I have always loved books. I remember when I got my first library card at about the age of 6 and would weekly check out the maximum number of books a kid was allowed to check at a time (10) from the Eagle Rock branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. I also remember when I "graduated" from the thin books with the big print and pictures to the thick books with the small print and no pictures ... and that I had to renew "Little Women" three times to get through it in 3rd grade but I did it!Anyway, Sunday night at our new member class a participant was excitedly showing me the "new" book he'd just discovered ... "What Is Anglicanism" by Urban T. Holmes ... and asked me if I'd ever read it.
"READ it!" I exclaimed. "If I had to pick the top ten books from my library it would totally be on the list!"
"And what," he asked, "would the other books be?" And so I've been thinking about that ever since. And though I could NEVER narrow my library down to just ten books, not counting the Bible or my Prayer Book -- at this particular moment in this particular Lent -- these are the other nine books I chose:
- TELLING THE TRUTH by Frederick Buechner
- THE DREAM OF GOD by Verna Dozier
- THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY by Marcus Borg
- WE ARE THEOLOGIANS by Fredrica Harris Thompsett
- THE IRRATIONAL SEASON by Madeline L'Engle
- HEART OF FLESH by Joan Chittister (or WISDOM DISTILLED FROM THE DAILY but that's at home)
- TRAVELING MERCIES by Anne Lamott (who's coming here next week with her newest book)
- UNEXPECTED NEWS by Robert McAfee Brown
- SHE WHO IS by Elizabeth Johnson
The list could change tomorrow, but that's mine for the moment. What's yours?
5 comments:
For the record, the books I'm reading right now are "The Barbarian Nurseries," "Christianity After Religion," and "The Naked Now."
I also love Ann Lamott -- anything by her. Fredrica is great too. I also love the poetry of Adrienne Rich (many social justice themes) and the poetry of Marge Piercy, especially her Jewish stuff which is so beautiful to be universal. Anything published by the Iona Abbey inspires me.
My favorite piece of wisdom from "What of Anglicanism" is this -- "Christian conversion, a turning to Christ, is the result of a marinade rather than a glaze. We are transformed by being soaked in the Gospel, rather than having it brushed on at the last minute."
I saved your list for future reading; thanks for the suggestions.
My favourite author is Charles de Lint. He writes what some call speculative fiction and some call fantasy, but I just call darned good books. He has a fascinating way of weaving together different faith traditions and spiritualities so that you can see the commonalities and the beauty in each. I doubt that he calls himself a theologian, but I think that he is.
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