Book Reviews

From the cover of “The New Yorker” Magazine, Nov. 6, 2006 (Drooker)

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” – Mortimer Adler

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.  Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.” – Walt Disney

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” – Francis Bacon

Here is a list of some of books that I have reviewed on my blog.  Read the review of the titles you like to see which books you might want to taste, swallow and/or digest.

• A Community of Character by Stanley Hauerwas
• A Theology as Big as the City by Ray Bakker
• A Theology of the Built Environment by Timothy Gorringe
• An Ecclesiology for Late Modernity by Kurt Fredrickson
• An Introduction to Ecclesiology Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 by Veli-Matti  Kärkkäinen
• Announcing the Kingdom by Arthur Glasser
• Church Morph: How Megatrends are Reshaping Christian Communities by Eddie Gibbs
• Christ-based Leadership by David Stark
• Cultivating Communities of Practice by Wenger, McDermott and Synder
• Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Culture by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger
• Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost
• Faiths in Conflict? Christian Integrity in a Multicultural World by Vinoth Ramachandra
• Fire in the Church by Kurt Fredrickson
• God’s Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church by Charles Van Engen
• Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century by Craig Detweiler
• Jesus and Community by Gerhard Lohfink
• Launching Missional Communities Part 1, Part 2 by Mike Breen and Alex Absalom
• Leadership Next: Changing Leadership in a Changing Culture by Eddie Gibbs
• Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading by Ronald A. Heifetz and Mary Linsky
• Leading with a Limp: Turning Your Struggles into Strengths by Dan Allender PhD
• Leading Without Power: Finding Hope in Serving Community by Max De Pree
• Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell
• On Teaching and Learning: Putting the Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education into Action by Jane Vella
• Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit by Philip D. Kenneson
• Missio Dei: In the Crises of Christianity by Fred Peatross
• Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church by Reggie McNeal
• New Testament and Mission: Historical and Hermeneutical Perspectives by Johannes Nissen
• Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect by Joseph Myers
• Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue by Robert K. Johnston
• Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ by Dallas Willard
• Signs of Emergence: A Vision for Church That is Always Organic/Networked/Decentralized/Bottom-Up/Communal/Flexible/Always Evolving by Kester Brewin
• Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer by J. Oswald Sanders
• Taking Learing to Task: Creating Strategies for Teaching Adults by Jane Vella
• The Emotional Healthy Church: A Strategy of Disicpleship that Actually Changes Lives by Peter Scazzero
• The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
• The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism and Other Modern Maladies by David E. Fitch
• The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship by Dallas Willard
• The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
• The McDonaldization of the Church: Consumer Culture and the Church’s Future by John Drane
• The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk
• The New Global Mission: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone by Samuel Escobar
• The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins
• The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission by Lesslie Newbigin
• The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life by Henri Nouwen
• The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch
• The Sky is Falling? Leaders Lost in Transition by Alan J. Roxburgh
• The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
• Traditions in Leadership: How Faith Traditions Shape the Way We Lead edited by Richard Mouw
• Why Church Matters: Worship, Ministry and Mission in Practice by Jonathan Wilson
• Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck