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2006 Book Discussion Group

Our book discussion group began in late spring 2006. Our church traditionally does not have Sunday School during the summer months, so several members decided to begin a book discussion group in the summer as a new forum for learning and spiritual growth. The idea was so well received that the book discussion group has become an ongoing activity.

Here are the books we read and discussed during our first six months. If these interest you, consider joining our group for the some of our current selections.

May 2006

The Gospel of Judas, edited by Rudolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst with a commentary by Bart D. Ehrman, is the first publication in modern times of the Gospel of Judas. It purports to give "the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot" and lay hidden over 1,600 years, condemned as heresy by the church fathers (Book jacket).

July 2006

A fascinating mystery that mixes fact and fiction,The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is also interesting for what it has to say about the life of Jesus, the early days of Christianity, and the Legend of the Holy Grail.

August 2006

What Jesus Meant, by Garry Wills, the historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author of Why I Am A Catholic and the more recent What Paul Meant, is part affirmation and part quest for the ultimate mystery and meaning of Jesus. This Jesus was radical and egalitarian as well as non-political, a God-man whose unltimate meaning is love.

September 2006

When Religion Becomes Evil by Charles Kimball, a Wake Forest religion professor, shows how every religion, including Christianity, has the capacity to work either for good or evil. The book is organized around five warning signs of religion moving toward evil. These signs include (1)emphasizing that it holds the absolute truth, including the one path to God or the only correct way of reading a sacred text; (2)blind obedience to religious leaders; (3)belief that the end time will occur within that religion; (4)use of violent means to achieve religious ends; and (5)declaration of holy war. Greater inclusiveness allows each tradition to remain distinct but work for the common good.

October 2006

Dakota, by award-winning author Kathleen Norris, is "a book of stories, a book of prayer, a book to be read meditatively and well" (Chicago Tribune). She charts her spiritual geography in a landscape both desolate and sublime.

November 2006

Using the form of the nineteenth and twentieth century writing about the lives of saints, Saints Behaving Badly by Thomas J. Craughwell, shows that "saints are not born, they are made," and sometimes of very rough materials. The book recounts the less than saintly behavior of thirty-two venerated holy men and women, including "the scandalous, spicy, and sleazy detours they took on the road to sainthood." Written with both wit and respect, the book is always entertaining, sometimes inspiring (Book jacket).

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