Here are some books (new and not so new) at the Mountain View Public Library that cover topics Highway Community has been discussing at various levels.

Also note, I haven’t read many if any of these… so if you do read or have read any please feel free to comment!

Be aware that some may not be available just yet, but usually will be available within the month.

Call # 208.2 Peters
Author Peters, F. E. (Francis E.)
Title The voice, the Word, the books : the sacred scripture of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims / F.E. Peters.
Publication Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2007.

Call # 230 Küng
Author Küng, Hans, 1928-
Title On being a Christian / Hans Küng, translated by Edward Quinn.
Publication Garden City, N.Y. : Image Books, 1984.

Call # 232 Spong
Author Spong, John Shelby.
Title Jesus for the non-religious : recovering the divine at the heart of the human / John Shelby Spong.
Publication New York : HarperSanFrancisco, c2007.

Call # 242 Benson
Author Benson, R. (Robert), 1952-
Title Digging in : notes from the back garden / Robert Benson.
Publication Colorado Springs, Colo. : WaterBrook Press, 2007.

Call # 248.4 Lucado
Author Lucado, Max.
Title Every day deserves a chance : wake up to the gift of 24 little hours / Max Lucado.
Publication Nashville : Thomas Nelson, c2007.

Call # 248.843 Thomas
Author Thomas, Kim, 1958-
Title Simplicity : finding peace by uncluttering your life / Kim Thomas.
Publication Nashville, Tenn. : Broadman & Holman Publishers, c1999.

I started this one, and do want to return to it.
I think it would be good to read with at least one other person,
so you can support each others efforts.

Call # 248.843 Transparent
Title Transparent : getting honest about who we are and who we want to be / [edited by] Sarah Zacharias Davis.
Publication Grand Rapids, MI : Fleming H. Revell, 2007.

I actually HAVE just finished this one. Each chapter is one woman’s story
usually dealing with a specific area - fear, jealousy, finding a voice, etc.
Would be good to read with a couple of other women, as there are
discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
Definitely hits the value of authenticity.

Call # 248.86 Jeffress
Author Jeffress, Robert, 1955-
Title Second chance, second act : turning your messes into successes / Robert Jeffress.
Publication Colorado Springs, Colo. : Waterbrook Press, c2007.

Call # 253 Lupton
Author Lupton, Robert D.
Title Compassion, justice, and the Christian life : Rethinking Ministry to the poor / Robert D. Lupton.
Publisher Ventura, Calif. : Regal Books,|c2007.

Call # 254.3 Bailey
Author Bailey, Brian, 1970-
Title The blogging church : sharing the story of your church through blogs / Brian Bailey with Terry Storch ; foreword by Ed Young.
Publication San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass, c2007.

Call # 261.21 Mehta
Author Mehta, Hemant.
Title I sold my soul on eBay : viewing faith through an atheist’s eyes / Hemant Mehta.
Publication Colorado Springs, Colo. : Waterbrook Press, 2007.

Call # 261.8 Bono
Author Bono, 1960-
Title On the move : remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Washington DC, 2 February, 2006 / Bono.
Publisher Nashville : W Pub. Group, [2007]

I have read this one as well. Short book, as it is the speech itself,
concerns our response to the poor in the world. Definitely a thought
provoker, discussion opener, and action inspirer.

Call # 261.88 Taylor
Author Taylor, Sarah McFarland, 1968-
Title Green sisters : a spiritual ecology / Sarah McFarland Taylor.
Publication Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2007.
(You might find older books on religion and ecology 261.8362 )

Call # 962.4043 Steidle
Author Steidle, Brian.
Title The devil came on horseback : bearing witness to the genocide in Darfur / Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace.
Publication New York : Public Affairs, c2007.

Just a note about one of the books on the list “Jesus for the non-religious : recovering the divine at the heart of the human” by John Spong.

It should be kept in mind that Rev Spong is a liberal theologian and denies the virgin birth of Christ as well as His resurrection. He describes these as later Christian myths and not real. He views miracles as inventions which must all be discarded in this Newtonian world. Essentially, he disallows a notion of the spirit being that God is who acts both inside and outside of human history and that is not bound by the laws of physics as we know them.

Further, he sees the resurrection of Christ as only an ascendency to the notion of God. The concept of redemption in any real sense from a legal problem before God as righteous judge is to be discarded as Rev Spong states.

Spong states on his website, “Darwin was followed by Sigmund Freud who analyzed the symbols of Christianity and found in them manifestations of a deep-seated infantile neurosis. The God understood as a father figure, who guided ultimate personal decisions, answered our prayers, and promised rewards and punishment based upon our behavior was not designed to call anyone into maturity.”

Therefore, the notion of being built up in Christ or the work of God in our lives is, in his words, only a myth for the weak minded neurotics.

So, read his book with the Bible in the hand and approach its claims as the Bereans did the messages from Paul.

...Mike