Summary: A broad overview of the church desegregation protests, and then a deep dive into one particular church with extensive interviews and history. I think that many people do have historically accurate views on how the church has traditionally related to racism, segregation, and the Civil Rights Era. An excellent introductory book for the subject … Read more
Takeaway: Commentaries are under-appreciated forms of devotional literature. In general, I do not read the Bible straight through in a reading plan. I generally read the bible either with the Book of Common Prayer or with a Liturgy of the Hours (this is the one I use right now mostly). I prefer dated versions where … Read more
Summary: Brief (140 page) biography of the philosopher and public intellectual Hannah Arendt. Like way too many books, I picked this up when I stumbled across it while looking for something else. It was a Kindle Deal of the Day last week, and it is also included, with audiobook in Kindle Unlimited. I am currently … Read more
It is the time of the year when everyone is posting their “˜Best of’ lists. This is not going to be a “˜Best of 2018′ because less than half of these were published in 2018. And I think that is a good thing. Books should have a life of longer than a year, and even … Read more
Summary: Nuanced children’s history for a difficult figure. A couple weeks ago a friend posted on facebook about a new graphic novel about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I was interested and while looking at the author’s other books, I saw a used copy of John Brown: His Fight for Freedom. I had just finished reading the section … Read more
Summary: An evangelical historian approaches why so many Evangelicals voted for Trump. I am a fan of the John Fea’s history podcast, The Way of Improvement Leads Home. I do not remember how I ran across it, but I have listened to it almost from the very beginning. Some of the ideas of Believe Me … Read more
Summary: History, Law and Political Science together help us understand the origin and “˜meaning’ of the Constitution. I have been very slowly working my way through America’s Constitution: A Biography for months. Part of what has been interesting is reading it along side books like The Half that Has Not Been Told and Reconstruction: America’s … Read more
Summary: A reflection on eight years of Atlantic Essays during the time of Obama. When I first heard about We Were Eight Years in Power, I was excited for a book from Ta-Nehisi Coates about the Obama years. Coates both is a serious critic of Obama and someone that has strongly defended him. I am … Read more
Summary: A short survey of the problems and history of race within the Christian church in America. Christianity and Race in America is a modified lecture intended to be a brief introduction to why Race is an important issue to the Christian Church in the United States. At this point, I find it a bit … Read more
Summary: A first run take of the role of Obama’s race in how he acted as President and was received as President. With lots of critique of his Presidency. After reading Michael Eric Dyson’s latest book, Tears We Cannot Stop, I immediately picked up The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America (released … Read more