Who are your dialogue partners?
9 Jun 2005
One question I ask people I get to meet and learn with, is tell me some of the most important books, most important people, and blogs etc., I could read and connect with to learn from. Some people suggest a couple some have many more. Like a web of connection, that process has led me over the last 8 years to where I am now. Some are dead ends, some are new friends, some have been life changing. Many of them I blog about here.
So all of you reading this, tell me your books, blogs, and people I could be learning from?
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Comment by JamesPetticrew
4.58 pm on 9 Jun 2005
Jason,
I have been pretty influenced by the McManus brothers from Mosaic LA over the last couple of years.
Erwin is one of the best contemporary communicators around.
Erwins books are extremely inspiring:
“Unstoppable Force”: really passionate plea for radical church. Could put this down when I started reading it.
“Seizing Your Divine Moment”: if this doesn’t rouse you from apathy and make you want to do something, you belong in a grave.
“Uprising”: A look at the character revolution kingdom living brings about
“The Barbarian Way”: A call for us to end civilised christianity and get back to a dangerous, radical untamed faith.
Alex, who is Erwin’s older brother is putting together some really interesting leadership training and other new ventures. His blog often makes fascinating reading cf .. http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=alexmcmanus
These guys are devoting their lives not to their own church or even planting new churches but to unleashing a new radical spiritual movement that will extend the Kingdom of God.
I think they will both grow to be significant figures in American and even world christianity.
james petticrew
Comment by timsamoff
6.22 pm on 9 Jun 2005
I’m having a great time reading Freethinking Faith right now: http://freethinkingfaith.blogspot.com/
Read “Time’s Arrow” by Martin Amis. It’s short and sweet, but holds keys that nary a Christian book will.
People are fickle. Don’t listen to any of ‘em. ;)
Comment by Jim Walton
8.09 pm on 9 Jun 2005
Lately,I have read the 3 Simply Strategic books, Simply Strategic Stuff, Simply Strategic Volunteers and Simply Strategic Growth by Tony Morgan and Tim Stevens. Very good books on pointing out proven ways to manage the details of a church, with the last 2 being specific to their topic. Tony has an insightful blog at tonymorgan.typepad.com, he is the Administrative Pastor at Granger Community Church.
I also enjoy Creating Passionate Users at http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/ It’s a good blog that gets you to think about how you market yourself and your product. (product=church, from my perspective)
There are definitely more but these are some of the ones that rise to the top.
Comment by andy goodliff
9.43 pm on 9 Jun 2005
The writers I have found myself interacting with on a regular basis are:
Colin Gunton
Douglas Campbell, NT scholar at Duke University – just published a great on the quest for Paul’s gospel
Samuel Wells – Improvisation is a brilliant book
John Colwell – Living the Christian Story
Perhaps the more obvious: NT Wright, Walter Brueggemann, Stanley Hauerwas, Brian Walsh (Colossians Re:Mixed is very good)
Comment by Saint Gaz
5.39 am on 10 Jun 2005
I’ve started reading “Mere Discipleship” by Lee Camp and have found it to be the best book I’ve read in ages. Talks about a simple faith removed from the church structures.
Probably my favourite author is Mike Yacconneli, his books “Messy Spirituality” and “Dangerous Wonder” impacted me greatly.
Comment by Scott Baxter
6.29 am on 10 Jun 2005
Of late I have been reading the usual new releases, Mclaren, Sweet, Gempf etc. But I have returned to Richard Fosters great book on prayer. Also for the simplicity of read, I am re-reading Max Lucado’s books, they are quirky and take no effort to digest and replace the gap that football leaves closed season nicely. I find I spend alot of time reading Scott McKnights blog http://jesuscreed.blogspot.com.
Comment by Molly
3.48 pm on 10 Jun 2005
Rene Girard’s _I See Satan Fall Like Lightning_ and his _Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World_. Life-transforming reading.
The Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary: http://girardianlectionary.net/ , especially Girardian Anthropology in a Nutshell: http://girardianlectionary.net/nutshell.htm
I also like Walsh and Keesmat’s book, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire, mentioned already.
Thomas Merton’s journals.
Odyssey (http://odyssey.blogs.com/odyssey/) is a weblog I’m getting a lot from lately.
Comment by TimButt
4.09 pm on 10 Jun 2005
Not got any money for new books this last year or so, so have been ploughing through stuff already on my shelf. Dallas Willard has been really good and have enjoyed Gordon Fee too. RT Kendall is someone I go back to often.
I want to note that I feel there’s a lot of value in reading older or previous generation stuff and then doing the hard work of translating it for myself. I tend to feel that my ‘emergence’ will be qualitatively more rounded and deep if I have a proper understanding and appreciation of the roots of the churches and streams I’ve grown up in.
Recently, reading Michael Marshall, Colin Urquhart, Robin Sheldon, Edward England, John Gunstone, Arthur Wallis and other ‘Charismatic Fathers’ (in the UK charismatic movement) has been great. Those guys were far more radical than we’ll ever be and I’m learning what mistakes not to make!
Comment by clark
4.33 pm on 10 Jun 2005
I’ll second the person who said Lee Camp’s book on Mere Discipleship. Had the priveledge of having class with him last fall.
Right now, I’m in systematic theology class and we’re reading Theology for the Community of God by the late Stanley Grenz. Excellent theology centered on the Triune God and the community within God, as well as the intended community for churches.
Comment by rob
1.21 pm on 13 Jun 2005
i get a lot from books about church and the christian life in general – especially the bible ;-)
i get a lot from the pastor at my church – Paul Scanlon and his team at http://www.alm.org.uk
I must confess i find it hard to find good quality stuff on the overlap between mental health and christian spirituality. everything seems to either be counselling (not mental illness) or sprituality (not christian, let alone vaguely evangelical). I probably learn most from my patients – quite a lot of which you’ll read about in my blog.
Comment by graham
2.48 pm on 13 Jun 2005
Hmmm…
Well, I guess there’d be the usual suspects like NT Wright, Stanley Grenz, Brian McLaren and Stanley Hauerwas.
But I’d also need to add Menno Simons, John Howard Yoder, Walter Wink, Alan Kreider, Ederhard Arnold and the Blumhardts (and most of the stuff coming out of the Bruderhof). Oh, and I guess you could throw a bit of Moltmann, Bosch and Jonathan Edwards in for good measure. :-)
In terms of people, rather than books, it’d be Stuart Murray Williams, Campbell McAlpine and John Colwell.
Comment by tim
4.47 pm on 13 Jun 2005
interesting to find your post see mine at http://www.e-holiness.blogs.com…how God moves!!…love your blog keep it up, love the recommended reads..tim
Comment by Whitewave
9.52 pm on 14 Jun 2005
I’m spending alot of time and serious investment immersing myself in an online community for folks who dig Ken Wilber’s philosophical work. These people are for the most part, non-christians.
while Wilber is a bit of a recluse, he is not out of touch – he watches popular culture closely and stays current with the zeitgeist. And while he looks like a skin-head he is not and egg-head – he groks the hard stuff and does most of the digesting for us, so is capable of putting even the most esoteric cookies on the bottom shelf. This is largely why his audience is wide and also deep. And while he is decidedly prefering the Buddhist spiritual expression for himself, he is not anti-christian or anti-West – he knows that the solutions for the West must come from Christianity not from foreign imports. So he is an ally in many ways. Inasmuch as he is the doorkeeper, he is holding it open for us. It behooves us to walk through it and be Present and accounted for.
I talk with Buddhists, zenners, atheists, theists, structuralists, post-structuralists, scientists, shrinks, amateurs and proffessionals, gays, lesbians, polyamorists, radical political liberals, a few Christians of odd persuasions and many post-christians. I get targetted sometimes, and sometimes it wears me out. But I have proven myself over and over to not be their worst nightmare of what Christians have been for them. My goal is not to be a rare, decent, non-judgmental Christian. One thing I like about Wilber is that he is Judgmental and Elitst in all the good ways, but is careful and systematic about excluding all the bad junk that usually accompanies those qualities. So I feel free to retain standards of orthodoxy and attitude. My goal is to be totally exposed as a human and still be completely encompassed by Jesus’ Work as revealed in the lowly “Bible”. There’s enough anti-christian energy there to want to toss the Bible away as non-progressive and useless, but I stand firm about its being sufficient as a revelation for even the highest ideals of human evolution that they hold. They test me. And I love it. Because God comes through.
Comment by Digger
1.34 am on 16 Jun 2005
I reckon you can’t go past The Shaping of Things to Come by Al Hirsch and Mike Frost-brilliant reading.
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