Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture
Michael Frost, Hendrickson, 2006

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“Frost’s thesis is that Christendom has collapsed. He quotes Stuart Murray that “post-Christendom is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that have developed to express Christian convictions is in decline.” (Murray, Post-Christendom, 19)
“Naturally, this is a matter of deep grief for many. For others, most of those who will read this review, it is also a moment of profound hope. We can rediscover ourselves as exiles, as a missional movement. Brueggemann offers his disciplines as a way for exiles to maintain a faithful witness in an alternative community—or communitas—an alternative culture. Frost will expand on the first four in the list above. He summarizes his approach in pages 15-24, then closes with the call to be generously angry, relating the story of George Orwell. Orwell began as a depressed, withdrawn writer who discovered the stories of Charles Dickens. He emerged as a man with a purpose, committed to exposing injustice and untruth, full of vision and ideals. Frost concludes that the work of the exile is not the discovery of a new gospel, but a rediscovery of the life of Jesus. Chapter two looks at Jesus the exile, and chapter three shows how we follow Him… these are our dangerous memories.”
from NextReformation.com

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THE SECRET MESSAGE OF JESUS
Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything
Brian McLaren, Word Publishing, 2006


"Through the years, I have frequently had an uncomfortable feeling:" writes McLaren, "that the portrait of Jesus I found in the New Testament didn't fit with the images of Jesus in the church" Out of that nagging discomfort arose this book, promising to be McLaren's most revolutionary to date. He writes, "I'd like to share my search with you, and invite you to be a part of it. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I'll let you in on this: the farther I go on this search, the more inspired, moved, challenged, shocked, and motivated I become about the secret message of Jesus."

Theocentric book review (just ignore his Amazon link, he'll understand)

Who knew?

The Guinnesses produced not only brewers, but missionaries, pastors, and social workers.

As long as I'm griping...

Just Add Jesus : A Christian's Recipe for Leading a Life of Happiness And Satisfaction

Yes, I would sell you a 100 of these if you wanted them.

I have a phrase that sums up many of my problems (if not many problems in general, personal or otherwise):

Intention Deficit Disorder

Mull over that for awhile.

There are just too many books.  My stack is a bit like the tower of Pisa.  You could play Jenga with my "to be read" stack.  So here's some of what's in the stack, can you help me prioritize?

The Last Word (NT Wright)
Soul Feast (Marjorie Thompson)
Eat This Book (Eugene Peterson)
World Is Flat (Friedman)
Being As Communion (unpronouncable last name that begins with a Z)
Getting Things Done (David Allen) actually i've been reading in this one for the last 6 months, ironic huh?
The God Who Loves You (Peter Kreeft)
Befriending The Stranger (Jean Vanier)
Ethic For Christians (Stringfellow)
Preaching Reimagined (Pagit)
Exclusiong And Embrace (Miroslav Volf)
Christ The Lord (Anne Rice)
Father Joe
...many more

Now, I'll just peruse a few catalogs before I go to bed.

In case you didn't hear, the word of the year for 2005....INTEGRITY.

This is according to the Merriam Webster website.  You can check out the words that almost won there.