What’s On Pastor Trent’s Bookshelf?

As we enter the summer months, many of us will take time to travel, see family and friends, or just enjoy time away from the usual busyness of the school year. I always enjoy catching up on my reading every year during the slower weeks of summer, and for the past couple of years I’ve shared a glimpse of what’s on my bookshelf this time of year. So to continue in that tradition, here are a few recommendations of books I’ve enjoyed recently.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel marks the 25th anniversary of its release this year, and it tells the exciting story of Jewish cousins Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier, who find themselves sharing a room in a tiny Brooklyn apartment in 1939 after Joe manages to smuggle himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. Together, they tap into the new art form of comic books, and create a superhero that embodies all their hopes and dreams and the hopes of an entire people.

Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen: One of the great novelists of our time, Franzen tells the story of a pastor and his family in a Chicago suburb in 1971—their dysfunctions, their hopes and dreams, and the moral crises that each of them face. The church is a thinly veiled reference to a UCC congregation, and liberal mainline Protestantism more generally.

Alec, William di Canzio: The great English novelist E.M. Forster wrote his novel Maurice, about a closeted upper-class man in Edwardian England, in 1914. Yet it remained unpublished until after Forster’s death in 1971, so controversial and dangerous was the subject matter. Modern writer di Canzio takes up the story of the gay gamekeeper Alec Scudder, who falls in love with Maurice. Told from his perspective and picking up the story where Maurice leaves off, this is a tour de force romance.

God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships, Matthew Vines: For Pride Month, this newly updated edition of Vines’ powerful summary of the biblical arguments supporting LGBTQ people, originally published in 2014. Vines expands and refines his arguments and adds a couple of chapters as well as appendices.

The Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World, David Zahl: Mockingbird Ministries founder and director David Zahl writes about his favorite subject: grace. In a world filled with competition, guilt, the quest for money and fame, and the constant demand for perfection, Zahl reminds us that the heart of the gospel is grace. That you are accepted, loved, and belong, with no strings attached.

Afro-Christian Convention: The Fifth Stream of the United Church of Christ, Yvonne V. Delk, ed.: Tomorrow is Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. This would be a great day to check out the story of one of the hidden histories of the UCC, the group of churches known as the Afro-Christian Convention. These predominately African-American congregations became part of the United Church of Christ along with four other church traditions, but were often forgotten and overlooked. Rev. Delk and her co-authors in this collection of essays tell important stories of these faithful Christians who witnessed to the good news and fought injustice as they sought to follow Christ.

I hope that your summer is blessed and that you find time for rest, renewal, and a good book! And may you know that the God of grace is with you wherever you go.