The President’s Reading List

Conversations with Houghton alumni when they are back on campus for Alumni College and reunions are wide-ranging, engaging and stimulating. Our alumni clearly manifest the life-long commitment to learning and pilgrimage that we always hope to be the result of receiving a Houghton education.

Part of this commitment to life-long learning—though certainly not all of it—is continued reading. I expect most of us have a pile or shelf of books waiting to be read "when there is time." We know now more than ever that that time never comes. We must seize the time in each day for the things that most need to be done and continually seek discernment to know what those "most important" things are.

Reading is one of those things for me. While there is never enough time to read, whatever enough would mean in our world of never-ending books, I have determined to celebrate the books that I do find time to read rather than despair at all the books that must remain unread in the face of life's other callings and commitments.

I will share with you three of the titles that I have found enriching.

Keith Ward's The Big Questions in Science and Religion invites us to consider the current state of several classic discussions in the relationship between science and religion. While science may not formally occupy in this post-modern context quite the divine status that it was accorded in the late-19th and early 20th-centuries, science remains, at least at the popular and practical level, a powerful authority in our culture. Ward invites us to consider again how our current culture does relate the respective authorities of religion and science on various ultimate human questions and, in the course of the descriptive discussion, challenges us to ponder more deeply how we ought to measure out our intellectual trust, where we must rest with mystery, and how we ought to make the choices that our daily life requires. (Keith Ward is a Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Oxford and an ordained priest in the Anglican Church.)
Nicholas Wolterstorff's Justice is written to challenge the notion that a vision of justice based on human rights is the product in Western culture of growing secularity and that such an emphasis on human rights necessarily results in a society of alienating anti-social and selfish individualism. Professor Wolterstorff invites the reader to consider the origins of a Judeo-Christian vision of justice as this tradition emerged in the Old and New Testaments. He pays particular attention to Augustine's role in articulating a vision of justice appropriate to the "city of God" in contrast to that which existed in the classical "city" of late Roman antiquity. (Reading Wolterstorff on Augustine made me want to read more Augustine, especially to return for a more careful reading of The City of God than I have yet done.) In the end, Wolterstorff argues that, despite current cultural assumptions to the contrary, the very best grounding for a theory of justice, human dignity and human rights comes from a Christian—not a secular—framework. (Nicholas Wolterstorff is the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University and also a longtime professor at Calvin College.)
N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, became the source of vigorous, ongoing discussion with a colleague over the course of several weeks this summer. In this work, Bishop Wright argues that while the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is important for us as individuals in giving us hope for life after death, the church has often missed the collective and social implications of the Resurrection of Jesus in calling us to work in this life for a world that truly manifests the marks of wellbeing and wholeness that are hinted at in the Old Testament prophetic visions of Shalom. It may depend on where one is in one's own spiritual journey, or where one is currently attending church whether one concludes that Wright is providing a needed corrective to the individual and personal emphasis of the evangelical tradition or whether he is succumbing to the temptation to emphasize those parts of the Gospel message that accord well with the current reforming values of our culture, and ignoring the equally important, but less popular Biblical emphasis on sin and the need for personal repentance. (N.T. Wright is the Bishop of Durham in the Anglican Church.)

Other Reading Suggestions

I have already given you a list of some of my all-time favorite books. From now on, I will add to that list some recommended readings that I have encountered since the last installment of President's Perspective; it remains to be seen whether any of these books will make it to the all-time favorite list!

N.T. Wright's The Last Word draws the reader into practical reflection on the importance and relevance of the scriptures for our lives today. Like his recent Simply Christian, this book about the scriptures casts a refreshing light on long-standing orthodoxies that we can come to take for granted—and must not!

Eugene Peterson always has very good things to say. I have recently read both Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places and The Jesus Way. We are invited in these writings to think deeply about what it means to bear witness in our lives and in our theology to God's sovereignty over creation and history. He challenges us to reckon honestly and creatively with the complexities of following the Way of the Cross in our success-oriented society of instant gratification.

If you are interested in the current state of relations between church and state in American society, you may want to read Martha Nussbaum's Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality. While she is writing from the perspective of a person of the Jewish faith, takes great care to explain and to argue for the provisions in our constitution that guard religious freedom for all members of our society, regardless of their particular position. Whether or not you find her position persuasive, the clarity of her writing will push you to think more clearly about your own position on these matters.

If you are interested in church history, you may want to pick up Mary Beth Ingham's Scotus for Dunces: An Introduction to the Subtle Doctor. In this very accessible account of Duns Scotus's theology, we are invited to consider the work of God as artist and the role of beauty in God's creative and redemptive activity in the world.

Finally, I would highly recommend the writings of Paul Wadell on friendship. (He has done several books on this topic.) He challenges us to realize more fully the gift that God gives us through our friends and the critical role of friendship in God's work in our lives. Wadell takes C. S. Lewis's chapter on friendship in The Four Loves to a whole new level.

See President Mullen's All-Time Favorite Books.