A Year In Review: Book Reading List 2022

The year 2022 is behind us. A new year has now dawned on us. The year 2022 has been filled with joy and pain, but in all these we express our gratitude to God for having been right there with us. Last year also marked a distinctive rite of passage for me to adulthood as I turned 40. I suppose in some way, I still looked at myself as a Young-Adult but I guess there is now no more reason to add any prefix to the word adult.

I have had the continuous opportunity to have my regular weekly Bible studies with the Living Word Association (LWA) which is an inter-denominational association which strive at understanding the Bible and practice its precepts. Since the advent of COVID, we have never been able to transit back to an in-persons gathering, we are still meeting virtually. This format has its share of challenges. But on the up side, we e-meet with people joining us from different regions including someone from a different continent. 

In my quest to better understand my faith, after completing the reading of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I turned to the official teaching documents of Vatican II. This came at the right time as the Church was celebrating in 2022 the 60th anniversary of the council Vatican II. One milestone I was able to achieve was the reading of the Four Constitutions of Vatican II, namely:

1. Lumen Gentium which means 'Light of Nations'. It is the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. 
2. Dei Verbum which means 'The Word of God'. It is the Dogmatic Constitution of Divine Revelation.
3. Sacrosanctum Concilium which means 'The Sacred Council'. It is the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
4. Gaudium et Spes which means 'Joy and Hope'. It is the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.

Now that I completed the reading of the constitution, I have the foundational understanding by which I will be reading the remaining Vatican II documents for this year which include: 3 Decrees and 9 Declarations. I have already read one declaration, Nostra Aetate, and I will be bulldozing through the remaining ones in due time, God willing. Reading what the Church says in its own words is so refreshing and so encouraging and it sounds at time quite different from what people out there says about the Church teaching. For example in Gaudium et Spes, I was gladly surprise to see the focus that the Church has of its own mission on earth while waiting for the return of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ:

"It is necessary never to lose sight of the fact that the objective of the Church is to evangelize, not to civilize. If it civilizes, it is for the sake of evangelization." - Footnote Part II, Chapter II, No.7. 

Now, back to the purpose of this post. As I do each year, I will be sharing the list of books I read in the year 2022. I have unfortunately been a bit undisciplined in my reading hence I read less book than in previous years, but there is also a human reason to it, I have been quite busy, in-ordinarily busy this year and It took me a bit by surprise. I will do better this year in organizing myself with the help of the Lord and be better focus this time in my priorities. Each book comes with a scoring metric. This scoring doesn't necessarily mean that the book was either perfect or poor. It simply reflects my enthusiasm at the moment of reading it based on the book content and the appeal of the writing style. These are the books that I read in 2022: 

Religious Books

Catholic Authors

1. "The Early Church Was the Catholic Church: The Catholic Witness of the Fathers in Christianity's First Two Centuries" by Joe Heschmeyer - (5/5)

2. "A Mighty Current of Grace: The Story of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal" by Alan Schrek - (5/5)

3. "Overcome By The Spirit: The Extraordinary Phenomenon That Is Happening To Ordinary People" by Francis MacNutt - (5/5)

4. "Deliverance from Evil Spirits: A Practical Manual" by Francis MacNutt - (5/5)

5. "The Healing Reawakening: Reclaiming Our Lost Inheritance" by Francis MacNutt - (4.5/5)

6. "The Practice of Healing Prayer: A How-To Guide For Catholics" by Francis MacNutt - (4/5)

7. "Pope Peter: Defending the Church's Most Distinctive Doctrine in a Time of Crisis" by Joe Heschmeyer - (4/5)

8. "Four More Witnesses In The Early Church: Further Testimony from Christians before Constantine" by Rod Bennet - (3.5/5)

Protestant Authors

9. "Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History" by Rodney Stark - (5/5)

10. "Preparing for the Glory: Getting Ready for the Next Wave of the Holy Spirit Outpouring" by John & Carol Arnott - (4.5/5)

11. "A Study of Effects of Christian Prayer on Pain or Mobility Restrictions from Surgeries involving Implanted Materials" by Randy Clark - (4/5)

12. "Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scriptures" by Robert W. Graves - (3.5/5)

13. "Two Paradigms for Divine Healing: Fred F. Bosworth, Kenneth E. Hagin, Agnes Sanford and Francis MacNutt in Dialogue" by Pavel Hejzlar - (3/5)

Non-Religious Book

14. "Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing" by Ryan T. Anderson & Alexandra DeSanctis - (5/5)

....

Overall, the year 2022 was a good year, though not without its share of challenges. See you for the next list in one year time, God willing.