(Part 2) Best christian education books according to redditors
We found 131 Reddit comments discussing the best christian education books. We ranked the 85 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
I attended a presentation by an Fundie who come to accept evolution when he started examining the evidence. He wrote a book called Paradigms on Pilgrimage. In the book, he tries to reconcile some of the wacky things in Genesis. Regarding light being created before the sun, he postulates that people back then did not associate light that appears early in the morning with the sun. It is really hard to imagine how people back then viewed things that seem so obvious to us today but this explanation seems plausible.
Here are their top picks for each category:
​
Apologetics/Evangelism - Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News About Jesus More Believable
​
Biblical Studies - Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels
​
Children and Youth - The Friend Who Forgives
​
Christian Living/Discipleship - The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World
​
The Church/Pastoral Leadership - Preaching as Reminding: Stirring Memory in an Age of Forgetfulness
​
CT Women - Perfectly Human: Nine Months with Cerian
​
Culture and the Arts - Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
​
Fiction - An Extra Mile: A Story of Embracing God’s Call
​
History/Biography - The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World
​
Missions/Global Church - Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered: Millennials and Social Change in African Perspective
​
Politics and Public Life - Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women
​
Spiritual Formation - Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World
​
Theology/Ethics - Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition
Hrmm... not a study Bible, but you might like the book Traditional Quaker Christianity.
There is the Quaker Bible Index where you could do your own Bible study with references to early Quaker works. http://esr.earlham.edu/qbi/main.htm
There's a new book on my to-read list that has great reviews :
https://www.amazon.com/Face-Early-Quaker-Encounters-Bible/dp/1594980373
The two books that I have encounters with that I enjoy are Michael Birkel's "Engaging Scripture: Reading the Bible with Early Friends"
The Quaker Bible Reader - by Paul Buckley and Steve Angell.
https://www.amazon.com/Quaker-Bible-Reader-Paul-Buckley/dp/1879117169
So I'd recommend self study with the first link and then just perusing the rest to see if one works for you.
There are a lot of questions that will start coming to you over the next few years. The important thing to remember is that it's just fine to have questions. God designed us as curious beings, and trying to find answers to the really big questions is part of going through life. People of all ages wonder and have moments of doubt and a hard time lining up all the answers sometimes.
A really important thing is to keep going to places where you can surround yourself with Christians who can help with these questions. Perhaps that might be your church. Perhaps there is a youth group or a kid's club that other churches might run that your parents will help get you to.
And remember, lots of people have gone through this struggle before you. A great habit to develop as a young man or woman is to learn how to read. By cultivating a habit of reading, you open up all the thoughts that people who have gone before you have written down. It's ok to chat about things online, but by finding good books, and trusted mentors or pastors, you're going to have a much easier time sorting a lot of things out.
Two books you might be interested in are these:
Answers Book for Teens 1
Answers Book for Teens 2
Perhaps you might find these at a library, or your parents or another relative might be willing to get these for you if you share with them that you have a bunch of questions and would love some help to read more about them.
It's a sensible thing to not want to go to hell, but it's really a bad reason for believing in God. When you study a little more, you'll see that lots of the evidence that 'prove' God doesn't exist require just as much faith to believe as it does to just believe in God. You'll see more and more complexity and will marvel at the complexity of creation and wonder just how anyone could ever think we are all here just from blind chance and luck.
And read your Bible, especially the Gospels and perhaps the Psalms. Some of it will make no sense, but the thing with reading is, you want to always be reading the hard stuff! That's how you grow. That's how your mind will expand and make all sorts of connections between all sorts of things. If we only watch TV and play Minecraft, as good as those things may be, it's a bit like not exercising and wondering why we can't run very far. Your mind is a muscle - make sure you're giving it a good workout!
Also, if you take the recent teachings of the prophets church manual for Joseph Smith, and search for any disclosure of polygamy or more than one wife, you will find compelling information. The book says:
"This book also does not discuss plural marriage. The doctrines and principles of plural marriage were revealed to Joseph Smith as early as 1831. The Prophet taught the doctrine of plural marriage, and a number of such marriages were performed during his lifetime. Over the next several decades, under the direction of the Church Presidents who succeeded Joseph Smith, a significant number of Church members entered into plural marriages. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto, which discontinued plural marriage in the Church (see Official Declaration 1 ). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no longer practices plural marriage."
This statement fails entirely to disclose any practice of polygamy by Smith, much less that is was over 30 women and minor-age girls and done in secret and denied. So, polygamy was important enough for an angel to threaten Smith's life with termination if not practiced, but not important enough to discuss or disclose in a manual about Smith's revealed truth. Crystal clear, right?
The timeline at the beginning, titled "Historical Summary", which purports to document milestones in Smith's life is particularly devastating to the notion that the church disclosed Smith's many wives, in that it gives no indication whatsoever that Smith was married to anyone other than Emma.
----------
Fun, but entirely irrelevant to this subject, fact that I just noticed, for the entry dated 1835, July, the church says: "Obtains Egyptian papyri containing writings of Abraham." That seems to contradict the current retcon by the church that the BoA was never understood to be a literal translation.
----------
The copyright info of the edition that I am looking at is:
"© 2007, 2011 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved English approval: 8/ 00 Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith 36481 ISBN: 978-1-4651-0250-8" so YMMV if there have been amendments since then.
I apologize in advance for the length of this reply. I didn't think I'd have this much to say.
I got my BA in Religious Studies in 2014, just graduated with my MA in Religious Studies this past May, and I start a PhD in Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill in a few weeks.
The field of religious studies is more than just reading a bunch of religious texts. One can examine sociological aspects; theorists of religion(s); anthropological approaches; critical approaches that examine intersections of gender, race, and queerness, etc. (My specific work, for example, is on US-Mexico borderland religious traditions and decolonization.)
>
I also think it's important to stress that "Religious Studies" is different from "Theology." RS is the study of religion(s) and largely how they affect and are affected by culture and society. Theology is the study of the nature of the Divine. At the risk of sounding like a reductionist, RS might ask, for example: "What does the effect of US legislation on peyote use tell us about modern colonization?" whereas theology might ask: "Would God be angry if I used peyote?" There are students and professors in RS that do work on theology, but not everyone does.
Religious Studies is A LOT of reading, which most of us find pretty enjoyable - especially since it is so interdisciplinary, like /u/smittenkitten97 has already mentioned. It's great to read the Quran and the Tanach and so forth, but I would highly recommend starting works on critical theory if you are serious about getting into the field. It will give you a leg up should you decide to go on to graduate work in the future, and it really enriches your education. Reading J.Z. Smith is a great place to begin, and Russell McCutcheon has written this book which I cannot promote enough: https://www.amazon.com/Studying-Religion-Introduction-Russell-McCutcheon/dp/1845530128
>
As far as what to expect going down the road:
It is good you're thinking of a double major because Religious Studies in and of itself is not the degree sought after by most employers. That's not to say you won't find work; the glory of RS being so interdisciplinary enables you to market yourself in a variety of ways that can appeal to many job openings. But honestly, in my experience, if you want to continue on to do graduate work, it's really only worth it if you want to become a professor. And even then, it's a hard road to follow. The market is over-saturated with RS PhD-holders, and there aren't enough job openings to accommodate them all. It is very competitive. You constantly have to justify who you are as a scholar and why your work is worthy of funding. I've been pretty lucky in my journey so far - my project is highly relevant thanks to this dumbass administration, and there was already a rising desire and need for people who work on US borderlands material. Thus, I've gotten into almost every school I applied to from undergrad to PhD, and every admission came with remarkable funding. I do not bring this up to gloat or show off. I bring it up because it is very much an exception. All of my professors in undergrad told me it is not worth getting a graduate degree if you are not offered funding. It's a ton of work, and the prices are exorbitant.
All this is to say, the texts you've listed have no substantial cohesion; do you have a specific area of focus in mind? Did you just want to do comparative studies? If you have a focus, that can help you in your search for undergraduate programs, especially since application time is right around the corner. I was lucky enough to tour a few campuses this year, and I've met professors from all around, so if you have any questions about a campus or a program, I'd love to help if I can.
I think that's all for now. Sorry for being so long-winded. Feel free to reply or PM me if you there's anything you'd like to know more about.
https://www.reasonablefaith.org
https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-1
https://www.amazon.com/Guard-Students-Thinkers-Guide-Christian-ebook/dp/B00U894IGA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519486559&sr=8-3&keywords=on+guard+william+lane+craig
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Creator-Student-Journalist-Investigates-ebook/dp/B000SERW7M/ref=la_B001H6KH8G_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519528650&sr=1-3
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Christ-Journalists-Personal-Investigation-ebook/dp/B01863JLK2/ref=la_B001H6KH8G_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519528650&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Faith-Journalist-Investigates-Christianity-ebook/dp/B000FC2KEW/ref=la_B001H6KH8G_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519528650&sr=1-2
https://www.amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-Lewis-Signature-Classics-ebook/dp/B002BD2UR0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519528882&sr=8-1&keywords=mere+christianity
I read The Good News Club earlier this year and was totally scandalized by what this group is trying to do in our public schools. If you're unfamiliar with this issue, please check out the book. http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-News-Club-Christian/dp/B008SLSAY6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348606181&sr=8-1&keywords=the+good+news+club
*ok, my brain just fell out, I didn't even notice it was the same person who wrote the book writing the article. Sorry!
Stephen R. Lawhead is a Christian author who's written a lot of fairly well-regarded high fantasy, like the Pendragon cycle. Or there's John White's Archives of Anthropos, which I recall fondly from my childhood.
I would like to recommend this book to you that explains what the Bible is about. I highly recommend it.
https://www.amazon.com/This-Name-John-R-Cross/dp/1890082805
Also, the YouTube channel “Bible Thinker” by pastor Mike Winger is an awesome resource for how to think biblically about things.
It's not specifically geared towards Christmas, I think the Jesus Storybook Bible does an excellent job at both (a) telling the Christmas story and (b) tying everything together from the OT to the NT. Even in the creation story and the earliest chapters, it does a great job of constantly referencing the coming of Christ.
(Since you're SBC, I'll assume you don't hold to a strict 2C interpretation. If that's an issue for you, then this ain't for you.)
Are those the only two verses in the bible that speak of "faith"?
No, they are not.
One would have to look at every instance where faith [from the Greek word Pistis] is used and their contexts. It's used about 225 times in the NT alone.
Probably best to get one of the resources below or something similar.
Biblical Faith: Doctrines Every Christian Should Know by Clarence H. Benson
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Grudem
She has many years of play ahead of her! Such important things happen naturally as she discovers her world as you go about your day. Here are a couple of resources that we like:
this one is my favourite, it shows how all the necessary growth and learning happens in the home environment- http://www.thehomegrownpreschooler.com/product/the-homegrown-preschooler/
And
Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June Oberlander (Dec 1 2002) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIL033M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JbkjDbXY5K0QV
I liked this to give me an idea for what I can do with the kids, although I mostly used it for making sure the kids were engaging in developmentally appropriate skills by themselves.
With this in mind, discover your own philosophy of homeschool education and preferred methods. My suggestions are reflective of my preference for the Charlotte Mason ideology. I find this beneficial as a SAHM since our greatest resource is what we have at home and outside. This method also works with the idea that kids want to play with the real stuff adults are actually using! I like the Montessori idea, but it’s more feasible and from what I’ve seen, more to my kids’ interests to not have their own version of the adult world to play in, but to join me with the real brooms, pans, food, etc.
You can look into curriculum in methods, and the more you know your daughter’s personality you can figure out what she’ll enjoy. If she loves reading she might do well with a literature-based program, or if she could stay outside all day, find curriculum that takes you outside for much of the time!
Again, let me make it clear, I'm not claiming, nor never claimed WWII was solely a religious war. My only point is that religion had huge implications in the European front.
https://www.amazon.com/Nazi-master-plan-persecution-Christian-ebook/dp/B00CH5XL5M
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/weekinreview/word-for-word-case-against-nazis-hitler-s-forces-planned-destroy-german.html
Also, 5-6 million jews were killed... now if you argue that it was all race-based and none of it had to do with their religion, then sure, you have a point.
I have this book. Scary as hell.
The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children by Katherine Stewart
http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-News-Club-ebook/dp/B0073XR7BM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1346464049&sr=8-1
!
=) Thanks for the contest!!
The source of the prayers is this book; its index credits them to here, which is little help unless I buy that book and hope its index is more useful.EDIT: And I, in return, misread your comment! Yes, I very much need to know the source. I'm asking /r/islam because I don't have any other resources available to me right now (I wouldn't waste y'all's time with something I could google/research myself).
For the older kids.
My kids love this book at ages 9 and 10
You're looking for Gospel Shaped Outreach.