What have you been reading over Christmas Break?

Inspired by What will you be reading? (Scot McKnight. Jesus Creed Blog. 12/17/2010), I’m curious what Emerging Scholars have been reading over Christmas break.   Just looking for titles.   But if you have some brief comments/recommendations (or link to a longer review), please include them.

Below are the books in my queue.

I’ve completed three titles.

• Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel (David C. Downing. Ignatius. 2010).     David C. Downing provides an fantastic fictionalized dipping into Arthurian legend through the eyes of some “Emerging Scholars” who mix with a phenomenal crew of mentors (i.e., C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, etc) in 1940.   If you’re in South Central PA, don’t miss David C. Downing kicking off our 2o11 Christian Scholar/ESN Series on Monday, January 10, 6:30 pm.   Note:   The series is a partnership with Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ and Elizabethtown Public Library.   For more information click here.   A review of Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel and an author interview are in process.   Stay tuned 🙂
• On the Incarnation (Saint Athanasius):   An addition to my reading list since I posted on the Jesus Creed (Comment #16).   A classic work which provided significant spiritual encouragement to our family and ministry this CHRISTmas.   As you may remember, On the Incarnation  provided direction for  the last three posts in the 2010 Advent/Christmas series.
• The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (A.J. Jacobs. Simon & Schuster. 2008).   Hard not to laugh and groan through a number of sections in which Jacobs, who describes himself as “Jewish in the same way as Olive Garden is Italian,” becomes a “reverent agnostic” while trying to live out “Biblical law” in the midst of a growing New York City family.   He would have benefited from more New Testament and less appreciation for “cafeteria Christianity”/spirituality.   But I appreciate his cultural critique of religion (including agnosticism), in particular how none of us can be “truly literal” with the complex set of influences in which we find ourselves.   Now it’s time to insert a series of worldview questions. …

I confess three titles which I share on Jesus Creed (Comment #16)* have taken a back seat to

• Defending Constantine (Peter Leithart. IVP. 2010) — no doubt spurred by Featured: A Yoderian Rejoinder to Leithart’s DEFENDING CONSTANTINE [Vol. 3, #46] and Leithart’s response to John Nugent’s “Yoderian Rejoinder”. Thank-you Chris and Englewood Review of Books!   Thank-you to Kevin for chatting with me about this book on Central PA Christian Scholars’ Facebook page — I’m getting back to you after a family holiday. Anyone else interested in on-line discussion?
• The Book of Pastoral Rule (Saint Gregory the Great.   Introduction and translation by George E. Demacaopoulos).   Added it to my Christmas list out of curiosity spurred by a friend sharing it was receiving the focus of their attention.   It’s so good that I’ve taken it everywhere I go since Christmas, picking up the “Proverbial/instructional” sections one by one.

*The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, David L. Weaver-Zercher;   Straight Man by Richard Russo (Note: was to be my choice for “time in the air” heading out to InterVarsity’s National Staff Conference.   But we’ll see how far I’ve advanced with Constantine and Saint Gregory); Jeff Bach’s Voices of the Turtledoves: The Sacred World of Ephrata.

Tom Grosh IV

Tom enjoys daily conversations regarding living out the Biblical Story with his wife Theresa and their four girls, around the block, at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church (where he teaches adult electives and co-leads a small group), among healthcare professionals as the Northeast Regional Director for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), and in higher ed as a volunteer with the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). For a number of years, the Christian Medical Society / CMDA at Penn State College of Medicine was the hub of his ministry with CMDA. Note: Tom served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA for 20+ years, including 6+ years as the Associate Director of ESN. He has written for the ESN blog from its launch in August 2008. He has studied Biology (B.S.), Higher Education (M.A.), Spiritual Direction (Certificate), Spiritual Formation (M.A.R.), Ministry to Emerging Generations (D.Min.). To God be the glory!