Category: Books

  • Time

    I’m wondering what has happened to the month that has passed since I last posted anything. Once again, it’s not a case of nothing happening; more just a case of lots of little things which eat away at the time and are, in and of themselves, not really worth a blog post. But I suppose…

  • Of blue parakeets and Bibles

    I’ve just finished Scot McKnight’s book, The Blue Parakeet and have thoroughly enjoyed it, both as a challenge and an affirmation. His basic premise is that we all read the Bible with our own bias and preconceptions – and we should all be honest about that. Nothing new there really – except perhaps the call…

  • New toy

    Santa was very nice this year (as he is every year, I must add) and brought me a Kindle 3 (hence the new sidebar item). I was always somewhat sceptical of electronic book readers, always claiming that you couldn’t beat ‘the real thing’ – and never mind the trees; plenty more where they came from.…

  • Prophetic ministry

    I’ve been catching up on some reading recently (I’ve not long finished The Mystery of Christ by Robert Farrar Capon and Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell) and currently working my way through The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann. When I’m not banging on about Emerging Church, one of my soapboxes is the need for Christians…

  • Do you get it yet?

    I recently read Between Noon and Three by Robert Farrar Capon. It was so gripping I read it in just a few days. It’s a book about the offensiveness of God’s grace and it is excellent. If you’re a Calvinist you’ll maybe want to add to to your list for the next time you’re planning…

  • Blue Like Jazz

    I’ve just finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It’s one of these books you often find referenced in all sorts of blogs and websites. It also seems to be a ‘love it or hate it’ book depending on which side of the liberal/evangelical divide you sit on (a bit like The Shack, I…

  • The Shack

    I’ve just finished reading The Shack. It’s a book that has caused a huge stir among certain Christian groups in the US, not least because of its depiction of God. So it has been hugely hyped at both ends of the conservative-liberal spectrum (and many in-between) and that’s been the main reason I’ve avoided reading…

  • A higher level of ignorance

    I was skimming through an old Terry Pratchett book (Equal Rites if you must know) and came across a piece of dialogue which I loved. It’s between two wizards at the Unseen University who have just been lectured on some esoteric knowledge. ‘I look at it like this,’ he said. ‘Before I heard him talk,…

  • Another year older

    Well, it’s been ages since I last wrote anything, so my birthday seems to be an appropriate occasion to post something. I got vouchers (Amazon and the bank type) and a big stack of dark chocolate including my favourite Green and Black’s Maya Gold. I don’t eat milk chocolate because of the milk – lactose…

  • Last stop: Heaven

    Or is it? I’ve been reading Tom Wright’s book ‘Surprised by Hope’ and he is very adamant that it isn’t. His main contention in the book is that the main focus of preaching and teaching in the western church has been about ‘fitting us for heaven’. It’s the place Christians go when we ‘shrug off…