Books for the Spirit

Eat This Book, A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading

by Eugene Peterson

This book

 Eugene Peterson who reminds us that if we are the People of God then we cannot allow ourselves to be formed by the culture, we must put ourselves in the place where we are formed by God -- which means rediscovering how to read, nourish, and form ourselves through our drenching in God's Word. He says, "An enormous amount of damage is done in the name of Christian living by bad Bible reading" (Page 82).

Eat This Book is a slender volume by Peterson standards, a mere 180 pages, but it took me two months to get through it. Part of the reason for this was that I did not sit down and read it with a lot of continuity;  I did not want to hurry along because there is too much in here to rush over.

Praying Like Jesus

by James Mulholland

James Mulholland tells us that praying is a central practice of spiritual life.  By examining the beloved Lord's Prayer, he offers an invitation to rediscover the life we are called to as Christians.  His claim is that Prayer is not intended to influence God, but to allow God to influence us. 

                                                                                                                                                     Becky Flow

Review on The Last Week

by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan

I have found most people going through Lent and Holy Week without fully knowing or understanding the events of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life.  Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan have join together to reveal the political as well as religious happenings of that week.  Using the Gospel of Mark as their guide, Borg and Crossan present a day-by-day account of Jesus’ final week of life.  In Mark’s portrayal of Jesus we see him as condemning the rich and powerful while ministering to the poor and the forgotten.  I found The Last Week an insightful glimpse into the historical Jesus while being engaged and challenged to follow in his footsteps.

                                                                                                                                   Chuck Pittman