June Books

I am studying theology with my minister, so most of my books are going to be pretty spiritual for a while…

“Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes” by John Shelby Spong – Intellectually, I understood and agree with the premise of the book – that the Gospels were originally written as a Jewish document that is based upon older scriptures and so should not be taken literally-but I found his tone to be a little arrogant and elitest. I get the feeling that you better believe like him or you’re either not smart of weak and I simply do not agree with that kind of sentiment. In my opinion, not everyone can grasp what Spong proposes and it seems almost ablest to think that everyone should.
“Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism” by John Shelby Spong – This was a much better book! The part I liked best was the last chapter, called “Who is Christ for Us?” and I especially liked how he said that being a Christian is learning how to be all you can be. I used the ideas from this chapter in my sermon. It’s too bad that the last chapter was so short. I found the beginning and middle to be sort of dry, with an exciting ending, which is annoying in any book.
“Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally” by Marcus Borg – Fabulous! I heartily recommend this book. What I like best about Borg is that he seems to be a very humble writer, which puts me more at ease and it makes me more receptive to his ideas. I had many “Aha!” moments when reading this book and I am sure that I will come back to this book again and again.

Currently Reading: Phule’s Company by Robert Asprin