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Book Recommendations / Resources

BrianCalgary

I have just finished reading a wondeful book called "The Five Love Languages". It was a real eye opener that has enhanced our 20 year marriage. Didn't think it could get any better.

Post your reviews and titles here.

Just a warning, it is for Christian based books ONLY. If you wish to post a book by Anton Levay or Shirley McLaine, the post will be punted.

Back to the Love Languages. The author tells us that there are five love languages; quality time, touch, words of affirmation, gifts and acts of service. You may be a person who requires lots of touching, so you tell your wife you love her by touching her lots, meanwhile she need words of affirmation and you never tell her ho wwonderful she is.

The book helps you determine your love language and that of your spouse and even your kids, this way you can express that love in terms that the receiver of your love can understand.

Added 18/11/11
To conform with sitewide restrictions on the number of stickies a forum may display, the Christian Resources and Book Recommendations have been merged.

Please note that this is for Christian books and resources only. Posters trying to inflame by posting anti-Christian works etc will be infracted or banned.
PDN

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PDN

Aubrey Burl's God's Heretics: the Albigensian Crusade examines how the might of the Catholic Church and the mentality of the Crusades crushed the Cathar heresy in the Kingdom of Toulouse.

The Cathar's were a dualist sect who preached that the body was evil (therefore created by Jesus' elder brother, also known as Satan) and that the spiritual world was created by God. This rehash of Gnosticism practiced extreme ascetism and, as often happens in such movements, also degenerated into antinomianism and immorality.

It has been erroneously suggested in another thread that the Cathars were suppressed because they denied the resurrection, but that was not the main reason for the persecution. They denied Papal authority, the priesthood, transubstantiation and a whole host of other Catholic doctrines.

The book is shocking in its detailing of mutilations and executions (on both sides of the conflict). Such a world, and the mentality of those who lived in it, are difficult for us to understand today. Religious causes rapidly combined with political power plays to bring out the very worst in human nature.

david1two3

I read ,over a couple of weeks both of the recent(4-5 years old) biographies of George Orewell.One was excellent and the other dreadful.I dont think it was the style that got to me ,it didnt have any , the one I liked was fun, busy, unputdownable and gave a real impression of my hero, why he is isnt a worry as I dont go for heroes but in his case I make an exception. Saying these things I know well not to meet up with him as hes not well and likely to be cantankerous.I cant remenmber who wrote them , ploggies. I will admit that my connection with Orewell comes from knowing Norah Harkin and Charley aswell as Betty and Frank edwards.In 77 I met Peader Odonnell in Norahs house and found him something of an enigma. Edwards was in Spain in 37 and fought Franco. Norah for all her faults , none that Im aware of, is the finest human I have ever met, her kindness knows bounds but I never saw them. I remember seeing a A4 size drawing of a familiar face in that wonderful bookshop between Dame street and the river and realising it was Frank Edwards , a man I hadnt seen since I was a child .The luck I had to have had my ears roasted by their conversations as a two year old is something I will always treasure, I am very lucky in life even though others would see it as tragic. I see it as my path and if I didnt lead it I would not be here now.

When I entered the above post I didnt realise I was in the Christianity section. Its great because when I went on to mention Frank Edwards it tied in with this section quite well. It is common knowledge that the Catholic church sided with Franco in the Civil war, in fact its fact . Are you aware that after Frank returned from Spain the Catholic hierarchy blacklisted him from employment in schools under their control. He eventually gained employment in a/the Jewish school in Dublin.There is more to the story but these are the essentials . The church as far as I can see never learns from its mistakes as to my mind it very foundations are based on a mistake, namely that if you fool enough of the people most of the time everything will be cool. When as a thirteen year old I asked the arch bishop of Tuams representative,who was visiting BNS Athenry prior to the confirmation, if what he had just said was true , he replied that of course it was. He had just told us one of the biblical fairy tales , it was a very tall story and I was just making sure that he had thought that we should swallow it whole. My disbelief in his belief that we should believe it was translated a week later into several pints of beer in the Jersey bar ,only hours after making the Confirmation. I have always wondered what I would have ended up doing if he hadnt let slip that little gaffe that day in 1976. I wouldnt refer to myself as a non believer as I believe in many things and suspending belief so as to believe is a stretch and a half but as they say, there you go.

PDN

Just finished reading Surprising Insights from the Unchurched by Thom Rainer. This is really an expanded survey more than anything else. Rainer has interviewed large samples of those who were formerly unchurched (attended church fewer than 4 times a year) and now are members of churches.

He tries to determine what were the key attractional factors - and what were the biggest turn offs. Clean toilets turned out to be more important than the style of music used in church!

Interestingly, he also quotes a study by the Barna Research group from 1999 to the effect that 12% of atheists and agnostics in the US attend church on Easter Sunday.

JimiTime

PDN wrote: »

Just finished reading Surprising Insights from the Unchurched by Thom Rainer. This is really an expanded survey more than anything else. Rainer has interviewed large samples of those who were formerly unchurched (attended church fewer than 4 times a year) and now are members of churches.

He tries to determine what were the key attractional factors - and what were the biggest turn offs. Clean toilets turned out to be more important than the style of music used in church!

Interestingly, he also quotes a study by the Barna Research group from 1999 to the effect that 12% of atheists and agnostics in the US attend church on Easter Sunday.

:eek:PDN, you seem to chomp through books like i do through Dairy Milks.

keano_afc

BrianCalgary wrote: »

I have just finished reading a wondeful book called "The Five Love Languages". It was a real eye opener that has enhanced our 20 year marriage. Didn't think it could get any better.

Post your reviews and titles here.

Just a warning, it is for Christian based books ONLY. If you wish to post a book by Anton Levay or Shirley McLaine, the post will be punted.

Back to the Love Languages. The author tells us that there are five love languages; quality time, touch, words of affirmation, gifts and acts of service. You may be a person who requires lots of touching, so you tell your wife you love her by touching her lots, meanwhile she need words of affirmation and you never tell her ho wwonderful she is.

The book helps you determine your love language and that of your spouse and even your kids, this way you can express that love in terms that the receiver of your love can understand.

Just finished this myself, found it very helpful. Can highly recommend it.

kelly1

Has anyone read St. Faustinas Diary? Apart from the bible it the one book that's had the biggest impact on me. I read it a few years back but it's just incredible. An absolute must read for the stuborn sinner who believes he's beyond God's mercy.

SubjectSean

The Birth of the Christian Religion by Alfred Loisy is quite excellent you can get it for free at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/loisy/

graceface

Sex.God by Robert Bell and
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Robert Bell

PDN

graceface wrote: »

Sex.God by Robert Bell and
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Robert Bell

My daughter loved Velvet Elvis. Rob Bell does this great Nooma videos as well. Excellent stuff.

PDN

I've been reading God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's forbidden priests and the hatching of the Gunpowder Plot by Alice Hogge.

It basically covers the Jesuits' mission to England during a time of political turmoil (Spanish Armada etc) and when the government found it expedient to whip up popular anti-Catholic feeling. The bravery of the Jesuits, and the cruelty involved in their torture and executions, is very well portrayed.

The book also details the work of Nicholas Owen, a master craftsman who fashioned many of the hiding places and 'priest holes' - some of which still survive in stately homes to this day.

PDN

An interesting read was Missions and Money by Jonathan J. Bonk. He explores the impact of missionaries who travel overseas and who, despite making sacrifices and a big drop in living standards, are still fabulously wealthy compared to the people they are supposed to be witnessing to.

He asks how can a missionary present a Gospel that is fundamentally incarnational when possessions and money skew the whole relationship between preacher and respondent.

Young Catholic

Am about to begin reading 'Kathy's Real Story' by Hermann Kelly.

PDN

Building Belief: Constructing Faith from the Ground Up by Chad V. Meister. I'm not normally a fan of aologetics books, but this one is well written and very readable.

Meister, a former engineer who is now a philosophy professor (not quite as impressive as it sounds - professors are two a penny in the American education system where it often simply equates to a lecturer), builds what he calls the Apologetic Pyramid - taking one step at a time and discussing the balance of probabilities.

Here are his steps in the Pyramid:

1. Truth. He demonstrates the law of non-contradiction and the concept of absolute truth as opposed to relativism.
2. Worldviews. He outlines three possible worldviews - theism (both mono & poly), atheism and pantheism.
3. Theism. He assesses the three worldviews on two criteria - logic and livability. He judges that theism passes both criteria, whereas pantheism fails logically, and atheism falls short on livability (particularly in respect to morality and the problem of good). Two more chapters examine the teleological and cosmological arguments for theism.
4. Revelation. He assesses arguments for the reliability of Scripture. These arguments, while not proving Scripture, show the balance of probability is more on the side of Scripture's reliability than against.
5. Resurrection. Again he examines the arguments for and against the historicity of the Resurrection. The view that Christ rose from the dead is more likely, in the author's opinion, than any of the alternative options on offer.
6. Gospel. The peak of the Apologetics Pyramid is to follow Christ's teaching on the Kingdom of God. This means breaking free of religious fatalism, including the Christian variety.

The book has its flaws. At times I felt the author was overly dismissive of opposing views. But, having said that, it serves as a good introduction to the issues and should provoke the reader to further study.

One thing that really impressed me was the bibliography at the end of each chapter. Meister lists books for his position and an equal number of works against ( eg works by John Hick, Richard Dawkins, Bertrand Russell, Robert Pennock, Quentin Smith, Burton Mack and Michael Martin).

robindch

PDN wrote:

Here are his steps in the Pyramid:

Perhaps you could develop some of these views in a separate thread? Particularly the idea that "atheism falls short on livability" -- what on earth does he/you mean by that? Is this the emotional appeal argument that he can't imagine living without his belief in god?

I'm also intrigued by what you mean by "particularly in respect to morality and the problem of godd" (I understood you didn't believe that there was any connection between religious belief and morality) and what exactly the "problem" of godd (god/good?) is?

PDN

robindch wrote: »

Perhaps you could develop some of these views in a separate thread? Particularly the idea that "atheism falls short on livability" -- what on earth does he/you mean by that? Is this the emotional appeal argument that he can't imagine living without his belief in god?

I would see little point in our discussing a book if only one of us has read the book in question, particularly since I am not in full agreement with everything in the book. His basic argument of livability concerns morality - an issue that has been discussed much on the A&A forum recently. The existence of objective moral values, in the authors' opinion, argues against atheism. That is what he calls "the problem of good" (godd was a fat fingered typo of mine

)

I understood you didn't believe that there was any connection between religious belief and morality

You've made that assumption about me before and I've corrected it before. My position on the connection between religious belief and morality is as follows.
1. Some forms of religious belief produce moral improvement, others appear to produce moral decline and cruelty.
2. For Christians, salvation is by faith, not by works. However, true faith will always produce good works as a consequence, but not a cause, of salvation.
3. Different people start off from different moral starting points due to their circumstances of birth and upbringing. Therefore you can easily find an unbeliever who displays a higher moral standard than a believer. However, the believer must display higher moral standards than prior to his/her conversion.
If you want to discuss this further then feel free to start another thread. I think that would be better than us hijacking this one.

keano_afc

I've just finished the first book in the "Left Behind" series. I really enjoyed it, has anybody else read the series?

Fanny Cradock

The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World

Weather you by into the main premise or not, this is a very interesting book. It set out to give a broad overview of atheism - from one of its earliest incarnations with the Greeks, to its gradual rise throughout the ages, pivotal roles that atheism has played in certain key historical events, and finally how it reached its zenith during modernism and declined in a post-modern world. Indeed, the author Alister McGrath makes an interesting claim that the unifying goal of post-modernism is the greatest threat to atheism, and not Christianity as such. I would think that this is the most rushed section of his book. For whatever reason I don't think that there is enough expansion given to his claim regarding the decline of atheism. Maybe that's for the next book!

As a former atheist McGrath speaks about atheism in a respectful and peaceable manner which is a new approach for me. All in all it is a fascinating read.

kelly1

Greetings all, I just finished reading the excellent "Dialogue" by St. Catherine of Siena (Dominican).

It's basically a dialogue between St. Catherine and God in which she asks God to enlighten her about certain aspects of the faith. The chapters are:

- The Way of Perfection
- Dialogue
- The Bridge (Christ)
- Tears
- Truth
- The Mystical Body of Holy Church
- Divine Providence
- Obedience

The Bridge is an excellent chapter. Christ is described as the only bridge between Heaven and Earth and beneath that bridge flows the treacherous waters of selfishness, worldliness, sensuality etc.

The Dialogue hammers home the message that without God we are nothing and that to please God we must trample all selfishness under foot and seek only to do God's Holy Will. A great read!

God bless,
Noel.

CorsetRibbons

For those who are wondering what God is all about, I just read a great book called: God Explained in a Taxi Ride by Paul Arden. I bought it in Paris and love it.
It has sweet pictures and simple text. Beauty doesn't happen by accident.

philologos

Hm, the last books I have read on Christianity are:

Mere Christianity, C.S Lewis
Miracles, C.S Lewis
The History of the Crusades, Steven Runciman (volume 1)

All great reads, for anyone willing to understand of the Crusades the History of the Crusades is a good series, I'm into the 2nd volume now.

Soul Winner

In the last few months I've read the following:

A study in Pyramidology - Raymond E. Capt

Don't know about you but the more I read about the Great Pyramid of Giza the more I find this subject fascinating. I feel sorry for those who have already made their minds up about this subject before reading the likes of Capt first.

Why Religion Matters - Huston Smith

A slick synopsis on why religion matters in an ever increasing scientism tunnel worldview. He deals with issues relating to differences between science and religion, religion and the media and why the absence of religion in the world would only serve to be detrimental to all societies in the long run. From what I gathered he is a Buddhist. Very well written and a very authoritative take of how he sees the world we live in today.

Shattering the Myths of Darwinism - Richard Milton

Dubbed by many atheists to be a closet creationist this science journalist and member of Mensa goes to great lengths to highlight the weaknesses in the Darwinian evolutionary theory. As a non-scientist I found it very eye opening, but then I would not knowing much on most of the subjects he talks about anyway. Major war going on within the science community over many of the subjects detailed in this book and others he doesn’t mention.

Starlight and Time - D. Russell Humphreys

I think you world need a Masters degree or a PhD in physics in order to wrap your brain around this one. It starts out basic enough but once you get to the appendixes then it becomes a minefield of mathematical equations. But he highlights some interesting concepts that make it worth the mental slog.

I would like to get a more balanced view when it comes to evolution so I'm hoping to start one of Richard Dawkins gems next. Wanna finish The Cold Six Thousand by James Elroy first though

Soul Winner

Jakkass wrote: »

Hm, the last books I have read on Christianity are:

Mere Christianity, C.S Lewis
Miracles, C.S Lewis
The History of the Crusades, Steven Runciman (volume 1)

All great reads, for anyone willing to understand of the Crusades the History of the Crusades is a good series, I'm into the 2nd volume now.

If you like C.S. Lewis and haven't already read it I recommend "The Screwtape Letters". A masterpiece!

Soul Winner

kelly1 wrote: »

Greetings all, I just finished reading the excellent "Dialogue" by St. Catherine of Siena (Dominican).

It's basically a dialogue between St. Catherine and God in which she asks God to enlighten her about certain aspects of the faith. The chapters are:

- The Way of Perfection
- Dialogue
- The Bridge (Christ)
- Tears
- Truth
- The Mystical Body of Holy Church
- Divine Providence
- Obedience

The Bridge is an excellent chapter. Christ is described as the only bridge between Heaven and Earth and beneath that bridge flows the treacherous waters of selfishness, worldliness, sensuality etc.

The Dialogue hammers home the message that without God we are nothing and that to please God we must trample all selfishness under foot and seek only to do God's Holy Will. A great read!

God bless,
Noel.

Ever read "Wind Swept House" by Malachi Martin? I haven't read it yet myself but I know a few people who have and they say it is very disturbing even for them who are non Catholics. He was a Jesuit Priest who wrote many books and "Novels" about the inner workings of the Catholic Church and raised many an eyelid to say the least. He died as a result of a "fall" in his New York Apartment in 1999. Either very clumsy or very convenient? Anyway just wondered if you've read or even heard of him. If so what do you think of him?

kev_s88

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Soul Winner

kev_s88 wrote: »

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Did you like it? Did it blow your mind? Tell us more about it.

PDN

graceface wrote: »

Sex.God by Robert Bell and
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Robert Bell

I reread Velvet Elvis last week. Rob Bell stirs up a good bit of controversy in many Christian circles, more by what he doesn't say than what he does say. Sometimes you just wonder where his thinking will end up, and what it will lead to.

For example, he explains that the reference to 'binding and loosing' in Matthew 16:19 refers to the rabbinical practice of ruling on which interpretations of Scripture are valid, and which are not. Therefore, says Bell, Jesus has given authority to His disciples to reinterpret Scripture. Of course if you develop that line of thinking logically then you end up justifying all the decisions of Church Councils etc and ultimately can interpret the Bible to reach any conclusion you want.

I guess that Bell is taking more of a postmodern approach where you aren't really supposed to follow such logical linear thinking.

What I do like about Rob Bell is how he presents Christianity as something exciting, and even dangerous, rather than something formal or cut & dried.

roverjoyce

what about the book paisley gave bertie yesterday wonder is it any good

TravelJunkie

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a book that is a step-by-step guide through the Bible? One that explains specific passages. I'm tackling the OT and at the moment, and I'm coming out of it with more questions than answers.

Try the Life Application Bible, this has very good explanatory notes and breakdowns of chapters as well as timelines.

wolfsbane

roverjoyce wrote: »

what about the book paisley gave bertie yesterday wonder is it any good

Excellent - has the words of eternal life.

I'd recommend a more modern translation, however. The New King James Version does it for me. But you can check out various versions for free at:
http://www.biblegateway.com/

Dog Fan

The davinci code anyone?

Sorry. Had to get that out of my system.

I'm working my way through Eckhart Tolle's "the Power of Now".
Very nice book about finding that quiet place, and becoming aware of the other, the spiritual self. It's only 260 pages or so, but it's the kind of book that you'll only read a page or two at a time - and then spend a week digesting it.