ALVINREID.com

In an earlier post I listed a group of books I had read recently that in my mind helped with understanding culture today. The previous list came from “secular” sources, i.e. not professing believers. This list comes from writers who are followers of Christ. Many related to the “emerging church movement” or “emergent” or some similar name.
Of course I do not agree with everything each person wrote; that is not the point. I don’t even agree with everything I wrote! But I believe these are helpful. I do not include all bibliographical info because I am in a hurry and you have google :-).
They are in no certain order.
Driscoll, Mark. Radical Reformission. I particularly love what he says about the different ways we combine church, gospel, and culture in ways that do not help. And, his chapter on evangelism sounds like some things I say in class. He is often hilarious, normally edgy, and not afraid of controversy.
Driscoll, Mark. Confessions of a Reformission Rev. One of the best books I have read in a decade. Humorous, poignant, and helpful. A must read for all pastors.
McLaren, Brian. A Generous Orthodoxy. I found this to be fairly generous, except to evangelicals, but not too orthodox. But one must read McLaren to get to know one of the more popular writers and speakers of our time.
Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church. I loved this one overall. He makes some particularly insightful statements, like the real measure of your preaching is how your people live during the week. He is much into the arts and thus has helpful info for people in Arts districts, but his model would not be one to reproduce everywhere (nor does he suggest that).
Carson, D.A. Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church Movement. An evaluation of the movement, or conversation. Points out well the protest nature of much of it. Carson deals too much with McLaren and Steve Chalke, but otherwise I found this a helpful critique.
McNeal, Reggie. The Present Future. I do not know Reggie personally, although he is a denominational employee in the SC convention. But reading his book made me think we have had a number of conversations (we haven’t). So much I have been thinking and saying I read. Even some of the same phrases. Maybe I have ESPN or something. I don’t agree at all points but I found this to be profound in places. He is right: the church in America is in denial.
Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis. Hmmm, how shall I describe Rob Bell? An enigma I suppose. At some points I was moved by his words, at many I was puzzled. His famous trampoleen example has one significant and glaring flaw. Did you see it? If you read it you did, but I am curious as to why he did not. I guess I would call this provocative, but after reading it and all the other books above, I would say it definitely had the least impact on my thoughts on culture.
Sweet, Leonard, ed. The Church in Emerging Culture. An interesting look at the church via a dialogue with an interesting collection: Andy Crouch, Michael Horton, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Brian McLaren, and Erwin McManus.
Stetzer, Ed, and David Putman. Breaking the Missional Code. A fantastic book in my view. The authors do not jettison healthy churches in the past in their desire to help churches move into the future. This one will likely become a required text.

I am sure I am leaving out others. Soon (hopefully) I will add a list of classics in spirituality and must reads on spiritual awakening. I might even do a list of books on evangelism.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 at 6:09 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.