Recommended Reading for the Times We Live In

Once most of them were recorded, I could look at them as a whole and realize some consistency, even though they are all quite different.

It didn’t take long in my deconstruction journey to get tired of the new progressive theology. Don’t get me wrong, a few of the points were valid, and I needed to make some decisions about what I believe, but very soon, I realized that theologians, platforms, and endorsement trading get very old very quickly. It’s just a codependency that I don’t need in my life at this time. I can still have connections, friendships, and community without sacrificing my energy, money, and volunteer labor to the latest theologian with a new idea about interpreting ancient Scriptures. Hundreds of thousands are coming to the same conclusions intuitively, and theologians are cashing in on them as always.

We are at a point in time where white males need to give up their seats to let marginalized groups and women move forward. We did a conference called Leaning Forward this past year where we had only women speak. I see conferences where women are included minimally, along with token queer people and people of color, but they still revert back to white male patriarchy almost without thinking. I am on a record-breaking pace with my personal reading this year. I am reading people of color, queer folx, and women so much that I have to recover occasionally because it enlightens and challenges me greatly.

The women in our Leaning Forward conference challenged us to listen to survivor stories, especially of women. Most men in ministry read books about leadership and theology. They generally don’t understand what marginalized groups experience deeply because they don’t listen to their stories. I would recommend all people who are deconstructing to do as much healing work as you can possibly afford and fill your reading list with stories of marginalized people, including lots of women’s survivor stories.

Here are some other books on my completed reading list:

– Looking for Alaska by John Green

– All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

– In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger

– The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

– Healing Trauma by Peter Levine

– The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

– Someone You Love is Gay by Brandon Park

– Inner Engineering by Sadguru

– Tibetan Book of the Dead

Discover who you are, read stories, heal, and keep asking questions.