• I hope you saw the big monthly column for February “Three Take Away Points from the Great Jubilee 2012“, an annual rumination I offer about the Jubilee conference, held last week in Pittsburgh.  It would make us glad if you read it.

In case you didn’t see it, or saw it and your eyes glazed over, here’s the gist in a few quick points.

• CCO is awesome and Jubilee is awesomer.  If you like Hearts & Minds, you may want to know more about them.
• We think reading about this not only helps you appreciate who we are and what we’re about –the story we are a part of, and you, too, if you’re a friend or fan—but there are some take-away points to learn, which can be applied anywhere.  Yep, we gave ya take-away points.
• Take away one: don’t give up on the ideas of worldview and the implications of a storied view of the Bible.  That creation-fall-redemption-restoration stuff unlocks a lot and that story is where it’s at. I listed a bunch of books about story and worldview and they are good and could be transforming for you. 
• Prior to Jubilee is an event called Jubilee Professional, for adults in the workworld and marketplace and hearing them scheme about promoting a Christian view of work and praying for the city is really, really exciting.  To summarize take-away two: Amy Sherman’s book rocks.  Yes it does.
• CCO’s relational ministry was such a delight to see as para-church staff guide students around the booths and informational tables full of ministry options, graduate studies programs, summer work options, helping them consider big stuff about their lives.  Take- away three, part A: are you networking those who you are mentoring/guiding/teaching/pastoring in relational and visionary ways?  Good news is meant to be shared and some of us should redouble our efforts talking it up.  
• Many CCO staff bought books for students, guided them through our huge display, set up appointments for their young friends to talk to Beth or me as we helped them choose resources for the journey.  Again, this relational way of resourcing, hand-selling books, is what CCO does well and what we are all about.  Do you use books in your ministry?  Do you agree that readers can become leaders?  That leaders must be readers? Are you eager to honor God by learning well what a Christian perspective looks like in various spheres of life?  (Can you do that without the habits of reading widely and well?)  That  CCO and Jubilee have long emphasized nurturing the Christian mind and the importance of reading is one of the reasons they are effective. It’s not that they are super-intellectual, but just that they know how to use books.  That was take-away part three, part B.
• Everything is 30% off  (through March 1st) and we have a free book offer, too, to thank you for caring about this thing we do.
  

So there ya go. I said it much better in the long version, named a bunch of authors and books, let you in on some cool trivia (like how Francis Schaeffer learned the stuff he did, which trickled over to CCO in the 70s–a powerful story involving a Dutch FBI guy, an art historian and a Nazi POW camp.)  We highlighted a few books that seemed to anchor and shape the Jubilee vision and showed some examples of random ones—Christian insights on fields from sports to science—that we featured at the Jubby conference book display.  Check ’em out, buy some books, encourage some new book clubs or study groups, and keep this conversation going.

HERE ARE SOME MORE TITLES at 30% OFF FROM OUR POST-JUBILEE BONANZA.  THESE ALSO GET THAT FREE BOOK DEAL.

Glimpses of a Greater Glory: A Devotional Through the Storyline of the Bible  David H. Kim (Gotham Fellows) $13.99  A good portion of my February column about Jubilee was, in fact, about how the Bible is one coherent story, and how that shapes our own worldview, placing us in the plot of God’s work in the world.  This is a rare, remarkable devotional guide, with short introductions, helpful Bible selections, and a closing prayer for each day from someone in church history, such as Johannes Kepler, St. Francis, William Temple and so many more.  Also, there is a lovely b/w reproduction of an art piece to illustrate each lesson (great, great stuff there, Michelangelo and Caravaggio and anonymous Russian icons and medieval etchings.)  Kim is the director of the Gotham Fellows program at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC and a friend of the CCO and Jubilee.  His “reformational worldview” is evident as he teases out the full-orbed redemption promised and fulfilled in the plot of the Scriptures.  This draws you to God and His grace and invites you to consider how to apply the Scripture’s story wisely to your life.  Nice blurbs on the back from Tim Keller and Richard Mouw.

Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit Luci Shaw (Nelson) $13.99  The lovely Ms Shaw has been a blessing to many of us who are interested in mature thinking about faith and creativity, and we always take her many poetry volumes to places like Jubilee.  This is a very nice book, loaded with Biblical reflections personal stories, energizing insights and down-to-earth practical advice for aspiring writers or artists of any sort. There are discussion questions and there are writing exercises, too.  We had a huge display of arts-related titles at Jubilee (all of Square Halo Books, for instance, and heavy books by Calvin Seerveld and Mako Fujimura and more.)  This one is always popular and we are happy to offer it here on sale, now.

Faith and Other Flat Tires: A Memoir  Andrea Palpant Dilley foreword by Jerry Sittser (Zondervan) $14.99   You will be hearing more about this later, but you should know that this memoir is a moving, well-told story of the daughter of missionaries who goes off to a thoughtful, evangelical college and finds that despite great professors and some cool classmates, she drifts towards doubt and skepticism, asking big questions about the world’s suffering, conflicted about the painful culture shock of being a “third culture” kid.  She reads great literature, encounters great poverty back in Africa for a season, becomes a fan of all sorts of bohemian cafes,  alt films and indie rock music—the music is a good part of the story—and yet she finally gives up faith altogether.  As you may guess, she recovers her beliefs and lives to tell about it.  In another review perhaps I will say why I think everyone who mentors young people, and especially anyone who works at a Christian college, should ponder her journey of faith, as it is nicely writt
en and more honest than you sometimes get from religious biography.  I know you know people like this, and I know you care.  Still, this is insightful, entertaining, even as it is at times nearly gut-wrenching. The Jubilee conference offers an intellectually stimulating environment that pushes students towards faithful cultural engagement; I wonder if Ms Palpant Dilley would have found our instincts and ethos, rooted in doctrines of common grace, at all satisfactory.  Perhaps not.  Her story is not uncommon, and I can tell you I met students last week whose story sounded a lot like hers. I pray we can offer the sort of robust and relevant faith that rings true for them.  Visit her at www.andreapalpantdilley.com. 

Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion  Mark Pinsky (Alban Institute) $18.00  Pinksy is a great journalist (and author of The Gospel According to the Simpsons, amongst others.)  Pennsylvania’s own former First Lady, the honorable and remarkable advocate for those with disabilities, Ginny Thornburgh, wrote a good foreword.  This collects all kinds of stories from churches and synagogues which have shown great goodness by working out ways to be more inclusive and just when thinking about special needs.  This was displayed at Jubilee for special ed majors, of course, but any church leader would benefit from seeing these innovations for (as Joel Hunter says of it) “real love in action.”

The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in Our Fine-Tuned World  Karl Giberson (IVP) $16.00  There are a number of superb endorsements on the back of this brand new book, from Dorothy Boores, a biology prof from Gordon College to Randy Isaac of the prestigious American Scientific Affiliation to Ed Davis, the esteemed Professor of the History of Science at Messiah College (who notes that it is a “clear, accurate, interesting account of modern cosmology.”)  Giberson is a theistic evolutionist and colleague with the famous N.I.H. director Francis Collins, but here he offers evidences for a designed universe, journeying on a cosmic expedition “of planets and protons, galaxies and gamma rays” to discover the wonder of it all.  Serious, learned, and truly lovely, with lots of pull quotes, illustrations, photos, some even in glorious color.

The Greater Goal: Connecting Purpose and Performance: How to Align Your Entire Organization for Shared Success  Ken Jennings & Heather Hyde (Barrett-Koehler) $16.95  These are new Pittsburgh friends and am I ever glad I got to show this at the Jubilee book table.  If you are a business manager or work on any sort of leadership team (even at a nonprofit or church) this imaginative fable will be hard to put down! I guarantee you that you will learn something new, be inspired to take helpful actions, and be equipped to get others “on board” with the dream you envision.  Ken co-wrote 10,000 Horses and The Serving Leader with John Stahl-Wert, who I gave a shout out to in the previous post for his leading role in Jubilee Professional.  If you want to achieve your goals together, this is how to get fully aligned for, as they put it, “shared success.”

Everyday Missions: How Ordinary People Can Change the World  Leroy Barber (IVP; likewise) $15.00 When I saw my stack of these brand new books here at the shop when we got back after Jubilee I was so bummed: Leroy has been at Jubilee bunches of times and his Mission Year is a staple when we think of opportunities for students to do serious service for the urban poor.  We are one of the very few bookstores that stock Barber’s brilliant little collection of urban meditations and full-color photos, the New Neighbor. This brand new book shows that God keeps showing up and we are given plenty of opportunities to respond.  Endorsements on the back are a who’s who of great missional leaders, from Shane Claiborne to Bob Lupton to Chris Heuertz.  Margaret Feinberg notes that Barber “dreams big dreams for our generation—dreams that have the power and potential to change the world forever.”  Kudos to Leroy.  We’ll push this wherever we can…

Body Broken: Can Republicans and Democrats Sit in the Same Pew? Charles Drew (New Growth Press) $15.99  At Jubilee we often promote Drew’s amazing book on purpose and passion and vision and vocation, A Journey Worth Taking. (It was in the “recommended readings” of the beautiful conference program book.) This is a brand new re-issue of an earlier (and long out of print)  book of his entitled A Public Faith: Bringing Personal Faith to Public Issues which I’ve always appreciated for its lack of breathy rhetoric, its calm and reasoned ways.  Dr. Drew wisely reminds us of keeping first things first (our focus on Christ and unity in Him) and shows how to keep our political and cultural efforts humble and open-minded.  He values expressions of social concern and affirms that we should care about political activism but wants to be sure that those efforts don’t become ideological and thereby divisive in the local congregation.  The book went out of print years ago because it was, perhaps, ahead of its time.  The new title helps, I think, and today’s students resonate with this call for civility and grace.  It is going to be important in the months ahead, you know.  By the way, students cheered as I described from up front Richard Mouw’s must-read book on Christian civility, Uncommon Decency.

A Place at the Table: 40 Days of Solidarity with the Poor  Chris Seay (IVP) $13.99  Published with the support of Compassion International and Living Water International, this call to fast each day for 40 days is truly extraordinary.  Nothing quite like it in print as it richly combines deep and solid spiritual reflections, great stories of mission and empowerment, and a bit of prophetic cultural critique, naming consumerism as a false idol that can best be dethroned by a renewed commitment to Christ’s sufficiency.  This is a great book.  We sold a few of the cool DVD at Jubilee, as well.  Very highly recommended, for Lent or any time.

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Pocket Edition)  Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (Zondervan) $12.99  You may know the bigger, wonderful hardback liturgical prayer book by this title that
these guys released a year ago.  This abridged version is a paperback one which is just the size of a mass market paperback, thin and easy to carry, and still loaded with daily prayers, Scriptures, good quotes and songs. It is to be used on the go, on the street, in hospitals or jails, in meetings, certainly with others, or in the quiet of your own prayer space.  It is interesting to me not only how rich these liturgical traditions are, but how so many younger evangelicals hunger for resources like this.  Very nicely done.

Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture  Jonathan Morrow (Zondervan) $16.99  Jubilee is so fast-paced and hectic that I just don’t have time to show many of even the most useful book to as many people as I wish I could.  I love the title of this, for starters.  Once you see this, I’m sure some will find it immensely useful.  There are chapters on understanding this whole “intersection” and a major part on “preparing to engage.”  Each solid chapter includes a good interview with somebody who is a specialist in a particular field–the more general early chapters include pieces by Kelly Monroe Kullberg of Veritas Forum, Reggie Joiner, and the amazingly thoughtful Kyle Strobel (on having integrated and Christ-shaped spiritual formation.)  Part three includes chapters (and more interviews) on areas we simply must engage, thoughtfully and with great discernment—from matters of tolerance and relativism to media, God’s design for sex, injustice, faith in the public square, science, bioethics, environmental stewardship and such.  I am grateful for this conservative, thoughtful, rigorous guide to basic Christian thinking even if I may find that it tilts a little too traditionalist in some areas for my taste. (I’m really appreciative of the intelligent design movement, but think their dismissal of other voices is a bit glib; I would have been more passionate about a few things, maybe less certain about others, such as  the role of conventional views of apologetics in some others.)  Still, looking at the diverse footnotes and the many great websites offered for further study after each chapter, I realize this is a heck of a useful resource for anyone just learning to emerge from an insular or fundamentalist wariness of culture to a more active ministry of cultural engagement. Worried that this Jubilee talk about transforming culture will lead to an old school liberal social gospel unhinged from historic orthodoxy or that we will create a watered-down piety?  This will ease those fears, I’m sure.

Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction  Richard Mouw  (Eerdmans) $16.00  You’ve heard about Kuyper plenty and I’ve touted this book a lot.  I like what Jamie Smith says of it:  “This marvelous little book pulls off an astounding feat: though it is both compact and accessible, it also gives us the whole Kuyper…. Mouw, with typical wit and warmth, introduces us to Kuyper in all his multifaceted richness.  A gift for the next generation.”  Come on, people.  If you liked Mouw at Jubilee (or the great link I offered to his Houghton College talk) and you wonder  “How does a guy come up with this good stuff?” this could be your answer.  I’m telling you, there’d be no Jubilee as we know it if it weren’t for this early 20th century Dutch statesman and theological figure.  I praise the Lord for Dr. Mouw’s delightful, important introduction.

Free at Last?: The Gospel in African American Experience Carl Ellis (IVP) $21.00 Speaking of how Jubilee got to be Jubilee, old timers know that even before the conference was called Jubilee, a strong, evangelical, urban preacher named Tom Skinner was influential in CCO collegiate gatherings.  John Perkins has been a long-time friend of the CCO (so much so that a bit about Pittsburgh appears in his thick biography, published a few years back.)  One of the other long-standing, African-American leaders —  sharp and passionate and faithful friend of the COO, has been one Carl Ellis, Jr. Carl spoke at Jubilee again this year. This great book has been used by CCO in its staff training over the years and while Jubilee delightfully bears witness to God’s concern for a wide array of ethnicities and happily talks about multi-cultural reconciliation, there is little doubt that the history of the black struggle in America remains a major part of US and church history that must be told.  This is an evangelical classic, important, readable, helpful.  We are pleased to commend it, confident that it will be good for you to have it.

What is Vocation?  Stephen J.  Nichols (Presbyterian & Reformed) $3.99  This may have been one of the biggest sellers at Jubilee, in part because it is so inexpensive, and such a fine, fine overview of the basic call to serve God in our jobs and callings. It has a fantasic, glossy cover and is typeset well, but is only 32 pages and nicely staple-bound.  (Kudos to P&R for this whole series of “Basics of the Faith” booklets.  This is so nicely done, very, very relevant for anyone, written by a friend from Lancaster Bible College.  This is very highly recommended. At the discounted price, you should buy a bunch and pass ’em out at your church or — if you dare –at your workplace.

Go to Church Change the World: Christian Community as Calling  Gerald J. Mast (Herald Press) $13.99  This is another one that I would have loved to have had slow, caring conversations about.  I name it here just to show you that the Jubilee book table, while it emphasizes helping students live out their faith in their studies and careers, and holds up examples of wholistic ministries tackling the most urgent problems of the day, also offers a section on church to remind students that being a part of a local congregation is essential. I really like this book because of the spunky title and the way it offers a pretty wide view of God’s Kingdom coming (in all of culture and each area of life) but that we are most clearly reminded of that in the worshipping, local body.  It is from an Anabaptist (Mennonite) author whom I trust, and it was a delight to see Serving Leaders/Jubilee Pro leader John Stahl-Wert offering an endorsing blurb on the back.   Calvin College prof (and author of a fabulous little book on vocation and callings and another we featured on communication theory, Quentin Schultze, notes, “This book warmly, wisely, and humbly proclaims what every Christian needs to hear today –that we are called to celebrate the good news in community.  Mast seamlessly integrates worship, community, and good works in the world.”  Sounds like a great Jubilee book, eh?  Or one for post-Jubilee follow-up.  Go to church!  Change the world!  Hoorah!

Here is the beautiful one that we are giving away fre
e with any purchase.   Caring for Creation: Responsible Stewardship of God’s Handiwork. Primary author Cal DeWitt is a wonderful, wonderful leader and this book offers a great dialogue with a few respondents to his excellent “Kuyper lecture” presented to the Center for Public Justice a few years back.  You’ll surely benefit from this, and we’re happy to give it free with any purchase from this or the previous list. 

BookNotes