READ YOUR WAY THROUGH 2020

It's important to read books that nurture your soul, feed your mind and spark your imagination. Below are a few titles we think will do just that. This is certainly not a list of our "top books" - but just a compilation of those books that have stood out for one reason or another over the last year or so, and would be a good addition to your reading list this year. Each book brings something different - whether it be that it harnessed a lost corner of our imagination, or provided a perspective we never would have otherwise considered. They're not books we always agree with (that's not the point, is it?) but there are enough titles here that you will hopefully find at least something you like, and perhaps some of you will find a few things. 

If you read one book this year, let it be this one. In his book, O’Tauma gives a deeply moving and honest portrayal of the Christian spiritual journey - attempting to name and inhabit the places we often find ourselves, as well as those we struggle to recognize. I (Jon) rarely go anywhere without this book any more, and find that it both challenges and comforts me even after reading it half a dozen times. I gave it to Brian to read recently and it inspired him to do some writing on it. You can access that here. 

This is definitely the best book I (Brian) read in 2019 on the kind of leadership required for a changing church context. The first half of the book is more compelling than the second, so if you don’t usually finish the books you start, this is a good choice. Rendle’s book helped inspire my post, Towards a Twenty First Century Church 

The passing of Rachel Held-Evans in May 2019 was a great tragedy, and an enormous loss to the Christian community. Her final book is an example of the creativity and intellectual fortitude we will miss, and is a book we would encourage anyone to read, especially those struggling with the often difficult contents of the Bible. 

I (Brian) know this is a controversial choice and there are those who have been scathing of it – and I take their comments, especially those who ridicule the attempt to sanitize Bonhoeffer into someone more acceptable to evangelicals. But Bonhoeffer is a genuinely complex person to understand and it’s worth reading about him from as many different angles as possible.

Brown is increasing in popularity very quickly, and one of the reasons is that the message she carries is important. Her research on the connection between shame, vulnerability and courage has struck a chord with people worldwide, and in Daring Greatly she offers a wonderful insight into what it might take for us to embrace vulnerability – something many of us find almost impossible. 

It might seem strange to have a book by a professing Atheist in the “for the soul" section, even stranger because this book’s opening statement is that the notion of God is completely absurd. But if you can look past this you might realise that Alain de Botton – founder of The School of Life - has a lot to offer the world, and his message of flourishing and human fulfillment is one that the Christian faith might do well to reconnect with. In fact, it is one of the things we are trying to do here at the Centre for Faith and Life; reconnecting people with their purpose and place in life. 

Someone once told me that if you know a person who has been doing something worthwhile, and they've been doing it for a really long time, then they are a person you need to pay attention to. Living and working among the underprivileged in LA for well over 30 years, Boyle’s insights on faith and humanity are disturbingly profound. His stories of grace, hope, and tragedy combine to convey an image of both God and humanity that leaves you feeling as if there were no other path than the one of compassion. His second book, Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, should also be on your list. 

This is a little gem, 8 articles celebrating and championing the role of artists and the arts in the life of the church and the world.