Five Favorite Books from 2019
For the previous few years it’s been my habit to compile an almost-entirely arbitrary list of five of the books I most enjoyed during that year. I posted the list on my blog earlier this week.
I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a bad year of reading, but if there is, this wasn’t it. I got to review some very interesting books: The 21 (see below), Passionate for Justice, and The Color of Life for The Englewood Review of Books and Whole and Reconciled for Missio Alliance which, along with I Bring the Voices of My People (see below), has influenced my perspective on racial reconciliation. A friend recommended Beyond the Abortion Wars which I in turn also recommend for tender and charitable engagement about a reality which can seem impossible to talk about in mixed company. I loved David Blight’s biography about Frederick Douglass and I learned so much from The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, David Treuer’s stark and beautiful reminder that Native American life continues with a diversity of expressions all over this country. I could go on: N.T. Wright’s biography about Paul was the perfect companion for our travels in Greece, The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates surpassed my high expectations, and I finally got to Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. I’ve been doing a bit of bird watching and Maggie gave me God’s of the Morning as a birthday gift. Oh, and I finished The Crucifixion by Flemming Rutledge early in the year. A genuine masterpiece!
So, as I do each year, here are five of my favorites from a list full of favorites. There is biography, theology, history, and whatever The 21 is on this list. I hope there’s something here that piques your readerly interest.
I’ve posted a couple of paragraphs about each of the books on the list over on my blog.
An article I wrote for Missio Alliance, “Trembling this Advent,” was posted this week.
In the days leading to Christmas in 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his good friend Eberhard Bethge from prison. He’d been told that on Christmas Eve a “dear old man is coming here at his own suggestion to play some Christmas carols on a cornet.” This, wrote Bonhoeffer, was a bad idea. In his opinion, “In view of all the misery that prevails here, anything like a pretty-pretty, sentimental reminder of Christmas is out of place. A good personal message, a sermon, would be better; without something of the kind, music by itself may be positively dangerous.”1 The thirty-six year old German theologian and pastor worried that holiday festivities would simply demoralize his fellow prisoners as they remembered all they were missing back home. In prison, the days before Christmas required something sturdier than sentiment.
We’ve still got a few days until Christmas, so you’re allowed to read the rest of it.
I was more than a little surprised to see an op-ed in Christianity Today covered on the New York Times homepage yesterday. Mark Galli, the editor in chief, writes that recent events make it clear that President Trump should be removed from office.
To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?
It was encouraging to see the evangelical magazine of note take such a strong position. I’m sure they’ll face plenty of push-back and I’ll be praying for my friends who work there.
In my perfect world Galli would have noted the fact that many, many American evangelical Christians of color have been clear about this president’s “grossly immoral character” for a long time. In addition to his strongly voiced opposition, I’d have loved to hear a humble note of repentance as well. (A note I’d be happy to chime in on.) It seems that Galli and his colleagues have been motivated in how they engage with this president by a desire for unity within the church. Noticing how churches of color have suffered under this administration would have aligned with this godly aim.
But my hunch - and I could be very wrong - is that Galli, and so many others within white evangelicalism who are appalled by this president, still struggle to see the white supremacy that animates this presidential administration and its unflagging supporters. I’m disappointed by that; it’s a missed opportunity for Christian solidarity and reconciliation. Even so, I’m genuinely thankful for the hopeful step this editorial represents and I pray it opens the door for more.
I expect to take the next couple of weeks over Christmas off from the newsletter. I’ve enjoyed sending a few of the things preoccupying my thoughts to your in-boxes. I’d be grateful if you recommended my little newsletter to a friend. Thanks for reading! May the remaining days of Advent be blessed and your Christmas full of joy.