Harry's Recommended Books

These non-fiction books are either uncommon, appeal to the scientific community, out-of-print, or are reprints of historically significant books involving the Judeo-Christian faith.

Engineering/Computations/Weapons

Blessed Assurance: At Home with the Bomb in Armarillo Texas, A.G.Mojtabai (University of New Mexico Press,1986) - Revealing journalists observations of the DOE Pantex Plant, Christians living in Armarillo, the juxtaposition of faith and weapons, best summarization of 'end-times' Christian theology I have seen anywhere. Out of Print. Well worth any price to obtain a used copy

IBM and the Holocaust describes the methodology of how Germans got Jewish identities using IBM tabulating equipment. Edge-of-the-seat book on tape.

A gripping account that brings to mind how close we could adapt commercialized engineering for future evil. Revelations says that the people willingly took the Mark of the beast on their right hand and that none could buy or sell without the Mark. Imagine the consumer appeal of common vetinarian identity chips used as imbedded credit cards for humans. Wireless. Always available. Not subject to theft or fraud. This book can start a discussion about of identity database management and identity chip applications.

The Last Man on The Moon, Gene Cernan - Revisits the Gemini/Apollo race to the moon read by that very same last astronaut. Edge-of-the-seat book on tape. Not a book about Christianity per se but a clarion call for quality workmanship and teamwork under duress ... and yes, engineers prayed.

Scientists Who Believe: 21 Tell Their Own Stories, Eric Barret (MSc,Univ.Sheffield, PhD., D.Sc. Environmental Science Univ.Bristol, Director of Remote Sensing) and David Fisher (Radio Academy of Science), (Moody Press, 1984) - Current scientists (in 1984), with emphasis on the physical sciences with faith stories deemed credible to the scientific community within the then Soviet USSR, including Dr. Boris P Dotsenko, former head of nuclear physics in 1966, Institute of Physics, Kiev, USSR)

Tales of Los Alamos – Life on the Mesa 1943-1945, Bernice Brode (Los Alamos Historical Society, 1997) - A lively unvarnished first-hand account taken from her personal papers and correspondence.

Creation

Starting with the Boston School of Theology in the 1890's, most churches blended major aspects of macro-evolution with creation. This blending, however, is an artifact of reconciling a First Cause with evolution's fundamental premise of an unordered chance assembling of life initially from inert steller dust followed by undirected random surges of atmospheric energy once an inert planet is formed. Hugh Ross in The Fingerprint of God argues the case for a blend (with which I disagree).

Darwin on Trial (Second Edition), Phillip E Johnson(Intervarsity Press, 1993) - Author (Harvard, Univ.Chicago, Law Professor for 20 years at UC Berekeley) spoke in Livermore and has relatives in Chemistry department. His credentials and original thesis has made him a pariah among UC evolutionists To wit, "What does a UC Berkeley law professor have to say about Science!?". The SECOND edition contains a long chapter listing specific criticisms of the book and the author's defense. His dedication page states "To those in science who want to allow the questions to be asked.")

Evolution and Christian Faith, Bolton Davidheiser (Ph.D Zoology/Genetics, John Hopkins Univ) He became a believer after getting his PhD. He remarks "My impression of fundamentalists and anti-evolutionists was that they were dull, ignorant, and uninteresting people."

God at Ground Zero, Curt Sewell, d.2005(Master Books, 1997) - Curt used to work in Engineering. He worked on the Manhattan Project and was an ardent evolutionist at LLNL. This is his story.

The Wedge of Truth, Phillip E Johnson, UC Berkeley Professor (Intervarsity Press, 2001) - Author spoke on 2/20/01 at Sandia on "Intelligent Design and Darwinism in Biology - What Qualifies as "Science?" taken from Chapter 2: The Information Quandary - Can Natural Law and Chance Create Genetic Information?

Medical

Confessions of a Seasick Doctor, Christine Aroney-Sine (Youth With A Mission, MARC, Crowborough, England, 1995) - An account of life on and history of a Mercy Ship called "Anastasis Mercy" - A can't-put-down page-turner that needs a box of tissues nearby.

90 Minutes in Heaven, Don Piper – This bait-and-switch title tells of a Baptist pastor raised from the dead (which was impressive by itself). The book spends 90% of the text about long-term health recovery. I read it to Anne during her 2006 multi-month recovery. We ‘coincidentally’ met Lutheran friends who recommended it not knowing we were reading it!

None of these Diseases , Dr. S.I.McMillen, MD (Spire/Revell)

Faith Under Construction

Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Harper and Row)

Mere Christianity, C.S.Lewis (Collier/Macmillan)

Miracles,, C.S.Lewis (Collier/Macmillan)

The Moral Intelligence of Children, Robert Coles (abridged audio) – Working with youth, the author examines morality development. As a Messianic Rabbi said in 2007, "Ethics is what you do when someone is watching, Morality is what you do when they are not."

The Question of God, (PBS Television) - Mini-Series comparing Sigmund Freud with C.S. Lewis. Freud was Jewish and became an atheist toughing out his pitiful death. Lewis was an atheist who reluctantly believed after years of intellectual war against faith. The series juxtaposes their beliefs using actors portraying them at their desks and homes.

Christian History

D.L.Moody: The Valley and The World, Faith Coxe Bailey (Moody Press, Chicago, 1959) - An abbreviated biography noting the origins of Moody Bible Institute, the YMCA, and unvarnished life story of D.L.Moody from a restless teenager to renowned 19th century evangelist. Brief insights of Christian faith during the Great Chicago Fire, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War.

A Fistful of Heros: Great Reformers and Evangelists, John Pollock (Marshall-Pickering (Zondervan affiliate) United Kingdom, 1988) - Fourteen, minus the Wesley brothers, who impacted England 1745 to 1929.

History of England, Volume 1: Earliest Times to the Reformation, G.M.Trevelyan, 1926, especially the interaction of Christianity amongst numerous marauding hoards of invaders that frequently slashed and burned their way across England prior to the Tudor times. This very readable report collaborates Andrew Gray’s 1897 book The Origin and Early History of Christianity in Britain by painting the political picture that drove the faith migrations.

This wasn’t taught in my public school classes! In summary, when the Romans left, the invading pagan Saxons pushed the Britons into Wales. The subsequent violent pagan Danes then pushed the Saxons west. Some Christians, who had no love lost for savage Saxons, migrated to Ireland, and a century later traversed back to northern Scotland. Moving south, they began sending missionaries (finally) to the enslaved Saxons in the Viking mid-east England. Through superior organization of Roman Catholics, carefree Briton Christianity was ruthlessly suppressed by the Normans, and retreated with their Saxon allies into the hills of Scotland. And the rest, they say, is history.

Holy Faith of Santa Fe – 1863-2000, Stanford Lehmberg, 2004 – A riveting book in the first half that parallels nicely with Szasz’s book The Protestant Clergy in the Great Plains and Mountain West – 1865-1915. It bogs down later with boring references to funds, numbers, and committees. The historical portion showed interaction between this congregation and the State of New Mexico. Governor Prince was a (very) controlling member of this congregation with evidence that the State controlled the Church rather than the ministers during that frontier era.

Mark Twain in Hawaii: Roughing it in the Sandwich Islands, with a lengthy historical foreword. This gave a delightful visualization of the islands in 1866. In particular, Samuel Clemens, who had few kind words for missionaries, wrote first-hand accounts of the positive impact of Christianity as compared to the unrestrained hedonism of the earlier Yankee whalers.

The Origin and Early History of Christianity in Britain, Andrew Gray, DD, 1897 – An eye-opening account of Christianity told from the view of the Briton inheritors of the early faith under the Romans from 50AD to the 400’s, centuries before (Roman Catholic) Augustine landed near London. See also: History of England, Volume 1

Praying with the KGB, Philip Yancey (Multnomah Press, 1992) - A tour of the Russia when the walls came down with surprising twists in Christian endeavor by the government itself. Though dated (for example Zagorsk has since been renamed to 'Sergiev Posad'), it gives the background that explains why the communist paper "Pravda" ("Truth") later became a major publishing house of Bibles in Russia. This book records the unusual invitation by Gorbachev and meetings with the KGB and the Supreme Soviet in October 1991.

The Protestant Clergy in the Great Plains and Mountain West – 1865-1915, Ferenc Morton Szasz (University of New Mexico Press, 1988) - This well-researched out-of-print book explored the impact of Western church planters after the Civil War, with vignettes on cultural clashes and rural surprises. See also: Holy Faith of Santa Fe – 1863-2000

Tales of Conflict: Indian-White Murders and Massacres in Pioneer British Columbia, Bruce A McKelvie (Heritage House, British Columbia, 1949, 1985 reprint) - Shatters image of 'noble savage'. Both cultures had pagan savages. The noble ones, usually Christian or Christian-influenced, both White and Indian, suffered. Our American wild west was tame by comparision.

An 1839 Wagon Train Journal Travels ...,Thomas J Farnham (Northwest Interpretive Association, Oregon, originally 1843, 1983 reprint) - Farnham hired by New York Tribune Horace Greeley. Pre-gold-rush view of Indians (upbeat of tribes he lived with but negative of raiders), missionaries (especially the Whitman Mission with Dr.Whitman as the only honest white man he met on the trip), and other travelers.

Evangelism

In the Beginning Was the Word: Teaching Reading & Writing Through the Bible, Ruth J Colvin (Literacy Volunteers of America, New York, 1994) - Ruth asked me to review her book and listed me in the acknowledgments - a high honor. Uses a persons' motivation to read the Bible as the very tool to help.

Eternity In Their Hearts, Don Richardson (Regal, Ventura, CA, 1984)- Starling evidence of belief in the One True God in hundreds of cultures throughout the world. Part 1: Anthropological and Cultural Data. Part 2: Biblical Support.

Out of the Saltshaker: Evangelism as a Way of Life, Rebecca M Pippert (InterVarsity Press, 1979, 1992 reprint) - A witness is me being visible, just as I am, to the friends who I meet every day.

Serving as Senders, Neal Pirolo (Emmaus Road, California, 1991) - If you can't go as a missionary, be part of a sending team. Logistics for sending, support, and re-entry needs.

Messianic Jewish Perspectives

Hebrew Christianity: Theology, History, and Philosophy, Dr. Arnold G Fruchtenbaum, 1983 –This controversial author gives the basics of what is and more especially, what is not Messianic faith among the Jewish community. This book is an obligatory read for non-Jews who have some background in historical theology.

Hidden Heritage: The Legacy of the Crypto-Jews, Janet Liebman Jacobs, 2002, University of California, Berkeley - A Jewish scholar studied Sephardic (Spain/Portugal) Crypto-Jews using modern families in the Southwest US and Mexico. She has a New Mexico emphasis and a detective’s eye for detail. She kept an open mind to the variations of Christian faith in some of these families while not sugarcoating the Inquisition’s impact upon their ancestors 500 years ago.

The Jewish Book of WHY, Alfred J Kolatch, (Jonathan David, New York, 1981, 1994 reprint) - Rabbi Kolatch gives historical reasons about Jewish customs, culture, worship, and life.

A Rabbi’s Search for Messiah is a call to live faith daily and to make a daily time with our children for methodical scripture reading ... a tough proposal for busy people.