10 Books That Have Shaped My Thinking

I was challenged this last fall by a cherished mentor of mine on Facebook to list ten books that have had an exceptional impact on me and my thinking. I posted the list on Facebook, but I figured I should share it here as well. The idea here is identifying ten books that have really impacted me and brought me to where I am today intellectually. Being the intense book nut that I am, I jumped at the chance to go through my bookshelf and think about what I've been reading over the last few years.

These ten books are in no particular order, and are subject to change as soon as I finish future books. Here we go.

1. "Truman" by David McCullough: I'm nuts for presidential biographies, and this is the one that cemented Harry Truman as my favorite president. McCullough really highlights the Midwest attitude and personality of Truman and how that shaped his exceptionally virtuous and public life, including the many difficult decisions he had to make in office. Truman is undoubtedly the most "regular guy" and relatable president we had in the 20th century, and it shines forth in this great book. A must read for Presidential history buffs like myself.

2. "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer: I read this book right after I started the
political science program at OCU and began becoming more politically aware. It is a detailed and engrossing account of the Bush Administration's war on terror, and specifically how they decided to pursue and treat those they identified as terrorists. The passages describing torture and those within the administration who pushed back against the immoral actions are particularly harrowing. This book really is the one that woke me up to the real-world consequences and nature of politics.

3. "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne: This book totally blew my mind. I
read it about three years, as I slowly began my journey into a more theologically-tinged political awareness. Shane asks the really hard questions, and makes really tough points about patriotism, American exceptionalism and Christianity, points that would never be tolerated from a political candidate, or a preacher in many churches, but which are nevertheless true. In the end, the book explores how to really, really follow Jesus while being politically aware and involved.

4. "Saving Jesus from the Church" by Dr. Robin Rex Meyers: another book that blew my mind as I matured theologically. The way I approach my relationship to Jesus and what I expect the church to be is deeply indebted to this book. I learned a lot, and also developed a lot of questions that caused me dig even deeper, as a result of reading this book.

5. "Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky" by Noam Chomsky:  Along with "The Dark Side", this is a book that really woke me up to the real world consequences and effects of American foreign policy. Chomsky still has, and always will have, a strong effect on my thinking. Passages of this book were required reading for a Political Philosophy course I took at OCU.

6. "Love Wins" by Rob Bell: My wife Arianna read this book aloud to me as we drove to Las Vegas last summer. I was at a point in my faith where I was really struggling with the idea of a loving, merciful God who would send people to Hell to suffer eternally. Rob lays out a great argument in this book about why this idea of a "punishing hell" is in no way Biblical and how we should view our faith in a way that keeps us accountable to God without eternal punishment. For further reading on this subject, Benjamin L. Corey has been much help on his blog.

7. "Rubicon" by Tom Holland: I'm slightly obsessed with Roman history, and especially the era around Marius, Sulla, Caesar, Pompey, and Augustus. I love learning about the fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire and most of all, the fascinating personalities who powered the biggest political shake-up in classical history. Tom's book is a great place to start that learning. Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series (which I'm currently re-reading) is another great source.

8. "A Black Theology of Liberation" by Dr. James Cone: I actually just finished this book recently. If there is any one book that has both challenged me and infuriated me and educated me all at the same time, this is the one. (Arianna can confirm that series of reactions.) I certainly don't agree with everything Dr. Cone says, but I definitely sympathize with his arguments, and I found my own thinking continually challenged and changed as a result of reading this, especially in light of current events around race and authority in the United States. I love anything Liberation Theology, and along with Gustavo Gutierrez and Oscar Romero and Howard Thurman, James Cone will always been prominently placed on my bookshelf as a minister.

9. "Social Principles of the United Methodist Church" No, I'm serious. Don't laugh, this counts as a book. At a time when I was feeling that there was no church that addressed the issues important to me in a way that embodied justice and mercy, the Social Principles knocked me onto a collision course with ministry. I was so relieved to find a church that not only held these things important, but also took the time every four years to think about and discuss and debate and pray and write them down. As long as we have our Social Principles, and we work hard to live them, I will always be a United Methodist.

10. "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien: The only piece of fiction on my list. I first read it in the 5th grade. Our library at Benton Grade School had a large, hard-bound copy with big, painted illustrations by Michael Hague that I must have checked out most of the year and read over and over. From hence came my love of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and all the other fantasy books I reread over and over and over again.






That's my list. Share yours below!

2 Corinthians 4-6:13; 7:2-4: Everything Has Become New! #30daysofPaul

I want to refocus. I want to get this #30daysofPaul series back on track. I've fallen behind, shirked my duties, lost focus. So let's take a deep breath, center ourselves and realign.

When I started this, I said I wanted to read Paul with a focus on liberation theology. I've hit that bits and pieces throughout, but not in any consistent or meaningful meaner.

But this passage is the perfect one to jump back in on.

Why do we liberate?

What is the purpose of working towards liberation for all of humanity?

What is the utility of viewing the Gospel from the perspective of those who labor?
Those who are shackled?
Those who are oppressed?
Those held in bondage?

We liberate because our faith has made us free from the hold of sin, as embodied by the law. Because we find ourselves free from these spiritual bonds, we must also work to make ourselves free of all bonds that hold us back from living in relationship with God. We must break all the chains that hold us back from truly living into our imago dei.

And not just our chains. We must work to break all chains, for all people, especially those who cannot do for themselves.

The only way to do this work of liberation is to live into the existence of those who need liberation the most. We can only identify their bonds, and participate in their liberation, by becoming as they are, by seeing the world through their eyes. We must live to serve the other.

Only then can we open the shackles, and break their chains.

Here is 2 Corinthians, in the second part of his letter defending his ministry, Paul describes the life of faith, achieved through reconciliation with God. In 5:17, he says:

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"

Here, we can see the final step of liberation. The work towards freedom is the work of shedding our old selves, and becoming new, becoming whole and healthy and liberated and holy.

Why do we liberate?

Because we are compelled by our relationship with God to make all things new.

Paul warns that the fruits of our work for liberation may not always be apparent to the world. "We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see - we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

The burdens we carry will be enough to crush us; nothing will be given easily. But it is the only way. Only by working to liberate, to make all things new, are we doing the will of God. This is what bringing the Kingdom of God looks like.

The Kingdom is a place where all are freed from the burdens they carry.

But the Kingdom doesn't just come about on it's own. Only by our hard work:
feeding
clothing
freeing
serving
dying to ourselves to become new again.

Only then will we see the Kingdom on Earth.

Next: 2 Corinthians 10-13

For a PDF of the 30 Days of Paul reading plan, click here.

For more info on 30 Days of Paul, click here for my intro, or here for Cassandra Farrin's explanation.

Click Here for Cassandra Farrin's take on today's reading.

Galatians 5-6: Christian Freedom and Liberation from the Law #30daysofPaul

"For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."

So Paul begins chapter 5, kicking off two chapters that are some of the most powerful examples of liberation theology in Scripture. My Harper Collins NRSV Study Bible labels this section "The Nature of Christian Freedom," a very apt classification.

Paul has argued through the first four chapters of Galatians against the need for a return to obedience to the law in light of our justification by our faith. His argument comes to a magnificent head here in chapter 5. In short, Paul tells his readers that by accepting the need for circumcision, and thus the need to be subject to the Law, they are rejecting the freedom God has granted them through their faith. In verse 6, Paul tells them (emphasis mine), "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love."

Because of our faith in the example of Jesus, we are liberated from the shackles that have held us all back from our relationship with God. That liberation releases us from the need to live in a state of fear, dictated by an unyielding code of right and wrong, and allows us to live in the freedom of knowing we are loved unconditionally. That knowledge of our freedom should propel us on to a life of love. It should fill us so full of unconditional love that we have no choice but to live a life that spreads that overflowing love far and wide.

Paul also reminds the Galatians here that this isn't an unrestrained freedom to do whatever we want. In verses 13 and 14 he says,

"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

What an paradoxical example of the love we experience by communing with God. Through overwhelming Christian freedom, we in turn become slaves; our freedom gives us the right to unconditionally serve our fellow man. Some translations and scholars have seen the need to soften the language of slavery here, replacing it with "servant" or some other variation. But I think the word "slave" is so important here, to show the intensity of the life of service we are reborn into.

Paul then moves into parallel lists, first of the things that a life lived in obedience to law puts the focus on: "fornication, impurity, licteniousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealously, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing." The second list is what he calls "the fruit of the Spirit," the things that should shine forth in us if we are truly living in faith: "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

Paul juxtaposes these lists to show what a life lived under the law looks like, and what a life lived in faith looks like. Under the law, the focus of life becomes the first list, and the never ending (and ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to avoid them. In essence, it is a life lived in chains, a life in which we are imprisoned by sin and the fear of violating the law.

In contrast, a life of faith is a life free to live in all those wonderful values Paul lists secondly. It is a truly liberated life, and a life in which we can't not serve and love all we come in contact with.

What a journey Galatians has been. Starting with such evident anger, Paul builds to a crescendo that is beautiful, and so very powerful. And it is all centered around one, coherent message: through Christ, we are now set free from the shackles of the law. Our lives of faith negate any need for the law, and a return to it indicates a lack of faith and a backsliding of our relationship with God.

Remember this theme as we continue into Paul's letters. It is foundational, and should be the lens we read him through from here. We are moving chronologically with Paul, and that gives us the benefit of watching Paul grow; it lets us wipe ourselves clean of the theology we have been taught our whole lives, and instead join Paul in redeveloping a theology of coherence and simplicity.

Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 1-2

For a PDF of the 30 Days of Paul reading plan, click here.

For more info on 30 Days of Paul, click here for my intro, or here for Cassandra Farrin's explanation.

Click Here for Cassandra Farrin's take on today's reading.

A Preferential Option for the Poor: Reading Paul as Liberation Theology #30daysofPaul

Before we dig into our second reading, I want to address where I'm coming from, what lenses I'm primarily reading Paul through. I do this for your benefit, so you may understand what I'm writing, and for my own benefit, so that I can hash it out a little and provide some coherence to the next 29 days.

At this infantile stage of my Christian education and development, I consider myself primarily concerned with Liberation Theology. I hesitate to label myself liberation theologian, out of either respect for all those who have written and taught so prophetically about liberation, or fear of taking on such a mantel as a young, white, privileged, middle class straight male. I am the epitome of what most liberation theology focuses on as the power from which much liberation frees the oppressed and marginalized from.

However, I think all people are in need of liberation, regardless of their age or race or nationality or gender or gender identity or social class or religion. We are all held in thrall and oppression to something, and we are all called to spread to liberation to others. I believe strongly that Jesus preached liberation, drawing on the liberation rhetoric of early Jewish prophets; that his disciples and apostles carried that banner of liberation to the poor and oppressed masses across the Roman world; that the subsequent two thousand years has seen much oppression and injustice and shameful actions by Christians against others, but has also been rife with an ever widening net of liberation for more and more people.

Three of the biggest influences on my particular brand of theology and Christianity are Bishop Oscar Romero, Dr. James Cone and Gustavo Gutierrez. Cone's "A Black Theology of Liberation" changed the way I think about Christianity like few over books have. Gutierrez's "The God of Life" had a similar effect. I believe Romero to be the ultimate martyr and example for the liberation movement, specifically in his transformation from an ultra-conservative defender of the status quo, to protector, leader and liberator of the oppressed masses of El Salvador. His death at the Lord's Table, serving Communion while being gunned down by American-trained commandos, is a defining moment for the liberation theology, as it brought to light that any claim to Christianity by the powers-that-be is always contingent upon the subjection and subservience of Christianity, and as soon as that faith begins to assert itself, to liberate itself from the shackles of the world, the powers will inevitably use violence and force to attempt to chain it again.

I am making a conscious effort to read Paul this month from a viewpoint of liberation, through the lens of Gutierrez's "preferential option for the poor." I want to cultivate this line of thinking in myself, to earn the title one day of liberation theologian. I am to use the language of liberation in my exegesis of Paul, to hopefully enrich my readers here by helping you see the words of Paul and how they contribute to a faith that liberates all who are oppressed, as Jesus liberated his followers from the rat race of empire two thousand years ago. Because, as Dr. Cone writes, "Any message that is not related to the liberation of the poor in a society is not Christ's message. Any theology that is indifferent to the theme of liberation is not Christian theology."