books

Phil's Deconstruction Book Recommendations

Recommendations Last Updated: July 16, 2023

Whether you know someone who is exploring this topic or if you need to embark on your own personal deconstruction journey, please see my personal recommendations below.

If you have any book recommendations you believe may be a good fit for this page, please message me on any of the social media platforms found on my links page here.

Please note: like my education on this subject, this page is subject to change and will continue to improve. I will update this post along with the date the books were added as I complete them.

The following is a condensed list of links. For a deeper explanation of my recommendations, please continue further down the page.

Brief Book Listing

Detailed Recommendations

 
 

The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby - This book provides a perspective on the history of the United States specifically to the Church’s complicit role in perpetuating systemic racism. A powerful indictment on the current state of Christianity in America and a must read for Christians.

 
 

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny Duncan - Although the author of this book specifically addresses the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), their pleas and lamentations apply to churches all across the United States.

 
 

White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy and American Christianity by Robert P. Jones - An urgent call and challenge to all white Christians to recognize the church's role in the advancement of white supremacy in the United States. The author elagantly pulls from history, case studies, and community reports to encourage white Christians to confront these uncomfortable truths that have taken root with the help of the church.

 
 

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr - A critical look at the culture of patriarchal control and abuse of the Bible that sought to erase women from positions of leadership in the Church.

 
 

UnClobber: Expanded Edition with Study Guide: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality by Colby Martin - A preacher recounts his spiritual walk to becoming the leader of a fully affirming LGBTQ+ church while addressing each of the "clobber" passages (Genesis 19:1-29, Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy 1:10) with a biblical, cultural, etymological, and historical breakdown of each. Designed with the reader in mind: read the even-numbered chapters for the Unclobbering of the clobber passages, read the odd-numbered chapters for Martin's spiritual walk on the subject, read both for the full story and context. A book I consider as required reading for Christians who are not already fully affirming of our LGBTQ+ siblings. An edition without the study guide may be found here.

 
 

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristen Kobes Du Mez - An account of the white evangelicalism movement since the 1940s to the 2016 election, Du Mez helps illustrate how evangelicals substituted Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of patriarchal toxic masculinity, authoritarian rule, xenophobia, and homophobia. Why did so many Christians gather around to support a man who goes against just about every teaching of the very Jesus they claim to espouse? Du Mez provides a much-needed perspective.

 
 

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell challenges traditional Christian beliefs about heaven, hell, and salvation. Bell argues that a loving God would not condemn people to eternal punishment in hell, and suggests that everyone will eventually be saved. He also questions the notion of a literal interpretation of biblical descriptions of hell and suggests that they may be metaphorical.

 
 

How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers―and Why That's Great News by Peter Enns - A book that tackles the topic of the Bible as a book of rules versus a book of wisdom. The author further argues how different generations had to "reimagine God" by updating the exile narrative of the people of Isreal to adapt their faith for the time of the author. For example, the distinction between 1 & 2 Kings and how 1 & 2 Chronicles may seem like a direct “retelling” of the same story when placed one right after the other in the Bible, but in context 1 & 2 Chronicles was written centuries after 1 & 2 Kings and was reframed accordingly for the modern generation of that time. The author goes on to argue a similar “reimagining” occurs from the Hebrew Bible to the Christian New Testament. I enjoyed reading this book and it provides great context to the timeframes in which different sections of the Bible were written, and the cultures surrounding each generation. If this blurb either peaked your curiousity or made your neck hairs bristle as potential heresey, it's a good indication you might need to read this book.

 
 

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha (NRSV) edited by Michael Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol Newsom, and Pheme Perkins - The Bible used by biblical scholars, seminary programs, and my main biblical reference. Filled with invaluable resources littered throughout its entirety including: maps, introductory sections to each individual book and all main biblical sections (including the Apocrypha), footnotes, and appendices that include essays for textual criticism, biblical interpretation, cultural contexts and more. Out of the several different study Bibles and versions I reference, if you can only choose one to get a deeper understanding of the how Scriptures were written, this would be my definitive recommendation.

 
 

That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, & Universal Salvation by David Bentley Hart - The case is laid out in Hart’s combined theological and philosophical arguments for Universalism in that all souls in humanity are redeemed and saved. A read that is not for the faint of heart, but as the authors outlines early on in his book: this is his exhaustive collection of arguments and counterarguments across all conversations resulting from his presentations, scholar papers, and keynotes over his years as an academic scholar designed to be the single source for any and all future discourse on the topic of Universalism, pre-destination, or whether there is a Hell of eternal conscious torment.

Phil's Anti-Racism Book Recommendations

Listing last updated Feb. 28, 2024

Whether you know someone who may need education in this field or if you want to embark on your own personal educational journey to become anti-racist, explore the recommendations below.

If you have any book recommendations you believe may be a good fit for this page, please message me on any of the social media platforms found on my links page here. I will update this post along with the date the books were added as I complete them.

The following section is a condensed list of links. For a deeper explanation of my recommendations, please continue further down the page.

Brief Book Listing

Detailed Recommendations

 
 

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander - as far as I am concerned, this book is required reading. The New Jim Crow is a crash course in the history of systemic racism in the United States and how our legal/justice system has evolved to disenfranchise and targe people of color - specifically black men - through racial profiling and punitive laws such as the "three strikes" rule.

 
 

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein - more required reading to aide in the education of how racist systems were built in the United States. This time from a financial and wealth-building perspective, The Color of Law recounts the history of racial segregation in the United States specifically through laws of land ownership. Rothstein details how people of color were continuously denied opportunities to build generational wealth through tactics such as redlining, the GI Bill, and racist property covenants among realtors.

Memiors, Biographies, and more

 
 

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah - A powerful memior from Daily Show host Trevor Noah as he recounts his coming-of-age story set shortly after apartheid in South Africa. I highly recommend the audiobook version of this title for a few reasons. First, Trevor Noah narrates the book himself and being a professional comedian and entertainer he knows how to deliver lines he wrote himself. Second, there are number of different African languages and dialects in this book that help progress the narrative of Trevor Noah's journey from South Africa to the United States. The immersion of his story may be affected in written form unless you fluently speak them all, and since Trevor Noah actually is fluent in every language and dialect written in this book he brings the proper inflections and naunce needed to convey the context in the conversations that occur in the book.

 
 

Frederick Douglass: The Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight - The cinematic history of Frederick Douglass is protrayed in the life of this legendary orator. Insights on his writings from his self-published newspaper, among letters and speeches show Douglass's neverending fight against slavery pre- and post-Civil War.

 
 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - The first in her series of memiors, Maya Anelou recalls her childhood and the troubling history she endured.

 
 

The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby - This book provides a perspective on the history of the United States specifically to the Church’s complicit role in perpetuating systemic racism. A powerful indictment on the current state of Christianity in America and a must read for Christians.

 
 

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny Duncan reflects on his experiences as a Black queer preacher in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). He critiques the systemic racism and homophobia present in many Christian institutions, and argues that the church must confront and dismantle these oppressive structures in order to truly embody the message of Jesus. Duncan advocates for a more inclusive and justice-oriented church, and challenges Christians to actively work towards creating a world where everyone is valued and respected.

 
 

White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy and American Christianity by Robert P. Jones - An urgent call and challenge to all white Christians to recognize the church's role in the advancement of white supremacy in the United States. The author elagantly pulls from history, case studies, and community reports to encourage white Christians to confront these uncomfortable truths that have taken root with the help of the church.

 
 

The Autobiagraphy of Martin Luther King Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and edited by Clayborne Carson chronicles Dr. King's life and strife for social justice. Notable for me was how Dr. King's theology developed to be a social gospel as he deconstructed what he learned in seminary and how the messages he read in the Bible and the depiction of Jesus clashed against his lived experience of segregation and racism. His continued commitment to nonviolent protest and his bravery to speak frank, harsh truths regarding race relations make this book a must read for anyone willing to listen about why we continue to have societal tensions across racial lines in the United States today.

In addition to a hard copy of this book to read and keep on your shelf to study or share with others, I highly recommend the audiobook version. Not only is it read by Levar Burton, but it also includes several rare recordings of Dr. King's powerful speeches and eloquent sermons spaced throughout the book, one of which includes Dr. King reading his own open Letter from a Birmingham Jail to white religious leaders in Alabama and the South.

 
 

The Autobiography of Malcom X by Alex Haley and Attallah Shabazz Malcom X tells the story of Malcolm X's life, from his childhood in poverty and his involvement with criminal activity, to his conversion to the Nation of Islam and his activism as a civil rights leader. Malcolm X's journey is marked by his personal transformation and evolution of political beliefs, as he moves away from the separatist teachings of the Nation of Islam and embraces a more inclusive vision of Black liberation. The book also examines the systemic racism and violence faced by Black Americans during the 20th century, and critiques the failures of the American political and legal systems to address these issues.

 
 

Where do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by Martin Luther King Jr. - Dr. King provides his assessment of the race relations in the United States during struggles of the Civil Rights movement of the previous 10 years of the book’s publication in 1967. This book and also his Letter from a Birmingham Jail speak volumes to the work that we still need to do to this day in order to start reconciling race relations.

 
 

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown - writeup blurb coming soon

 
 
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Book Review: The Art of Social Media

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I just blazed through The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, the latest book from Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick regarding online social presence. I believe this should be on any current Social Media Marketer/Analyst/Strategist's reading list. Even though I've used the major social media platforms discussed in the book for years (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.), I still walked away with some great insights on how I can enhance my usage across these various platforms.

Tons of Tips

This book is packed with hundreds of social media tips (123 to be exact). These tips range from just basics in social media to help establish your brand (picking a screen name, what kind of pictures to use for your profile, etc.) to using advanced features of specific platforms (e.g. Chapter 8 - How To Run Google+ Hangouts on Air).

In addition, Guy and Peg give a plethora of online web services and tools that can be used to provide interesting or entertaining content (Chapter 2 - Feed the Content Monster) or help in publishing posts to multiple platforms and streamlining or scheduling posts to different social media outlets. There are also a number of online tools that can enhance the usage of a specific platform, such as Twubs for tracking Twitter hashtags or Tiberr for increasing exposure of one's blog post. I even used Guy's graphic tool service, Canva, mentioned in the book to create a quick and easy graphic for this review.

Some Criticisms

Most of the information found in this book is very useful, but as Guy and Peg point out, "No matter how smart you are, best practices always change, because the platforms change how their sites work." Technology moves fast and iterates quickly, and the same can be applied directly to social media. If you're going to read this book, read it soon and quickly, because even though this book was published in December of 2014 it's starting to become outdated. For example, Guy mentions how to "Use Comments and +1s to Run Polls [on Google+]." However, Google added a built-in polling feature to Google Plus in October of 2014, so there's no longer a need to use the workaround of adding comments to a post and use the +1s as "votes" in his example.

My own personal tip: if you're going to read this book, get the eBook version from Amazon or the book's website. The eBook contains hundreds of useful URLs to the services and examples listed throughout the book, and you can quickly jump to the example or resource provided with a quick click of the mouse or tap of the finger. I do not recommend reading the physical dead-tree version like I did. Although I could Google many of the tools Guy and Peg mention in their book, it still left me with frustrations of not being able pull up several examples while reading. The screenshots and pictures were sometimes difficult to make out in the printed examples as well.
 

The Bottom Line...

All in all, whether you're just starting out in social media or perceive yourself as a seasoned veteran in the social arena, this quick and easy read contains plenty of useful nuggets to extract and help you increase your online presence.

Update: As Guy points out in the comments, physical book readers can got here to find a digital document containing all of the URLs listed in the book.