JC's Bookshelf

William Seth Adams, Shaped By Images: One who Presides(Church Publishing, 1995). I am half way through this one and is a practical theology of the pastor as presider. The author sees presiding as the primary identity of the pastor out of which all other roles stem.

Gordon Lathrop, Holy People: A liturgical Ecclesiology (Fortress Press, 1999). I am finally towards the end of this one. (It's taken me over a year to get this far). The most powerful of Lathrop's concepts is the idea of ecclesia as a transformative gathering of God's people to meet God.

Samuel Silva Gotay, Protestantismo y Politica en Puerto Rico 1898-1930 [Prostestantism & Politics in Puerto Rico 1898-1930] (University of Puerto Rico, 1997) I just started this one. It speaks of the social role that the protestant church played in the political status of Puerto Rico. Its larger contribution is that it gives us an example of what happens when North American protestantism is taken as the normative expression of Christianity by a colonized people.

Alf J. Mapp Jr., The Faiths of Our Fathers (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). I am a third into this one. The author explains the theological positions of some of the founding fathers of the U.S.A. This is an important book especially living in a region of the U.S. where many people see the founding fathers as evangelical Christians.

Dan Brown, The Davinci Code (Anchor Books, 2003). I am almost finished with this controversial book. It is well written and a good thriller. The most interesting part to me was its treatment of the idea of the sacred feminine.

Graham Greene, The Complete Short Stories (Penguin Classics, 2005). Greene is my favorite short story writer. He came to Roman Catholism later in life. It seems like in all his stories he struggles with religion in some way.

This is all for now. I will be looking for Volf's book and also for Anderson's. By the way Celebration of Discipline was one of those books that began my journey towards the sacramental life (interesting since it is written by a Quaker).