It can be difficult to know where to start with a reading list.
Once the prospect of achieving the goal drifts further, and further away the optimism that accompanied the original objective wanes.
Indecision steps in, as that which seemed like a good idea at the time slowly turns into something along the lines of:
“Oops…maybe I set the bar a little higher on this than I should have.”
In addition, there’s only so much one can read in the priceless minutes that frees us to tune out and read something of value each week.
Still, I am convinced reading lists serve a purpose. So, I am taking a step back and reprioritising what still sits on the shelf, or in my ebook libraries.
Right now I’m in between finishing off my final post on Barth’s C.D I/II and finishing the book ‘Theology after Darwin’, which is turning out to be worth the effort.
For why I was unable to get to read most on my list from January (excluding Barth’s Dogmatics), I’m putting it down to my eagerness to read Barth’s Dogmatics. Reading Barth is not something one can just breeze through – it’s just that darn good!
So here’s what I’ve achieved and would like to achieve in the next six months.
Achieved:
Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking Susan Cain, 2012
Augustine and the Limits of Politics, Jean Bethke Elshtain, 1995
The Children of Men, P.D. James 1992
The kindergarden of Eden, Evan Sayet 2012
Church Dogmatics I/II, Karl Barth
The Origin of Species, 1859 Charles Darwin {not originally on the list }
The Rebel, 1951 Albert Camus {not originally on the list}
Current list (Reprioritized)
The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race – Willie James Jennings
Up from Slavery – Booker T Washington (Homeschool reader)
The Servile State – Hilaire Belloc
The Work of the Chaplain – Naomi K. Paget & Janet R. McCormack
Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family and Fowl – Jase Robertson
Church Dogmatics II/I The Doctrine of God – Karl Barth, (priority text – goal is to read all of them eventually)
Karl Barth’s Table Talk – John.D Godsey
Preaching in Hilter’s Shadow, Dean G. Stroud
Legalizing Misandry, Paul Nathanson & Katherine Young 2006
Between past and present, Hannah Arendt 1954
I intend to add and read-as-I-go from the reading list posted in January.
The ones unread will be put in a holding pattern for now.
There are good grounds for doing this. One key reason though, is that I am now teaching homeschool three days a week.
