Faculty Summer Reading - "Virtue and Vice" Summer may seem a long way off, but our Regents faculty is already preparing for summer time reading. Ronnie Long worked with some of his colleagues and produced our Regents Faculty Summer Reading List. Each faculty member reads one book from the summer list to enrich our own growth, as well as to foster meaningful conversations among the faculty body. We take extra steps to develop interaction among the Lower and Upper School in order to strengthen our sense of being "one". Parents are encouraged to also take part, not only as family members, but to embolden our efforts at school. Below is a summary written by Ronnie Long of this year's summer reading program, themed "Virtue and Vice". *********** Last summer, we read stories centered on the theme of Redemption. The focus of our growth was learning how Christ changes a person or community. We are a redeemed people, and this makes a difference in how we view the world. Nonetheless, we still struggle in our Christian lives. In fact, the Christian life can be described as a struggle. This is why I think Jacob's name was changed to Israel - which means "he struggles with God." Jacob struggled and overcame by God's steadfast love. We struggle and overcome in the same way. What is it that we struggle with in the Christian life? Because we have been redeemed by Christ, we do not struggle to save ourselves. Christ saves us. Our struggle is located in the heart. Jesus makes this point in the Sermon on the Mount. The apostles continue to make this point throughout their writings in the New Testament. By the grace of God and in his steadfast love, we struggle to become "virtuous" people. Now some would say, however, that on account of our being "in Christ" we are already virtuous. This is true. But we are also called to become what we are. This summer our reading will be about this struggle, this becoming. We have been saved (redemption), we are being saved (sanctification, the struggle we are currently undergoing) and we will be saved (glorification). Enjoy the summer reading!! Copies of these books are available for review in the RSA Library. Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes by Jeff Cook The Divine Comedy by Dante Lord of the Flies by William Golding Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway My Losing Season by Pat Conroy King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild Paris, 1919: Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret Macmillan Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson/Oliver Relin The Eastern Schism bySteven Runciman Off the Books: Underground Economy the Urban Poor by Sudhir Alladi Venkates The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer