Two Books That You Need To Read…NOW.

It has been an incredibly busy season of life for me. In fact, I have never been involved in more projects and jobs than I am currently involved in. I am loving every minute of it  and am learning a ton. But as a result, some of the things I would have liked to have blogged about have gone by the wayside. But today I wanted make sure that I made time to let you know about two books (that you probably already know about) but that you needto go to Amazon or Barnes and Nobel and buy like…right now. These two books by these two authors are truly some of the most helpful, fun, and spiritually beneficial books that I have read in a long, long time.

Undiluted by Benjamin L. Corey

This book is one that I had the honor of reading almost six months ago and fell in love with it from the moment I began reading. My friend Benjamin Corey has written this book which is part personal narrative of his journey out of fundamentalism and part manifesto for a renewed kind of Christianity that is centered on the person of Jesus. I actually had the honor of writing an endorsement for the book a few months back and this is what I said:

“Modern-day Evangelical Christianity is missing something, or rather, someone. We are missing Jesus. The religion being expressed by many who claim the name of Christ is more committed to right doctrine, upholding tradition, and political power than it is about following the person of Jesus Christ. In his book, Benjamin Corey confronts this problem head on and takes a no-holds-bar approach to calling those who claim the name of Christ back to the organic nature of our faith- actually living like Jesus. Through his retelling of his personal faith journey Ben offers a truly undiluted view at what it looks like to follow Jesus- inclusion, community, transformation, living in tension, justice, forgiveness, loyalty, and love- and offers readers a vision of Christianity that frees us from our obsession with dogma and debate and liberates us to truly be followers Jesus. This timely book is a must read for everyone who finds dissonance between Jesus and his followers and are seeking to experience the shalom that Jesus offers to the world.”

I meant every word of that. You need to go pick up a copy of this book ASAP. To buy it on Amazon, click HERE.

The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns

I also had the honor of reading this book early as well and have revisited it multiple times over the past few months because it’s really informative and just so
damn funny! Peter Enns is one of my favorite Christian scholars on the planet and in this new book, he takes us through his own personal evolution of theology and interaction with the Bible. Peter addresses some of the tired arguments that conservative evangelicals often use to defend a certain hermeneutical approach to the Bible and helps the reader break through these arguments to see the Bible in a fresh, insightful way. Along with his scholarly insights and personal narrative, Peter is also a comedian. His humor helps keep the reader engaged and helps cut through some of the tensions that are created as we engage some very touchy theological topics. Overall, this book is an easy but very important read for anyone and everyone who is struggling with what to do with the Bible in our postmodern, postChristian world. I simply love it.

You can pick up a copy of Peter Enn’s book as well on Amazon by clicking HERE. 

So there you have it. Two books that you should have purchased by the time you lay your head on your pillow this evening. I promise you that if you do, your faith and life will be better for it! 😉

Peace-

Brandan