Reading List.

Before I started doing regular blog posts, I thought I would post a general reading list of the texts I'll be reading this quarter. Some of the books, such as Bernard Lonergan's Method in Theology and Samuel Wells' Improvisation will be referenced for their author's techniques in doing philosophy and theology, rather than the actual philosophical "content" of said works. These are works that I won't be trying to finish, but more of what I try to reference when discussing methods of thinking. For that reason I note them here. Several of these books will be read in whole, while others will be used for selected chapters and essays in within.

In my free time I hope to dig into the works of David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox philosopher and theologian who has been an interest of mine for about a year now. It is likely that a post or two will be dedicated to his works. If you are interested, feel free to read any of his books along with me. A few friends are reading The Experience of God with me, which is essentially a work of comparative religion. Hart attempts to articulate a metaphysics (being), philosophy of mind / phenomenology (consciousness), and beauty / goodness (bliss) that captures the "God" that the great theistic traditions speak of when they talk about God. Personally, I highly recommend his small book The Doors of the Sea, which is easily the most helpful book I've ever read concerning the problem of evil, suffering, and theodicy.

• The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss by David Bentley Hart.
• In The Aftermath By David Bentley Hart.
• The Devil and Pierre Gernet by David Bentley Hart.
• Letters to a Doubting Thomas By C. Stephen Layman.
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
• Tolstoy by A.N. Wilson.
• Is There a God? by Richard Swineburg.
• Faith and Rationality, a collection of essays, edited by Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff.
• The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius.
• God and Other Minds by Alvin Plantinga.
• An Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas by Thomas Aquinas.
• Method in Theology by Bernard Lonergan.
• Improvisation by Samuel Wells.
• What Episcopalians Believe by Samuel Wells.
• The Mission & Death of Jesus in Islam & Christianity by Mathias Zahniser.

And of course, this blog wouldn't really be mine without guest appearances of Kierkegaard, Hauerwas, and Simone Weil.