Over the last few weeks several pastors have told me that they have a growing list of things they plan to do after Easter, including catching up on their reading. Whether or not you have slowed your reading pace during Lent, I encourage you to consider reading one or more of the following books. As has been my custom for around a year, my ratings are given on a scale of 1 to 5.
- (5) One Nation Under Gods: A New American History by Peter Manseau (Little, Brown, and Company, 2015)
- (5) Damaged Goods: New Perspectives on Christian Purity by Dianna E. Anderson (Jericho Books, 2015)
- (4.5) Flipped: The Provocative Truth That Changes Everything We Know About God by Doug Pagitt (Convergent Books, 2015)
- (4) Re-Lent: Lent Devotionals 2015 by The Stillspeaking Writers’ Group (United Church of Christ, 2015)
- (4) In God’s Hands by Desmond Tutu (Bloomsbury, 2014)
- (3.5) Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery – Six Holy Objects that Tell the Remarkable Story of the Gospels by David Gibson and Michael McKinley (St. Martin’s Press, 2015)
So What?
Manseau’s tome is a helpful, well researched volume that effectively dispels the common myth that America started as a Christian nation (or Jude-Christian or any similar false story of religious national origins). He relates important parts of our nation’s religious history that often go untold, especially those that showcase violence or diversity. Whether you are a scholar of history or religion or simply interested in a richer understanding of the many religious perspectives that have shaped the American experience since the late 15th century, expect to learn a great deal and to broaden your understanding of the American religious story.
Anderson’s work has the capability of reopening the purity conversation in Evangelical circles. Raised in a religious world that prized virginity till marriage she participated in the True Love Waits program and received a diamond purity ring from her parents at fourteen years of age. As a result, she didn’t even accept herself as a sexual being until age twenty-two, and didn’t have a real boyfriend until age twenty-five. In the years since, she has questioned everything she learned and moved beyond it by constructing a new set of liberating personal sexual ethics. Open minded, refreshingly transparent, and well grounded in biblical studies with appropriate acknowledgements to the longer term historical development of Christian sexual norms, this book will be helpful to those within as well as those outside of the Evangelical world.
- Share one fact or story about American religious history that isn’t widely known that you feel should be.
- Share your experience with (or knowledge of) the Evangelical purity movement.
- Share one book you have read so far this year that you highly recommend to others.