Books of 2010

1. 50 things you need to know about British History - not yet finished
2. The Eye of the Storm - Jack Higgins.
3. Cover Up - John Francome.
4. Heretic - Bernard Cornwell.
5. Rough Justice - Jack Higgins.
6. Cross Country - James Patterson.
7. Run For Your Life - James Patterson.

Jack Higgins' novels tend to be trashy action/thrillers, but they can be read quickly (i.e. within one day of commuting and a lunch hour) which is helpful.
Heretic was quite good, lots of attention to detail, which I liked. Even though it was *yet another* Grail-related story, it was enjoyable.
I'm getting a bit tired of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels. They tend to be a bit formulaic once you've read a few. I do like his new series though, the Detective Michael Bennett series, of which 'Run For Your Life' is the second. Still relatively fresh and new.

Total Church: Why Gospel?

'Churches can also polarize beween intellectualism (what you think is what matters) or emotionalism (what you feel is what matters). In some churches issues of the hear and emotions have become functionally asent. We acknowledge their importance, but they feature little in our lives. Some of us just do not like to talk bout our relationship with the Lord in emotive terms. But we need look no further than the Psalms to see how important emotion is in true faith.' (p29)

To sum up
The gospel is a word so the churhc must be word-centred (p31)
The gospel is a missionary word so the church must be mission-centred (p32)

Implications
'So being gospel-centred means being both word-centred and being mission-centred. The church exists both through the gospel and for the gospel.'(p32)

'We sometimes ask people to imagine they are part to imagine they are part of a church planting team in a cross-cultural situation in some other part of the world: What criteria would you use to decide where to live? How would you approch secular employment? What standard of living would you expect as pioneer missionaries? What would you spend your time doing? What opportunities would you be looking for? What would your prayers be like? What would you be trying to do with your new friends? What kind of team would you want around you? How would you conduct your meetings together?
We find it easier to be radical in our thinking when we transplant ourselves outside our current situation. But we are as much missionaries here and now as we would be if we were part of a cross-cultural team in another part of the world. Mission is central to us whereever we are. These are the kind of questions we should be asking wherever we are

Books: Total Church - Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

Now that I have got over my uncomfortableness (is that a word?) about writing in books, I'm finding it much easier to read books critically (as I can now write exclamation marks in the margin!). I can also annotate comments next to paragraphs which are particularly interesting.
One of the first books to be subjecting to my scribblings is "Total Church - a radical reshaping around gospel and community" by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.

The blurb on the back is as follows:
"Total Churchpleads for two key principles for church and mission. First, the gospel as content: being word-centred (for the gospel is truth) and being mission-centred (for the gospel is truth to be proclaimed). Secondly, the community as context: sharing our lives as Christians and offering a place of belonging to unbelievers.

The authors apply these principles to church planting, evangelism, apologetics, social involvement, leadership, discipleship, pastoral care, world mission and notions of sccuess. They critique current trends within the church: emerging church movements are strong on community but weak on truth, while conservative evangelicalism is strong on truth but weak on community. Their call is a call for the best of both"

Browsing in bookshops

is apparently being destroyed by the internet per this article in the Times.

I now have 3 haunts around Greenwich and Blackheath -
* upstairs in Oxfam in Tranquil Vale (B'heath)
* the antiquarian bookshop next door in B'heath
* the bookshop in the market in Greenwich.

Waterstones is OK, but far too chainy. All the books smell of plastic. Not nice.

The Oath of Canonical Obedience - Gerald Bray

I've just finished reading the above. It is a slim volume published by the Latimer Trust (Latimer Studies 58).
It seems to present the arguments (with which I am admittedly unfamiliar) quite clearly.
In the Introduction GB argues that the main issues currently debated are:
- the principle of obedience - does this apply to the relationship between a bishop and the clergy in his diocese?
- the concept of an oath - is an oath the best or most Scriptural way of achieving 'canonical obedience' (should such a thing be desirable)
- the relationship of a bishop to the rest of the clergy - is the epsicopate a distinct and 'superior' order in the church or is it inappropriate for describing different patterns of Christian ministry?
- the applicability of the current canons - can the canons be applied today in a coherent and sensible manner.

Following chapters therefore as follows:
* Obedience
* Oaths
* The rights and duties of a bishop
* The current applicability of the canons
* Concluding considerations

Boooks... and Revelation.

One of the happy side effects of this blog is that many of those reading have a much better library than me.
This means that the day after I post my comments on the 39 Articles I am lent a nice big fat book on them.
And it has Latin in it (purring contentedly like a cat .... not that this particular cat reads Latin.... but just likes things that are a bit hard..... like the mammoth mp3 by Don Carson on the "New Perspective on Paul" which comes in at an enormous 2hrs 36. Not sure that I've understood very much of it at all, but I'll just keep listening until I do.....)

Hellenists met again tonight - covered another four verses. We should be looking at John itself next term which is both good and terrifying. Will have to do some work.

Might be going to Uganda with Feeble in September which is exciting, but may need to rearrange other holiday plans. Perhaps I should just use one of my weeks off as a reading week. I could go and sit in the British Library. Or indeed, I could go and get a brown Bod Card and sit in a library in Oxford. (Sigh, contentedly).

Finished Revelation in Central Focus this evening - all over so quickly. Point for thought - given Rev 22:17 - what stops us praying this? What are we putting in front of our desire for Jesus to return? (e.g. the holiday we are planning, the social plans we have, the things we want to 'achieve' in church/work etc., family plans....)

The year so far

Here is a list of everything I have read and watched (from Christmas Eve, 2006 onwards)
Books
1. Encouragement and the Words of God
2. Prayer and the Voice of God
3. Hearing God's Words - Peter Adam
4. Never Say Die - Tess Gerritsen (quite good - not like her usual gory thrillers)
5. Crusader Gold - David Gibbins (7 Jan) - got a bit lost in this one. A Da Vinci-esque race round the world to find the menorah from the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem, together with some former Nazis, the Mayans etc. - all got a bit confusing. Skim read to the end just to get through it.
6. Blaikie's Book of Modern Manners (2 Feb) - amusing. Has it really taken me 3 weeks to finish reading another book?
7. The Fifth Horseman - James Patterson - predictably OK.
Seem to have fallen off the tracks with my reading. Started too many things at once. Time to go again.... I have read "The Afghan" by the ridiculously right-wing (even by my standards) Frederick Forsyth... when I was at home visiting Dad.
8. The Book of Common Prayer - (20 March) - how wonderful a book!
9. Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child (29 March) - I love the Reacher series.
10. The Oath of Canonical Obedience - Gerald Bray (5 April). Slightly complicated section, relatively clear arguments - Good!


CDs
1. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (catchy, but needs a bit of soap and water. She's an angry young lady)
2. Lily Allen - Alright, Still - another slightly rude young lady, but with a real talent for catchy, witty lyrics.
3. Gnarls Barkley - St.Elsewhere - this one is going to grow on me....
4. Take That - A Beautiful World - can't believe I actually like Take That, but I did like Patience.


Films
1. Lord of War (DVD) - better than I thought that it would be - very interesting journey 4/5
2. The Producers (DVD - original version with Gene Wilder) - a bit weird, and Hitler is not funny = 2/5
3. Cinderella Man (DVD) - excellent film - 5/5.
4. Munich (DVD) - another excellent film - 5/5.
5. Last King of Scotland - excellent, disturbing, bravura performances - 5/5
6. Transporter 2 (DVD) - actually quite entertaining. Some good martial arts sequences 3.5/5
7. S.O.A.P (DVD) - there are snakes! on a plane! - v.cool! 4/5
8. Nacho Libre (DVD) - disappointingly poor - I didn't watch to the end. 1/5
9. Confetti (DVD) - OK, quite funny in parts - 3/5
10. Thank You for Smoking - (DVD) - OK 3/5.
11. Hot Fuzz (Cinema) - one of my favourite films of all time - 11/5!
I've probably missed a few out now, but...
12. Stormbreaker (DVD) - not bad, 3/5.
13. Superman Returns (DVD) - half-watched this, looked quite good, but a bit predictable if you've seen any other comic book film.... 3/5

My online library

Am so impressed with this - I can catalogue all my books online!

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/georgianakate