sabbatical sightings

An Invitation. I have a bunch of things I would love to do with you all -well, those I know... internet stalkers need not apply, especially the reading stuff. Unfortunately, there's really no where to go and discuss stuff for your average pastor. Or, I can teach and learn how to rebuild an engine on the cheap. I'm almost 1/3 into my vacation and I have already done a little bit of travel and conquered the stomach flu. Aside from times of great connection with friends and family, here are my goals-

1. Organize the garage. At least the tools anyways.
I have too many tools floating around in too many boxes still. Or the floor. Also, do to intensive negotiations, I also lost one of the drawers in the kitchen. Time to tame the tooldalwave.
2. Change the timing belt and headgasket on my blown '88 Camry.
Non-interference head *phew* plugs, too.

3. Read a bunch.
Fresh from my Archives extravaganza, I want to catch up on a bunch of stuff I've been wondering about. I'll amend this post with the reading list at the end.

So that's it. Will I make it? Not so sure, but I will have fun trying. Unless I bent a valve on the Camry, in which case I will probably have more time for reading... What are your summer goals?
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Reading List:

1) Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth, Geoffrey W. Bromily.

Turns out, a Fuller prof. Not while I was there, though, proving once again that the universe is uniquely conspiring against me... This book essentially outlines Barth's church Dogmatics which at 14volumes and 450$ for the paperback(!) is just something I'm not reading anytime soon. (Note; 36$ is cheapest at Amazon, but I found a couple of paperbacks for 6.50 at Archives)

2) The Priestly Kingdom, Social Ethics as Gospel, John Howard Yoder.

I've really wanted to get into Yoder for a while as such a great example of Anabaptist (Mennonite) theology you can respect. Yay for low-church, non fundamentalist nor liberal churches! I want to read his The Politics of Jesus to see how he shreds Niebuhr, but this was too cheap.

3)Karl Barth: A theological Legacy, Eberhard Jungel

I have God's Being is in Becoming, but to be honest, I don't understand enough to know the points Jungel is making. This seemed like a nice overview and....cheap(!) Apparantly Fuller students are not so into the whole post-Barth thing.

4) Preaching Christ Today, Thomas F. Torrance.

This one's for Ray Anderson, whom Kevin and I gush over. Torrance was his teacher, and the book represents some practical considerations of the aforementioned tomes. (Amazon - 13$, Archives back shelves, 4$!)

5) The Hauerwas Reader, Stanley Hauerwas.

It's a collection, obviously, and I don't intend to finish this summer, but I enjoy Hauerwas immensly. He seems to me like the only modern theologian who has a sense of humor. I like how much he pisses people off.

6) The Beauty of the Infinite, David Bentley Hart.

This is the one I most want to read. His book, The Doors of the Sea was so wonderful and colorful and his enterprise to establish beauty as a measure of truth is acclaimed by a great many people I respect. I like how he engages post modern thinkers and how ridiculously expansive his vocabulary is.