Over the last 6 weeks or so I have read numerous books for school (pictured above). I usually make it a practice to write some thoughts on the books I read but at the pace I was going and the other school work I was doing, it just didn’t get done. Instead, I thought I would write a brief overview of the highlight and lowlights of my reading adventures.

The best and most insightful book I read was Paul Spilbury’s book, The Throne, The Lamb and The Dragon. It is a helpful guide for reading and interpreting the book of Revelation. It helped to put into works a lot of what I was thinking about through my study and research for a class on the Apocalyptic Literature and Revelation. That leads me to another important work that any pastor doing work in Revelation should have, Revelation: Four Views by Gregg. It is a parallel commentary that looks at the four main views of Revelation (Spiritual, Futurist, Historical, and Preterist).

The book that made me think the most was Honest to God by Robinson. It is part of a Contemporary Theology Class I am in and it has got my brain moving and stretching.

I also liked The Reformed Pastor by Baxter written nearly 400 years ago. Its timeless nature gives it credibility and although you (like myself) may not agree with it all, it is a great perspective on the calling and work of pastor.

The most practical book was God’s Gifted People by Harbaugh. Although it has bad exegesis, it is a great resource for Meyers-Briggs applications in the church.

The worst book by far and ironically the most entertaining was Racing Towards The Mark of the Beast by the Lalonde brothers. It was part of an assignment to critique a popular book relating to the book of Revelation. Need I say more?

That is the fast summary of my reading over the last few weeks. So it is on to the next stack of books as I prepare for a major paper presentation on “Hans Kung” – the contemporary rebel catholic theologian.