The Case for Faith, by Lee Strobel

and now for the book I've been reading all quarter...

Summary: Strobel investigates eight of the biggest obstacles to faith that people have by talking to experts on the various topics.

Comments: Very thought provoking. It seemed like on several occasions, something I read coincided with a discussion I had with someone a few days before/after. Do I believe that's a coincidence or that it was God's work? I only ask because towards the end of the book, he points out that in general people explain away evidence of God actually working in the world. I suppose it's possible that coincidences are God pushing things in a direction of his choosing. But it's also possible that things just happened that way or that we're making something of nothing.

Anyway, I think I've gotten off-topic. It's very much a thought provoking book, and ...I think it would be redundant to say it made me think. It expanded my thinking. Or maybe it propelled my thoughts in directions I might not have considered. I kinda want to go find the other books he's written and read those too. I seem to recall The Case for Christ being similarly thoght provoking.

Jesus: What He Really Said and Did, by Stephen Mitchell

I think the title of this book pretty much summarizes it. It's a really quick read. And I found it interesting to find a description of Jesus not colored by the usual propoganda sources of New Testament times.

Misquoting Jesus, by Bart D. Ehrman

This book, as its subtitle says is about "who changed the Bible and why". I focuses on a few examples of signifiant changes as well as describing how people come to identify these and other changes and outlining the reasons behind the largest groups of changes. The first ~2/3 I found very interesting. The last part, which was mostly examples of changes and the process of finding the "real" version of the text, kinda got on my nerves. I think that was mostly because I couldn't be bothered to take the time to convince myself that the author had the right interpretation, and I wasn't willing to just accept that he did. And either that part of the book had more reiteration of previous points, or I was just more inclined to get annoyed with them. In other words, if I was writing this last night, I would probably be gushing about how informative this book is on a subject I know little about.

Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis

A straight-forward discourse on Christianity, originally written as a series of radio broadcasts. Amazingly thought-provoking. One of those books that makes me feel like I understand something only to realize after some time has passed that I really don't. The whole point of Christianity is to become one with Christ. Makes sense. But how does one accomplish this? What can I do in my own life? How much have I done already? In a way, this kind of explains my realationship with Christianity: it oscillates between a feeling that Christianity is 'right' or 'true' and a drifting apart mostly because of unanswered questions. But that's not entirely right. It goes beyond what I can pin down with words.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book made me think seriously about my relationship with God and the necessity of living as a Christian. And it also answered questions that I know to ask. And above all, it made sense. This could easily be one of those books that has a profound influence on my life if only I could keep in mind what it said.