What I'm Reading -- How About You?

[Faith.Man]

On Guard - William Lane Craig (Don't worry, I won't change from a 5-pt Calvinist to a Molinist.)

 

[JM]

I just picked up Uncle Tom's Cabin.

 

[neece]

Hi im new in here, but I liked to see what others are reading, so except Bible,i was reading a story about a christian boy and his "growing up" in faith during hard circumstances....
it is called Land in the distance on amazon.
then i liked also Watchman Lee books.

 

[student ad x]

Scripture: Galatians............... other: New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ by Thomas Schreiner & The Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall.


(Still working through the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by Beale & Carson)

 

[GrinningDwarf]

(Still working through the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by Beale & Carson)

I don't have the stamina to read that one cover to cover. I use it as a reference when I'm studying New Testament.

Waiting for the UPS guy to bring my copy of Michael Horton's new systematic theology The Christian Faith. Not before Monday, now, and since I'll be out of town until Thursday...

Meanwhile, I'm finishing Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way by J.I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett. It's a new book; came out in 2010.

 

[JM]

Khrushchev Remembers by Khrushchev.

 

[JM]

Perkin's Golden Chain is on sale at RHB's for $24 bucks with Beza's [pullout] chart in English.

 

[JM]

What to read next...I've been looking at The Works of Toplady, The Coming Kingdom by Ridderbos, Christ Alone Exalted by Crisp (read a bunch online but not the whole set)...other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Faith.Man]

Rock, Paper Scissors - Game Theory in Everyday Life by Len Fisher

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

I've just started Thomas Aquinas' Summa Contra Gentiles.

It is a book that several Reformed Christians here have decided to read together and discuss. Should be interesting to read and to talk about.

 

[Life in UAE]

Newbie here...if this isn't the correct thread to share the following, please direct me. I thought I'd go right to those who love to read or are currently reading.

Briefly, I used to read a lot. After seminary (conservative) in 1989 I had lost all my heroes. I found those who wrote the books I greatly admired, when in close proximity to these men, were very human. During my three years I saw more change in the seminary than the previous thirty years. I attended at a moment of disruption from one generation to the next.

This time period had a radical charge against the upcoming psychological movement that seemed to encroach the church. There was a divide in the seminary between the theology dept and counseling dept. At this time, the counseling dept had 4x the students of the general seminary student body.
There seemed a lot of jealousy and a canceling of the counseling program to return to only raising pastors and missionaries.

The story goes on and I left asking this question, "How could a man study the Bible, read voraciously for over fifty years and still remained so unchanged regarding basic human relations--envy, jealously, manipulation, control?"

I wondered if certain men are hardwired to simply enjoy reading like I enjoy listening to music, that in large part was a self-pleasure activity.

I wondered if the heart of a man informed him that his reading was more than enjoyment, but there was a responsibility to let it change his world-view to the conformity of Christ.

One of the friends I developed in seminary is a voracious reader. I have visited him over the past twenty years and he still reads much. After each visit I find myself withdrawing from him because despite his reading very good books, like that seminary professor, it seems to not penetrate his life beneath the surface. He still has a manipulative style of relating towards his wife, can be very controlling, and moody.

Realizing these are two specific personalities, I have seen this trend in many men over the past thirty years. There is little to no accountability to reading a book outside the Holy Spirit which should be enough, but it seems to not be. There seems to be a head/heart dichotomy rather than balance. There seems to be a more Greek influenced to the gaining of knowledge than the Hebrew view of allowing knowledge to lead to wisdom. It is very subtle!


As my apologetics professor said, our epistemology must be informed by our hamartiology. I think the quiet wave of pride can creep into even our desires to do good and good activities.


All to say, I have lost my desire to read, more as a rebellion riddled mostly with my personal hang-ups. I want to be clear here. Yet, I could use some encouragement.

So I ask, “How do you approach reading?”
Do you analyze the process much or just do it and move on?
Are you a more reflective reader seeking first to allow your heart to be changed?
What encouragement or admonishment do you have for someone like myself?
Other comments/thoughts?

 

[JM]

So I ask, “How do you approach reading?”
Do you analyze the process much or just do it and move on?
Are you a more reflective reader seeking first to allow your heart to be changed?
What encouragement or admonishment do you have for someone like myself?
Other comments/thoughts?

I'm sorry to give a general answer, but all of the above.

If the work is practical divinity I reflect on it and re-read it every few years. If it's a systematic or dogmatic work I make notes in the book itself with pencil, sometimes I mark the page and re-write out what I've read. If it's a work on sacred history I will sometimes make notes but more often read it and move on. If it's profane history I read it for enjoyment so I do not make notes.

Then we have books like Road to Serfdom where I made all kinds of notes in it.

It really depends on the work I guess.

jm

 

[mothcorrupteth]

Currently reading...

Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South by Bertram Wyatt-Brown
The Princess Diaries by William Goldman
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Living in God's Two Kingdoms by David VanDrunen
Walden Two by B. F. Skinner

 

[jtd123]

starting: new testament and the people of god - nt wright
finishing: big truths for young hearts - bruce ware
awaiting: heaven misplaced - doug wilson

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

starting: new testament and the people of god - nt wright
finishing: big truths for young hearts - bruce ware
awaiting: heaven misplaced - doug wilson

Looks like some good works.

I've started Summa Contra Gentiles. Several of us are reading it so that we can discuss it.

I've read a good bit of the Reformers and Reformed theologians. I've also read a fair amount of the Early Church Fathers so now it's time to read the medieval guys. We read Anselm's Proslogium. That was an experience that I can't recommend to anyone.

Kenith

 

[JM]

http://www.puritanlibrary.com/

 

[oworm]

Known and Unknown........Donald Rumsfeld

 

[JM]

I'm looking forward to reading Bush's new book.

 

[oworm]

I'm looking forward to reading Bush's new book.

I've got that too. My wife bought them both together and put the Bush book away as a future gift. I've always admired Rumsfeld's no nonsense direct approach.

 

[cygnusx1]

Aesop's fables , I downloaded Kindle for PC and it is pretty good