Some thoughts on books I read in 08

'The God who is there' - Francis Schaeffer.. I really enjoyed this book. It challenged me a lot about the importance of understanding the claims of the Christian faith about the historical Jesus - which was a little suprising from a philosopher. A great help and encouragement to consider the validity and importance of an integrated Christian view of life. Although written prior to post-modernism it in real ways sees some of it's problem's before time. The 'cultural refernces' now seem quite quaint, the Christian view of life he commends is anything but quaint. It was my first read of any schaeffer, I will read more, in face at some point I will need to read this again!!


'Leadership on the Front Foot' - Zac Veron (no relation to juan sebastian veron as far as I know!) - A useful read for someone doing ministry, expecially within the Sydney context. To the point - well literally it is 23 points - of practical wisdom. At times it feels a little gung ho about it all, but speaks with a clarity that you like to hear when you are trying to untie the gordian knot that is parish ministry, especially in a multi parish setting. I liked it and it was easy to get the points in practical ways.

'Living with the Underworld' - Peter Bolt. [The blurb reads, 'In Living with the Underworld, Peter Bolt brings his quirky and humorous style to his topic, and makes his book hard to put down because it is so fascinating and engaging.' Well hate to disappoint them, but I found it easy to put down, and in fact gave up on finishing it. I found it a real dissapointment, it was supposed to be a homage to the Sopranos, it was a little more pulp theology. I needed some serious help, this book was not it!)

'Knowledge of God and Service of God' - Karl Barth. (Given as a set of lectures about natural theology (which is funny in itself!) it actually is a good book to get something of the essence of Barth, distilled down into a more manageble read. He is an enigma, so much genius, so many simple things confused!!)

'Suprised by hope' - Tom Wright (not a bad read, he has a good main point about the life after the life after death, but in typical style, his style is more impressive than substantive, which means there are some odd moments of madness for mind!)