This past year has been a continued electic selection of books.
The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence. A fascinating story of a time and place most of us have little knowledge of. The massacre in Amritsar in 1919, widely regarded as the catalyst for the Indian indepence movement, and the determination of a strange fellow who assassinates the British colonial governor who was responsible - decades later.
On a side note, Anita Anand, the author of The Patient Assassin, together with William Dalrymple, are co-hosts of a prolific history pod-cast, Empire, which has kept me captive most of this past year. If I have read less books than I should have this year, it is because I have been immersed in the stories of empire, from around the globe, throughout the millenia. Highly recommended!
Improvising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul. Mark Glanville, originally from Australia, is associate professor of pastoral theology and OT scholar at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada - and a jazz musician. This was an intriguing book. He uses the image of jazz improvisation that riffs off certain fundamentals. If we have the basics down, you can go anywhere with your creativity. Without the basics, it's just noise. His voice has special resonance to the Canadian context. And he quotes a lot of Newbigin - can't go wrong there.
Walking Together on the Jesus Road: Intercultural Discipling. Evelyn and Richard Hibbert were missionaries in Turkey and Bulgaria with WEC, the same ministry organization that I started out with 40 years ago; now are educators at the Sydney MBC in Australia. Required reading for a course I taught at Tyndale Seminary in May '24. Well-written integration of intercultural development concepts and practices with evangelism and disciple-making principles and practice. Wish I had this book 40 years ago.
A Non-Anxious Presence: How a Changing and Complex World will Create a Remnant of Renewed Christian Leaders. Mark Sayers is another Australian pastoral voice with things to say for our times here in Canada. A reading assignment from the network of pastors I engage with regularly.
Leadership Toolkit for Asians. Jane Hyun is a colleague I work with regularly in the area of intercultural capacity development. Her book published this year has proven to be an empowerment resource for Asians seeking to navigate the business world, but leveraging their own unique cultural strengths into the equation. Excellent resource for those of us who don't have Asian heritage as well.
Preaching Romans: Four Perspectives, edited by Scot McKnight and Joe Modica. Very helpful resource giving insight into Reformation, New Perspective, Apocalyptic and Participationist perspectives. Both hermeneutical lenses, as well as actual sermons on texts, by noted scholars and preachers.
Life Together. Yes, I read Bonhoeffer again this summer, as I led book club discussions with a small group in our congregation. Reading a chapter, discussing, then practicing the practices he says are at the heart of life together. Apparently life together has a lot to do with letting the Spirit of Jesus speak in our midst. :)
The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage and Justice. War journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, tells a well-researched story of the female Kurdish military units fighting in the early stages of the Syrian War (2014-2018). Kurdish self-governance is their desire within the geographical spaces inhabited by the Kurdish people in Syria. I'm interested to see how this plays out now with Assad gone from power and one of the many factions taking the reins.
Into the Heart of Romans. You can't go wrong with N T Wright talking about Paul and Romans. He takes a deep dive into Romans 8 as a fulcrum point in the letter, filtering what comes before Ch 8 while setting up what follows. Yes, reading a lot of Romans stuff this year. So far it's just fleshing out my various sermon series, not a stand alone yet. Although in 2023 I preached through Romans 12-16, following Scot McKnight's thought around preaching Romans backwards -- knowing where Paul lands may help us understand what he's trying to say all along (we often get bogged down in the first half and then skip through all the practical outcomes - perhaps the real point of what he was trying to get at all along).
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know. I listen regularly to Malcolm Gladwell's podcast, Revisionist History, but this is the first book of his that I have read. I'm kind of iconoclastic that way. He writes like his podcasts unfold, one onion layer at a time, building to get you to the centre and then realize the myth at the centre of the story is false. This book is a huge cautionary tale about ever trusting what anybody says - we all create stories to suit our needs at any given point in time. But we can't build a society on patent distrust of every person we meet. So grace, discernment and forgiveness is required, to re-establish trust. He only gets to that point on the last page, however (that's a Malcolm thing), after one detailed public news story after another that he just deconstructs to the point you want to just throw up your hands. Great way to finish 2024.
I also read about the same number of novels, short story collections, etc. that I'm not going to comment on. Mostly historical fiction, some mysteries.
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