Thursday, December 31
12:50 PM I’m an avid reader, as many of you are. So I thought I’d collect and photograph some of the books I read in 2020 that I enjoyed the most.
Mind you, these are 13 out of hundreds of books I read this past year. Each has helped me get perspective on some topic or issue I was working through/thinking about. I’m pretty much a huge fan of these authors, even when I disagree with them (Scot McKnight and I do not agree on a whole lot).
One of them even had the audacity to call for an end to church buildings (hmm, maybe like Bonhoeffer did?). Two of these authors are Greek grammarians, and we all know how much people love them.
The book by James McWhorter merits a nod because it’s about language and how language works, and because he discusses these subjects with both aplomb and humor.
And what can I say about Malcolm Muggeridge? You’ve never heard of him, right?
Reading Muggeridge is dangerous. He might actually change the way you think about Christianity.
Muggeridge was always talking about the bankruptcy of politics and how materialistic societies are prone to hero-worship. Having by and large ceased to believe in God, we pay increasing obeisance to the king or the president, creating a kind of ersatz religion. Little wonder he was banned from the BBC.
Behind the Ranges is about missionary J. O. Fraser.
It’s a must read. It was a required textbook back in the day at Biola. It was Fraser who famously said: “I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second, and third place, and teaching the fourth.”
Finally, where would an educator be if he or she didn’t work on their craft? That’s why I was delighted to have picked up at a library sale somewhere Suskie’s Assessing Student Learning.
So there you have it. I am never happier than when I am reading a good book. How about you? What titles did you read in 2020 that you’d recommend? Let us know on your blog or Facebook page.
From Dave Black Online, December 31, 2020. Used by permission. Dave Black is the author of a number of Energion titles, including They Will Run and Not Grow Weary.