A Year In Review: Book Reading List 2023

We finally crossed the year 2023 over to 2024. Last year was an intense year for me on many fronts and I am glad to have survived it. As I have done each year, I have continued 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. This year marked an important shift in our bible study protocol. A new study method was introduced that has enriched everybody's learning curve. The method is coined, C.O.C.A. This acronym stands for Context, Observation, Comprehension, Application. Yes, it is easy to remember and even easier to apply. This method was introduced into our local scenery by Father Raphael Manikiza, the Dominican Vicar Provincial of the Provincial Vicariate of Rwanda and Burundi. 

This method, COCA, was initially introduced in our monthly Bible Study at the Dominican Chapel where I have been honoured to work alongside with Father Raphael and the lay theologian Tigana Birasa as we offered our reflection on the Gospel of Matthew for the Liturgical Year-A to the Community. For 2024, we will continue our study and focus on the Gospel of Mark.

Half a dozen year ago, I went into a quest to better understand my Christian faith as a Catholic and I have come enriched and better for it. After completing the reading of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I turned to the official teaching documents of Vatican II. I have made a slow inroad this last year, after reading the 4 Dogmatic constitutions (Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Sacrosanctum Concilium and Gaudium et Spes) and read the 3 Declarations of the council Vatican II:

1. Gravissimum Educationis, it is the Declaration on Christian Education
2. Dignitatis Humanae, it is the Declaration on Religious Freedom
3. Nostra Aetate*, it is the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (this one was read the year prior*).

I also started reading the list of Vatican II Decrees. So far, I have read two of them and I am slowly going through the rest:

1. Apostolicam Actuositatem, it is a Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity
2. Ad Gentes, it is a Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church

As I said in my last review, "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", I would now add, it is also so different from what some Catholic clergies have said about the Church teaching, 100% different. I remember in the year 2000 and 2001 when I had first read my whole bible systematically from Genesis to Revelation, I was in shock. The initial shock was not what I found but what I didn't found in it. Things I have heard so many times in popular platform, TVs, Radio, Conferences, etc., about what "the bible say's" but were nowhere to be found in the Bible. Neither did I find them in my second reading, nor the third time I read it. It became clear there are many things' people passes for biblical teaching which can't be found in the Bible itself. It is the same with the official Church teachings. I will dare, even challenge, anyone who has an issue with the Catholic Church teachings to first stop and ask themselves, where did I get these views about the Catholic Church teachings? And then after such honest introspection, I invite you to read the Church OFFICIAL teachings for yourself, either doctrinal or moral or social and find out the truth for yourself. You ought it to yourself!

For example, in Gaudium et Spes, I was gladly surprised, two years ago, to see that the Church takes her evangelistic mission seriously to the point of including it into one of its 4 Constitutions. And this aren't a unique occurrence, similar texts can be read in its Declarations and Decrees:

"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. 

In the same effort to strengthen my understanding of Christianity, I completed a Certification course with Harvard Divinity School on "Christianity through Its Scriptures". There are many reasons I pursued such endeavour, and one of them was to get a neutral view about my faith and to be challenged, and it was challenging to say the least. In our introduction, the professor clearly let us know that we would be studying the Christian sacred scriptures from a standpoint of Academia and not from a Devotional starting point. The message was clear, and we found out soon enough that not only we studied the Canonical texts found in our Bibles, but the Academic view of the Christian scriptures included also other early writings not found in the Bible such as the Gnostic writings of the earlier Centuries. We read them and made dissertations about them. Overall, it was a stimulating intellectual experience, and inadvertently despite the exposure to other competing writings presented to us as Scriptures, I came out of it more convinced of the Christian faith as it is articulated in its orthodoxy.

There is one important item that I should add to my list of memorable activities, namely 'The Strength of Witnesses' conference. It was a 3-day Charismatic Conference organized and hosted at the St. Dominique Parish ahead of the Feast of Pentecost and it was animated by our guests, Dr. Thierry Luhandjula, Sister Olivia Jani and Brother Nesbert Muzamba. This was followed by The Philip Course, a 3-day retreat in October 2023 at the Convent of the Dominican Sister, this retreat delved deeper into the meaning of the Christian Life. It was animated by Brother Nesbert Muzamba and Brother Giovanni Valerio Svegliati. These two events have left participants with no voice and deeply moved both emotionally, spiritually and in some cases bodily. We have come out of these events, better Christians, and more committed as Christians. It is hard to properly describe what transpired without causing misunderstanding so I would simply recommend for a better understanding of what was experienced by participants, both Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, please do refer to Encounter Ministries which is the Catholic apostolate which was our inspiration in the design of this charismatic event.

I will end with my yearly tradition which consist in sharing the list of books I read during the previous year. 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 2023: 

Religious Books

Catholic Authors

1. "Hostile Witnesses: How the Historic Enemies of the Church Prove Christianity" by Gary Michuta (5/5)
2. "Introduction to Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus" by Brant Pitre (4/5)
3. "Supernal Saints: A School of Ministry from the Saints" by Patrick Reis (4.5/5)

Protestant Authors

1. "Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions" by Jack Deere (4/5)
2. "Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heal Today" by Jack Deere (4/5)
3. "Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? - Four Views" - Edited by Stanley N. Gundry and Wayne A. Grudem (4/5)
4. "The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural" by Lee Strobel (5/5)
5. "Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: A New Transdisciplinary Approach" by Andrew Loke (4.5/5)

Non-Religious Books

1. "Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing" by Candy Gunther (Oxford University Press) (5/5)
2. "Reconciliation Is My Lifestyle: A Life's Lesson on Forgiving and Loving Those Who Have Hated You" by Antoine Rutayisire (5/5)
3. "Even in Our Darkness: A Story of Beauty in a Broken Life" by Jack Deere (5/5)

Note: These last 3 books can hardly be labelled as religious books even though their authors may be known for their religious convictions.

...

The year 2023 was an intense year both in my workplace and in my family with its share of challenges. My family has known series of illnesses with different degrees of intensity, from major surgery for my boy earlier in the year to a medical trip at the end of the year. Sickness and Illness became a permanent feature of our household from the beginning of the year to the end. So much so that my wife once told me with an aggravated tone that pharmacists in our neighbourhood now know who we are. It is a miracle that with all these health constraints and intense workload in my job, I was able to read this much and done so much in my community. I guess it comes with the territory, I aggressively attacked the kingdom of darkness, and it expectedly struck back. 

Nevertheless, in all these, I praise the Lord that my wife and I never went through this fire alone. The Lord was always there comforting my family during those long sleepless night with kids fighting with uncontrollable fevers, bizarre diseases and those long hours at the hospitals' queues. 

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, stand firm and immovable, devoting yourselves completely to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians15:58