Reading List

So, on we go. I only had 7 in the previous post, not 8. Oh well.

1.  Introducing Covenant Theology
2. Advent of Evangelicalism
3. A History of the American People
4. Kinda Christianity
5. Just Do Something
6. Monstrous Regiment
7. Galahad at Blandings
8. Basics of Biblical Greek, by Bill Mounce. I am basically just listing this because I have technically gone through the first 4 lessons, so I'm technically in the middle of it. Realistically, though, I need to get on this piece if I'm going to be ready for school in January. There it is though.
9. Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2004. Why the 2004 edition? Because that was the one that was available on Paperback Swap the day I checked. Rick Steves has to be around our home because he reminds us of how lovely it would be to be able to go see Europe in its glory someday. I'm very glad that Amelia and I are agreed on this point.
10. Rick Steves' Ireland Guidebook 2006. Amelia got this guidebook when she went to Ireland in 2006, and likes to reminisce about the sights. I glanced through most of what is written here, and I agree with her that Ireland would be a wonderful place to be most of the time. If only they were clamoring for forklift drivers...
11. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. This is the historical novel on which the movie Gettysburg is based. It shows the events immediately before and throughout the battle from the points of view of the soldiers and commanders involved. The primary protagonists are Generals Longstreet and Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia, and General Buford and Colonel Chamberlain (of Little Round Top fame) of the Army of the Potomac. Shaara spends a good deal of time detailing how he thinks Lee came to decide to fight at Gettysburg, and seems to play up Longstreet's understanding of the situation until he becomes something of a prophet. I read this a long time ago, but I misplaced it after a couple of days of rereading it and it just turned up again.
12. The Good War by Studs Terkel. Brotha Steve Koch (my brother-in-law) placed this book in my hands while I was in California and gave it high praise. I don't think I ever got started reading it out there, but I have recently got a copy and am setting out upon it. The generation of men and women who fought and worked and won World War Two are given the microphone in this book, and so far I've enjoyed reading the many different perspectives from which they came to their posts in the Pacific Islands, on the European mainland, or in the States.
13. Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers. I got about halfway through this book after reading the first several of Sayers' Lord Peter books, and I got muddled up and have yet to return. However, it'll get done eventually. Lord Peter is an ever-amusing fellow, and Amelia insists that I get to know him.
14. Baptism: Three Views edited by David Wright. The "three views" mentioned in the title are: 1) Credobaptism, presented by Bruce Ware, 2) Paedobaptism, presented by Sinclair Ferguson, and 3) Dual-Practice Baptism, presented by Anthony Lane. In the end, Ferguson won the argument, in my view, but I am still not a paedobaptist. Although Ferguson's defense was winsome and I thought Ware's points were somewhat weak, I still did not see enough  in the paedobaptist view to change my doctrine. Thus, Harriet remains unsprinkled. I will keep trying to figure out whether that is the biblical practice, however, as this book has made me think quite a bit.
15. The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content by Bruce Metzger. Dr. Metzger's study of the New Testament has helped me to understand the means by which critical scholars seek to understand the writing of the New Testament autographs, particularly in the Gospels. I am constantly challenged as I read this to try and think through just what inerrancy and inspiration mean, and to determine how the Gospels ought to be harmonized.
16. Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. This book has been helpful in refreshing my mind with the constant reminder of what our faith is all about. Driscoll and Breshears give several interesting bits of information, drawn from recent archaeological and biblical studies, which help set this theology apart from the older systematic theology we used in Bible school. Their emphasis is on teaching, if not "Mere" Christianity, at least a fairly firm orthodoxy which can be agreed upon by all Evangelicals. Their Christological focus and conviction shine throughout, and their topics are ordered along the lines of progressive revelation, from God in eternity, to Creation, the Fall, the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the establishment of the Church, and finally ending in the coming Kingdom. All told there are 13 chapters in this study, and it fills about 450 pages.

So much for books.