As I whittle down the final words to my next book, Church Camp, I find myself grateful for companions on the journey.
Now, companions, in the case of book-writing, aren’t necessarily moving, living, heart-beating human beings. Although I have a fair amount of cheerleaders a text or email away, writing is often a solitary pursuit. I can sit on a couch or even on the other side of a Google Meets screen and write at the same time as another person, but to this day, I have not figured out how to fully give someone else access to my brain.
(I suppose that’s what AI hopes to do, of which I am not interested. Go away, bots).
As tends to be the case, books become my companions. The musings and revelations of authors who have walked before me become allies in this work.
I pen a chapter about the resurrection, but because the event often becomes a secondary afterthought to the crucifixion, the whole thing becomes rather transactional in nature. When this happens, I’m so grateful for the insight of theologian Walter Brueggemann and the leadership of nap minister Tricia Hersey.
The list goes on, but as I finish the final touches on this first draft of the manuscript, I want to pass along eight more bookish companions to you. (If you haven’t already, be sure to read the previous post, which included twelve influential books for this particular writing project!)
In no particular order…
- The Day the Revolution Began (Tom Wright). As you may recall from the previous post, Wright has been critical on this writing journey. This is not anything new: I’ve long been a fan of Wright’s (so much so that I proposed and took a seminary class just on his writings years ago). This book was helpful in connecting the cross and the resurrection together. They’re a pair that cannot be separated!
- Money and Possessions (Walter Brueggemann). Like I mentioned earlier, one of the chapters centers on the resurrection …but it gets squirrely, as chapters often do, and lands itself smack dab in the middle of capitalism. When this theologian walks through how money possessions shows up in nearly every book of the Bible, I took notes.
- Rest is Resistance (Tricia Hersey). With all this talk of money, it’s hard not to find ourselves engulfed in capitalistic mentalities. The Nap Ministry’s founder wrote an entire book about resisting capitalism by choosing to rest, and it. is. everything.
- Sacred Playgrounds (Jacob Sorenson). First of all, if you’re a fan of camping ministries and of places where God and nature meet, you’re going to want to get your hands on Sorenson’s book. His insight into the whole of the camping umbrella (and not just the white evangelical branch that I am privy to) was pretty clutch.
- Church of the Wild (Victoria Loorz). To love camp is to love the Great Outdoors, that’s the truth! I was glad to learn about this book a couple of months ago, as it’s been the perfect antidote to landing back in nature with the one who created it all. I’m also super curious to check out the Church of the Wild network. Know anything about it?
- Reading Evangelicals (Daniel Silliman). Certainly, if you’re going to write a book about white evangelical subculture in the church camp world, you gots to understand a bit about evangelicals. Even if my lived experience is understanding enough, Silliman’s insights have been really helpful.
- The Jews of Summer (Sandra Fox). Although the book itself is pretty historical in nature, it’s been really interesting to learn more about the Jewish camping movement, in general. For instance, did you know that many Jewish camps recognize Ghetto Day, to honor those who have suffered? It’s not uncommon for campers to then cry and be overwhelmed by deep emotions on ghetto night.
- Yes, And (Richard Rohr). Oh, Richard Rohr. What would I do without you? Rohr has been so influential in my life, and certainly, in the life of this book. In that way, his influence is woven into every chapter, even if he’s not named or quoted directly.
Well, that’s it for now. I best get back to a little bit of word-wrangling, but I hope at least one of these books speaks your language as you look for your next read.
Of these eight, is there one you’re just dying to pick up?
Happy reading!
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