Each year, we ask professors in our School of Religion to recommend to you books that they have read this year that will be helpful to your ministry. We hope that you find these books challenging and enriching.
Recommended by Dan Boone:
- The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. It is everything that old guys like me don't know about the new social networks of technology.
- Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. One of the best Wendell Berry novels. It reminds you of the values of the small towns and families.
- Leviticus in the Brazos Theological Commentary Series. I needed to brush up on my skin diseases and impurities. Actually, a good look at holiness.
Recommended by Mike Jackson:
- The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering Word by Walter Bruggemann. Highly regarded as one of the leading OT scholars of our time, Walter Brueggemann also writes prolifically for the post-modern preacher... and this book is a collection of some of the best articles / book chapters that Brueggemann has written throughout his career. If you are not familiar with the writings of Brueggemann, this is a wonderful introduction. If you know him well, this book is a welcome summation of his important contribution to post-modern homiletics. I am requiring this book for all my preaching classes.
- Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus by Klyne Snodgrass. This book delivers what it promises in the title - it is a comprehensive guide to the parables of Jesus, the magnum opus of Klyne Snodgrass, the culmination of his years of teaching and research on the parables. He offers an excellent introduction to parables as a genre whose intention is to transform rather than inform, examines the history of parable interpretation, and provides a wealth of historical, sociological and theological analyses of each of Jesus' parables. If you only have one parable resource in your library, this is the one to have!
- Tell it Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers by Eugene Peterson. This book is the fourth in Peterson's Conversations on Spiritual Theology series. It is a reflection on the revelatory function of language in an age when "our vast communication industry treats language primarily as either information or titillation, but not revelation" (p. 10). Refusing to accept the dichotomy of secular and sacred, Peterson demonstrates through the stories of Jesus and the prayers of Jesus how ordinary words and everyday language are God's means of revelation for all people, preachers included.
Recommended by Brent McMillan:
- The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hayes
- The New Creation: John Wesley's Theology for Today by Theodore Runyon
Recommended by Heather Daugherty:
- The Art of Worship by Greg Scheer. This book is specifically intended for worship leaders, and is a great resource. However, I think that it can also be used by pastors to gain a better understanding of worship ministry, the resources needed for a solid ministry, and to help pastors develop a theology of worship with their congregation.
- The Challenge of the Disciplined Life by Richard Foster. This books is a classic, but reading through it this spring help me come to a deeper understanding of how my faith can be lived out in every day life and decision making. This would be a great book to read through with a small group or Sunday School class.
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