Anabapt-ish Theology Book Club discussion

Add your book nominations in the discussion below.

Please do not nominate for than two books a month.

I'll start by nominating some of those Anabapt-ish staples that we had in our first poll.

King Jesus Gospel - McKnight
Cross Vision - Boyd
The Naked Anabaptist - Murray

I'll also add a couple different ones...


Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States - Whitehead
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind - Noll

Here are my nominations (a fraction of my to-be-read list)

The Old Testament Case for Nonviolence by Matthew Curtis Fleischer
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright
Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God: The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News by Brian Zahnd
Penal Substitution On Trial: How does the Death and Life of Jesus Save Us? by Philip Hess

My suggestions:

-A Living Alternative: Anabaptist Christianity in a Post-Christendom World by A.O. Green

-After Doubt by A.J. Swobodoa

These are a few books I have on my TBR:

After Doubt--Swobodoa

The Myth of a Christian Nation--Boyd

Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ -- Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin

The King Jesus Gospel--McKnight

After Evangelicalism--Gushee

After You Believe--Wright

As we are considering what books to read, here are a couple lists that could be helpful. One comes from Greg Boyd and one comes from Kurt Willems


https://reknew.org/gregs-library/

https://pangea.church/books

I wanted to mention that I had heard a description of a book called The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire that sounded really interesting on a podcast last week.

I read The Patient Ferment of the Early Church and would highly recommend it. It’s dense and a slow read, but very good. And strangely timely.

I have read The Patient Ferment of the Early Church and would also recommend it.

I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in reading “That All Shall be Saved”, by David Bentley Hart. I’m interested in comparing it with Jersak’s work now. 😅

I want to read it too!

New to this group, and I may not be available to participate in group reading as much as I would like, but If y’all are interested in more readings on universalism, That All Shall Be Saved is great. DBH is uh…argumentative, to say the least, and he writes a really bombastic series of meditations that will leave you bruised. Personally, I probably fall just a little bit closer to Barth than Hart on universalism, but if you want to hear a convincing case for dogmatic universalism, there’s not a better book out there. One of his chapters is on the nature of freedom, and while he is specifically addressing the suggestion that someone could "freely” choose Hell over Heaven, the implications of his argument are so much more far reaching (theologically and otherwise) than just universalism. I seriously think about that chapter all the time.

Last year I read basically every work on universalism I could get my hands on, so if anyone wants any additional recommendations on that subject, I’m happy to offer them.

Discussing That All Shall Be Saved led to my exit from the last theology group I was in here on goodreads. Genni was there. It was a messy discussion all around and I’ll admit I was not at my best through it.

Its a good book though. That said, if you want something absolutely delightful, silly, thoughtful and different check out Hart’s newest: Roland in the Moonlight. Its basically conversations between him and his dog and its brilliant.

David wrote: "Discussing That All Shall Be Saved led to my exit from the last theology group I was in here on goodreads. Genni was there. It was a messy discussion all around and I’ll admit I was not at my best ..."

That group was a tough crowd. 😏 It started out with some truly very valuable and varying perspectives, but soon afterwards became something else entirely.

I saw that you had read Roland and it looked awesome so it is on my ever insurmountable TBR pile.

One other author I came across recently is Daniel M. Bell Jr. I’m not sure if he is Anabaptist or not but his stuff looks interesting!

The Rev. Dr. Daniel M. Bell Jr. teaches theology and ethics at Lenoir Rhyne University and Utah Valley University. For almost two decades he served as a professor of theology and ethics at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. He is a popular speaker at colleges and universities, campus ministries, and churches on topics such as war and peace, the moral life, stewardship and economics, leadership and mission of the church today.

He has authored several books, including Liberation Theology After the End of History (Routledge, 2001) Just War as Christian Discipleship (Brazos, 2009), The Economy of Desire: Christianity and Capitalism in a Postmodern World (Baker Academic, 2012) and most recently, Divinations: Theopolitics in an Age of Terror (Cascade, 2017).

He has presented papers before distinguished organizations such as the Latin American Studies Association International Congress, the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Irish School of Ecumenics. His work has appeared in various journals including Christianity Today, The Christian Century, Modern Theology, Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, Communio, Cross-Currents, and Studies in Christians Ethics.

A gifted scholar and an enthusiastic teacher, Dr. Bell has been active in Habitat for Humanity and prison ministry, has led study seminars to Mexico, and regularly took students on cross cultural immersion trips to Honduras and Haiti. He worked for years with active duty military chaplains in their advance civilian education program and served for several years as the General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethics at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth. KS. He is an ordained Elder in The United Methodist Church. A graduate of Stetson University in Florida, he earned the Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School and a Ph.D. (in theology and ethics) from Duke University where he worked with Dr. Stanley Hauerwas.

Prior to his seminary teaching, Dr. Bell taught at Monmouth College, Truman State University, and Meredith College. He currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I would be interested in reading John Howard Yoder’s classic The Politics of Jesus. It’s been on my shelf for years but I just haven’t come around to reading it yet.

Grant, I'm in the same boat with the Politics of Jesus. Been wanting to read it forever but haven't found the right time, and am unsure how to navigate that work given Yoder's appalling personal failures. Maybe a group setting is a good way to approach that text.

I completely agree, Jackson.

Just came out a few weeks ago:

Jesus loves Canaanites by Randal Rauser

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I was thinking a little bit about the next time we vote, and I decided to go ahead and nominate a couple of books, so I won't have to wonder if I've nominated anything this time around :-)

I wanted to mention The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently. I've wanted to read this book since it came out and haven't gotten to it yet.

David's recommendation (which I would also like to read) reminded me of another book I would like to read, but haven't gotten to yet: But What about God's Wrath?: The Compelling Love Story of Divine Anger

I’d like to make a couple suggestions.
The first is one I read several years ago but would read again; Dissident Discipleship by David Augsburger. Stuart Murray in The Naked Anabaptist mentions it several times and I ended up putting more highlights and tabs on this book than any other I’ve ever read.
The second is one that Greg Boyd has mentioned a couple times on his podcast and has been on my ‘to read’ list for a couple years now: Killing Enmity by Thomas R Yoder Neufeld.

Robert wrote: "I’d like to make a couple suggestions.
The first is one I read several years ago but would read again; Dissident Discipleship by David Augsburger. Stuart Murray in The Naked Anabaptist mentions it ..."

I love these suggestions Robert. Many of us have read a lot of Boyd, Bruxy, etc. so these are some nice options that most of us can work through for the first time together.

Caleb wrote: "Robert wrote: "I’d like to make a couple suggestions.
The first is one I read several years ago but would read again; Dissident Discipleship by David Augsburger. Stuart Murray in The Naked Anabapti..."

It's got to be tough to be you and decide what books we'll even vote on :-) Some people here are lifelong anabaptists, and others, like me, have never even read The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith. Thanks for doing the good work!