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Favorite Authors?


Vridar

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Perusing this section it appears each of us have subsections within preferred written-word genres. A topic on the Old Bishop Spong message board asked our favorite books. A poster created a Spong Library which expanded my reading horizons.

 

Would members be willing to post one or two books or authors they particularly follow?

 

I will start -

 

Dr. Bart Ehrman, Historical Christianity, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium

Dr. Vardis Fisher, Historical Novels, Orphans in Gethsemane

Mika Waltari, Historical Novels, The Egyptian

 

Ron

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hi i was looking at Bart Ehrman books today and was wandering which one to start on - you would recommend the one you mention above? I'd prefer something fairly easy to get into for the theology newbie, and something relatively short as my reading opportunities are few and far between!

 

the book i will recommend is one i've just finished and which we've been discussing here -

Jonathan Haidt - the Righteous mind - why good people are divided by politics and religion

 

Jonny

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i was looking at Bart Ehrman books today and was wandering which one to start on

 

Jonny,

 

Dr. Ehrman's lay books are quite readable. There is overlap in some of his books as he likes to give background to most of his points. This makes each book pretty much stand alone. That is, they don't necessarily build on each other.

 

A Brief Introduction to the New Testament might be a good start. It's not the usual 240 page-turner as some are, but I think it's a good starting point.

 

Good Luck,

Ron

 

BTW, I didn't find Haidt's book easy to read. I think readability is dictated by the reader's interests. A friend once told me he never reads anything he doesn't agree with. Makes it simple, but very narrow reading unless one agrees with everything in the world. I guess that makes one less opinionated.

Edited by Vridar
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hi i was looking at Bart Ehrman books today and was wandering which one to start on - you would recommend the one you mention above? I'd prefer something fairly easy to get into for the theology newbie, and something relatively short as my reading opportunities are few and far between!

 

Jonny, I would concur with Ron about Ehrman's "New Testament." It would establish a good foundation to venture out from. However, it should be noted that this has very little to do with "theology." Ehrman is a historian not a theologian and will not make a case for any sort of belief system.

 

George

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For liturgy that soars and Bruce Sanguin. His first book was "If Darwin Prayed"

 

I also just found Drew Dellinger. Not a Christian but transcedant language.

 

Rex Hunt for his prayers. C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology A Basic Introduction, Chalice Press, St. Louis, MO, 1993 (final chapter by John B. Cobb, Jr.)

 

Dutch

 

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My favorite book (non fiction) for all time is: "Made For Goodness - Why This Makes All The Difference" by Desmond Tutu.

 

The good Bishop is certainly one of the most loving individuals on the planet. I never forget the statement he makes early on in this book : "Perfect love is not an emotion, it is not how we feel. It is what we do." He ends the next paragraph with the statement : "We cannot choose how we feel. We can choose what we do, how we act."

 

Hal

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Jonnyb, I would start with Bart Ehrman's Jesus Interrupted. It's a good introduction to secular New Testament scholarship and it's written for a mainstream audience in mind so it's a fairly easy read while still having a lot of facts on a subject that doesn't get talked about a lot in churches. In addition to Ehrman, my favorite religious authors are Karen Armstrong, John Shelby Spong, Elaine Pagels, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and I've enjoyed what little I've read of Burton Mack. I've also recently been reading The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy. It's a very old book but the issues discussed are still very much relevant to our modern day conflicts and definitely worth reading.

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Rescuing the Bible from fundamentalism: a bishop rethinks the meaning of Scripture

Spong, John Shelby.

 

Why Christianity must change or die : a bishop speaks to believers in exile : a

Spong, John Shelby.

 

If God is Love

Philip Gulley/Jim Mulholland

 

The God We Never Knew

Marcus Borg

 

AD 381

Charles Freeman

 

The Dark Side – How evangelical teachings corrupt love & truth

Valerie Tarico

 

Putting Away Childish Things

Marcus Borg

 

Misquoting Jesus : the story behind who changed the Bible and why.

Ehrman, Bart D.

 

Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally

Marcus Borg

 

The Greatest Show On Earth

Richard Dawkins

 

The Heart of Christianity

Marcus Borg

Edited by PaulS
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