What Have I Been Reading

One of the questions I get asked fairly often is, "What are you reading?" Here are a few books I've been working through over the past month, along with some brief thoughts on each.

Fiction*

• Benediction by Kent Haruf // Haruf came off a recommendation from another fiction author I appreciate. It was a super quick read about an old man diagnosed with terminal cancer and the process of him coming to terms with his death. If I read it slower, I might have cried. I pondered for some time on the quote, "They don’t come to church on Sunday morning to think about new ideas or even the old important ones. They want to hear what they’ve been told before, with only some small variation on what they’ve been hearing all their lives, and then they want to go home and eat pot roast and say it was a good service and feel satisfied."

• A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin // I picked this up at our local library book sale. It's basically two books in one - a story about a father and son, addictions, and how that works with those who are highly intelligent. It took me forever to get through and could have been half the length. “Knowledge isn't the same as intelligence.” Amen.

*I find myself reading more and more fiction these days. What started as a summer endeavor has bleed over into the Fall. Fiction seems to give my mind a "rest" from extensive Biblical study and educational material. With that, it should be noted that the titles above are "non-Christian."

Nonfiction

• James: Portrait of a Living Faith - Reformed Expository Bible Study by Jonathan Nielson with the James - Reformed Expository Commentary by Daniel M. Doriani // I did this as a "trial" for the Hebrews study that we just started yesterday for our Men's and Women's Ministries (my wife and a couple of her friends did the Daniel study this summer). They are excellent! I highly recommend!

• Understanding Transgender Identities by James Beilby and Paul Eddy // This is for my current doctoral class. I'm not passionate about the topic but had to write a paper formatting a statement on human sexuality.

NOTE: I don't recommend everything equally. Some resources have become staples that I enthusiastically place into the hands of others. Some are helpful with discernment. Others simply sparked reflection or conversation. My goal isn't to offer a list of perfect resources but to share what's currently shaping my thinking, ministry, and conversations.