What’s on Newt Crenshaw’s Bookshelf?
Get a glimpse into Young Life President, Newt Crenshaw’s, bookshelf and see what he’s been reading lately. Maybe you’ll get some inspiration for your own next great read!
From Newt:
First, I’ve been reading through the Bible chronologically with my wife, Susan. It has been good and a blessing to be in the word daily, and to be given passages to read that I might not select on my own. I have profited by being in front of the biblical text and asking the basic discovery bible study questions, then waiting on the Holy Spirit’s conviction, teaching and movement. We are also just finishing up a study of the book of Daniel with our “adult Campaigners group” – powerful, difficult, and influential.
Here are a number of books that I have read over the past year or so that have had an impact on me:
In the areas of health and science, I enjoyed and benefited from Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, a medical doctor who studies and practices longevity. He discusses many aspects of living a long, healthy life with some obvious and not-so-obvious recommendations. I also found Dasha Kiper’s Travelers to Unimaginable Land: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain to be a poignant and powerful read.
In the area of spiritual formation, God has been teaching me many things from three books, two of which we read as a part of the Good Way (way to go, Good Way Team!): New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, Invitation to a Journey by Robert Mulholland, and Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe.
In theology and philosophy, I have been deeply challenged by: The Theology of Migration by Dan Groody, How to Inhabit Time by James KA Smith, and My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman.
On leadership, I found Janet O Hagberg’s Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations to be both prophetic and prescriptive for the challenges we face as leaders today.
For biographies, I laughed, cried, and mourned as I read Phillip Yancy’s relatable and vulnerable memoir, Where the Light Fell.
In fiction, I tend to read the classics and went back for a second time to Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – a “must read” among the great books. I also have been reading more modern fiction, and an amazing and challenging novel by Nobel laureate in literature and Norwegian author, Jon Fosse, called Septology, is worth the time and effort.
Finally, in poetry, I picked up African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle, edited by Kevin Young, while at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL while on a civil rights tour with the mission lead team a couple of years ago. Reading poets like Phyllis Wheatley and Langston Hughes moved me in new ways. I also regularly have Collected Poems: 1909-1962 by T.S. Eliot as a traveling companion, a treasured book given to me by a friend and fellow Eliot admirer.
As I told my children while raising them, reading is the window to the world!