read

People with a penchant for learning understand the importance of reading. And with the new year around the corner, you might be looking for some new titles to add to your reading queue. The staff and faculty from MB Seminary have developed a short list of recommended books based on what they’ve read over the past year. Some are new, some are seasoned, but all of them have been helpful resources to this team.

Have a look, share these suggestions, and enjoy the experience of grappling with new ideas and wisdom.

[These titles are listed in alphabetical order by title.]

Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, Stephen C. Meyer (HarperOne, 2013). 
Meyer is a philosopher of science (Ph.D. Cambridge) who offers a sober but extremely persuasive foundation to bring the myth and the theory of evolution (they are supposed to be distinct but they dangerously overlap these days) back to the more humble status of scientific hypothesis. 

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, Chip Heath & Dan Heath (Crown Business, 2013).
A well written and practical guide for better thinking and better decision making. It is immediately applicable to almost any decision you may be wondering about and filled with case studies that are easy to identify with.

Discerning Your Congregation’s Future: A Strategic and Spiritual Approach, Roy M. Oswald & Robert E. Friedrich Jr. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996).
Now 20 years old, this book continues to resource congregations who are looking for a wise approach to discern God’s call and movement for the future. 

I’m memorizing the “armour of God” passage that’s found in Ephesians 6:10-18. I chose this section because I’m convinced that temptation is a lifelong struggle. I’ve been able to develop some degree of willpower over the years, but without the power of Christ, I’m still a slave to sin. I need more than personal effort to keep myself from falling. 

As I’ve studied the words in the first few verses and repeated them over and over again, I’ve noticed things that I never before saw in this passage. For instance, the word “stand/withstand” appears in verse 11 and then is quickly used three more times in verses 13 and 14. The image that now comes to my mind is not that of an attacking warrior, but of a soldier who is standing in the confidence of knowing that his armour is outfitted with God’s power and presence. The enemy cannot prevail so long as he stays alert and uses his weapons accordingly.  

But in order for this to happen, the soldier must do something that I never before realized. He must “do everything” (NIV). Standing firm will be the result of “having done all” (ESV).

What then is the “thing” that needs to be done? This is the question I’ve been asking myself as I keep repeating this verse and committing it to memory. And it has led me to study this passage so that I will gain a better understanding for how I can keep standing when the evil one attacks.

This experience has made me grateful for the various ways that I can read and interact with God’s Word and it makes me think about how each practice relates to another.