Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate

5 of 5 stars

Spectacular book. Well-timed choice, too. Not the answers I would have liked in every case, but at least there is some depth and explanation of what gay Christians go through. Strongly recommended.

Strength to Love, by Martin Luther King Jr.

Sadly, I just never had the energy to read these sermons, although I really REALLY wanted to....

Simply Jesus, by N.T. Wright

Wouldn't mind giving this another try sometime.....

Cain, by José Saramago

Weird. Good. Needs to be read slowly and carefully.

The Gospel in Brief, by Leo Tolstoy

Towards the end of his life, Tolstoy became interested in 'freeing' the scripture from the layers of religiosity inside of which he felt the Orthodox Church had encased it. So he retranslated and paraphrased the gospels as he felt they should read. This was happening in the midst of the great German discourse on who the historical Jesus really was, so Tolstoy had lots of people to help him over the translation problems since I doubt he learned Biblical Greek and/or Hebrew.

Fascinating that whenever someone decides to do this sort of project, it ends up creating a clearer picture of the person doing it than it does of Jesus.

In any case, I read about 1/3 of the book and the copy I had turned out to be defective--50 missing pages--and I just never got back to it; I sort of feel like I got the gist of it.

Bible : The Story of the King James Version, 1611-2011, by Gordon Campbell

It took me months to finish this, but it was worth it. Quite a good overview of the creation of the KJV and its continuing impact on culture and the western world over the past 500 years. This even talks about the various translations that have come about in the past 150 or so years, many of which are based on the translation done five centuries ago. I never realized that.

The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

I do like the way Yancey writes, and this book is no exception. He talks here about the terrifying God he was taught about as a young person, and the forgiving merciful Jesus he has discovered as an adult. The section on the Beatitudes was extraordinarily well-done. This dovetailed well with our mission trip passages as well.

Love Wins, by Rob Bell

Great book. Not the best-written book, but the ideas in it are good. Not sure it goes as far as it could, but as far as it does go it's good. And he's taking a lot of flack for saying that heaven and hell are a little less locationally-based than most people think. Props to him.

The Bible as History, by Ian Wilson

I read this over the course of several months, so I'm not sure I've retained everything. Still, a decent overview of what archaeological evidence is showing about the historicity of the stories in the Bible.

At least, that's what it is up until the last couple of chapters when suddenly I can see more clearly how he conflates archaeological data with historical accuracy. I felt like he was picking random Bible verses from the gospels and finding specific discoveries to show how they 'fit together.' Having read so much on the Jesus Seminar and other 'historical Jesus' work, this just seemed totally cavalier.

Still, nice pictures, and, as I said, a decent overview.

The Rise and Fall of the Bible, by Timothy Beal

I liked this book. Good insight on where the book has come from, how it's been used (and misused) and why it has become something it really isn't: the book EVERYone has read. Not.

The Book of Genesis Illustrated, by R. Crumb

The graphic novel version of the first book of the Bible. Really interesting, old-school drawings and an older translation (not sure which one, maybe the old RSV?) which combine to show just how human the people in these stories are, and why their 'activities' can still be used as teaching tools today.

Reading Jesus : A Writer's Encounter with the Gospels, by Mary Gordon

Interesting take on how the writing in the Gospels works to tell a story. I'm not sure it works, to be honest, but it's a different way of looking at those four books of the Bible.

The Alexandria Link, by Steve Berry

Another Dan Brown clone. Not horrible, but not horribly believable, either.

The Bible : A Biography, by Karen Armstrong

Nice book that pulls together both Jewish and Christian strands on biblical writing and interpretation. Armstrong is a good writer and this book makes the history of the Bible flow very easily.

The Uncensored Bible : The Bawdy and Naughty Bits of the Good Book, by John Kaltner, Steven L. McKenzie, and Joel Kilpatrick

Oh, boy: this is a funny book. If you're looking for in-depth serious research, it's not the book for you, though there is a decent bibliography, and the research they discuss is serious. They are just interpreted by the authors to be readable to the average person. Mostly the Old Testament is covered.

To sum up in two words: Penis Bone.

The Word of Promise: New Testament Audio Bible (on CD)

I can now say I have read the whole New Testament. This is a little cheesy--I could have lived without the background music and Jim Caviezel's "acting"--but all in all pretty good. Some great readers, a few not-so-wonderful ones, and what is the DEAL with Jude? :-)