Currently Reading

It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but I noticed the other day how many books have accumulated on my bedside table, desk, and our coffee table so it seems like a good time to mention the titles here. Maybe you’re looking for something to read this summer. Maybe something here will fit the bill.

A few of these are collections of essays, my consistently favorite genre. This being the case, it seemed right to finally dip into the original. I like having at least one book that will follow me around for a few years and having finished The Black Metropolis it was time to begin The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne. So far so good, though I maybe should have gone with the two volume set; this edition could damage the reader who dozes off mid-essay.

The collected essays of James Baldwin is less cumbersome and thoroughly enjoyable. He seems no less prescient in these days of Black Lives Matter movements than he must have in his own day. A friend gave me John Jeremiah Sullivan’s essays, Pulphead. You’ve probably read Sullivan somewhere – this account in GQ of a Christian music festival is a classic – and if not this collection would be a good place to start.

Earlier this week Maggie gave me The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker. I’ve not read Pinker before, but this book was on my list and, after a couple of chapters, I think his perspective on a well-worn topic will help whatever small writing skills I have.

A friend from church and I are reading Howard Thurman’s classic, Jesus and the Disinherited this summer. There are stories of Rev. Dr. King carrying his well-worn copy of this book in his briefcase as he made his way throughout the south. A small taste from the first chapter:

To those who need profound succor and strength to enable them to live in the present with dignity and creativity, Christianity often has been sterile and of little avail. The conventional Christian word is muffled, confused, and vague. Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. This is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless people.

I think Thurman will compliment another book I hope to make my way though this summer, The Christian Imagination by Willie James Jennings. Jennings is one of a very few scholars who interacts with the theological roots of race and racism. It’s important and relevant work for our churches and Jennings writes clearly about topics that, by their very nature, mean to remain murky.

My friend, Dr. Vincent Bacote, kindly sent me a copy of his latest book, the slim and very readable The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life. This is a topic Dr. Bacote has thought about a lot and I hope the book will be read widely by Christians who want to interact more precisely with American politics. I hope Dr. Bacote won’t mind that his Abraham Kuyper-influenced book is brushing up a collection of writings from early pietists. My denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, has strong pietist roots and I’m enjoying dipping into the passionate writings of these men.

Finally, I’ve started Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way. I’m woefully ignorant when it comes to First Nations’ perspectives on Christian theology and Twiss, who died recently and unexpectedly, is proving to be a trustworthy guide.

Unquestionably, this is too many books to be reading at once. To be fair, a handful of these are simply available to visit occasionally. So how about you? What are you reading these days that you can recommend?