2019 Books
Here is my annual year-end summary of books. It includes a “best-of” list (hard to compile, and I kept myself to ten books and only one offering per author); a list of books my friends/acquaintances wrote (a very cool list to put together!); and then the rest in their genre categories (Sci/Fantasy; Novels; Graphic Novels; Theology; Spiritual Formation; Non-Fiction; and Scripture). Please enjoy!
Best of the Year
● Gilead - Marilynne Robinson: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and no wonder. This is a remarkable book, rocketing up my favourite-all-time fiction list. It is written as a letter from an aged and slowly dying but still active father to his seven year old son, at first simply a record of his begots and begats, but then turning into philosophy, theology, and personal confession. The father is a Reverend in a small Iowa town, as was his father before him and his grandfather before that. The letter is written with spare but weighty prose, befitting a man accustomed to introspection, meditation, Scripture, communication, and above all prayer. It is a story of faith and the implications of faith, faithfully lived out over a long life. It is absolutely beautiful, and all would-be pastors should be given this book to read. My favourite book of the year.
● Dream Wheels – Richard Wagamese: an intertwining story of an Indigenous rodeo family reeling from a tragic accident, and an inner-city mother and son dealing with abuse, despair and prison. As these two families converge there is created the possibility of rebirth and renewal of hope. This hope is found within deep traditions, family, nobility, and the work of the Spirit. An important story beautifully told. And I learned a lot about rodeo culture.
● Borne - Jeff VanderMeer: A troubling and intricately-rendered story, told as a first person account from a young, female scavenger and trap maker, of a world that has collapsed after the experiments of The Company. We slowly discover who these characters are, especially the character of Borne, a strange, plant-like but moving and talking creature that is friendly and protective but also can’t seem to stop killing. Excellent writing.
● The Mind of the Maker – Dorothy L. Sayers: a remarkable examination of the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation by means of analogy with the creative process of humanity. Drawing heavily on Augustine’s analogy of the Mind, Sayers likens the Trinity to the Idea of a book; the Energy used to “incarnate” a book; and the Power involved in people receiving a book and transmitting its Idea and Energy into their own lives and responses. This book is wise, hilarious and extraordinarily creative.
● Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship - Gregory Boyle: a beautiful, story-heavy account of the power of kinship to overcome gang rivalry, drug dependence, and the general dislocation of our lives. Hilarious, painful, and moving. I genuinely laughed and wept.
● Mighty Be Our Powers - Leymah Gbowee: A ground-shaking, devil-defying autobiography of Gbowee’s engagement with the Liberian civil war, which lasted 14 years and put the country, especially the women, through hell on earth. Gbowee tells of her degradation in the midst of the war and her own violent domestic situation, and then of the shift in her life to power alongside other women who would stand up to the brutal regime, ultimately helping to oust the President and end the war.
● A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America - Oscar Martinez: I read this essential book as I was preparing to journey to the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Martinez details the causes of the unbelievable violence ravaging the Central American triangle of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador (and also into Columbia and Mexico). It was not a book that gave me any peace about our prayer mission, but it did give some incredibly important background. Martinez is astoundingly brave and beautifully humble as he recounts horrific stories of cartels, prisons, executions, and corruption.
● The Refugees - Viet Thanh Nguyen: a series of short stories about the varied experiences of Vietnamese refugees in America. Deeply affecting and does a masterful job of showing that the stories are not all the same, though they may contain some commonalities. Every character in these stories feels real and multi-layered.
● The Outside Circle – Patti LaBoucane-Benson and Kelly Mellings: the graphic novel story of Pete, a young aboriginal man in Alberta who is embroiled in gangsterism and drugs, and eventually winds up in jail. There, as a last act of desperation, he agrees to join a program of healing and reconciliation called The Warrior Program, where he learns about his culture and history, and confronts his own demons of violence, shame and anger. Based on LaBoucan-Benson’s 20 years working with incarcerated Aboriginal men. Deeply affecting and important work. I believe the Creator is meeting people in these places and bringing them to healing, hope, and wholeness.
● The Church and the Kingdom - Giorgio Agamben: a brief but brilliant address from philosopher/theologian Agamben to gathered Bishops in Notre Dame, on the meaning of messianic time and the lost sense of the Church as sojourners in a foreign land. Complemented by beautiful but slightly disturbing images from the cathedral itself.
Friends’ Books
This year I was blessed to read many books written by friends and acquaintances. They are all wonderful and you should read them all.
● Holiness Revealed: A Devotional Study in Hebrews – Amy Reardon: a helpful passage by passage exploration of a very tricky book in the Bible, with reflection questions at the end of each section. I am still using it regularly as a reference for difficult ideas within the book of Hebrews, because it is explained so simply and accessibly. A very worthy addition to your theological and devotional library.
● A War of Loves - David Bennett: The story of a young gay man who became an atheist and activist, only to later be undone by the love of Christ for him. A nuanced and important look into sexuality and faithfulness, Bennett neither denies his same-sex attraction nor compromises what he understands to be a faithful sexual ethic.
● How to Pray - Pete Greig: an excellent primer and on-ramp into prayer, derived from 20 years of careful practice, contemplation, mission, community and movement development centered on prayer. Extremely readable, eminently shareable, helpfully quotable, thoroughly mystical yet entirely sensible. A book about prayer you can give your friends who are curious about why you seem to talk to the walls.
● Even the Sparrow - Jill Weber: Jill Weber has given us a profound gift with her spiritual autobiography. Weaving her story and her community’s story together within the pattern of Jesus’ life and work calls to mind the celebrated stories of other saints throughout history. These devoted lives are studied not because they are heroic or worthy of worship, but because they make the connection between the Divine and the human more accessible to us all.
● Luminous Dark - Alain Emerson: This is a deeply-moving, deeply-thought, deeply-prayed and deeply-lived book about death, grief, and hope. I wept through the opening chapters detailing Alain’s unimaginable loss, and thrilled as he gave the world a purposeful path through the pain that takes seriously lament, doubt and anger, but also hope and life. Everything he says in this book resonates with me. It is theologically sound, poetic in execution, and gut-wrenching in its raw honesty.
● No Neutral Ground - Pete Portal: I love this book. It inspires me towards greater faith and hope. It is an account - filled with humour, dread, and a particularly British brand of self-effacement - of what could be possible if we only trusted God and followed his lead. The book is honest about screw-ups, blatant about weakness, searing in prophetic denouncement, but also humble in its acknowledgment that the author comes from a socio-cultural power dynamic that is part of the problem. This book will challenge and lift you.
● The Ultimate Exodus - Danielle Strickland: I read this book again as I prepared to write my own book on helping people through recovery. Exodus is a well-mined book for struggles of liberation, and here Danielle uses it well to describe the freedom God offers from all kinds of addictions, enslavements and attachments. Deals not just with spiritual and emotional slavery (which are real) but also the realities of ongoing human trafficking and economic slavery in our world.
● Strangers in the Kingdom: Ministering to Refugees, Migrants and the Stateless - Rupen Das and Brent Hamoud: This is perhaps the best book I have read on the current refugee realities and the Church’s call to minister within them. Clear, concise, impeccably researched, Biblically grounded, and motivational, this book will explain what the realities are, why we are commanded to care and act, and how we can do so. A must-read for anyone wanting to come to grips with the largest human migration/displacement in history.
● What a City is For: Remaking the Politics of Displacement – Matt Hern: a fascinating critique of predatory land use that sees land as property and profit, and the vision of a city which only exists to prop up various dominating sovereignties. It is a book which combines personal, folksy story-telling with rigorously researched academic research. This latter aspect is helpful, but also the major flaw of the book, as I know very few people who could follow the complex theories upon which he bases his argument. Far more accessible, and moving, are the accounts of the Albina neighbourhood in Portland, an historic black neighbourhood that has dispossessed its African American residents; the story of East Vancouver, where Hern is from (and where I met him); and the tales from the 9th district in New Orleans. Hern wants us to imagine a different way of being the city, a breach in the overwhelming hegemony of property and ownership, a way of redressing wrongs and making reparations, while learning to share land differently. He trusts in the ability of people – in their differences and diversities – to arrange matters kindly, well and for freedom, and looks particularly to Indigenous history to see examples of how this is possible. An excellent book, deeply challenging to many noble assumptions, but a very difficult read for the non-academic.
● Global Warming and the Sweetness of Life: A Tar Sands Tale – Matt Hern and Am Johal: a look at Global Warming, specifically the Northern Alberta Tar Sands project, as something that must be opposed by a commitment to the “sweetness of life.” Global Warming is convincingly portrayed as the progeny of colonialism and capitalism, but the authors work hard to not demonize the workers of Fort Mac. They are attempting in part to bridge the divide (on the Left) between socialism and ecology, or between workers and the environment (which are normally characterized as having intrinsically opposing interests.) The scope of the problem is big, and the attempt to describe it and offer solutions equally big. They land in a lot of places (their conclusions are somewhat scattered, and no alternative is practically mapped out) but I was very interested in their notion of committing to a “sweet life” that is not defined individualistically. A communal sweet life - taking community, decolonialism, the non-human world, and LOVE seriously – really piqued my interest. Such a world is not well-described in the book (expect perhaps by reference to Indigenous ways of life prior to colonialism), and I cannot agree with all their assumptions about humanity, but it is still interesting. Most disturbing in the book was the description of the oil industry’s shocking treatment of Indigenous communities.
● Awaken the Dawn - Marius Frey: My second time through this gorgeously illustrated portrayal of Pete’s Greig’s poem, The Vision. The text is in German, French and English. A gift from the Swiss Family Robinson who stayed with us for a little while this year.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
● Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman: a re-telling of all the old Norse myths, featuring Odin, Thor, Loki and his monstrous children (Hel, Fenris and the Midgard Serpent), Frey, Freya, the Frost Giants, Ragnarok, and the death of Balder the Beautiful. Thor is strong but stupid; Loki is the cause – and often the solution – to all the gods’ problems; and Odin is more a liar than an All-Father. It is a fascinating set of (incomplete) stories, depicting the gods as fundamentally ignoble, deceitful, oath-breakers, carousers, and general scoundrels. This reflects, I suspect, the way of humans, and the things that the Norse poets thought good – best your enemy by strength of arms, or by trickery, but make sure you best them. And get paid, ideally with magical armour. Gaiman is masterful as always, making these already interesting tales even more readable and enjoyable.
● Men at Arms – Terry Pratchett: The nineteenth Discworld book I have read to Noah and Dominic, and the second in the Guards series. Pratchett has a wonderful way of turning phrases and introducing throw-away jokes and puns that throw me and the boys into hysterics. They especially love Nobby Nobbs, Gaspode the Wonder Dog, Detritus, and DEATH. This book tells the story of the Discworld’s first Gonne (gun) and how it entrances those who hold it with visions of power and violence.
● Jerusalem – Alan Moore: an outrageously expansive epic (1300 pages) set within the confines of a ridiculously limited geography. An insane saga flowing appropriately from the mind of the mad wizard known as Alan Moore. Jerusalem reads as if Neil Gaiman, Dante and Umberto Eco arranged an apocalyptic tickle fight to determine the fate of Northampton. Moore never met an adjective he didn’t like, and his cast of characters spans at least 1500 years (billions of years at one point), but his scenery focuses on about 15 square blocks (with multiple planes or dimensions of existence). The eleven chapters in the middle wherein a toddler chokes to death on a cough candy are easily the best. The final section changes its voice in every chapter, and includes a play, poetry, a film noir detective story, and a virtually unreadable James Joyce homage. In other words, a deliriously inventive mixed bag of a book. And the main point seems to be: everything is predestined, everything is happening in the eternal “Now” (Eternalism), so wherever you are is Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and all stops in between. Everything is, indeed, Jerusalem.
● Feet of Clay – Terry Pratchett: another Discworld novel with the kids (the 20th!) this one concerning the City Watch, the royal succession of Ankh Morpork, and the question of whether or not Golems are alive. Much, much laughter, particularly around Sgt Colon’s childhood stuffed pig, Mr. Dreadful.
● Hazards of Time Travel – Joyce Carol Oates: a really well-written, but ultimately disappointing, story about a dystopian future in which every action, word and thought is monitored for treason and questioning of authority. When one bright 17-year-old girl is arrested for a seditious valedictorian speech, she is punished to Exile, by which is meant sending her back in time to 1959 to complete a college degree at a Wisconsin University described as a bucket of mediocrity. She has to obey the rules of the Exile, not reveal herself, stay on campus, and engage in no intimate relationships. Things do not go well, and her natural rebelliousness starts to take over. Unfortunately, it seems that Oates had no clear idea as to how to end the story, and a very interesting premise peters out in a way that I found extremely dissatisfying. Still, the inventiveness and quality of writing will definitely bring me back to more Joyce Carol Oates in the future.
● A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’Engle: Read it to the boys, just a wonderful and deeply theological science fiction story about fighting corrupted evil with love.
● Jingo – Terry Pratchett: one of my favourite of the Discworld novel, this one had the boys laughing a lot. It is the story of the “war” between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, with a heavy does of the Watch, Leonard of Quirm, and especially Colon and Nobby. So good. The 21st Discworld story I have read to the boys.
● The Strange Bird – Jeff VanderMeer: A story from out of the Borne universe, from the first-person perspective of a bio-tech bird that has been created to carry the memory and “voice” of one of her creators. The bird’s mission to find the dead scientist’s lover is cut short by storms, predators, and a horrific sequence wherein she is captured and completely re-made in order to suit someone else’s needs. A beautiful yet disturbing book, brimming with atmospheric artistry and pathos.
● Annihilation – Jeff VanderMeer: The first in his Southern Reach Trilogy, and a strange case where I watched the movie first, which I loved. The book is very different in some respects, but manages to create an incredibly eerie and evocative atmosphere. It is tense, trippy, and the narrator is clearly not to be fully trusted. I am looking forward to the next two in the series.
● The Psychology of Time Travel - Kate Mascarenhas: a really interesting debut novel about a team of time travel pioneers who create a whole new technology and culture, but one which is closely guarded and reserved for the elite. An easy read, very dark in places, and so a strange mix of a concept suitable perhaps for YA but content that is far more adult in nature. Deals with discrimination of many sorts, particularly against those with mental illness, and creates a helpful backdrop for new problems and solutions in a restricted time travelling world. Not excellent, but pretty good, and a refreshing story in which virtually all the main characters are women.
● The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchet: Vimes, Lady Sybil, Detritus, Cheery, Carrot and Angua in Uberwald, home of the dwarves, werewolves and vampires. Lost of diplomacy, Igor jokes, and manhunts. Great fun as always, the 22nd book from Discworld I have read to the boys.
● The Time Traveler’s Handbook - Johnny Acton: This is a very fun book. The central conceit is of a time traveling company that has figured out how to send you back to witness, and participate, in significant moments in human history. So they describe what you are about to experience in great detail, really bringing the history lesson alive. It is wonderfully written, surprisingly funny, and exquisitely researched.
● Kill the Farm Boy - Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne: When the claim is made that a fantasy book is “as funny as Terry Pratchett”, well, it had better come through. This book most decidedly did not come through. Lots of bad puns, which I am fine with as throw-away gags, but not as the central “humour”. A storyline that intentionally tried to upend the typical fantasy tropes of a young white male destined for greatness. Again, totally fine, and Lord knows there are some tropes that need to be upended. But every attempt at biting social satire was so on the nose, so obvious, so ham-fisted, it ruined the effect. Yes, online trolls are terrible. Putting a giant, ugly troll in a fedora, having him read his awful manuscript, and then having him sliced up by the heroine is a less than subtle way of making the point. Anyways, I have wasted too much time talking about this already. I didn’t like this book.
● Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett: An exquisitely funny tale about what happens when we try to stop time. Introduces the Monks of Time, especially Lu Tze, one of the greatest of the Discworld characters and that is saying something. Death’s granddaughter Susan is also involved, which is always a huge plus. Again, read to the boys, the 23rd Discworld book.
● Night Watch - Terry Pratchett: This might be my favourite Discworld novel, and again that is saying something. It is certainly the most serious of the novels, and deals with real issues of grief, revolution, and the seeming inevitability of sorrow and injustice. Yet one person can effect a difference, if they refuse to compromise their convictions. The 24th Discworld book I have read to Noah and Doms.
● Forest of Memory - Mary Kowall: A novella set in the near-future when authentic artifacts of the 20th century are treasured. Even more treasured, however, are authentic, off-the-grid memories and experiences. A first-person story of a seller of authentic goods who has a 48 hour enforced period without connection to any info source. Well-written, asks some interesting questions.
● The Life of Elves - Muriel Barbery: A lot of reviews seemed to dislike this book for its flowery prose. I quite liked it for its ideas and characters, and felt the prose matched the subject matter. The story of two young girls, born at the same time but in different locations, who are vital keys in a war fought between and among different factions of Elves and Humanity. The girls have strange gifts, and are protected by small, simple human communities who know they are somehow in the presence of magic. Very artful descriptions of village life, of art and music, and of elemental warfare. And a very moving depiction of love and sacrifice. Part one of two in a series.
● Tales From Earthsea - Ursula K LeGuin: The fifth Earthsea book, telling five “origin” type stories that fill out the world of Earthsea and explain why certain things are as they are, but why they don’t always have to be that way. Really, really interesting.
● Tehanu - Ursula K LeGuin: The fourth Earthsea book, told from the perspective of a farmer’s widow and a broken old men - who used to be a priestess and the most powerful archmage in the world, respectively. The story of Earthsea advances and matures in this book, and begins to centre upon a young, horribly scarred girl who forms the ancient link between two peoples who were formerly one. Contains dragons.
● The Farthest Shore - Ursula K LeGuin: The story of Ged and his apprentice - who is more than he seems - travelling to the farthest shores of Earthsea (and of life and death) to discover why magic and vitality are being drained from the world. A story about the necessary limits of human life, and the dangers associated with trying to deny them. A similar theme in some ways to Tolkien’s account of the Fall of Numenor.
● Children of Earth and Sky - Guy Gavriel Kay: It must be a difficult thing when the first book you write is the best work you’ve ever produced. I have read a lot of Kay, and nothing yet comes close to his Fionavar Tapestry, off of which most of his other books are loosely based, or at least connected in a larger universe. Kay writes Fantastical Historical Fiction, which means stories about things that happened in our history, but with different names (of people and countries), sometimes different results, and always the explicit (yet occasional) intervention of magical or divine elements. This book is about Venice, The Holy Roman Empire, Slavis cities, and Istanbul in the time just after the fall of Constantinople. But none of those names are mentioned. As always Kay tells the smaller stories of individuals within the larger stories of Empires clashing, and he does it very well. Just not quite as well as his first series.
● The Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett: Another classic from Pratchett, the 25th Discworld book I have read to the boys. Tells the story of Borogravia, and a regiment of soldiers trying to fight an absurd battle for the sake of a god who has gone crazy. But the real story is the soldiers, who are not what they seem. Pratchett’s take down of traditional gender roles, done with humour, grace, and incisive social commentary. The character of Jackrum is one of his best.
Novels
● Starlight – Richard Wagamese: an unfinished novel, his last before he died. The story of Starlight, a Native man who has learned to be silent on his land, and who mentors a woman and child who are running from abuse. A beautiful portrait of the power of the act of listening.
● The Complete Stories – Clarice Lispector: Eighty-six stories of varying length from Lispector, covering the length and breadth of her unique life. This, the summary in short stories of the different stages, thoughts, and experiences of a woman’s life is a voice not often heard, certainly not until very recently. Lispector, a European Jewish woman whose family moved to Brazil when she was young, writes as a cubist paints, adopting unorthodox perspectives and sometimes flattening all views into one. I much prefer when she focuses on narrative – I dislike stream of consciousness writing nearly everywhere I find it. But taken as a whole it is a work of singular genius, perhaps not enjoyable to everyone, but extraordinary nonetheless.
● The Blind Owl – Sadegh Hedayat: an apparently essential work of modern Iranian literature, though I have no ability to judge its quality in comparison to other works from Iran. It reads as a drug-fuelled hallucination (the narrator speaks regularly of using opium) about a woman who transfixes a man, though she is dead. It is a surreal, terrifying, sideways view of humanity, reminiscent of Poe and the Marquis de Sade.
● The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing: How to describe this? A novel about two “Free Women” in 1950’s England, unmarried, sexually adventurous, communist, and slowly going crazy. But this is only the shell of the book. In between the chapters are notes taken from four notebooks by Anna Wulf (one of the Free Women), notebooks which compartmentalise her life into writing, politics, emotions, and day to day activities. These notebooks tell the inside and fractured story of Anna slowly cracking up under the pressures of politics, child-rearing, and love. The final notebook, the Golden Notebook, seeks to resolve the fractures into a whole that allows Anna to write again, after years of psychological blocks. This is an amazing book, full of perceptive psychological insight but profoundly sad and disturbing in its description of “freedom” and its depiction especially of relations between men and women. Virtually every relationship described is adulterous and destructive. Weirdly and sadly, the description of the Communist Party in England was disturbingly similar to my experiences with The Salvation Army.
● For Grace Received – Valeria Pallera: Four stories from the chaotic city of Naples, dealing with four different stratum of that city’s society. Pallera is an excellent writer, and the stories are engrossing. You feel for the characters, even if the world they inhabit is foreign to you.
● Tiger Tiger – Johanna Skibsrud: Short story compilations are hard. Short stories often either seem like they are full of irrelevant slice of life moments that end abruptly; are pompously self-important; or could be developed into longer works with deeper plot and characterisation. The best short stories manage to say important things and make you care about characters in a brief moment of time. This collection of short stories is not a great example of this quality.
● Manalive – G.K. Chesterton: a reminder of what a great writer can do with a story. This is delightful and hilarious. It is the story of a man who continually re-marries his own wife, shoots at people to bring them to life, and breaks into his own home in order to remind himself – and others – to treasure existence. Does contain a couple very 19th century racial stereotypes.
● The Greater Trumps – Charles Williams: as with all of Williams’ novels, this one is a spiritual thriller that takes seriously the hidden world of God, angels and demons just beyond the veil of human perception. It is infused with High Anglican theology and has one of the greatest and holiest characters ever in Sybil Coningsby, who is devoted to the Love within her.
● Tumble Home - Amy Hempel: Hempel is a stunningly grounded, precise, and real writer. There are no wasted words in these stories. Slices of life, the longest novella being a letter written by an unnamed woman to a longed-for lover from a mental health facility. The difficulty with all short stories are the endings, I find, and they are not always perfect here, but the writing is so lovely that I think it makes up for it. She seems to truly capture the way people speak.
● The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka: A hilariously dark and disturbing tale of a poor man in a poor family who wakes up one morning as a giant beetle. He wants to keep helping his family, but discovers painfully that his continued presence in the family home is nothing but a burden to them, and they are better off without him. Evokes the feeling of being trapped in a family situation where one believes ones is a disappointment, and shows the desire to disappear from the responsibilities in the world.
● Between the Acts - Virginia Woolf: Woolf’s last novel, written at the beginning of World War 2 and just before her suicide. My first novel of hers, and I can’t say that I “got” it. First rate writing, of course, but I think I need more information about what she was trying to do in order to understand her allusions.
● Hearts in Atlantis - Stephen King: Three interlocking stories of life in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, all of which relate in some way or other to the Vietnam War (and the first story connects explicitly to King’s Dark Tower series). King is such an easy writer to read, and his dialogue seems so authentic. The book feels lived, as if the characters were really describing their joy and follies. Dark, as always, but not really horror.
● Swing Time - Zadie Smith: A meditation on various forms of Black and African cultures, set amidst working class London and traditional West African communities. I had heard a lot about this book, and had enjoyed other books by Zadie Smith. This was very good, clearly capturing and communicating the feel, the music, the aesthetic of a place and an era. It is ultimately a sorrowful book, I think, with dreams dashed and good intentions leading to largely bad results. But it is also a book of perseverance.
● All Hallow’s Eve - Charles Williams: Charles Williams is undeniably weird. This book is about two planes of existence; some dead people and some living people; paintings that capture the light of heaven and the darkness of evil; and a messianic character who tries to control life and the after-life. Takes awhile to get what is going on, but nobody writes about death, damnation, hell and glory better than Williams.
Graphic Novels
● Forgiveness is Really Strange – Masi Noor, Marina Cantacuzino and Sophie Standing (art): a beautiful artistic depiction of research and quotes around the tricky topic of forgiveness. Forgiveness is essential for life, but it must be a gift, not a duty.
● Saga Vol. 9 – Brian Vaughn and Fiona Staples: Oof, this one was a gut punch. The main family in Saga has been through the wringer already, but now get broken apart in a way that appears final. Bad news for the other characters surrounding the family as well. Romanticism and good intentions are not enough, Vaughn seems to be saying, in the face of a universe of evil. (Very graphic).
● The Ghost in the Shell – Shirow Masamune: story of a fascist military/police force in a near-future Japan that has combined AI, cyborg tech and human bodies. (The fascists are the “good guys.”) The Ghost in the shell is the human spirit or soul, encased in a mechanical body. The armed team is lead by Major, a cyborg (I think), and they are tasked with hunting down security threats like terrorists, assassins, corrupt government officials, and cyber-criminals. Some interesting takes on the future of AI, post-humanity and robot rights.
● Monstress Vol 2: The Blood – Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Maika Halfwolf has to continue her flight, and carry on her mother’s mission, by travelling to the Isle of Bones. We learn more about her childhood, history, and the horrifying Monstrum who lives within her skin. A story of betrayal and hope.
● Snowpiercer: The Escape: Jacques Lob – source material for the truly excellent movie starring Chris Evans. Strangely not as good as the movie. Tells the story of a post-apocalyptic existence where humanity has only survived on one long train that is self-sustaining (almost) and never stops circling the globe. But people are divided up by class / car, and conditions are not sustainable.
● The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: L Frank Baum and Eric Shanower – a beautifully illustrated re-telling of the classic story. With more Flying Monkeys.
● Escaping War and Waves: Encounters With Syrian Refugees: Olivier Kugler- gorgeously illustrated and narrated real-life encounters in refugees camps throughout the Middle East.
● Dali: Baudoin – Baudoin, himself a noted artist, illustrates and tells the mad, genius story of Salvador Dali’s life and work. Dali’s perception of reality was intentionally paranoic critical, branching off from the automatism of surrealism. Essentially, he painted his dreams, visions, and delusions, and then later sought to make sense of them. Dali managed to live a long life and even thrive, thanks it seems largely to his formidable wife, Gala.
● Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars - Ethan Hawke, Greg Ruth: a story that attempts to capture the violence and sorrow of the Apache Wars from the perspective of Cochise, Naiches and Geronimo. Beautiful and brutal, though confusing at times. Pulls no punches.
● Thoreau: A Sublime Life - A. Dan: Veers towards hagiography at times, but this book is an attempt to rescue Thoreau from those who want to claim him for a liberal pacifism, thereby ignoring his radical, anti-authoritarian bent.
● The Graveyard Book Volume 1 - Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell: Just brilliant, dark, funny and moving. About family, before and after death.
● The Graveyard Book, Volume 2 - Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell: More of the same.
● The Castle - Mairowitz, David Zane (Kafka): Not the greatest representation of this work of genius, I would say. there is only so much you can communicate through the graphic medium, and The Castle has too much going on to get that across. Ends up confusing, which The Castle is, but without much of the redeeming qualities of the book.
● Mooncop - Tom Gauld: A beautifully minimalist story of a cop on the moon, with a rapidly dwindling population. Captures in its simplicity the pain of loneliness, failed dreams, and the frustration of bureaucracy and technological determinism. But with all that it isn’t exactly sad. It is filled with a subtle hope.
● The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed - Mike Mignola: Background story to one of the mysteries of the Hellboy universe, a mystery that was hinted at from the very first storyline. A tale of love, endurance, and the possibility of good, free choices.
● The Goddamned: Before the Flood - Jason Aaron: Ok. So this is the ultra-violent story of Cain, the man who apparently cannot die, walking through a land ruined by sin and degradation. He finally comes upon Noah and his clan, who are just straight evil but believe they are doing the Lord’s work. An interesting enough attempt to explore what kind of depravity would cause God to want to wipe everything off the face of the earth, but not really something you want to immerse yourself in. Pass.
● The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth - Ken Krimstein: I love the Graphic Novel format for its ability to tell a historical story with text and picture, introducing you to ideas, moments and people that you can explore more deeply. I have read about Arendt before, but this gave a helpful overview to the general line of her life and thought. A worthy read.
● Baltimore: Vols 5,6,7 - Mike Mignola: More monster-hunting from Mignola, creator of Hell Boy. Lord Baltimore and his crew chase witches, vampires, ghouls, werewolves and anything else that gets in their way in the pursuit of the Red King, a satanic figure who has unleashed a deadly supernatural plague into the world. Pretty fun, but very graphic and bloody.
● The Book of Genesis - Robert Crumb: One of the best graphic novels of all-time, Crumb illustrates every single word and image of the Book of Genesis. Wonderfully done, based upon the translation work of Robert Alter. I have found this work to be incredibly helpful in my devotions upon Genesis.
● Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust - adapted by Stephane Heuet: I have not read Proust, and wanted to see if this graphic novel introduction would help me understand a little before I get into his work. It hasn’t really done so.
● Frida Kahlo, An Illustrated Life - Marie Hesse: Uses Frida’s art as illustrations for her life’s story, told mainly through excerpts from her journals. A wild and crazy life, filled with violence, sorrow, high society, betrayal, and creativity.
● Footnotes in Gaza - Joe Sacco: A massive graphic novel which tells the story of two massacres of Palestinian refugees at the hands of Israel in the 1950’s. A strange topic for a huge work, one might think, when so much else is going on and could be covered, but that is the point. These are two events that have become mere footnotes of history in the area, consigned to the sideline, when it is the kind of thing we should be paying attention to, because within these stories lie themes that have kept repeating until the present day. Sacco weaves his story into his own story of trying to get the story in the modern West Bank, just as America was about to embark on the second Gulf War.
Theology
● On the Making of Man – Gregory of Nyssa: a detailed examination into the creation of humanity and what our human make-up tells about ourselves, the world, and God. Gregory applies philosophy, theology, and the best science of his day (4thc) to explore our meaning and purpose. It is frequently beautiful, occasionally opaque, but always brilliant. The science doesn’t always hold up, but sometimes it does in surprisingly perceptive ways. One gets the sense that Gregory would still be using the best possible scientific observations to be making his points today, which is an important lesson for us. Another essential point: the body matters. Gregory is not into dualism or Gnosticism. To him, the body is a vital part of our lives, our intellect, our soul, and our salvation. The body will be resurrected; Gregory does not imagine some disembodied spirit hovering in some ethereal heaven.
● A Christian Anarchist? Gregory of Nyssa’s Criticism of Political Power – Johannes Steenbuch: Gregory argues that political power is immoral when it is an outflow of the “disease of the love of rule.” But even when political power is assumed with positive intention and motivation it is still an affront to the commonly held human nature – one human has no intrinsic “right” to rule over another – and to Christ’s rule, which does stem from an ontological difference in nature – though in his incarnation Christ did not rule, but took on the very nature of a servant. Political power employs violence and subjugation, and everyone longs to be part of the dominant group. Ultimately, this leads to violence, subjugation and slavery, which is putting oneself above both other humans and God himself, who liberated humanity from enslavement. Thus, the Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of domination, the negation of all attempts to rule. There is no particular political state of affairs that can represent God or God’s justice. Our call rather is the total negation of injustice (apophatic).
● Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition – Christine D Pohl: A brilliant work highlighting the historical emphasis on hospitality as an essential Christian virtue and plotting the road to its recovery as a central Church practice. Filled with excellent research, theology and personal experience, this book is a must-read for Churches and communities.
● Prophetic Imagination – Walter Brueggemann: One of the most important books I’ve read. This time, read with the IAFR team, we really focused on the combination of suffering and hope as a way to free ourselves from the royal dis-imagination.
● The Man Born to be King – Dorothy L Sayers: Eleven plays concerning the life of Jesus, masterfully written. A beautiful opening up of the believed to be well-worn story of Christ. These plays help place us into the story as true, real humans. Read during Passiontide.
● Jonathan Edwards Reformed Doctrine of Theosis - Kyle Strobel: An extremely helpful article in the Harvard Review on how Edwards’ theology matches up with the Theosis of the Cappadocians, and how it differs from Orthodox thought. I am more and more persuaded by the beauty of theosis and epektasis as the foundation of what is happening in salvation and sanctification. It is such a joyful, challenging and hopeful theology, held by those who first considered the Creeds and the life of Jesus in their theology. I believe both Reformed thought and Wesley’s holiness theology can find their home within it as well.
● Genesis, with Commentary - Robert Alter: Alter, a foremost Hebrew scholar, has produced some essential translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, along with commentaries that are largely technical and linguistic, but hugely illuminative for the text. There are things in Genesis that we - and most translations it seems - simply miss from a lack of deep familiarity with Hebrew literature.
Spiritual Formation
● Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone – Brené Brown: This is a good book with practical advice on how to pursue true belonging, that deep connection that gives us the capacity to stand alone. It was helpful in the sense that I am feeling very alone in a lot of the things that I am convicted are true, and this aloneness hugely impacts my courage to speak up in any way. Knowing that people are with you and will love and support you allows for a much more courageous stand. I feel like this topic could have been dealt with in greater detail, however. It is a popular take on it, so there is only so deep she could go, but it left me wanting a little more.
● Discernment – Henri Nouwen: the third in a series of posthumous books featuring Nouwen’s writing, this one focuses on the spiritual gift and discipline of discernment. As with all Nouwen’s writing it is sensitive, spiritually and psychologically perceptive, and deeply (at times uncomfortably) personal. Nouwen shares his wisdom, his heart, his thoughts, and his pain. He talks about looking and listening to the Word, to Nature, to people, to circumstances, to the Saints, and to the Spirit as we attempt to navigate life’s decisions. Because it is compiled from many of his writings it is not as focused or coherent as some of his other work, but it is still extraordinarily helpful.
● The Life of St. Macrina – St. Gregory of Nyssa: Gregory tells the story of the life and death of St Macrina the Teacher, his older sister. He ascribes to her both the intellectual rigour and spiritual virtue that inspired himself, Basil, their two other brothers, and many others of the faith. His praise of her is effusive (as is common for hagiography) but also notable in that she is not simply praised for her virginity. She was clearly a formidable presence, a spiritual and philosophical powerhouse who raised Saints in her parent’s household.
● Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace – Anne Lamott: This is not the kind of book I would normally read, a series of essays that present, on the surface, encouraging little vignettes about how life is hard but we can all get there in the end. It is the first Lamott book I have read, and she is a wonderful writer, hilarious and human, attentive to small moments of grace in the everyday (as the title predicts). Many of the essays are about the sickness and death of loved ones, and Lamott constructs a convincing case for presentness, forgiveness, reflection, patience, vulnerability, honest expression, and deep, deep welcome. I wept and laughed out loud more than once reading this book (which only took a day and a half). Where it fails, in my opinion, is whenever Lamott tries to rise above the personal into the broader vistas of her political views. It isn’t that this can’t be done, it’s just that I don’t think she does it terribly well. There is a conflation throughout between Leftism and the Gospel, a devotion to liberalism and the Democratic party that borders on worship. It is both tiresome and, I believe, dangerous (just as a similar allegiance to conservatism and the Republican party would be and is). This aside, the book is lovely, and I am challenged to be a better person after reading it.
● Resist and Persist – Erin Wathon: Looking at the ongoing misogyny in society and especially in the Church, from lots of angles. Wathon gives a clear picture of what is going wrong and some great ideas of changes we can make together. Funny, insightful, kind, and fierce.
● Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups – Ruth Haley Barton: a must-read book on the practice of personal and corporate discernment, which Barton correctly identifies as the primary task of Christian leadership teams. Our job is to learn together how to see and hear what the Lord is doing and what he wants from us. This distinguishes us from secular leadership strategies, which were the main teaching tools given to me in seminary. I will have all of my leadership teams and leaders read this book.
● The Spirituality of Fundraising: Henri Nouwen - a whole new perspective on the spiritual art and invitation of fundraising. It is an opportunity to join people together in the community of the kingdom, an invitation to the work and blessing of God in the world. we should not be embarrassed to ask for funds, if our relationship with money is holy.
● Rumi’s Little Book of Love: Rumi (Translation by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin) - a stunning collection of 150 poems from the Sufi master on Love and the Beloved. One cannot read these poems without concluding that Rufi met the Lord, and was entranced by his soul’s Beloved. At least, I cannot.
● The Confession of Saint Patrick - Saint Patrick: Patrick’s autobiography, and his letter denouncing the slavers who were stealing women and children around Ireland. Day and night prayer was his sanity while a slave as a teenager, and led him him to rescue from that situation. Prayer also led him back to Ireland to be a shepherd to a people who had formerly enslaved him.
● Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations - Richard Wagamese: A series of daily meditations on God, life, tradition and faithfulness from Wagamese. Beautiful, deep and helpful.
● The Violence of Love - Oscar Romero: writings and sermons from Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador until his assassination following mass.
● A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer - Jim Manney: Reflections on the Awareness Examen, how it came to be and how we can pray it for spiritual benefit. A simple and incredibly helpful book, which I got at the Manresa Jesuit retreat in Dublin.
● George MacDonald, An Anthology - C.S. Lewis: MacDonald is a fascinating preacher and writer, author of some of my favourite works of fantasy, and a theologian who pushes at the very boundaries of sainthood. Very challenging stuff, but also remarkably inspiring. One of C.S. Lewis’ major influences, which is why he compiled the book.
● Plain Man’s Book of Prayers - William Barclay: Pretty much what it sounds like. Two times daily Scripture readings and set prayers. Beautiful, simple, powerful.
● On the Road: A Journey Through the Bible for Migrants - UBS: We used this devotional during our pilgrimage in Chiapas, Mexico and into Guatemala. Places the biblical story directly in line with the story of displacement and migration, and hears the words of migrants from all around the world.
● An Introduction to the Wisdom of the Celtic Saints - Edward Sellner: Got this from the Nether Springs Northumbria community. An excellent primer into the thinking and praying and living of the old Celtic saints, whose simple way of life is an important corrective for our current mode of living.
● Wisdom of the Desert Fathers - Benedicta Ward: Sayings from the Desert Fathers and Mothers, sometimes hard, always challenging, frequently balm for the soul.
● The Wisdom of the Celts - David Adam: Sayings and prayers from the Celtic Christian mothers and fathers.
● A Celtic Primer - Brendan O’Malley: A liturgical prayer guide I use in the mornings to ground myself in Scripture, ancient prayers, and the Celtic tradition.
Non-Fiction
● The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives – edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen: a series of relatively brief accounts of the lives of refugees, written by refugees themselves. All the contributors are prominent writers and tell their stories with incredible power and meaning. My favourite was “The Ungrateful Refugee” by Dina Nayeri, as it contains a jarring look into the experience of refugees upon reaching their new “homes”, and the expectations that are carried by their host countries.
● Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries who Shaped History – Kate Shatz and Miriam Klein Stahl: 40 inspiring stories of women from around the world and throughout history – most of them women of colour – whose stories are often left out or barely mentioned in history books. Suitable and vital for all ages.
● Conversations on Writing - Ursula K Le Guin with David Naimon: One of Le Guin’s last works, a series of reflections on writing fiction, poetry and non-fiction. I have recently fallen in love with her writing, and this is a very accessible and helpful set of conversations on the craft of creation.
● On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King: practical advice from the master on how to begin and carry on writing and publishing, including counsel on story, character, word choice, dialogue, theme and (shudder) plot. Also lots of suggestions on what to avoid, what writing costs, and why we still do it, mixed in with a memoir of his life.
● The Givenness of Things - Marilynne Robinson: A series of subtle yet weighty essays on reality, limits, grace, and humanity. Robinson is a supreme writer and a deft phenomenological and theological thinker, influenced primarily by Jean Calvin, Jonathan Edwards and William Shakespeare, who she advances as a brilliant theologian. These are not essays to be taken lightly, and they deal with the falsity of realism and positivism (especially as promoted by neuroscientists who cannot accept the reality of anything outside of their narrow definitions). I do not agree with everything she writes here, especially in her essays on Reality and Metaphysics, but I would not dismiss anything she says as unimportant or not thought through.
● Steering the Craft: A 21st Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story - Ursula K. Le Guin: A guide on how to write stories, complete with exercises and examples, from one of my literary heroes. Le Guin presents tools that are useful for writing that she has honed over years of storytelling and running writer’s workshops. She deal with point of view, tenses, punctuation and grammar, syntax, adjectives and voice. while also taking aim at those who make up unbreakable rules. The main thing I take from her is an understanding of the rhythm and sound of language.
● No Time to Spare - Ursula K. Le Guin: LeGuin’s reflections on life as she neared the end of it. An important example of the wisdom of elders from the keen eye of one who has seen and considered an awful lot.
● The Elements of Style - William Strunk and EB White: Tons of authors said this is the best style guide. So I read it, in an effort to become a better author. Hope it helps.
● Signs of the Times - Bud Osborn: Poetry and prophecy from the DTES. More needed now than ever. Bud spoke the language of our neighbourhood, showed the raw pain and the raw beauty of the people here, broken by the world, broken by life, yet holding on, beloved by God.
● Best. State. Ever: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland - Dave Barry: Barry was my favourite comedic writer when I was young, so I wanted to see if he could still elicit a guffaw from me. He can, and did, even if he seems a little grumpier in his older age.
● Collected Poems - Dylan Thomas: Read during my retreat at Northumbria community, these poems deal a lot with death, with the sea, with grief and loss. I like their rhythm and their courseness. And there are grace notes all through them.
● Selected Poems - John Donne: Donne is my favourite poet (him and Bud Osborne), and I like to go back to his work most years for inspiration.
● ABC, The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind - Ivan Illich and Barry Sanders: Illich books take a lot of courage to read, because your worldview is going to get rocked. Here Illich and Sanders expertly wade through the creation of alphabetized language, by which they mean the change from an oral culture to one that is written down. It is significant, and it changed the entire way we think, and can think. A similar change is happening now, they argue, and not a good one (and they were writing before the huge advances of the internet). We may be moving into a time when words truly mean nothing, or anything.
● Devotion - Patti Smith: Put this here, though it could have gone under “Novels”. Smith (the rock star) writes first about why and how she writes, then writes a (somewhat disturbing) story, and then reflects on why she wrote it. I enjoyed the first section the most.
Scripture
This year I read the Bible from back to front (alternating OT and NT) to see how this would affect my understanding. It became an interesting journey from Redemption back through Revelation, Rebellion, Innocence and Creation. I wrote a one-line, wholly inadequate summary of each book.
I also prayed the Psalms out loud in four translations (ESV, French, Authorized, and Robert Alter’s Hebrew Commentary) and read Genesis in three (ESV, Robert Alter, and Robert Crumb’s brilliant word for word graphic novel).
● Malachi – do not weary or rob God by calling evil good, and then wondering why there is no justice in the land.
● Revelation – persevere! No matter how bad it gets. God is sovereign over history.
● Jude – again, persevere! He who has called us will present us blameless before God’s glory.
● 3 John – do not imitate evil but imitate good.
● 2 John – love means walking in God’s commandments. Beware of deceivers.
● 1 John – beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone who loves knows God.
● 2 Peter – be partakers of the divine life.
● Zechariah – The OT Revelation. Exact same imagery.
● Haggai – do not luxuriate in your home while God’s House lays in ruin. The riches of the world will fill the new Temple. (Jesus receiving the gifts of the Magi?)
● Zephaniah – the coming judgment on Judah, except it seems Josiah changed the ways of Judah to at least forestall the judgment, which after all is the point of prophecy.
● Habakkuk – Habakkuk makes some complaints, and God answers though not in the way he the prophet expected or really wanted.
● 1 Peter – we are a new creation, a new people, and we should act like it.
● James – faith without works is dead. True religion is active and loving.
● Philemon – welcome your returned (former) slave like a brother, thus turning the world on its head.
● Nahum – watch out Ninevah (Assyria). You took advantage of Israel when it was time for them to be conquered. Now the shoe will drop for you. Should probably be read alongside Jonah.
● Micah – woe to oppressors, be they in Judah or elsewhere. But a child of promise is coming from Bethlehem. Our responsibility is love mercy, act justly, walk humbly with God.
● Jonah – is it right for you to be angry, Jonah? Should you be angry about God’s mercy to Ninevah? To you?
● Obadiah – Edom is about to get rekt. Why? They went all looter-crazy when Judah was down on its luck, and now they will get paid what they are owed.
● Amos – Amos, a shepherd, speaking woe, warning, and hope to kings of Israel and Judah. Also, how to deal with accusation.
● Titus – teach sound doctrine and be ready to do good.
● Joel – the plague of locusts is coming, but the Lord might relent. And he can and will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten (the consequences of your actions)
● 2 Timothy – it is going to be hard but stand firm. Teach well and truthfully. Be faithful and holy, even in the midst of much ungodliness.
● 1 Timothy – this is how to arrange the Church with wisdom and holiness. Beware of false teachers.
● Hebrews – Jesus is the High Priest forever, and it is through his Incarnate body and sacrifice that we may be in forever relationship with God and one another.
● Hosea – Israel, you are deeply and continually unfaithful. Your betrayals are staggering. Let me show you exactly what they are like. But let me also show you what I am like. Your adultery wounds me; I am angry; but I will woo you back. Return to me.
● 2 Thessalonians – Jesus will return, so be ready and stand firm.
● 1 Thessalonians – you are doing well but continue to live lives that are pleasing to God. He is returning like a thief in the night, so be constant in prayer and sanctification.
● Colossians – put off the old self, put on the new self, which is in Christ, the unique Son of God.
● Philippians – if we want to be lights in this world we must follow Christ’s example of humility, considering others before ourselves.
● Daniel – God reigns supreme over history, even over the Empires and Emperors who believe they are sovereign and can act without thought to God.
● Ephesians – what does it mean to put on the new life in the spirit of Christ? This is what we are called to, nothing less.
● Galatians – it is for freedom that we have been set free, to walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh, nor any longer under the guardianship of the Law. Paul is exhorting these new Gentile believers not to put their trust in circumcision, even if it keeps them from persecution.
● 2 Corinthians – Paul is pleased that the Corinthian Christians have experienced godly sorrow and repentance, even though he had to be harsh. He still has to defend his ministry though.
● 1 Corinthians – there have been some troubling reports about the conduct in the Corinthian Church, and Paul sets out to offer correction and godly order. Love is at the heart of it all.
● Psalms – the prayer book of Israel, of Jesus, of the Church, of myself. Composed throughout ages, compiled in exile, conversant with every human emotion, failing, desire and hope. These prayers are life’s breath to me.
● Romans – Jews and Gentiles have fallen short of God’s glory and revelation of Himself in different ways. Yet there is salvation for Jews and Gentiles in the mercy of God through the incarnation of Christ Jesus. It is by grace through faith that we are saved, and this leads us to specific ethical behaviours in response.
● Ezekiel – Israel is a rebellious house. This is repeated ad nauseam and proven. And doom is prophesied as a result (and does come). The Presence of God leaves the Temple and the people are in exile. BUT…the latter portion of the book is a promise of return for the Presence, the Temple, and the people. The city will be named: “The LORD is there.”
● Lamentations – the City has fallen, and the people of God do not know if it will be restored. This is an agonising poem of woe, and yet, right in the middle a chapter of hope and promise. God’s mercies are still new every morning.
● Acts – Jesus tells his disciples that they are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Once the Spirit falls upon them at Pentecost the new Church is lead, drawn, and sometimes pushed by the Spirit to fulfill this very task.
● John – Abide in me and I will abide in you; greater love has no one than this – to lay down their life; you love me when you obey my commands; a new command I give: love one another as I have loved you. Jesus commands us to love, then shows us what love entails.
● Jeremiah – God calls Jeremiah to bring his message of repentance or doom to Jerusalem (and later to the nations) but they won’t listen. When others think there is peace, Jeremiah is weeping. But when others think there is no hope, Jeremiah speaks about the return from exile.
● Luke – this Gospel seems more for the Gentiles and focuses more on Jesus’ miracles and emphasis on the poor.
● Mark – the most immediate of the Gospels, the shortest account, and probably the first.
● Matthew – the Gospel with the Sermon on the Mount, the Great Commission, the woes on the Pharisees, the kingdom parables. Likely written for a Jewish-Gentile mix community that had been expelled from the synagogues and were facing poverty and exclusion.
● Isaiah – there is so much here, so much woe, so much hope, so many calls for justice and holiness, such sadness, such victory.
● Song of Songs – more frankly erotic than I remembered from previous readings.
● Proverbs – generalised wisdom for how to live a good and righteous life, avoiding folly. Seems true in the broad sense, though not always in the particular.
● Ecclesiastes – everything is vanity. This seems like “wisdom” from a ruler who has given himself over to the pursuit of power and the stability of Empire, and has realised, perhaps too late, of the eternal pointlessness of this pursuit. Reads almost as anti-wisdom.
● Job – most of the book reads as a battle between the cynicism of Ecclesiastes (Job) and the aphorisms of Proverbs (Job’s friends). I wonder if Job might be the Rosetta Stone for both of those books, which are unsatisfying on their own. Job presents suffering as a mystery, answerable only by the ineffable presence of God, and gives a narrative example of “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
● Esther – God working behind the scenes through a beauty contest? He is preserving his people through the wisdom and boldness of a woman and her uncle.
● Nehemiah – The people rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and re-enact the Law. The thought arises: is this what God wanted from them?
● Ezra – the people rebuild and re-consecrate the Temple and re-consecrate the priesthood. The thought arises again: is this what God wanted? In particular, was he asking them to divorce their foreign wives and put away their children en masse? How does the story of Ruth read against this?
● 2 Chronicles – part of the “wikileaks” of Israel, according to Bob Ekblad. Telling the mostly reprehensible story of Israel’s kings after David, a story of enslavement, idolatry, bloodshed, alliances, treachery, and faithfulness, with occasional grace notes of faithfulness thrown in. Moves from apparent glory (though Solomon’s achievements are riddled with the seeds of Israel’s downfall) to total destruction.
● 1 Chronicles – largely lists of names, seemingly for the purposes of being able to recount later on who has a place in a reconstituted Israel. Big focus on the Davidic covenant.
● 2 Kings – the ongoing saga of the downfall of the kings – and nations – of Israel and Judah. Israel’s kings are unrelentingly evil, in the mode of Jereboam, but Judah’s kings at least have some grace notes. Still, both dynasties and nations betray the worship of the Lord and are eventually conquered, despite all the prophetic warnings.
● 1 Kings – The story of Israel’s (then Israel ad Judah’s) kings starting from the end of David’s life and going the Empire-building of Solomon through to the story of Elijah the prophet.
● 2 Samuel – King David’s ascension to the throne and the solidification of his rule, encompassing the horrors of his sins, his family life, Israel’s civil war, and his disastrous census.
● 1 Samuel – The story of Samuel’s rise to prophet and priest, Saul’s rise and fall as king, and David’s rise to king and dynasty. Filled with some of the worst behaviour you can imagine.
● Ruth – Possibly me favourite book in the Bible. Reads in tension with much of the rest of the OT, because a Moabitess is the faithful paragon, the example to an unfaithful Israel of what it means to be part of God’s Covenant blessing.
● Judges – another of my favourites. When women are listened to and honoured, Israel is doing well. When they are dismissed and abused, Israel is doing poorly. A steady descent into atrocious disobedience.
● Joshua – the taking of the Promised Land, and the divvying up of the land between the tribes. Difficult to read.
● Deuteronomy – Moses’ last address to Israel before entering the Promised Land. Also, from the perspective of the Exiles, a look back on what went wrong. Holiness, justice, the division of the land, and many other things covered.
● Numbers – so-called because of the two censuses taken in the book. This book feels like an arranging of Israel, a sorting out of who is really in charge, and a reaffirmation of Moses and Aaron’s family (and a seeming dismissal of Miriam).
● Leviticus – A difficult read, pertaining to all the ritual laws for priests and lay people in Israel, plus some of the ethical laws that were designed to keep them holy and just.
● Exodus – the story of liberation, a story that has been used and misuse throughout Jewish and Christian history. Where one stands determines how one receives the actions of God in history – as freedom-giving, or as plague and judgment.
● Genesis – Gives the mythic-poetic beginnings of all things, and then settles into the story of a family called out by God to be blessed and to be a blessing.
● Les Psaumes en Francais Courante
● The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary - Robert Alter
● The Psalms, Authorised Version
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