Gentle reader,
After weeks of dry skies here, there are actual raindrops on the roses in my backyard!
This post is the first of a planned quarterly feature at Church Blogmatics: recommendations for some of my favorite things. I’d love, in turn, to hear your recommendations. What are you reading, watching, doing, loving right now?
Reading (books)
Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite books so far this year.
In theology, I’m thinking hard on Phillip Cary’s The Meaning of Protestant Theology: Luther, Augustine, and the Gospel That Gives Us Christ, which is inviting me to reimagine old friends, like Luther and Augustine, who I already know well.
“Making the Gospel central decenters the doctrine of justification by faith alone, precisely by locating its center in Christ, not in our faith or our justification.” — Phillip Cary
In random self-help, I’m loving Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals; while Burkeman has a secular understanding of the world, he’s onto a deeply theological problem.
“The world is bursting with wonder, and yet it’s the rare productivity guru who seems to have considered the possibility that the ultimate point of all our frenetic doing might be to experience more of that wonder.” —Oliver Burkeman
In fiction, Jennifer Egan’s novel, The Candy House, is a dystopia in which our thoughts are no longer private, but our problems are still very human.
“‘Are you writing?’ Athena asked, startling him. ‘Not a lot,’ Gregory admitted, which sounded better than Not at all. ‘I’ve been too drained.’ ‘Maybe not-writing is what’s draining you,’ she said. ‘Maybe you’ve severed your energy source.’” — Jennifer Egan
A novella, Becky Chambers’s A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot Book I). I love to read dystopia, but this is a utopia. Again, it’s a secular view of the world (though there are gods in it), but a very theological subject.
“‘There can’t be many nutrients in that. Not that you can process, anyway.’ ‘I … I dunno. I guess not. But that’s not the point of an onion.’ Mosscap angled its head so it was looking straight at Dex’s face—much, much too close. ‘What is the point of an onion?’ it asked with intense interest.” — Becky Chambers
And a memoir, Beth Moore’s All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir, so vulnerable, so clear that it’s all about Jesus.
“The funny thing about having what you think might have been an encounter with God is how you just go on doing all the earthy things, like getting acid indigestion. I brushed my teeth. I didn’t know what else to do. It’s why I’d come to the sink in the first place.” — Beth Moore
Wearing
Rothy’s are my favorite shoes. They’re made of recycled water bottles and are machine washable. My new favorites were a birthday gift from my mom, driving loafers in beachside pink (I swear they’re a neutral, but I maintain the same about my raspberry pair…) Use my referral link for 20$ off.
Fenty beauty lipshine in cookies & cocoa. Another perfect neutral.
Reading (substacks)
Pink! Check out the Rosy Maple moths and the Pink-sided Fern moths.
This digital midsummer creative retreat is a delight.
Chris Green’s memorial to Cormac McCarthy.
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