We hope you had a splendid Memorial Day last week, perhaps snuggled up with some of our book suggestions! This week, we spoke with Dr. Ed Phillips, Associate Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology at Candler, who also serves as the Coordinator of the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology.
First up, Dr. Phillips suggests Daniel Kahneman’s NY Times Bestseller Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). Dr. Kahneman is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, and, despite being a psychologist, actually received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics. This particular book explores both our involuntary, or “fast,” thinking alongside our more deliberate and “slow” decision making, suggesting ways that these two systems impact both groups and individuals. According to Dr. Phillips, this is an “absolutely fascinating, readable description of scientific studies in social psychology that has huge ramifications for leadership in ministry—it’s not a ‘church’ book, but it’s one all pastors should read.”
Second, Dr. Phillips suggest a new volume by Swee Hong Lim and Lester Ruth, entitled Lovin’ on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2017). This text, hot off the press, will soon arrive at Pitts! The authors decided to organize their work thematically, addressing topics like the “space” and “time” of Contemporary Worship, as well as music, prayer, and preaching. The book’s style should be appealing to academics as well as students and pastors, and Dr. Phillips has declared it “a tour de force of historical and phenomenological analysis”! Dr. Phillips plans on using this book in his worship classes at Candler, and hopes you will consider picking it up as well.
Stay tuned for next week’s summer reading suggestions from Pitts InterLibrary Loan Specialist, Anne Marie McLean!