Another year of heartbreak's and happinesses, and another year of discovering some great new things.
One of the things I enjoy so much about life is the amazing variety of ideas and creativity we're regularly exposed to. Here's some of the things I've read, watched and found that have shaped who I am in 2022.
Who knows, maybe you'll follow a trail and discover something amazing as well. After all 'not all who wander are lost'. ⛰ 🚶♂️
📖 Books. 📖
With Rousseau the self was psychologised, then with Freud psychology was sexualised and finally sex was politicised. Now, everything is political.
Lastly, two books shaped my understanding and appreciation of the female experience (useful since, you know - I'm a man) Elaine Storkey's overview of violence against women in Scars Across Humanity changed me and enabled me to appreciate the horrors faced by women across the world and Louise Perry's The Case Against the Sexual Revolution gave me empirical data and a feminist's voice for the wisdom of the ages.
Top 3 Books
I read this book first in the year and it's stayed in my memory and affected the way I think about things. It's easy to read with stories and plenty of cultural references along with interviews with a range of experts who provide analysis on a range of issues from phones, adhd, parenting and the importance of boredom.
2. Why the Rest Hates the West - Meic Pearse
A latecomer in my yearly reads. Although there's been a run of books recently aiming to explain our cultural moment, this book does it without even trying to - and achieved it twenty years before anyone thought to attempt it. He does it not by asking questions about western history and culture so much as offering contrasts between the western world and the non-western world.
This book left me open mouthed in wonder at the majesty, wisdom and beauty of both the richness of the Bible and of God's redemptive plan for humanity. I thought I knew the Bible fairly well but this book showed me how much I still have to discover. You can listen to my conversation with Andy about it here
🎧 AUDIBLE: 🎧
I loved this book so much I listened to it twice and took inspiration from it for a 9 month sermon series. Comer writes and speaks in a way that shows he understands the questions and attitudes of our age, He's a great translator of timeless truth put in a timely manner, drawing on ancient and modern sources to illustrate his points. Superb. Buy it, read it/listen to it, repeat.
I sobbed and delighted my way through this book. It came a close second for my book of the year; this book has led to the creation of one of the most enriching midweek groups I've been a part of. It's a book that seems to be capturing the hearts of the dads in our church.
I mean, Jackie Hill Perry! This book is a biography of her life's journey to faith in Christ and the impact Jesus has had on her but with her reading it it's more poem than prose. She's articulate, eloquent and lyrical. I listened to this on some fresh spring mornings running round a local forest, an environment that seemed appropriate for such superbly read rhetoric.
The Complete List
Fiction:
- Return to Roar - Jenny McLaughlin
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Gates of Athens - Conn Iggulden
- I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes
- Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
- The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
- A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Non-Fiction:
- Abortion - Dr Lizzie Ling
- God's Sketchbook - Jake Goodison
- Gods of War - Meic Pearse
- Stolen Focus - Johann Hari
- Why Does God Allow War? - Martyn Lloyd Jones
- The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self - Carl Trueman
- Adam's Return - Richard Rohr
- Fully Human - Steve Biddulph
- Multiplanting - Colin Baron
- A Non-Anxious Presence - Mark Sayers
- Scars Across Humanity - Elaine Storkey
- The Bethlehem Story - Andy McCullogh
- The Story of Christianity - David Bentley Hart
- Making Faith Magnetic - Dan Strange
- The Cross & the Lynching Tree - James Cole
- Why the Rest Hates the West - Meic Pearse
- Born to Run - Chris McDoughall
- Live No Lies - John Mark Comer x 2
- How To Hear God's Voice - Pete Greig
- The Power of Moments - Chip Heath & Dan Heath
- Is Atheism Dead? - Eric Metaxes
- Beautiful Resistance - Jon Tyson
- The Intentional Father - Jon Tyson
- Notes From a Small Island - Bill Bryson
- Gay Girl, Good God - Jackie Hill Perry
- James Acaster's Guide To Quitting Social Media - James Acaster
- The Christbook Matthew 1-12 - Dale Bruner
- 1 Corinthians For You - Andrew Wilson
- 1 & 2 Kings - Peter Leithart
Dog videos. Turns out now that I own a dog, I'm easy prey for wasting time watching dogs do weird things. Here's a highlight:
Funny prank. There's a few of these I saw that tickled me:
The cutest, catchiest song that'll change the way you look at sweetcorn
Amy and I binged our way through the whole 7 seasons in 2022. If I'm honest, Season 1 was a slow grower, but it got funnier and funnier. Great to have a light watch and easy laugh every night. Miss it in my life.
I loved it, mostly just for being back in Middle Earth. It was soooo good to be surrounded by the slow unfolding epic events that grew and grew into an amazing finale and big reveal. Really hoping they do more - even if it did cost more to make than a few professional footballers make in a year!
Oh wow! This was amazing. We loved watching this together, trying to guess what the traitors would do and who'd be voted out, but mostly it just made me want to revisit the days of student weekend aways and late night mafia games.
Family Views.
1. Encanto
This was the year we didn't talk about Bruno, but Toby sang about him everyday for several months.
2. Camp Cretaceous
The show that began during the pandemic concluded this year. We loved it as a family, there was so much fun, jumps and cliff hangers. I was shocked/saddened by the final season's strange turn toward trying to educate my kids about sexual ethics(!) which was a reminder of how aggressive the progressive agenda really is, but other than that (and even with that to be fair; it gave us some good talking points) this was great fun.
🎥 🍿 FILMS. 🍿 🎥
saw some great movies this year. Here's a few faves
Oh wow. Watch this if you haven't seen it. A beautiful and hilarious black comedy about Nazi Germany and Hitler's youth. Taika Waititi (Korg - the rock thing - in Thor Love & Thunder) is hilarious as Adolf Hitler and Roman Davis is superb as Jojo. An unexpected treat of a film. Watch the trailer here
This year's Green Knight, it follows the coming of age and vengeance seeking of a young viking (Alexander Skarsgard) with Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen's Gambit) once again being mesmerising.
It made for a nice change from much of the gender revisionism of modern marvel films and showed the traditional strength of men and women as distinct yet equally powerful in their own ways. Oh, and the reveal toward the end challenging his self-made heroes-quest narrative was a complete surprise.
A satirical and sarcastic poke at the Trump administration and science denying fanatics. It's amusing and haunting, if a little bit dangerous since it could lead to the flattening of legitimate differences of opinion on complex issues, characturing them into simply those who 'look up' and those who refuse to. It was perhaps most impactful in its critique of our entertainment culture that's more concerned with the latest celebrity break-up than we are with the important moral concerns of our day.
" Quote. "
From Richard Raul's book Adam's Return about male initiation, here's an idea I've found myself quoting with others fairly regularly:
If we don't transform our pain we will almost certainly transmit it.
💡 Idea. 💡
This idea about absence as presence from Peter Leithart's commentary on 1 & 2 Kings is beautiful and bang on:
"Absence is an intense form of presence. As long as friends and family are physically here, they are localised... absent, memory discovers them in every nook & cranny - a beloved wife is always in the kitchen & the bedroom & curling up in her favourite chair... all at once."
📷 Photos. 📷
🔠 Word. 🔠
I learnt a new word this year that I have found makes sense of many important moments in life.
Liminal
It means 'in between' or 'transitional' and is a state that occupies much of our lives; whether we're on a journey somewhere (a car or a train is a liminal place) or adjusting from one stage to another (pregnancy or teenagehood are liminal states) or become aware of the reality's enchantment (worship services or countryside walks can be liminal places).
Learning to lean into and find peace in, or feel at home in liminal places is an important part of life for it's in liminal states that growth often occurs most of all. When you leave home, or realise you're wrong, or pause life's busyness to worship you allow for liminality and the potential transformation it brings.
Welcome liminality, make your peace with liminality, seek out liminal spaces and you'll be amazed at the transformation it can bring.
🧠 Intellectual Discovery. 🧠
Louise Perry
One of the things I love is discovering new minds and truth seekers who help make sense of reality. This year, thanks to a podcast I stumbled onto, I came across the incredible Louise Perry and have since gone on to read, listen to and watch a lot of what she's said.She's sharp, courageous and honest; and seems willing to follow evidence wherever it leads however unpopular it may make her.
She's right about so many things, important things that we as a society really need to reckon with if we're to care for women and children properly. Check out a video of her here.
Dear Evan Hansen.
🎶 Podcasts. 🎶
This was also the year I listened to The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill a heartbreaking, but ultimately liberating listen.
Lastly the gift and wisdom of my friend Mick Taylor did me the world of good.
In this message originally given a few years back he shares about the chance of legacy leaving and where fruitfulness and true hope are ultimately to be found; beautiful.
