Reading List
​We offer this reading (and watching) list as a resource for study during The 500 Days.  We certainly can’t say that this is an exhaustive list, nor do we all agree with all of the points of view expressed in these works.  However, we do believe these could be helpful starting points. 

Movies / Videos

As We Forgive (2008)

"Could you forgive a person who murdered your family?" 
Gold winner in the Student Academy Awards

The Good Pope (John XXIII) (2003)

Story of the Pope who (unexpectedly) called Vatican II

​Healing America’ s Wounds

2-part video series from John Dawson

​This changes everything
​500 years of the reformation

A comprehensive look at Martin Luther & the Reformation, intended to spark dialog between Protestants & Catholics. Recommended by John Armstrong, who is on our Board of Advisors.​

​Get Low (2009)

Depicts the importance but also the difficulty of repentance. 
​Under-the-radar movie with a fantastic cast

​The Second Chance (2006)

Story of racial / social hostility & reconciliation in
​the American church

​Reconciliation: A Move of God

Video from Curtis May of the Office of Reconciliation and Mediation. 

The Jewish Cardinal (2014) 

Biography of the Bishop of Paris who kept his Jewish identity

 Unity in Diversity

​One of our core beliefs is that the vision of the beauty of the body of Christ is rooted in the reality of the unity of the Trinity.  This idea is both intuitive for humans, but also difficult to grasp.  Here are some books and articles that we feel express well this concept.

Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster 

Easily accessible book that looks at the diversity of the Body of Christ in avery different way ​ 

After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity  
​by Miroslav Volf

Difficult read, somewhat academic, yet right to the point

Towards Jerusalem Council II: Vision, Origin and Documents

Description of a unique initiative with leadership from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Messianic Jewish traditions

Costly Love
By John Armstrong

What does it mean to believe that God is love, and what does it mean for the church of Jesus Christ to live this love? Extravagant love is costly. It was won at the great price of Christ's sacrifice; thus, its value is beyond words. - John Armstrong​

Contemplating the Trinity  
​by Raneiro Cantalemessa

Written by the Preacher to the Papal Household – deep, yet highly readable

The Household of God  
​by Lesslie Newbigin

Study of the nature of the Body of Christ

One Lord One Spirit One Body  
​by Peter Hocken

May be difficult to find a copy, but worth the hunt

Loving the Church, Blessing the Nations  
​by George Miley

Description of how para-church & local church communities can work in 
​harmony instead of at odds

Worship Old and New  
​by Robert Webber

Examines the history of worship in the Body of Christ, beginning with the 
​Jewish roots

A  Short Tale of the Antichrist  
​by Vladimir Soloviev

Remarkable fictional story written by a Russian Orthodox monk in 1900.  We do not endorse it as prophecy.  Rather we see it as one man’s very interesting vision of a future unified Church​

 The Process of Reconciliation

Reconciling All Things  
​by Chris Rice & Emmanuel Katongole

Co-written by a Presbyterian from Mississippi and a Catholic from Uganda. Enough said!

The Strategy of the Spirit? and The Spirit of Unity: How Renewal Is Breaking Down Barriers Between Evangelicals and Roman Catholics  
​by Fr. Peter Hocken

Both books examine how the Holy Spirit has been at work in the past century, uniting the body of Christ

Christians Repent for 2000 Years of Anti-Semitism by the Evangelical  Sisterhood of Mary

Series of papers from the Lutheran Sisters in Darmstadt

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton & Sheila Heen

Expected for a book from the Harvard Negotiation Project to be so helpful for the process of reconciliation. Worth reading just for the description of an "identity quake"

Way of the Heart
​by Henri Nouwen 

Short meditative work on the importance of silence, solitude, and prayer

Healing America's Wounds  
​by John Dawson

Classic text on the principles and realities of Identificational repentance

What Christians Should Know About Reconciliation by John Dawson

Short booklet, may be hard to find ... but worth the hunt!

Faith-based Reconciliation  
​by Brian Cox

An Episcopal priest from California describes the process used for reconciliation in number of difficult international contexts

The Unity Factor  
​by John Armstrong

Chapter 5, entitled, "Now What?", proposes several concrete actions to move towards "unity in reconciled diversity"

Community and Growth  
​by Jean Vanier

Seminal work on the importance of community for human relationships

Confronting Past Injustice: The Catholic Church and Toward Jerusalem Council II
​by  Peter Hocken

Text of a talk that presents a wonderful example of a Roman Catholic honoring his own tradition, yet also telling the truth about wrongs committed that need to be set right.​

The End of Protestantism,
​by Dr. Peter Leithart

Influential thinker Peter Leithart critiques American denominationalism in the context of global and historic Christianity, calls for an end to Protestant tribalism, and presents a vision for the future church that transcends post-Reformation divisions.

 History / Biography / Story​

Your Church is Too Small 
​by John Armstrong 

John Armstrong is an evangelical with a deep calling to work for the unity of the body of Christ.  This is his story

Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution -- A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Alister McGrath

Comprehensive look at the history of Protestantism

The Lost History of Christianity
​by Phillip Jenkins

Worth purchasing just to read the first chapter which traces the story of the early Eastern churches, a history unfamiliar to most Western Christians

Breaking the Veil of Silence
​by Jobst Bittner

German Christians bring the terrible history of the Holocaust into the light, for God to cleanse heal, and bring the joy of reconciled relationships​

All Saints  
​by Robert Ellsberg

Presents one story per day for a year, of saints from the various Christian traditions

Let Justice Roll Down  
​by John Perkins

 A powerful testimony to reconciliation on a racial level

A Garland for Ashes  
by Hanna Zack Miley

A German Jew, Hanna describes God’s path to reconciliation after her parents were killed during the Holocaust

Meine Krone
​in der Asche

Der Holocaust, die Kraft der Verge bung und der lange Weg zur persönlichen Heilung

Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation
​by Martin Brecht 

Seminal biography of Martin Luther.  Translated into English from the original German

Luther and the Jews: Putting Right the Lies  
​by Richard Harvey

Luther and the Jews: Putting Right the Lies is a timely and important contribution to the debate about the legacy of the Protestant Reformation. It brings together two topics that sit uncomfortably: the life, ministry, and impact of Martin Luther, and the history of Jewish-Christian relations to which he made a profoundly negative contribution. 

Count Zinzendorf Firstfruit (Christian Heroes: Then & Now)  by Janet and Geoff Benge

Easy-to-read but powerful story of the Moravian community

The Glory and the Shame
by Peter Hocken

Story of the Pentecostal & Charismatic renewals, and their impact on church unity

The Hiding Place
​by Corrie Ten Boom

Classic biography of a Dutch family harboring Jews during WWII

A Man Called Mr. Pentecost
​by David DuPlessis (as told to Bob Slosser) 

One story of the role of the charismatic renewal in the history of Christian unity

 Specifically about the 500th Anniversary

From Conflict to Communion:
Lutheran-Catholic Common
​Commemoration of  the Reformation in 2017

Published in 2013 by the Lutheran – Roman Catholic Commission on Unity

The Path to Unity Among Christians  –  Reflections on Unitatis Redintegratio  by  Raniero Cantalamessa

A Lenten sermon that directly addresses the 500th Anniversary

Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist, by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs

Document jointly created by Catholic & Lutheran Bishops in the United States.  Proposes 32 statements of agreement in the areas of Church, Ministry, and Eucharist.  Also highlights the need for further agreement in these three areas.

 Theology​

The Leuenberg Agreement by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe​

Origin of the "reconciled diversity" model for unity

Paragraphs 226-230 of Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel)
​by Pope Francis

This section entitled "Unity Prevails over Conflict" significantly includes the phrase "reconciled diversity", which was first proposed by European Catholics in the Leuenberg Agreement

The Creed:  What Christians Believe and Why it Matters
​by Luke Timothy Johnson 

From Amazon:  This thoughtful, fully accessible exploration of the creed, the list of beliefs central to the Christian faith, delves into its origins and illuminates the contemporary significance of why it still matters

Mapping Messianic Jewish Theology: A Constructive Approach, by Richard Harvey

Description of the varied threads of theology in the newly (re-)emerging Messianic Jewish congregations

What We Believe and Why  
by George Byron Koch 

The two subtitles say it all.  (1) "Insightful, accessible, plain-spoken,  and a little feisty" and (2) "Christian Faith from its Jewish roots to its future hope –beyond denominational struggles and doctrinal war"

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World  Federation and the Catholic Church ​ 

Officially states that the Lutherans and Roman Catholics on the doctrine of justification, which was one of the key areas of disagreement that led to the Reformation.  A thorough reflection on the doctrines of faith and works which proved so divisive in the Reformation. From the preamble, "this Joint Declaration rests on the conviction that in overcoming the earlier controversial questions and doctrinal condemnations, the churches neither take the condemnations lightly nor do they disavow their own past. On the contrary, this Declaration is shaped by the conviction that in their respective histories our churches have come to new insights"

Searching Her Own Mystery  
​by Mark Kinzer ​ 

A Messianic Jewish theologian reflects on the Roman Catholic document Nostra Aetate. Includes a very helpful appendix on the Nicene Creed

The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity by Roger Olson  ​ 

An introduction to historical Christian belief, topically arranged, and identifying for each: historical consensus, elements of the differing perspectives, and finally a unifying perspective in light of those differences

Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation:  A Sourcebook of the Ancient Church by ​D.H. Williams ​ 

Examines the writings of the early church fathers

Roman Catholic Catechism 

A record of the official doctrine of the Catholic Church.It would be wise for us who are Protestants to read it, to better understand what the Catholic Church actually teaches.  We may be surprised at the depth of scriptural insights itcontains
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