I used to be so intimidated by C.S. Lewis, not his Chronicles of Narnia, of course, but the Space trilogy and anything more, let’s say, academic. But a few years ago I read, A Grief Observed, and last year I picked up The Problem of Pain for about the 10th time (never finishing it before) and it finally worked for me. Somehow I waded through and saw the gems hidden inside. Reflections on the Psalms was the same.

A.J. Swoboda is one of my favorite modern theologians. Every time I pick up one of his books, I’m both challenged and inspired. He hasn’t missed yet, and A Teachable Spirit was no exception.

This was a worthwhile read. It had been sitting on my shelf for the last 10 years (since graduate school where it was on a “further reading” list for a theology course).

I've been sitting on a review for this for a while. There were portions of this that were hard to wrap my head around, but the format of the book as a conversation between a young man and an older philosopher helped.

So you’ve always thought of yourself as a bit of a perfectionist, but you don’t fit in the “type-A” image of one. Rejoice! This book represents more than the stereotypes. See my results to the author’s quiz below. I’m a highly relational (albeit still introverted), messy procrastinator. Feels accurate.

This book is all about apprenticeship and formation in the Way of Jesus. The author makes a claim that I agree with: all of us are being formed and if we aren’t intentional about what those influences are, we may be shaped in ways we never desired.

Riveting.

I don't typically read history or biographies, but full disclosure, I am an ordained minister in the Foursquare Church, founded by Sister Aimee. When I saw this book, I immediately wanted to read an "outsider's" perspective.

A slim volume of encouragement, Take What You Need, combines some of the concepts in Kolber’s other works (Try Softer and Strong Like Water) into a short, poetic, and reflective read.

This was deep and heavy. It took a significant amount of brain power to follow and I think I would have absorbed it better in print than on audio, but this was the only format my library had available. The narration was also a bit monotone, so that did not help.

Jeff opens this book up by explaining that storytelling in other cultures is less linear and interconnected than Westerners like to imagine. What follows is a memoir of his experience at Princeton Theological Seminary, particularly with The Farminary Project where theology and farming meet.