The birthday was absolutely great. I didn’t shave; I didn’t wear socks; lunch with Sunny at Olive Garden; dinner with Sunny at Longhorn…my idea of a perfect day. (Special thanks to Miss Gina and Jon & Stacy for taking care of the kids while we enjoyed our time out!) After dinner, we stopped off at a new discount book store in town. I have to admit, my expectations were pretty low. But their selection of religious books was really great. Using some of my birthday money, I was able to pick up several titles on the cheap (as in 80% discounts). Here are the books I picked up with this year’s birthday money:
- The ESV Journaling Bible – Two years ago, I picked up a small NIV to underline, write notes in, etc. But I’ve been jonesing for a real journaling Bible for about a year and I finally found it in my translation of choice. The 1 inch margins allow for plenty of notes and citations. A Bible geek’s dream.
- Conversations, Eugene Peterson – This is a copy of Peterson’s popular paraphrase The Message complete with his seminary and sermon notes. These first two texts should really enhance my personal Bible study time.
- Velvet Elvis and Sex God, Rob Bell – I’ve long been a fan of Bell’s preaching style (click here for MP3s of his Mars Hill lessons) and his Nooma videos.
- The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis – Picked this one up for $3. That’s highway robbery.
- Reaching for the Invisible God, Philip Yancey – Another steal at $4.
- The Emerging Church, Dan Kimball; Church on the Other Side, Brian McLaren – The postmodern ecclesiological discussion fascinates me.
- The Deity Formerly Known as GOD, Jarrett Stevens – I thought of my old buddy T.H. when I picked up this title. Miss you, bro.
- The Myth of a Christian Nation, Gregory A. Boyd – I probably could just check this out from the public library, but it was another bargin bin find at $4.
- Bible Doctrine, Wayne Grudem; Genesis, NIV Application Commentary – I paid a third of the cover price for each of these titles. Unbelievable.
Anybody read any of these titles? Wanna tell me what I’m in store for?
already & not yet 
Wow! A C.S. Lewis classic for $3? That’s like being in a fantasy baseball league and getting Pujols for $3. Congrats man!
Anything by Yancey is great, but this is one of his better ones in recent years (along with his most recent, Prayer).Both Bell books are very good.Kimball’s book I read a few years ago and I thought it was good.Boyd’s book I read last year and I really liked it a lot. You can also get his sermon series from which the book came on his (or his church’s) website.I recently got a bargain copy of the Stevens book but haven’t read it yet.Some great stuff. I wish I was still over there, I’d like to check this place out.
Dylan, nice comparison. Makes me remember when I had Pujols for a buck in my keeper league a few years ago. Greg, thanks for the insight. I have Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Prayer, Rumors of Another World, Where Is God When It Hurts and The Jesus I Never Knew. I agree with your assessment…I’ve never been disappointed with his stuff. I was really impressed with how many grad school-ish books they had. They had a copy of my old Hebrew textbook for $15. The best part is they supposedly get shipments in every week.
I actually had to do a research project on a Wayne Grudem article. It was on the Spirits in Prison in 1 Peter 3.
I know a lot of people have read his Systematic Theology. I’m more of a Grenz guy myself.
You can’t go wrong with C.S. Lewis on any of his writigns. I have read the Problem of Pain, and as always with Lewis, he makes you take a step back and look at your faith form a different perspective.
RK,Every time I access your profile, it doesn’t show your blog, thus I can’t access it. What’s your blog address? Let me know and I’ll add it to my community.
thanks for the shout out. TDFKAG is certainly not the deepest read, but it’s a great teaching aid if you’re interested. You’ll have to tell me more about this bookstore…it might be worth coming over for…not that seeing you isn’t!
what’s the name of the discount book store?
Check out Yancey’s Disappointment With God. It’s one of his best IMO.
Belinda, the place is called “Giant Book Sale” (weird name, I know). If you know Huntsville, it’s in the Target shopping plaza in Madison, in the old Tweeter’s building. I only looked at their religious section, but they had a ton of other books (fiction, self-help, cookbooks, etc.). T.H., if you know any of the texts you’ll need next semester, let me know. I’ll grab ’em for you for a small handling fee. Greg, I checked my library this morning…I actually have Disappointment, too. I also have Soul Survivor, which I’d forgotten about.
Jason,You’ll have to tell me about Rob Bell’s book. I think his Nooma stuff is awesome, so I’m very curious about his books.