in the church as they’ve known it .”
How do such ‘exiles’ thrive in such an environment? Is it possible to engage with our wider culture without buying in to (and therefore becoming captive to) its dominant values? And how can this exilic life be sustained and experienced in community with other exiles – rather than by just opting out and becoming isolationist? These are the kind of issues Frost grapples with.
Those who have listened to Mike Frost speak over the past few years will recognize some of the ground he covers – particularly his unpacking of liminality and communitas (chapter five on serving a cause greater than ourselves), building missional community (particularly chapter six) and seeing God at work in the everyday. But he covers wider territory in exploring the themes of generosity, hospitality, viewing work as an opportunity to partner God, fighting injustice, and caring for creation. This gives the book a holistic feel and reminds me of the Dutch politician Abraham Kuyper’s statement that “there is not one square inch of the universe over which Jesus does not say, ‘This is mine!’”
While Frost is a bit verbose at times (333 pages is too long for a lazy reader like me!) this is an excellent volume to digest and discuss.
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