Here in the summer of ‘98 we’ve been impressed with these very special books. Each one we are more than delighted to recommend and give our highest ratings.

      The Calling (Dr. Os Guinness) We are telling everyone to get this--Os has had quite an influence on us and we carry all his work. (His massive study of the ‘60’s counterculture was the first serious Christian book I ever read.) This handsome hardcover is designed to be read in 21 short installments where readers are led to discover meaning, purpose and direction through rediscovery of the classic concept of vocation. In the hands of a less skilled or more parochial writer, this might turn out rather cheesy: rest assured, for those of you not familiar with Dr. Guinness erudite wisdom, this is a masterpiece!

      Also, we are proud to offer the great audio tape conversation with Dr. Guinness produced by Ken Myers of Mars Hills audio magazine, where Os talks about the ideas of the book. It is backed with an excellent interview with another friend, Dr. Paul Marshall, also reflecting on the notion of calling and vocation, career and work. We stock Marshall’s rather academic title, A Kind of Order Imposed on Man: Calling and Vocation from Locke to Tyndale. $10.00.

      Equal to the Task: Men & Women in Partnership Ruth Haley Barton (InterVarsity Press) This is a marvelous and insightful book, exploring a topic which has not been clearly written about before. The author (who also wrote the wonderful Becoming a Women of Strength) is a charming, articulate writer who is convinced that men and women can be co-workers, colleagues, partners and friends (remember the question about sex in When Harry Met Sally?) For anyone who cares about relationships, personal integrity, gender issues and how to balance varying sensibilities, this book is a treasure.

      One of our most often recommended books on themes of gender, by the way, is one that Ruth also likes, the extraordinary work by Mary Stewart van Leeuwan, Gender and Grace: Love Work and Parenting in a Changing World. This is truly a great, great piece of work!

      Some of our staff have recently reread and been reminded of just how wonderfully-written and impressive is Walt Wangerin’s paperback book on marriage, entitled As For Me and My House. Along with the meditative reflection, The Mystery of Marriage, (issued only in a lovely trim-sized hardcover) by the great wordsmith, Mike Mason, these are two of our all-time favorite books on the subject.

      We are fond of recommending David Wells to thoughtful readers and his newest, Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (Eerdmans) $25.00, is particularly fun to sell as we helped provide books for Dr. Well’s research. It is at once cranky and brilliant, prophetic and stimulating. He has proven himself a "must-read" with his earlier texts---No Place for Truth: or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? and God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams.

      Some astute readers will note that Wells’ is often cited in Marva Dawn’s important Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down. Now you can read the real thing for yourself. This new one looks especially closely at the postmodern view of the self, and how a strong moral vision can answer the inevitable questions left by a disintegrating culture. Even for those who disagree--and they will be many--this is a challenging and important book. Order it today and we assure you it will be well worth the effort.

      Elsewhere on our web site I say that Barbara Brown Taylor’s The Preaching Life (Cowley; $10.95) ought to be on every pastors reading list. Actually, anyone who cares about good writing, learning of a life honestly lived, a story of discernment, vision and the discovery of a voice will adore this great, great read. I find myself reading sections out loud to nearly anyone who will listen. Her other books, collections of sermons, include Gospel Medicine, Bread of Angels, God in Pain: Teaching Sermons on Suffering and her new three-chapter essay, When God is Silent. I can’t say enough about her... It seems that Taylor is a bright star amongst mainline preachers right now (although I saw her in Christianity Today, recently, too) and I hope we can help get her books out to everyone.

      Speaking of sermon collections, don’t miss the sermons of Walter Brueggemann, entitled The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power and Weakness.(Augsburg-Fortress; $16.00) I’ve talked about Brueggemann elsewhere on our web site, so you may know of our appreciation for his unique, Biblical perspective and his creative rhetoric. This collection is a real blessing.

      A year ago, I told everyone I could that the American Book Award winner (for non-fiction), An American Requiem: God, My Father and the War That Came Between Us by James Carroll had become one of my favorite books of all time. Carol was a young Catholic priest--living out the dream of his parents--when he joined the Catholic peace movement (with the Berrigan brothers) while his military father was literally picking the bombing targets in North Vietnam for the Joint Chiefs. A passionate memoir of the horrors of the early 70’s, this is ultimately a story of a father and son. I can hardly think of a book which moved me so deeply. I’m still haunted by it a year later.

      While not quite the high octane of Carroll’s story, Blue Sky Dreams by David Beers (Harcourt, Brace; $13.00) tells a similar true story of a boy growing up in the early 60’s amidst the can-do optimism and faith in technoscience and progress in the newly designed suburbs created for the aerospace workers in sunny California. Subtitled "A Memoir of America’s Fall from Grace", this son of a Lockheed worker describes the spirit of the times--from modernist architecture to post Vatican II Catholic piety, from Lost in Space to Neil Armstrong, from his father’s household engineering projects to the constant mysteries of his dad’s classified Cold War military-industrial projects.

      Beers’ insights and cultural discernment is extraordinary and it makes the book well worth reading just for the incisive sense of the zeitgiest of latter day America, as the aerospace industry gives way to the microchips moving in the Silicon Valley. His process of drifting from both the science of his father and the Christianity of his mother is packed with pathos and longing. Anyone wanting to know what some thoughtful unchurched folk think would do well to join Mr. Beers in his journey.

      I will be living with the wry reporting and varied delights of this finely crafted biography for quite some time, and look forward to passing it on to my own father, who, like young Beers father, came out of the Navy knowing well how to "plan your work and work your plan." We boomers are often skeptical of such Middle American techniques and slogans, even as we are privileged by the security and wealth it brought us. Beers story, although in many ways not my own, is, yet, the story my generation and our culture. Coupled with the anguish of James Carroll’s American Requiem, I have been given an amazing gift that books sometimes give, a deeper sense of insight and self-awareness. I trust many others will appreciate these two incredible books as I did.

      Interestingly, my wife and I read yet a third memoir of late ‘60’s angst laden with helpful cultural critique, this one, however, written by one who joyously came to faith after giving up on the counterculture of which is was a part. Assault On Eden:A Memoir of Communal Life in the Early ‘70’s by Virginia Stem Owens. (Baker Books; $15.99) is a solid book.

      From the initial drug trip that opens the book, the few ups and near-constant downs of a hippie homestead, their relationship to the land and their animals, the death of a child and the absolutely brilliant description of their gentle conversions to the gospel, this memoir is well-written and loaded with genuine moral vision and insight. Although I truly liked it all, I must admit that the ending was absolutely one of the best descriptions of coming to faith that I have ever read.

     The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age Sven Birkerts (Fawcett; $12.50) This incredible book deserves a lengthy and well-written review, but for now let us commend to you its heartfelt lament for literature and all that that entails. Some of his celebrations of reading will resonate with any book-lovers; his concerns against the shift toward screen instead of pages are serious. Highly recommended.

     Creating a Christian Worldview: Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism Peter Heslam (Eerdmans; $28.00) The owners and founders of Hearts & Minds look to Abraham Kuyper as one of their greatest influences; indeed, in this book, the author makes the compelling case that Kuyper is the father of much of the best of contemporary Christian thinking about culture. This is seen especially in the idea spelled out in his famous Princeton "Stone Lectures" 100 years ago that Calvinism is more than a doctrine of the atonement, but is a full-orbed worldview. (Just note the many books described in our annotations about worldview issues--found by clicking on the Francis Schaeffer name--and you will see that many of these have been directly or indirectly influenced by this remarkable idea about the cosmic scope of the Lordship of Christ.)

      This book is both a biography of the incredible statesman, educator, journalist, diplomat and theologian as well as a history of his central idea. Vivid, stimulating, provocative and incredibly informative, this book could be the most important work of the decade, paying tribute to a man who may have been amongst the most important of the century.

      For serious scholars or fans of the Dutch reformation, Eerdmans has also given us Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader expertly edited by James Bratt (Eerdmans; $45.00). This is a gathering together of numerous pieces never before translated into English. Kuyper displayed a wide-ranging and creative Christian mind and these sermons, speeches, letters and essays are tremendous reading. Would that many would take note of the caliber of the scholarship, the relevance of the insight and the Biblically-driven spirit of the perspective. Order it here and help us spread the word!

      While we are on a Kuyper kick (which is just about all the time around here) let us offer a great devotional book, nicely produced in an attractive paperback by the Christian Reformed Church and somewhat modernized by James Schaap, himself quite a wordsmith. Near Unto God ($15.00) by Kuyper himself is a book of daily meditations and shows the deep faith life of this incredible cultural and political activist. What enabled Kuyper to start a political party, become Prime Minister, encourage workers and farmers, fight against British and Dutch imperialism in South Africa (at the turn of the century!), found a major Protestant University, start and run a daily newspaper, and tend to dozens of campaigns and civic duties? It was his solid trust in a loving and graceful God, empowered by the mighty Holy Spirit, who pointed him towards the reign of the cosmic King, even Christ Jesus. These are devotionals that sustained a man and a movement, and we are delighted to offer the new edition of Near Unto God.

      The Road to Peace Henri Nouwen (Orbis)$19.99 We thought we knew all of Nouwen’s writings (and you can see some of our recommendations in the listings about books of spirituality--click on Thomas Merton) and expected this to be some of his great chapters recycled. While some of it is previously published, it includes obscure sources, magazine articles Henri wrote, interviews, prefaces to other author’s books that Nouwen contributed and so on. This really is a very unique collection of what seems like brand new material. Highly recommended!

      The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life Parker Palmer (Jossey Bass) Palmer is popular Quaker, one whose notable ministry has included a stint at Pendle Hill. With shades of Merton, he has struggled with the interaction of contemplation and action, or what O’Connor has called "the journey inward and the journey outward." In The Active Life he reflects deeply on the nature of this active spirituality and in To Know as We Are Known he thinks hard about the nature of authentic learning and teaching. In what seems like a natural outgrowth of these two books, he now has written a contemplative, nearly mystical perspective on teaching. He is an important writer and this is a stunning piece of work.

      Jossey Bass, the collegiate textbook company, has now moved into doing mainstream religious titles. One of these is absolutely remarkable and is a very important contribution to the struggle to actually live faithfully. Call us or e-mail us and we will tell you all about Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People which is edited by Dorothy Bass ($14.00) With chapters on honoring the body, offering hospitality, singing, forgiving, dying well, and so on, you can see that it is exploring the theological framework for doing what we do: living well. This is a remarkable gathering together of famous and not so famous authors, all very good at what they do. The study guide that is available makes this a good resource for that very special small group.

      Along these very lines, let us tell you about a fabulous encyclopedic handbook which spells out Christian wisdom and theological implications for thinking about daily, lived experiences. The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity: An A-to-Z Guide to Following Christ in Every Aspect of Life has been edited by Robert Banks and R. Paul Stevens on InterVarsity Press and sells for $29.99 (for over 1100 pages!) What does a Christian worldview have to say about menstruation? How about gardening, gossip or taxes? How should Christian experience commuting, or computing? What is a "Christian perspective" on chocolate or voting, dance or sports? Is there Biblical insight for shopping, singing, sex or storytelling?

      The entire volume presumes a sense that the Lordship of Christ affects our life in the world (shades of many traditions here--think of Brother Lawrence, but also of Abraham Kuyper!) Indeed, this project assumes that the creation is structured to gift us with various experiences where we respond to God’s ways. If it is the wise person who can discern the ways of God in the creation, it may be the wisest who knows just how important a book like this can be.

      Would it be used on your church or school library? Maybe not, unless readers like yourself promote it, share it, discuss it. Want to join in the fun? Help us promote thoughtful, intentionally Christian faithful living. Use books like these to keep a conversation going in your church or fellowship about the practically of radical daily discipleship. As we often tell friends who ask about our store’s vision: "It sure beats being bored." Is there a listing for boredom in this fine book? You bet! It covers just about everything. But if you are reading it, and learning from it that all of life is connected to our faith, then you most likely won’t be seriously bored.

      May we invite you to consider ordering it through us? Just e-mail us or give us a phone call.

      By Chance? Landscapes From the Canvas of the Creator is a breathtaking coffee table gift book of full-color, well-reproduced nature photographs by John MacMurray (Multnomah;$!9.99) This lavish book has discreet and nicely placed quotes scattered through-out helping make the point that the beauty of the creation that is seen is the mark of a caring Creator. Not at all pushy or preachy, the quotes are well-selected and they supplement the photographs nicely. A great gift idea.

     Great Souls: Six Who Changed the Century David Aikman (Nelson-Word; $22.99) What a life Mr. Aikman has lived, as former Senior Correspondent for Time magazine. This book includes six fine biographies of Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II, Elie Wiesel and Nelson Mandela. The tellings of the story of each great soul is well-done, but the heart of the book is its organizing thesis, well-put in a very interesting opening chapter by Aikman: each person embodied a particular heroic trait and subsequently, in their own place and way, changed the course of 20th Century history. These are beautifully written profiles of great individuals and studies in great human characteristics. We feature it here for your consideration.

     Of course, we have just scratched the surface of our list of impressive books and good reads. And, you will notice, we sadly have not even covered any fiction. Hopefully, though, this is inspire you to shop with us, to e-mail or call and to make reading and book-buying a top priority in your own lifestyle. Thanks for browsing here at the Hearts & Minds bookstore web site. Hope to hear from you soon!