Below is my reading list from Fall 2022. Even though I am posting this deep into February, better late than never, right? The list contains the books I read in my last semester of college and the summer preceding it.
Biblical and Theological Studies
One highlight of my last fall in college was the ability to slow down and take my time with reading the Bible and theology. One of my pet peeves in education is when an instructor forces a student to speed through a book. I walk as I read: slowly and with attention to my surroundings. My summer class on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and my fall class on the Gospel of Mark gave me the chance to do just this. I had read Bonhoeffer’s Life Together a couple of times before this class, but reading Discipleship and Letters and Papers from Prison gave me a more complete picture of his life and theology. Bonhoeffer’s theology of simple obedience came into play when I read Richard Middleton’s interpretation of Genesis 22 in my fall Biblical Theology Class. Likewise, I enjoyed the opportunity to have a seminar on the Gospel of Mark where I could read and discuss the book every two weeks throughout the semester. This culminated in a paper where I argued that Jesus’ obedience in Mark leads to a renewal of what it means to be human.
- The Gospel of Mark
- Morna D. Hooker: The Gospel According to St. Mark
- Emilio Alvarez: Pentecostal Orthodoxy
- Dane Ortlund: Gentle and Lowly
- H.R. Rookmaker: Modern Art and the Death of a Culture
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Discipleship, Letters and Papers from Prison, Life Together
- Stephen R. Haynes and Lori Brandt Hale: Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians
- Johann Christoph Arnold: Sex, God, and Marriage
- J. Richard Middleton: Abraham’s Silence (Chapters 6 and 7)
Fiction, Philosophy
The books listed below were read at the benches of parks, on the seats of airplanes, in the stacks of a vacant library, and on the Hudson Line heading into New York City. Books are great companions for travel! An obvious highlight on this list was After Disbelief, which I reviewed for TGC. I even had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Dr. Kronman recently, who appreciated the “thoughtfulness and generosity of [my] words.”
- Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart
- Tim O’Brien: The Things They Carried
- Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
- Anthony T. Kronman: After Disbelief
- Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People
- C.S. Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength
- Marilynne Robinson: Gilead
- Eugene Vodolazkin: A History of the Island
Crossing the Jordan 
“ I even had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Dr. Kronman recently, who appreciated the ’thoughtfulness and generosity of [my] words.’” That’s gratifying to hear. And who nudged you to inform the author that you reviewed his book? Just sayin.’ 😉
Relative to other fiction that you’ve read, what’s your quick take on Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Eugene Vodolazkin’s A History of the Island?
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