Not sure why (although holidays and extended daylight may have something to do with it), but December seemed to be a month in which I knocked over a bucket-load of reading, listened to a tonne of music, and enjoyed more flicks than usual. Here’s my exploits:

Reading:

• Sun of Righteousness, Arise!: God’s Future for Humanity and the Earth by Jürgen Moltmann. (A bit hit and miss, even for this Moltmann fan.)
• The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. (Recherché!)
• Coming to Terms with Power by Briony Martin.
• What Happens in Holy Communion? by Michael Welker.
• Love, Power, and Justice: Ontological Analyses and Ethical Applications by Paul Tillich. (Yes, there’s still a few of us around who read Tillich occasionally.)
• Church in the Round: Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church by Letty M. Russell.
• Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change by Adam Kahane.
• Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in Southeast Asia by Vincent Boudreau. (A good read.)
• Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche by Robert A. Johnson.
• Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry by L. Gregory Jones & Kevin R. Armstrong.
• God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now by John Dominic Crossan.
• Radical Forgiveness by Antoinette Bosco. (Disappointing)
• Teachers As Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach by Paulo Freire. (A thought-provoking read.)
• Living at the Edge: Sacrament and Solidarity in Leadership by Penny Jamieson. (An honest book.)
• Power and Christian Theology by Stephen Sykes. (This book is outstanding. Possibly the best on the subject!)
• Jesus, Paul, and Power: Rhetoric, Ritual, and Metaphor in Ancient Mediterranean Christianity by Rick F. Talbott.
• The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho. (Not Coelho at his best.)
• The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder.
• Church, Community and Power by Roy Kearsley.
• Gustavo Gutiérrez: Essential Writings by Gustavo Gutiérrez. (Gutiérrez is a much better thinker than I remembered.)
• To Share in the Body: A Theology of Martyrdom for Today’s Church by Craig Hovey.
• Ordination: Celebrating the Gift of Ministry by Stephen V. Sprinkle. (Very helpful.)
• The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let Us Keep the Feast by George Hunsinger. (‘Certainly among the boldest and most important studies available on the subject’.)
• Systematic Theology, Volume 2: The Works of God by Robert W. Jenson. (Brilliant and disturbing.)

Listening:

• Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri by The Sixteen.
• You Get What You Give, The Foundation, Pass The Jar – Zac Brown Band and Friends Live from the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta by Zac Brown Band.
• The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens.
• No Better Than This by John Mellencamp.
• Contra by Vampire Weekend.
• The Band Perry by The Band Perry.
• Christmas Chants by Gregorian.
• Lady Antebellum and Need You Now by Lady Antebellum.
• Go by Jónsi.
• The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.
• Pink Moon, Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter, Family Tree, Time of No Reply and by Nick Drake.
• Doo – Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars. (That this kind of rubbish ever makes it onto the charts only supports Calvinism’s claim about total depravity.)
• Live At The Troubadour (CD +DVD) by Carole King & James Taylor.
• Make The Light by Kate Rusby.
• Concertos & Romance by Janine Jansen.
• Plastic Beach by Gorillaz.
• This Is War, A Beautiful Lie and 30 Seconds to Mars by 30 Seconds to Mars.
• Darkness at Noon by Hawk & A Hacksaw.
• Gloria: The Sacred Music of John Rutter by The Cambridge Singers.
• Cloudburst and Other Choral Works, Light & Gold, and The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991–2001 by Eric Whitacre.
• Christmas in Russia.
• High Violet by The National.
• Alas I Cannot Swim and I Speak Because I Can by Laura Marling.
• Christmas in Russia: Russian Orthodox Vespers by Don Kosaken Choir.
• Heretic Pride, Life of the World to Come, The Sunset Tree, We Shall All Be Healed and Tallahassee by Mountain Goats.
• Beautiful River by Brigham Young University Concert Choir.
• Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons.
• Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium conducted by Helmuth Rilling.
• Marc Cohn, The Rainy Season and Burning the Daze by Marc Cohn.
• How I Learned to See in the Dark by Chris Pureka.
• Downtown Church by Patty Griffin. (Stunning!)
• God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise by Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs.
• Gossip in the Grain and Till the Sun Turns Black by Ray LaMontagne.
• The Promise by Bruce Springsteen.
• One Thing at a Time by Graeme Furness.
• Leave Your Sleep (2CD) by Natalie Merchant.

Watching:

• Casino (One of Scorsese’s best.)
• The Social Network (Certainly the most over-rated film of the year.)
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (A sequel better than many.)
• The American (Hardly watchable, certainly not memorable.)
• Inception

Brewing: Sumatra Mandaling

Drinking:

• Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz (2004)

Reading:

• The Theology and Theologians of Scotland: Chiefly of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries by James Walker.
• Reading the Decree: Exegesis, Election and Christology in Calvin and Barth by David Gibson. Reviewed here.
• The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister.
• A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis.
• The Purple Crown: The Politics of Martyrdom by Tripp York. Reviewed here.
• Banner in the West: A Spiritual History of Lewis and Harris by John Macleod.
• Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver.
• Marks of the Body of Christ edited by Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson.

Listening:

• Speak Now by Taylor Swift.
• Ladybug, and Great and Small by Butterflyfish.
• Make The Light by Kate Rusby.

Watching:

• An Idiot Abroad (Series 1)
• I, Robot
• Sense & Sensibility
• Pride and Glory
• Vanilla Sky
• Winter’s Bone
• How I Ended This Summer (this was outstanding!)
• Donnie Brasco

Drinking:

• Allan Scott Marlborough Unwooded Chardonnay 2009.
• Dorrien Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 11 2009.
• Olssens Nipple Hill Pinot Noir 2009.

From the reading chair: Not Every Spirit: A Dogmatics of Christian Disbelief by Christopher Morse; Secular Christianity and God Who Acts by Robert J. Blaikie; The Calvin Handbook edited by Herman J. Selderhuis; Studies in Theology by James Denney; Institutes of the Christian Religion: 1541 French Edition by John Calvin, edited by Elsie McKee; Markings: Poems and Drawings, and Berlin Diary by Cilla McQueen; Practical Theology: An Introduction by Richard R. Osmer.

Through the iPod: The Astounding Eyes of Rita, Le Pas Du Chat Noir, Astrakan Cafe, ECM Touchstones: Conte de l’Incroyable Amour, Le Voyage de Sahar, Thimar, Barzakh, and Khomsa, all by Anouar Brahem; Available Light by Dave Dobbyn; Arvo Pärt: I am the True Vine by Paul Hillier; Britten Choral Works by Choir of King’s College Cambridge

On the screen: The Wire (Season 1); Mary and Max [2009].

By the bottle: Olssens Nipple Hill Pinot Noir 2008

From the reading chair:

Wrestling with God: The Story of My Life by Lloyd Geering; On Human Worth: A Christian Vindication of Equality by Duncan B. Forrester; Transformation of the Self in the Thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher by Jacqueline Mariña (reviewed here); Calvin’s Bible Commentary on the Psalms, Part I by John Calvin; Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch; Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson.

Through the iPod:

Sweet Bells by Kate Rusby; Guillaume de Machaut: Motets, Morimur, Motetten and English and Italian Renaissance Madrigals by Hilliard Ensemble, Officium – Jan Gabarek & The Hilliard Ensemble by Cristobal de Morales; Battle Studies by John Mayer; Stay Strong by Blair Douglas.

On the screen:

Allie Eagle and Me; Eagle vs. Shark; Doubt; The Lion King.

By the bottle: Coriole Redstone Cabernet Sauvignon 2006.

From the reading chair: Biography as Theology: How Life Stories Can Remake Today’s Theology by James Wm. McClendon; The Concentration Camp and Other Stories by Geoffrey C. Bingham; The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Pain by Scott Cairns [reviewed here]; Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition by Andrew Purves; Poems for Gardeners edited by Germaine Greer; No Rusty Swords: Letters, Lectures, and Notes from the Collected Works by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Through the iPod: Come Up Full and The Crossing by Meg Hutchinson; Backspacer by Pearl Jam; Beautiful World and The Road Between by Khristian Mizzi; My Holiday by Mindy Smith; Our Bright Future by Tracy Chapman; Death Magnetic by Metallica; Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 – Carlos Kleiber/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra by Johannes Brahms.

On the screen: Shooting Dogs [2007], reviewed here;  Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death [2009]; Shaun the Sheep: Sheep on the Loose [2009]; Shaun the Sheep: Off the Baa! [2008]; Sometimes in April [2005].

By the bottle: Seppeltsfield Cellar No 9 Muscat Rutherford (tasting notes).

From the reading chair: In the Beauty of the Lilies, by John Updike; A Broad Place, by Jürgen Moltmann; An Educated Clergy: Scottish Theological Education and Training in the Kirk and Secession, 1560-1850, by Jack C. Whytock.

Through the iPod: Jewel, Lullaby; KD Lang, Watershed; jj, jj n° 2; Lucinda Williams, Little Honey and West; Emmylou Harris, All I Intended to Be; John Hiatt, Same Old Man and Slow Turning.

On the screen: Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man [2005]; Disgrace [2008]

In the glass: Two Degrees Pinot Noir 2007.

Best book: Kim Fabricius, Propositions on Christian Theology: A Pilgrim Walks the Plank (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2008).

Best music: Archie Roach, Charcoal Lane; Morrissey, Years of Refusal [2009].

Best films: Seven Pounds [2008] ♦♦♦; The Wrestler ♦♦♦♦; Frozen River ♦♦♦½.

Best drink: Two Paddocks Pinot Noir (2007).

Best books: The Rise of Neo-Kantianism: German Academic Philosophy between Idealism and Positivism, by Klaus Christian Köhnke; Theology in a Global Context: The Last Two Hundred Years by Hans Schwarz; and Theoria, by Peter Fuller.

Best music: Sons of Korah, Rain [2008]; Dar Williams, Cry Cry Cry [1998]

Best films: 10 Items or Less [2007]; An American Crime [2008]
 
Best drink: Heartland Directors’ Cut Shiraz 2006