Books I'm part way through:
Flatland
Arcadia
Godel. Escher. Bach.
Four Witnesses
Books in my queue (in no particular order):
Reasonable Faiththe Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
The Screwtape Letters
The Prodigal God
A Severe Mercy
The Problem of Pain
The Everlasting Man
The Essential Rumi
No God but God
The Believing Brain
A Universe from Nothing
The God Delusion
Why I Became an Atheist
Actual Innocence
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
The New Testament
Why Evolution is True
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Debt: The First 5000 years
Books I've finished and recommend:
What the Buddha TaughtWhy I Believed
Surprised by Joy
Mere Christianity
The Pentateuch (the Torah) (Genesis-Deuteronomy)
Books I've finished and do not recommend:
The New Answers (Book 1 and 2)The Reason for God
Orthodoxy (I didn't like it, but tons of people do, so probably still worth a read)
Jake
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog. I really enjoy seeing careful thought being applied to the often tricky problem of how to approach the subject of God, faith, religion, etc. I'm also glad to hear that you are trying to give Christianity a fair shot by reconsidering it anew after having attained some mental and temporal distance from a standpoint that you felt needed to be rejected.
And since you are interested in reading up on different things regarding faith and Christianity, have you ever considered reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy? (It's the textbook used by Christian Scientists that explains their specific theology.) It's a rather different take on the subject of religious Christian thought. You might find it helpful or you might not. But since you are seriously revisiting the whole idea of Christianity, I'd be curious to (eventually) hear your take on it.
And keep up the good work. I wish I had encountered this blog first before reading The Friendly Atheist who, IMO, is not quite living up to his blog title. You, on the other hand, seem to be. What you are doing is very much appreciated.
Good luck in your search.
ctcss
Thanks for the comments Anon. I've toyed with the idea of changing the blog name, since "skeptical agnostic" seems a much better description than "thoughtful atheist" these days :)
ReplyDeleteAs for Science and Health, I'm always open to reading on new philosophies (though as you can see, I have much to wade through), and will keep that book in mind going forward. I've honestly never taken Christian Science very seriously, largely because I had some Christian Scientist relatives who died very young, because (most people would say) they refused to go to a doctor. That said, I don't as of now have a very good understanding of the belief system.