2007 Faculty Favorite Recommendations
Summaries from 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
January
Everyday Greatness by Stephen R. Covey
Recommended by Jeff Morgan
Comments by Jeff Morgan: "Why would you recommend this book to others? This is a brand new book that I just got and have not finished. It is a compilation of real life stories that have appeared in Reader’s Digest over the years. Real life stories of courage, responsibility, vision, integrity, humility, gratitude, respect, unity and other noble characteristics that Covey says make up “everyday greatness.” Covey adds insights and commentary to each story with several other quotes and life lessons. It’s a great book to leave by the bedside or your favorite chair and pick up at anytime to read from any chapter. He defines everyday greatness as “a way of living, not a one time event. It says more about who a person is than what a person has, and is portrayed more by the goodness that radiates from a face than the title on a business card. It speaks more about people’s motives than about their talents; more about small and simple deeds than about grandiose accomplishments. It is humble.” All things that we know and hopefully live out in our everyday lives. The stories that have been collected are treasures that will inspire. Enjoy your reading!"
February
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
and Collected Poems of Sterling Brown
Recommended by Ken Cameron
Comments by Dr. Ken Cameron on I Know Why...: "It is wonderfully written and provides a lot of insight into being a black child in southern Arkansas in the 1930's or so. It is very honest and 'human'."
March
Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling by James W. Sire
Recommended by Janet M. Fortner
Comments by Mrs. Janet Fortner: "Sire’s title is directly drawn from an 1826 sermon of John Henry Newman in which Newman speaks of those “habits of the mind” which are pleasing to God. Thus, Sire is seeking to give content to Jesus’ statement that we should “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] mind” (Mt. 22:37; Deut. 6:5). Sire recognizes that not all Christians desire to be what we call an “intellectual,” however, “thinking,” Sire says, quoting Gilbert Highet, “is everybody’s business.” Thus, because of Jesus’ command, Sire seeks to answer the question, “what does it mean to love God with my mind?”
Several of Sire’s suggestions are worth noting here as examples. First, as a Christian, I will be intellectually (mentally) honest. I will not lie to myself about myself or about my behavior. And, I will be quicker to be brutally honest with myself about myself than I am to be hard on my neighbor. Secondly, a Christian will live a life of God minded-ness: I will seek to know mentally and to live out the Truth-that-is-God rather than to vindicate myself, to defend this or that position, or to propagandize. Thirdly, as a God-minded Christian, I will recognize that I am responsible for my mind and that my mind is responsible for controlling its own thoughts and, thus, my behavior. I will realize that I can never be or live what I am not in my thoughts / mind.
Sire further argues that such God minded-ness is difficult to achieve in a world filled with “noise.” We use cultural noise to help us mask our self-lies and to put off self-confrontation: work, meetings, shopping, entertainments, TV, music, and on and on. We even use good things such as the work of the church to fill our minds and prevent intellectual, or mental, honesty. And, where there is no time and peace for aloneness with God, inward reflection, self-conviction, and repentance, there can be no God-mindedness, no loving God “with all [my] mind.”"
April
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Recommended by Library Student Workers
Summer
Re-Imagine by Tom Peters
Recommended by Dr. David Burks
Comments: "Tom Peters spoke on this campus many years ago. This book is about leadership as it applies to many walks of life. It’s about being creative. He talks of the importance of women and older people. Old rules are gone. Static planning exercises are useless. He talks of the importance of the Web. Language is, at times, crude. He also talks of the importance of dreaming."
September
The Culturally Savvy Christian by Dick Staub
Recommended by: Dr. Monte Cox
Comments by Dr. Monte Cox: Dick Staub challenges Christians not to withdraw from culture, but instead to "counter culture like aliens, communicate in culture like ambassadors, and create culture like artists." That message resonates with me since I teach Christian students who will engage many cultures, including North America, after they graduate. This book points underscores the solid biblical foundations that support that kind of engagement. Staub also offers many suggestions about how to flesh out our faith in many different cultural arenas. Staub's first book, "Too Christian, Too Pagan," addressed the dilemma Christians face trying to live in the world and not be of the world, while catching criticism from both sides. This book points to real answers."
For online information about other Jossey-Bass books and authors, see the Internet Web Site at http://www.josseybass.com/.
October/November
Never Give In!: The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches by Winston S. Churchill
Recommended by: Mike Chance and the Thundering Herd Marching Band
Comments by Mike Chance: "Words of foresight and courage for the everyday man from the mind of one of the twentieth century's most respected leaders."
December
Old Light on New Worship by John Price
Recommended by: Dr. David Burks
Comments by Dr. Burks: "This is an excellent relative to the importance of a cappella music with respect to worship to God. I think the topic is treated in a very beautiful fashion, and I believe it is a timely topic for those in the church today to understand."
