> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://mereorthodoxy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 2022 Reading Goals - Commonplaces - URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/jake-2022-reading-goals/ - Published: 2022-01-04T06:00:27.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-20T19:14:28.000Z - Description: I’m following Leah Sargeant’s lead this year and am trying to give myself a list of “goal books” to read for 2022. Thanks to some news I’m going to share in a separate post on the main site, I’m hoping […] - Author: Mere Orthodoxy - Tags: Jake Meador, Book Reviews I’m following [Leah Sargeant’s lead](https://otherfeminisms.substack.com/p/best-books-next-books) this year and am trying to give myself a list of “goal books” to read for 2022\. Thanks to some news I’m going to share in a separate post on the main site, I’m hoping to be able to do more reading this year. The last several years—ever since we had our third child and even more since the arrival of number four—have seen a pretty significant dip in my reading. In college and early on in our marriage, I was typically reading 50-75 books a year. The last few years that number has been closer to 25\. Part of that dip is due to a lack of time and part of it also is due to me choosing more difficult books to read—my history reading has dropped off a good bit in recent years, as has my fiction and popular trade reading. These days I’d say *most* of my reading is theology and academic press books. I’m not sure that’s how I always want my reading to look, but for now I think it’s the right mix given the work I do here and my current interests. That said, I’m hoping to have more reading time this year and to keep the same subject matter as recent years but to actually finish more books. We’ll see. I may have to come back to this list in July and pretty dramatically revise. For now though, here’s my breakdown for the year. Also: Remember that *Mere Orthodoxy* [has a shop on Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/shop/mereorthodoxy?ref=mereorthodoxy.com). If you buy from within our shop, we’ll get a small commission from Bookshop which we can then use to purchase books for book reviewers. ## Classical Theology Treatises (2) [*City of God*](https://bookshop.org/books/city-of-god-9780140448948/9780140448948?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Augustine—I’ve read most of this, but have never made it cover-to-cover. I’m hoping to change that this year. [Bullinger’s *Decades*](https://bookshop.org/books/the-decades-of-henry-bullinger-2-volumes/9781601788276?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)—This was an ETS purchase that I hope to make my way through over the next year. Tentatively I’m thinking Bullinger will be for Q1 and Q2 of 2022 and Augustine will be Q3 and Q4. ## Shorter Classical Theology This is mostly going to be for the popular patristics volumes that are accumulating in my library thanks to the good folks at St Vladimir Seminary Press, who I hope we can get to sponsor some kind of podcast project in the future. I also hope to read several treatises on virginity from the church fathers for potential use in a future writing project. Specific goals: [*On Social Justice*](https://svspress.com/on-social-justice-st-basil-the-great/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Basel the Great [*On Wealth and Poverty*](https://svspress.com/on-wealth-and-poverty-second-edition-pps9/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by John Chrysostom [*On Christian Ethics*](https://svspress.com/on-christian-ethics-st-basil-the-great/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Basel the Great [*Of Holy Virginity*](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1310.htm?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by St Augustine [*On Virginity*](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2907.htm?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)by St. Gregory of Nyssa [*Concerning Virginity*](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3407.htm?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by St. Ambrose ## Modern Theology Treatises (2) The plan here is to tackle Sonderegger in the first six months and Bavinck in the last six. Sonderegger’s Systematic Theology—[Volumes 1](https://bookshop.org/books/systematic-theology-volume-1-the-doctrine-of-god-9781451482843/9781451482843?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) and [2](https://bookshop.org/books/systematic-theology-volume-2-the-doctrine-of-the-holy-trinity-processions-and-persons/9781451482850?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) [Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics](https://bookshop.org/books/reformed-dogmatics-9780801035760/9780801035760?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)—Volumes 2, 3, and 4 ## Shorter Modern Theology Barth’s [*Dogmatics in Outline*](https://bookshop.org/books/dogmatics-in-outline/9780061300561?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Tanner’s [*Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism*](https://bookshop.org/books/christianity-and-the-new-spirit-of-capitalism/9780300219036?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Brunner’s [*Revelation and Reason*](https://bookshop.org/books/revelation-and-reason-the-christian-doctrine-of-faith-and-knowledge/9780334047445?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Warfield’s [*Faith and Life*](https://bookshop.org/books/faith-life/9780851515854?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Jennings’s [Commentary on Acts](https://bookshop.org/books/acts-tcb/9780664234003?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Cone’s [*Malcolm and Martin in America*](https://bookshop.org/books/martin-malcolm-america-a-dream-or-a-nightmare/9781570759796?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Katongole’s [*Born from Lament*](https://bookshop.org/books/born-from-lament-the-theology-and-politics-of-hope-in-africa/9780802874344?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) Bediako’s [*Theology and Identity*](https://bookshop.org/books/theology-and-identity-the-impact-of-culture-upon-christian-thought-in-the-second-century-and-in-modern-africa/9781610974400?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) ## Other [*Holier Than Thou*](https://bookshop.org/books/holier-than-thou-how-god-s-holiness-helps-us-trust-him/9781535975711?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Jackie Hill-Perry [*Tools for Conviviality*](https://bookshop.org/books/tools-for-conviviality/9781842300114?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Ivan Illich [*The Uncontrollability of the World*](https://bookshop.org/books/the-uncontrollability-of-the-world/9781509543168?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Hartmut Rosa [*Feminist Theory*](https://bookshop.org/books/feminist-theory-from-margin-to-center-9781138821651/9781138821668?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by bell hooks [*Belonging: A Culture of Place*](https://bookshop.org/books/belonging-a-culture-of-place/9780415968164?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by bell hooks [*Public Religions in the Modern World*](https://bookshop.org/books/public-religions-in-the-modern-world/9780226095356?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Jose Casanova [*Debt: The First 5,000 Years*](https://bookshop.org/books/debt-the-first-5-000-years-updated-and-expanded/9781612194196?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by David Graeber [*Love’s Labor*](https://bookshop.org/books/love-s-labor-essays-on-women-equality-and-dependency-9781138089914/9781138089921?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)by Eva Feder Kittay [*How to Think Seriously About the Planet*](https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-think-seriously-about-the-planet-the-case-for-an-environmental-conservatism/9780199371242?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Roger Scruton [*The Soul of the World*](https://bookshop.org/books/the-soul-of-the-world-9780691169286/9780691169286?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Roger Scruton [*On Revolution*](https://bookshop.org/books/on-revolution/9780143039907?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)by Hannah Arendt ## Hobby Reading [*Smuggler’s Cove*](https://bookshop.org/books/smuggler-s-cove-exotic-cocktails-rum-and-the-cult-of-tiki/9781607747321?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) by Martin and Rebecca Cate [*Death and Co: Welcome Home*](https://bookshop.org/books/death-co-welcome-home-a-cocktail-recipe-book/9781984858412?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)by Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Caplan [*Black Smoke*](https://bookshop.org/books/black-smoke-african-americans-and-the-united-states-of-barbecue/9781469662800?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)by Adrian Miller [*Imbibe*](https://bookshop.org/books/imbibe-updated-and-revised-edition-from-absinthe-cocktail-to-whiskey-smash-a-salute-in-stories-and-drinks-to-professor-jerry-thomas-pioneer-of-the/9780399172618?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)by David Wondrich