books, books, books

So, MCC has an absolutely glorious library, and I have really been benefitting from it this year… when it´s hard to have deep, thoughtful conversations about justice, peace, God and other important things due to surface spanish, a good book can sometimes substitue, I´ve found!  I have therefore decied to make a list of books that have been read during my term of service here in Bolivia, are in the process of being read, and that I want to read, with two aims.  First of all, it will let my academic advisor at UW who decides if I get a credit for this or not know that even though I might not be blogging a lot of deep analytical thoughts, I AM indeed reading a lot and thinking a lot… and that has got to count for something! Second of all, I figure this list could maybe spur one of you, my dearest friends and family members to pick up one of these cool, thought provoking books that I have had the pleasure of gaining insight from this past year, and maybe you would get something out of them as well! I realize that you are probaby not in the situation of I am with time to read on the micro… the opportunity I have now of time to read whatever I want (instead of what´s required by professors) is really quite valuable, and so I want to make the best of it! I have a little notebook that I keep stashed in my backpack to record thoughts and cool ideas from these books, and I often want to blog about them and share these ideas but there is really just so much I dont know where to start. To  do these books justice you´ve got to read them, I guess. Not just this page. Okay, anyways, this has been certainly enough of an introduction.

 Books I´ve read so far during service term…

- The Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claibourne. Yes, this book is old news and I read it a couple years ago and waved it in everyone´s face excitedly,  hoping that they would read it too and catch the vision of a body of Christ empowered to work together against poverty. It was just as good the second time, and I know I´ve said this before, but it´s a gooder. Ahem, family, ahem. Read it if you want to understand me.  Here are some fave quotes:

¨I am not interested in a Christianity that offers families only mansions and streets of gold in heaven when all they want is a bed for their kids now.¨

¨We´re all into the born again thing, which is great. We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemous. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you you have to sell evertything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to a guy too.¨

¨Tithes, tax exempt donations and mission trips, while they can do some good, can also function as outlets that allow us to appease our consciences and still remain a safe distance from the poor. Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity but concrete acts of love…. Following Jesus is simple but not easy. Love untill it hurts, and then love some more.¨

¨May we start beating out swords into plowshares now, and the kingdom will be not just something we hope for when we die, but something we see on Earth as it is in heaven, the kingdom that is among us and within us, as Jesus said.¨

- Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. Donald Miller wrote Blue Like Jazz, another good book which many of you might be familliar with. I also really enjoyed this book of his, finding his honest , quirky writing style refreshing and his thoughts fresh and insightful. Another gooder, and barely took any time to read. He talks about how the main difference in the christian faith from others is that it offers a relational dynamic with God… so why are we caught up in formulas? ¨What if the gospel of Jesus is an invitation to know God, and being a Christian is more like falling in love that agreeing with a set of principles? If the gospel is realtional, that is if our brokenness will be fixed not by our understanding of thelogy but by God telling us who we are, then that would require incredible intamacy.¨ Among a lot of other things in the book, I liked the idea of reading the bible like literature, not looking for formulas in the text to make my life better, but as though someone was trying to tell me something about life, something that he thought was beautiful or inspiring. Another cool thought – I never really thought about God valuing art before – but David wrote hundreds of poems, Soloman wrote a musical about romance, and paul and the greek poets memorized so he could quote them. As a drama kid, avid collager and someone learning to appreciate poetry, I thought it was really cool that God recognizes the need to express our souls through art. Anyways.

-  Rich Christians in an age of Hunger . Rather thick, but really worth it.  Extremely thorough and with really good arguments, full of scripture references – dad, I thought you´d like it. Maybe this is the irresistable revolution for the older generations, because it presents it´s case academically and thoroughly, starting at the very beginning and leavnig nothing out. I found this convicting: ¨Neglect on the biblical teaching on structural injustice or institutionalized evil is one of the most deadly ommissions in the church today. Christians are frequently imbalanced in their stand against sin, speaking out against drug abouse and sexual misconduct, but not the sins of instutitionalized racism and unjust economic structures that destroy just as many¨ Whoooah, no?

- Lessons of St. Francis of Assisi - I LOVE St. Francis! He was absolutely nuts. He  started off rich, but then had a conversion and started giving  people the clothes off his back regularly. If he didnt have anything to give, whe would beg on that person´s behalf. He was so radically living to see God´s justice on earth, it´s really quite amazing to me. This book talked about his takes on creativity, simple living, prayer, compassion, and lots more. Another gooder! (Dear friends of mine who want to to do this communal living thing together in the future: read about St. Francis!)

- Jesus for President by Shane Claibourne  -  More exploration of the Bible´s political imagination. Cool book. Took a while to get through, actually, but totally worth it. Practical ideas, expanding on the first book by Shane.

- If God is Love. Whoooah. This book shook up everything I´d ever been taught, as the author believes in universal salvation. As in, everyone will get to heaven if God really is love, and once we realize this and stop trying to convert each other, we can come together to work for a better world. Whats scary is his arguments werent half bad. Rather interesting and thought provoking, though there were some holes and  Í wasn´t convinced by the end.

- Is it insensitive to share your faith?  Dealt with SO MANY questions and nagging feelings I have about evangelism, something that the evangelical christians do a LOT of here in ways that seem egocentric, close minded and very un Christ-like to me. Obviously the debate between the camp of christians passionate about winning converts and those who are  more ¨social gospel¨school of thought is complicated, but I guess it really is a balance.  That seems like an easy answer I guess but in reality balance is of course a point of tension!

¨Jesus seems to know what we should also know: that preaching about the great shalom making project without practicing it has litle integrity. And that practiciting it without preaching it leaves people in the dark as to the deeper source of one´s actions. Both demonstration and explanation are needed for people to fully see and understand what God is up to in the world. Both work and witness, word and deed are essential if the scope of God´s love is to be known.¨

- Love in a Fearful Land by Henri Nouman – About the genocide in Guatemala and a priest who was killed there in the struggle for human rights.

- Sleeping with Bread – About the prayer of the examen, something that I hadn´t heard of before (maybe it´s more catholic?)  but think is a neat idea.

 Still working on…

- Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere – Wordy. Feels like something I´d have to read for school, but I want to keep trying because I´m told it´s a brilliant work. The stuff I understand is totally inspiring and neat though.

- The Upside Down Kingdom – SO GOOD. As usual, mennonites are ahead of the game… this is like the irresistable revolution, only was written ages ago. I am going slowly with this one, trying to to waste any of it.  ¨Any gospel which is not social is not Gospel at all. God didn´t just sit in his theological rocking chair stroking his beard. He became social in the form of his Son. We do not have two gospels, one spiritual and one social. We have a single intregrated gospel, the gospel of the kingdom.¨

 - Jesus Among Other God´s by Ravi Zacharias.  Deals with the exclusivity of Jesus´message. in comparison to other religions. I orignally picked this up to get the other side of the ¨If God is Love¨message, but just didn´t find it a particularly compelling read, to be honest. Might try again though.

- Transforming the Peace Builder, by Ron Kraybill.  SO GOOD. Want to photocopy this and take it with me. Deals with how to not get burnt out or discouraged in peace work, which I am learning is a huge question.

Wanting to get my hands on…

- Gracias by Henri Nouman

- Vultures and Butterflies

- Open Veins of Latin America

- Democracy and Defiance by the Democracy center.

- All of Agosto Boal´s books (Theatre of the Oppressed, Rainbow of Desire, Games for actors and non-actors)

- Animal Vegetable Miracle

- Amish Grace

… and lots more!   WEll, if you´ve read any of these books and would like to add a little to the debate, please do! Also, what are YOU people reading lately? What would you  reccommend?