Here's what we've read over the last academic year (2015-16) in case any of it might interest you! Do ask any staff member which they would most recommend - each of the books have their own fans and detractors among us...
If you wanted to read any yourself do visit our friends at 10ofthose (who stock most of them) - or ask to borrow a copy from one of us!
"Pastoral work...is that aspect of Christian ministry that specializes in the ordinary. It is the nature of the pastoral life to be attentive to, immersed in, and appreciative of the everyday texture of people's lives - the buying and selling, the visiting and meeting, the going and coming."
Eugene H Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor, p.112.
"We learn most, it seems, from those with whom we differ. They may see what we have missed. They may see correctly what we have misperceived. And even when we are convinced that the misconceptions are theirs, the raising of fresh questions invigorates our reading of familiar texts..."
Stephen Westerholm, Justification Reconsidered, p.vii.
"Ever since God declared that it was "not good" for Adam to be alone, human beings have being living alongside one another, sharing life together. I need other people in my life. I need them to offload to after a bad day; I need them to work alongside me in ministry; I need them to share a bottle of wine with me as we put the world to rights; I need them to point out to me the parts of my character that need working on; I need them to celebrate with me when good things happen; I need them to spend my days off and holidays with; I need them to give me a hug and tell me everything's going to be OK."
Kate Wharton, Single-Minded, p.173.
We like to make sure we read some church history and this year we learnt about the very early church by asking the question Who Chose the Gospels? as we read CE Hill's fascinating book:
"In one sense, of course, the answer to the question: "Who chose the Gospels?" is, everybody who has know something of that indemonstrable power and majesty and, like Aristides, Justin, Irenaeus, Clement, and countless others, has chosen to live by their telling of the story of Jesus. But second century Christian leaders would have said that neither individuals nor churches had the authority to "choose" which of the many Gospels they liked, but to receive the ones given by God and handed down by Christ through his apostles."
CE Hill, Who Chose the Gospels? p.246.
"...the commanding insistence of the Scripture is that in justification it is the righteousness of God which is revealed from faith to faith, and therefore a righteousness which is contrasted not only with human unrighteousness but with human righteousness. It is righteousness which is divine in quality."
John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, p.120.
"...what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that's about to fall over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that's shortly going to be thrown on the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that's about to be dug up for a building site. You are - strange though it might seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself - accomplishing something which will become, in due course, part of God's new world. Every act of love, gratitude and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one's fellow human beings, and for that matter one's fellow non-human creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed which spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honoured in the world - all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation which God will one day make."
Tom Wright, Surprised by Hope, p.219.
"...any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in 'the High Countries."'
CS Lewis, The Great Divorce, p.8.
"We think about Scripture's teaching on sexuality as a 'list of rules' rather than as a coherent picture of the 'good life.' If Christian instruction about sexuality is just a moral code, then we are tempted to question why these rules are so important. But those who hold this perspective lose sight of the fact that these are not just rules. The Christian vision of sexuality is the gracious provision of a loving God who invites us into a life of flourishing via participation in his own character, the relationships within the Trinity, and the reality of the kingdom of heaven as it takes shape on earth."
Jonathan Grant, Divine Sex, p.126.
"....Christians are like cockroaches. We can survive anything by the grace of God.'"
Mark Dever, God and Politics, p.29.
"We do not profess that the religion of Christ will so thoroughly change a man as to take away from him all his natural tendencies; it will give the despairing something that will alleviate that despondency, but as long as that is caused by a low state of body, or diseased mind, we do not profess that the religion of Christ will totally remove it. No, rather, we do see every day that amongst the best of God's servants, there are those who are always doubting, always looking to the dark side of every providence, who look at the threatening more than the promise, who are ready to write bitter things against themselves...'"
Charles Spurgeon in Zack Eswine, Spurgeon's Sorrows, p.38.
At various stages we have also read each of the following shorter articles. All worth a read. All free!
- Francis Schaeffer, The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way
- BB Warfield, Imitating the Incarnation
- CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory
- Jonathan Edwards, A Divine and Supernatural Light
What about last year? Read this.
