It’s that time of year again – time to share my top ten books of 2006.

But first, a word about how I choose my top ten books.

I am a committed bibliophile (“lover of books”). In fact, committed may be putting it mildly. Fanatical and obsessed may be more appropriate adjectives. But these words sound so extreme, like I’m in need of an intervention. But that is the last thing I desire. I love my obsession. I’m passionate about my commitment. I don’t have a problem. So, leave me alone, I’m not hurting anybody. (Do I sound too guilty?)

The fact that I am a bibliophile exposes an even deeper passion – I possess an insatiable curiosity. And my curiosity is satisfied most satisfyingly (sorry for the clunky mix of words) through reading.

Thus, my reading patterns are hard to predict. Though I tend to focus on books that revolve around spirituality, theology, and philosophy (these, after all, provide great help in my vocation), I also enjoy reading about whatever interests me at the moment – and this could be anything from superheroes to football, probability theory to dystopian novels. For example, this year I read at least seven books on the Beatles and two different books analyzing the hit TV-series, Lost.

Over the course of a year, certain books leave an indelible mark on me. These are the books that make my Top Ten List. The books listed below met one or more of the following criteria: (1) it significantly impacted my thinking and/or my life; (2) it was remarkably well-written; or (3) it is a book that I will read again.

With that said, following are my top ten books of 2006:

10. Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation - Sarah Cunningham
Dear Church is Sarah Cunningham’s painfully honest expression of disappointment with the church. At times, her criticisms are so cutting that one assumes she will end her book by declaring her complete rejection of the church. However, halfway through the book her tone changes in a surprising way. Sarah begins to break free from the bondage of disillusionment: “I’m getting sick of my own disillusionment… my cynicism isn’t righting the world any faster than my ideals” (117). In order to escape disillusionment, Sarah must completely reject the illusion she has maintained about the church. She realizes that our love for the church – just like our love for people – must arise from a commitment that transcends consequences. If we only love the church when it is at its best, we do not love the church that really exists – we love an illusion. Sarah’s embrace of the church – in all its glory and its shame – leads her to embrace the church with newfound hope. For my extended reflection on this great book, click here.

9. The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life - Robert E. Webber
Robert Webber believes that the reason so much Christian spirituality is empty of power is that it is not thoroughly set within God’s story of redemption in Christ. In order to nurture and sustain a distinctly Christian spirituality, the church must recover God’s story as the source and context in which spirituality is grounded and lived. Webber summarizes the story of God as follows: It is the story of “how God created us to be in union with himself, how this unity was broken, and how Jesus, by God’s Spirit, brought us back into union with God by becoming one of us, by living to show us what true humanity looks like, by dying to destroy all that is death in the world, and by rising to lift us up into a new life in God” (14). At the heart of Webber’s story is the concept of “union with God.” This is a good place to start since union with God “is the most common description of spirituality throughout the entire history of the church” (18). For Webber, Christian spirituality is “God’s passionate embrace of us [and] our passionate embrace of God” (16). Webber’s shorthand for this is also the title of this book – The Divine Embrace. In the first half of the book Webber demonstrates how Christian spirituality has been distorted throughout history by a progressive distortion and/or loss of God’s story. In the second half, he proposes a path to recover God’s story as the basis and context for a distinctively Christian spirituality. For my extended summary, click HERE.

8. Life After Loss: A Practical Guide to Renewing Your Life After Experiencing Major Loss - Bob Deits
To live is to face loss. This is an inevitable part of human experience. No one is exempt from this reality. If we live long enough we will inevitably lose friends, family, loved ones, our job, our health, our independence. These losses will bring grief – the normal and appropriate response to loss. In order to thrive in an imperfect world where loss is to be expected, we must learn how to do healthy “grief work.” The largest of losses can be survived, and even more, can lead to a better life. In this outstanding book, Deits writes of the importance of grief, the grieving process, the role and limitations of religion in the grieving process, and the inevitable losse of old age. For my summary of this excellent book, click HERE.

7. A Curious Kind of Widow: Loving a Man with Advanced Alzheimer's - Ann Davidson
In 1990, Julian Davidson, a Professor of Physiology at Stanford Medical School, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of fifty-nine. His wife, Ann, a speech pathologist, did all in her power to love Julian until his death on December 31, 2001. Ann recounts her experience in this powerful story of extraordinary love! Throughout the book, Ann shows great courage and strength in her love for Julian. Even more, she honors the value, worth, and dignity of Julian until the very end. For my extended reflections on this book, click HERE.

6. God - The World's Future: Systematic Theology for a New Era - Ted Peters
Peters presents every aspect of systematic theology from the perspective of "the concept of prolepsis, whereby the gospel is understood as announcing the preactualization of the future consummation of all things in Jesus Christ" (xi). We anticipate future reality because of the concrete preactualization of it in Jesus. "Jesus Christ is the future made present" (xii). The promise of future wholeness affects our broken lives in the present. "A life so integrated around Christ is a proleptci life. It is the future life actualized ahead of time. It is new life in the midst of the old life. It is beatitudinal life because it is true life. It is beatitude" (21-22). Peters has a fascinating discussion challenging the Reformation idea of "predestination" rooted in a divine decree in the past by proleptically shifting God's desire and our destiny to its rightful place of fullness - the future. Thus, predestination is really pro-destination. In short, we must begin with the future and work back toward the present. By living this way, we live a pro-volutionary (instead of revolutionary) life. This is a deep, profound, and challenging theology rooted in the future!

5. Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison - Joshua M. Greene
By age 24, George Harrison had everything the world could offer. The fame of the Beatles eclipsed that of Elvis. And yet, it left him empty. Thus began his search for "something more." His search led him to the East. At the heart of his search was "to reawaken love for God, and through that relationship, love for all creatures" (71). This was the first book I read about a Beatle which awakened an insatiable desire to learn as much as possible about the Beatles! Over the course of this year I read six other books (click on the titles for my comments for each): (1) The Love There That's Sleeping: The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison by Dale C. Allison, Jr.; (2) The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner; (3) The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think That Can't Be Thunk by Edited by Michael Baur and Steve Baur; (4) A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles by Mark Hertsgaard; (5) With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper by George Martin with William Pearson, and the exhaustive (981 pages!) yet magisterial (6) The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz. My wife and I also watched the Beatles’ Anthology. The purchase and enjoyment of the new CD, Love, was the perfect capper to a great year with the Beatles!

4. Divine Hiddenness: New Essays - Edited by Daniel Howard-Snyder and Paul K Moser
“Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isaiah 45:15). Why is God's existence not more obvious? Why do so many fail to believe in God? For this most part, this collection of essays is a response to J. L. Shellenberg's Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason in which he argues that a perfectly loving God would provide sufficient evidence to render reasonable unbelief impossible. In his opinion, God does not offer compelling proof, and thus he concludes that a perfectly loving God does not exist. Numerous authors challenge Shellenberg's thesis and conclusion. Perhaps our experience of the hiddenness of God is one consequence of human sinfulness: "Critics like Schellenberg consistently underestimate human corruption and sinfulness. Given our perversity, and tendency to idolatry, it is likely that even a fuller divine self-disclosure would be corrupted by us, and would thus not help us. What is needed isn’t more evidence or a fuller revelation but a new heart to appreciate the evidence and revelation we have" (104). In this case God's hiddenness is actually human blindness. Perhaps divine hiddenness is related to human freedom (overwhelming proof would coerce in a manner incompatible with love), or the nature of faith (God doesn't simply desire belief, but trust, faithfulness, and love). Perhaps God desires that we believe for the right reasons: "God’s desire for why people believe in His existence may well be much more important to Him than that they believe in Him in the first place. It may well be that God wants people to believe in His existence for certain reasons and not for others, that He prefers that they do not believe at all if the only option is to believe for the wrong reasons” (12). Perhaps it is because intentional divine limitations, or conversely, because of God's great transcendence and the inherent difficulty of communicating this to finite creatures. Perhaps there is a good reason that we do not and cannot know - that is at least a plausible option. Regardless of one's answer to the question of divine hiddenness, our experience of it continues to challenge us in regard to God, ourselves, the meaning of life in this world, and the nature of faith. This was a great book, pregnant with provocative and challenging ideas. Be on the lookout for articles and sermons in early 2007 that take advantage of the insights from this book, and two others: Before God by George W. Stroup and the profoundly accessible, God Is Closer Than You Think: If God Is Always with Us, Why Is He So Hard to Find? by John Ortberg. Click on the titles for a short description of each – both worthy titles for my Top Ten List!

3. For One More Day - Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom’s new book is a celebration of a mother’s love. As with his previous book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, I read much of this book through eyes clouded with tears. In the opening pages, an unidentified person asks us to consider the question: “Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever?... What if you got it back?” At the lowest point in his life, Charley Benetto receives this gift. For my extended reflection and review of this deeply touching book, click HERE.

2. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
This deeply moving coming-of-age novel has everything - horror, fantasy, and tragedy. When twelve-year-old David's mother dies, his father quickly remarries and another child is born. David feels betrayed, alone, and rejected. He is angry at his father, his step-mother, and his new half-brother. In his new house, the books begin whispering to him, and soon he is transported into a dangerous fantasy world populated with heroes and monsters. Through exciting adventures and narrow escapes, David matures, all leading to the point where he must face his greatest threat. Connolly's world is fascinating - an integration of familiar fairy tales with grotesque and terrifying horror stories. In the end, David must conquer his childhood fears, his immature hatred and jealousies toward his father, step-mother, and half-brother, in order to survive. One of the final tactics that the Crooked Man uses to tempt him is to paint a brutal picture of life in the real world - a life full of petty betrayals, pain, violence, loss, and death: "Those whom you care about - lovers, children - will fall by the wayside, and your love will not be enough to save them" (318). Though the Crooked Man is full of lies, this is not one of them. Life is "filled with great grief as well as great happiness, with suffering and regret as well as triumphs and contentment" (335). However, this truth must not lead one to live in fear, anger, or jealousy. The ending had me in tears! Great book!

1. Canon and Criterion in Christian Theology: from the Fathers to Feminism - William J. Abraham
An incredible, academic argument that we have reduced and misused the canonical heritage of the Church. We have reduced it by limiting canon to Scripture. We have misused it by changing it from an ecclesial canon - a means of spiritual transformation - to an epistemic norm. The bulk of this book is devoted to tracing this development in Church History. Abraham argues that the reduction and misuse of the canon must be corrected through the full embrace and right use of the whole canonical heritage. For my extended summary of this amazing book, click HERE. The article is long, detailed, and relatively difficult, but well worth the effort! I will never think of “canon” in the same way again!

Honorable Mentions:

As any compiler of Top Ten Lists knows, it is difficult to make a final cut. Many books deserved to make my list. Following are a few books that also influenced me this year and a short blip on why. Click on the titles for my extended summaries!

• On Truth - Harry G. Frankfurt. I had never realized how destructive lies could be. Deceit wrenches us from reality – and even worse – from one another!
• Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith - Barbara Brown Taylor. No book better portrays the unique struggles of the clergy.
• Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions - Gerald G. May, M.D. A book that unlocks the inner workings of addiction – a problem we all wrestle with in some form.
• Furious Pursuit: Why God Will Never Let You Go - Tim King & Frank Martin. The authors write, “If you are weary in chasing God, remember, God is chasing you!” Incredibly encouraging and accessible book.
• Everyman - Philip Roth. A profound book about the physical deterioration of a body and the accompanying hopelessness and helplessness that accompanies this experience.
• The Messiah of Morris Avenue: A Novel - Tony Hendra. Jesus appears in a world where the Religious Right has completely taken over.
• The Physics of Superheroes - James Kakalios. Basic physics taught through the use of the Silver Age comic book heroes and villains.
• Soul Cravings - Erwin Raphael McManus. Our yearnings for intimacy, for meaning, and for a sense of destiny are signs of God’s imprint in our lives.
• The Hidden Lives of Congregations: Discerning Church Dynamics - Israel Galindo. The only book on this list that I still haven’t summarized. In this book, a leader will discover the subtle power of hidden forces in the life of a congregation that arise from the congregation's lifespan, size, spirituality style, and identity. This book is chock full of leadership insights. I wish I had read this book years ago! Now, if I could only summarize it so my leadership team can benefit from its insights.

© Richard J. Vincent, 2007