The Reading List - Christianity and Leaning to the Left

I get asked occasionally what I read. Well, I read quite a bit. I love to read some fictional books over and over again - particularly ones from my childhood. Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond remains one of my all time favorite stories. Only now, it only takes me a couple of hours to read it.

I decided to start keeping track of what I do read mainly to satisfy my own curiosity of how many books I do actually consume. It turns out, I mainly read non-fictional theology type stuff. I only actually read two new fiction books this last year.

So.....just in case you were wondering.....here's the approximate list of what I've read over the last year, or so. Along with a few thoughts.

Hospice Whispers by Carla Cheatham (great true stories, made me laugh and cry)

A Letter to My Congregation by Ken Wilson (another way of approaching LGBT 

                   rights in the Church)

How We Sleep at Night by Sara Cunningham (a mom's personal story about her gay 

                   son)

“Mom, I’m Gay” by Susan Cottrell (kinda a how-to on how to handle your kid 

                  coming out)

Written in my Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon (fiction)

Same-Sex Unions in PreModern Europe by John Boswell (a classic, couldn't 

                  put it down)

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim (what it's like to teach at the Pyongyang

                 University of Science and Technology)

Undamned: My Escape from the Old Testament by L.E. Kinzie (a personal 

                 spiritual journey)

The Nazi Officer’s Wife: How one Jewish Woman Survived the

            Holocaust by H. Beer (amazing true story)

Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality by John Boswell (another classic, 

            couldn't put it down)

Torn by Justin Lee (written by a gay Christian and what it's like to be a gay Christian)

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (fiction) [MOM - This is the last book in the 

             I said you should read. Totally entertaining stuff without being TOO much

             cotton candy for the brain!]

Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard ('meh')

Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the

            Church by Jack Rogers (very very well researched and written by a  

            Presbyterian minister)

Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Lifestyles by Gillian  

            Clark (a classic, couldn't put it down)

The Book of Mormon: A Biography by Paul C. Gutjahr (respectful and interesting

            read for a non-Mormon)

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible

            And Why by Bart T. Ehrman (I LOVE Ehrman's work, always thought 

            provoking)

In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s Apostles Opposed Rome’s Empire

            With God’s Kingdom by John Dominic Crossan and Johnathan

            L. Reed (lots of new ways of thinking about Paul's writing in the 

            New Testament, great read)

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We

            Never Knew by Bart T. Ehrman (super book, couldn't put it down)

See Me Naked: Stories of Sexual Exile in American Christianity

            By Amy Frykholm (an interesting group of stories)

I buy what I can at Half Price Books, but having the Kindle app on my iPad is seriously dangerous to my budget.

Peace.