My booklist (if anyone cares)

J. Hathaway

- 6 minutes read - 1218 words

I have quoted many books on this blog over the last ten months. I thought it would be good to keep a better record of the books that I have read and cited on this blog. Besides the list, I provide more detail on a few of my number ones.1 Going forward, I will keep a link to the current book list on the homepage.

The Number Ones

At the end of this post, I have an alphabetized list of the books I have read and cited. Here are my favorites from the list (although I like almost every book on the list below).

Number One

Most moved mover: a theology of God’s openness by Clark Pinnock was published in 2001. It was the second book I read in the space of openness theology. Clark is a great writer and writes in a way that connects to those of us new to readings in theology. I highly recommend the book, and I liked the title so much that I purchased the web domain.

Theology

Theology in the flesh: how embodiment and culture shape the way we think about truth, morality, and God by John Sanders was published in 2016. John was one of the early writers in the openness theology2 space with Clark Pinnock. Wikipedia says, ‘Pinnock and Sanders sought to reform evangelical theology, advocating what Brian McLaren calls “a generous orthodoxy.” Some referred to them as “postconservative evangelicals” or “postmodern evangelicals.” The lightning rod issue was Sanders’ and Pinnock’s affirmation of “dynamic omniscience” which denies that God has exhaustive definite foreknowledge of future contingent events.’3 Theology in the flesh opened my eyes to how we perceive and describe truth. His book was well-referenced, and I found many of the other books on this list through his references.

LDS Author

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon by Jeffrey Holland was published in 1997. I read it around the year 2000, and his method of scriptural commentary was fascinating. It was like no other book that I had ever read up to that point. His commentary on the Brother of Jared was my first touchpoint on the concept of God being surprised. Elder Holland says, ‘The brother of Jared, on the other hand, seems to have thrust himself through the veil, not as an unwelcome guest but perhaps technically as an uninvited one.’

Wrestling the angel: the foundations of Mormon thought : cosmos, God, humanity by Terryl Givens was published in 2015 is tied with Christ and the new covenant. I appreciated Terryl’s writing style. He was very persuasive through his well-referenced documentation on the diversity of LDS theological beliefs. The book is a thick read but seems like a vital read for any LDS that wants to dive into theology.

Quickest Read

Grace is not God’s backup plan: an urgent paraphrase of Paul’s letter to the Romans by Adam Miller was published in 2015. His writings that are published for LDS audiences are usually short. I found his essays within the last two years (as with many other LDS) and fell in love with his writing style. Letters to a young Mormon was the first of his works that I read.

Non-religious Book

A mathematician’s lament by Paul Lockhart was published in 2009. Paul writes in a clear style that prompted me to think about how I study theology and how I teach at BYU-I. I think everyone should at least read the lament portion.

The booklist

Here is the full list. I only include the first author when listing the author. Here is my .bib file if anyone is interested.

  1. I am starting keep my goodreads.com profile up to date, and it contains other books that I have recently read. ↩︎

  2. The God who risks: a theology of divine Providence is probably tied with Most moved mover: a theology of God’s openness. It was published in 2007. ↩︎

  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sanders ↩︎

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