December 5, 2024
Each year, I tell you all about ten books I have read this year that have shaped my faith. It’s not that I agree with every word of these books (people who only read books they already agree with are no fun). These are books that caused me to think or reflect in some new way this year. This week I will tell you about five of them and then give you another five next week:
Tim Alberta grew up as the son of an evangelical pastor. Alberta also covers evangelicalism for The Atlantic and he has written honestly about the evangelical’s embrace of abrasive politics. At his father’s funeral, he had people he had known and love for decades come up to him and chew him out for some of his writing. This book is essentially about asking the question, “How did we get here? How have we come to a place where evangelical Christians feel brazen enough to lambast a man at his father’s funeral?” This book is a brutally honest, yet necessary look at how many evangelicals (which I consider myself to be and so does Alberta, by the way) have lost their way through aligning themselves with harmful political movements in our country.
- Confessions by St. Augustine
St. Augustine is one of those giants of Christian history that most of us will hear quoted, but we rarely talk about his life. This autobiography is Augustine’s account of how he came to Christian faith. It also is a story of his mother’s persistent, faithful praying for her son throughout his life. Eventually, he came to realize that faith is not about empty ritual; it is an admittance that human beings have a need for belonging that only be fulfilled in a relationship with their Creator. As Augustine famously says in Confessions, “Thou hast made us thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”
- Invitation to Silence and Solitude: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence by Ruth Haley Barton
Solitude has never been a strength of mine in my spirituality. I am an extrovert who would much rather prefer being in the thick of the party rather than alone. But, if I am honest, I sometimes fill my life with noise and clamor so that I can avoid dealing with the bigger questions of life. This year I have been trying to practice intentional silence and solitude as a way to grow closer to God. Not every morning, but on most mornings, I set a ten-minute timer and simply sit in silence. I allow myself to listen to God, but with no agenda other than simply being in God’s presence. As I tried to instill these practices into my life, Ruth Haley Barton’s book was a wonderful guide. It has offered hints and wisdom along the way.
- A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass
Winston Churchill, allegedly, said something like, “History is written by the victors.” It is an acknowledgement that the history we read is often interpreted through a certain lens. Every now and then, it is important for us to take off that lens and see history from a different perspective. In this book, Diana Butler Bass explores the history of Christianity through a unique lens. She tells stories of women and men who have followed Jesus, but whose stories are rarely told because they do not always fit the established narrative of “church history.” Reading these stories is inspiring and a reminder that Christianity is a wide river with room enough for a variety of perspectives.
This book is a wild, compelling, frustrating, confusing, unnerving, and interesting read. I devoured this book and read it in about three days. It recounts the story of an innovative, progressive church in Philadelphia and how this church responds to a quickly shifting culture. How do churches respond to racial injustice? How do churches deal with disagreements about biblical interpretation, human sexuality, or societal norms? If Alberta’s book above recounts the struggles within American evangelicalism, Griswold’s book gives us a glimpse into the struggles of progressive Christianity that becomes unmoored from its orthodox foundations.
Next week, I will tell you about five more books I’ve read this year that have shaped my faith.
