Nadia Bolz-Weber: Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television
This is my book. It will change your life. Ok, not really.
Kester Brewin: Signs of Emergence
This book is tremendous. Drawing on his background as a math teacher, Brewin explores why the church is where it is and why it is to change...using complexity theory. This is a must read.
Edward and Lorna Mornin: Saints: A Visual Guide
This is a gorgeous handbook of the saints.
Peter Rollins: How (Not) to Speak of God.
Pete is an emerging church pastor of the Ikon community in Belfast, Ireland. I can't recommend this book enough.
Phyllis Tickle: The divine hours
Phyllis is one the smartest women I've ever met. I'm using this book for matins and noon prayer as well as vespers and compline.
Anne Lamott: Traveling Mercies : Some Thoughts on Faith
One of my favorite books of all time. She's pretty cranky and sarcastic too.
Eddie Gibbs: Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
Gibbs and Bolger spent 5 years compiling this book which relys heavily on interviews with emerging church leaders in the US and the UK. They seem to favor independant churches over denominational ones...so very little is said about us "loyal radicals"
The ELCA probably errs on the side of Gospel, but that's certainly not all you hear. I can't really speak about LCMS or WELS. I've never worshipped in their congregations and don't pay much attention to their official pronouncements. Which is worse? I don't know. You can't recognize the Gospel if you haven't been convicted by the law. However, unrelenting law just drives you down. The trick has always been the careful balance of both.
Posted by: CoG | September 19, 2006 at 07:43 PM
I grew up in an LCMS congregation and attended LCMS schools from K-12. While I am no longer a member of a Lutheran congregation, I am grateful for the spiritual training I received.
What I value most from my childhood training in spiritual matters is a deep conviction of grace. Through elementary school where we memorized the catechism, Bible verses and hymns. I learned that the most important thing I could know about God was that He loved me. The confirmation process and high school faith-related classes deepened that understanding of grace.
As a matter of fact, my early youthful "rebellious" spritual searching sent me searching in more fundamentalist direction.
It was the constant emphasis on grace that kept me from staying there, and has continued to be a theme and the most important facet of how I view God.
So, at least in my experience, I haven't seen any emphasis on law over grace in LCMS.
Posted by: Mia | September 20, 2006 at 11:29 PM
ELCA thinking is usually that it is better to err on the side of grace than law and I am guilty but I've met some LCMS pastors that are graceful.
Posted by: rich | October 04, 2006 at 02:04 PM