becoming

My next book-purchase is coming. Any recommendation from you this time? Read anything interesting lately?

Let me know.

When you were stuck in a seminary 7 hours a day, for 5 days, what would happen?

Reading and getting books, of course!

1. The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study (Gunton)
2. The Justification Reader (Oden)
3. The Good Works Reader (Oden)
4. Reimagining Evangelism: Inviting Friends on a Spiritual Journey (Richardson)
5. Holiness (Webster)

And these from Seed Press:

1. Reading Romans through the Centuries: From the Early Church to Karl Barth (Greenman)
2. Inspired By . . . The Bible Experience: The Complete Bible (mp3)
3. 從自力到衪力（陳耀南）

Some goodies from bookcloseouts.com. Yes, it will take you a long time to go over all those bargain books. But don’t forget you can also get annother saving of $5 or 10, for orders over $35 or $65 from redflagdeals.com!! Boy, that’s tempting…

1. Romans 1-8 (Word Biblical Commentary Vol.38A) $16.99
2. The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything $5.99
3. Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology) $5.99
4. The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World $5.99
5. The Christian Handbook: An Indispensable Guide to All Things Christian $2.99
6. Let Me Tell You a Story $5.49
7. In Constant Prayer (The Ancient Practices) $6.99
8. Conversations with Poppi about God: An Eight-Year-Old and Her Theologian Grandfather Trade Questions $4.99
9. The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America $5.99

From my recent quotes and posts, you can tell that I have purchased a few books since August:

On Emotions:

• Feel: A Revolution Of The Heart
• Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion In The New Testament
• The Consolations Of Theology

On Church & Culture:

• Intelligent Church
• Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith In A Culture Of Displacement
• The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time
• The Living Church
• Atonement for a ‘Sinless’ Society: Engaging With an Emerging Culture
• How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative
• Watchmen

On NT World & Background:

• In The Shadow Of The Temple: Jewish Influences On Early Christianity
• Arguing With Scripture the Rhetoric of Quotations in the Letters of Paul
• Rome & Jerusalem

進入四月才發覺自己未有向各位匯報新年後所羅致的新書：

• Finding God in a Tangled World: Thoughts and Parables
• Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul: An Attempt to Reconcile These Concepts
• Troubled Waters: Rethinking the Theology of Baptism
• Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord’s Supper
• The Living Word of God: Rethinking the Theology of the Bible
• The Message//remix Pause: The Daily Bible For Students
• The Message//remix: Solo: Delving Into The Simplicity Of Scripture
• 歷代靈修傳統巡禮
• 信仰臨界
• 與後現代大師一同上教會

你的又怎樣？Read anything interesting lately?

Book-lovers, memorize 1 or more of these excuses. It might save your marriage one day!

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Here are some verbal tactics you might find useful as you bring your conference book plunder home under the scrutiny of your nonacademic spouse. The premise is that, arriving at the airport, you can’t manage to drop the books off at the office.

10. “Look at how much money I saved! These were all forty to fifty percent off!”

9. “You should have seen the temptations! This is the small price of my restraint.”

8. “Remember, I’m writing a book, and the royalties will more than cover the price of these books. It’s just a temporary investment that we’ll recoup.” (Oh sure. Like your monograph on Athanasius Against the Arians is going to cover the cost of even one of those Brill titles in your bag!)

7. “Look! I’ve taken care of a lot of our Christmas shopping!” (When he/she tells you that no one on the Christmas list wants those books, you act disappointed and rejected, and absorb them into your library.)

6. “Oh, so you’re going to complain about your husband/wife squandering money on books! Do I blow money on alcohol? tobacco? gambling? drugs? sex? stadium box seats? No! Just books on justice and peace, Jesus and Paul, trinitarian theology and the evils of, uh . . . consumerism!”

5. “Don’t worry. It just looks like a lot. Amortized over my lifetime, I’m not spending very much on books at all. Certainly nothing like You Know Who.”

4. “These are all tax deductible.” (This only works if he/she is under the illusion that you somehow subtract the book bill from the tax due.)

3. “These are all tools. Just the cost of doing business in my trade.”

2. Dull the impact by itemizing. “Some of these are for Christmas. Some of these are for the new class I’m teaching. Some of them are for my research. Some of them I might adopt as texts. And one of them is for you!”

1. “Folks who had lost their homes in the fires were selling these books on the streets of San Diego. I couldn’t resist helping them out. If you had looked into their eyes . . .” *

*This one shows just how low one can go.

[Addenda & Errata]

唔去唔去，都係去。

開門後一句鐘才到，所以等進場也等了45分鐘。

進甚麼場？Trinity舊書展是也！

入去前後三個鐘的鹿死誰手之後，

出來已是天昏地暗時…

「值不值得」，你問？

從那些「斬穫」 來看，你認為呢？

——————–

補充：

若以新書價錢來看(USD)：

1. Return of the Prodigal Son — $10.88
2. The Eye of the Storm — $24.26
3. The Renewal of Anglicanism — $31.20
4. Julian of Norwich: Showings — $15.61
5. Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles Our Judgment — $7.71
6. The Presence of the Kingdom — $12.21
7. The Cost of Discipleship — $10.20
8. Bonhoeffer — $29.95
9. The Mediator: A Study of the Central Doctrine of the Christian Faith — $47.50
10. Christianity and Civilisation (I & II) — $173.66
11. Karl Barth — $7.00
12. Love Alone: the Way of Revelation — $10.00
13. Eclipse of God — $15.64
14. The Christian Faith — $49.99
15. Text and Psyche — $19.95
16. The Lord and His Prayer — $8.00
17. New Testament Theology — $46.85
18. The Shadow of the Galilean — $14.96
19. Paul, Women and Wives — $12.71
20. 4400 Quotations for Christian Communicators — $14.76

560幾蚊的書，我以少於8份一的價錢買了，我想應該是值得的。

No one was able to give me any pointers on good marketing and advertising books. Anyhow, I have already picked up Unstuck and The Elements of Persuasion, and I am enjoying the read very much.

Anyhow, here is my latest amazon order:

1. The New Interpreter’s Bible : Acts – First Corinthians (Volume 10)
• I really enjoyed Hays’ volume on Galatians from the same series. The format and discussions are to-the-point and relevant. I think it is time for me to engage in Wright’s commentary on Romans. I just have too many questions to ask!
2. The Saving Righteousness of God: Studies on Paul, Justification and the New Perspective
• Michael Bird is our veteran biblioblogger, and looking at the endorsements, it sounds too good to be true. I think if there is any sane critique on NPP, this has to be it.
3. Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
• Keesmaat studied under Wright, and Walsh, a friend him, was my professor on Postmodernity and Christian engagement. Can you imagine that they had been writing this book ever since I studied at Wycliffe!
4. Contours of Pauline Theology: A Radical New Survey of the Influences on Pauls Biblical Writings
• Holland put strong emphasis on understanding Paul through OT, with the hoped-for New Exodus, now fulfilled in Christ, at the center of his reading strategy.
5. Old Testament Theology: Israel’s Gospel
6. Old Testament Theology: Israel’s Faith
• 2 of Goldingay’s 3-vol magnum opus, using the narrative approach to understanding Israel’s story.