What I Have Been Reading - And Confirmation that Pastors are Nerds

Does God predetermine who is saved? Are human beings free to choose or does God's will determine everything? This book presents five views on what is called the doctrine of election.

I read this book about a month ago and found it helpful but a bit narrow. Of the five theologians, two were Calvinists (of slightly different stripes), one was an Arminian, one a Universalist, and one an Open Theologian. I could have done without one of the Calvinists and the Universalist.

Instead, it would have been helpful to have an Eastern Orthodox and a Roman Catholic for some wider perspectives. Protestants tend to go round and round a few verses of Romans. They are also locked into supporting or rejecting the Augustine/Luther/Calvin protestant hegemony over this subject. There are vast areas of Christianity that don't take Augustine as the starting point on this discussion.

I need to read more Patristics.


So next I read this. Meh. Not quite what I was looking for, but it is a great intro to the first couple of centuries of Christian thinking.

And for those of you who believe that the Church fell into apostasy right after the New Testament was written until Martin Luther came along, well, no. Calvin, Luther, and the Reformers loved the Church Fathers and used them extensively in their theological battles against medieval Roman Catholicism.

The foundation of all Christian theology, inclucing Protestant theology, was laid by these guys.





I missed the whole Nicholas Sparks phenomenon so I picked this up. I loved the way he wove the story together, even if I kind of wanted to throw up a couple of times when the hero would start crying.

I wonder if it sets women up to have unrealistic expectations of men. Who can measure up to Noah? But I suppose it might inspire us men to try a bit harder.






Who knew there were so many nice hikes in the Houston area? Allie and I have already used this book and found it very helpful








Back to the theology. I'm very fond of N.T. Wright but I'm enjoying this critique of his doctrine of justification by John Piper.

"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend" - Proverbs 17: 27













A book on church leadership that I keep starting and stopping. If I can get through it, it will probably have a big impact on me and the congregation.














This is sitting on my nightstand and I'm still thinking about it. It's a big commitment. But I love Goodbye to All of That by Graves and he and Lawrence were friends. Besides, they made a movie out of this, so it's got to be good, right?