Readings

This is by no means an exhaustive list, even of recent reading, for this life-long bookworm.

What I share here are the works which seem to be most influencing my thought in recent years.

For a broader reading list, visit this page on the Peace and Social Concerns website of the Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

Note: The image is Nautilus Color Wheel, by Jay Gross.

Faith and Practice

• Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary (2007)
• Rex Ambler, The Quaker Way: A Rediscovery (2013)
• Karen Armstrong
  • The History of God (1994)
  • The Battle for God (2001)
  • Islam: A Short History (2002)
  • The Great Transformation: The World in the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah (2007)
• Resa Aslan, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (2011)
• James Breech, The Silence of Jesus: The Authentic Voice of the Historical Man (1983)
• Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons (2007)
• Marilyn Busteed, Richard Tiffany, Dorothy Wergin, Phases of the Moon: A Guide to Evolving Human Nature (1974)
• James Carroll, Christ Actually: The Son of God for the Secular Age (2014)
• James P. Carse
  • The Silence of God (1985)
  • Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility (1986)
  • Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience (1995)
  • The Religious Case Against Belief (2009)
• Pema Chödrön
  • Awakening Loving-Kindness (1996)
  • When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997, 2000)
  • The Pocket Pema Chödrön (2010)
• John Dominic Crossan
  • The Historical Jesus: The life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant (1993)
  • Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (1994)
  • The Birth of Christianity: Discovering what happened in the years immediately after the execution of Jesus (1999)
  • In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom (2005)
  • God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now (2008)
  • The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon (coauthored by Marcus J. Borg; 2010)
  • The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord’s Prayer (2011)
  • The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus (2012)
  • How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis through Revelation (2015)
• James G. Crossley, Jesus and the Chaos of History: Redirecting the Life of the Historical Jesus (2015)
• Ram Dass
  • How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service, with Paul Gorman (1985)
  • Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying (2001)
• Stephen Finlan
  • Problems with Atonement: The Origins of, and Controversy about, the Atonement Doctrine (2005)
  • Options on Atonement in Christian Thought (2007)
  • The Apostle Paul and the Pauline Tradition (2008)
  • The Family Metaphor in Jesus’ Teaching: Gospel and Ethics (2009)
• Richard Q. Ford, The Parables of Jesus: Recovering the Art of Listening (1997)
• Douglas Gwyn
  • Apocalypse of the Word : The Life and Message of George Fox (1986)
  • The Covenant Crucified : Quakers and the Rise of Capitalism (1995)
  • Unmasking the Idols : A Journey Among Friends (1989)
  • Seekers Found : Atonement in Early Quaker Experience (2001)
  • Conversation with Christ: Quaker Meditations on the Gospel of John (2011)
  • But Who Do You Say That I Am? Quakers and Christ Today, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #426 (2014)
  • The Anti-War: “Peace Finds the Purpose of a Peculiar People” & “Militant Peacemaking in the Manner of Friends” (2016)
• Hafiz of Shiraz, 14th century Persian Sufi poet, exemplified by Daniel Ladinsky’s versions of selected poems, The Subject Tonight is Love (2005)
• Joyce and River Higginbotham
  • Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions (2005)
  • Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation (2006)
• H. Larry Ingle
  • First Among Friends: George Fox & the Creation of Quakerism (1994; 2001)
  • Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation (1998)
• Jon D. Levenson
  • The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (1995)
  • Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (2008)
• George MacDonald, George MacDonald: An anthology, edited by C.S. Lewis (1946)
• Linda A. Mercadante, Belief without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious (2014)
• Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation (1962)
• Robert J. Miller, editor, The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version (4th ed., 2010)
• Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta”, edited with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C, (2007; 2009)
• A New New Testament: A Bible for the 21st Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts, edited with a commentary by Hal Taussig (2013)
• Brent Nongbri, Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept (2012)
• Mitri Raheb, Faith in Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes (2014)
• Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (1969; rev. & expanded, 1994)
• Katsuki Sekida, Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy (1975; 2005)
• Geraldine Thorsten, God Herself: The Feminine Roots of Astrology (1980)
• Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism (1973; 2002)
• Christopher W. Skinner, Reading John (2015)
• Géza Vermès
  • Jesus the Jew: A Historian’s Reading of the Gospels
  • Jesus and the World of Judaism
  • The Religion of Jesus the Jew
  • The Changing Faces of Jesus
  • The Authentic Gospel of Jesus
• Ken Wilber, The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader

Science and Culture

• Antonio Damasio
  • Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (1994; 2005)
  • The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness (1999)
  • Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain (2003)
  • Self Comes to Mind: Construction the Conscious Brain (2010)
• Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
• Stephen Jay Gould
  • Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History
  • The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
  • Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History
  • The Flamingo’s Smile: Reflections in Natural History
  • An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas
  • Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
  • Bully for Brontosaurus
  • Dinosaur in a Haystack
  • The Lying Stones of Marrakech
  • Rocks of Ages
• Jeremy W. Hayward, Perceiving Ordinary Magic: Science & Intuitive Wisdom
• Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016)
• Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
• Charles C. Mann
  • 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (2006)
  • 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (2012)
• Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964; 1994)
• Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America (2002)
• Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
• Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2nd ed., 2010)

Fiction

• John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Chronicles
  • Volume I: The Forsyte Saga (1906-21)
  • Volume II: A Modern Comedy (1924-1928)
  • Volume III: End of the Chapter (1931-1933, published posthumously)
• William Gibson, the works
• Frank Herbert, the works, especially the six original Dune books
  [but not his son Brian, who inherited his daddy’s notes but not his talent]
• Doris Lessing, the works, especially the Canopus in Argos series
• David Liss
  • Benjamin Weaver Series
    • A Conspiracy of Paper (2001)
    • A Spectacle of Corruption (2004)
    • The Devil’s Company (2009)
  • The Coffee Trader (2004)
• Kim Stanley Robinson, the works
• Neal Stephenson
  • The Diamond Age
  • Cryptonomicon
  • The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World
  • Anathem
  • REAMDE
  • SevenEves
• John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the works
  [and kudos to his son Christopher, who inherited his daddy’s notes and knew what to do with them]