Some "light" reading

With me being on a mid-semester break from the rigours of academic life at seminary, I've been able to catch up on quite a bit of reading.  But somehow my reading has been directed by that rush of blood to the head I experienced last month when I decided to embark on a PhD next year.

Kicking off the literary adventure has been a fascinating book by Klaus Nurnberger, entitled "Prosperity, Poverty & Pollution: Managing the Approaching Crisis".  The book is essentially a critique of the capitalist economic system, raising questions around greed, the growing resource gap between rich and poor, and the impact of industrialised economic growth on the earth's natural resources.

Following on from that is a collection of papers presented at a conference on theology, work, and labour in South Africa held in the late 1980s.  This collection is entitled "The Three-fold Cord: Theology, Work, and Labour", edited by James Cochrane and Gerald West.  While the essays concerned were written during the mid-1980s at the height of apartheid, they still contain much relevance for the development of a theology that speaks to a post-apartheid capitalist economy in 2010.

Then I trundled along to the launch of Delme Linscott's latest book, "Now", but instead of buying Delme's book, I picked up a book by his brother-in-law, Tim Weaver (sorry Delme - I only had enough money on me to buy one book on Friday, but I still want to get yours, which is more readily available than Tim's).  This book, entitled "Chasing the Dead", turned out to be quite a harrowing tale of a missing persons investigator who was called upon to find a friend's son, whom everyone presumed had died in a car crash.  But what starts off as a seemingly simple (if somewhat futile) investigation resulted in the main character coming under attach from a dangerous and well-organised cult.  Quite scary in parts, but most intriguing - I couldn't put the book down!

Anyway, I needed a change of gears after that, so (if you'll excuse the pun) I got myself the April edition of "CAR Magazine".  There was a really cool road test of the latest Porsche 911 GT3 - just what an aspring minister needs in order to get around to visiting his congregation in the shortest possible time.  Of course, being on a seminarian's living allowance, the Porsche will unfortunately have to wait until I am ordained (yeah, right!).

So what shall I read next?  My son's Asterix books are usually good for a few laughs, especially with some of the names given to the Roman centurions.  Some gems include "Spurious Brontosaurus", "Crismus Bonus", and my personal favourite, "Raucus Halleluyahchorus".

Perhaps then I'll be suitably fortified to tacke Ernst Conradie's "African Christian Theologies in Transformation"...