2016 Book Reviews, part 3 of 3.

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Hello and welcome to the third and final installment of my 2016 book reviews. These links will take you back to read part 1 and part 2. Don’t forget to comment or email me with your best books that you think I should add to my 2017 list.

Once again, here’s my 5* scale:

* Meh

** Fine

*** Good

**** Great

***** Fantastic! and/or Brilliant.

 

Repenting of Religion, Gregory A. Boyd. 2004. 228 pages. *****

The theology of judgment vs love. In case you missed it, I already did a post about this book before I finished it. Boyd challenged my judgment. He exposed my sitting as Judge for what it is: trying to be God in my and other people’s lives. An upside-down world, perspective-changing book. At times a bit dry, the content is awesome — well worth making it through to the end.

 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote. 1958. 179 pages.***

Fiction. A classic I’d never read. And my first Capote. I particularly appreciated Capote’s character development and inner honesty. Holly Golightly was an extravagant, but delightful character. A quick read.

 

Grace-Based Parenting, Tim Kimmel. 2004. 272 pages. ****

Parenting. Kimmel contrasted grace-based parenting with rules-based parenting, showing that the former is concerned with inner character development while the latter settles for external behavior management. Jesus has very much already been leading me in this direction in my personal life; Kimmel gave some very good language and examples for this idea in the gray-matter-work of parenting. Kimmel argued that while love / grace is much more risky and much more self-sacrificing, it leads eventually to much deeper relationship / spiritual transformation / goodwill toward men than control / rules. His principles were great; his practical, personal examples were excellent. This is a book I need to read again in 3 years.

 

The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, Ian Morgan Cron & Suzanne Stabile. 2016. 230 pages.***

Self-awareness / Spiritual Formation. I teach classes and coach people in the Enneagram, a perhaps centuries-old typology schematic that addresses each person’s root motivation (rather than behavior, as most personality tests do). {You can contact me about Enneagram classes and coaching here.} This is the newest Enneagram book to grace the shelves of the Western world, as more people clamor for self-reflective instruction than in the previous five decades. Anyway, Cron & Stabile’s book was a great primer for any person beginning their journey with the Enneagram. For those of you who know the Enneagram, my favorite thing was that Cron & Stabile both parent e8s, are married to e9s, and therefore represent those two types better than I’ve ever seen. Several of my intimates are e8s and e9s, so their fresh perspective was particularly priceless to me.

 

Travels with My Aunt, Graham Greene. 1969. 308 pages. ***

Fiction. A funny, light-hearted, outrageous plot, donned with two main characters that could not be more opposite in temperament and lifestyle. (For you Enneagram-ophiles: an e5 travels the world with his e7 aunt! Hilarious.) This Graham Greene novel reminded me not to take myself too seriously — a message I need to hear as often as possible.

 

With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray. 1885. 249 pages.***

An examination of the Prayers of Jesus. Thirty-one lessons whose jumping-off point is always a prayer of Jesus. The lessons are short, but thick (mostly because of the language differences between now and 130 years ago). One could read one per day for a month as an intensive devotional on prayer. Murray challenged me to think more deeply and more simply about prayer. Many spiritual insights were gained; most of which need much more time really to soak into my soul. One thing I especially remember was that the man who wrote the forward commented that he’d been at a conference with Andrew Murray toward the end of Murray’s life. At one point, Murray was asked to pray for the group. One would have expected such a renowned teacher of prayer to let loose some flowery beacon of prayerhood. Not Murray. He prayed simply, humbly, confidently. That stuck with me as I read Murray’s ideas and as I prayed this book into my life. May my prayers be simple, humble, confident – like a child.

 

The Enneagram & Prayer, Metz & Burchill. 1987. 161 pages. *****

Self-awareness / Spiritual Formation, with a special emphasis on Prayer. I wrote a blog post earlier this month that was inspired by some quotes from this book. This book was written for people who are well-versed in the Enneagram (so don’t start with this one if you’re just beginning), and it was a breath of fresh 1987 air. It had a unique approach to typing based on Triads, it had some very valuable insights on prayer — basically that each of our prayer lives will be different because we are all different, and it had a lot of suggested practical and Scriptural prayer practices based on one’s Triad or type. It inspired me — maybe I should write an updated version…

 

And the 2016 winner of a spot on my “I insist!” Book List is: Devotional Classics, ed. Foster & Smith.

Runner-up: Repenting of Religion, Gregory A. Boyd.


Comments

One response to “2016 Book Reviews, part 3 of 3.”

  1. I am loving Devotional Classics right now. It is taking awhile to read because I keep rereading the same chapter and letting it sink in.