Hearts & Minds Books

OUR STORY/YOUR STORY
I don't want to brag, I really don't, but you are friends.  I suspect you read BookNotes and support Hearts & Minds - keep those orders coming! - because there is something just a little unusual about our mix of titles, our personal connection when you order, and our efforts to maintain historic Christian orthodoxy while encouraging a wide and diverse reading regimen. I think you hang in there with us because you value this approach.

You know that the latest marketing guys all say that businesses should "tell their story" -- that customers want to understand what we do and why we do it. That's nothing new to me: I've always been an evangelist for our work, because I really believe in the role of reading and the power of books.  We foul up enough that I know well to be humble, but I'm happy to emote about our work, our staff, our services, our customers who care. When I was only half-jokingly over-doing a sales pitch during the Michael Card event the other night, he asked the crowd "Is he always like this?"

Yep, pretty much. 

So, welcome, once again, to our story. To your story, too.

Just in this last week we have again been complimented in ways that are deeply encouraging and, frankly, still sometimes leave us surprised.  Customers take note that we have books on the arts.  Somebody is surprised that we carry a range of opinion on matters of faith, science, and the debates about origins.  One person was flummoxed that we carry more than religious novels, even literary fiction, some R-rated.  A person was helped by a thoughtful list of books about grief, titles that were not clichéd or simplistic.  At a good conference a few weeks ago on faith and the work-world at a hip mega-church more than one person looking at our display said they never saw books like this before. Faith-based books on teaching, technology, business, sports, or media are hard to find, apparently. 

Again and again, we hear that readers are eager to support booksellers that are independent in spirit (and in fact; it is hard to be down-home when one is owned by a faceless corporation from who knows where.)
 
And we hear that folks are glad that we carry books across the whole spectrum of life, showcasing that body of literature that integrates a faithful Christian perspective with this field, that career, this academic discipline or that vocational arena.  As Francis Schaeffer used to say, true spirituality shows forth the "Lordship of Christ across the whole of culture."  We are "evangelicals for social action" and committed to "marketplace ministry" and want to help equip "culture makers."  We may hope for more, but certainly not less than Hunter's "faithful presence."  We are proud that we were recently quoted in Greg Jao's little book Your Mind's Mission (IVP), which reminds us that it is in service to the world that we must read, study, and think through "a transforming vision."  We are, as Niebuhr put it, firmly in the "Christ transforming culture" camp.
 
Niebuhr's categories notwithstanding, one needn't be Reformed to desire to see the world changed by honoring Biblical principles in every zone of society. Catholics and Anabaptists, Congregationalists and Pentecostals, each in their own ways, have highlighted the call to fidelity "in the world but not of it."  Just read Aquinas or the Book of Common Prayer or Paul Alexander's two illuminating studies showing that early 20th Pentecostals were pacifists who resisted war as worldly unholiness! Consider the thoughtful scholarship behind the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Or the recent spate of books on Christian higher education coming from publishers like Abilene Christian University Press. Those that know us know that we have more than a superficial indebtedness to many streams within the broad flow of Christian history and tradition!  It is no accident that we so appreciate Richard Foster's Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith (HarperOne) and the fun and maybe not-so-tongue-in-cheek mile-long subtitle of Brian McLaren's all embracing Generous Orthodoxy (Zondervan) where he somewhat affirms nearly every doctrinal view under the sun.

AND I'M NOT EVEN DUTCH
Still, for us, we've learned about the importance of Christian books that offer Christian thinking for an inner reformation of each sphere of life from the Dutch neo-Calvinists who stand in the line of Abraham Kuyper.  Phrases like "uniquely Christian perspectives" or "distinctively Biblical thinking" or The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness -- a great book title by friends Don Optiz and Derek Melleby which informs some of our beloved Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh each year -- come to us, mostly, from the culturally-engaged, radically Christian reformational movement from early 20th century Holland.  I wish I had a shirt that said Kuyper is my home-boy.

Even mainstream, socially conscious evangelicals -- think Carl Henry,  Francis and Edith Schaeffer or Charles Colson -- who in the middle to late 20th century pulled that tradition away from Bible thumpin' fundamentalism, have been influenced by Kuyper.

WHERE DO YOU GUYS COME UP WITH THIS STUFF?
I have written about the Rev. Dr. College President and Prime Minister Kuyper from time to time (and have cited his call to press Christ's gracious Kingship in "every square inch" of creation maybe too often.)  Richard Mouw's short and accessible book, Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction (Eerdmans; $16.00) explaining why and how discovering Kuyper helped him is one of my favorite books to suggest when somebody asks "where did you guys come up with this stuff?" (You can read my review here.) 

Yes, the Kuyperian worldview, embodied by what is sometimes called the "reformational movement" of Christian scholarship, provided one of the chief impetuses for starting Hearts & Minds 30 years ago.

 It is awkward to say it so bluntly, but we have learned that it is novel for a Christian bookstore - I heard it again just today from a traveling sales rep from out of state! - to carry such a wide array of titles in such a wide array of categories, from environmental studies to film studies, from gender justice to racial justice, from science to sociology to philosophy, right next to Biblical studies and theology and global missions.  With all the "focus on the family" emphasis in many Christian bookstores, I don't know if they have much on, say, breast feeding or home births, but we've got that, too.  In an embarrassingly positive story recently in an industry trade journal, Beth and I were called "paradigm shifters" for our approach to Christian bookselling. Whew.
 
Anyway, part of our story is that we got this vision from people who were, mostly, in one way or another, influenced by Abraham Kuyper.

FOUR NEW BOOKS
And so, we are very glad that there are four new books on Kuyper.  If you are attracted to our mission, you might be too.

First I'll tell you about a new little booklet which reproduces a famous sermon expressing Kuyper's view of the nature of the church.  Then there is the third in a series produced by the Kuyper Center at Princeton Seminary (this one on creativity and the arts.) Thirdly, I'll highlight a magisterial new biography by James Bratt, a telling of the story for which we have been waiting for years -- this is now surely the definitive bio of Father Abraham!  Lastly, there is a stunningly serious collection of essays and excerpts co-edited by uber-Kuyper geek Steven Bishop from England and Dordt College Press publishing guru, John Kok.

My remarks about these last two were previously published in a slightly shortened version in my monthly "Politics and Prose" column in the neo-Calvinist political newsletter, Capitol Commentary published by the Center for Public Justice.  Their work for a non-partisan Christian political option has connections, in spirit at least, to the Dutch political party started by Kuyper in the early 1900s, reformed in 1977 as the Christian Democratic Appeal.  It seemed proper to announce the publication of those two big Kuyper volumes there, but I've been itching to share them with our wider audience here at BookNotes.  I do hope you read my comments about them, and that they inspire you to learn more about this towering figure of public theology.
 
A FREE BOOK
To show an example of how Kuyperian thought shaped a major study of society applied to a proposal for a just education policy, we are offering a FREE copy of an old Eerdmans book co-published by the Center for Public Justice entitled Society State and Schools: A Case for Structural and Confessional Pluralism (edited by Gordon Spykman et al.) With any order of any of these Kuyper books you can have this thoughtful classic for free.  We have the four Kuyper books at our BookNotes special discount (20% off) and will send this free book along as long as supplies last.  It is a dazzling example of a careful study of society and, to be honest, has not been bettered in the decades since its initial publication.  Anyway, it's a good deal, and we're happy to share it, if you buy any Kuyper book from this little list.



KUYPER ON THE CHURCH
Rooted & Grounded: The Church as Organism and Institution  Abraham Kuyper (Christian's Library Press) $4.95   This inexpensive 45-page booklet is translated from the Dutch by Nelson D. Kloosterman and is co-published by the Acton Institute and Kuyper College in Grand Rapids.  It was an inaugural sermon by Kuyper for a new denomination, so is, frankly, exceptionally timely today.  In it, he explains the important distinction between being first rooted, then grounded, in the gospel, which is a way to help explain the broad vision of the church as God's people in the world, and the more formal manifestation known as the institutional church.  It was tricky to translate, we are told, because of the passion and eloquence with which it was written and delivered.  This small book anticipates a large, multi-volume set that will someday appear offering other writings on the church by the prolific thinker and church leader.
 
In an illuminating introduction, Kuyper scholar John Halsey Wood tells us that even as the ground shifted underneath the feet of those in Europe in those extraordinary times, Kuyper repeatedly examined the task and measured the fidelity of the church.  "It should not surprise us, then," Wood writes, " to find that Kuyper often thought in terms similar to Max Weber's and Ernst Troeltsch..."  From a different perspective, perhaps, it might bring to mind the important work of Free Methodist Howard Snyder, who talks about the church gathered as community and sent into society to point to the Kingdom, thereby being "a community of the King."
 
Of course God's people are scattered throughout society, and  -- the back cover literally quotes Steve Garber's phrase "vocation is intregal, not incidental to the missio dei" -- Kuyper helps us all get that organic sense of God's transforming movement creeping like leaven throughout society.  But he also attends seriously to the institutional church and her struggles and the principles which guide her development.

This is therefore an important  and vital little book, not only as a historical documentation.  Church leaders in our day are very aware of the "spiritual but not religious" ethos and the popping up of missional faith communities that sometimes define themselves boldly as unaffiliated with the broader church (let alone denominations or clear theological traditions.)  Could this old sermon by this old Dutchman shed light on the up-to-the-minutes debates about the postmodern emergents and what some are calling the hyphenateds? Can this study of the church help the "faith at work" movement or the social justice efforts of activist disciples of Jesus?  Can fresh expressions of faith outside the walls of typical churches bear lasting Kingdom fruit?  I think this message and the many footnotes and editorial additions added can provide much insight into Kuyper's views and will be good fodder for important conversation, including for those breaking off of historic denominations, forming new networks and models of affiliation.  Whether you tend towards the organic or institutional, edgy new missional ministries or historic  and ordinary congregations, this "both/and" message will keep you rooted and grounded.

The Kuyper Center Review Volume Three: Calvinism and Culture  edited by Gordon Graham (Eerdmans) $26.00 Graham is the Henry Luce Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton and was the editor of the first in these dense, serious compilations of serious Kuyper-related scholarship -Volume One was on politics and sphere sovereignty, very important for understanding Kuyper's social philosophy and his call to reform the very architecture of society.) Volume Two, by the way, was edited by John Bowlin and was on Kuyper's view of Revelation and Common Grace.

These new essays in Volume Three: Calvinism and Culture are remarkable, scholarly, fascinating, a delight to read for those who love learning and considering new ideas.  There are a few general chapters here which examine Kuyperian and neo-Calvinist takes on culture (which will be surprising to some) and I highly recommend this volume for them.

After a fantastic and inspiring opening essay, however, comes one that is spectacularly interesting and even controversial - Neal DeRoo does a close (although, as it ends up, perhaps not close enough) reading of Al Wolters' significant overview of a reformational worldview (the popular and enduring Creation Regained) suggesting that Wolters' view of culture (and his account of the nature of the spheres of culture, whose structures are said to be part of creation and whose ordering laws call forth certain responses) is not sustainable, or even meaningful, laden with inherent problems. Indeed, the chapter is entitled "Creation Regained? On the Impossibility and Meaninglessness of Culture in (Some) Calvinist Thought." Ouch!  This detailed, well-footnoted, critical essay moves deftly around the Kuyperian philosophers Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven (whose presence looms large behind the scenes in Creation Regained), bringing immense philosophical learning to bear as he uses their insights to critique Dr. Wolters and his essential text.  Wolters was one of the founders of the Institute for Christian Studies (where DeRoo studied) so there is an admittedly in-house quarrel going on here.  Editor Graham was wise in allowing professor Wolters to respond to DeRoo's critique and his reply is typically gracious and, I think, mostly compelling.  He makes the case that DeRoo misreads him and suffers not only from a misunderstanding of Dooyeweerdian philosophy but from a deficiency in writing clearly, at least in parts of his chapter. (I thought it was just me and my own lack of familiarity with the philosophical lingo and details, even as I studied each paragraph and footnote with eagerness.  Does this somehow relate to the nuanced debate between brother-in-laws Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven? Or a generational difference between older-school Wolters and postmodern DeRoos? Eccelsia semper reformanda est?)

I believe that for many, this pair of essays will be worth the price of the book and may illustrates an internal struggle within this school of thought, and the institutions (such as ICS) that stand in their line.  If you are even vaguely interested in this movement - from the old Vanguard magazine of the 70s to Comment published nowadays by Kuyperian think-tank Cardus under the helm of James K.A. Smith - I think this discussion is very, very important.  But it is just the beginning of this fascinating crash course on Calvinian views of the arts and culture.

The other chapters that make up the bulk of The Kuyper Center Review Volume Three are diverse and quite interesting.  There is a chapter on Calvinism, architecture and urban space.  There is a piece on music (relating Dooyeweerdian teaching and the musical avant garde) that is stunning.  There is a excellent piece about tragedy in literature. One fine (if demanding) essay compares Kuyper and Colin Gunton; another compares Kuyper and the influential Swiss teacher of the likes of Bonhoeffer, Barth, Bultmann, Tillich, namely, Adolf Schlatter.  
There is a great chapter on Kuyper on public entertainment, another on a neo-Calvinist view of "the Eucharistic poetics of Emily Dickinson" and one by John Barber on Calvin's views of music.  I was amazed by a brilliant piece by James Bratt on Kuyper as "the jilted Stepfather of Piet Mondrian" that anybody who cares about Reformed theology and modern art should read. Wow -- who knew of this famous modern artists relationship to the Kuyperian revival?

Reading anthologies like this in the 70s is what first alerted me to the robust tradition of evangelical and Reformed scholarship, learning that there was this movement of thinkers who did overtly Christian scholarship that related faith and their particular field.  Again, many non-Calvinists do this quite well.  There is little doubt, though, that the Reformed tradition, drawing on Kuyper's broad view of creation, common grace, and the Biblical mandate for the reformation of thought, has paved a way for the renewal of evangelical cultural consideration in our lifetime. (Mark Noll's essential The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Eerdmans) documents this, as does George Marsden's little Oxford University Press book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship.) This new book is a great example of the fruitfulness of this particular tradition and reminds us how much there is to learn, and how theology can inform so much more than church squabbles and doctrinal debates per se.  Drawing on the stalwarts of this tradition - Bavink, Ridderbos, Schilder, Runner, show up in footnotes -- this is an example of theology for life, intellectual faithfulness for public service! Kudos to Princeton for hosting the conferences from which this book emerged.  And Kudos to Eerdmans for making them widely available.  I hope you don't think it too arcane or odd.  I am confident it will inspire many to do greater works, works of cultural renewal and artistic hope for the common good. May this aspect, at least, of the spirit of Kuyper, inspire an ongoing conversation on the nature of cultural renewal in our time.  

Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat James Bratt (Eerdmans) $30.00 This hefty biography is nothing short of magisterial.  There have been other biographies of Kuyper but none have approached the comprehensive, thorough scope of this extraordinary work.  Bratt is a renowned historian (who teaches at Calvin College) and, as the forward by eminent evangelical scholar Mark Noll puts it, has given us a landmark book which answers the question "who was Abraham Kuyper and why should we care."  You needn't take  my word that Abraham Kuyper: MCCD accomplishes this marvelously; some of the most renowned writers within this tradition (Mouw, Wolterstorf, Marsden) insist it is "indispensable," "marvelous," "a page-turner," which "many of us have been waiting for," and which will "serve English speakers for years to come." Anthony Bradley is surely correct when he says it will "undoubtedly become a classic." And he is right that it is "indispensable reading for anyone interested in postindustrial Christian social thought."

Kuyper was a fascinating, tireless, preacher, writer, organizer -- a "volcanic" force which started a newspaper, a university, a labor union, a political party, and more.  His insistence on alternative political organizations within a robust societal pluralism and his insightful balance of seeing what is often called "common grace" and "the antithesis" remains very fruitful for our own time.  The genesis and development of his many ideas and efforts (some drawn from his political associate, Groen van Prinsterer) are chronicled here, making this not only a superb exploration of his unique reformational worldview and its implications for politics, but it is, recall, a biography.  This is a thrilling life story, set in the context of a swirling, changing era, of a complex, controversial, colorful character.  It is, as Bratt says in his brilliant introduction, "warts and all."  Those of us who are seriously committed to working out some of the implications of his genius in our own day should know "Father Abraham" and his warts and blemishes and sins -- and they were many! But, also, his fascinating, generative ideas and the strategies he used to see some of them come to fruition. Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat is simply, a must-read, a tremendously researched historical biography of a towering figure. As I have said, Kuyper was influential in Holland, helped shape seminal figures like Francis Schaeffer, and left a mark on US evangelicalism that ripples out (even here in Dallastown) to this day.  This is the book we've been waiting for!

On Kuyper: A Collection of Readings on the Life, Work & Legacy of Abraham edited by Steve Bishop & John Kok (Dordt  Press) $36.00  On Kuyper will most likely not sell as well as the epic new biography by Bratt, but for serious followers of the worldivewish tradition Cal Seerveld once called not merely Reformed but "reformational" and those seriously hoping to discern the implications of Kuyperianism for contemporary thought and social action, this collection is, again, indispensable, extraordinary, and within our circles, destined to become a classic.  It may not be a page turner, but it is is, in some ways, perhaps more important than the biography.  This is, without a doubt, the best anthology of essays about Kuyper yet done. It is compiled by gentlemen who are deeply rooted in the neo-Kuyperian movement made famous by Dooyeweerd, Vollenholven,and a generation of scholars at Toronto's ICS.  Here, we have some of the most astute Christian intellectuals of the last half a century ruminating on, and in some cases incisively dissecting, important details of Kuyper's perspective and programs.

John Kok is an esteemed Dutch philosopher and President of Dordt Press.  Steve Bishop is a feisty cultural critic and teacher (and the zealous internet guru who maintains the neo-Calvinist website allofliferedeemed.co.uk. Together they have brought together in one major volume (nearly 500 pages) authors who are, arguably, the world's finest Kuyperian scholars - from philosophers like Vollenhoven, Zuidema, Klapwijk and Daniel Strauss, to theologians, churchman, political theorists and historians.  There are excerpts here from popular biographies and there are previously-published scholarly articles and popular speeches. (And, very importantly, there are several pieces never published in English before!)

There are a few nice introductory essays about Kuyper's life, including one by Catherine Kuyper, his daughter.

Many of the pieces explore certain aspects of the Kuyper project such as Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen's detailed study of Kuyper's writings on the role of women or Del Ratzch's study of Kuyper's view of evolution or Peter Heslam's chapter on Kuyper's view of the arts or George Harinck on the legacy of Kuyper in South Africa.  Of course there are several exploring the unique notion of sphere sovereignty.  Naturally, there are numerous pieces on the tradition of Christian Democracy, on Kuyper's anti-revolutionary politics and Christian approaches to wise statecraft.  Jim Skillen has an important contribution on how Kuyper's views could shape a faith-based understanding of welfare reform, absolutely as relevant now as it was when published a decade ago!
 
There are more than 30 chapters, some truly lovely, others dense and scholarly. There is an excellent and useful introduction to Kuyper written by Bishop that is really helpful.  The editors have given us an immense gift in finding, compiling and sharing these remarkable writings and we trust it becomes a staple in reformational studies for years to come.

This is a book we are honored to carry, glad to promote, and, arcane and clunky as it may sound, is a good example of the sorts of stuff that shapes who we are, has influenced us in the past, and is part of our story, the story of why we do what we do here at 234 East Main Street, Dallastown, PA. Thanks for caring enough to read these reviews and take up in your own way, Kuyper's call to think hard and live joyfully, in but not of, the good but fallen culture which is so loved by our gracious King.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com  

AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL CARD
I want to tell you that we have the brand new Matthew: The Gospel of Identity commentary by classy/casual acoustic musician (and smarty-pants author) Mr. Michael Card, published in very handsome paperbacks by the excellent InterVarsity Press (regularly priced at $18.00.)  We have it (and other books by Mr. Card) on sale and if you write to us before Thursday, we can get you an autographed one, at our sale price, too. Yep, we'll do our best to score you an autographed copy on Thursday.

Why Thursday, you ask?  We are sponsoring a talk by Michael here, where he will tell us about the Biblical Imagination Series he's been doing, lecture or read a bit from the new Matthew volume, and play some music inspired by the gospel texts.  Thanks to near-by friends at Living Word Community Church in Red Lion who are partnering with us to host Michael for this author appearance, book signing, and mini-concert.  As we are in our 30th year of doing this bookselling thing, we are honored to have such a high caliber musician turned author gracing us, and glad for the on-going support of LWCC.  Learn more about the "Evening with Michael Card" here.

However, even if you are not in the area, you should know about Card's latest project, this "Biblical Imagination" series of books and recordings.  I hope you enjoy my ruminations on his significance and the features of his latest work. 

CCM AND THE BIBLICAL CLARITY OF MICHAEL CARD
Depending on your age and faith culture, you may know that Michael Card penned classic pop songs like "Love Crucified Arose", "Known By the Scars", the lovely "El Shaddai" made famous by Amy Grant and the still popular "Joseph's Song" which you probably heard on the radio this past December. 

Back in the 80s and 90s, what I sometimes call the "early-middle period" of contemporary Christian music, there were some really dumb acts, artists with shallow theology and cheesy production.  The mimicking of any hot trend was incessant and the reputation of the industry was somewhat of an embarrassment.  Some CCM stuff was terrible. Yet, there were artists we enjoyed and some whose records remain among my all time favorites.  From the Lost Dogs to Rich Mullins, the 77s and The Choir (and, of course, the late great Mark Heard) there were edgy, vital artists who did an enduring body of artful  work  Some CCM stuff was brilliant.

And then there was Michael Card.  Card wasn't a cheap entertainer or a glitzy musical evangelist, but he never tried to be an avant garde, new wave (or any wave) heady, cryptic artiste, either.  He was faithful at doing what he did well: theologically-literate, story-songs about Biblical texts.  He worked overtime getting an MDiv in Biblical studies, being mentored in the details of exegesis by the remarkable New Testament scholar William Lane. And he used his notable song-writing abilities to take Bible stories and turn them into soft-rock, often acoustic tunes which sometimes had a nearly hymn-like feel.  With soft instrumentation, using everything from harps to banjos, solo piano or finger-picked acoustic guitar, he has created a body of work including over 30 albums and he has won oodles of awards, from Grammy's to Dove's. He has done a remarkable series of songs based on the Old Testament, another set on the life of Jesus. He's done children's music and he's done a collection of hymns.  I have appreciated his songs, and enjoyed his shows more than once.  And once, I got to experience his graciousness and integrity first hand.

MY HUTZPAH, CHINESE ASYLUM SEEKERS AND HIS GRACIOUSNESS
About twenty years ago, some of you recall, I was deeply involved in an intense local campaign trying to get political asylum for a large group of Chinese folks who had escaped their totalitarian regime, fleeing the forced abortion policies from their one-child-only repressive state, only to be detained by the INS (now ICE) in York, PA.

Michael had been to China, helped distribute Bibles to house churches there -- learning first-hand how some of them were persecuted by the government, some of their leaders having been imprisoned, some of their homes burned down -- and had a song called "So Many Books" which sang about our embarrassment of literary riches in light of this mission to China. (It is actually from an album based on texts from the Old Testament prophets, and this is from Amos 9.) I contacted him right before the show, asked if I could make an announcement about our need for assistance in this local legal project for Chinese dissidents, and suggested he could play that song as a set up for me to do my little spiel. 

This was a large show in a classy auditorium, with a sizable stage and professional lighting and, looking back, I'm nearly embarrassed by my audacious hutzpah, inviting myself into his show.  As I recall, he seemed delighted to allow me to share the stage with him, worked that song into his set, providing the artistic context for me (who he had never met) to talk about justice, asylum, detention reform, the need for prayer and protest of our government's lack of fair trails for these dear folks. I knew it was remarkable that he cared enough to allow this to be part of his stage show, and his own professional courtesy belied a passion for justice and mission that was, especially back then, quite rare.  Except for the occasional Compassion International or pro-life pitch, CCM artists in those days simply didn't get involved in much.  My admiration and respect for Michael, which was already high because of his Biblical and theological integrity, grew even more that night.

I write about it now, knowing we are bringing him in to speak this week, and wonder if he even remembers.  I hope to thank him, once again, and tell him about how we kept at it for years and years, praying in front of the prison every week, forming the largest pro bono legal project in US history, and how some of our detainees got asylum so many years ago, and about some who were deported to further imprisonment, torture and death back in communist China.  As his song puts it, we have so very many books and Bibles here, and such freedom.  Some folks lives aren't as privileged and we need to always keep that in mind. Anyway, it was a memorable thing for me to meet him and have our passions for this justice project affirmed.

I've noted that Mr. Card earned an advanced degree in Biblical studies and is on the deeper end of the CCM gene pool. A fairly recent remastered and re-issued double album of songs based all on the narrative of the Old Testament called An Invitation to Awe (Sparrow; $17.99) shows the artist not on stage or with his guitar, but in front of a library of Biblical reference books.  Let's face it: this is unheard of in the rock music industry and makes him either really geeky or out of the box cool. Did I mention that besides releasing over 30 albums, and doing album covers with books on 'em, that Card has himself written over 20 books?  Even if he were not the beloved performing and recording artist that he is, he would be known as a significant writer, contributing much to the contemporary religious publishing world. 

Not all, but most of his best books are on the well-respected InterVarsity Press.  We thank them for helping us host him here this week as he talks about his brand new commentary on Matthew, in the Biblical Imagination series.  It is called Matthew: The Gospel of Identity, IVP; $18.00 (see our sale price, below.) Doesn't it have a fabulous cover design? The correlating album by the same name will arrive on Thursday (making us the very first place to have it, so our event will be a bit of a coming out party for the CD.)  You can click on the link below and type in whatever you want to order -- for BookNotes readers, we have these Michael Card items all at 20% off.

Allow me to briefly tell you about Michael's latest book project, and then mention a few of his notable previous ones.  We will have them all on sale Thursday night at our event. Let us know if we can get an autographed one for you.  I think we can pull that off...


THE BIBLICAL IMAGINATION SERIES

Matthew: The Gospel of Identity IVP     regularly $18.00
Mark: The Gospel of Passion  IVP         regularly $16.00
Luke: The Gospel of Amazement  IVP   regularly $18.00



In this handsome on-going series (the volume on John won't come out until next year) Card has done the church and reading public a great service by distilling much academic scholarship, good, attentive study, and written informed, but readable commentaries.  They are nearly unique insofar as they attempt to bring curiosity to the reading; his artistic temperament and imaginative sensibility colors how he reads the texts, so these are being touted as examples of the redemptive use of the imagination.

This is an immensely interesting idea, and the preface and introductory material are themselves wonderful meditations on this need and this approach.  In different ways, in each one, he says that "the imagination is the bridge between the heart and the mind" or that we must "engage with Scripture at the level of the informed imagination."

He notes, and is surely right, that there are those who are so rationalistic in their studious approach to the text that they are missing much. The mind alone simply cannot comprehend and know all that is being revealed in sacred Scripture -- and anyone who has studied social history at all knows that this reductionist view of what counts as knowing is based on the pagan assumptions of secular Rationalism from the era pompously known as the Enlightenment.  Of course, the other extreme is equally troublesome; mystical, allegorical, symbolic, emotional, and other creative readings can become unhinged, disconnected from common sense, overly subjective, not grounded in the best insights of the tradition of teaching that has gone before us or the perspectives of others in our faith community.

 In other words, we need some holy combination of right and left brains, of scholarly/rational approaches and of spiritual/meditative approaches.  And Card tells us that our God-given imagination is the tool the Spirit uses to bring back together these two modes of knowing, modes designed to compliment one another but rendered asunder by the Fall and human sin.  Card makes this assertion quite nicely in the prefaces of these commentaries. 

It is fabulous, I think, to have an author so self-aware and candid about his or her assumptions and strategies as they commence reading. (I was going to make a joke about him getting his cards on the table.)  It is also quite nice to have one writing so helpfully about the proper role of the imagination.  No lesser a thinker than modern painter and aesthetic writer Mako Fujimura, agrees, saying "Michael Card invites all of us to a magnificent journey of hesed (grace and mercy).  This humble offering is a sweet aroma and an invaluable contribution to all those who desire to know the Bible and live creatively."  

As it says on the back cover of one of them,

For years Michael Card's music has imaginatively explored the narrative power of the Word of God. Now, in the Biblical Imagination Series, Card invites readers to enter into the Scripture as he does, at the level of imagination... (these volumes) reintegrates our minds with our hearts to recapture our imagination with the beauty and power of Christ.

Here is a bit of a review published by the Englewood Review, of Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, which explains this nicely,

Card proves himself a worthy guide, offering much to be enjoyed by both bookworms and bohemians as he walks us chapter by chapter through Luke. For the former there is the requisite geographical and historical information, the dabbling in the original languages, and the discussions of authorship, setting, etc. For the latter there are plenty of invitations to feel, see, and hear, along with the occasional reference to music, painting, or art history. The author is particularly on point when he gets us exploring by way of his compelling use of language. Noteworthy examples are his discussions of the "unorthodoxy" of Jesus and the "impossible demands" that Christ places upon his disciples. These and other themes run throughout the book, giving us new nails on which to hang our mental pictures of the architecture of Luke's Gospel.

 
Or, hear what my friend David Swartz wrote at Patheos: 

Michael Card wants to help us do something different with the Bible. With this (and three volumes on the remaining Gospels, all from InterVarsity Press), he wants us to uncork this rich book, letting it breathe until we drop our jaws and defenses, and fall in love with the main character--Jesus Christ. Michael finds his interpretive key in imagination. He helps us revive it as something often lost in "growing up." Card wants us to smell the sweat of fishermen and sneeze on Galilean road dust. He wants us to hear the tremble in screaming voices where panic threatens to strangle hope as the blind cry out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

What makes these commentaries especially helpful is that they are very readable.  While it isn't quite as chatty and upbeat as Max Lucado -- who is a fan, by the way -- they are not dry or colorless.  If one likes the entry-level commentary of writers like William Barclay or Warren Weirsbe or even the New Testament for Everyone set by N.T. Wright these would be quite accessible and, I think, enjoyable.

But what makes them even more special is that Michael Card is doing a record to go with
each book.  I am not sure (and hope to ask him at our event) if the music came first and then the commentary, or if the songs emerged from his scholarly study.  In some ways, the music could be commentary on the commentary, which sounds a whole lot like how First-Century rabbis would have taught, using midrash.  Cool, huh?  Anyway, I like these albums and even if you aren't huge fans of CCM, you should know these recordings. I told a group of Presbyterian church educators just last week that I think they are  useful in their own Bible classes and Sunday school teaching.  Having this whole body of text-based Bible songs is a huge asset to teachers and preachers.

For what it is worth, the artistic imagination aspect of all of this is subtle.  These are not commentaries that overtly engage the senses (see Dwelling With Philippians a Conversation with Scripture in Image and Word by Elizabeth Steele Halstead, Paul Detterman and others [Eerdmans; $22.00] if you want that.)  They are not particularly aimed at helping you meditate on the texts using spiritual disciplines such as lectio devina (try the Ancient-Future Bible Study Series published by Brazos or the Meditative Commentary on the New Testament published by Leafwood if you want that kind of a slow, contemplative reading experience.) Card isn't  pushing envelopes or arriving at bold new conclusions, either (see, for instance, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Walsh & Keesmaat [IVP; $23.00] if you want a wonderful example of fresh, relevant, provocative scholarship that does indeed push some envelopes.)

There are absolutely no flights of fancy here and if I have any criticisms of the "Biblical Imagination" project it is that they are not imaginative enough nor particularly courageous in offering a new way to write Bible commentaries. Mike is, I gather, careful, which is both a strength and a bit of a hindrance for this sort of a project. Occasionally the author playfully speculates, and when he does it is with humility and fruitfulness (his take on the role of Peter in Mark's life and in his telling of the gospel is genius, although, admittedly, not fully original.)  There are moments where he offers some very curious insights, and occasionally invites us to stop and ponder. Card is a teacher and writes with a pastors heart; he isn't trying to be innovative, just helpful. He isn't trying to make a name as an innovator, he is trying to open up the Scriptures so we can know God in Christ and live for fully for His sake.  These commentaries are not at all odd, not artsy, not bohemian, not risky.  They are just very nicely written, quite solid, somewhat creative reflections for ordinary readers.  It is, I think, what many people hunger for. 

If you are not one who does much Biblical study, or haven't ever read a commentary straight through, any of these three would be an ideal introduction to this Christian practice.  I hope you try one, and prayerfully read your way through it.  Why not convene a group, inviting them to read the books, listen to the songs, week by week.  It could be a great summer time. 

LAMENT, SEERVELD AND THE SADNESS OF 9-11
I don't know exactly how it went down, but the short version is this: one of my favorite authors and a bit of a long-distance mentor, the exceptionally astute and nothing-short-of-brilliant Biblical scholar and philosopher of aesthetics, Dr. Calvin Seerveld, contacted Card after the horrors and national sorrow of 9-11.  As you know, many contemporary worship services call their musical worship leaders "praise teams."  Nearly one third of the Psalms are laments, and Seerveld wondered why there are no lament teams.  He asked Card what he thought, challenging him to write some appropriate worship music of this sort. Seerveld insists that we simply must know how to receive and use these Biblical themes liturgically, and we need to -- as Seerveld's powerful chapter on learning to lament together in congregational worship in Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship edited by Ray Van Neste (B&H Academic; $19.99) puts it-- "Learning to Cry in Church." Interestingly, Michael was reading Walt Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination (Fortress; $19.99) in that season, which talks much of these themes and the call from Seerveld convicted him.
                                                                                                                                                         Grief Tile Painting, Arthur Rothenberg                                      

Two books and a CD came from that challenge, and they are each very important.

Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God in the Lost Language of Lament (Navpress; $14.99) and The Hidden Face of God: Finding the Missing Door to the Father Through Lament (NavPress; $14.99.) We commend them both to you, and we will of course have them for sale Thursday night as well.
















Michael also released an album to compliment The Hidden Face of God, a CD with the same title The Hidden Face of God (Discovery House; $12.95.) It is, interestingly, a lovely album, not "hard to listen to" or particularly sad. It includes tender lyrics and while the songs are about hard times, seeking God even in God's seeming absence, it is surprisingly graceful and beautiful.  I sometimes wondered if it ought to have been more gritty and angry.  It includes a nice version of "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" which is lovely, with a bit of Celtic whistle. Anyway, it's a good one, quintessentially Card.

***
Michael Card has done more than two dozen other books.  For instance, he has a lovely set of reflections on the gospel of John called Parable of Joy (Discovery House; $14.99) based on his own translation of the text.   He has a truly outstanding collection of pieces about the cross A Violent Grace: Meeting Christ at the Cross (IVP; $15.00) which moved me deeply as I read some of them during Lent.  It was out in a hardback before, but I really like the hand-sized paperback IVP released. There is a very popular book of his called A Fragile Stone: The Emotional Life of Simon Peter (IVP; $16.00) with which many people resonate -- most of us should, come to think of it -- and even a study guide for it.  Each of these have supplemental albums of songs to go with them, and we stock them all.  He really is a prolific author and artist, and we hope you have used some of his good resources.

AND THEN THERE ARE THESE TWO AMAZING TREASURES

A Better Freedom: Finding Life as Slaves of Christ  (IVP; $15.00) This is one that has to be mentioned as it is truly extraordinary.  (It isn't every day I get to tell about a book where there is very little other work done in the field and this one is on a rare topic -- wow!)  A Better Freedom is a book which I've mentioned before and it is not only truly fascinating, it is brave. And painful.  And wonderful.  Card attends an inter-racial church in the South, and he speaks and sings in all sorts of venues.  He is not unfamiliar with black culture in America and worships with African-American brothers and sisters routinely.  He was intrigued about how he  noticed his African-American friends freely using the language of Christ being a "master."  During the days of slavery, he learned, using this rhetoric eroded the sense of the slaver master's power. This discovery, as it says on the cover, "led Card on a journey of discovery, as he wondered, "What did it mean for African American slaves to acknowledge Jesus as Master?""  Card uses Greco-Roman slavery as a window into understanding Jesus (who, remember, "took the form of a slave") and how he brings freedom.  This is fascinating, a good example of cross cultural studies, and a rare insight into an often under-valued part of the language of Christian discipleship.

Scribbling in the Sand: Christ and Creativity (IVP; $16.00.) This is one of my own favorites of his is and I hope you know about it as it is such a good read. I have reviewed Scribbling... elsewhere and we take it out to many of the places we go to display books as it is a core title in our section of books about the arts.  It is, as is his style, mostly a Biblical study (drawing its allusive title to the story of Jesus writing in the dirt.) He offers good insight into the life of an artist and how the Biblical teaching on creativity and the very life of Jesus can influence those called to creative work.  Nice!!

I especially like that, inspired by the 1966 "Letter to a Christian Artist" published in Art Needs No Justification by H.R. Rookmaaker, he invited a handful of influential authors and artists to pen a similar "Letter to a Young Christian Author" today which forms a very significant appendix.  Mako Fujimura, Calvin Seerveld and others wrote original epistles for this volume, lovely and wise notes of encouragement and insight and guidance.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com
   

Is a comment an aside if it is the first thing written? Regardless, here it is, an opening aside: on my wife's birthday a few weeks ago, we needed a new alternator for the van, and a new hot water heater.  There was just flat-out nothing sentimental or nice about her gifts this year.

Which brings me to this: your wife (if you are a reader who is a husband), should she be a mom, most likely does not want an appliance for Mother's Day.  And certainly not a part for under the hood of the mini-van.

But I also have a hunch, and I bet you are with me on this, that she doesn't really need some fancy piece of jewelry like I saw in all the Sunday paper Mother's Day ads today. Or a sexy little cocktail dress (what were those models, like, twenty?)

So, I guess the "don't celebrate motherhood with an appliance or auto part (or glitzy bling -- it ain't Valentine's Day, after all)" advise isn't an aside, it is a lead-in. A set up.  I think it is a great way to honor a mom by getting her a book which celebrates her desire to take up her parenting vocation with intentionality and care.  Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, and we'd love for you to order a book from us as a Mother's Day gift -- which we can gift wrap for free, and enclose a little note if we send it to her for you. Most good moms would love a good book, especially if it is smart and practical. And today's feature is a great suggestion.  And you can give it for Father's Day, too, so order extras for some guys you know!

The Christian Parenting Handbook: 50 Heart-Based Strategies for All the Stages of Your Child's Life  by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller (Thomas Nelson) sells typical for $16.99 although we have it at a Hearts & Minds BookNotes 20% or so discount.  This upbeat and lovely paperback would make a great gift for any parent you know. It seems to me that while Christian parenting books are nearly "a dime a dozen" some are either too psychological and formulaic, without much distinctively Christian insight, or they are so laden with theology and heady analysis that they aren't that practical.  Some are so full of tender care that they drip with sappy sentimentality; others are so strict that they just seem harsh. (Including, I think, some authors who make much of God and grace and a "gospel-centered" approach. Yikes!)  Finding a thoughtful, well-written, insightful but user-friendly handbook from a balanced perspective is not as easy as it seems, even in bookstores where there are dozens and dozens of mostly fine choices.


We have our handful of favorites and the previous books of Turansky and Miller have been high on our list.  Parenting is Heart Work, Say Good-Bye to Whining, Complaining and Bad Attitudes... in You and Your Kids, and Good and Angry: Exchanging Frustration for Character... in You and Your Kids are each must-reads.  In these, and in this new one, they are clear that they believe that parents are to evoke "heart change" in their children.  That is, behavior modification and compliance -- raising "nice" well-behaved kids who don't embarrass us in public -- is not the goal.  We don't wish only for kids to obey us in dutiful compliance, but for children to desire to do the right thing, to be people of character, to be followers of Christ who enhance the family with good energy, not draining it with bad.  We want them to learn to take responsibility and to be kids of compassion. In a way, they have set the bar high, but they write and work with a light touch.  Very nice!

Turansky and Miller take up their position within the plethora of family-oriented self-help books wisely in the philosophical and theological middle. They aren't about just having fine-looking outcomes; they want deeper heart change, although they aren't so religious and into character formation that they are in la-la land.  No, these are real parents, who understand real children and real parents, and realize that through God's grace, with some intentional effort, laughter, outside help (from coaches, teachers, church groups and the like) and a little luck, children can be mentored into gracious maturity and can turn out to be kids we enjoy and young adults we admire.  And they are masters at showing us how it it is done, pointing to example after example.

In many ways, The Christian Parenting Handbook is a culmination of their 25 years of work on this.  It offers their 50 best ideas, their top 50 strategies, short chapters that have proven to be the most fruitful (some of these were previously published in the newsletter of their National Center for Biblical Parenting and Biblical Parenting University, an on-line course they have taught for years.  Watch their brief introductory video to get a sense of their style. This new handbook really provides the cream of the crop, the best work they've done, distilled into enjoyable, easy-to-understand bites.

When I say that this represents the best of the research, work, writing and prayerful consideration of Scott and Joanne, that is truly significant!  They have been at this a long time, have been on endless speaking tours, have tirelessly done workshops and conferences, large and small events, here in the mid-Atlantic and (honestly) in places quite far away. They have listened, observed, talked with thousands of parents of all ages and cultures. They are always busy, have a spectacular array of good resources at their useful website (more on that anon) and can talk for hours about all that they have come to learn. Yes, to say that this is their best work is really saying something!

Again, The Christian Parenting Handbook offers 50 good strategies for creating the sort of parenting style and home-life that hopes for gospel-driven, wholesome heart transformation.  It invites creativity, flexibility, and prayerful attentiveness rather than a formula.  It doesn't give formulas, as they just aren't technique-driven teachers. But, as I've hinted, they don't (like some authors) over-react against easy steps and simple formulas so much that all they offer is broad, visionary ideals.  No, they have case studies and stories and examples which illustrate their principles, underscoring that you can do this!  We have heard from our own customers -- and from my own use of one in a time of personal struggle -- about how applying the insights of their previous books that this material can be life changing.  

We all want better home lives, and those who have children at home -- from little ones to teenagers -- can certainly benefit from the guidance, gentle support, wise teaching, and helpful ideas shared in this wonderful resource.

The wonderful opening chapter sets the tone and, in a way actually illustrates much of their own philosophy of parenting.  It is called "Developing Your Own Biblical Philosophy of Parenting" and that's it!  They don't want to force compliance or demand that they have all the answers or that their perfect plan is all you need. No, they invite you to have your own heart touched by the profound grace of God, to have your own mind formed  by a Biblical worldview, to have your own family habits guided by the lovely mercies (and, yes, hard teachings) of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, yes, even in this first chapter they are not bludgeoning readers, but inviting you to think along with them and consider with your own discernment and then to be creative and find a pattern of parenting that is faithful and fruitful, for you and your kids.  My kids are mostly grown, and I was deeply moved by this book, even the introduction!

Here are just a few the kinds of chapters they offer.  I hope it gives you an indication of how interesting and fun, wise and helpful, these diverse entries are.

• Consistency is Overrated
• Build Internal Motivation
• Consequences Aren't the Only Answer
• Parenting is an Investment -- Think Long Term
• Bookmark Good  Days
• It Takes Two to Argue But Only One to Stop
• Children Can Only Take as Much Pressure as the Relationship Will Allow
• Be Prepared for the Three Arenas of Resistance
• Use Creativity to Teach Your Kids Spiritual Truths
• Teach Kids to Communicate Emotions Wisely
• Firmness Doesn't Require Harshness
• Good Character Qualities Misused

In a bit more than 200 pages, they offer 50 of these sorts of well thought-through, Biblically-grounded, very practical, and quite interesting, short pieces.  They aren't random, really, but they can be dipped in to as needed.  It really is a handbook -- one you will use over time, keeping it handy for years to come.  I am sure of it.

By the way, to illustrate their fairly centrist, balanced view, consider their thoughtful chapter on spanking. The book has been out a week (although many bloggers have been promoting it beforehand) and they have already gotten some firm rebuking letters from both sides -- some say they are too conservative, some say they are too liberal (or something like that.) Although they do not rule it out, they fear that spanking is often used in anger, which is troubling, and that it frankly isn't that helpful, anyway. (The Turansky's have served as foster parents and to foster kids one has to pledge not to spank. And guess what? They learned, even though they think it is Biblically-permissible, that there are a whole lot of other, better strategies that can be used in times when discipline is needed.) So, they are moderate, practical, living in the "real world" and yet have remarkably good hopes to see Christ honored and children nurtured in transforming ways by the gospel, and by the fruit our own on-going inner formation.

We are big fans of The Christian Parenting Handbook and are happy to commend it, even now, as a way to honor and assist some mother you may know.  What a nice gift it would make!  We carry all their other resources as well, including a brand new set that Turansky and Miller, with some help from others, have created, a set of five books, covering parenting ideas throughout the developmental stages of a child's life.  Let us know if you have questions about any of their other good work.


The authors have other good resources at their National Center for Biblical Parenting website.  Check 'em out.


Of course, there are oodles of other family-related books of various styles, formats and theological tones. We have a lot!  And other kinds of books are certainly appreciated as Mother's Day gifts.  We realize, naturally, that your own mom may not be the target audience for this or any other parenting book. So, buy her a cookbook or gardening book, a novel, a women's Bible, a memoir, a current event study or historical biography, or a guide to deeper spirituality.  We've got so many great books here at the shop, and books make such wonderful gifts.  As always, we have gift certificates, too, which we can send to you, or to your mom on your behalf. Just let us know how we can help.  Thanks.  To you and your mom.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com

MUSIC & POP CULTURE
I hope you saw the book list I did on music and popular culture (inspired by the fabulous Calvin College Festival of Faith and Music in Grand Rapids which Beth and I attended a week or so ago.)  I love some of these books and could have suggested others; from books about faith-based approaches to video games (like Of Games and God: A Christian Exploration of Video Games by Kevin Schut [Baker; $17.99]) to our section on media ecology, from books on film to books on theater, we love sharing these sorts of resources. And especially books about good old rock and roll.  Do you know the 33 1/3 books, for instance, published by Bloomsbury, each which examine a particularly interesting and often quite important rock album? We stock a lot of them and think they're pretty cool.

Studying books about pop culture does at least three two things, or so it seems to me.  Firstly, it helps us "practice the presence of God."  We can find God everywhere more easily when we don't just look for inspiration, or emotional/spiritual highs, or Holy Spirited shivers throughout the day, but find signals of grace and divine goodness in the ordinary, in our actual encounter with the stuff of life.  This is easier for some of us to imagine in nature, finding God in the out of doors, but it is equally true that God is found in the spheres of entertainment and pop culture.  So this is a spiritual discipline, in many ways, learning to attend to Holy Things in our common lives, including listening to rock songs or going to movies with, as Romanowki's book puts it, "eyes wide open."

Secondly, intentionally attending to the possibility of common grace in popular culture also trains us in discernment.  That is, we can use movies and music as case studies on how to observe not only the good and true, but the odd and disconcerting.  Idols and ideologies bring distortion and danger and we must keep our antennae up to be sure we are not being hoodwinked, ever so subtly,  by the stories and values which we take in.  I think it is a tad simplistic to say we are like computers --"garbage in/garbage out" --but there is something to this notion.  We are shaped and formed by the stuff we engage in. Read Jamie Smith's essential Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Baker; $21.99) to be reminded of this in quite sophisticated terms; see Walt Mueller's How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: A 3(D) Guide to Making Responsible Media Choices over at CPYU for an easy to apply process for talking about this with teens in pretty simple terms. Although it is not just on the popular arts, I love Walt's important book Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth published by IVP; $18.00) which certainly is relevant here.

And, thirdly, it just makes things more interesting. Maybe this makes it more demanding -- yup, we have to faithfully think about stuff, all of this stuff -- but, I'd say, and I bet you agree,  that this also makes life's adventure much more fun.  We can enjoy music and dancing and playing and watching movies when we understand the art form a bit and have eyes to see all that is going on in terms of style and content and vision. 

ALSO, THE VISUAL ARTS
The process and approach of engaging this side of life is a bit different when considering visual art or literature, but our basic point is the same: we glorify God when we take seriously our human calling to steward the gifts of Earth, which includes culture and culture-making.  Music and film and paintings all matter. We can appreciate and make art for God's sake, as acts of devotion and love of neighbor.

So here are some new books on the heels of our music and pop culture list that are about the arts more generally and about creativity in the life of faith.  

We have much bigger lists on the arts, aesthetics and more, for instance, here.  Here are some that focus more on enhancing or deepening our own creative lives.

Not just for artists, you know.

Drawn In: A Creative Process for Artists, Activists, and Jesus Followers  Troy Bronsink (Paraclete) $16.99  Troy is a Presbyterian pastor, indie musician, street activist and faith-based organizer and he has here given us a tremendously cool book, full of substance and verve, theology and vision, hope and healing.  If you are an artist, patron, fan, or simply a person wanting to learn how to be more imaginative, this guide is hard to beat. What a great title (and cover, too, eh?) Love it.

Sally Morgenthaler (who calls it "one of the finest books on art, creativity and the nature of God to date" says it is a manifesto. Indeed.  It is a call to live a creative life as a follower of Jesus, inviting us into God's own creative work and "redemptive rhythms" in the world.  It is serious, thoughtful, very interesting and highly recommended.






Art + Faith: Reclaiming the Artistic  Essence of the Church  Jon Bowles  (House Studio) book $12.99; DVD $36.99 This is a small, nifty book that could be read on its own, but I suppose is designed to go with the DVD curriculum of the same name.  It is not a "participants guide" or simplistic workbook, though, but a real book that certainly invites great imagination.  Informed by the narrative of the Beggars Table,a community that meets in a  gallery in Kansas City's art district.  This is not about "arts programming" but, not unlike the Bronsink book above, it really is more about helping all of us appreciate the arts, engage in meaning-making by being formed in disciplines of seeing.  This is a story, they say, of "how art has shaped the imagination of one church toward the Kingdom. This could be a story about your church, too."  I like this study of mystery (and our "mystery deprived world) and beauty and awe, and the necessary relationship of faith, religion, art and wonder.

The Art + Faith DVD includes six session and PDF transcripts, discussion guides and other bonus material.  The package includes the DVD and one book.





Life After Art: What You Forgot About Life and Faith Since You Left the Art Room Matt Appling (Moody Press) $13.99  I am excited about this new imprint of books published by the stalwart evangelical house called Moody Collective.  This tremendous book is a great new kind of book for Moody, it seems, young, creative, fresh, interesting for those who need something other than standard basic Christian growth or self-help books, or mere theology (as helpful as all that can be.) This book invites us to realize that we are creative people, we make things (for better or worse) so we might as well, as Appling says, do it on purpose.  He wonders how we lost our confidence to create, crumbling under the pressure of the so-called "real, grown-up world." Appling is an art teacher, having worked with pre-K through high school, in fact.  This is a hopeful book, fun and a bit challenging.  Has something been lost along the way, for you? This will help you get it back!


Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice  Christine Valters Paintner (Sorin Books) $15.95  We have carried the previous books by Ms Paintner which includeThe Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul With Monastic Wisdom (Sorin; $14.95) and a fabulous book about being attentive to God's goodness revealed in creation called Water, Wind, Earth and Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements (Sorin; $14.95.)  I really love this new one on photography and recommend it to any number of those who like to take pictures with their iPhones, who are learning to pay greater attention to daily life as they hone the skills of "seeing" by way of their cameras.  Valtgers Paintner is the on-line "Abby of the Arts" and here she helps us with "viso divina" (she is a Benedictine oblate, after all) and cites great contemplative and monastic sources, as well has helpful technical suggestions about lighting, composition, framing, printing, equipment. This is a lovely, good, book which many will enjoy and by which many will be blessed.

Awake My Soul: A  Contemplative Art Journal  Aletheia Schmidt $25.99  Aletheia is a Lancaster, PA-based artist who has created this wonderful, full-color book which shows her abstract work with plenty of nice spaces for you to journal, reflect, or draw along.  She is a vibrant, kind, and talented young woman and she sees these paintings as prayers.  She believes "the arts, imagination, and creativity offer life." 

You can check out her website to get a sense of her sense of things.  You can even buy her cards and prints.  But this book, which we are thrilled to carry, is a wonder. The reflection questions are not simplistic or one-dimensional, and I would think that it would be a beautiful thing to do together, even if it is more likely to be used individually. There are 52 paintings, so you use it for a long while. Congrats to this new friend, a fine artist who has offered her playing and painting and praying to us.

Qu4rtets artwork by Mako Fujimura, Bruce Herman, and Christopher Theofanidis, and others;  inspired by T. S. Eliot  $35.00 You might want to revisit my previous review of this splendid, remarkable book -- superlatives elude me to tell you how good this is. Two stellar, respected, deeply Christian painters (Fujimura and Herman), and a classical musical composer (Theofanidis), collaborated to do these works, collated in this marvelous coffee-table paperback book, inspired by the famous poem Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot.
This is a lovely book, handsome, intriguing, illuminating.  The combination of visual arts, a music score, and the historic, important poetry is so very interesting and fruitful. The great introduction by Image journal editor, Gregory Wolfe, sets it up perfectly. 

As I explain in my earlier description of Qu4tets, there are included three very significant essays (also enhanced with lovely type and smaller art pieces throughout) by Matthew Milliner, James McCullough,and Jeremy Begbie.  These critical reflections add gravitas to the project (as if it needed more) and are themselves very well done. Highly recommended. -- perhaps as a graduation gift?

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com
   

Perhaps you read my Easter essay, originally published in the Washington Institute on Faith, Vocation and Culture.  I  tried to make the case that in the death and resurrection of Christ the "death of death" has been accomplished, which means not only that those in Christ are promised eternal life, but that God's own rulership of the world is assured -- the divine restoration of all things has begun! The brokenness and hurt of this fallen world is being healed!  This in-breaking of the rescue plan of the world God so loves means we have to learn how to live as new creations in a new world coming; a Christ-centered commonwealth called in the Bible the Kingdom of God, into which we are transplanted.  Being savingly liberated from the bondage of the old order is, of course, only the start of the Christian journey and we are now tasked with discerning the shape and texture of Christian discipleship in our place, in our time.
 
Part of that task of new creation living includes eschewing the anti-intellectualism and sentimentality that is commonplace in many churches (liberal or conservative, or so it seems to me.) To blaze new trails of 21st century fidelity, we need groups who take up resurrectionary reading.  "Study to show thyself approved" the apostle wrote to young Timothy (2 Timothy 2:15.)  If you hunger to learn more, if you agree that books are tools for discipleship, and you desire a "renewed mind" (Romans 12:2) or what Philippians 2:5 calls "the mind" of Christ then you know that thoughtful reading must be part of your regimen of spiritual disciplines. Buying and giving (and begging and borrowing) books is part of what we do.  We are, as they say, "people of the Book" and our faith communities must be communities of discourse where books and their ideas of commonly discussed. We treasure the printed page, Holy Writ and more ordinary books as well. We resist the easy tendency to "amuse ourselves to death" and take up the task of becoming well read.

In the most recent post, then, I described five books that I thought might point us towards renewed conversations about Kingdom living, learning to think in fresh ways about culture, society, about impacting the world around us.  From Francis Schaeffer to Jim Wallis to Leslie Newbigin, and more, they are very good and remain on sale as BookNotes features. If you haven't browsed through that little list, I hope you do.  Reading in light of the resurrection can help us be more effective as salt and light and leaven.  And - I hope you agree - it is often a pleasant discipline; well-written non-fiction is in many cases an artful joy, beautiful words bringing beautiful ideas.

Resurrectionary reading, though, is not always all about big ideas for social change, cultural studies and public faith. Sometimes, it is good to read more personal stories (you know we love memoir and find it truly wonderful to see how others narrate their lives.) Here is a new book written by a woman who ruminates nicely on her own spiritual journeys.  This book is at time page-turning riveting and at times poignantly tender and poetic. It points to the goodness of glimpses - glimpses of hope and healing, glimpses of meaning and purpose, glimpses of joy and freedom amidst very hard times.  It is a book I hope you consider buying from us.

Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning  Rebekah Lyons (Tyndale)  $19.99

This is the story of a thoughtful, well-connected, upbeat young woman who seemed to many, and perhaps herself, and to her husband, Q Ideas founder and author Gabe Lyons, to be a poster child for the kind of hip and idealistic "next generation" Christian who talks about vocations of transforming culture, being a catalyst of change, embracing servant leadership, creating social initiatives, impacting the world and the like. One who seems to have it all together.  Rebekah Lyons was part of a recent renaissance of Southern evangelicals without the conservative cultural baggage (let alone the right-wing religious belligerence), a talented cohort that is building bridges and starting shiny new organizations, creating signposts of a new way of being Christian.  Gabe and Rebekah lived in the suburbs but had exciting lives, working in the rising young evangelical church communities in Atlanta even as they started their new family. 

A few years ago they discerned a call to move from their close network of energetic compatriots to the Big Apple, establishing Q Ideas in the heart of Manhattan.  Ms Lyons' compelling narrative begins with a tearful goodbye to close friends in Atlanta. I am sure I am not the only reader who was immediately drawn in - emotionally hit in the gut, choked up on her behalf, and having a deep spot of grief touched in my own life. (Oh, how Beth and I recall our last nights in our reformational community in Pittsburgh 30 years ago when our brothers and sisters there commissioned us to move to central Pennsylvania to follow our bookstore dream.) Who hasn't said hard goodbyes?  I think many readers will be hooked at the very first, realizing how momentous this transition will be.  And so, the first few pages tell us much.  Rebekah is being stretched by this move and while she claims to be on board with the vision of Q and Gabe's righteous aspirations, she is paying a price, leaving friends and relationships and a culture in which she knows her place, her calling, her gifts.  She is leaving home.

I really like the video trailer for this good book and knowing Gabe and Rebekah just a bit, I know that their passion is to help facilitate networking and conversations around themes of evangelical cultural witness, promoting "common grace for the common good" sorts of projects.  They are remarkably talented, bold, and visionary with sharp instincts and notable expertise. I don't know how they do it -- from the finances of running classy nationally-known events like the annual Q gathering to creating and offering regional workshops, creative confabs and networking soirées.  But this book is not just about dreaming big and making a difference and getting to do cool stuff.  It is not primarily Rebekah's invitation for women to take risks and do good work, as she has done in her own journey to New York.  Rather, it is about the cost of doing that. It is about learning how. It is about a woman and her identity and how that is sometimes hard to discern, even in these modern times. I was taken aback - I really was - by how I misunderstood the nature of this book.  I should know better, but sometimes I jump too quickly to presume what a writer has to offer, what a book really is about. Freefall is much more painful and real than I expected -- more authentic, gritty story and not just a call to fly high. I wasn't fully off base -- in some ways this is about women dreaming big, about engaging the world with one's gifts and passions, about serving and trusting God with gusto. Lean in, ladies. Or, as she says, lean out!  This is Mrs. Gabe Lyons, after all, so let's get some big ideas going and Make It Happen.

But more, this is an honest, and at times raw look at Rebekah's interior life, her fears and struggles and doubts.  She is admirably candid about her sense of being overwhelmed and she is candid about her weaknesses.  For a nationally-known emerging leader in a fairly fashionable setting (they literally work with fashion designers; just sayin') it is beautiful to hear Rebekah talk with such transparency about her anxieties living in Manhattan, the difficulties with buses and crowds and heat and the cost of living.  If somebody as vital and strong and with such a supportive and forward-thinking man of faith as a husband as she has experiences hardship adjusting to new living conditions and new work contexts, my goodness, do those of us without such supports stand a chance?

Many of us know (as they have told part of this story before) that Gabe and Rebekah's first child was born with Down's Syndrome.  Some parts of the book are directly about the challenges of parenting a special needs child (including two of the most riveting scenes in the book) but it isn't mostly about that.  Some parts of the book are about her debilitating anxiety attacks, a disorder she was brave to reveal and which also brings some incredible drama to the story - wow. Some parts of the book are just about coping with raising three children in an extraordinary, complex neighborhood while trying to do extraordinary ministry; the lessons learned about forming supportive friendships, working honestly with her husband, staying connected with older friends and family, having rituals and caring about places, all of this is helpful for any of us in times of transition.  All of this storytelling and reflection creates a moving memoir, packed with gems of insight, some offered forthrightly, others that sneak in between the lines.

As you can surmise, this is the sort of book we love to promote and I think that you - our BookNotes readers and Hearts & Minds friends - will especially appreciate it.  This is not a literary memoir written only for its own sake, really, but it is also not just a self-help book of  practical guidance, either.  It is a lovely mix of story and suggestions. It narrates the authors ups and downs, sharing her insights along the way, learned often the hard way. She tells of her marriage and kids but also episodes with life-long friends -- she importantly has a group of women who gather yearly for intentional times of support and life-sharing (and a bit of shopping.) Hearing about those times of retreat was very inspiring to me. I think you will be glad to learn what she learned and will take courage in your own life as you hear how she coped with her own struggles and perplexing opportunities and reliable relationships.

Ms Lyons' unique voice as a woman struggling to "fly" but feeling like she is in a dangerous freefall, is a major feature of this book.  As a male reader, I really, really liked it, and appreciated her good writing and her relevant faith and her revealing candor.  This makes for a meaningful, poignant book that is both enjoyable and helpful. I realize it is written primarily for women, but I do hope guys read it; men can learn about their own anxieties and fears of flying from this sister who has been there.

And also there is this quiet subtext of how women navigate their faith journey and discern various facets of their callings when the navigation and discernment is tied to homemaking and child rearing. Most decent married men know of the profound calling they have to be active in their families involved as husbands and dads, but most are also clear about their vocations in the world, that they might make a difference here or there, for God's sake. It may be otherwise for many women.  Alas, unless married men talk about these things with their wives and women friends, many wives themselves will feel like they may not be able to adequately pursue their own dreams, their own callings, their own network of friends and mentors.  This book isn't directly about gender roles in Kingdom ministry, but learning the art of navigating the complexity of calling and career and home and children and community is certainly a part of Lyons' story.  Learning to support and encourage one another in times of despair and hurt, too, is part of this story. (Again, how many of us long to be better spouses or friends to those who are emotionally distraught, struggling, or in chronic pain?) I am grateful to learn from her, and hope many will appreciate her vulnerability in sharing her story of loneliness and frustration and hope and deeper faith.

The lovely cover of Freefall to Fly is done by a chalk artist that was befriended by Ms Lyons and in many ways that little touch speaks volumes about the vision of this book.  The Brooklyn-based woman did chalk art for local projects, serving social initiatives with her talents, and was encouraged by others to pursue this not as a small side project but as a calling, perhaps a career. The side hustle can become the dream, and Rebekah getting the publisher to use this artist's work shows not only how Rebekah encourages others to pursue their passions, but how this leads to beautiful collaboration, to friendships, to really "flying" in life.  Yes, flying fully may feel like a freefall.  It can be terrifying;  it can even be devastating - to say yes to some possibilities means to necessarily say no to some other possibilities. Plans can be derailed and there are seasons when we simply don't know what we should do next.  Can we let go of our preconceptions of what our life should be like?  As men and women, can we take risks, stepping out in faith to find a life of purpose and coherence and significance?  And what does it look like to do that?
 
Rebekah gives some very useful guidelines which you can use in your own discernment process but is perhaps best captured in this epigram, from chapter 9, a line from Kobi Yamada: "She took the leap and built her wings on the way down."

Or maybe it is captured in this lovely blurb from Ann Voskamp,

Rebekah Lyons writes a vulnerable story of her unexpected winging into the light and dark of mothering, womanhood, and visionary living, only to discover what it means to find the full hope of the sky.

"The full hope of the sky."  Now that's a book you gotta love!

This is a book of raw, real hope for women about letting go of fear, learning to surrender to God, finding courage to embrace new realities, to be self-aware about one's own talents and passions, to nurture friendships and supportive community, to find contentment and strength to pursue dreams and vocations.  It is a book about motherhood, about marriage, about making sense of faith and life amidst crippling anxieties.  As the back cover colorfully says, it is about "the dark night of the soul in the city that never sleeps." It is a book you will enjoy, that you will want to talk about, that you will learn from.   We are happy to feature it, glad to offer it here, on sale.  Happy reading -- and may you experience freedom to fail, freedom to fall, and freedom to fly.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com  

Do you recall how in the last post I invited you to an agenda of "resurrectionary reading"?  Here are some books that will help us gain greater clarity about the Lordship of the risen Christ in the world.  They are enjoyable, vibrant, helpful, and good.  Christ is Risen!  These help us live it out...

Schaeffer on the Christian Life: Countercultural Spirituality  William Edgar (Crossway) $17.99 There are other biographies of Francis Schaeffer and of course he and the late Edith Schaeffer have between them nearly 50 books of their own. With Edith's passing last week, many have written on-line tributes. (At the Hearts & Minds bookstore's facebook page I even told a brief, fun story of how Edith held and comforted our daughter Stephanie -- and us -- when Steph was an infant.) Now is an excellent time to reconsider the impact of the Schaeffers and this new book is the place to begin.

I think this is my favorite book about Schaeffer, written by a man I trust immensely; Bill Edgar is a respected and beloved professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, theologically balanced, thoughtful, gracious, and particularly insightful (especially about culture, the arts, and how best to witness to the goodness of God's ways within the contemporary zeitgeist) not to mention a great jazz pianist. That he is a Harvard graduate who was converted from agnosticism during his own time at Schaeffer's Swiss L'Abri gives this survey a real integrity - Edgar knew Schaeffer, was influenced by Schaeffer and has studied with others in his orbit (from art historian Hans Rookmaaker to philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd.) He knows first-hand what he's talking about.

The heart of this beautiful book is a serious look at what Edgar maintains is the heart of Schaeffer's call for cultural renewal and relevant, reformational faith; namely, his warm, wholistic piety.  Edgar's explication of Schaeffer's True Spirituality helps us see how his broader themes - the combination of heart and mind, the call to honor Christ across all of life, the passion for the arts and for social justice - are grounded in the reality of this daily walk with God in union with the living Christ. Edgar explains Schaeffer on spiritual formation, so to speak, and it is immensely helpful (especially in this age when many of us are learning well from medieval saints and contemporary monastics.) Schaeffer's views of spirituality are as fresh and insightful as ever. This is a book for our time. As Schaeffer biographer Colin Duriez writes of Schaeffer on the Christian Life, "This engaging book captures the fire of Schaeffer's thought and concerns, and revisits and reinvigorates the still-urgent challenge he presented to the church in the modern world."
  
Two wonderful chapters - the first and the last - offer more of Mr. Edgar's own story and while these chapters are still clearly about Schaeffer and L'Abri, it is always wonderful to hear a thoughtful person share their own testimony of conversion and how they grew into deeper faith and discipleship.  These two chapters are full of impressions and neat recollections and are enlightening for us all and especially instructional for those who do ministry and mentor others -- how this whole process of impacting others can work is lovely to behold.  These two chapters and their more personal recollections provide a lived, first-hand example of the very serious stuff with which this book profoundly grapples. It is affectionate and personal, emerging from a writer with an obviously deep interior life, about a writer with a deep, trusting faith, even as it ruminates on some of the most important issues of our postmodern times.

Fran Schaeffer continues to be important to us, here, and we think it would be good if more of our customers bought his work, or books about his work. Edgar is an excellent author himself, a perfect choice for an engaging study of this sort, so this book consequently is very highly recommended.  Schaeffer on the Christian Life: Countercultural Spirituality by the way, is part of a series called "The Theologians on the Christian Life." Kudos to Crossway for helping us, as they put it, "gaining wisdom from the past for life in the present."

On God's Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned About Serving the Common Good  Jim Wallis (Brazos Press) $21.99  I think Jim may have been the first nationally-known author we had in our little shop maybe 25 years ago.  I am proud to say I read Sojourners magazine in college when it was still called Post-American - a housemate even had a Post-American cover with a picture of Thomas Merton taped to our bedroom wall.  And I have read all of Jim's writings; The Call to Conversion remains one of my all-time favorite books.  He may not be my favorite public theologian, necessarily; I am not the only Sojo fan who finds some of their important less than fully adequate at times.  Still, as I insist even to those who don't like his left-leaning tendencies, Wallis is a good writer, makes tons of sense, and is more balanced and careful than many who mostly traffic in slogans and clichés on the far left or right.  So, I really, really think we should read and engage his contributions to our on-going efforts to discern a Biblically-faithful public witness in our post-Christian, pluralistic and woefully polarized culture.  We have promoted each of his books over the years, and are especially excited about this one.

This is not the first time Wallis has introduced the phrase "the common good" but it is, perhaps surprisingly, the first time he has made it the central organizing theme of a whole book, and it makes it certainly one of his very best.  One of the burdens of this book - and, again, this is not new to Wallis - is to encourage "common ground for the common good."  He encourages dialogue and healthy debate, multi-faith conversations and mutual efforts (informal and programmatic) to overcome the ideological divides that are tearing our social fabric.  He has modeled this in his own life (and, in fact, has done his share of dialogues and debates with right-leaning people of Christian faith and with those of other faiths.)  That there is an endorsement by former Republican speechwriter Michael Gerson is a nice indication of this very thing.  Gerson writes, "Jim Wallis and I have a variety of differences on domestic and international policy, but there is no message more timely or urgent than his call to actively consider the common good." To his credit, Wallis cites him in the book.

Speaking of endorsements, this is one of the books that already has a huge reputation from prestigious followers - from Bono to Scot McKnight, Anne Lamott to Miroslov Volf, Cornel West to Lynne Hybels. Older leaders like William Willimon calls it "hopeful and incisive" even though it "pulls no punches."  He says it has "fresh insights on almost every page."  Younger social media cats like Jonathan Merritt, similarly, say "every chapter of this book will stretch your mind, challenging your thinking, and push you to consider the hope summed up in its opening words: 'Our life together can be better.'"

Jim explains early on that he wrote this book while on a sabbatical from his travel, activism, and fast-paced, Washington-based journalism.  There are (not surprisingly for those that know him) stories of baseball, stuff about his family - two boys and wife, Joy, a Church of England priest serving in an inner city DC parish - and a groundedness that reminds us of his inner formation shaped through years of involvement with folks like the late Gordon Cosby, Catholic spiritual directors, and good friendships with the likes of Richard Rohr. I was thrilled to read some of the little stories and illustrations that are set in a retreat center or insights gleaned from a renewed season of prayer and play.  And - get this! - his ruminations on Aslan from yet another reading of the Chronicles of Narnia are fantastic.  Aslan is, indeed, on the move, even at Sojourners!  This makes the book very enjoyable and very inspiring!  Sure there are some policy recommendations, but, at heart, Wallis is a preacher.  And it comes through well in On God's Side.

Besides the enjoyable writing from this Sabbath-time book, and the fairly standard-fair, but always inspiring Biblical studies about peace and justice (Luke 4, Isiah 58, and the like) there are important contributions to our consideration of the nature of public justice for the common good. He helpfully and succinctly explores this notion, reminding us of what it means to care for the commonwealth; the good of the commons, including civil society. 

And there are extraordinary (sadly, too rare these days) overtures of what common ground liberals and conservatives might find in this search for making the society better for all.  Joel Hunter, himself a fairly traditional Southern mega-church evangelical, says "This is the finest of all Jim Wallis' writings. Jim's comprehension of how Scripture and political issues relate to each other is surpassed only by the number of bridges he builds so that we can all solve problems together.   Reading this book will help you be more like Jesus, especially in the public square." That is a hearty endorsement, and On God's Side deserves it.  With its beautiful cover and good Lincoln quote on the front, even, this really is a very, very good book to have.

By the way, we will be selling books with Jim Wallis on Tuesday evening, April 9th, in Baltimore at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at Saint Mary's Seminary & University (easy to get to near Towson, Maryland at 5400 Roland Avenue Baltimore, MD 21210.)  Following his lecture in their beautiful public hall there will be a great panel discussion, including a woman who is a Reform Jewish rabbi, a United Methodist pastor and urban leader, and a moral theologian from St. Mary's.  Jim will sign books both before and after the talk.  It is free and open to the public and we (once again) thank the EI for inviting us to be a part of their good work in their very classy setting. 

If you would like an autographed copy, we can probably swing that.  Just let us know to whom you want us to have it inscribed, or if you'd just prefer an signature. We will gladly mail them to you promptly.
 
Bonhoeffer, Christ and Culture  edited by Keith Johnson & Timothy Larsen (IVP Academic) $20.00  Every year, Wheaton College hosts a top-drawer, extraordinary theology conference and this new book gathers together the excellent papers which were presented at the 2012 event.  Although most of the presenters self-identify as evangelicals, not all do, making this a very interesting, provocative, and delightfully multi-vocal anthology.  A few of the chapters are thrilling to me (one great one was on how evangelicals, particularly, have engaged Bonhoeffer - from curiously positive Moody Monthly articles in the mid-60s to Cornelius Van Til's philosophical criticisms, to the nearly superstar status of Eric Metaxas' important 2011 biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr Prophet, Spy.) One chapter is exquisitely moving, as Jim Belcher narrates a trip to several Bonhoeffer sites in Germany.  Charles Marsh is here writing on grace; Stephen Plant on politics, Joel Lawrence gives a powerful chapter on being "a church for others."  Daniel Treier has a fascinating chapter using Bonhoeffer to help us navigate modernity and its machines. Reggie Williams offers a fabulous piece on Bonhoeffer's time amidst the Harlem Renaissance (which is, by the way, a tremendous, tremendous chapter on a topic that most of us could stand to learn more about.)  Lutheran professor Lori Brandt Hale, co-author of the great little Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians (Westminster/John Knox; $17.00) offers a very helpful chapter on Bonhoeffer's teachings about vocation.

This new collection is very, very informative, perhaps a bit academic for some tastes, with tons of great footnotes and helpful citations.  Despite the serious quality of the scholarship, the many extensive chapters are mostly very well-written, inspiring, even.  I was told as a young bookseller decades ago that books by Bonhoeffer sell well while books about Bonhoeffer do not.  With Metaxas, that has changed.  Let's disprove the adage again, and get this book known, studied, discussed, and celebrated. It deserves a wide readership.

Here you can watch most of the Theology Conference lectures for free.  I share this because it is great to have generous access to these sorts of resources and because I think once you see some of this serious stuff, you just may want to buy the book.  Enjoy! 

Faith in a Changing World  Lesslie Newbigin edited by Paul Weston (St. Paul's Theology Centre) $12.99 Just when you thought you had known of everything in print by the famous missionary to India, here comes a wonderful newly edited volume including two of his important, but long out-of-print (British) books in one nice paperback.  Included here are two of Newbigin's classic works, Discovering Hope in a Changing World and Living Hope in a Changing World.  As it says on the back cover, "Together, they present the Christian story as a lens through which to view and understand God and the world, demonstrating that Christianity is a viable way to live one's life today, and that Christians need not retreat to a private world where faith is presumed to be 'mere opinion.'"

Newbigin was an astute thinker, a dear man (by all accounts) and a good speaker. The influence of his work in our time is inestimable (fueling as he did the "missional church" perspective and the "Gospel in Our Culture Network."
 
His Foolishness to the Greeks (Eerdmans; $16.00) by the way, is my favorite book of his and remains the one I tell folks to start with, although this new one may replace that as the go-to starter.  These two seem to cover much of his oeuvre - Scripture, authority, doctrine, Trinitarian wisdom, cultural engagement, world religions.  Lesslie Newbigin (who died in 1998) always placed the Christian faith squarely at the center of public life - his biggest selling book is bluntly called The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society (Eerdmans; $25.00)- and in this new one, here, he again explores in his incisive way, the impact of secular Enlightenment philosophy and scientism, asking if the gospel ("as public truth") can offer a coherent life-giving alternative worldview.  We just discovered this book and just got it in and are quite pleased to commend it.

God's Good World: Reclaiming the Doctrine of Creation Jonathan R. Wilson (Baker Academic) $24.99  I have been waiting for a book like this for years, and am so very happy this has arrived. Our best theologians have reminded us that to fully understand Christ's work of redemption and the very nature of God's Kingdom we must start - as the Biblical narrative itself does - with the doctrine of creation.  This world of original blessing, what Calvin called "the theater of God," is the location, the context, the setting, the focus, of God's redemption.  The whole creation groans, Romans 8 tells us, awaiting humans (the original caretakers of creation) to be reconciled with their Creator; in Christ (the second Adam) we can again take up our task to image God in the world of God's good creation.  Any fruitful exploration of faith and discipleship that missed this given context of our lives will be, at best, inadequate and, worse, woefully distorted -- gnostic, quietistic, weird.

I think it was Al Wolters in his influential Creation Regained (Eerdmans; $15.00) who quipped that a robust doctrine of creation is useful for more than defeating evolutionists, and, in fact, includes the structures and institutions built into the created order (like, say, obviously, family and government or the possibility for art and science, work and recreation) and not just rocks, bears and galaxies. To have a full-orbed and fully fruitful view of creation, we will have to examine all the implications of the reality, and this fine book takes up this challenge wonderfully.
 
Leaders in the faith-based environmental movement urging better theology about and efforts of caring for creation have endorsed it, raving.  (Loren Wilkinson of Regent College has a long, glowing endorsement, and says it is "a very important book." Peter Harris of A Rocha says it is "a major contribution.") Others remind us that this book is useful in ways far beyond the obvious concerns of creation care and environmental stewardship. Brian Brock of the King's College of the University of Aberdeen insists, "This book should be mandatory reading for pastors, theological students and believers who care about the burning moral issues of our day and want to rethink them theologically."  I cannot easily explain how far-reaching this book is, but invite you to look at the table of contents here. (Then come back and order it from us!)
 
Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman writes of God's Good World "In the current discussions concerning the biblical doctrine of creation, we often bypass what is most important to us as Christians as we debate the issues like the age of the earth or the length of creation days. Jonathan Wilson corrects this oversight as he masterfully guides us to a rich appreciation of God as our Creator and Redeemer."  Yes, not only does this book unlock important -- essential! -- insights about the nature of creation, and the implications of living in a created reality but it points us towards the very character of a God who is a creator.  And who sustains and redeems and restores the creation.

Yes, this is a beautiful book, wonderfully written, far-ranging (and it even includes some truly lovely woodcuts enhancing each vital chapter.) We are very, very glad for this, hoping it is widely read and deeply pondered.  I wrote a week ago about "resurrectionary reading" programs that explore the issues of life in light of the grand truth of Christ's victory of death, as witnessed by the empty tomb.  Reading a book like this is an absolutely central aspect of this agenda, since Christ is risen (indeed) with a physical body, the resurrection points to the newness Christ is bringing to all creation!  Knowing resurrection faith well requires that we know creation faith.  This is a great book. Happy resurrectionary reading!

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com  

One of my very dear friends, a leader and author I respect very much, is Steve Garber, author of Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior (IVP; $16.00) an eloquent, serious, mature work, about how to keep a radical, wholistic faith alive beyond the idealism of young adulthood and over the longer haul of one's life. In recent years Steve has called together a team of people to work together in what he calls the Washington Institute on Faith, Vocation, and Culture.  He has been working with authors like Amy Sherman -- Steve has a great afterword in her Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (IVP; $16.00 ) and Tom Nelson, who wrote Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work (Crossway; $15.99) and many other good folks.  They help churches, seminaries, colleges, and para-church groups equip ordinary folks take up their callings in the world, with a sense that vocation is "essential, not incidental, to the missio dei."

I was delighted when he asked me to write a piece for their website on the relationship between reading and the resurrection.  I suspect he liked the alliteration, but he also knows that, as I try to spell out below, the cross and resurrection have vast, all-of-life implications. In many ways, this is the raison d'etre for our bookstore, to provide resources as we talk about these things.

So, for this Easter BookNotes post, I'd like to share the piece which I wrote for the Washington Institute, which they graciously published last week.  First I spell out the biggest picture I can of the implications of redemption -- think N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (HarperOne) or Al Wolter's Creation Regained: The Biblical Basis for a Reformational Worldview (Eerdmans) or even the recent, profound work of James K.A. Smith Desiring the Kingdom and Imagining the Kingdom (Baker Academic.)  Nearer the end of my essay, I mention the need for what I call "resurrectionary research" and suggest a strategic plan of resurrectionary reading groups.  I cite one small booklet, one that in very helpful ways reminds us of this missional vision of being life-long learners, and gives some guidelines for developing the mind of Christ and how to use books as tools to help be better fit for God's Kingdom in this post-Chrisitan culture. The book is Your Minds Mission by Greg Jao (IVP; $4.00.) Now is a prefect time to read it. Let me tell you why. 

Our offer to give you one for free is explained at the end. Enjoy.

Poland, 1984. "Christ is risen!" As the cry went out, the crowd of mostly Catholic trade unionists shouted back with confidence "He is risen indeed!" Not unusual for a resurrection service, the cadence of the call and response echoing centuries of proclamation and hope. Yet, as this crowd understood, such public proclamation was pregnant with possibility -- revolutionary, even.  Soon, the dictatorial regime of communist Poland fell to non-violent protestors, Solidarity workers, alternative civic organizations, all swarming the streets inspired by the hope of the gospel, the truth of Christ's goodness unleashed in the world. Many of those history-makers understood the vast implications of Christ's bursting forth from the empty tomb.  We might borrow an image from musician Bruce Cockburn's Santiago Dawn, which tells of the Christian hope that drove peaceful protestors to resist the junta in 1980's Chile, the people "rising like grass through cement."  Indeed, in every hemisphere and continent the good news of Christ's resurrection has supplied courage for those resisting injustice.

For many the resurrection is a vindication of the belief that through Christ and his cross, God forgives our sins and we are reconciled with Him. This is gloriously true!  Yet, we might ponder these brave revolutionaries resisting totalitarianism, inspired by Easter; why did their belief in Christ's resurrection cause them to take on dictators?

The answer is endlessly provocative: they realized that Christ's resurrection is more than a final touch on the process that assures us of salvation but also a socio-political event. The Roman regime had locked Christ in his tomb, secured with a draconian royal seal and armed guards.  Easter's uprising broke the Imperial seal and in doing so broke the power of all repressive forces.

This aspect of the Easter morning narrative includes vivid anti-empire imagery, suggesting that Christ's sacrificial death accomplished more than the forgiveness of solitary sins.  The gospel's implications are broader: Christ does more than show mercy, but also transforms all of life. His resurrection revokes the power of personal sin and systemic evil, inner disorder and corporate dysfunction. Christ is victorious over death as it is writ large over a cursed creation.  Colossians 2:15 exclaims that Christ has disarmed even the "principalities and powers" by triumphing over them. Romans 8 reminds us that the entire creation has been groaning, oppressed. The visionary of Revelation promises "all things new" (the "all things" an echo of the early praise chorus of Colossians 1.)  A core New Testament conviction concerning the meaning of Christ's bodily resurrection is that Christ rules over this material world, across all aspects of life, in every sphere of culture, and that His new regime is coming "On Earth as it is in Heaven."

The resurrection is the central reality of human history, the truest truth that upsets idols and ugliness, defeats disorder and disaster. This means that in the living Christ there can be a restoration of order, rightness, shalom.  God's Kingdom is best understood as a renewal of the good but fallen creation.  Christ is King of His creation, and those united in His death, resurrection and reign are called to live into this shalom. The distorted ways of the broken culture are replaced, as we - like grass through cement - bring forth healing examples of new life. From sustainable economics to meaningful aesthetics, from dignified labor to trusting families, we imagine and then work to create hospitable neighborhoods, holistic health care systems, wise schools, responsible engineering; we explore all the implications of the resurrected life in a creation that is being restored.  The deathly Imperial seal lays broken, hurt is healed, God's life-giving Spirit is loose in the world, ambassadors of His holy rescue plan scattered like salt, like leaven, like light.

Ahh, but here is the rub.  To announce socially-constructive, culturally-relevant, Biblically-directed new life, we must necessarily ask what it looks like to embody this great good news.  Christ's victory extends "far as the curse is found" (as we sang in promissory hope during Christmastide) but what in the world do we do about it?

One of the answers--besides gathering regularly to announce through Word and sacrament the truth of Death's defeat in Christ's resurrection--is to read, and to read seriously.

If we are to do more than be "hearers" of the resurrection news, but are to embody it as good citizens of God's movement, we must unlearn a lot of the old ways and relearn even more.  Our way of life in the world is informed considerably by the ideas that we hold, which is why the Bible calls for the "renewal of our minds."  We are formed as new creatures by Word and worship, but also by study.  If Christ is bringing newness to all of life, then we must study all of life.  Christian people, God's vanguard of newness, must think well about "every square inch" of our lives, and should read and learn and talk about it all.  Where should we shop? What parenting styles might we embrace? What do we think about gender assumptions, how has racism distorted our attitudes and relationships, can we possibly have Christ-like holiness amidst sexualized media? What sort of entertainments are most renewing?  How do we fruitfully embrace technology, with whom should we live, for whom should we vote, how do we think about are careers and callings?

If Christ is risen and brings renewal to all of life, and we are to be agents of reconciliation in all of life - well, we've got work to do.

The printed page has long been a tool of the trade for those wanting to learn.  Study has long been considered a spiritual discipline for those wanting to be formed into the ways of Christ. Reading widely is not only a mark of a learned person, but often of those who are the most robust, the truest lovers of life. There is a reason that nearly every book on leadership tells us to explore the world of books, to ask our mentors what to read, to commit ourselves to more rigorous reading habits.

Those of us who are swept up into Christ's agenda of bringing newness might do well to step back from public proposals and pontificating, instead committing ourselves to a season of what might be called resurrectionary research. Given that Christ is risen, what should we think about the nature of our culture (its worst idols and greatest dysfunctions; its best graces and most normative strengths?) What are the most pressing problems in our world, and what insights might come from the creation-regained worldview brought by Jesus the risen King?  Our habits of heart and the subsequent social architecture of our land must be transformed - what might the resurrection mean for that? All of this will demand considerable and concentrated thought. And we will have to be intentionally standing on the shoulders - by that, I mean reading the books of - those who have come before. Can we be agents of reformation by thinking deeply, offering well-informed glimpses of resurrection life?

Reading groups, lending libraries, study circles -- on-line and in living rooms -- will be important as we take up the task of reformulating our ideas and subsequent practices, discerning what it means to be agents of resurrected newness. We will have to think of learning as part of our mission.  Greg Jao has given us a phrase that helps us with this.  In a small book with big ideas he invites us to think about Your Mind's Mission (IVP.)  He writes,

Christian intellectual stewardship inevitably advances God's redemptive mission, as well as the acquisition of knowledge. When Christians engage a field of study's presuppositions and practices from a perspective shaped by the scriptural narrative and a biblical worldview, we reclaim the contested terrain of the academy in the same way that a gospel invitation reclaims souls of sinners...

Speaking to those with missions within higher education, he continues,

The university is not a polluted environment from which students and faculty must be rescued. Instead, the university is a valuable ecosystem of ideas and ideals, values and visions, skills and resources that must be renewed. We will beat swords into plowshares by consecrating ideas and art, technology and techniques toward human flourishing for the glory of God.

Of course, this is true for all of us, no matter where we find ourselves, or what vocations we have. As John Stott put it decades ago, "your mind matters."

If we do not ground our Christian proposals in studied conversation, shaped by habits of reading widely and deeply, we will not have substantive contributions to make, our ideas will be thin, our proposals less than adequately wise or fruitful. For the full force of resurrection power to shake the world we will need to do more than shout out the truth of the victory.  We will have to think through its implications, reading widely and deeply, unlearning and learning much, praying and working for the mind of Christ, so that we offer truly good news of healing and hope to the watching world.

There are implications to Resurrection.  One of them is that we must be readers.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com  

I know it is a bit late, but I want to commend the most recent book by United Methodist author, preacher,  scholar, Bishop William Willimon.  Thank God It's Thursday: Encountering Jesus at the Lord's Table As If for the Last Time  (Abingdon; $13.99) is a great read, interesting and helpful. Some of it is just fantastic and, I'll admit it it had me at the first sentence: "It's odd, even for the odd gospel of John."

In a colorfully imagined dialogue of Jesus and Lazarus, describing a dinner with Mary and Martha in John 12, it is noted as if in passing that Lazarus "whom he had just raised from the dead" was seated for dinner.  Willimon quips, "Lazarus whom he had just raised from the dead? Are you kidding?"

Willimon continues,

Imagine being seated at that dinner table: "You know our rabbi, Jesus, don't you?  And seated next to him is our brother Lazarus, who died last week. Thanks to Jesus, he's back among the living. No telltale grave stench, even. Please make yourself comfortable between them.

Settling uneasily in your seat, just being polite, you ask the table companion on your right, "Had a good week?"

Your fellow dinner guest replies, "Well, I was sick unto death, my sisters were frantic with worry, then I  died, was entombed  for  three days, wrapped like a mummy.  Jesus graciously stopped by the cemetery, shouted, 'Lazarus, come out!' and raised  me from the dead just in time for my sister's dinner party. How was your week?"

The guest  to your left, the young rabbi, says, "Unfortunately, no sooner had I raised Lazarus than my enemies vowed  to kill me. I give myself no more than a week before they succeed."

Where are we? Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of the Gospel of John and the holiest week of the church's year.  And welcome to the truth about what God in Jesus Christ is up to in the world. God isn't just good and great; God is on the move toward us. Jesus joins us at the table, and  whenever Jesus shows up, hold on to your hat; corpses rise from the dead,and we are shocked that God  is more active than we imagined. The predictable, dull world  is rendered strange, and even at a meal, Jesus, though unarmed, is extremely dangerous.

And then, this, sort of a preview of the ever-interesting topic of this fabulous book:

In intensifying his whole ministry at a meal, Jesus leads us into a world that is thick with subtle, secret meaning. A meal in which a piece  of bread is called "my body broken for you," a cup of wine designated as "my blood shed for you," is almost too rich a metaphorical feast. We can spend a lifetime attempting to plumb the depths of such a mystery and never exhaust, much less consume, the meaning. This book on Maundy Thursday's mysteries is meant  to increase your enjoyment of this holy mystery rather than merely explain it.

Willimon wrote decades ago a book that is still one of my very favorites on the last supper, called Sunday Dinner: The Lord's Supper and the Christian Life (Abingdon; $14.00) and it remains a great study book for small groups, a great refresher for pastors or elders. More recently, he did an good book on the last words of Jesus from the Cross called Thank God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross (Abingdon; $14.00).  I guess this one is sort of a follow up to both.

In a few rich paragraphs, Willimon tells of his love for the "luxuriant figurative world" of the gospel of John where few things are as they first appear. "In heaps of symbols, metaphors, similes, and images, John teaches us how to read the world as Christians, gradually, sign by sing, leading us into a reality we might have missed without John's words."

Augustine, you may recall, was  taught by his teacher Ambrose, how to read the Bible well, and as he learned to do this, he became a Christian leader. We must work and pray, using reason and imagination, to grow into this, too.   As Willimon writes, "God's incarnation, Jesus' act of redemption, our grand reconciliation  -- all these weighty, true, but unfathomable mysteries are on the table on Thursday."

So, in this easy to read, creatively written, but exegetically thoughtful study, we really are invited to the table, to the table where God's love is shown, and we are invited -- and challenged -- to be a part of it all.

Here is another excerpt, that will give you a sense of what is going on in this fine study.

Feet are literally the lowest, earthiest part of the body.  "To put under the feet" was a humiliating gesture of the victor over the vanquished. (Ps. 8:6)  In the ancient world, feet got dirty on dusty roads (Mark 6:11).  Washing a guest's feet was an act of highest hospitality (Genesis 18:4; Luke 7:44).  Moses removed his shoes in a holy place in order not to defile (Ex. 3:5).  To "fall at the feet" of someone is an act of humility and self-abasement (1 Sam. 25:24; Mk. 5:22).[1]  Just a few days before Maundy Thursday Mary anointed Jesus' feet (Jn. 12:1-8).
 
It's a touching gesture, washing of feet.  It's nice to see the Pope kneel and wash the feet of a young priest Maundy Thursday at the Vatican.[2]  But when Jesus arrives at the feet of Judas, I react with revulsion.  Amid all of Jesus' high sounding and loving words at the table, I almost forgot.  At the table with the Twelve, there was Judas who a short time from now will by a kiss send Jesus off to a diabolical death.

In scripture, vanquished enemies are put under the victors' feet (Josh. 10:24; Mal. 4:3).  Here at table, Jesus does a shocking reversal, placing himself under the feet of his worst enemy who also happens to be one of his good friends.

How much easier this gesture if it had been offered to the rest of the Twelve but not to Judas, if Jesus had drawn the line between the passive acquiesce with evil of the Eleven and the active betrayal of Judas.  At least the others got not a dime from their disloyalty of their master.  We wish that Jesus had waited until Judas made his exit before Jesus knelt and washed his disciples' feet.

No, there's Jesus tenderly caressing the feet of Judas as if he were the Beloved Disciple at his bosom.  Judas will shortly use those same feet to walk from the meal to sell out his Savior.  Is the foot washing John's version of Jesus' abrasive command to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44)?   Or it's John's way of having Jesus say, as he says elsewhere, "I've come to seek and to save the lost"? (Luke 15)  How much easier for us, the remaining Eleven, if Jesus had not given his life (only) for sinners and if he had not stooped down and lovingly washed the feet of Judas Iscariot.

When the Alabama legislature passed a law that penalized our citizens for giving aid, comfort, food, housing, jobs or transportation to undocumented immigrants, many churches of Alabama knew that the immigration law as an attack upon our Christ-assigned work.
As I argued with the governor (and a retired Methodist pastor turned politician who shamelessly defended the law), "Unfortunately, Jesus doesn't allow his people choose between the deserving and the undeserving poor, the documented and the undocumented homeless and hungry.  He commands us actively to love all those in need."

Some legislators replied, "But these people are illegal.  The church shouldn't be aiding and abetting law breakers."

Hey, before Jesus Christ, so far as our relationship to God was concerned, we were all illegal!  His New Covenant, given at table, documented a bunch of illicit sinners as God's beloved.  At the time I was dooking it out with our right wing, ill-advised Governor I didn't think about this Judas-foot-washing episode from John 13, but I wish I had.  If Jesus had reason to wash Judas' feet, in effect aiding and abetting his own murderer, harboring the worst of criminals at his own table, well, he'll wash anybody's feet.  Anybody's -- even mine, even the Governor's, even yours, no matter where your dirty feet have taken you.

Judas receives more attention (13:1-30) than any other person in the story other than Jesus.  Is this a warning to contemporary disciples?  Thus that great Catholic apologist for the faith, G. K. Chesterton dared to call Judas the very first Christian: "Judas Iscariot was one of the very earliest of all possible early Christians.  And the whole point about him was that his hand was in the same dish; the traitor is always a friend, or he could never be a foe."[3]  Sorry, if your idea of "Christian" is someone who has overcome the problem of sin and now sits at Jesus' table with clean hands and a spotless conscience.  Watch Jesus wash Judas' feet and repeat after me: Jesus Christ came to seek and to save sinners, only sinners.

If Judas can be thought of as the first Christian, then that also makes this supper our earliest glimpse of the church.

BookNotes

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

Thank God It's Thursday
$10.00
this week only
order here
takes you to the secure Hearts & Minds order form page
just tell us what you want

inquire here
if you have questions or need more information
just ask us what you want to know

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com

Since my first two reviews (the shorter intro here and the big column, here) of the new Rob Bell book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God (HarperOne) which we have on sale at an introductory price for just $20.00, there have been some fascinating responses. Of course there are gobs of blogs.  I've weighed in a time or two at various internet sites, and continue to worry that Christian people, not unlike others, I guess, are sometimes not very skilled in analyzing things and making fair-minded cases for or against something.  We mostly liked the book, even though it had weaknesses (properly emphasizing the nearness of God but not saying much about the holy transcendence of God; strongly proclaiming the mercy of God's grace, but not much about repentance or judgement; telling good Bible stories, but not being very didactic about how God is or isn't revealed by Scripture.) Still, the book is interesting and useful, and I don't think it deserves to be attacked in the cyncial way some have done. And some who have criticized it have dipped into accusations about the authors motives or intentions, which I think is just plain wrong.

So, again, let's play fair out there.  And don't go out alone.  Reading clubs, book groups, Sunday school classes, and prayer partners are all good places to talk about provocative books -- find somebody to read and talk with.  Read for the Kingdom, by reading in community.

In this complex matter of what we talk about when we talk about God, (or, for that matter, what we talk about when we talk about Rob Bell) a lot of thoughts have crossed my feeble brain this week. We've got bookshelves jam-packed with titles about God and theology, and I can hardly read a blog or hear an opinion of somebody about Mr. Bell and his book without thinking of other titles that might also be interesting, somewhat enlightening, fruitful or fun. 

15 BOOKS
You're a book lover or you wouldn't be following along here, so I know you're gonna love this.  Here's a list of 15 titles that I grabbed off our shelves (most of them new) that for one reason on another, are worthy of a shout-out here in March of 2013, post-Bell's new book.  Whether you like Rob Bell or not, whether you've read What We Talk About... or not, here are some more to consider adding to your collection.  I'll share a few that are quite good, not terribly academic, and tell you why they matter in this conversation.  In no particular order.  You can order them at our Hearts & Minds bookstore website order form link below at a BookNotes sale of 20% off any books mentioned.

We've shown the regular retail price.  We'll knock off the 20% discount when we process your order. Enjoy!

A Force of Will: The Reshaping of Faith in a Year of Grief  Mike Stavlund (Baker) $14.99  In his new book, Rob Bell makes  (among other things) at least one clear-headed, simple case: huge and gross human suffering may cause us to re-think God.  This is not controversial, and is a situation, leading to a quest for clarity about God which is older than Job. This new book is a ragged, honest journal kept by a missional church planting pastor whose 4 year old died. Nicholas Wolterstorff, whose own journal after the death of his son remains a quiet classic, writes of Savlund's book that it is a "gripping, unflinchingly honest, beautifully-written model  of how to live with grief in faith." As Shane Claiborne says of it, "Mike talks about pain without trying to theologize it away..." This takes some re-thinking about the ways of God with humankind, and Bell is right to invite us to this conversation. There are, sadly, many books like this and some are exquisitely well done. People who have suffered and struggled like this have much to teach us. You should read several of these kinds of books, keeping your heart tender and your mind grappling -- maybe read one of this sort of book every year if you can bear it.  Start with this.

Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth Telling  Becca Stevens (Jericho Books) $21.99  This is the memoir of a gentle and deeply spiritual writer who has previously done poetic little books about her work with homeless and abused women in her shelter/community Thistle Farms. The Very Widely Read Phyllis Tickle says it is "one of the best reads I have had in a very long time. Stevens is a consummate storyteller...poignant, persuasive, witty, wise, and, ultimately, a passionate lover of God."  Mr. Bell doesn't write about this much, but he hints at how God can bring inner healing, how Christ is alive in redemptive ways that, if we are brave and open, we can embrace all this, for our growth and restoration, in great hope.  This story is an example of just that, wounded women finding new hope. Becca Stevens is a great writer, an Episcopal priest with a radical faith and mature social conscience and she's got a truly amazing story.  Many people have been waiting for this major book for quite a while. She helps us see God alive and well in the very nitty gritty, even the sensuous; how many books, after all,  quote the Book of Common Prayer and includes recipes?  I think this is the sort of faith journey Bell would like, and you will too. You will be encouraged with this narrative and you'll want to share it with others.

Faith Interrupted: A Spiritual Journey  Eric Lax  (Knopf) $26.00  This is the sort of mature thing that anybody interested in learning about newer ways people are leaving or coming to faith, or thinking about God in smart, fresh ways, should know. It is very perceptive and a well-crafted memoir.  Many spiritual memoirs these days are either slight, new agey and esoteric, or they are mostly evangelical (some wonderfully written, others less so.)  Lax's story is neither of these and it is, by all accounts, a remarkably written, prestigious book, pondering the biggest things in ways that are interesting and sad.  It is published by one of the classiest of New York publishing houses, and carries endorsements from the likes of Elie Wiesel and Jack Miles. Some have called it "luminous" and while it is mostly about loss of faith and an unfinished story of doubt and trials, it glows and shimmers with beautiful sentences and profound ruminations. Karen Armstrong says it is "poignant, sensitive, a thoughtful memoir that illuminates the complexity of the phenomenon that we call faith and delineates its flow and ebb."  Mr. Lux, by the way, wrote an New York Times best-selling book on Woody Allen.  Who else quotes Woody alongside Augustine, Aquinas, and Anselm?  I'm surprised this book isn't better known.

Sensible Shoes: A Story About the Spiritual Journey  Sharon Garlough Brown (IVP/Crescendo) $18.00  In his new book, Rob Bell's view of God is not a distant deity, let alone  a distant one that is out to get you. God is near and gracious, alive, even in the hard times.  In this amazing new book -- a novel about Christian spirituality! -- four very different women met up at a Catholic monastery, while attending a retreat there.  They learn about spiritual disciplines and how we are formed in the ways of Jesus by these classic practices, but more, they learn to relate as honest friends on a journey together.  Hannah, Meg, Mara, and Charissa are the four women whose lives and longings unfold in this well told story. It is a perfect introduction -- or window into -- the ways in which there is a deep hunger for authentic spirituality these days.  Bell, of course, talks about this (as does Diana Butler Bass, whose exploration of spirituality outside conventional churches -- Christianity After Religion  -- is now available in paperback!) and so if you want to explore more of where all this God-is-Near talk might lead, check out this grand, great story.  Jana Riess, whose hilariously honest memoir, Flunking Sainthood is itself a great example of how to be honest and real about this stuff, writes that Sensible Shoes "provides a way for readers to vicariously dip into deep spiritual practices through the realistic struggles and joys of four women. Through emotionally resonant characters (it) encourages us to communicate with God in new ways, broadening our spiritual journey one step at a time." Ms Brown, by the way, is a pastor and spiritual director in the Evangelical Covenant Church, with a M.Div from Princeton.  Check out the book club resources at www.sensibleshoesclub.com and get some friends together.

No Argument for God: Going Beyond Reason in Conversations About Faith  John Wilkinson (IVP) $15.00  Okay, get this.  This guy works at a high-energy but pretty conservative evangelical mega-church church and teaches as an adjunct at Lancaster Bible College.  Not usually the sort of context for deconstructing rationalism and pondering how (as Scot McKnight put it) "cock-sure confidence is both admirable and annoying."  You know that Rob Bell replies nicely to the new atheists a bit in his What We Talk About When We Talk About God and he exposes the shallowness of naturalistic materialism. But he also touts mystery and "weirdness" in everything from cell biology to black holes and string theory. Nice!  So when Wilkinson says that the odd irrationality of faith is its greatest asset, because rationalism itself sets artificial limits on all that we know, well, it sounds a bit like Bell.  Logic alone cannot make us believers, and I like how McKnight calls this "a wonderful post-apologetics apologetic for an authentic faith." This is fascinating.

The Myth of Certainty: The Reflective Christian and the Risk of Commitment Daniel Taylor (IVP) $15.00  I was more than perplexed when one well respected blogger applauded a review of Bell's new book that took Bell to task for not offering enough certainty, and pulled the sophomoric tautology saying that Bell seems certain about his claim that much is uncertain.  That little skewering is maybe good for scoring points in a bull session debate in the dorm after a couple of Red Bulls, but frankly is not all that helpful or important.  This old book cuts through the foolishness, reflecting maturely and wisely about what we can know and what we can't and how one knows the difference. There is a risk to faith, to commitment, and we are called to be "reflective" about it all. I love this, and think Taylor, who has continued to write great books, is right.  Publisher's Weekly called it "splendid" and poet Luci Shaw said "I recognize myself on every page." Bash Bell if you must, but, regarding this aspect of his views at least, after you read this good book you'll feel embarrassed for having done so.

Truth Speaks to Power: The Counter-cultural Nature of Scripture  Walter Brueggemann (Westminster/John Knox) $17.00  What can I say.  There is maybe no more influential Bible scholar in our time, and it is clear that this unnerving message of how the Bible is subversive -- a counter-narrative to the powers that be -- has been important to Bell. Here, the endlessly working Bruggemann looks at a few key Bible stories, and unpacks them to surprising effect, by doing a close, political reading he comes up with some very compelling insights. He invites readers (as the back cover puts it) "into this thick complexity of textual reading, where the authority of power is undermined in cunning and compelling ways.  He insists that we are -- as readers and interpreters -- always contestants for truth." Right on.  I love his phrases such as when he asserts that the Bible presents "a sustained contestation" over truth.  Whether Bell stands in this Brueggemann-esque tradition of prophetic imagination, but this is a good example of how it works.

If you don't like Bell's reading of the Bible, I dare you to grapple with a couple of these chapters and come to see how the Scriptures can be read in closer more imaginative ways that is often done.  If you do appreciate the seriously faith-based approach that isn't fundamentalist, again, you will appreciate the exciting vistas this lover of Scripture can open.  This is a great book, quintessential B-mann.

Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God  Timothy Keller (Riverhead Books) $16.00  The earlier title of this when it was in hardback was Kings Cross.  It is now renamed and in a paperback that feels perfect in the hand. I suppose that Keller disapproves of Bell, and that I'd be on thin ice trying to link What We Think About... with the renowned pastor of Redeemer in NYC. But, no matter.  If you like Bell and want to rethink God and life and faith, you simply have to be grounded in the story of Jesus.  Bell himself says that clearly -- Christ's Kingdom coming as new creation is the narrative that captures our imaginations, no?  So, ya want to follow in the way of Jesus, because His love wins? Do it. Study up. Learn to desire Christ's reign, showing His grace. There are a dozen good books that came out in the last few years about the King and his cross.  This is a straight-arrow, very well-written study of Mark and we recommend it to one and all.

Wonder Struck: Awaken to the Nearness of God  Margaret Feinberg (Worthy) $14.99  In the new book, Mr. Bell makes a big deal in his idiosyncratic style that God is awesome. The world is crazy-awesome, too.  Maybe it does takes his paragraph long run-on poetic sentences with lots of spaces between the lines to give us space to get it, to even begin to get it -- there is something sublime about the really real, and God surely is in this place!  Okay.  He nails it, and if somebody didn't trot out the screwy accusation of pantheism, maybe he wasn't capturing adequately the wondrous, radical way God is near (as the Bible tells us, upholding all things by His Word, which itself speaks to us.) And, sure enough, Bell has been accused of pantheism, even though he says he's not falling for that age-old heresy.  But, granted, he comes close -- God is so near, so very, very close, all the day, everywhere. Is there anywhere, the Psalmist asks, where we can go where God is not?  The very stuff of creation reveals God and God's intentions to us -- Calvin Seerveld in a meditation on Psalm 19 in the first chapter of Rainbows for the Fallen World calls it "God's glossolalia." So, Bell reminds us of how great the world is, and how God is near it all and why we should pay attention.

Do you really know that?  My, my, if not, then you need this wonderful, evocative, beautiful book -- at once chatty and majestic -- by a woman who knows God intimately, loves the Scriptures (she "turns exegesis into an art" says Ed Stetzer), and is awestruck by God's very holy presence.  The first chapter is about the auraora borealis and hooked me the first time I read it. (I've read most of this book twice, now!) Margaret is filled with the Holy Spirit in ways that, it seems, have given her new eyes to see -- really see --  the wonder all around.  Is this a book about being struck by the wonder of creation? Or the wonder of our Creator-God and beloved Redeemer?  Yes!  Yes to both!  It is a moving book that will teach you how to know God and how to appreciate creation. It will get under your skin. (Bob Goff says "you can't read this book and remain the same.") The famous Jewish theologian, Bible scholar and peace activist, Abraham Heschel, once famously described his prayer by saying "I asked for wonder!"  This popular writer, who has been through quite a lot, as she shares in this book full of stories from her own quite interesting life, has too.  As Nancy Ortberg puts it, "Margaret recenters wonder at the heart of our relationship with God with seismic results. This book shook my soul awake and made it impossible for me to continue following a God of my own design."  Have you (as Feinberg puts it) "misplaced marvel"? Do you need God to wake you up? That is surely what is behind much of the attraction to What We Talk About When... This joyful read can help. By the way, there is a great 30-day guide in the back, too, which will help you process the material. And a soundtrack.  Go, go Margaret!

Breaking Old Rhythms: Answering the Call of a Creative God  Amena Brown (IVP/Crescendo) $15.00  Bell is edgy and hip but he isn't just trying to be cool when he talks about God the creator as being active and creative.  We are made in God's own image so humans, too, are active, creative beings. (And, as he points out, we live in an visual era, where aesthetics and design and the environment matter.)  This recent book by hip hop spoken word poet Amena Brown isn't a treatise on the arts, let alone dance, but it does play with that image and metaphor. (Michael Gungor the singer-song writer and worship musician says "Amena Brown uses words to fill the soul like music.") She clearly is a gifted wordsmith, a young woman of color, poet, speaker, and organizer. She explains to us in helpful ways that God is love, and that God's love carries us beyond our rhythms into a fuller, more fulfilling life. But that is just the beginning -- she invites us to dance, sing, clap, breathe, live. We can so this! As the exciting communicator and author Jo Saxton says -- "Breaking Old Rhythms reminds us of God's passion to rewrite the soundtracks of our lives with faithful, redemptive love. Warm, poignant and deeply soulful, Amena Brown invites us into her story, showing us how to let god and embrace God. Spoken word, indeed."  Hey, she has 25 songs listed in the back, too, that have helped her break old rhythms. For men or women who want to experience fresh ways of knowing God and living into God's work in the world, this is a gem.

Four Views on Divine Providence  edited by Stanley Gundry (Zondervan) $19.99  I am sure you are aware at how complex this topic is, and that while Bell didn't exactly weigh in on this, it has to come up in any conversation about God, or what the Bible shows us about God.  Is God sovereign? What does that mean? Are all things superintended by Divine Providence? Here are four very interesting positions, each offered and then critiqued by the other three contributors. Paul Kjoss Helseth believes that the Bible teaches that "God Causes All Things" and William Lane Craig believes that "God Directs All Things." The third chapter is by Ron Highfield, and his position is that "God Controls by Liberating" and Gregory Boyd posits that "God Limits His Control." These Counterpoints books by Zondervan (some other publishers do them, too) give us splendid ways to learn, to hear the various views and to wrestle with the rebuttals and critiques. This is like a seminary class, for a couple of bucks. Sure Bell has stirred the pot a bit.  Ha, but his brief book, nice as it is, offers, on this topic, mostly kid's stuff, though. This offers sustained and serious debate. Join in and try to determine what you believe. From election to theodicy to knowing how to pray and what to say during times of grief or discernment, this matters. Sure, there are deep mysteries here, but this book explores the sovereignty of God in important ways.

Three Free Sins: God's Not Mad At You  Steve Brown (Howard) $14.99  It is understandable, I guess, when some people accuse Rob Bell of being theologically liberal. Perhaps he is.  But this fine book is written by a doctrinally conservative, impeccably evangelical Reformed elder statesman.  He was a pastor for 25 years and is Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Reformed Theological Seminary.  He's written tons of books (and runs one crazy-wild, upbeat syndicated talk show called Steve Brown, Unlimited that proves that while he is doctrinally stuffy, he's also open-minded, unflappable, and very engaging.) The subtitle of this says "The Reason We're So Bad Is That We're Trying So Hard to Be Good."  Let that sink in! (Any Lutheran readers out there? You get that, eh?)  This book is funny, powerful, and although Bell is considered suspect when he says stuff like this, Brown rightfully gets a hearing because he is well grounded in very solid theology and has real gospel-centered pastoral concerns.  I can't say enough about this great book. If you don't like Bell, please read it.  If you do like Bell, please read it.

Surprised By Meaning: Science, Faith, and How We Make Sense of Things Alister McGrath (Westminster/John Knox) $17.00 Alister McGrath is one of the most respected and prolific theological writers of  our time (and his new bio of C.S. Lewis, btw, is getting rave reviews!) His first PhD was in the sciences although he is now a teacher of theology at the prestigious King's College in London. He has written widely in theology, cultural studies, apologetics, church history, spirituality, and science. This recent one is such a vital, useful work because he is asking something Rob Bell approaches -- how do we seek, name, and construe meaning? What is the role of religion in a scientific/technological culture? What can we know, and what is God like, given what we know?  Catholic scientist John Haught of Georgetown writes "McGrath provides a crisp, readable, and deeply personal witness to Christian faith in an age of science... Those who have been taken captive by the extravagant claims of Richard Dawkins will find here a fresh and reasonable alternative."  As you know, this is part of the urgency of Bell's project and those "taken captive" are part of his intended audience.  This goes deeper and could be even more helpful.

Science & Its Limits: The Natural Sciences in Christian Perspective  Del Ratzsch (IVP) $18.00  As you hopefully recall, I mostly raved about how Rob Bell, in What We Talk About When We Talk About God, does a very enjoyable take-down of the contemporary gods of scientism, his invitation to realize that we live in a perplexing world that surely cannot be described solely in secular, scientific terms.  Rejecting a faith/science conflict, but also rejecting reductionistic scientism, he nicely hints at what I can only call a philosophy of science.  Okay, there, I said it. This is, in my opinion, the best introduction to that important topic, the philosophy of science.  Alvin Plantinga, whose heavy weight Oxford University Press book on this topic (Where the Conflict Really Lies) says of this one that "Ratzsch is eminently successful."  Professor Ratzsch is also the author of The Battle  for Beginnings: Why Neither Side is Winning the Creation-Evolution Debate (IVP.) If you were taken by Bell's Everything Is Spiritual DVD and especially if you were struck by his exciting teaching about science and scientism, you have to go further.  Read this. 

Permission Granted (and other thoughts on living graciously among sinners and saints) Margot Starbuck (Baker) $14.99  You should know that I have a little fan-crush on this gal, and Beth and I have hosted her in Dallastown where she did a fabulous job speaking and reading from her first two books.  She's a feisty writer and at times exceptionally moving. (Her memoir The Girl In The Orange Dress is a must-read!) Starbuck a funny speaker, an insightful leader, and a hippy-ish leader-ish of the Presby-emergent sort. Or something like that.  She is a grand wordsmith and can tell a story like nobody's business. And she is passionate about serving Jesus in the guise of others. This new book tries to grant us permission to lighten up, to love everybody, to cross over and reach out and find ourselves with new friends who maybe aren't in our little Christian circle.  Her previous book accomplished this fantastically -- we raved about Small Things With Great Love (IVP) and this more or less keeps going. And keeps us going.  We don't just love the poor and hurting and needy, we must reach out to those who are excluded and judged and despised. It is, as you can surmise, a book about grace.  Holy-moley, this is powerful, energetic, enjoyable (and convicting.) We need these kinds of books that help us live into this vision of sharing God's love with others, becoming the sort of people we know our Lord wants us to be, kind and good.  We really need to know what graciousness looks like. Margot is a godsend with her tales and reports from the journey.  Do I need to tell you that this is a good part of Rob Bell's vision, that his book points us towards this?  I really don't know exactly what Rob believes and I don't know what Margot would say about it, but if you are a fan of the kind of God Bell describes in What We Talk About... you will love this guidebook to taking steps towards living it out.  If you are suspicious of some grand re-think of the attributes of God, why not just read this? See what happens. Learn to love others like Christ, reaching out to those excluded, showing mercy.  God will be there, I promise.  Margot is a sure guide. Maybe this is what we should talk about when we talk about God.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com  

It was two years ago that I wrote pages and pages and pages (and pages and more pages) in several long posts (and a short video podcast of me preaching about it a bit.) The first few were merely preface to my eventual ruminations on the controversial Rob Bell book Love Wins (now out in paperback, HarperOne; $14.99.)  After a column or two about civility and not complaining about books one hasn't read, I eventually told what I appreciated and what I found troublesome about Rob's book.  I listed some others, too, that would be helpful if one were studying the question of hell -- some that went further in the direction he was apparently heading, and some that were quite critical, early volumes written in response to Love Wins.  Anyway, it was interesting to see the diversity of customers we have, some who felt like I was too wordy, some that said my rambling reflections themselves should have been published as an ebook, claiming it was the best thing they read about what somebody called Bellapalloza.  I think I ended up writing more words about the dust-up and book than were actually in the book.  

I am not going to do that again,  although I've still got my concerns about the civility matter.

I wanted to slyly call this part "What We Talk About When We Talk About What We Talk About When We Talk About God."  Funny, huh? Okay, maybe not. But you read it here first, though, since somebody surely is going to pull that one.


I do have a few preliminary things to say but first I am glad to announce that we've got the new Rob Bell book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God (HarperOne; regularly $25.99) offered at an introductory sale price of $20.00. You can order it by clicking on the order from link, below.

This new book (which I have read cover to cover) is really, really interesting and explores a lot of material, although -- given his poetic style and sentences that are set apart like separate paragraphs  -- it can be read nearly in one sitting. We are happy to sell it.  It isn't a perfect book, and there are a few things about which I really wished he would have been just a tad clearer.  There were a couple of pages that bored me (but will surely thrill a science geek.)  One or two phrases, I think, were off-base, or at least could be misconstrued.  But a whole lot was fantastic -- much of it really good, quite helpful, very interesting, and Biblically solid in the things that he is actually teaching about. One early reviewer said it was incoherent, that he couldn't figure out what Bell was saying, and I have no idea why he said that, as the book is mostly quite clear, or so it seemed to me.  So, it is indeed a good book, if at times allusive, even mysterious, and even if it leaves some matters unresolved. (It is about GOD, after all -- what do you expect? Put Him in a box? I think that's been tried, and, in fact, Bell has a few pages on the whole Temple era, the curtain being torn, Jesus saying "I am the temple" and the like No, it will not do to reduce God to a formula, a list of attributes, flatten out the Mystery; no serious theologian or lover of God wants that.)  But before I tell you a bit more about why I commend it and invite you to consider reading it for yourself, a few introductory remarks.

NO BOOK IS PERFECT
No book is perfect. No matter what theological camp you are in, you have your favorite writers who explain things well, or advocate for certain ways of thinking and who offer a contribution to your perspective.  But, of course, none of them, humans that they are, get it fully right, and no author is infallible. So why denounce with such venom those you don't like, as if they have to be impeccable? Every book is flawed. So what? We always recommend books presuming that you know that there are errors, gaps, lapses, and sometimes pretty stupid gaffes and that readers must learn to interact with the printed page with open-minded but critical thinking. Good, friendly discussion among trusted friends is great, and provocative books sometimes make the best conversation partners.  I want books to be stimulating, fruitful, interesting, charming, beautiful, challenging, helpful, but don't expect them to be perfect.  You may want to critique Rob Bell -- and the hollering about this new one has already begun in some quarters, again, based mostly on a promo video -- but do recall that he doesn't suggest that his are the final words.  He is a bit edgy, sort of experimental, and should be read with the proverbial grain of salt.  Some authors, by the way, on the left and right, do not come across so provisionally, and they almost suggest that if you don't agree with them, you are seriously flawed. They want to you take their words as gospel.  And they should get over themselves.  While Bell perhaps isn't the most humble man in publishing today, there is a playfulness to his work that suggests he is aware that he's floating ideas and giving it his best shot at this point in his thought process, inviting you to investigate some notions and try them on for size.  I like his passion and his earnest commitment to helping us think things through, even as he makes jokes -- and some are really funny, if you're paying attention -- and doesn't take himself too seriously.

Bell does take his core readers seriously, interacting with questions he's been asked, responding to heart-rending episodes he's witnessed as a pastor, bearing witness to God's presence in the midst of some pretty horrible stuff. So I respect his intentions, which counts for a lot; he isn't in a safe enclave where everyone colors inside the lines, after all, and he works with those who are often questioning, intellectually energetic, and often alienated from conventional churches. He is trying to give an honest answer to those with honest questions.  Having said that, take him up, read him generously, and realize that he doesn't have to say everything in the world that needs said; he doesn't even have to say everything that needs saying about this topic.  Don't judge him for the book he didn't write or the things he neglects to say, but engage what he does say.  I think you just might find it fascinating, helpful, important, and fun.  
 
READ WIDELY, WITH DISCERNMENT
You know we believe in reading widely, with Biblically-informed discernment.  There are insights from old Puritans and there are insights from modern process theologians; we read old books and new ones, traditionalists and oddballs, Christian writers and non-Christians, too.  I trust that in recommending What We Talk About When We Talk About God to our readers you know that this is not the only theological book we recommend. We trust it is not the only theological book you will read. It is part of the puzzle, and may prove helpful in forming your ideas, but, obviously, you should read more, including those from other camps, with other styles. But do see this as a portal to more learning.  Bell himself says this. He has a child-like curiosity and has spent a few years reading very widely to prepare for this book -- he told me a bit about it when I was with him two years ago, with great glee about what he was learning, and I've been jazzed thinking about it since.

He has a fabulous set of endnotes exclaiming about stuff he recommends for further study -- he loves this book, suggests that TED talk, reminds you of this author or that website, and suggests this chapter of that book!  Man, he's energetic as a teacher and thought-promoter -- an evangelist of ideas -- so he'd agree that any given book is only a doorway to other books.  That doesn't earn him a pass from criticism nor does it mean you needn't critique bad books, but it does relativize things a bit -- it is what it is, one piece of the puzzle. I spent a good chunk of my Love Wins posts reviewing what Bell had contributed in his previous body of work and why his earlier insights were important, so don't forget that, either. There is some context to these things. (I still think, by the way, that his second book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians [HarperOne paperback; $14.99] is vastly under-appreciated and may still be his best work; his very short book on suffering and creativity, Drops Like Stars [HarperOne paperback; $12.99] is very evocative, and a beautiful essay. )
 
WORRIED? TWO THINGS
If you are worried that we are leading people astray, I suggest two things. 

Firstly, read What We Talk About When We Talk About God for yourself before fretting or gossiping, because, really, this is fascinating stuff, even a bit radical, but nothing that is going to lead people away from Christ.  Disregard any wild accusations saying that he is a pantheist (that is, one who believes that God is in all things, a heresy which he specifically repudiates.) Disregard those who are offering a literalistic reading of his Oldmobile metaphor in the promo video -- he isn't saying God is old-fashioned and needs to be gussied up for the 21st century. Some bloggers are just embarrassing themselves with false accusations of this sort.  It is not as controversial as some may presume it will be -- but if, after reading it,  it is seen as provocative, so be it; I think he is on to some good insights here, even if I might have said it (wouldn't we all?) a bit more prosaically.  Anyway, as Francis Schaeffer used to say, we should value the critics of traditional expressions of faith if they are asking good questions, even if they don't have all the answers, and there is no doubt that Bell is asking good questions. 

Secondly, again, don't overstate the detrimental role of one short book.  It is rare that one book will ruin somebody, so lighten up a bit. There are other things people should read and this book can be supplemented with other books, other essays, other authors. Even if you don't like Bell's tone or conclusions, talking through it with a friend or in a small group could be very fruitful.  Look up the Biblical texts he cites; get a Bible dictionary and study his occasional, but important, use of Hebrew and Greek.  Come on, open your mind, grapple with his contributions, give him a chance.  If you are that concerned about the dangers of being open-minded or don't yet feel confident enough in your knowledge of orthodox faith to engage creatively proposed ideas about God, and consider yourself a "weaker brethren" well, then, don't read it. We will graciously understand.  But for heaven's sake, don't think ill of those who can handle reading interesting stuff that may be a bit new or think ill of us for suggesting that many readers of contemporary books will find this worthwhile, enjoyable and inspiring.
 
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE? WHEN YOU READ IT WHO COMES TO MIND?
I am not sure who this book is really written for, but I immediately thought of several friends as I read it. The stuff about science, the bits about God's nearness, the good news of Christ being for us -- certain folks came to mind who I think need this said for them in this fresh manner.  I invite you to read it, prayerfully wondering if it would be the right resource for someone you know.

It seems to me that a good bit of it is offered to those who have given up on God, who are secular, rationalist, who, due to their interest in science, think that exploring faith is somehow lacking in intellectual credibility.  I will tell you more later about what Bell covers, the moves he makes to address this narrowing of what really counts, but you might guess that he critiques Enlightenment rationalism and scientism. That is, there are other things going on out there and within us, that we are not be able to measure as scientific data, and our most astute scientists and observers of the cosmos know it.  So, it is good for seekers, or those who need to have their faith in scientism shaken a bit.

I suspect it will appeal to anyone tired of fundamentalisms or who wants a more generous view of God and God's presence in their daily lives then they hear from the religious right. Some people you know (maybe you, yourself) have been burned by toxic sorts of faith and this could be a real life-line for them, for you. Social sciences (and your own experience, if you have conversations with non-church folk) tells us that there are many people interested in spirituality and God, even if they recoil from what they think God is like, based on stuff they may have heard in churches or from ill-informed Christians. This book could help them.

Actually, if you think you have God and God's involvement with the world all figured out (that is, if you are a fairly mature, traditional Christian, confident and impatient with those who are asking big questions about what we can know about the nature of God) read Bell -- he'll shake you up in a good way.  If you aren't sure that the idea of God can fit with our modern times and are vexed, read Bell -- he'll shake you up in a good way, too.  If you are a person who just wonders about the appeal of this hipster surfer dude with an artsy bohemian sensibility, by all means, read Bell.  In many ways he is a master communicator, taking remarkably complex things (in this case everything from astronomy and astrophysics to eucharistic theology and the divine nature of Jesus) and making them interesting, understandable, and relevant. And what a storyteller!  No wonder he has such a following -- he's fun to listen to and captivating to read, if you enjoy creative communicators with punchy illustrations. I wish more preachers would study him, if only to learn how to communicate with certain sorts of young adult thinkers these days.

By the way, the cover is incredibly retro, isn't  it?  I'm not a fan, but I don't like the comeback of mustaches and corny caps on the hipster men in indie bands these days, either.  There is an aesthetic going on here, and it is chosen for a reason. It may not be your style, but that may be just the reason to have it on your desk, grandpa.

SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE
As I wrote in the prolegomenon to my review of Love Wins, we are called to speak the truth in love.  There is nothing wrong with being critical or disagreeing with how an author says something.  In fact, if they are teaching nonsense, then somebody should call them out on it.  But we must do this with great care, firstly making sure we properly understand what is at stake, and then never demeaning or mocking another person made in God's image. (There is a place for sarcasm in some settings, too, I think, but, again, we must be careful and honorable.)  To speak in love means we are to give the benefit of the doubt, not presume the worst, read generously, and write kindly.  I find it helpful to say what we like about a book before we say what we find disconcerting. That is, we are to be civil in our debates and not go for the jugular. 

Similarly, by the way, those who like Bell and are irritated that some don't appreciate him, should also be generous to his critics.  Not everybody who takes issue with some of his approaches or conclusions are haters and we should be careful not to caricature those who rebuke him. It is fair to push back against critics, but, again, be civil and fair-minded, presuming the best about their intentions. (You know those who are beyond the pale of civil discourse and are not interested in the edifying give and take of healthy conversation and I have learned the hard way that they should be avoided.) 

Look: some fans are not too discerning, and we might wish they were a bit more critical. Some critics are mean-spirited and nasty and we might wish they'd just shut up.  But most readers (certainly Hearts & Minds friends and customers) are not thoughtless loyalists or fundamentalist meanies.  So -- both sides! -- if you find yourself using those kind of cheap stereotypes and speaking with needless hostility, take it elsewhere. 

I'll tell you more about why I like the book in my next BookNotes column, but don't wait for me. It is an important book, it is interesting, and we've got it on sale, now.  You might be called upon to enter the conversation, so why wait?  Order it today. 

AND join Rob at a live streaming book launch event, Tuesday evening, March 12th.  You can tune into watch "Live from the powerHouse Arena" in Brooklyn, NY at 7PM EST. (That would be 4PM on the West Coast.)? Join the conversation via USTREAM at www.robbelllive.com.

                   Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown, PA  17313     717-246-3333
                                                            read@heartsandmindsbooks.com