Summer Reading 2006 Non-Fiction List

Non-fiction List

Various CGO Contributors suggested the following books for non-fiction summer reading. The description of each book comes from the Contributor(s) who recommended the book or are taken from the dust jacket of the book.  This eclectic list, arranged alphabetically, will hopefully stimulate CGO readers all summer long.

Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas.  Meet the real Bono, a man of deep compassion, hubris and abiding Christian faith.  A fabulous read, it is essentially one long “stream of consciousness” dialogue between the U2 legend and his favorite journalist.

A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot
A good spiritual biography is like an adrenaline shot to the arm.  The art of story is that you learn without being conscious of it. The desire to emulate a positive character seeps down into our souls in ways that I think form and fashion us in ways that we may never see.  Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, is one of those people who I hope has shaped my life in unseen ways.  Her biography, deftly written by another incredible missionary, Elizabeth Elliot, is well-worth the read.

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson
This is an excellent book in an area that is underdeveloped in some Christians’ thinking -- that of Christian spirituality and how it integrates with theology and culture.  What does it mean to live fully, to live well, to live to the glory of God, and how do we do it (not just think about it)?  Peterson uses the framework of Christ playing in creation, in history and in community as the structure for this sometimes rambling but almost always insightful book.

The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, Marilynne Robinson. Take the lyrical power of Gilead and aim it at relevant topics as divergent as Darwinism, the Puritans, the Abolitionists, etc and you;ve got something wonderful in your hands.  Sit down and take it slow.

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper
I’d highly recommend this book to someone who isn’t familiar with John Piper’s writings, especially to college student and twentysomethings. This book brings the best of his thoughts on Christian hedonism (Desiring God), the role of suffering and the call to mission (Let the Nations Be Glad) into one volume.  He challenges paradigms on what a wasted life looks like and he calls readers to ‘pray and think and dream and plan and work, not to be made much of, but to make much of Him in every part of our lives.”

Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas, by Kelly Monroe Kullberg
“Kelly is a gifted writer with rich insight into what it means to be human: to long for love, to experience beauty and loss, and to hope beyond sometimes seeming hope in the God who made and loves us. With poignancy and poetic phrases, Kelly describes a story that only God, who is Veritas, could weave together.” From the forward by Ravi Zacharias

Gospel and Kingdom, by Graeme Goldsworthy
This is a great look into the central theme of the Bible, the Kingdom of God.

New Way to Be Human: A Provocative Look at What it Means to Follow Jesus, by Charlie Peacock
From the dust jacket:
“Many of us know that something is wrong. We’re haunted by the idea that there must be more to life than the status quo we see in us and around us. We wonder: Is this all there is -- to work, education, marriage, sex, family, friendship and church? ‘New Way to Be Human’ is a book for people who are tired of faking it or forgetting it and are eager to stumble after Jesus with passion and authenticity.”

Pray With Your Eyes Open by Richard Pratt
Pratt helpfully explains what the Bible has to say about prayer and its power in the Christians life. This book will surely reinvigorate your prayer life.

The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning. 

Being a Christian means embracing a new identity which on one hand acknowledges depth of sin and brokenness that is sobering while embracing that we are deeply, deeply loved by a Father in heaven who longs to draw close to us.   

Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 1, by Herman Bavinck
These volumes are without a doubt the most readable translations yet of this outstanding Dutch theologian’s magnum opus.

Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God  by Rainer Marie Rilke

Reading through this translated book of poems was like finding new psalms that I’d never read before. His theology sometimes waivers, but there is an honesty about these verses and an accessibility that quickly has made this one of my most treasured books.  Here’s just a sampling of verses I like; “You, God, who live next door---If at times I trouble you through the long night with my urgent knocking this is why: I hear you breathe so seldom.”  Or “I want to mirror your immensity. I want never to be too weak or too old to bear the heavy, lurching image of you.”  And that’s just the beginning.

Simply Christian by N.T. Wright
In the vein of C.S. Lewis’s classic, Mere Christianity, this book provides an intelligent, articulate, approachable and overall excellent introduction to Christianity. While not as quotable as Mere Christianity, the book succeeds in both providing a more complete exploration of the issues Lewis identifies, and locating these within a more developed theological framework. Like Lewis, Wright also has some quirks in his theology (which you might pick out and may or may not agree with), but they are not central.    

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood, by Koren Zailckas
Dark read about an adolescent’s descent into alcoholism and the journey out.

Until Justice and Peace Embrace, by Nicholas Wolterstorff.
Recently a friend said to me, “If I really embraced what this book said, my life would be totally different.”  He’s right. This book takes up the question of what Christianity has to say about justice, injustice (in all its forms), poverty, and hope.  One of the most formative books I’ve read in some time.

We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch

This is a challenging read, covering many individual stories from the Rwanda genocide.  It rapidly closes the distance between “that far-away place” and here, challenges many of the “if I had been President, I would have done ‘x’ instead” thoughts, and makes the crisis, and the victims, very human.

Alongside Gourevitch’s work we recommend that you read another excellent book by International Justice Ministries founder Gary Haugen. Haugen’s book, Good News About Injustice, has already transformed many young evangelicals’ inertia about injustice into action. this book gives a heartbreaking account of such injustices of child prostitution, slavery, and genocide. Haugen describes what IJM is doing about it and explains the remarkable hope found in God’s desire to end these evils.