Summer Reading

My inspiration for posting this list comes from the promising young scholar who I hired to teach theology two years ago. Visit his new blog: What God Reads.

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1. J.N.D. Kelly. Early Christian Doctrines, Revised Edition. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1978.

--A book I re-read on a fairly regular basis.

2. Kenneth R. Miller. Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution. New York: Harper Perennial, 2007.

--If my readers haven't figured it out yet, this guy changed my entire perspective on the Intelligent Design / Creationism issue.

3. Matthew Alper. The God Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God. New York: Rogue Press, 2001.

--I haven't started it yet, but plan to soon. The subtitle says it all. I suspect the author is on a spiritual journey and doesn't know it.

4. Nicholas Wade. Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.

--If you have an open mind (i.e., your gag-reflex is not set off by evolutionary theory), this is an extremely well-written work. I enjoyed every moment of it.

5. Bryan Sykes. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.

--I couldn't put it down. Sykes is a world renown geneticist and the author of the groundbreaking Seven Daughters of Eve. Not only does he demonstrate that the Celtic roots of England run as deep as those of Ireland, he also shows how genetics can even serve as the bridge between origin-myths and history.

6. Aidan Nichols. No Bloodless Myth: A Guide Through Balthasar's Dramatics. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000.

--Nichols is one of my favorite authors, and Hans Urs Von Balthasar one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. The combination of the two makes for an incredible read.

7. Lorna Kendall, Ed. Michael Ramsey as Theologian. Oxford: Cowley Publications, 1995.

--Something that's been on my shelf for years. Archbishop Ramsey was a giant, so this reads more like a devotional to me. His theological insights never cease to amaze me.