These days, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about gifts. My personality tends to the melancholic anyway, and I’m (mostly) past the age where I can happily gorge myself on a new technological gadget or game. And although I do enjoy giving gifts, my participation in the eternally recurring quest for the Perfect Gift(tm) is limited. Rather than scouring the commercial universe for the one true gift that will demonstrate my love, insight, and perseverance to the recipient for the coming year, I usually buy people books – good books, which are defined as books I would like to read if I were them. Curiously, I sometimes end up borrowing the books back to read myself after they’ve been read.
In other words, I am often the eschatological horizon of my own giving. In that spirit, I’d like to offer a few gifts I was quite happy to receive back recently. First, I have seen proof (thanks Bethany!) that my article, “Toward a Moral Theology of Genetic Screening,” has been printed in the Fall 2010 issue of Crux. Unfortunately it’s not yet available on the web, but I’ve uploaded a final draft to Scribd, if you’re interested in a Hauerwasian/Augustinian take on prenatal and preimplantation screening. It also functions as a rough synopsis of my thesis, although it’s considerably easier to read, thanks entirely to my editors, especially my friend Rob.
I must also thank Nathan Hobby, the editor of the Anabaptist Association of Australia & New Zealand’s journal On The Road, for stumbling across some of my older posts Yoder and inviting me to contribute to their December issue. Well worth a read.
Finally, I recently had the pleasure of leading a small book study through N.T. Wright’s new After You Believe. More often than not, we widely departed from the questions I came up with, but I’ve put them up on Scribd also, and I’ll have some more thoughts on the book in the new year. Enjoy!
I share your criteria for what defines a “good” book to give :). And, like you, it’s remarkable how frequently these “gifts” find their way back into my own hands…
Pingback: Globe & Mail report on evolving reproductive technologies « Zarephath, B.C.