A survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2008, individuals ages 15-19 spent over two hours watching television each day but averaged only 10 minutes of reading. As college students, we might complain that we read enough for class already, but many of us secretly wish we read more books. The reality is that we make time for what we care about. So next time you’re ready to turn off the television or Hulu or put down the movie you’re watching on your iPod, here are some recommendations for books you can pick up instead.
“Crazy Love” by Francis Chan
“Don’t let anyone cool you down,” author and pastor Francis Chan said at the closing session of the recent Torrey Conference. This is also the message of his popular book “Crazy Love.” As the title indicates, the book explores God’s overwhelming love for us and the response he demands in return. Chan encourages people to live in passionate pursuit of Jesus even if it means they must go alone. Becky Wauson, sophomore communications studies major, said the book is “full of radical concepts” and is “very convicting.”
“A lot of what I’ve read is head knowledge, it’s just making it heartfelt truth,” she said. Though only halfway through, she already says “I feel God using it to redefine my life.”
“Have a Little Faith” by Mitch Albom
“Will you do my eulogy?” This simple, terrifying request from his rabbi launched Mitch Albom into an eight-year quest to know the man better so he might do him justice at his funeral. Along the way, they take an honest look at some of life’s hard issues and explore the role that faith plays in life. The book is an enjoyable narrative of Albom’s interactions with the rabbi as he re-forms his childhood perspective of the mysterious “man of God.” The book is really about three men, as Albom weaves in his own memories and the sub-story of his local pastor, a reformed drug dealer. The reader travels back in time and between worlds but always following the thread of faith as the thing that brings meaning to the past, purpose to the present, and significance to the future.
“The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns
The book was on the podium Sunday, right next to my pastor’s Bible, so I knew I had to ask him about it.
“One of the most profound books I’ve ever read,” he said.
It is the story of Rich Stearns – just a regular guy enjoying the success of the American Dream. But when God called on his life, he was launched on the journey from CEO of a successful tableware company to president of the non-profit organization World Vision. He quickly went from sitting in a plush corner office to facing an orphan in a mud hut in Uganda.
“God dragged him kicking and screaming…he downsized his house, but then found that the world was open to him,” my pastor said.
Stearns says in the first chapter that in being concerned only for people’s salvation in the next life and not for their welfare in this word, we have created “a gospel with a gaping hole.” Through his own story, Stearns issues a fresh call to the church to mobilize to meet the needs of a suffering world.
“The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown
A sequel to his hugely popular novel “The Da Vinci Code,” Dan Brown’s latest political thriller “The Lost Symbol,” sold a record one million copies on its first day and has dominated the New York Times Best Seller List. The novel is set in Washington D.C. and centers around the mysterious Freemasons – a historical secret society and the popular subject for many conspiracy theories. The main character, Harvard professor Robert Langdon, uses his knowledge of symbols and religious history to solve a mystery while navigating dangerous situations. The book makes some definite theological claims but is not expected to generate the same controversy in the religious community as “The Da Vinci Code” did with its suggestions that Jesus was not God and instead married and fathered children.
English professor Seth Wegter calls Brown’s books “dangerous literature,” but said that Christians should not be afraid of reading these books if they have their priorities straight.
“Follow me to freedom” by Shane Claiborne and John Perkins
The newest book from author and speaker Shane Claiborne is co-written with John Perkins on the topic of “leading and following as an ordinary radical.” These two men make for an unlikely duo, being of different race, age, backgrounds and experience, but they unite on what it means to be Jesus’ hands and feet in a modern world. The book calls ordinary people to live out Biblical leadership and take simple, but radical steps for real change in a world longing for social justice and compassion. Biola students who have read Claiborne’s earlier book “Irresistible Revolution” remember it as being hugely influential in their lives and are looking forward to hearing him come speak on campus next Thursday, November 12.
