The Professor’s Bookshelf: Walter Strickland
This series at Between the Times highlights Southeastern faculty members as they share about books which they are enjoying now, books which have shaped them personally, and books they consistently recommend to others.
This week, we interview Walter Stickland.
Professor Strickland is Special Advisor to the President for Diversity, and also teaches Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
What are some books you are reading right now?
- Willie Jennings’ The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race
- Andy Crouch’s Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power
- Rereading Gordon Spykman’s Reformational Theology: A New Paradigm for Doing Dogmatics
What are some of the books which have had the largest impact on your life, thinking, or teaching?
- Deotis Roberts’ Liberation and Reconciliation
- Albert Wolter’s Creation Regained
- David Bosch’s Transforming Mission
- George Eldon Ladd’s A Theology of the New Testament
What are some of your favorite works of fiction?
Unfortunately, I did not become a reader until I was given theological literature so I haven’t read many fiction books, but I love reading Lewis.
Are there any books which you re-read on a regular basis and why?
I’ve read the following books multiple times:
- Deotis Roberts’ Liberation and Reconciliation
- Albert Wolter’s Creation Regained
- Christopher J. H. Wright’s The Mission of God’s People
What is one book which you would recommend to a church member and why?
Bartholomew and Goheen’s The True Story of the Whole World because it is a faithful summary of scripture, and because scripture interprets itself, it offers a hermeneutical lens to understand their devotional reaching as they work through smaller chunks of Scripture.
What is one book which you would recommend to a seminary student to read beyond what they might encounter in class and why?
Beyond many of the texts mentioned above, I’d suggest Lesslie Newbigin’s Foolishness to the Greeks because it helps to transform the way that those who dwell in the West understand the Christian life as a missiological encounter with the culture at large.