I’m nearly finished with Audrey Chapman’s Unprecedented Choices: Religious Ethics at the Frontiers of Genetic Science. Not being in seminary now for six months has slowed down my ability to read. When you’re in seminary you’re forced to read and read and read. Now I can read a chapter and then take a short 3 hour nap. The end result: I’m not reading as much as I’d like to be. But Chapman’s book has been useful. It is an overview of how different communities of faith have dealt with the issues raised by genetic technologies. It is worth a look if you have any interest in how faith groups have / are dealing with a subject so far removed from historical Christianity. I’m following-up Chapman’s book with Playing God?: Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom by Ted Peters. All this genetic / faith reading is related to my participation with Pacific University’s Faith Forum on Genetics. What else is on my desk to read? Borg and Crossan’s The Last Week, Dan Wakefield’s The Hijacking of Jesus, Michael Lerner’s The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right, and President Jimmy Carter’s Our Endangered Values : America's Moral Crisis. After I’m done with this stack of books I need to get away from religious books for awhile. Before going to seminary I read lots of biographies and loved them. There is a new account out about the life of William Jennings Bryan (a favorite American historical figure of mine) and I’ve got to add this book to my list. Anyone else have any suggestions for good non-fiction reading?