Every year about this time I share a few thoughts about some of the best books I’ve been reading. This seems to be a popular feature and I’m grateful for all of the feedback I receive. Below is the latest list.
You will probably not hear from me again until near the end of summer. I have been granted a three month sabbatical, beginning May 1st. Mary and I will be driving back to Seattle, visiting some National Parks along the way, and then enjoying some relaxing time with friends and family.
I came to InterVarsity almost exactly ten years ago. It has been a fulfilling decade. Thanks to our great staff team, wonderful things are happening in campus ministry and InterVarsity is growing. After this period of reflection and rest, I will travel to Krakow for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students World Assembly.
Here's my Top Ten List of books for the year.
1. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House, 2010)
Sitting in an airplane, I was embarrassed to wipe tears rolling down my cheeks as I finished this biography. In a story that would make a fiction writer blush, Laura Hillenbrand (author of Seabiscuit) recounts the life of Frank Zamperini, an Olympic runner, World War II pilot, and prisoner of war. I won’t spoil the "Redemption" part of the title for you, but there is good reason why this book has been number one on the New York Times best seller list for months. A must read.
2. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas (Thomas Nelson, 2010)
I have been a fan of Bonhoeffer since I first read his book Cost of Discipleship as a teenager. Later, as a professor, I often cited his book Ethics in my classes. But I must confess, this powerhouse of a book caught me by surprise. I never knew that he was a double agent for the Nazis and the resistance. Or that he lived a lie for an extended period of time to protect his co-conspirators in a plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer was a complex man in difficult times.
3. Galatians by Walter Hansen (InterVarsity Press, 2010)
I get teased by lots of people — including Greg Jao at National Staff Conference — for enjoying commentaries. While the "nerd" label is fair in some respects, it does not apply to InterVarsity Press's excellent New Testament Commentary Series. Written for laypeople, the series is eminently readable and practical. The best of this year's reading is Walter Hansen's commentary on Galatians. Just when I thought I really understood the Paul and Peter confrontation in chapter 2…
4. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (Dover, 1852)
Like most folk, I had never bothered to read this novel and regarded it as condescending in terms of race relations. What I found instead was the story of a Christ figure who steadfastly stands his ground in the face of evil, suffers a martyr’s death, and liberates others through his sacrifice. I was so impressed by the writing that I followed the novel with the biography Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life by Joan Hedrick. While I continue to struggle with many aspects of the novel, I have been profoundly touched by the story.
5. Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution (Vol. I)andYears of Extermination (Vol. II) by Saul Friedlander (Harper, 1998 and 2007)
In this definitive, Pulitzer Prize winning account, holocaust survivor Saul Friedlander explains how one of the most civilized and sophisticated countries in Europe descended into the systematic extermination of the Jews. Illustrating millions of individual tragedies through diaries records, the horror is presented at a very personal level. The passivity — even collusion — of the church is very difficult to digest. Unfortunately, courageous church leaders like Bonhoeffer were few and far between.
6. Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington (Doubleday, 1921)
This novel focuses on an ambitious young woman from a struggling, middle-class family at the turn of the 20th century. Readers yearn for her success, but chafe at the false person she projects. Eventually all her pretentions come crashing down. I also recommend Tarkington’s other masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambertons, about a young man who is similarly humbled through difficult circumstances.
7. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford (Broadway, 2005)
In less than a 25-year period during the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan’s rule expanded from a remote kingdom to an empire that encompassed more land and people than the Romans ever controlled. This book is filled with memorable scenes. In one scene, Polish priests parade the bones of their most revered saints before the Mongol army to arrest their attack. The priests, however, fail to realize that: (a) 25% of the Mongols are Nestorian Christians; and (b) exposing dead bodies is taboo. After slaughtering the priests and burning the bones, the Mongol soldiers purify themselves from seeing the corpses.
8. Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice (InterVarsity Press, 2008)
In June 2010, the Cabinet and Multiethnic Ministries Team attended a week-long class at Duke Divinity School's Center for Reconciliation. It was our great privilege to sit at the feet of the authors of this book. Their message? Reconciliation is not a product, but a painful journey; not a technique, but a personal sacrifice; not sociological, but deeply theological. Honored as a Christianity Today book award winner, the authors speak in mature and battle-tested voices on a very difficult subject.
9. Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan (Harper, 2010).
I thought that I had seen Abraham Lincoln from every angle possible – self-made man, leader, politician, war-time president, and family member. This biography, however, gave me a new perspective, seeing him through the lens of a writer. And what a writer he was — of poems, polemic articles, love letters, and journal entries. Ever the autodidact, Lincoln absorbed various ideas, images, and idioms from a wide variety of sources. What an inspiration!
10. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (Constable, 1819)
This epic tale of Medieval England, Richard-the-Lion-Hearted, wicked Prince John, and Robin Hood caught me by surprise. I was almost embarrassed that I enjoyed it so much! The plot centers on Ivanhoe, a knight who returns from the Crusades to find corrupt Normans oppressing his Saxon tribe. Defending the weak, challenging anti-Semitism, and upholding religious faith, he is the epitome of knightly honor. A saga worth enjoying over a long weekend.
