Bib'li-o-phil'i-a

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Monday, September 05, 2005

Life-changing books

I'm going to take a break from casting and ask a question that I hope generates a lot of thought and discussion, both here and among you and your literary acquaintances. What book was critical in the development of the way you now think? It may be a story, a philosophical text, a science book, anything. Any book, that is. And I don't mean Book, either. The Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Vedas - those don't count. I don't want your over-arching meta-narrative, but a book that helped you make better sense of it. I'll answer, but first I'd like to hear your answers.

posted by Unknown @ 9/05/2005 10:37:00 PM  

8 Comments:

  • At Thursday, September 08, 2005 6:52:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This is a hard question! I've been thinking about it and nothing quickly comes to mind.... and alot of things come to mind. I narrowed it to english fiction, for no apparent reason and came up with 2. A Unicorn named Beulah Mae by J. H. Stroschin and The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

    A Unicorn named Beulah Mae was one of my favorites when I was little and I still take it with me every time I move... its here in my tiny room in NY. It is a tale about why there are no more unicorns, but the moral of the story is that everybody is unique for a reason and that is a good thing. I believe that diversity is one of the most beautiful, entertaining, intelligent, awe-inspiring things about the human race and maybe that book had something to do with starting this notion in my head.

    Bridge to Terabithia I reread about a year ago and fell in love with again. It kind of takes a step past diversity into what friendships(between two rather different people) are really about. In the words of another "friendships are about seeing the world through different eyes". The friends created Terabithia together which was an act of seeing the world differently than they had seen it before, but they also learned about each other's families, histories and (generally) lives. I think its important to remember how much people can enrich our lives past what we can get from them, what they can do for us or only based on our shared interests.

    I often, in conversation, ask people to teach me something or tell me a story, its interesting how poorly or surprised people react to this. If I ever ask its because I want to learn about the world you see, since experience has taught me that it is most likely very different than the one I'm looking at.

    - Megan

     

  • At Thursday, September 08, 2005 10:34:00 AM, Blogger Judy said…

    I found Elizabeth Goudge's fiction book "The Bird in the Tree" to be life-changing. And, of all the books I own, this is not one of them, which saddens me.

    Sheldon VanAuken's "A Severe Mercy" runs a very close second, tied with C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce".

    I wish that books on organization had been more life-changing for me.

    My favorite life-changing children's book is "Maggie Rose - Her Birthday Christmas" by Ruth Sawyer (most famous for her children's book 'Roller Skates').

    First of all comes 'thought changing' which all of these books did for me in a big way. It takes time for a change in thinking to result in a changed life. But, worth the time.

     

  • At Saturday, September 10, 2005 11:51:00 AM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Gary deMar's book Last Days Madness introduced me to preterist eschatology, the idea that biblical eschatology was fulfilled in the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. I read this book mostly because I thought it was a load of crap and wanted to refute it. But I found it to be consistent with Scripture, something that rapture theory never has been. Preterist eschatology ties the New Testament back to the Old and presents Scripture as an unfolding narrative.

    I read this book before starting college, and it was the perfect lead-in to the Reformational worldview that I adopted in school. Having left behind (get it?) the belief that Jesus was going to come back and destroy everything bad and make everything good, I began to better understand the church's role as an agent of redemption, not simply as rats deserting a sinking ship and taking others with us.

    The book that really cemented these ideas together was N.T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God. Wright counters the Jesus Seminar by actually looking at history and accepting the Bible as an historical text. he shows how Jesus saw himself in the line of Jewish prophets and told people what it meant to be the people of God.

    These books and several others to varying degrees were critical in shaping my worldview.

     

  • At Saturday, September 10, 2005 2:32:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    The book that has had the biggest impact on my overarching narrative theologically speaking was Fear and Trembling. Not only did it totally transform the nature of my faith, but I read it at a time when I was just starting to think it was okay to stray from my dispensational/fundamental/conservative upbringing. That opened countless doors.

    Bonhoffer's The Cost of Discipleship is in a close second, though. It helps to break through the comfortable Christian bubble that's all too easy to fall into. Third is Traveling Mercies.

    In terms of fiction, you all know that Thomas Hardy has made an inexpressible impact on me and the way I see the world.

     

  • At Sunday, September 11, 2005 12:16:00 PM, Blogger Judy said…

    Early on I was influenced by Francis Schaeffer's works. I received a complete set when I was pregnant with Evan, and read them in my spare time.

    Later, I was more influenced by Edith Schaeffer,especially "Common Sense Christian Living" and "The Hidden Art of Homemaking".

    Of course, then I read Franky Schaeffer's "Portofino" and everyrhing was called into question.

    Now that I've been giving this a lot of thought, C.S. Lewis' "The Inner Room" was incredibly profound in shaping my thinking and I make a point of reading it every year.

     

  • At Monday, September 12, 2005 1:10:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "The House At Pooh Corner" were quite influential for me.

     

  • At Thursday, September 15, 2005 10:12:00 AM, Blogger melis said…

    I would say Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It's an amazing book, and probably the first Christian book that I've read that wasn't a do-it-yourself, home remedy, 10 step process to a better life, other than Resident Aliens which would be tied for first...

     

  • At Friday, September 16, 2005 6:20:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I really enjoyed Watership Down. I'm not even joking. It was like the first big book that I read and I think it made me forever sympathetic to animals because of all of the rabbits. But then I tried raising rabbits for 4H and they all ended up dead because I over fed them or something. But it was a very good book. I can't think of one right now that influenced my worldview or anything. but i'll maybe get back to you on that. hope you're doing well! -krystal

     

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