Recommended Reads

On Our Paradigms

AN ETHICS OF CHARACTER

Hallie, Philip. Lest Innocent Blood be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There.

Hauerwas, Stanley. Community of Character

Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics.

CENTERED OR BOUNDED

Baker, Mark D. Religious No More: Building Communities of Grace and Freedom.   Spanish version: Basta de religion.

Cavey, Bruxy. End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus.

NAMING

L'Engel, Madeline. A Wind At the Door.

On Our Themes

TECHNIQUE/TECHNOLOGY

Ataide, Randy.“If We Serve a God of Productivity is There Room for Jesus? An Analysis and Application of Jacques Ellul’s Thesis of Technique in the Agri-business World” (MBBS MA Thesis, 2003).

Boers, Arthur. Living into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions.

Borgmann, Albert. Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. 

Borgmann, Albert. Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology. 

Dyer, John. From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology. 

Ellul, Jacques. The Technological Society. 

Ellul, Jacques. The Technological System. 

Ellul, Jacques. The Technological Bluff. 

Postman, Neil. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. 

Postman, Neil. Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology, and Education. 

Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. 

Schultze, Quentin J. Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age.

Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why we Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

Turkle, Sherry. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.

MONEY/MAMMON/INEQUALITY

Blomberg, Craig. Christians in a Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship.

Brenneman, Robert. Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America.

Ellul, Jacques. Money and Power.

Gonzalez, Justo. Faith and Wealth: A History of the Early Christian Ideas on the Origin, Significance and Use of Money. 

Johnson, Luke Timothy. Sharing Possessions: What Faith Demands. 

Vincent, Mark. A Christian View of Money: Celebrating God’s Generosity. 

Wheeler, Sondra Ely. Wealth as Peril and Obligation: The New Testament on Possessions. 

Wilkinson, Richard and Kate Pickett. The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. 

CONSUMERISM/MATERIALISM/POSSESSIONS

Eller, Vernard. The Simple Life: The Christian Stance Toward Possessions. 

Longacre, Doris. Living More With Less, 30th Anniversary Edition. 

Pugh, Allison. Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children and Consumer Culture. 

Schor, Juliet. B. The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need. 

Sider, Ronald. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity.

Sorensen, Barbara & David. ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple: Embracing the Freedom of Living with Less. 

Swenson, Richard. Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives. 

TELEVISION/INTERNET

Boers, Arthur. Living into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions.

Challies, Tim. The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion

Davis, Walter. Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith. 

Gitlin, Todd. Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms our Lives 

Hipps, Shane. The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church

Laytham, Brent. iPod, YouTube, Wii play : theological engagements with entertainment 

McKibben, Bill. The Age of Missing Information

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. 

Ravitch, Diane and Joseph P. Viteritti. Kid Stuff: Marketing sex and violence to American children.

Winter, Richard. Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment: Rediscovering Passion & Wonder.  

MARITAL FIDELITY/CHASTITY

Dawn, Marva. Sexual Character: Beyond Technique to Intimacy. 

Freitas, Donna. Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance and Religion on America’s College Campuses. 

Kuehne, Dale. Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationship beyond an Age of Individualism. 

Ryan, T. C. Ashamed No More: A Pastor’s Journey Through Sex Addiction

Simon, Caroline. Bringing sex into focus : the quest for sexual integrity.

Winner, Lauren. Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity. 

FOOD

Bahanson, Fred & Norman Wirzba. Making Peace with the Land: God's Call to Reconcile with Creation.

Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture. 

Berry, Wendell. The Gift of Good Land: Further Essays Cultural and Agricultural. 

Berry, Wendall. Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food.

Davis, Ellen. Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. 

Jackson, Wes & Wendell Berry. Meeting the Expectations of the Land: Essays in Sustainable Agriculture and Stewardship. 

Wirzba, Norman, ed. The Art of the Commonplace:  The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.

Hamilton, Lisa.  Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness.

Kingslover, Barbara. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food. 

Patel, Raj. Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. 

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.

Wirzba, Norman. Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating.

Books relating specifically to the Central Valley in California and issues of land use, farm size, and water.

Goldschmidt, Walter. As You Sow: Three Studies in the Social Consequences of Agribusiness. 

Preston, William. Vanishing Landscapes: Land and Life in the Tulare Lake Basin. 

Taylor, Paul. Essays on Land, Water and the Law in California.