I was tagged by the Jolly Blogger with the book meme so I am playing ball.

Any CGO Contributors who find this interesting are welcome (yea, verily, encouraged) to answer the four questions yourselves and then tag friends at other blogs to do the same.

1. How many books have I owned?

I’m far too lazy to count, but currently I have approximately 1200 books. Sadly, almost all of these are sociology, history, theology and biblical studies books and very few are literature. But, I am changing and so is the library. Slowly but surely more new purchases include literature.

2. What was the last book you bought?

The most recent purchases included five books in one batch.

I bought Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time by Dorothy C. Bass because my insane schedule and many over-commitments result from having a flawed perspective of time. Judging from the Ken Myers interview with Bass on Mars Hill Audio, I very much need Bass’ wisdom about time.

When Life and Beliefs Collide by Carolyn Custis James. Carolyn is a new Contributor (as of Monday) to CGO and she is finishing edits for her next book that launches in September. She is a very fresh thinker about women’s issues in the Church, insightful and funny, and a very good writer.

The Rise of Evangelicalism by Mark Noll was book #3 in this purchase. Noll is in a very elite circle of the top scholars of evangelicalism and because I do sociology of religion, including evangelicalism, this is a must read.

Also included was TwentySomeone by CGO Contributor Doug Serven and Craig Dunham. Dunham and Serven have written a very helpful book for young adults trying to find their way as Christians in contemporary society.

Lastly, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. This book was recommended by several CGO Contributors for our Summer Reading Fiction list. I haven’t started it yet, but the summer is still young.

3. What is the last book you read?

Challenging Knowledge by Gerard Delanty. Not many books merit the descriptive “brilliant” but this one qualifies. Delanty has written an impressive study of the idea of the university, various conceptions of knowledge, and the sociology of knowledge. I highly recommend it.

4. List five books that have meant a lot to you.

Besides the Scriptures…

John Piper’s Desiring God revolutionized my understanding of the Lord and  the Christian life.

Richard Pratt’s He Gave Us Stories, taught me how to interpret biblical narrative. Pratt, who is a great reason to attend RTS-Orlando, made biblical narrative come alive for me. I will never see the Scriptures the same.

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry is the most beautifully written book I’ve ever read. The stories of Jayber and Troy, ever mingling in small town life, but as different as grace and performance, captured me.  Berry’s evocation of a lost world of intimate relationships in the town and connection to the earth, and the ache for beauty now and beauty past, moves me more than I can say.

Culture Wars by James Davison Hunter had a significant impact on my thinking about culture, authority and contested culture. Most books, articles and blog posts that I read about cultural contests in the US (including almost all Red America and Blue America pieces) would have been greatly helped if the authors had simply read Culture Wars before they took up a pen. This is a masterful account of how and why we have come to this crisis in our cultural moment, and what we need to do to rehabilitate a civil public square.

The Sacred Canopy by Peter Berger forges a synthesis of Weber and Durkheim and then integrates Berger’s vision of the sociology of knowledge with the sociology of religion. Newbigin is all the rage today among those who take seriously the contextualization of the gospel, but Newbigin derives much from Berger’s work, particularly Berger’s concept of “plausibility structures.” Start with Berger.