Andrew Moody is a lay theologian and adjunct lecturer at several colleges in Melbourne. His area of particular interest is the relationships between the persons of the Trinity and what this has to do with salvation history. He is author of In Light of the Son (Matthias Media), The Will of Him Who Sent Me (Paternoster) and Tales of the Pirate Gospel (BrightMettle). Andrew and his wife Jenny have two children. Andrew serves as Editorial Director of the TGCA Editorial Panel and manages the Bible and Theology Channel.
TGCA – What books are currently on your bedside table?
Well, lots. But those I’m actively reading at the moment are: A biography of Daniel Wilson (19th century evangelical bishop of Calcutta); Surprised by Joy (I’ll finish it this time!); The Last Policeman, Ben Winters (police procedural at the end of the world).
TGCA – What was the last book you left unfinished?
I leave a lot of books unfinished, and sometimes I just go into skim-mode to get them out of the way. I did the latter on The Great Christ Comet by Colin R. Nicholl. I was expecting to really enjoy it given all the rave reviews, but it was one of those (many, many) books that just didn’t need to be that long. Three decent chapters with appendices for the die-hards would have been sufficient. But Nicholl’s theory that Revelation 12 describes a celestial event in astrological terms is pretty interesting.
TGCA – Are there any books you feel guilty for not reading?
There are so many. Let’s go with Paradise Lost, Crime & Punishment, City of God.
TGCA – Do you read commentaries straight-through or dip-in?
Almost always dip-in. But I love it when commentators write a short, accessible commentary to go with their biggie.
TGCA – What’s a book that someone needs to write?
I’m (partly) a visual processor so I like the visual theology trend. But I think we can still do a bit better with these.
TGCA – What books did you/do you read to your children?
Well the standards. As it gets harder to find time we are re-reading the classics – LOTR this year, Narnia last year (which I prefer).
But some other highlights over the years have been:
Joseph Jacob’s English Fairy Tales – so much bloodier and stranger than our modern versions.
The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge—one of the first we read as a family, so it stands out in memory.
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell
Swallows & Amazons, Arthur Ransome. For me, these books typify the ability of children’s literature to layer memory and yearning. There’s already a lost-world feeling about the series: their idyllic vision of childhood, freedom and nature; the sense (for the modern reader) that these events are happening just on the far side of the Second World War. But there are also remembrances of the books from my own childhood and the fact that I read the books to my daughter over a few years before her brother was old enough to understand them.
TGCA – What was the last book you gave as a present?
I just gave Don Richardson’s Eternity in Their Hearts to my son for his 13th birthday.
TGCA – What book made a big impact on you during adolescence?
This is probably a cheat, but when I was 12 I went with my family to see a display at the National Gallery from the Russian Hermitage. I used to spend a lot of time looking at the pictures in the book of the exhibition—especially a forest scene by Shishkin. More conventionally, Knowing God had a deep impact in my mid-to-late teens.
TGCA – Best biography/autobiography you’ve read?
Sticking with the Russian theme, the best autobiography is Maxim Gorky’s trilogy. His sketches of pre-Revolution life convey such warmth without disguising the ugly side of the human psyche.
TGCA – What 10 books would you take to a desert island?
The Bruised Reed, Richard Sibbes;
Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, Richard Baxter
Good Poems for Hard Times (Anthology), Garrison Keillor
The Narnia cycle
Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow
Divine Comedy, Dante
Reformed Dogmatics, Herman Bavinck*
Paradise Lost, Milton*
War and Peace, Tolstoy* (Inspired by the excellent 2015 BBC adaptation)
* Taking these to read/finish reading (there’s food and water on the island, right? Otherwise, just short books)
TGCA – What was the last book that made you angry?
Hmmm, maybe Love Wins, Rob Bell
TGCA – Is there a book that you wish you’d written?
Love Wins – but I would have written it a bit differently.
Alternatively, Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. Just so much fun (a few gratuitous dodgy bits, though)
TGCA – Most overrated book?
(Random selection) Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
TGCA – What’s your favourite time and place to read?
Holidays—after a longish walk while drinking a really good cup of tea.
TGCA – What is a book in the area of Theology that you’d encourage everyone to read?
On the Incarnation, Athanasius
