Dear Reader –
I have been an avid reader since elementary school, which, for me, is many years in the past. Often when talking with friends, I refer to a valuable book that I have encountered. This blog is intended to suggest some of these valuable books to you. I include some commentaries on both the categories and the specific books. As they used to say in radio, “stay tuned”, because this list will expand as I have time to add more books.
As you will notice from the categories, this list does not include the technical books that I have enjoyed in connection with my profession and my hobbies; the books listed are of more general interest to you who feel drawn to study (in Douglas Adams’ classic phrase) God, the Universe, and Everything.
PRAYER
Prayer is not magic that makes God do what we want, if only we use the right words.
These books help us to better understand prayer, how prayer works, and how to deepen our prayer lives. They are not lists of prefabricated prayers.
Hello, Daddy, a discussion of Christian Prayer, by Richard A. Honeycutt, Ph.D. with Betty Jane M. Honeycutt. This volume examines Christian prayer from a Scriptural, linguistic, psychological, and religious perspective. The authors are not so presumptuous as to tell you how to pray, but they can stimulate your thinking about prayer.
Healing Words, by Larry Dossey, MD. Dr. Dossey was brought up as a fundamentalist Christian, but has studied other systems of religious thought. This background, plus his scientific bent and his MD training, makes him especially qualified to examine and evaluate the immense body of experimental evidence on the benefits of prayer for healing.
Our
Heavenly Father: Sermons on the Lord's prayer,
by Helmut Thielecke Dr. Thielecke helps us to
broaden our understanding of what the Lord’s Prayer is really about, helping us
bridge the gap created by years of over-familiarity.
The Ancient Aramaic Prayer of Jesus,
by Rocco A. Errico.
Errico brings his studies of Middle Eastern languages
to bear in helping us find what the words of Jesus’s model prayer meant to the
original disciples.
FICTION
Good fiction can amuse, educate, and even enlighten the
reader.
Allegory: a collection of short stories, by Erin Honeycutt and Angelica Rose. In the spirit of Kahlil Gibran, these authors help us examine the human condition, and our personal relation to it.
The Crazy Kolinskis, by Ray N. Howell III. A small southern town must come to grips with a mysterious family who keep to themselves and talk little about their past.
The Remnant, by Mary Lacroix. A new twist on the Jesus of the Gospels. We know he was not
a Pharisee or a Sadducee. The other major Jewish group of his time was the Essenes,
a group not mentioned by name in the New Testament. Is this because Jesus and
the disciples were in fact Essenes, and the Pharisees
and Saducees were named because they were other groups? A fascinating read,
whether you agree with the “Essene hypothesis” or not..
Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light, by Mary Lacroix. This book is to The Remnant what the “Acts of the Apostles” is to the Gospels.
BIOGRAPHY
We read biographies of people with unusual or interesting
lives. The ones listed below certainly fit that criterion.
There
is a River, by Thomas Sugrue.
One of the best-documented teachers of the early 20th century, Cayce
was a devout Christian who read his favorite book—the Bible— at least once in each year of his life. Many people have
opinions about Cayce. Some few actually base their opinions on some knowledge
about the man and his work. How about you?
Edgar
Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, by Jess Stearn. This is the second major biography of Edgar Cayce. It
includes some material not present in There
is a River, and is written in a more modern style.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Jesus told Pilate that He came to bear witness to the truth. Truth is universal, and is still truth no matter where we encounter it. Depending upon the way it is stated, and upon our personal experiences and beliefs, the same truth may appear in different ways to different people. Once we get below the differences of presentation and perception, we find substantial elements of truth in all the great religions. The truths expressed in some of these books may seem foreign or dangerous to some people, but if we compare these truths with the teachings of our own religious beliefs (yes, even including atheism, which is a very fundamentalist religion), we will find similarities. Where different religions and philosophies really differ (not just seeming to differ), we must exercise—and thereby develop—discernment. As we do so, we will develop spiritually.
These books present some very deep truths that many of my
readers may not have encountered before.
Meditation
and the Mind of Man, by Herbert Bruce Puryear and Mark A. Thurston. Meditation has been an important part of deep spirituality
for uncounted ages. It is no secret in the East, although it was little known
in the West until the arrival of the Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, popularizing Transcendental Meditation in the
In fact, great European Christians such as St. Teresa of
Drs. Puryear and Thurston present a well-researched discussion of meditation from an essentially non-religious perspective.
The Varieties of Religious Experience,
by William James. Dr. James,
“the father of American Psychology”, was invited to present the Gifford
lectures at the
