Jason @ gowerstreet has tagged me (here) about books. I should be marking books! I'm sure I did something similar to this a while back, but it's a bit of fun.
How many books do you own? More than 100 less than a 1000, but it grows at a rate of about a book a month (much to my wife's despair!)
Last book I bought? The Quest for Paul's Gospel by Douglas Campbell - ever since I studied Paul with Douglas at King's I've been fascinated by the letters of Paul. Other recent purchases have been Atonement for a Sinless Society by Alan Mann; Scripture and the Authority of God by N.T. Wright; Theology of the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann (in hardback in the bargin section of Blackwells of Oxford!); and Worshipping Trinity by Robin Parry.
Last book I read? Well all of the above have been nearly completed. I tend to buy books, skim read them for the really good bits and then will revisit them over the next few months in more depth. I also re-read Duncton Wood and sequels by William Horwood.
Which books that mean a lot to me? Too many to name, some perhaps obvious to those who regularly read my blog:
1) The One, the Three and the Many - Colin Gunton (Colin at his very best, see also almost anything he's written)
2) Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics - Samuel Wells (this is a recent book I read, but it was so good, see also anything by Stanley Hauerwas. My theology was forever changed when I started reading Hauerwas last year)
3) Living the Christian Story - John Colwell (I'm not sure how well known this book is, but it was very important to my devleoping interest and recognition of the importance of ethics to theology)
4) Jesus and the Victory of God - N.T. Wright (this book sat on my shelf for about a year, when I finally started dipping into it, I discovered the gospels in a fresh way)
5) The Quest for Paul's Gospel - Douglas Campbell (this book is important because it contains all the essays I read while at King's, which allowed me to discover how to read the letters of Paul)
Some other great books:
Anything by Walter Brueggemann; Mass Culture, ed. Pete Ward; Evangelicals in Exile by Alistair Ross; Being as Communion by John Zizioulas; anything by Richard B. Hays; and Holy Scripture by John Webster
Fiction: I enjoy the novels of Nick Hornby, Philip Pullman, John Le Carre, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Sebastian Faulks, Douglas Coupland, John O'Farrell, and William Horwood.
Good to see Colwell's book getting a plug. I can't understand why it's not more widely known.
Posted by: graham | June 15, 2005 at 11:39 PM
well our fiction tastes are uncannily similar... I'm too new on the block to have favourite theologians yet though.
Been reading His Dark Materials lately, which is good fun, and a good break from exams &c. (that is, when it's not hindering my revision for the less interesting topics... !) I'm on the last of the trilogy now, but mine is all in one volume which is very very heavy!
Posted by: ash | June 16, 2005 at 01:30 PM