Another of those (*sigh*) internet quizzes

I generally dislike these sorts of quizzes and tend to ignore them when tagged, but I prefer to remain in Gideon Strauss's good graces, so here's my 2 cents worth — and a bit more than was asked:

1. One book that changed your life: H. Evan Runner, Scriptural Religion and Political Task.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Um, Political Visions and Illusions? (My wife knows the author personally.)

4. One book that made you laugh: Does a book of the Bible count? I've always thought Jonah reads like an elaborate practical joke.

5. One book that made you cry: Well, I didn't exactly cry, but this is difficult reading for someone with Greek roots: Marjorie Housepian, The Smyrna Affair, later retitled, Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City. Nevertheless, this book brought me even closer to tears: Ruth A. Tucker, Walking Away from Faith: Unravelling the Mystery of Belief & Unbelief.

6. One book that you wish had been written: The Greek Evangelical Church and How it Helped to Bring Peace between Greece and Turkey.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code. Also virtually everything by Nietzsche.

8. One book you’re currently reading: Oliver O'Donovan, The Ways of Judgment.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: Um, Ed Grootenboer, In Pursuit of Justice? (Hear that, Gideon?) Actually I've been meaning to read Alan Storkey, Jesus and Politics: Confronting the Powers. The title makes me uneasy, and I'm hoping the book's contents will allay my fears.

10. One book you've been meaning to write: A first-person account of our daughter's premature birth and her lengthy hospital stay in the ensuing weeks. Two things hold me back: (1) it's still painful for me to read my journals and email posts from that difficult time; and (2) will Theresa be embarrassed by such a book when she gets older? Perhaps I should write under a pseudonym and change her name.

11. One book you are currently writing: It's provisionally titled, We Answer to Another: Authority, Human Personhood and the Imago Dei. Authority has got a bad rap over the past two or three centuries. My argument is that, far from being antithetical to authority, freedom is simply another kind of authority.

12. Now tag five people: Listed in order from most likely to least likely to respond: Al Wolters, Justin Cooper, George W. Bush, Kim Jong Il, Brian Dijkema.

Oh, can I change my answer to number 9? I really should read Paul, Monotheism and the People of God: The Significance of Abraham Traditions for Early Judaism and Christianity. My wife knows the author better than herself.