Readings, 2015

One of our New Year traditions here at terra incognita is to look back in January on the reading done in the year gone by.  Usually I try to find a creative way of framing the list-- top tens, book award categories, last year I hiaku'ed my way through the list.  This year I thought I'd try to "click-bait" my way through the list-- that is, come up with one of those silly and embarrassingly effective "click-bait" leaders you sometimes see on internet ads, as a way of introducing each one. So, for everyone out there wondering what Pastor Dale read in 2015, here goes:

1.  Into the Valley:  Spiritual Reflections on Depression, Logan Runnals.
I wanted to write a click-bait teaser for this, but when I tried, it's raw honesty, gentle transparency and unlooked-for wisdom left me humbled and silent...

2.  Space Time and Resurrection, T. F. Torrence.
This theologian tries to show how the theory of relativity illuminates the doctrine of the Resurrection and vice-versa, and by the time he got to the meaning of the ascension, I was left in awe ...

3.  The Complete English Poems of John Donne,  John Donne.
His "The Anagram" left me blushing, his "Sappho to Philaenis" left me speechless, and his "Corona" left me in a holy hush ...

4.  The Cross of Christ, John Stott.
This classic defense of the substitutiary atonement was what I needed when I most needed it; he had me by chapter 2 ...

5.  The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
This one was tough slugging, but when it got to Book VIII, I just couldn't put it down ...

6.  15 Characteristics of Effective Pastors.
I couldn't believe Characteristic Number 8!

7.  Waking the Dead:  The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive,  John Eldridge.
Mostly pretty fluffly stuff, but his talk about being afraid of the light at least inspired a song for me.

8.  The Bostonians,  Henry James.
Most. Painful. Read. Ever.

9.  Building a Discipleship Culture,  Mike Breen.
Offers the different "shapes" of discipleship.  When it got to shape 6, I was all like: whaaaat?

10.  The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis.
Letter number 18 was thought-provoking, but letter number 31 was awesome!