ST. TH O MAS’
CH U R C H ,
W H I T E M A R S H
Rector’s Book Club
2021
Join Father Matthew Burdette in reading one or a few of these books this year. Invite a friend to read along. Meet to talk about what you discovered.
When I think of St. Thomas’ Church, I think of community in this sense—the one shared life of all kinds of people who belong to one another, who live in the same world.
For people to belong to one another because they share a life is, I think, what friendship nally means. Moreover, if this is so, then friendship is at once the basis and goal of family, and that gift which holds together our communities. A community is the common life of persons who belong to one another.
Each month, I’ll host a Saturday morning Zoom discussion of one of these books. Join me!
When I think about my closest friends, what is common to all of them is that they are the people who understand me, and the people who have allowed me to understand them. This experience of mutual understanding exceeds having sympathy or someone to rely on. When I think of my friends, I think of people who live in the same world that I live in—who are able to see what I see, feel what I feel. My friends and I belong to one another because we share a life.
fi
Let’s read a book together.
One of the ways that we can strengthen the bonds of our friendship is to read together. We can come to understand one another more deeply, share a world more fully, and so become a community more perfectly.
Warmly, Father Matthew Burdette
BOOKS for 2021 JAN
Being Christian Rowan Williams
In this simple, beautifully written book, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams explores four essential components of the Christian life: baptism, Bible, Eucharist, and prayer. Available on audio.
$10.00
FEB
You Are What You Love James K. A. Smith
MAR
The Presence of the Kingdom Jacques Ellul
Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. Available on audio.
$16.00
Ellul calls upon Christians to be a radical presence in the world, opposing its will to death with a revolutionary way of life that brings the transforming power of the gospel to bear upon all human existence.
$17.00
APR
A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live? Robert W. Jenson
MAY
Enriching our Vision of Reality: Theology and the Natural Sciences in Dialogue
Based on an undergraduate course taught at Princeton University, these transcribed lectures offer a concise and accessible overview of Christian theology.
$35.00
In this exceptional volume, leading theologian Alister McGrath writes for scientists with an interest in theology, and Christians and theologians who are aware of the importance of the natural sciences.
$15.00
Alister McGrath
JUN
The Story of Christianity
David Bentley Hart
Distinguished theologian Hart provides a broad picture of Christian history. Presented in 50 short chapters, his magisterial account does justice to the range of Christians.
$17.00
JUL
The Everlasting Man
G. K. Chesterton
AUG
The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
An artful meditation on the utter uniqueness of Jesus among philosophers and other religious gures. Dif cult at times; always worth it. Available on audio.
$15.00
David Brooks explores the four commitments that de ne a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community.
David $14.00 Brooks
SEP
Jesus of Nazareth
fi
fi
fi
Pope Benedict XVI
In this bold, momentous work, the Pope seeks to Jesus’ true his true identity as discovered in the Gospels. One of the best books I have ever read. Available on audio.
$20.00
OCT
Martin & Malcolm & America
Written by one of the great theologians of the last century, a must-read for anyone who wants to understand race, religion, and Christianity in the United States.
James H. Cone $21.00
NOV
Why Liberalism Failed Patrick Deneen
DEC
To Light a Fire on the Earth: Proclaiming the Gospel in a Secular Age
fl
fi
Robert Barron
Deneen offers an astringent warning that the centripetal forces now at work on our political culture are not super cial aws but inherent features of a system whose success is generating its own failure.
$17.00
Touching on everything from Jesus to prayer, science, movies, atheism, the spiritual life, the fate of Church in modern times, beauty, art, and social media, Barron reveals why the Church matters today.
$19.00