We've been compiling lists of reading materials which have inspired discussions or sermon topics and we will be posting them here. 

Want to add any of these titles to your personal collection?
Click on the title - if it is available from Amazon.com, you can purchase the title online and Amazon will automatically rebate a small percentage of your purchases to our church. Have a title you want to share? Please send it to email@oakcliffuu.org

In additional to titles mentioned in our services and suggested by our Ministers and Members, we have titles related to several of our special interest groups. These include books mentioned in our "Conversations" blog, the Common Threads Fiber Arts Covenant Group and our Green Sanctuary Project. We also have titles associated with our First Tuesday Social Action Film Festival.


Selections from our Ministers and Members:


Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times:
Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What
Peter L. Steinke provides a very insightful approach to dealing with anxiety and working through the complex challenges that can lead a congregation to new insights, growth, and vitality.

The Universe in a Single Atom:
The Convergence of Science and Spirituality by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama examines the relationship between contemporary Buddhist thought and Western science.

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens illustrates what happens when faith is unchallenged by reason.

The Power of Four: Leadership Lessons of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III
Mentioned by Rev. Mark Walz in his sermon on January 3rd, 2010, this book looks to the events of Lakota warrior Crazy Horse's life for four principles of leadership: Know Yourself, Know Your Friends, Know Your Enemies and Take the Lead.

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou
One of Maya Angelou's most moving and powerful poems.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell has quite a few interesting twists on the theory of memetics - the concept that ideas, products, messages and behaviors spread like viruses.

Leading Change in the Congregation: Spiritual & Organizational Tools for Leaders by Gilbert R. Rendle
Gil Rendle pulls together theory, research, and his work with churches facing change to provide leaders with practical diagnostic models and tools. He provides a respectful context for understanding change, especially the experiences and resistances that people feel. Rendle In a time when change is the norm, this book helps to "lead change" in a spiritual and healthy way.

On Being Human Religiously: Selected Essays in Religion and Society by James Luther Adams
This collection of essays is a magnificent, original, and truly exciting analysis of the human condition, centered on the premise that in religiosity the individual aspect cannot be separated from the socio-historical. This collection can also be viewed online at Google Books by clicking here.

Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd brings her gift for illuminating the sacred in life's most ordinary moments to this collection of inspirational essays.

Omni-Science and the Human Destiny by Anthony Marr
Anthony Marr is an internationally recognized wildlife preservationist who has developed a new model of the Universe called Omniscientific Cosmology, which embraces all of the physical, biological and social sciences, and shows the optimal human destiny and fate of the Earth. He has a science degree from the University of British Columbia, has worked as a field geophysicist and as an environmental scientist and has been featured in the wildlife documentary series "Champions of the Wild." Anthony has also been a guest speaker at the UUCOC!

Blessing the World: What Can Save Us Now by Rev. Rebecca Ann Parker
This collection of thought provoking essays is for anyone concerned with liberal religion, diversity, or issues of social justice.

The Female Brain by Louanne Brizendine, M.D.
Louann Brizendine, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, explores groundbreaking issues in brain science.

Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Bronte by Maureen Adams
A tale of the canine companions who provided solace and inspiration, as well as becoming constant companions and bridges into human relationships for these famous writers.

Love & Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow by Forrest Church
Forrest Church, pastor of New York's All Souls Unitarian Church, is perhaps most comfortable speaking in sermons to his congregants and the readers of his many books, which may also be especially comforting now that he has received a veritable death sentence via terminal cancer. He uses several sermons to explore the bond humans have with death in relation to love.

Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox
Readers of Always Looking Up will soon add another to the list of words to describe Michael J. Fox: Optimist. Michael writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that has served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson's disease.

One Jesus, Many Christs: The Truth About Christian Origins by Gregory J. Riley
An insightful portrayal of Jesus as a classical hero-martyr, by New Testament scholar Gregory Riley; a professor at Claremont College in California. He provides a good history of Greek and Jewish legends, along with the details of how they could have affected early Christian writers.

The Genesis of Justice : 10 Stories of Biblical Injustice That Led to the 10 Commandments and Modern Morality and Law by Alan M. Dershowitz
A Harvard Law School faculty member since 1964 and noted for representing controversial and unpopular clients, Dershowitz does a marvelous job of taking a religious text and examining it as a source of legal precedent both in sacred and secular terms.


A few selections from our "Conversations" blog:


Buffalo Gal by Laura Pederson
The youngest person to have a seat on the American Stock Exchange and a millionaire by age 21. Pederson combines laugh-out-loud humor with a slice of social history and paints a vivid portrait of an era.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
Goldberg brings a touch of both Zen and well... *eroticism* to her writing practice, the latter in exercises and anecdotes designed to ease you into your body, your whole spirit, while you create, the former in being where you are, working with what you have, and writing from the moment.


A few selections from our Common Threads Fiber Arts Covenant Group:


Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks
Excellent resource, chock full of solid advice, some fairly sound philosophy on the craft and some basic patterns for hats, scarves, stoles and socks. My stays in my knitting bag, not on my bookshelf :)

The First Man in Rome
First Man In Rome is the first in this marvelous, well-researched series of historical fiction.

The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges
Excellent book for making sweaters in many styles - plug in your measurements and go!

Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures
Great, easy patterns for home & people


A few selections from our Green Sanctuary Project:


Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore
Our Choice gathers in one place all of the most effective solutions that are available now and that, together, will solve this crisis. It is meant to depoliticize the issue as much as possible and inspire readers to take action - not only on an individual basis but as participants in the political processes by which every country, and the world as a whole, makes the choice that now confronts us.

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Andrew S. Winston, Daniel C. Esty

Smart Green: How to Implement Sustainable Business Practices in Any Industry - and Make Money by Jonathan Estes

The Green Marketing Manifesto by John Grant

Greentailing and Other Revolutions in Retail: Hot Ideas That Are Grabbing Customers' Attention and Raising Profits by Neil Z. Stern

Clean Car Wars: How Honda and Toyota are Winning the Battle of the Eco-Friendly Autos by Yozo Hasegawa

Green Business Practices For Dummies by Lisa Swallow


Selections from the First Tuesday Social Action Film Festival


Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods by Jeffrey M. Smith

Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating by Jeffrey M. Smith