Luke's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:27:14 -0700 60 Luke's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself--and to God--When You're Wounded, Weary, and Wandering]]> 209399735 240 Chuck DeGroat 1496483146 Luke 4 4.5 4.54 Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself--and to God--When You're Wounded, Weary, and Wandering
author: Chuck DeGroat
name: Luke
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:
4.5
]]> <![CDATA[How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told]]> 62919409 From Harrison Scott Key, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, How to Stay Married tells the hilarious, shocking, and spiritually profound story of one man’s journey through hell and back when infidelity threatens his marriage.

One gorgeous autumn day, Harrison discovers that his wife—the sweet, funny, loving mother of their three daughters, a woman “who’s spent just about every Sunday of her life in a church”—is having an affair with a family friend. This revelation propels the hysterical, heartbreaking action of How to Stay Married , casting our narrator onto “the factory floor of hell,� where his wife was now in love with a man who “wears cargo shorts, on purpose.� What will he do? Kick her out? Set fire to all her panties in the yard? Beat this man to death with a gardening implement? Ask God for help in winning her back?

Armed with little but a sense of humor and a hunger for the truth, Harrison embarks on a hellish journey into his past, seeking answers to the riddles of faith and forgiveness. Through an absurd series of escalating confessions and betrayals, Harrison reckons with his failure to love his wife in the ways she needed most, resolves to fight for his family, and in a climax almost too ridiculous to be believed, finally learns that love is no joke. How to Stay Married is a comic romp unlike any in contemporary literature, a wild Pilgrim’s Progress through the hellscape of marriage and the mysteries of mercy.]]> 320 Harrison Scott Key 1668015501 Luke 0 currently-reading 4.04 2023 How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told
author: Harrison Scott Key
name: Luke
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War]]> 195608683 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.
Ěý
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.�
Ěý
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Ěý
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.]]> 565 Erik Larson 0385348746 Luke 3 history, non-fiction 4.13 2024 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
author: Erik Larson
name: Luke
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
Good, but too long and he gets lost in too many details.
]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Luke 5 family-life, non-fiction Really important book 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Luke
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: family-life, non-fiction
review:
Really important book
]]> <![CDATA[Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control]]> 44767248 A leading artificial intelligence researcher lays out a new approach to AI that will enable us to coexist successfully with increasingly intelligent machines

In the popular imagination, superhuman artificial intelligence is an approaching tidal wave that threatens not just jobs and human relationships, but civilization itself. Conflict between humans and machines is seen as inevitable and its outcome all too predictable.

In this groundbreaking book, distinguished AI researcher Stuart Russell argues that this scenario can be avoided, but only if we rethink AI from the ground up. Russell begins by exploring the idea of intelligence in humans and in machines. He describes the near-term benefits we can expect, from intelligent personal assistants to vastly accelerated scientific research, and outlines the AI breakthroughs that still have to happen before we reach superhuman AI. He also spells out the ways humans are already finding to misuse AI, from lethal autonomous weapons to viral sabotage.

If the predicted breakthroughs occur and superhuman AI emerges, we will have created entities far more powerful than ourselves. How can we ensure they never, ever, have power over us? Russell suggests that we can rebuild AI on a new foundation, according to which machines are designed to be inherently uncertain about the human preferences they are required to satisfy. Such machines would be humble, altruistic, and committed to pursue our objectives, not theirs. This new foundation would allow us to create machines that are provably deferential and provably beneficial.

In a 2014 editorial co-authored with Stephen Hawking, Russell wrote, "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last." Solving the problem of control over AI is not just possible; it is the key that unlocks a future of unlimited promise.]]> 352 Stuart Russell 0525558616 Luke 4 non-fiction 4.05 2019 Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control
author: Stuart Russell
name: Luke
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good News at Rock Bottom: Finding God When the Pain Goes Deep and Hope Seems Lost]]> 219794920 Meeting the Man of Sorrows Where We Need Him Most

We all long for a life worth living. So when we receive news of a frightening diagnosis, suffer heartbreaking loss in our family life, or get trapped in a cycle of our own sin, we might wonder about God. Where is he when we need him most? With wisdom from Isaiah 57:15, Good News at Rock Bottom helps listeners discover that Jesus is hard to find in the comfortable lives we prefer. Instead, he meets us at rock bottom—where he is waiting for us with open arms.

With grace and empathy, author Ray Ortlund opens a door for listeners to go deeper with God and get closer to faithful friends when life is hard to bear. You will discover that, at rock bottom, Jesus is more satisfying than any comfortable life without him.

Author Ray Ortlund meets listeners with honesty and helps them fall into the arms of Christ amid the painful seasons of life Appeals to Will resonate with anyone who has experienced betrayal, failure, loneliness, or wondered if God even cares Ideal for Individual or Small-Group Questions at the end of each chapter spur discussion with friends and reflection in one's own heart]]> 160 Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. 1433598868 Luke 4 4.59 Good News at Rock Bottom: Finding God When the Pain Goes Deep and Hope Seems Lost
author: Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.
name: Luke
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: leadership, ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You've Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended]]> 54232794
Based on a groundbreaking in-depth survey of 22,000 Christian women, The Great Sex Rescue unlocks the secrets to what makes some marriages red hot while others fizzle out. Generations of women have grown up with messages about sex that make them feel dirty, used, or invisible, while men have been sold such a cheapened version of sex, they don't know what they're missing. The Great Sex Rescue hopes to turn all of that around, developing a truly biblical view of sex where mutuality, intimacy, and passion reign.

The Great Sex Rescue pulls back the curtain on what is happening in Christian bedrooms and exposes the problematic teachings that wreck sex for so many couples--and the good teachings that leave others breathless. In the #metoo and #churchtoo era, not only is this book a long overdue corrective to church culture, it is poised to free thousands of couples from repressive and dissatisfying sex lives so that they can experience the kind of intimacy and wholeness God intended.]]> 272 Sheila Wray Gregoire 1540900827 Luke 0 to-read 4.55 2021 The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You've Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended
author: Sheila Wray Gregoire
name: Luke
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shameless: A Case for Not Feeling Bad About Feeling Good (About Sex)]]> 40128120 195 Nadia Bolz-Weber 1601427603 Luke 0 to-read 4.20 2019 Shameless: A Case for Not Feeling Bad About Feeling Good (About Sex)
author: Nadia Bolz-Weber
name: Luke
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality, and Secular Government]]> 59608903 224 Michael F. Bird 0310538882 Luke 0 to-read 4.07 Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality, and Secular Government
author: Michael F. Bird
name: Luke
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ferryman 61282437 New York Times bestselling author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia--where the truth isn't what it seems.

Founded by a mysterious genius, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera's lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process--and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he's been dreaming--which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.

Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group--known as "Arrivalists"--who may be fomenting revolution.

Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized--and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.]]> 538 Justin Cronin 052561947X Luke 2 fiction, modern-fiction 3.86 2023 The Ferryman
author: Justin Cronin
name: Luke
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life]]> 9963483 199 Richard Rohr 0470907754 Luke 2 4.21 2004 Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
author: Richard Rohr
name: Luke
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Something's Not Right: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse--and Freeing Yourself from Its Power]]> 51979035 "Am I the only one who sees this--am I just imagining things? Is something wrong with me . . . or could this be abuse?"
Maybe you don't know for sure: all you know is something feels off when you think about a certain relationship or interaction with an institution or organization. You feel alone and confused--but calling it "abuse" feels extreme and unsettling, a label for what happens to other people but not you. Yet you can't shake the feeling: something's not right.

In his debut book, researcher and advocate Wade Mullen introduces us to the groundbreaking world of impression management--the strategies that individuals and organizations utilize to gain power and cover up their wrongdoings. Mullen reveals a pattern that accompanies many types of abuse, almost as if abusers are somehow reading from the same playbook. If we can learn to decode these evil methods--if we can learn the language of abuse--we can help stop the cycle and make abusers less effective at accomplishing destruction in our lives.

Something's Not Right will help you to identify and describe tactics that were previously unidentifiable and indescribable, and give you the language you need to move toward freedom and create a safer future for yourself and others.]]> 240 Wade Mullen 1496444701 Luke 0 4.47 2020 Something's Not Right: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse--and Freeing Yourself from Its Power
author: Wade Mullen
name: Luke
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: currently-reading, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose]]> 50979333 Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a resource to help church leaders improve the culture of their church and disciple men and women in their flock to read, understand, and apply Scripture to our lives in the church. Until both men and women grow in their understanding of their relationship to Scripture, there will continue to be tension between the sexes in the church. Church leaders need to be engaged in thoughtful critique of the biblical manhood and womanhood movement and the effects it has on their congregation.

Do men and women benefit equally from God's word? Are they equally responsible in sharpening one another in the faith and passing it down to the next generation? While radical feminists claim that the Bible is a hopelessly patriarchal construction by powerful men that oppresses women, evangelical churches simply reinforce this teaching when we constantly separate men and women, customizing women's resources and studies according to a culturally based understanding of roles. Do we need men's Bibles and women's Bibles, or can the one, holy Bible guide us all? Is the Bible, God's word, so male-centered and authored that women need to create their own resources to relate to it? No! And in it, we also learn from women. Women play an active role as witnesses to the faith, passing it on to the new generations.

This book explores the feminine voice in Scripture as synergistic with the dominant male voice. Through the women, we often get the story behind the story--take Ruth for example, or the birth of Christ through the perspective of Mary and Elizabeth in Luke. Aimee fortifies churches in a biblical understanding of brotherhood and sisterhood in God's household and the necessity of learning from one another in studying God's word.

The troubling teaching under the rubric of "biblical manhood and womanhood" has thrived with the help of popular Biblicist interpretive methods. And Biblicist interpretive methods ironically flourish in our individualistic culture that works against the "traditional values" of family and community that the biblical manhood and womanhood movement is trying to uphold. This book helps to correct Biblicist trends in the church today, affirming that we do not read God's word alone, we read it within our interpretive covenant communities--our churches. Our relationship with God's word affects our relationship with God's people, and vice versa. The church is the school of Christ, commissioned to discipleship. The responsibility of every believer, men and women together, is being active and equal participants in and witnesses to the faith--the tradents of faith.]]> 224 Aimee Byrd 0310108713 Luke 2 3.92 2020 Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose
author: Aimee Byrd
name: Luke
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth, theology
review:

]]> Nemesis (Orphan X, #10) 211004916 No greater friend. No deadlier enemy.

Evan Smoak is a highly trained former government assassin who has survived for years by keeping his circle to a few trusted confidants and a strict code he calls "The Ten Commandments." But when Evan suddenly finds himself at odds with his oldest friend, all the rules he lives by shatter--and the consequences are murderous.

Tommy Stojack might be Evan's best friend in the world. He's a gifted gunsmith who has created much of Evan's own weapons and combat gear. But now, he has apparently crossed one of Evan's hardest lines and their argument explodes into open warfare. Now Evan has no choice but to track and face down his only friend.

In the meantime, Tommy has left town in order to honor his own promise to help a dead friend's son. While Tommy is fighting to save the son with everything he's got, Evan arrives with vengeance in mind.

But as deadly as the former Orphan X is, there is an even more dangerous threat about to arrive on the scene. The only question left is will any of them get out alive.]]> 464 Gregg Hurwitz 1250871743 Luke 3 fiction, modern-fiction 4.19 2025 Nemesis (Orphan X, #10)
author: Gregg Hurwitz
name: Luke
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom Men Rising: A Call to Growth and Greater Influence]]> 54834375 231 Tony Evans 1493430114 Luke 1 non-fiction 4.45 Kingdom Men Rising: A Call to Growth and Greater Influence
author: Tony Evans
name: Luke
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Intercept (The Shepherds, #1)]]> 57239692 When dark forces rise, are faith and firepower enough?

On the eve of his medical retirement, Navy SEAL Jedidiah Johnson receives a frantic call from his estranged childhood best friend David Yarnell. David's daughter has been kidnapped off the streets of Nashville in broad daylight. The police have no suspects and no leads. The only clue: the body of a dead priest left behind at the scene. With the clock ticking, David is growing desperate, as is his wife, Rachel . . . Jed's first love.

Despite his painful history with David and Rachel, Jed agrees to help. But he's spent his career as a door-kicking Navy SEAL, not an investigator. His presence immediately draws unwanted attention, creates friction with the local police, and triggers a mysterious attempt on his life. Just when he thinks things can't get worse, it starts to happen again--the voices in his head, the nightmares, the visions. Dark memories and strange abilities, things he believed he'd left behind when he fled Nashville for the Navy at eighteen, begin to resurface.

Jed realizes that to save the missing girl, he must take a leap of faith and embrace the gifts he's denied for all these years. To foil this dark intercept, he'll need more than just his years as a SEAL operator, because he has no choice now but to take up arms and join the battle in the unseen spiritual warfare raging all around him. And there is far more at stake than just a missing girl: the world is not the place he thought it was--and he is not alone.]]> 432 Brian Andrews 1496451341 Luke 1 non-fiction 3.93 2021 Dark Intercept (The Shepherds, #1)
author: Brian Andrews
name: Luke
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: non-fiction
review:
This book was not good. Just looking for a good spy thriller series but the weird Christian America aspects of this book ruined it (I say that as a Christian minister). Confusing a Navy SEAL wreak with people fighting demons, etc. Very weird. Im actually a bit embarrassed that I made it through 300 pages of this
]]> Domestic Monastery 49360247 112 Ronald Rolheiser 0232534128 Luke 5 4.26 Domestic Monastery
author: Ronald Rolheiser
name: Luke
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/09
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: family-life, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions]]> 42244997 Should I accept the new position? Which schooling choice is best for my kids? How can I support my aging parents? When we have a decision to make and the answer isn't clear, what we want more than anything is peace, clarity, and a nudge in the right direction.

If you have trouble making decisions, because of either chronic hesitation you've always lived with or a more recent onset of decision fatigue, Emily P. Freeman offers a fresh way of practicing familiar but often forgotten advice: simply do the next right thing. With this simple, soulful practice, it is possible to clear the decision-making chaos, quiet the fear of choosing wrong, and find the courage to finally decide without regret or second-guessing.

Whether you're in the midst of a major life transition or are weary of the low-grade anxiety that daily life can bring, Emily helps create space for your soul to breathe so you can live life with God at a gentle pace and discern your next right thing in love.]]> 256 Emily P. Freeman 0800736524 Luke 0 to-read 4.24 2019 The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions
author: Emily P. Freeman
name: Luke
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing]]> 51979066 What is the way forward for the church?
Tragically, in recent years, Christians have gotten used to revelations of abuses of many kinds in our most respected churches--from Willow Creek to Harvest, from Southern Baptist pastors to Sovereign Grace churches. Respected author and theologian Scot McKnight and former Willow Creek member Laura Barringer wrote this book to paint a pathway forward for the church.

We need a better way. The sad truth is that churches of all shapes and sizes are susceptible to abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse. Abuses occur most frequently when Christians neglect to create a culture that resists abuse and promotes healing, safety, and spiritual growth.

How do we keep these devastating events from repeating themselves? We need a map to get us from where we are today to where we ought to be as the body of Christ. That map is in a mysterious and beautiful little Hebrew word in Scripture that we translate "good," the word tov.

In this book, McKnight and Barringer explore the concept of tov--unpacking its richness and how it can help Christians and churches rise up to fulfill their true calling as imitators of Jesus.]]> 256 Scot McKnight 1496446003 Luke 4 4.32 A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing
author: Scot McKnight
name: Luke
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: leadership, ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> James 179550498
While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin�), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon� (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.]]> 304 Percival Everett 0385550375 Luke 0 to-read 4.60 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Luke
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)]]> 33257757 They call him father, liberator, warlord, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the pale blue planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-second of his life.

A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?

And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever:

A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.

An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.

And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe, and Iron Gold is the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterly New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown.]]> 602 Pierce Brown 042528591X Luke 3 fantasy, fiction 4.19 2018 Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)
author: Pierce Brown
name: Luke
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness (Biblical Fiction Based on the Stories of David, Saul, and Absalom)]]> 221282 105 Gene Edwards 0842369082 Luke 4 4.27 1980 A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness (Biblical Fiction Based on the Stories of David, Saul, and Absalom)
author: Gene Edwards
name: Luke
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: leadership, ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When the Church Harms God's People: Becoming Faith Communities That Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded]]> 209351049 176 Diane Langberg 1587436450 Luke 2 4.36 When the Church Harms God's People: Becoming Faith Communities That Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded
author: Diane Langberg
name: Luke
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: leadership, ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> The Wonderful Works of God 53289282 695 Herman Bavinck 1733627235 Luke 5 non-fiction, theology 4.73 1907 The Wonderful Works of God
author: Herman Bavinck
name: Luke
average rating: 4.73
book published: 1907
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: non-fiction, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lord Is My Courage: Stepping Through the Shadows of Fear Toward the Voice of Love]]> 59608790
How can we cultivate courage when fear overshadows our lives? How do we hear the Voice of Love when hate and harm shout loud? This book offers an honest path to finding that there is still a Good Shepherd who is always following you. Braiding contemplative storytelling, theological reflection, and practical neuroscience, Ramsey reveals a route into connection and joy that begins right where you are.

The Lord is My Courage is for the deconstructing and the dreamers, the afraid and the amazed, for those whose fear has not been fully shepherded but who can't seem to stop listening for their Good Shepherd's Voice.]]> 304 K.J. Ramsey 0310124166 Luke 3 4.55 The Lord Is My Courage: Stepping Through the Shadows of Fear Toward the Voice of Love
author: K.J. Ramsey
name: Luke
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse]]> 205305496
To Change All Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse by Carl R. Trueman is an accessible introduction to the history and development of critical theory. From Hegel and Marx, to Korsch and Lukács, to the Frankfurt School, to Wilhelm Reich and Herbert Marcuse—Trueman focuses on the key figures of critical theory, positioning them within their historical context and tracing the development of critical theory through its various movements, evolutions, nuances, and consequences.]]> 256 Carl R. Trueman 1087754399 Luke 2 history, non-fiction 4.41 To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse
author: Carl R. Trueman
name: Luke
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:

]]> Tom Landry 883671 302 Tom Landry 0310529107 Luke 3 4.02 1990 Tom Landry
author: Tom Landry
name: Luke
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: biography, history, non-fiction
review:

]]> The Nightingale 21853621 In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.]]> 564 Kristin Hannah 0312577222 Luke 2 fiction, modern-fiction 4.63 2015 The Nightingale
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Luke
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gospel of Matthew (New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT))]]> 1514293 1233 R.T. France 080282501X Luke 5 commentaries 4.50 2007 The Gospel of Matthew (New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT))
author: R.T. France
name: Luke
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves: commentaries
review:
It is very hard to beat this commentary for a technical exegetical study of Matthew. I particularly am grateful for Francis interpretation of Matthew 24.
]]> <![CDATA[The Gospel According to Matthew]]> 1663564
This superb commentary in the Pillar series explores the meaning and relevance of Matthew in an eminently straightforward fashion. Leon Morris writes for readers who use commentaries to discover further what the Bible means. Throughout, he makes clear what he considers to be the meaning of the Greek text that Matthew has bequeathed to the church. A perceptive introduction precedes Morris's warmhearted verse-by-verse exposition of Matthew, an exposition based on his own literal translation of the text. Now a standard reference work on the Gospel of Matthew, this mature, evangelically oriented commentary will continue to meet the needs of students, pastor, and general readers alike.]]> 798 Leon L. Morris 0802836968 Luke 4 commentaries 4.38 1992 The Gospel According to Matthew
author: Leon L. Morris
name: Luke
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves: commentaries
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Matthew, a Commentary, Vol. 2: The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28]]> 3279454 854 Frederick Dale Bruner 0802826709 Luke 5 commentaries I’ve had regular preaching ministry for 20 years and this is my favorite commentary ever.

Thanks Pastor Bruner ]]> 4.73 1990 Matthew, a Commentary, Vol. 2: The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28
author: Frederick Dale Bruner
name: Luke
average rating: 4.73
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves: commentaries
review:
Doesn’t get any better than this.
I’ve had regular preaching ministry for 20 years and this is my favorite commentary ever.

Thanks Pastor Bruner
]]> <![CDATA[The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil That Seduced the Evangelical Movement]]> 199350159
In The Church in Dark Times , Mike Cosper unveils this dynamic in the growing crisis of abuse and other failures in modern evangelical churches.

Cosper, a cultural critic and church leader, examines how the workings of evil have shifted in the modern world. Drawing on the work of 20th-century writer and philosopher Hannah Arendt, Cosper explores what we can learn from her theory of the "banality of evil," or ordinary people going along with corrupt principles and practices that have been normalized over time.

Through this fascinating study, Cosper uncovers the underlying causes of the breakdowns of the church and then offers practices that foster healing and renewal. This book will engage Christian leaders and all followers who want to better understand how church crises keep happening--and how we can resist them and move forward.]]> 224 Mike Cosper 158743573X Luke 0 to-read 4.35 The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil That Seduced the Evangelical Movement
author: Mike Cosper
name: Luke
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes]]> 406464 352 Robert S. McGee 0849944244 Luke 0 to-read 4.16 1984 The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes
author: Robert S. McGee
name: Luke
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)]]> 201930181
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. ĚýThen the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.

Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand â€� and manipulate â€� the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. ĚýHe will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.]]> 422 James S.A. Corey 031652557X Luke 4 fantasy, fiction 4.11 2024 The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Luke
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store]]> 65678550
Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which served the neighborhood's quirky collection of blacks and European immigrants, helped by her husband, Moshe, a Romanian-born theater owner who integrated the town's first dance hall. When the state came looking for a deaf black child, claiming that the boy needed to be institutionalized, Chicken Hill's residents—roused by Chona's kindess and the courage of a local black worker named Nate Timblin—banded together to keep the boy safe.

As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear how much the people of Chicken Hill have to struggle to survive at the margins of white Christian America and how damaging bigotry, hypocrisy, and deceit can be to a community. When the truth is revealed about the skeleton, the boy, and the part the town’s establishment played in both, McBride shows that it is love and community—heaven and earth—that ultimately sustain us.]]> 385 James McBride 0593422945 Luke 4 fiction, modern-fiction 4.5 3.83 2023 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
author: James McBride
name: Luke
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:
4.5
]]> <![CDATA[Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)]]> 13143259 0 Zondervan, 0310871360 Luke 4 non-fiction, theology
Very helpful. Especially the open but cautious view. ]]> 3.92 1996 Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
author: Zondervan,
name: Luke
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2012/10/04
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: non-fiction, theology
review:


Very helpful. Especially the open but cautious view.
]]> <![CDATA[Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)]]> 18930355 306 J.P. Moreland 0310873983 Luke 4 theology, non-fiction 3.58 1999 Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
author: J.P. Moreland
name: Luke
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/02
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: theology, non-fiction
review:

]]> War in Heaven 218487830 An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found: here

A battle over the most sacred object in Christendom...

In the tiny English village of Fardles, a practitioner of black magic has located the Holy Grail in the sacristy of the local Anglican church. Intent on possessing it so as to amplify his own nefarious powers, he tries to trick its guardian into donating it. When that fails, he resorts to theft.

Thus begins a tug-of-war between powers infernal and celestial, between a magician who would use the Sacred as an instrument of his own will, and an Archdeacon who seeks to protect and preserve what is sacramental and holy.

Along the way, Williams reveals the tug-of-war within us all � the interplay of desire and Desire, the polarity of possession and sacrifice...and the significant gray areas in between.

War in Heaven is the first novel Williams published, and also the most comic. It is everything you’ve come to expect from a Williams novel � suspense, supernatural danger, and a mysticism so real, good, and terrible that nothing can stand against it.]]> 256 Charles Williams 0802812198 Luke 4 fiction 3.83 War in Heaven
author: Charles Williams
name: Luke
average rating: 3.83
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2010/09/17
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Tell No One 43933
Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.

Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope.

But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret- and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.]]> 370 Harlan Coben 0440236703 Luke 0 to-read 4.06 2001 Tell No One
author: Harlan Coben
name: Luke
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People]]> 58429141 How To Hear God 288 Pete Greig 0310114608 Luke 2 4.57 2022 How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People
author: Pete Greig
name: Luke
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves: ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Understanding Christian Mission: Participation in Suffering and Glory]]> 20483011 465 Scott W. Sunquist 1441242147 Luke 0 to-read 4.38 2013 Understanding Christian Mission: Participation in Suffering and Glory
author: Scott W. Sunquist
name: Luke
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer]]> 666556 Red Moon Rising, has written his most intensely personal and honest account yet in God on Mute, a book born out of his wife Samie’s fight for her life and diagnosis of a debilitating brain tumor. Greig asks the timeless questions of what it means to suffer and to pray and to suffer through the silence because your prayers seem unanswered. This silence, Greig relates, is the hardest thing. The world collapses. Then all goes quiet. Words can’t explain, don’t fit, won’t work. People avoid you and don’t know what to say. So you turn to Him and you pray. You need Him more than ever before. But somehow…even God Himself seems on mute.

In this heart-searching, honest and deeply profound book, Pete Greig looks at the hard side of prayer, how to respond when there seem to be no answers and how to cope with those who seek to interpret our experience for us. Here is a story of faith, hope and love beyond all understanding.]]> 296 Pete Greig 0830743243 Luke 0 to-read 4.55 2007 God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer
author: Pete Greig
name: Luke
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People]]> 44008436 But no one finds it easy.
We all need a little help. Pete Greig has been teaching on prayer - and leading a non-stop prayer movement - for twenty years. Now, for the first time, he puts his life's work into a response to the question everybody ultimately asks: how do I pray? This down-to-earth introduction to life's greatest adventure will guide you deeper in your relationship with God, helping you to become more centred and still, clearer in discerning God's voice, more able to make sense of your disappointments and more expectant for miraculous breakthroughs too. It's full of honest, hard-won wisdom interspersed with real-life stories - some humorous, others moving - to equip and inspire your prayer life. Journeying through the Lord's Prayer, and accompanied by online videos from The Prayer Course, which has been used by more than a million people, it unpacks nine essential aspects of prayer: stillness, adoration, petition, intercession, perseverance, contemplation, listening, confession and spiritual authority. From one of today's most visionary communicators, for those who've been praying for years as well as those who want to pray but don't know where to begin, How to Pray is the simple, life-changing guide you've been waiting for.]]> 240 Pete Greig 1529374928 Luke 5 4.56 2019 How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People
author: Pete Greig
name: Luke
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> Demon Copperhead 60194162 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]> 560 Barbara Kingsolver 0063251922 Luke 4 fiction, modern-fiction 4.46 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Luke
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do As He Did]]> 83817455 Ěý
“One of the most important books I have read in a decadeĚý. . . If we would all follow in this way,Ěýour lives would change and the world would change.”—Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head and Find Your People
Ěý
We are constantly being formed by the world around us. To be formed by Jesus will require us to become his apprentice.Ěý

To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life—a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open up space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transforms the deepest parts of us to become like him.Ěý
Ěý
This introduction to spiritual formation is full of John Mark Comer’s trademark mix of theological substance and cultural insight as well as practical wisdom on developing your own Rule of Life.
Ěý
These ancient practices have much to offer us. By learning to rearrange our days, we can follow the Way of Jesus. We can be with him. Become like him. And do as he did.]]> 288 John Mark Comer 0593193822 Luke 2 Parts 2-3 - the best sections of book. Just read this and skip the rest
Part 4 - not good at all, especially his stuff on gifts. If you’re going to make a Charismatic argument, at least try
Part 5 - Comer is good on rule of life but I like Villodas and Earley much more. And without all the weird theological baggage
]]> 4.56 2024 Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do As He Did
author: John Mark Comer
name: Luke
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/10
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves: ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:
Part 1 - really not very clear or helpful
Parts 2-3 - the best sections of book. Just read this and skip the rest
Part 4 - not good at all, especially his stuff on gifts. If you’re going to make a Charismatic argument, at least try
Part 5 - Comer is good on rule of life but I like Villodas and Earley much more. And without all the weird theological baggage

]]> <![CDATA[The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus]]> 49757147 During our chaotic times, discover five forgotten values that can spark internal growth and help us reconcile our Christian faith with the complexities of race, sexuality, and social justice.

Most believers live in the state of "being a Christian" without ever being deeply formed by Christ. Our pace is too frenetic to be in union with God, and we don't know how to quiet our hearts and minds to be present. Our emotions are unhealthy and compartmentalized. We feel unable to love well or live differently from the rest of the world--to live as people of the good news.

New York pastor Rich Villodas says we must restore balance, focus, and meaning for our souls. The Deeply Formed Life lays out a fresh vision for spiritual breakthrough following five key values:

- Monastic Value: unplug from this noisy world to care for your soul
- Emotional Health Value: why deep love can't come from shallow wells
- Healthy Sexuality Value: how our bodies connect with our spirituality
- Multiracial Value: a spiritual, internal approach to pursuing racial justice
- Missional Value: how to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a consumerist world

The Deeply Formed Life is a roadmap to live in the richly rooted place we all yearn for: a place of communion with God, a place where we find our purpose.]]> 272 Rich Villodas 0525654380 Luke 4 4.22 The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus
author: Rich Villodas
name: Luke
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves: non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:
I’m a big fan of Rich. Though I’ve never met him, I appreciate his ministry greatly. This is an excellent and insightful book. Mix of good practical steps and sound, robust theology. Well done
]]> <![CDATA[Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 1: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12]]> 1991688
Through this commentary, crafted especially for teachers, pastors, and Bible students, Bruner aims "to help God's people love what Matthew's Gospel says." Bruner's work is at once broadly historical and deeply theological. It is historical in drawing extensively on great church teachers through the centuries and on the classical Christian creeds and confessions. It is theological in that it unpacks the doctrines in each passage, chapter, and section of the Gospel. Consciously attempting to bridge past and present, Bruner asks both what Matthew's Gospel said to its first hearers and what it says to readers today. As a result, his commentary is profoundly relevant to contemporary congregations and to those who guide them.

Bruner's commentary is replete with lively, verse-by-verse discussion of Matthew's text. While each chapter expounds a specific topic or doctrine, the book's format consists of a vivid, original translation of the text followed by faithful exegesis and critical analysis, a survey of historical commentary on the text, and current applications of the text or theme under study. In this revision Bruner continues to draw on the best in modern scholarship -- including recent work by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., by Ulrich Luz, and by many others -- adding new voices to the reading of Matthew. At the same time he cites the classic commentaries of Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, and the rest, who, like Bruner himself, were not simply doctrinal teachers but also careful exegetes of Scripture. Such breadth and depth of learning assure that Bruner's Matthew will remain, as a reviewer for Interpretation wrote, "the most dog-eared commentary on the shelf."

Volume 1 of Bruner's commentary is called The Christbook because the first twelve chapters of Matthew are focused on the nature and work of Christ. As Bruner proceeds through these chapters, he shows how Matthew presents, step by step, central themes of Jesus' coming (chapters 1�4), his teaching (5�7), his miracles (8�9), his sermon on mission (10), and his person (11�12). Throughout the book there are also thoughtful discussions of significant topics such as baptism, marriage, Jewish-Christian relations, and heaven and hell.

Eminently readable, rich in biblical insight, and ecumenical in tone, Bruner's two-volume commentary on Matthew now stands among the best in the field.]]> 652 Frederick Dale Bruner 0802845061 Luke 5 commentaries 4.60 1987 Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 1: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12
author: Frederick Dale Bruner
name: Luke
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2024/06/22
shelves: commentaries
review:

]]> Deacon King Kong 51045613 The funny, sharp, and surprising story of the shooting of a Brooklyn drug dealer and the people who witnessed it—from James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known in the neighborhood as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Causeway Housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. In McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local NYPD cops assigned to investigate what happened, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of New York in the late 1960s—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth finally emerges, McBride shows us that not all secrets can be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in compassion and hope.]]> 370 James McBride 073521672X Luke 5 fiction, modern-fiction 4.11 2020 Deacon King Kong
author: James McBride
name: Luke
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/21
date added: 2024/06/21
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> Ordinary Grace 15803059 “That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word.�

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family—which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.]]> 307 William Kent Krueger 1451645821 Luke 3 fiction, modern-fiction 4.23 2013 Ordinary Grace
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Luke
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> Introducing Covenant Theology 157457119 Michael Horton Luke 2 non-fiction, theology 3.67 Introducing Covenant Theology
author: Michael Horton
name: Luke
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: non-fiction, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bark of the Bog Owl (The Wilderking Trilogy, #1)]]> 333970 240 Jonathan Rogers 0805431314 Luke 2 4.25 2004 The Bark of the Bog Owl (The Wilderking Trilogy, #1)
author: Jonathan Rogers
name: Luke
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves: fantasy, fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> I Cheerfully Refuse 198276006 I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. An endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, he seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. After encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he eventually lands to find an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, a crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. As his guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his wake.]]> 336 Leif Enger 0802162932 Luke 5 fiction, modern-fiction 3.96 2024 I Cheerfully Refuse
author: Leif Enger
name: Luke
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> The Confession 8642877 320 John Grisham 0385534132 Luke 1 fiction
There is a not so fine line between a piece of literature making a point, and pure propaganda. The difference between the two is that propaganda is an insult to the reader in every way - emotionally, mentally, etc.

Grisham insults the reader with this piece of garbage. His last 4 books I have read are all verging on the propaganda (without any literary quality), but this one is by far the worst. The characters are simply vehicles to get his simplistic point across.

John - go back to writing thrillers like The Client and The Firm or just be content with your millions and quit. I am done with him.]]> 3.76 2010 The Confession
author: John Grisham
name: Luke
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2010
rating: 1
read at: 2011/02/26
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves: fiction
review:
This book sucked.

There is a not so fine line between a piece of literature making a point, and pure propaganda. The difference between the two is that propaganda is an insult to the reader in every way - emotionally, mentally, etc.

Grisham insults the reader with this piece of garbage. His last 4 books I have read are all verging on the propaganda (without any literary quality), but this one is by far the worst. The characters are simply vehicles to get his simplistic point across.

John - go back to writing thrillers like The Client and The Firm or just be content with your millions and quit. I am done with him.
]]> Gilead (Gilead, #1) 68210 Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations, from the Civil War to the 20th century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America's heart. In the words of Kirkus, it is a novel "as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering." GILEAD tells the story of America and will break your heart.]]> 247 Marilynne Robinson 031242440X Luke 5 classics, fiction
Re-reading May 2024 ]]> 3.84 2004 Gilead (Gilead, #1)
author: Marilynne Robinson
name: Luke
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/27
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: classics, fiction
review:
Beautiful and true.

Re-reading May 2024
]]> <![CDATA[American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company]]> 13132620 Ěý
At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dys­functional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way the Ford family—America’s last great industrial dynasty—could hold on to their company.
Ěý
Mulally and his team pulled off one of the great­est comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed, Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable automaker in the world.
Ěý
American Icon is the compelling, behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. On the verge of collapse, Ford went outside the auto industry and recruited Mulally—the man who had already saved Boeing from the deathblow of 9/11—to lead a sweeping restructuring of a company that had been unable to overcome decades of mismanage­ment and denial. Mulally applied the principles he developed at Boeing to streamline Ford’s inefficient operations, force its fractious executives to work together as a team, and spark a product renaissance in Dearborn. He also convinced the United Auto Workers to join his fight for the soul of American manufacturing.
Ěý
Bryce Hoffman reveals the untold story of the covert meetings with UAW leaders that led to a game-changing contract, Bill Ford’s battle to hold the Ford family together when many were ready to cash in their stock and write off the company, and the secret alliance with Toyota and Honda that helped prop up the Amer­ican automotive supply base.
Ěý
In one of the great management narratives of our time, Hoffman puts the reader inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan Review meet­ings to drive change and force Ford to deal with the painful realities of the American auto industry.
Ěý
Hoffman was granted unprecedented access to Ford’s top executives and top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan Mulally, Bill Ford, the Ford family, former executives, labor leaders, and company directors. In the bestselling tradition of Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, American Icon is narrative nonfiction at its vivid and colorful best.]]> 432 Bryce G. Hoffman 0307886050 Luke 4 4.39 2012 American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company
author: Bryce G. Hoffman
name: Luke
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: biography, leadership, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation]]> 51542321 240 Michel Hendricks 0802419631 Luke 2 4.20 2020 The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation
author: Michel Hendricks
name: Luke
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/04
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves: ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis]]> 199460177 Ěý
Liberal democracy in America has always contained contradictions—most notably, a noble but abstract commitment to freedom, justice, and equality that, tragically, has seldom been realized in practice. While these contradictions have caused dissent and even violence, there has always been an underlying and evolving solidarity drawn from the cultural resources of America’s “hybrid Enlightenment.�
Ěý
James Davison Hunter, who introduced the concept of “culture wars� thirty years ago, tells us in this new book that the historic sources of national solidarity have largely dissolved. While a deepening political polarization is the most obvious sign of this, the true problem is not polarization per se but the absence of cultural resources to work through what divides us. All political regimes require some level of consensus. If it cannot be generated organically, it will be imposed coercively.
Ěý
Can America’s political crisis be fixed? Can an Enlightenment-era institution—liberal democracy—survive and thrive in a post-Enlightenment world? If, for some, salvaging the older sources of national solidarity is neither possible sociologically, nor desirable politically or ethically, what cultural resources will fund liberal democracy going forward?]]> 504 James Davison Hunter 0300274378 Luke 0 to-read 4.41 Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis
author: James Davison Hunter
name: Luke
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All the Broken Places 61111301
Then, a new family moves into the apartment below her. In spite of herself, Gretel can't help but begin a friendship with the little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget. One night, she witnesses a disturbing, violent argument between Henry's beautiful mother and his arrogant father, one that threatens Gretel's hard-won, self-contained existence.

All The Broken Places moves back and forth in time between Gretel's girlhood in Germany to present-day London as a woman whose life has been haunted by the past. Now, Gretel faces a similar crossroads to one she encountered long ago. Back then, she denied her own complicity, but now, faced with a chance to interrogate her guilt, grief and remorse, she can choose to save a young boy. If she does, she will be forced to reveal the secrets she has spent a lifetime protecting. This time, she can make a different choice than before -- whatever the cost to herself....

From the New York Times bestselling author John Boyne, a devastating, beautiful story about a woman who must confront the sins of her own terrible past, and a present in which it is never too late for bravery. ]]> 400 John Boyne 0593653068 Luke 3 fiction, modern-fiction 4.43 2022 All the Broken Places
author: John Boyne
name: Luke
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/28
date added: 2024/04/28
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 528 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Luke 0 to-read 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Luke
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Pastor: A Memoir 8726477 336 Eugene H. Peterson 0061988200 Luke 3 4.44 2011 The Pastor: A Memoir
author: Eugene H. Peterson
name: Luke
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves: leadership, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Dead Spy (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, #1)]]> 13591161 here.

Nathan Hale, the author’s historical namesake, was America’s first spy, a Revolutionary War hero who famously said “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country� before being hanged by the British. In the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series, author Nathan Hale channels his namesake to present history’s roughest, toughest, and craziest stories in the graphic novel format.

One Dead Spy tackles the story of Hale himself, who was an officer and spy for the American rebels during the Revolutionary War. Author Hale highlights the unusual, gruesome, and just plain unbelievable truth of historical Nathan Hale—from his early unlucky days at Yale to his later unlucky days as an officer—and America during the Revolutionary War.]]> 128 Nathan Hale 141970396X Luke 0 to-read 4.18 2012 One Dead Spy (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, #1)
author: Nathan Hale
name: Luke
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary]]> 30259200
In this volume, a recognized expert on the Gospels shows that the Sermon on the Mount offers a clear window into understanding God's work in Christ. Jonathan Pennington provides a historical, theological, and literary commentary on the Sermon and explains how this text offers insight into God's plan for human flourishing. As Pennington explores the literary dimensions and theological themes of this famous passage, he situates the Sermon in dialogue with the Jewish and Greek virtue traditions and the philosophical-theological question of human flourishing. He also relates the Sermon's theological themes to contemporary issues such as ethics, philosophy, and economics.]]> 352 Jonathan T. Pennington 0801049636 Luke 4 commentaries 4.60 2017 The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary
author: Jonathan T. Pennington
name: Luke
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: commentaries
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)]]> 682804 The Killer Angels is unique, sweeping, unforgettable—a dramatic re-creation of the battleground for America's destiny.]]> 345 Michael Shaara 0345348109 Luke 4 history 4.32 1974 The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)
author: Michael Shaara
name: Luke
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1974
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: history
review:
Re - read in preparation for a trip to Gettysburg this summer.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth]]> 56220656 In November 2018, a zealous American missionary was killed while attempting to visit an island he called “Satan’s last stronghold,� a small patch of land known as North Sentinel in the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago in the Indian Ocean. News of the tragedy fascinated people around the world. Most were unaware such a place still existed in our an island unmolested by the advances of modern technology.

Twenty years before the American missionary’s ill-fated visit, a young American historian and journalist named Adam Goodheart also traveled to the waters off North Sentinel. During his time in the Andaman Islands he witnessed another isolated tribe emerge into modernity for the first time.

Now, Goodheart—a bestselling historian—has returned to the Andamans. The Last Island is a work of history as well as travel, a journey in time as well as place. It tells the stories of others drawn to North Sentinel’s mystery through the centuries, from imperial adventurers to an eccentric Victorian photographer to modern-day anthropologists. It narrates the tragic stories of other Andaman tribes� encounters with the outside world. And it shows how the web of modernity is drawing ever closer to the island’s shores.

The Last Island is a beautifully written meditation on the end of the Age of Discovery at the start of a new millennium. It is a book that will fascinate any reader interested in the limits—and dangers—of our modern, global society and its emphasis on ceaseless, unbroken connection.]]> 272 Adam Goodheart 1567926827 Luke 3 history, non-fiction 3.78 2023 The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth
author: Adam Goodheart
name: Luke
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/17
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Churchill: Walking with Destiny]]> 38470102 Napoleon and The Storm of War.

When we seek an example of unalloyed courage, the man who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the visionary leader, immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In The Storm of War, Andrew Roberts gave us a tantalizing glimpse of Churchill the war leader. Now, at last, we have the full and definitive biography, as personally revealing as it is compulsively readable, about one of the great leaders of all time.

Roberts was granted exclusive access to extensive new material: the transcripts of war cabinet meetings - the equivalent of the Nixon and JFK tapes - diaries, letters, unpublished memoirs, and detailed notes taken by the king after their bi-weekly meetings. Having read every one of Churchill's letters, including deeply personal ones that Churchill's son Randolph had previously chosen to withhold, and spoken to more than one hundred people who knew or worked with him, Roberts identifies the hidden forces fueling Churchill's drive. Churchill put his faith in the British Empire and fought as hard to preserve it as he did to defend London. Having started his career in India and South Africa, he understood better than most idealists how hard it can be to pacify reluctant people far from home.

We think of Churchill as a hero of the age of mechanized warfare, but Roberts's masterwork reveals that he has as much to teach us about the challenges we face today and the fundamental values of courage, tenacity, leadership, and moral conviction.]]> 1105 Andrew Roberts 0241205638 Luke 2 4.30 2018 Churchill: Walking with Destiny
author: Andrew Roberts
name: Luke
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/15
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: biography, history, non-fiction
review:

]]> Lone Wolf (Orphan X, #9) 126919150
Not his usual mission, and not one Evan embraces with enthusiasm, but this unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet. one that finds him battered between twisted AI technocrat billionaires, a mysterious female assassin who seems a mirror of himself, and personal stakes so gut-wrenching he can scarcely make sense of them .

Evan's mission pushes him to his limit - he must find and take down the assassin known only as the Wolf, before she succeeds in completing her mission and killing the people who can identify her - a teenaged daughter of her last target, and Evan himself. Matched skill for skill, instinct for instinct, Evan must outwit an opponent who will literally stop at nothing if he is to survive.]]> 389 Gregg Hurwitz Luke 3 fiction 4.32 2024 Lone Wolf (Orphan X, #9)
author: Gregg Hurwitz
name: Luke
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Passenger (The Passenger #1)]]> 60581087
Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.]]> 385 Cormac McCarthy 0593535227 Luke 1 fiction, modern-fiction 3.58 2022 The Passenger (The Passenger #1)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Luke
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2022/11/27
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> The Death of Ivan Ilych 18386
How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?

This short novel was an artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction.
A thoroughly absorbing, and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.]]> 86 Leo Tolstoy Luke 5 classics, fiction 4.12 1886 The Death of Ivan Ilych
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Luke
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1886
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/09
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life]]> 17286975 224 Noble Smith 1250038294 Luke 0 to-read 3.86 2012 The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life
author: Noble Smith
name: Luke
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Father Sergius 1264155
For some weeks Father Sergius had been living with one persistent thought: whether he was right in accepting the position in which he had not so much placed himself as been placed by the Archimandrite and the Abbot. That position had begun after the recovery of the fourteen-year-old boy. From that time, with each month, week, and day that passed, Sergius felt his own inner life wasting away and being replaced by external life.]]> 58 Leo Tolstoy 1406952907 Luke 5 classics, fiction 3.94 1911 Father Sergius
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Luke
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1911
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: classics, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon]]> 149105520 The Big Short and Flash Boys, the story of FTX’s spectacular collapse and the enigmatic founder at its center.

When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?

In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking readers into the mind of Bankman-Fried, whose rise and fall offers an education in high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, philanthropy, bankruptcy, and the justice system. Both psychological portrait and financial roller-coaster ride, Going Infinite is Michael Lewis at the top of his game, tracing the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own―until it all came undone.]]> 272 Michael Lewis 1324074337 Luke 2 non-fiction 3.72 2023 Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
author: Michael Lewis
name: Luke
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> Mr. Texas 78086724
Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, he bought his own bull at auction, saving it from being sold to a slaughterhouse. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbor’s farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: Not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm and heroically saves the family’s daughter and her horse, riding the animal out of their burning barn. Within days of the event, he attracts the notice of a mysterious man named L.D. who arrives at his door and asks if he’d like to run as a Republican for his district’s representative seat. Though Sonny has zero experience and doesn’t consider himself political in the least, he decides to throw his hat in the ring . . . and he wins.

As Sonny navigates life in politics—from running a campaign to negotiating in the capitol—he must learn the ropes, weighing his own ethics and environmental concerns against the pressures of veteran politicians, savvy lobbyists, and his own party. In tracing Sonny’s attempt to balance his marriage and morality with an increasingly volatile professional life, Lawrence Wright has crafted a hilarious, immensely clever rollercoaster ride about one man’s pursuit of goodness in the Lonestar State.]]> 323 Lawrence Wright 0593537378 Luke 3 fiction, modern-fiction 3.92 2023 Mr. Texas
author: Lawrence Wright
name: Luke
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/25
date added: 2023/12/25
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]> 331 David Grann 0385534264 Luke 4 history, non-fiction 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: Luke
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:

]]> The Covenant of Water 180357146 From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. Imbued with humor, deep emotion, and the essence of life, it is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.]]> 715 Abraham Verghese 0802162177 Luke 2 fiction, modern-fiction
One - such a great first 200 pages. If he had made this a 350 page book about Ammachi and her marriage and how they met Digby and somehow solved "The condition" - wow.

Two - but, alas, it was not to be. What we get instead is about 400 pages of rambling, generation after generation story that is, frankly, just not very interesting and quite sad. But the sadness, as far as I can tell, is not really to a point, other than to say that we all die (thanks!). Verghese lost the plot.

Three - Verghese is such a wonderful writer - that's the only reason I made it through this 700 page slog.

Disappointing follow-up to Cutting for Stone, which is one of the great modern novels.]]> 4.34 2023 The Covenant of Water
author: Abraham Verghese
name: Luke
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/29
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: fiction, modern-fiction
review:
There's a lot I could say about this book.

One - such a great first 200 pages. If he had made this a 350 page book about Ammachi and her marriage and how they met Digby and somehow solved "The condition" - wow.

Two - but, alas, it was not to be. What we get instead is about 400 pages of rambling, generation after generation story that is, frankly, just not very interesting and quite sad. But the sadness, as far as I can tell, is not really to a point, other than to say that we all die (thanks!). Verghese lost the plot.

Three - Verghese is such a wonderful writer - that's the only reason I made it through this 700 page slog.

Disappointing follow-up to Cutting for Stone, which is one of the great modern novels.
]]> <![CDATA[All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir]]> 61357133
An incredibly thoughtful, disarmingly funny, and intensely vulnerable glimpse into the life and ministry of a woman familiar to many but known by few.

“It’s a peculiar thing, this having lived long enough to take a good look back. We go from knowing each other better than we know ourselves to barely sure if we know each other at all, to precisely sure that we don’t. All my knotted-up life I’ve longed for the sanity and simplicity of knowing who’s good and who’s bad. I’ve wanted to know this about myself as much as anyone. This was not theological. It was strictly relational. God could do what he wanted with eternity. I was just trying to make it here in the meantime. As benevolent as he has been in a myriad of ways, God has remained aloof on this uncomplicated request .� � Beth Moore

New York Times best-selling author, speaker, visionary, and founder of Living Proof Ministries Beth Moore has devoted her whole life to helping women across the globe come to know the transforming power of Jesus. An established writer of many acclaimed books and Bible studies for women on spiritual growth and personal development, Beth now unveils her own story in a much-anticipated debut memoir.

All My Knotted-Up Life

All My Knotted-Up Life is told with surprising candor about some of the personal heartbreaks and behind-the-scenes challenges that have marked Beth’s life. But beyond that, it’s a beautifully crafted portrait of resilience and survival, a poignant reminder of God’s enduring faithfulness, and proof positive that if we ever truly took the time to hear people’s full stories . . . we’d all walk around slack-jawed.]]> 304 Beth Moore 1496472675 Luke 0 to-read 4.43 2023 All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir
author: Beth Moore
name: Luke
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Freddy and Fredericka 87060 Freddy and Fredericka—a brilliantly refashioned fairy tale and a magnificently funny farce—only seems like a radical departure of form, for behind the laughter, Helprin speaks of leaps of faith and second chances, courage and the primacy of love. Helprin’s latest work, an extraordinarily funny allegory about a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the individuals caught in its lonely absurdities.]]> 553 Mark Helprin 0143037250 Luke 0 to-read 3.80 2005 Freddy and Fredericka
author: Mark Helprin
name: Luke
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Silmarillion 259055 New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a work whose origins stretch back to a time long before The Hobbit.

Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor live on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy.

This second edition features a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkein describing his intentions for the book, which serves as a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages of Middle-earth.]]> 365 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618126988 Luke 5 fiction Still 5* 4.05 1977 The Silmarillion
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Luke
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1977
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/06
date added: 2023/11/06
shelves: fiction
review:
Still 5*
]]> <![CDATA[The Pariah (Covenant of Steel, #1)]]> 56229688
Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance. But as dark forces, both human and arcane, gather to oppose Evadine's rise, Alwyn faces a choice: can he be a warrior, or will he always be an outlaw?]]> 600 Anthony Ryan 0316430773 Luke 0 to-read 4.16 2021 The Pariah (Covenant of Steel, #1)
author: Anthony Ryan
name: Luke
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Idiot 12505 667 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0679642420 Luke 5 4.22 1869 The Idiot
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Luke
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Three Men in a Boat (Three Men, #1)]]> 4921
"We agree that we are overworked, and need a rest - A week on the rolling deep? - George suggests the river -"

And with the co-operation of several hampers of food and a covered boat, the three men (not forgetting the dog) set out on a hilarious voyage of mishaps up the Thames. When not falling in the river and getting lost in Hampton Court Maze, Jerome K. Jerome finds time to express his ideas on the world around - many of which have acquired a deeper fascination since the day at the end of the 19th century when this excursion was so lightly undertaken.]]> 185 Jerome K. Jerome Luke 0 to-read 3.86 1889 Three Men in a Boat (Three Men, #1)
author: Jerome K. Jerome
name: Luke
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1889
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Living Life Backwards: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End]]> 60138140 What if it is death that teaches us how to truly live?

Keeping the end in mind shapes how we live our lives in the here and now. Living life backward means taking the one thing in our future that is certain—death—and letting that inform our journey before we get there.

Looking to the book of Ecclesiastes for wisdom,ĚýLiving Life BackwardĚýwas written to shake up our expectations and priorities for what it means to live “the good life.â€� Considering the reality of death helps us pay attention to our limitations as human beings and receive life as a wondrous gift from God—freeing us to live wisely, generously, and faithfully for God’s glory and the good of his world.Ěý

]]> 175 David Gibson Luke 5 4.56 2017 Living Life Backwards: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End
author: David Gibson
name: Luke
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/13
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves: non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age]]> 83822692 208 Samuel James Luke 4 4.40 2023 Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age
author: Samuel James
name: Luke
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/13
date added: 2023/10/13
shelves: ministerial-practicum, non-fiction, spiritual-and-pastoral-growth, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West]]> 83822676
With dizzying social transformations in everything from gender to social justice, it may seem like there’s never been a more tumultuous period in history. But a single year in the late 18th century saw a number of influential transformations—or evenĚýrevolutions—that changed the social trajectory of the Western world. By understanding how those events influenced today’s cultural landscape, Christians can more effectively bear witness to God’s truth in a post-Christian age.

InĚýRemaking the World, Andrew Wilson highlights 7 major developments from the year 1776—globalization, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Enrichment, the American Revolution, the rise of post-Christianity, and the dawn of Romanticism—and explains their relevance to social changes happening today. Carefully examining key documents and historical figures, Wilson demonstrates how a monumental number of political, philosophical, economical, and industrial changes in the year of America’s founding shaped the modern West into a “WEIRDERâ€� Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic. This thoroughly researched yet accessible book offers a unique historical perspective on modern views of family, government, religion, and morality—giving Christians the historical lens they need to understand today’s post-Christian trends and respond accordingly.

Relevant Cultural and Historical ĚýSkillfully connects key ideas and events from the past to the presentĚý ĚýExamines important developments from 1776, including the American Revolution, Thomas Paine’sĚýCommon Sense, Edward Gibbon’sĚýThe History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; James Watt’s steam engine; Adam Smith’sĚýWealth of Nations; and Immanuel Kant’sĚýCritique of Pure Reason ĚýCovers key historical figures, including John Adams, Edmund Burke, and David Hume Equips and encourages readers to share the gospel in a post-Christian world A Great Resource for Pastors, Scholars, and Readers of Carl Trueman’sĚýThe Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self]]> 473 Andrew Wilson 143358056X Luke 5 history, non-fiction This is a stunning book. 4.46 2023 Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West
author: Andrew Wilson
name: Luke
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/03
date added: 2023/10/03
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
This is a stunning book.
]]> <![CDATA[Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters]]> 16200
*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet]]> 208 Mark Dunn 0385722435 Luke 0 to-read 3.93 2001 Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
author: Mark Dunn
name: Luke
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary]]> 1167251
He begins with a helpful introduction to the letter of Ephesians in which he addresses issues of authorship, structure and genre, historical setting, purpose, and theology. At the end of the introduction, the author includes a detailed bibliography for further reading. Hoehner then delves into the text of Ephesians verse by verse, offering the Greek text, English translation, and detailed commentary. He interacts extensively with the latest scholarship and provides a fair and thorough discussion of every disputed point in the book.

Pastors, students, and scholars looking for a comprehensive treatment on Ephesians will be interested in this commentary. Hoehner's interaction with the latest scholarship combined with his detailed exegesis will make this new commentary the only resource they will need to consult.]]> 960 Harold W. Hoehner 0801026148 Luke 0 to-read 4.47 2002 Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary
author: Harold W. Hoehner
name: Luke
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America]]> 71872910 Christianity Today editor-in-chief Russell Moore calls for repentance and renewal in American evangelicalism

American evangelical Christianity has lost its way. While the witness of the church before a watching world is diminished beyond recognition, congregations are torn apart over Donald Trump, Christian nationalism, racial injustice, sexual predation, disgraced leaders, and covered-up scandals. Left behind are millions of believers who counted on the church to be a place of belonging and hope. As greater and greater numbers of younger Americans bleed out from the church, even the most rooted evangelicals are wondering, “Can American Christianity survive?�

In Losing Our Religion, Russell Moore calls his fellow evangelical Christians to conversion over culture wars, to truth over tribalism, to the gospel over politics, to integrity over influence, and to renewal over nostalgia. With both prophetic honesty and pastoral love, Moore offers a word of counsel for how a new generation of disillusioned and exhausted believers can find a path forward after the crisis and confusion of the last several years. Believing the gospel is too important to leave it to hucksters and grifters, he shows how a Christian can avoid both cynicism and complicity in order to imagine a different, hopeful vision for the church.

The altar call of the old evangelical revivals was both a call to repentance and the offer of a new start. In the same way, this book invites unmoored and discouraged Christians to step out into an uncertain future, first by letting go of the kind of cultural, politicized, status quo Christianity that led us to this moment of reckoning. Only when we see how lost we are, we can find our way again. Only when we bury what’s dead can we experience life again. Only when we lose our religion can we be amazed by grace again.]]> 272 Russell D. Moore 0593541782 Luke 3 non-fiction 4.31 Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America
author: Russell D. Moore
name: Luke
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/30
date added: 2023/08/30
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs]]> 40591288 224 Steve Cuss 1400210887 Luke 0 to-read 4.32 Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs
author: Steve Cuss
name: Luke
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Luke 5 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/08
date added: 2023/08/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling Luke 5 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/01
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Luke 3 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/01
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves:
review:
Re-read in 2018 with Nate. Too long by about 200 pages. But ending is epic. flashes of pure genius.
]]> <![CDATA[Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?]]> 6452731
Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, the moral limits of markets―Sandel relates the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well.

Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise―an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the hard questions of our civic life.]]> 308 Michael J. Sandel 0374180652 Luke 5
Christians should listen carefully to Sandel's conclusions. His suggestions for a society focused more on the common good, as well as his insights into the truth that questions of "what is right?" inevitably involves questions of religious and moral authority, are extremely important in our polarized society.

Just to give one example, in the debate over same-sex marriage, making use of Sandel's key argument - that it is insufficient to simply argue for individual rights without also arguing about the telos or purpose of a given institution (like marriage) - is a great starting point in the debate. Christians must consider and make use of this if we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and if we are going to gain any traction in the actual debate in the public square.

5 stars. Must read.]]> 4.30 2007 Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
author: Michael J. Sandel
name: Luke
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2016/11/29
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: non-fiction, politics, theology
review:
This is an excellent book. Sandel is clearly a very gifted teacher. He lays out important ideas in political philosophy, focusing especially on libertarianism, utilitarianism, and Aristotelian political philosophy. He takes the reader through important thinkers such as Rawls and Kant and then provides extremely insightful illustrations and case studies that put these crucial ideas into practice.

Christians should listen carefully to Sandel's conclusions. His suggestions for a society focused more on the common good, as well as his insights into the truth that questions of "what is right?" inevitably involves questions of religious and moral authority, are extremely important in our polarized society.

Just to give one example, in the debate over same-sex marriage, making use of Sandel's key argument - that it is insufficient to simply argue for individual rights without also arguing about the telos or purpose of a given institution (like marriage) - is a great starting point in the debate. Christians must consider and make use of this if we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and if we are going to gain any traction in the actual debate in the public square.

5 stars. Must read.
]]> <![CDATA[A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New]]> 11401168
In this comprehensive exposition, a leading New Testament scholar explores the unfolding theological unity of the entire Bible from the vantage point of the New Testament. G. K. Beale, coeditor of the award-winning Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament , examines how the New Testament storyline relates to and develops the Old Testament storyline. Beale argues that every major concept of the New Testament is a development of a concept from the Old and is to be understood as a facet of the inauguration of the latter-day new creation and kingdom. Offering extensive interaction between the two testaments, this volume helps readers see the unifying conceptual threads of the Old Testament and how those threads are woven together in Christ. This major work will be valued by students of the New Testament and pastors alike.]]> 1047 Gregory K. Beale 0801026970 Luke 5 non-fiction, theology 4.60 A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New
author: Gregory K. Beale
name: Luke
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2012/04/09
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: non-fiction, theology
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)]]> 55401
Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is a novel of war, intrigue and betrayal confirms Steven Eirkson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality--a new master of epic fantasy.]]> 604 Steven Erikson 0765310023 Luke 4 fiction, fantasy 4.27 2000 Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Luke
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/29
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: fiction, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market Is Down]]> 3791564 263 Peter D. Schiff 047038378X Luke 4 economics-and-liberty 3.53 2008 The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market Is Down
author: Peter D. Schiff
name: Luke
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2023/07/21
shelves: economics-and-liberty
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Luke 5 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/15
date added: 2023/07/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Luke 4 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/03
date added: 2023/07/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters]]> 45892276 Who listens to you?

New York Times contributor Kate Murphy asked people on five continents this question, and the response was typically a long, awkward pause. People struggled to come up with someone, anyone, who truly listened to them without glazing over, glancing down at a phone, or jumping in to offer an opinion. Many admitted that they, themselves, weren’t very good listeners, and most couldn’t even describe what it meant to be a good listener.

Despite living in a world where technology allows constant digital communication and opportunities to connect, it seems no one is really listening or even knows how. And it’s making us lonelier, more isolated, and less tolerant than ever before. A listener by trade, Murphy wanted to know how we got here.

In this illuminating and often humorous deep dive, Murphy explains why we’re not listening, what it’s doing to us, and how we can reverse the trend. She makes accessible the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of listening while also introducing us to some of the best listeners out there (including a CIA agent, focus-group moderator, bartender, radio producer, and top furniture salesman).

While listening is often regarded as talking’s meek counterpart, Murphy discovered it’s actually the more powerful position in communication. We learn when we listen. It’s how we connect, cooperate, empathize, and fall in love. Listening is something we do or don’t do every day. While we might take listening for granted, how well we listen, to whom, and under what circumstances determines who we are and the paths we take in life.

Equal parts cultural observation, scientific exploration, and rousing call to action that’s full of practical advice, You’re Not Listening is to listening what Susan Cain’s Quiet was to introversion. It’s time to stop talking and start listening.]]> 278 Kate Murphy 1250297192 Luke 5 family-life, non-fiction 4.08 2020 You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters
author: Kate Murphy
name: Luke
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/29
date added: 2023/06/29
shelves: family-life, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling Luke 4 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/29
date added: 2023/06/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Crossroads 55881796 Jonathan Franzen's gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads.

It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless--unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.

Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.

A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen's gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.]]> 592 Jonathan Franzen 0374181179 Luke 0 to-read 4.05 2021 Crossroads
author: Jonathan Franzen
name: Luke
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Luke 4 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Luke
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/10
date added: 2023/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]>