Thursday, February 7, 2008

Meme Addendum

You might wonder why I'm still blogging at 3am...I just started a new medication and it is seriously messing with my ability to sleep. So I thought I would be productive.

I was thinking after I posted that last literary meme that one of my closest friends has published about a bazillion books, and it's kind of inconsiderate that I didn't list any of them. Greg Boyd is a brilliant theologian and his thought has impacted my faith in ways I can't even begin to measure. So why didn't I list any of his books below? It's pretty simple really. I don't immediately think of the books as what was impacting for me because by the time they were published I had been interacting with Greg for so long on those topics that the books barely registered as an influence for me. However, the ideas there are amazing and truly transforming. So, I've chosen three of my favorites, and I highly recommend that you check them out when you get a chance.

1) Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God

This book is a serious challenge to organized religion. It addresses the fact that the "church" has failed to do what it was called to do, which is to demonstrate the radical love of God to the world. We are known more for our "stands" or for what we are against than for laying down our lives for our enemies. Honestly, this book makes me so proud to be a part of our church.

2) The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church

Greg wrote this based on a series of sermons that he preached during the last presidential election season. Those sermons resulted in the loss of about 1000 people from our congregation. Myth addresses the fusion of religion with politics and how it has damaged both the world and the church. Especially since we are in the heat of another election season, this is an extremely worthwhile read.

3) Letters from a Skeptic

This book has been Greg's best seller and it really is excellent. It is based on a series of letters between Greg and his atheist father who eventually comes to faith. It addresses really common objections to the Christian faith in a very accessible style. This book was so fun for me to read when it came out because I was there when they were mailing these letters back and forth and Greg would get more and more excited as the correspondence progressed. We all went a little crazy when his dad finally melted.

So there you have it. Greg rocks and he's written so much more than this, but these are my favorites. Actually, Is God to Blame? Is pretty amazing too. It deals with the problem of evil. Solid.

25 comments:

  1. "Letters from.." and "Is God to Blame" were excellent. I just didn't realise how many others there were for me to read. I'll have to get them off Amazon cos they're really hard to find over here.

    Hope the meds don't mess with you too badly

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  2. good books momma...

    i started my blog...

    (:

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  3. Dude! I have chills all up and down my arms right now reading the descriptions of these books. The first one looks like a great place for me to start, and the third one, given how personal it is . . . just amazing. Thanks for sharing these, Terri! And may I just add that it is SO COOL that you are such close friends with Greg and were with him through the process of so many of his books.

    Oh, and Danny? I'm so there.

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  4. The Letters book I hold near and dear to my heart. This was one of the books that help lead me to a love relationship with Him. I am forever grateful. I have never felt so loved like I do now - and its because He is by my side.

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  5. Repenting of Rel;

    Thats my fav. Great book.

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  6. dean: let me know if you can't get them on Amazon. the meds are actually working well for the most part except for the sleep thing. i'll adjust. thanks.

    danny: cooly!

    christianne: he thinks way outside the box and he's all about the love. he'll rock your world, seriously.

    jenlizzy: welcome to my blog! so glad these books have served you that way. greg loves to hear that.

    dave: hi honey!!!

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  7. I'm with you Terri. GB's works have really affected my life in so many ways.

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  8. alright i'm back already having taken a little family tour...all of gb's books rock more than an agate and i look forward to the day i'll get to include terri's book in my meme!

    i'm with dave on repenting of religion...and nathan is right these are all life changing Kingdom framing reads.

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  9. Terri
    Nathan has really been talking to me a lot about GB character. He seems to have much confidence in his teachings. The little that Nate has showed me has been really good. Two things sticks out in my mind. Nate showed me a couple of things on his blog one was the photo of Jesus washing the feet of our world leaders. Nate said it got a lot of flack, ha ha I love contraversy, especially when it is right!

    Second thing was a silly blog where he was playing around with somebody and he makes the statement....I don't care what Jesus says... and some other silly remarks all in good humor. I was rolling when Nate showed me that. I said no way and this guy is a preacher, thats a riot.

    I am not a big reader lately but I may have to check this guy out.

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  10. nate: i talked to greg and he can't get a discounted copy of his dissertation. sorry. he can't even get one discounted for himself if you can believe that. obscure books like that don't really fly off the shelves.

    di: thanks for the encouragement. doesn't this blog count a little bit towards writing a book?

    jen: i'm on it. thanks.

    tammy: you MUST read repenting of religion. you'll love the ideas there. and you would get a huge kick out of greg. he doesn't exactly fit into what you would expect of a pastor of a mega-church. really down to earth and silly. plus, people call him a heretic all the time, so i just know you would love him. :)

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  11. Terri,

    Not a problem. I kinda figured it would be difficult on that kind of book. I was planning on buying it at retail price eventually anyway. Thanks for checkin though.

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  12. sure it counts
    just can't pick it up and turn to page 123 yet

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  13. Hi Terri-

    Troy and I list Letters from a Skeptic as one of our all time favorite books ... I read it to him out loud on a road trip ... it was during the time that he was trying to reconcile how he had been raised (a JW) and what he thought OUTSIDE of how he had been raised. It was a powerful tool and is still among our faves.

    I was up at 3am too ... we should have chatted. ;)

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  14. Those were such sweet endorsements Terri. Thanks. I'll have the commission check in the mail by this afternoon just as we agreed.

    And (going back one blog) who in their right mind would choose Celebrating Discipline as the one book to have with them on a desert Island? Like you need to READ ABOUT the disciplines of fasting, solitude and silence in THAT environment! You're totally weird.

    Love ya
    GB

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  15. So, seriously.

    Amazon.com is going to need to start giving you & Christianne some kind of kickback for all the money I'm going to spend with them buying books (to add to my ever-growing pile of new & unread books).

    These all sound FANTASTIC (the ones below too).

    And I'm reading The Cloister Walk, too. Copycat! :o) At least I already know I can't use that for the 1-2-3 meme.

    Off to check Danny's space.

    Hope you can get some good sleep soon!

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  16. nate: i can't imagine spending that much on a book. must be love.

    di: :)

    tara: sometimes i wonder how many lives that little book has touched. too bad we didn't know about the 3am thing. i could have used the company.

    greg: you can pay me back by writing the preface for my book when i get around to writing it. and you've got a lot of guts calling ME weird. :)

    kirsten: actually i started reading that book before i even knew you...then i misplaced it and picked it up again a little while ago. so you're the copy-cat. (hey, there's an awful lot of name-calling going on around here.) and yeah, i think we all could use some kickbacks. maybe we can fund our blogging addictions that way. quit our jobs and just blog, blog, blog. heaven.

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  17. yes, too much name calling. how about a compliment?

    great minds think alike.

    happy weekend.

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  18. When you get a chance, could you pop in and say, "Hi" to my friend Meeka?

    http://perception6.blogspot.com/

    She is just starting to blog, and I want her to meet everyone.

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  19. i've been wanting to read "the myth of a christian nation" for close to a year now...but between textbooks and 5th grade novels...i find myself slipping further away from any books that i would actually choose. since you listed it so highly, i'm definitely going to make time for it now! :)

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  20. Terri go to Christianne's blog......no worries mate, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Just a bonvoyage.

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  21. kirsten: great minds do think alike. thank you very much. :)

    nathan: what's with all your tribe of folks refusing to post profile pics? it's really hard to only have imaginary faces to put with the people you're connecting with. rant over.

    angie: you'll love it, but i'd read repenting of religion first. so good.

    tammy: quit fantasizing about me getting my head bitten off by sharks. ;)

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  22. I'll have to tell you about why The Myth of a Christian Nation is up there amongst my favs one day. Haven't read Repenting of Religion yet, but it's on my list.

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  23. spill. i want to hear all about it. and you'll LOVE repenting of religion.

    you know, you're not that far away. you should visit some day.

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  24. I did the pop in a few times years ago... it's a 40 minute drive, yup, that's my excuse. :)

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