Individual Entry: Books 2008/10/12
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October 13, 2008

Books : Books 2008/10/12

Current count of books pending to be read: 79
Read one, purchased none

Books finished this week:

Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World

by John Howard Yoder

Very interesting book. I’m going to have to look into some of Yoder’s other works.

The book is a short examination of 5 practices of the church (confession, baptism, communion, roles, and meetings) and proposes what they would have meant to the first century church; which, as one might expect, is quite different from what they mean to the modern institutional churches. As an example, Yoder believe that what we now think of as “Communion” (“the Lord’s Supper”, “the Eucharist”) was originally a full shared meal, and that the idea that believers ate together regularly was as important as remembering Jesus’ sacrifice. He reasoning is that the common meal was a means to establish the egalitarian nature of the church – everyone ate together: slave and free, rich and poor, Jew and gentile; and that we have lost that meaning by consuming thimblefuls of grape juice and tiny crackers. Yoder does a similar analysis of the other topics, and has certainly challenged my thinking in certain areas.

Computer Games Played: none
DVDs Watched: none

Next Book: Inside of the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary

Posted by Steven at October 13, 2008 05:00 AM

Comments

wow. I'm impressed you even know who Yoder is. I have a great little book by him called "what would you do?" which is an attempt to answer the oft-asked question to pacifists "what would you do if a violent person attacked you or your family?". I read most of the politics of Jesus a few years ago and thought it was really original.

Posted by: Arlen at April 11, 2009 10:30 PM

Another good book on the Christian perspective on politics is "Jesus for President" by Claiborne and Haw. And then there's Boyd's "The Myth of a Christian Nation" which captures my personal perspective nearly perfectly.

Posted by: Steven at April 11, 2009 10:49 PM