Some of My Favorite Books

This list could be huge so I'm going to limit myself to twelve which have either impacted me the most or to which I frequently return (the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer are givens). In no particular order...

• Surprised By Hope by N.T. Wright
• The bodily Resurrection of Jesus is at the center of everything in our Faith. The goal when we die is NOT to go to heaven. It is to be bodily resurrected and live in the new heavens and earth as a royal priest. Is your mind blown? Good. Read this book. 

• A Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman
• Effective leaders are self-differentiated. Don't know what that means? That's why you should read this. Relationships are the name of the game. The best book on leadership and relationships I've ever read. I was introduced to this by then-Dean of Nashotah House, Bishop Ed Salmon, who invited our Senior Class to meet him at the local pub on Wednesday nights to discuss this and he'd buy the first round. Now how can you pass that up?

• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• The chapter titled the Grand Inquisitor is my favorite piece of literature. Dostoyevsky summarizes human sin, world history, politics, religion, greed, freedom-and-slavery all in one mythical conversation which is an exposition of Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness. It's one thing to write compelling theology. It's masterful to turn that into great literature. 

• Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey
• A new favorite. I loathe what I call "Hallmark Card Christianity." A Christianity that is divorced from the culture in the which the Scriptures were written with its idioms, languages, religious and political systems, and values; and instead anachronistically imposes its own familiar culture onto what the Bible says. Centuries of heretical theology, not to mention bad art and music, have dominated much of Christianity because we impose our culture onto the Scriptures instead reading it in its own cultural setting. 
• Kenneth E. Bailey spent 40 years in the Middle East, mastering its languages, living among people who share the culture of the Bible (such as Bedouin shepherds) and studying the Judaism and early Christian Faith that are still alive and practiced the same way today in that part of the world. 
• He dispels many myths and paints a rich, truthful picture of the world of the Bible and what its content means. Reading the Bible in light of his wisdom is like the difference between watching the Andy Griffith Show in color instead of black-and-white. You've always known who Opie was, but how could you have gone all that time and not know he had red hair?

• The Ecclesiastical History of the Church of England by the Venerable Bede
• The Venerable Bede was an 8th century monk in England writing about "recent events." He describes how the Mission of the Church arrived and expanded throughout England. I especially love the account of St. Aidan of Lindisfarne: such a wonderful example for believers of how to be an Evangelist & Leader.  It's filled with colorful accounts of saints, miracles, preaching, healings, kings, sabotage, betrayal and the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in England. As a Church-planter, I've often said "Everything you need to know about Anglican Church-planting can be found in the Gospels and Acts, the Book of Common Prayer and Bede's History."

• For The Life Of The World by Alexander Schmemann
• (The book, not the recent film series). Father Alexander Schmemann, memory eternal, was a Russian Orthodox priest, author and dean of St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York. This book covers issues such as the secular vs. sacred, human-kind's vocation as royal priests, and the seamless relationship between the liturgical worship of Church within her sanctuary and her mission outside of it in the world. My entire theology of worship, liturgy and mission is informed by this book. 

• The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren
• Every Christian congregation exists to fulfill the Mission of Jesus through five purposes: Worship, Discipleship, Fellowship, Ministry and Mission. If a congregation is 1) not balanced in all five and 2) does not order it's life with, and on, purpose it will die on the vine. While I'm obviously not a Baptist / "Seeker-Church" guy, the biblical leadership principles and structures Warren lays out are universal and excellent. If you're congregation is struggling with health and/or growth, read this.
• Before I ever read this the principles in it are something Bishop William Godfrey, the Missionary Bishop of Peru, taught me. In 17 years he grew the Anglican Church of Peru from one congegration into four dioceses.  How? He balanced the purposes of the Church and he did it on purpose. Where did he find this? Not Rick Warren, but as he's said, "It's all right there in the Scriptures, the Canons and the Prayer Book." Bishop Godfrey is one of my greatest living heroes.

• The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
• I love all of Tolkien's work for the rich languages and cultures he creates as well as the themes of the most unlikely, weakest candidate being the one chosen to vanquish evil. I especially love the last few chapters of this book. After throwing the Ring into Mt. Doom, Frodo and Sam have a discussion about what it means to return home and how once you leave home you can never really return, because it's no longer the place it was when you left it. As someone who has lived in four different places and cultural settings in my adult life, this chapter has been a great comfort in different seasons. 

• The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware
• The best brief overview of the Christian Faith I've read (and I've pored over many as a pastor trying to find one great, brief volume). Deep yet accessible. He's writing from an Orthodox Christian perspective, obviously, but presents the universal truths of the Faith beautifully with a particular bent towards the development of one's interior life and prayer. His chapter on "God As Trinity" is the best explanation of the Trinity I've read.

• The Rule of St. Benedict by Benedict of Nursia
• Bishop Godfrey of Peru, whom I'm honored to call friend and grateful to call a mentor, says "Everything you need to know about pastoring can be found in The Rule." The first time he said this I wasn't sure I believed him. But once I spent some time actually pastoring I realized how right he is. I keep a copy in my choir stall in the Sanctuary now to read a chapter when I pray the Office. If you want to lead others like Jesus, study The Rule.

• Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger
• I'm fascinated by organizsations that have become legendary doing only one thing well.  Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans makes one thing:  beignets. Apple makes one phone, one desktop and (essentially) one laptop. In 'N' Out only makes burgers.
• Simple Church talks about being focused, simple and clear about what your Mission is and then aligning everything you do around that. I think this is one of the most effective ways to lead an organization. 
• Know and articulate the singular reason you exist, align everything you do with that and get rid of the rest, and then measure if you're actually doing it or not on a regular basis.

Escaping from Darkness to the Light of Love

So as I've mentioned previously I've been intending to read the Brothers Karamazov for way too long and finally begun last week. I'm not far along but am already struck by the depiction of one of the main characters, Alyosha, in Chapter 4. I find it a wonderful description of what living in the manner of Christ can look like:
He was simply an early lover of humanity, and that he adopted the monastic life was simply because at that time it struck him, so to say, as the ideal escape for his soul struggling from the darkness of worldly wickedness to the light of love...In his childhood and youth he was by no means expansive, and talked little indeed, but not from shyness or a sullen unsociability; quite the contrary, from something different, from a sort of inner preoccupation entirely personal and unconcerned with other people, but so important to him that he seemed, as it were, to forget others on account of it. But he was fond of people: he seemed throughout his life to put implicit trust in people: yet no one ever looked on him as a simpleton or naive person. There was something about him which made one feel at once (and it was so all his life afterwards) that he did not care to be a judge of others that he would never take it upon himself to criticise and would never condemn anyone for anything. He seemed, indeed, to accept everything without the least condemnation though often grieving bitterly: and this was so much so that no one could surprise or frighten him even in his earliest youth. Coming at twenty to his father's house, which was a very sink of filthy debauchery, he, chaste and pure as he was, simply withdrew in silence when to look on was unbearable, but without the slightest sign of contempt or condemnation....
Everyone, indeed, loved this young man wherever he went, and it was so from his earliest childhood. When he entered the household of his patron and benefactor, Yefim Petrovitch Polenov, he gained the hearts of all the family, so that they looked on him quite as their own child. Yet he entered the house at such a tender age that he could not have acted from design nor artfulness in winning affection. So that the gift of making himself loved directly and unconsciously was inherent in him, in his very nature, so to speak. It was the same at school, though he seemed to be just one of those children who are distrusted, sometimes ridiculed, and even disliked by their schoolfellows. He was dreamy, for instance, and rather solitary. From his earliest childhood he was fond of creeping into a corner to read, and yet he was a general favourite all the while he was at school. He was rarely playful or merry, but anyone could see at the first glance that this was not from any sullenness. On the contrary he was bright and good-tempered. He never tried to show off among his schoolfellows. Perhaps because of this, he was never afraid of anyone, yet the boys immediately understood that he was not proud of his fearlessness and seemed to be unaware that he was bold and courageous. He never resented an insult. It would happen that an hour after the offence he would address the offender or answer some question with as trustful and candid an expression as though nothing had happened between them. And it was not that he seemed to have forgotten or intentionally forgiven the affront, but simply that he did not regard it as an affront, and this completely conquered and captivated the boys...

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

As I mentioned in a previous post, I need to read more great literature (and have been saying this for far too long). I'm drawn to Russian literature, art, worship, culture, you name it...maybe it's the Kievan blood my great-grandfather Dmente Prokopenko, a.k.a. David Prokof, has given me. Anyhow, I've been enjoying reading the Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann and he writes about his friendship with Solzhenitsyn. This lead me to read Solzhenitsyn's 1978 Harvard Address and in it he makes a statement which resonates deeply with me which I'd like to share. I think it captures the spirit of some of my recent posts.
He is speaking here of the suggestion that the United States might offer a cultural model for the oppressed Russian people. The struggle for "three decades for the people of Eastern Europe" hits home for me, I can remember as a little kid the friends and family coming to the U.S. from Communist Poland to my great-grandma's house and telling us stories of the endless lines one had to stand in for food and the political suspicion they constantly lived under.
I most like this excerpt from Solzhenitsyn's speech because he shows the danger of becoming shallow when we're immersed in leisure and plenty. Of course, we should give abundant thanks to God for all we have, however, this prosperity does not absolve us from pursuing "whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy."
But should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours. Through intense suffering our country has now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive...
Six decades for our people and three decades for the people of Eastern Europe; during that time we have been through a spiritual training far in advance of Western experience. Life's complexity and mortal weight have produced stronger, deeper and more interesting characters than those produced by standardized Western well-being. Therefore if our society were to be transformed into yours, it would mean an improvement in certain aspects, but also a change for the worse on some particularly significant scores. It is true, no doubt, that a society cannot remain in an abyss of lawlessness, as is the case in our country. But it is also demeaning for it to elect such mechanical legalistic smoothness as you have. After the suffering of decades of violence and oppression, the human soul longs for things higher, warmer and purer than those offered by today's mass living habits, introduced by the revolting invasion of publicity, by TV stupor and by intolerable music.

Books I've Been Reading Lately

In light of my last post, I've spent exponentially more time reading. Here's what I've been reading...
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A gift from my buddy Jeff in Omaha. Hilarious, superby written humour with the perfect quirky character.
Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships by Randy Frazee
I heard this author talking about "Hebrew Day Planner" and was intrigued. He champions the Convivium; or nightly family dinner with conversation, maybe some spiritual devotions, maybe just a boardgame...but having the Table be the center of the day, the home and the family. Good stuff.
Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie T. Baucham Jr.
I saw him with my father and brothers-in-law at a men's conference. Τhe theme is how to create a family with multi-generational faithfulness to Jesus. Inspiring reading.
the Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann by Alexander and Julianna Schmemann
Ahhh...Schmemann. Like a cold drink of sweet tea after spending the day in the dry, hot sun. He understands what life in Christ and the Church should be. Truly an inspirattion to read. Themes are life, light, joy and beauty in Christ in the mundane things of the world.
Suprised by Hope and For All the Saints by N.T. Wright
Fantastic! Both are about what a proper, biblical understanding of "life after death" is (and how most of the culture, including Christians, has it wrong) and how having a proper understanding of this reorients our lives.

Fullness of the Holy Spirit

This weekend I attended a retreat with Renewal in Christ Ministries and on the $1.00 used book table found a book I had read in college and found most helpful in my Christian walk (and had given away a handful of copies of) called Baptism and Fullness by John Stott. In an age where many evangelists and teachers talk about "baptism in the Holy Spirit" or being "full of the Holy Spirit" a book like this is so helpful. Rev. Stott goes straight to the Bible to help determine what being filled with the Holy Spirit is, and what it is not and this is one of the best scholarly works on this I've come across. As with all of our Christian life we need to be informed by good, Biblical, apostolic theology and this little gem provides just that. It is not only a book of theology butalso addresses many of the questions we have about "Well what about...?" or "How does one become filled with the Holy Spirit?" Our Christian life is rooted in the belief in a Triune God and often-times I find that one-third of the Trinity doesn't get much attention. So I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a simple yet bountiful treatise on God the Holy Spirit the Lord the Giver of Life!
(and would be glad to loan you my recently acquired copy).