For some reason I didn’t read my usual quota of books in a year (yeah, the first part of the year was a bit unsettling for me).
At any rate, here are my top five from those I was able to read:
1. The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning. I remain a big Manning fan. This title is about embracing and truly letting Abba’s love engulf you.
2. The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and Origins Debate by John Walton. Written on a semi-technical level, this introduction to a larger work by prof. Walton is quite engaging. I believe he’s made a solid case, like a few others, for a functional understanding of the Creation narrative.
3. Paul: A Brief Insight by E.P. Sanders. This was actually my first entire read of Sanders. I had read portions here and there. Now I’m looking forward to to reading his groundbreaking Paul and Palestian Judaism in 2010.
4. The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards by John Carrick. Both theists and atheists refer to Edwards as one of, if not, the top philosopher-theologian that American has ever produced. This title by Carrick takes us into the study and pulpit of Mr. Edwards, that learned New England divine.
5. The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture by Richard B. Hays. This title is sort of a follow up to Richard B. Hays Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, which I’m looking forward to reading in 2010. Every serious student of Paul and his Letters needs to read The Conversion of the Imagination.
Right now I’m reading James D.G. Dunn’s The New Perspective in Paul, which will certainly take me into 2010.
TC, I would suggest reading some of the Paul material in Beginning Jerusalem after NPP to see how Dunn’s thinking/explanation has progressed a bit.
Daniel,
I was re-listened to Carson on the NPP and he does mentions some change in Dunn. Dunn’s NPP ranges from 1983 to 2004. I’m wondering if any changes are in the 2004 essays – I’m not there yet.
But I’m planning on Dunn’s Jesus Remembered and Beginning from Jerusalem. Thanks.
I don’t know if Dunn would he has changed, maybe just that he know explains or describes things in different terms.
Well, in an essay from 1991, he welcomed a critique from Tom Schreiner on the meaning of “the works of the law” and modified some.