My stack of books

What I’m actively reading these days

Experience the Mystery: pastoral possibilities for Christian Mystagogy

by David Regan (Liturgical Press, 1994)

Christian mystagogy is leading candidates into an experience of the mystery of the faith. “Fourth-century Christian Fathers put experience of the mystery ahead of learning doctrine,” according to the cover text. I got this book while reading and thinking about children and Church and spiritual formation. I'm beginning to think that teaching our faith by experience is more powerful than teaching all the words of theology and catechism... and that experience has been neglected but it ought to be yoked with catechism so they can work together.

Beyond the Written Word: oral aspects of scripture in the history of religion

by William A. Graham (Cambridge Press, 1987)

I grabbed up this book at a used book shop after talking with some friends about the initially oral character of the fabric of the Gospels and what that might mean in terms of how we understand the texts... and in the back of my mind is the thinking I'm doing about how much more of religion young children might be capable of “getting” than perhaps we give them credit for.

The Making of Late Antiquity

by Peter Brown (Harvard University Press, 1978)

A sale table find — how could I turn it down for a dollar?! — and it seems to be about something quite intriguing:  the transformation of a culture's experience of the accessibility of the holy... in Roman society between the late second and early fourth centuries.

Celebrating the Easter Vigil

edited by Rupert Berger and Hans Hollerweger (originally Dies ist die nacht, 1979; The Liturgical Press, 1991)

This caught my eye in the Liturgical Press online catalog. I've bounced around, reading some of the Biblical Roots chapter and then jumping ahead to suggestions for conducting the Vigil, music, celebrating Easter with children and with families. Now I'm back in the Biblical Roots and also the discussion of the content and form of the Vigil. It was a great set of essays to read before and during Holy Week this year.

The Spirit in the World

by Donald Gelpi (Michael Glazier, 1988)

Another find in the Liturgical Press online catalog! Given my puzzlement about the Holy Spirit sometimes, how can I resist a book with chapters entitled “God Breathes on Israel,” “...on Jesus,” “...on the Church,” “...on the World,” and “The Feminine Face of God,” and an appendix entitled “Theological Speculation on the Personal Character of the Holy Breath”?! It's good; after the Easter Vigil, it'll return to my current reading stack, succeeding “Celebrating the Easter Vigil.”

Seeking God in Story

by John Navone (Liturgical Press, 1990)
Yet another from the Liturgical Press online catalog — a dangerous site, especially with their sales... It is clear to me after 10 pages that this is a book I will slowly, steadily work my way through. On the back cover it is said to be about storytelling in the Bible, in theology, and in the formation of mature Christians. I got it because I wanted to think more about stories of God, telling stories to connect with children, and how really good stories have more depth than we see at first. There are several thematically organized sections, and a few of the chapter titles are: “Conversion Expressed in Dialogue and Story,” “Stories of God as Vision in the Darkness,” “Medieval Allegory as Inward Journey,” and “Toward a Theology of Story.”

Books I don’t want to forget

Offering the Gospel to Children

by Gretchen Wolff Pritchard (Cowley, 1992)
An incredible find. About not dumbing down religion for children — rather, offering them the fullness of the religious experience without analyzing and predigesting it on their behalf. She makes a great case for this approach, and simultaneously tells stories of wonderful ways to do this in a parish. Great book and Bible comments and recommendations in the final chapters.

The Religious Potential of the Child

by Sofia Cavaletti (Liturgy Training Publications, 1992)
An approach to spiritual formation of children that offers children opportunities to approach God without dictating the experience, and yet provides language and symbols with which children can express their own experiences of the Holy God. This approach to spiritual formation of young children just seems so great to me! and I especially like the Godly play approach by Jerome Berryman that he developed after working with Sofia Cavaletti.

Developmental Disabilities and Sacramental Access: new paradigms for sacramental encounters

edited by Edward Foley (Liturgical Press, 1994)
Very unexpectedly this book caught my attention because of text like this on the back cover: “Is a developmental disability an appropriate reason to bar a baptized person from the sacraments?” I saw a parallel with baptized children being kept from the sacraments (until after they are taught what we think they need to know). Those who cannot come to God with the understanding we're accustomed to — the developmentally disabled (and, I think, children and the seriously ill and so on) — present a way of coming to God build primarily upon faith, rather than understanding. That seems to be what God asks for! I have also been challenged to think again about whether any of us are whole in the eyes of God.

A Country of Strangers: blacks and whites in America

by David Shipler
This is very, very good. Exceedingly good.

Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden

by Emily Whaley and William Baldwin
A wonderful peek into the life and garden of a woman who grew up in rural South Carolina and lived many more years in historic Charleston. She was a charmer!

I also recommend

 

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This page was created September 1998.
Last modified 30 December 2003.

Copyright © 1998-2003 Barbara K. Laufersweiler
URL: http://www.laufers.com/us/mybooks.html