I'm going to stop referring to my original summer reading book list after this, because it is clear that I have no self-discipline when it comes to reading the books on that list! As another example, this morning I finished the new book by Dan Aleshire, Earthen Vessels: Hopeful Reflections on the Work and Future of Theological Schools. Aleshire is the executive director for the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), Covenant Seminary's main professional accreditor (ATS accredits over 250 theological schools which serve Roman Catholicism, mainline Protestantism, and evangelical Protestan... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

Well, I finished another book this morning that wasn't on this list: Christian Scharen's Faith as a Way of Life. Originating out of Yale's Center for Faith and Culture and funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc.'s Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) program (Covenant Seminary also participates in this program), this book could serve as a summary report of Yale's SPE project. At the heart of the project and book is the conviction that pastoral excellence is "the ability effectively to mediate faith as an integral way of life to persons, communities, and cultures" (ix). Scharen observes, however... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

One book that I didn't list here but bought at the airport before leaving for Atlanta on Thursday was Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. I've almost bought this book countless times and I'm glad that I finally did. In the best spirit of my favorite American author, Mark Twain, Bryson tells the story of his adventures on the Appalachian Trail (AT), accompanied by his trusty sidekick Stephen Katz. Undoubtedly the two most unlikely hikers on the AT, the adventures and hi-jinks had me chuckling all the way to Atlanta (to the annoyance, I'm sure, of my seatmate). Interspersed with the stories we... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

As I noted here, one of my summer reading books was Mark Dever and Paul Alexander's book, The Deliberate Church. While some of my Ref21 colleagues get their reading done on long airplane trips, I finished this book sitting around the hotel at the Association of Theological Schools meeting in Atlanta over the weekend. What I discovered was a thoughtful and thought-provoking manual on pastoral theology, similar in nature and topic (though briefer and more focused) as Jay Adams' Shepherding God's Flock.Dever and Alexander focus the deliberateness (or, as we Presbyterians might say, orderliness... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

A pretty good one-sentence definition from Herman Bavinck, "The Essence of Christianity," in Essays on Religion, Science, and Society, ed. John Bolt (Baker, 2008), 47:Christianity is no less than the real, supreme work of the Triune God, in which the Father reconciles his created but fallen world through the death of his Son and re-creates it through his Spirit into the kingdom of God.

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

I must admit that I enjoyed seeing this smackdown of the Lakers last night.

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

This news makes Tiger's triumph at Torrey Pines even more amazing and ridiculous.

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

This was a great post from Richard Mouw. Particularly after writing the previous post, to read that Mouw has not finished Augustine's Confessions was particularly liberating (especially because I've never finished it either--and I'm a church historian!).It made me think about all the other classics that I've not finished--because I got distracted or bored and just gave up. And so, in the spirit of the previous post, I thought I'd over my "big 5" classic books that I never managed to finish and yet have to act like I know what they say:1) Augustine, Confessions (read first 50 pages or so)2) ... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

Reformissionary has an interesting post: I remember sitting in Mark Dever's office and asking him what books have been most helpful to him personally, books that he would read more than once. He pointed to a little swiveling bookshelf with five (if I remember correctly) well worn books that he reads every year (I think). What big 5 books do you think are worth regularly rereading? Try to avoid devotional books, unless there is one that really knocked your socks off and you reread all the time. There will be a separate list for devotional books at some point. These books will likely be i... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

As I noted in the previous post, I'm back from the General Assembly in Dallas. For some good analyses of the "main event," namely the discussion of overture 9 which sought a study committee to examine the issue of deaconnesses, see these posts from the Jolly Blogger and this from Ligon Duncan on Ref21. I was a member of overtures this year and helped to craft the grounds for the majority's response. I'm pleased to say that the debate in overtures (which, if you include all the "deaconness" overtures, extended from 8am to 4:30pm with a 90 minute lunch break) was actually very congenial. Ther... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion: