welcome to book club!
2020 And 2021 have been the year of books, books, books, and I want to share my faves, hear your great reading Recs, and get conversations started on the best reads this year! Grab yourself a latte, find a cute spot, and let's do book club together!
Books I've been reading:
Click on the book for the link and let me know what you're reading in the comments section! Have you read any of these books? What did you think? What books do you suggest? Let me know, and let's read together!
2022 Reads
Here are some of my recent course studies. These aren't necessarily easy reads or listens, but they are very much worth your time. When you purchase a Great Courses Audiobook, you also get a PDF of the textbook if you prefer to read. Most take around 12-20 hours to read or listen to. But, if you download the textbooks and listen, you can get a more full learning experience that may take longer, but also give you more. The Great Courses audiobooks are taught in lecture form from a professor who is an expert in their field. Interestingly, most of the courses on Christianity or the Bible were taught by atheists. Many believers will have mixed opinions about this, but it was a great learning experience that genuinely strengthened my faith more as a believer and gave me wonderful understanding and empathy for those reading scripture without the proper theological understandings of it. Similarly, some believers feel strongly against even hearing about the ideas of secular psychology or the ideas of the ancient moralists. It's important to remember that we don't need to be afraid of information, education, history, or ideas we don't agree with. Our goal as believers is to meditate on scripture consistently and test everything to it; not to every idea we hear. Likewise, God has given us the gift of having our own minds, ideas, and opinions. Also, He's given us the ability to overcome ungodly temptations or thoughts through Him: the fear of instantaneous "back-sliding" isn't Biblical. We can learn and be educated, but we don't meditate on books or the thoughts of others. Rather, we meditate on the Word of God, spend time with Him, and build strong foundations in Him. Learning the basic ideas of psychology simply gave me insight into other "world-views" and perspectives. Learning the ideas of the Greco-Roman moralists greatly helped me understand the ideas that many people had in the ancient world during much of the time when the apostles were sharing the gospel and writing letters to churches. This is extremely helpful for a more full, cultural perspective of scripture.