10. Ambition in Ministry: Our Spiritual Struggle with Success, Achievement & Competition - Robert Schnase
Starting a new position as senior/solo pastor caused me to think alot about leadership this past year. I probably read over two dozen books on this topic from many different perspectives. This little book was one of the most helpfu. What is the difference between selfish ambition and appropriate assertiveness? Lack of ambition among Christian leaders can lead to fulfilling only the minimum requirements of ministry. Too much ambition can victimize churches, using parishioners for personal gain. We live in a tension: We want to be part of a community but we also want to stand out in the community. "The challenge is to discover how to be an individual in community, and how the community can affirm individuality" (37). Only godly ambition can allow us to serve the community by being the best we can be without fighting to be better than others. Schnase offers some great material to help in discerning between good and bad ambition. Highly recommended for Christian leaders! This book was also a helpful source for my article, Godly Ambition: The Pursuit of Greatness According to Jesus.

9. The Dark Night of the Soul - St. John of Cross, translated by E. Allison Peers
I rediscovered the mystics this year. I believe that the key to a holistic, healthy, postmodern-friendly -- and for that matter, God-friendly -- spirituality lies in the riches provided by the great Christian mystics. One of the most profound treatments concerning God's secret workings in the soul in order to completely purify his people for the purpose of deep spiritual communion. For a complete analysis, click HERE.. Also, I would not have been able to understand this book without Gerald G. May's excellent, The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth. Gerald May does a fantastic job of making the message of The Dark Night of the Soul accessible to contemporary people. His background in the mind sciences gives him great insight in applying St. John's teachings. Great book!

8. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
So, I like to read about strange things... What's it to you! Some call me morbid. I just consider myself curious! Human cadavers are used for some crazy things. Blossoming plastic surgeons practice their science/art on detached human heads. Dead human bodies are used as crash test dummies to analyze accident impact tolerance. Dismembered body parts are shot into with live ammunition in order to evaluate blast impacts. Human corpses are snatched, dismembered, dissected, mummified, and even eaten. But don't let this bother you too much: the natural process of human decay is none too pretty either! Mary Roach handles a very difficult topic with grace, dignity, and a good dose of humor. I often found myself squirming and laughing out loud at the same time. Her main moral point is that we all should consider donating our organs for transplant or scientific research: "The point is that no matter what you choose to do with your body when you die, it won't, ultimately, be very appealing" (82). Of course, we do not have to wait until we are dead to give ourselves away for the good of others. Regardless, this is a fascinating and (strangely enough) enjoyable book.

7. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto - Chuck Klosterman
Want a better understanding of the postmodern mind in all its charming glory? You can't do much better than this book. Chuck is a senior writer for SPIN magazine and self-admitted pop-culture junkie. He seeks to make sense out of life through pop-culture -- and he does make a lot of sense! Along the way, he keeps us laughing. He begins with a confession that no woman will ever satisfy him because of media-generated "fake love" that he finds himself competing with making "it impossible to fall in love with any acumen of normalcy" (4). He ends with an analyis of Left Behind and rightly sees it as a "scare tactic" used to get people to believe in Jesus. In between he comments on learning about life through the computer game "The Sims," the one-dimensionality effect of reality TV on human life, the brilliance of Billy Joel (an unlikely "rock star" if ever there was one), life on the road with a GNR tribute band, and more.

I certainly appreciate Klosterman's writing and perspective -- he takes people and culture seriously without taking himself too seriously. At the same time, he seeks a deeper meaning behind the superficial veneer of pop-culture without taking it too seriously either. Though he would probably not admit it, he appears to be a God-haunted man. A number of passages give this away: "'But at some point, that power [in "The Sims" to harm people] is meaningless. It stops being interesting. You need to have somebody pushing back.' That reminded me of something. Or (perhaps more accurately), that reminded me of someone" (24). "Americans have become conditioned to believe the world is a gray place without absolutes; this is because we're simultaneously cowardly and arrogant. We don't know the answers, so we assume they must not exist. But they do exist. They are unclear and/or unfathomable, but they're out there" (98). "I think about dying constantly, and I think everybody else should, too... it's either the defining moment of existence or the final corporeal sensation in the universe's most remarkable coincidence. How can anyone not be consumed by that?" (227). "As far as I can tell, most people I know are like me; most of the people I know are bad people (or they're good people, but they consciously choose to do bad things). We deserve to be judged" (236). Regardless of the topic (and even though he denies it) Klosterman proves to be a deep thinker. He is much more complex than he lets on, which is perhaps one of the reasons he laments the dumbing-down of our culture: "We are losing the ability to understand anything that's even vaguely complex" (217).

6. The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends - S. Mark Heim
The insights from the very first book I read of 2003 still remain with me to this day. Perhaps other religions are not false as much as they are the truest way to the respective end they advocate. This is the thesis S. Mark Heim proposes. Heim advocates two truths: (1) Other religions may be true and valid paths to the religious fulfillment they seek, and (2) "There is a relation with God and other creatures made possible in Christ that can only be realized in communion with Christ" (p. 32). By considering the possibility of the truth of both propositions, interreligious dialogue can be more focused. The truly crucial questions become not "Which religion is true?" but "What end is most ultimate, even if many are real?" or "Which religious end constitutes the fullest human destiny?" (pp. 4, 31).

Christ is the only way, but the only way to what? This is a question that Christians need to better answer in order to converse more intelligently with advocates of other religions. The Christian end is not independent happiness (folk religion), pure consciousness (new age religions), unity of one absolute Self, emptiness (Buddhism), loss of consciousness of being (atheism), eternal submission to God (Islam) or personal enlightenment (Hinduism). Christianity offers a fuller view of the end -- an end that involves personal relationship with the God whose very essence is relationship. No other religion proposes such an intimately personal end. This is a coherent and consistent view of ultimate reality. This is Christianity's "religious end." Relations are the "ends as well as means. There is nothing more real on the other side of them" (p.58). Most other religious ends are relationless ends. Thus, the religions themselves may very well be the best means to the end they respectively propose. Heims suggests that insofar as they are true, they result in a limited relationship with God. However, one doesn't have to embrace all of Heims' proposal to benefit from his profound insights on the Trinity and the glorious "religious end" of personal communion with the living God that is the hallmark of Christianity.

5. The Cloud of Unknowing - Edited by William Johnston
Another mystic for you! And, as usual, important insights that are as contemporary as the day they were penned. Knowledge of God is possible, but only by admitting and embracing the complete inadequacy of knowledge to know God fully. Only love can embrace God's fullness and pierce the cloud of unknowing -- a cloud of darkness that arises from human limitations and God's unfathomable greatness. In many ways, The Cloud of Unknowing is a very helpful corrective in our day. The author maintains a near-impossible tension in regard to extremes. He is rational without embracing rationalism, contemplative without embracing quietism. He recognizes the limitations of language while maintaining a high regard for Holy Scripture. He renounces all creatures while remaining convinced of the glorious transformation of all creation. He advocates losing self but not losing individual personality. He advocates personal experience of God without rejecting participation in the corporate expression of faith. These are all difficult positions to maintain. The tension remains high as does the potential for misunderstanding and abuse. Yet the author does an amazing job of maintaining these tensions throughout his work. For an extended analysis of this book, click HERE!

4. A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, anabaptist/anglican, methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent, unfinished Christian - Brian D. McLaren
This book certainly wins an award for the longest subtitle in recent history. McLaren could have nicely summed up his subtitle by calling himself a "hack theologian." The church does not simply need to change "style" in order to connect to the culture, we must change the "story" that we are telling to the world. The orthodox Christian story is so much greater, broader, deeper, wider, and more wondrous than most Christians let on. McLaren is leading in the right direction. May God grant him many faithful listeners!

3. The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World - A. J. Jacobs
I have found a soul-mate! Rarely have a read a book that has provoked so many laugh-out-loud moments. I identify with Jacobs in so many areas -- my proneness to hypochondria, my desire to be smart, and my juvenile sense of humor, to name a few. In this book, Jacobs shares his thoughts and his life while attempting to read the entire thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. In the process he joins Mensa, struggles to conceive a child with his wife, interviews Alex Trebek, and is a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? He searches throughout the book for a unifying theme to all his knowledge -- a theme that eludes him. In the end he discovers that knowledge and intelligence are not the same (but certainly related). In short, this was an incredibly fun read. A. J. Jacobs, thanks for sharing your accomplishment with the rest of us!

2. The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning - Ernest Kurtze & Katherine Ketcham
This book about the spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous is jam-packed with deep insights and profound wisdom. The authors are no slouches -- they quote from a wide variety of academic sources. Learning to live with one's limitations, the difference between willfulness and willingness, the importance of a community who shares stories and shares a common story, and insights on detachment, gratitude, and humility, are just a sampling of the profound offerings in this book. In short, anyone, regardless of their beliefs, can benefit from this great resource. I simply wish more Christian books were as "spiritual"!

1. The New Man - Thomas Merton
Merton provides deep and profound insights on Christ as the New Adam and its significance for humanity. Merton has much to say in regard to his "True Self/False Self" teaching. I won't way much more -- this book is simply fantastic! One note: I could not possibly have understood Merton without reading M. Basil Pennington's True Self False Self: Unmasking the Spirit Within. In this book, he proves that we are not what we do, what we possess, or what others think of us. To build our lives upon these things is a lie. The ultimate truth about ourselves is that we are object of eternal love. When we build our lives upon the false self, we build an illusion. That self cannot love or be loved by God, because it is not ultimately real. "This false, exterior, superficial, social self is made up of prejudices, whimsy, posturing, pharisaic selfconcern and pseudo dedication. The false self is a human construct built by selfishness and flights from reality. Because it is not the whole truth of us, it is not of God. And because it is not of God, our false self is substantially empty and incapable of experiencing the love and freedom of God" (86-87). This is a liberating concept to me -- now, if only I could practice it more! Read Pennington's book followed by Merton's and your view of God, yourself, and others will change... for the better!