Summer has arrived.
Over the last month I read ten books I appreciate enough to recommend. All of these volumes were published in the last two years.
Published in 2019
- (5+) Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life by Amber Scorah (Viking, 2019)
- (4.5) The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong by Karen Gonzalez (Herald Press, 2019)
- (4.5) Called to Forgive: The Charleston Church Shooting, a Victim’s Husband, and the Path to Healing and Peace by Anthony B. Thompson (Bethany House, 2019)
- (4.5) Fire by Night: Finding God in the Pages of the Old Testament by Melissa Florer-Bixler (Herald Press, 2019)
- (4.0) The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions by Emily P. Freeman (Revell, 2019)
- (4.0) Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein (Riverhead Books, 2019)
- (3.5) Here, Now, With You: Six Movements of Compassion for Life and Leadership by Gregg Louis Taylor (Abingdon Press, 2019)
- (3.0) The Book Your Pastor Wishes You Would Read: (but is too embarrassed to ask) by Christopher Ash (The Good Book Company, 2019)
Published in 2018
- (5.0) Having Nothing, Possessing Everything: Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places by Michael Mather (Eerdmans, 2018)
- (4.5) When One Religion Isn’t Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People by Duane R. Bidwell (Beacon Press, 2018)
So What?
Every day good people all around the world lead lives shaped by their understanding of and experiences in their religion of choice. For some, religion serves as one of many sources of wisdom and guidance. For others, religion is the first and only authoritative source.
Amber Scorah’s first book – Leaving the Witness – provides a window into the latter sort of religious experience. For most of her life, Scorah was shaped so significantly by her Jehovah’s Witnesses religious experience that she could not even imagine a world in which any of its many teachings were in error. Her commitment ran so deep that she traveled the world as a missionary and remained in a loveless marriage. The increased freedom of her final missionary assignment led her to ask questions she’d never asked before and provided her the time to ponder the possible answers. Leaving the Witness is a story of radical followership as well as the ultimate deconversion – an exit cutting her off from all friends and family who remain a part of the religion. In life beyond the Witness, Scorah searches to make sense of the world and craft a life that is genuinely her own.
The 5+ Rating
I rate books on a scale of 1 to 5. The rare book that is beyond 5, receives a rating of 5+. Half way through the year, only two other books published in 2019 have received a rating of 5+
- Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor (HarperOne, 2019) – April Recommendations
- Outlandish: An Unlikely Messiah, a Messy Ministry, and the Call to Mobilize by Derek Penwell (Chalice Press, 2019) – March Bonus Recommendations