favourite books of 2008 (addition)
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
See, I knew when I listed favourite books that I would forget one…
9) The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts, ed. Treier, Husbands, Lundin
The main attraction of this book was the two essays by Jeremy Begbie (which were excellent), but I gradually dipped into others through the year and enjoyed the whole thing greatly. The essays nicely cover a range of arts — music, film, poetry, etc. — as well as discussions on beauty-as-apologetic and other theological thoughts.
Tags: books
favourite books of 2008
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
No more train rides this year, so it seems an appropriate time to list my favourite books read in 2008. It’s from memory, so in no particular order…
1) The Reason for God, Tim Keller
Generous and understanding of those who might disagree. Clear and fresh on the essentials of Christian belief. All round great.
2) Culture Making, Andy Crouch
Many good things could be said about this. Excellent on why we need to move on from analysing culture to making it. Important in relating cultural engagement to everyone, not just the elites & full-blown artists.
3) Everyday Theology, ed. Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Anderson, Michael Sleasman
Vanhoozer’s initial chapter on ‘cultural hermeneutics’ is easily worth the price of the book. The following chapters work well as examples but are also enjoyable and interesting in their own right.
4) Resounding Truth, Jeremy Begbie
This book does so many things: a fresh look at theology using musical analogies, music within a Christian ‘ecology’, lessons applicable to culture more generally. Likely to return to the reading list in 2009. The only negative is the lack of accompanying CD…
5) Political Visions and Illusions, David Koyzis
A great look at politics and key ideologies from a Christain perspective. Not sure there are many other books that give this kind of overview. Very informative for an amateur like me…
6) Violence, Hospitality and the Cross, Hans Boersma
I’m going to have to read this again, but I really appreciate the way Boersma faces up to the big issues for our culture: why violence appears so prominently in Christianity and in the atonement particularly.
7) A Community Called Atonement, Scott McKnight
Welcome for his expansive view — bringing in multiple ‘atonement theories’ and expanding the atonement beyond just the cross — as well as moving onto how we should act as a result.
Eat this Book, Eugene Peterson
Taking the Bible seriously while making room for the poetry, imagination, lived-ness, etc. that is involved…
Tags: books
plant
Posted by Paul | Filed under photos
It’s not seasonal (although it was taken in wind and rain), but I re-discovered this yesterday..
Tags: photos
Doing what you are created for…
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
There’s a great interview with Photographer Phillip Spears over at the ‘Christians in the Arts’ blog. A couple of quotes meshed very well with some of the things I’ve been posting recently:
The voice of God has been very clear, though, throughout my career that I am doing what He created me to do.
…
Being creative is the way I practice being a believer. It’s an act of obedience. I want to do it well to a particular end. Life is now a stewardship project, which is life-affirming. I’m unbelievably grateful that God has given me this gift. I love that I get to be creative. Being creative is a fundamental part of being human.
A random walk over culture, art, christianity, etc. with occasional photographs...