Surgery: Further on Recovery; Jay’s Reading List

Leg pain continues to be an issue, but the pain is getting better. The biggest problem is that it keeps me from walking as much as I need to in order to get well.

Mornings are pretty much shot — because I wake up in pain. However, after some time off my feet and on the heating pad, I have several hours of low-pain and relative sobriety. And each day is a little better than the day before.

I’m finally feeling up to reading — which is a great improvement over daytime TV! Actually, I refuse to watch daytime TV. Instead, I watch DVDs of The Mentalist. I just finished season 2. This is not great art, but suffices to entertain the narcotics-infused mind.

I have just received from Amazon my copy of Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God) and Pauline Perspectives, both by N. T. Wright.  Paul and the Faithfulness of God is the fourth book in Wright’s series of books called Christian Origins and the Question of God. It’s a massive tome — too big to be fit into a single volume. It actually comprises two books, totaling some 1,700 pages! 

Each book in Wright’s series is written for theologians, is very long, and only for the highly motivated — but these are proving to be among the most influential and insightful books on theology published in the last 100 years.

And although I’ve just barely begun my reading, it seems to me that Wright’s writing in his latest volume is very accessible, even for the rank amateur. That is, Wright manages to write a book that will influence generations of students and theologians in language that most readers will easily follow — and this is the mark of a truly brilliant thinker.

My intention is to write a series of posts on Paul and the Faithfulness of God as I work my way through it.

Pauline Perspectives is a collection of essays written by Wright on Paul. It’s a mere 620 pages, but it’ll have to wait on Paul and the Faithfulness of God.

Amazingly enough, Wright also published The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential just a few weeks ago. I read it on my way back from Chicago last month but didn’t have time to write a review before my surgery. I intend to remedy that omission soon.

So I have plenty of reading to do. On top of that, Logos has asked me to review its Eerdman’s New Testament Commentaries Collection. This consists of four commentaries–

* Introducing Romans: Critical Issues in Paul’s Most Famous Letter, by Richard N. Longenecker (2011)

* Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Commentary, by Author: Arland J. Hultgren (2011)

* The Gospel of John: A Commentary, by Frederick Dale Bruner (2012)

* The Letter to the Galatians, by Ian Christopher Levy (2011).

Long-time readers know of my passion for Romans and Galatians. And, of course, I just finished a lengthy series on John back in the spring. And I’m a big fan of Frederick Dale Bruner, having been deeply influenced by his brilliant A Theology of the Holy Spirit going back to my college days.

I  have these books in electronic form, meaning they are now part of my Logos search engine, and so whenever I search Logos for a passage in John, Romans, or Galatians the relevant sections of these books will pop up.

I’m not quite sure when I’ll be able to post a review of each of these, but I’m excited that I’ve populated Logos with enough serious commentaries that I expect to be routinely turning to that software as questions arise.

I recently bought the Expositors Bible Commentary series on sale (which seems to have expired). That series plus the four commentaries I just received, together with the standard Logos commentaries that came with the original package (I have the “Bronze” package) should leave me pouring over the Logos software often.

In short, I have plenty of books to read. I just need to get well enough to do so.