Who’s Reading What? is a monthly feature at Lifeway Pastors. We survey a few pastors, business leaders, theologians, professors, writers, and other culture shapers with these four questions:
What are you currently reading?
Who is the author?
Which genre is it?
Why are you reading it?
No reviews. No summaries. It is a quick list to help expand the borders of your intake.
Enjoy!
Hon. Bill Haslam, governor, State of Tennessee
What: The Fractured Republic
Who: Yuval Levin
Which: Politics/Current Events
Why: Levin presents a hopeful alternative to today’s dysfunctional political climate.
Kathy Litton, director of Planter Spouse Care, North American Mission Board
What: Removing the Stain of Racism from the Southern Baptist Convention
Who: Jarvis Williams and Kevin Jones
Which: Non-fiction
Why: Our of deep concern for the state of the SBC, I have a desire to understand SBC history and mindset on race.
What: Sacred Privilege: Your Life and Ministry as a Pastor’s Wife
Who: Kay Warren
Which: Christianity/Ministry
Why: Our of high regard for the life and leadership of Kay Warren and to learn from her journey as a pioneer in church planting to a pastor’s wife with global influence.
Mark Dance, director, Lifeway Pastors
What: This is Our Time
Who: Trevin Wax
Which: Theology
Why: I am interested in getting Trevin’s help to navigate my church through complicated cultural trends.
Todd Littleton, pastor, Snow Hill Baptist Church, Tuttle, OK
What: The Cynic and the Fool: The Unconscious in Theology & Politics
Who: Tad DeLay and Kester Brewin
Which: Philosophy/Religion
Why: Our current cultural milieu cannot be understood apart from competing ideologies that create our collective anxieties. Rarely do we take the time to explore how our own ideological commitments motivate us, create our drives and influence how we hold our beliefs. DeLay offers a critical theory of culture to help the reader understand his or her “political unconscious” where political relates to our lives together.
What: Emerging Prophet: Kierkegaard and the Postmodern People of God
Who: Kyle Roberts
Which: Religious Studies/Christianity
Why: According to Roberts, Kierkegaard critiques Christendom long before current contemporaries like David Fitch, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, among others, began making us aware. The Church needs the end of Christendom to work out a more faithful, fruitful expression of Christianity where Jesus is Lord and not ecclesial institutions.
Amy Whitfield, director of communications, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
What: Struck: One Christian’s Reflections on Encountering Death
Who: Russ Ramsey
Which: Memoir
Why: I’ve long respected Russ Ramsey as a pastor, speaker and writer. The compelling premise of this book, written in real time as he reflected on suffering and mortality, was enough to quickly move this to the top of my stack.
Yana Conner, Lifeway Pastors book reviewer
What: Delighting in the Trinity
Who: Michael Reeves
Which: Religion/Christian Theology
Why: A brother in the faith recommended it to me after a conversation about the need to embrace who God has made you to be in order to be effective in ministry. His words, “knowing the Father is the most important thing about knowing ourselves.”
Marty Duren, executive editor, Lifeway Pastors
What: All Creatures Great and Small
Who: James Herriot
Which: Non-fiction/Biography
Why: My wife said I needed to take a break from heavy reading.
What: The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
Who: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Which: History/Biography
Why: I’m interested in journalism generally and how presidents and the press interact specifically.
