I picked up two books last Wednesday night and have been busy reading them, rather than blogging and posting. What books am I reading? They are books that have been recommended to me by other confessional Lutherans.
Spirituality of the Cross by Gene Edward Veith.
Wow! I knew this book would be good, because it has been so consistently recommended by nearly every confessional Lutheran I talk to. But I didn't expect it to become my new favorite book. Up until now, my recommended "you've got to read it" book was The Defense Never Rests: A Lawyer's Quest for the Gospel by Craig A. Parton. It still is, but now I've got two books to recommend.
What I love about this book is that it is yet another good story of a faith journey that leads a Christian to Jessus and the cross. I am selfish and I love to hear that someone else had my same experience in finding a church. This is also a book that compels you to make a list of all the people you know who could relate to his story: new-agers, liberal Christians, etc. I've only read about 1/4 of the book, so this review is a work in progress. If you haven't yet read this book, join me! If you've already read it, please let me know what you thought. What other of Veith's books are "must reads"?
The other book I'm reading is Why I Am a Lutheran: Jesus at the Center by Daniel Preus. Not as a profound a read, but many good nuggets in this book. This book is going on my Christmas gift-giving list for a few family members.
1 comment:
I love Gene Veith's book. It's has a very large share of the responsibility for bringing me into Lutheranism, just as "Mere Christianity" can take much of the credit, under God, for restoring me to the Christian faith in the first place. Indeed, I've described Gene Veith on my own blog as "the CS Lewis of confessional Lutheranism" - a professor of English who writes great theology/apologetics.
Craig Parton I enjoyed, but found it quite a mixture in terms of content - the description of his journey from "Campus Crusade"-style evangelicalism to Lutheranism was great, and I enjoyed the section on apologetics, and also the short closing section on the need for Lutherans to hold fast to our liturgical heritage, but at times I found myself wondering if this all belonged in the same book!
Daniel Preus I just haven't been able to get into, for some reason. I think it's that slightly folksy, anecdotal style, which I find a bit "American" (sorry!). "I held Mary-Ann Beth's hand, and she told me, 'the theology of the cross is such a comfort to me right now, pastor'" - that sort of thing... :-)
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