I am so happy to offer a good list of some new (and some older) Advent and Christmas resources at the holiday special price of 30% off.  We wanted to post this this review over at the “monthly columns” and November was vacant, so there ya go.  Read today’s post over there, in the November “Reviews” column.  See my earnest descriptions, some cool book covers, and few neat links—you’ve got to click on the video clip with Heinz, author of the richly researched and fabulously insightful Christmas: Festival of the Incarnation.  Never to late to explore (or give books about) this most wondrous time of the year.

There you will find our typical quick link to the Hearts & Minds order form page if you want to place an order for any of these books (and also the spot to ask us questions if you have inquiries about anything at all.)  May this Advent be a time of deepening faith, embracing the hope of the coming restoration, made near in Christ.  To the baby King!

A few more posts will be coming soon as I’m so eager to share tons of great stuff that I have by my too cluttered desk.  Stay tuned.

Here are a few of the book covers of titles which I review and recommend over at the monthly column.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked for the “top ten” book list of my personal favorites; oh come on, they implore, bring it on.  Nope.  I just can’t do it.  Not long ago I thought I’d work up the courage and stamina to limit myself to a dozen top books, doing a workshop on a list for leaders to read, one book a month.  Couldn’t do it.  I ended up suggesting twelve categories, twelve topics or types of books.  And then I added novels. And memoirs. 

Yet, I love books of lists.  I am a sucker for the Rolling Stone stories about the top albums or the top songs, counted down in order. There is something instructive about listening to critics and passionate fans describe the very best in a field.  One of my favorite books of last year, in fact, was 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up from the acclaimed British 1001 series. It is full color and thick and vivid, edited by a woman who wrote for The Guardian, Julia Eccleshare (Universe Press; $36.95.).  You may know another series, a bit more accessible, published by the art publisher Prestel 50 Paintings You Should Know, 50 Buildings You Should Know, 50 Woman Artists You Should Know and so forth.  Love that stuff.  We stock most of them.

A book about the best books that religious folk should read?  Now that is daunting for a few reasons.  Firstly, any such list usually implies too much; not just that these are great books, but that they will be helpful, insightful in some profound way, appropriate, useful for growing in faith and obedience. To suggest that God may appreciate us reading this book, well, that may be a stretch.  It is, of course, though, what I do almost every day, sometimes with fear and trembling, inviting people to consider the prudence of reading certain books, and to see such an experience as a spiritual discipline.  We think that the books we sell matter!   I know, I know, we could be wrong about some of them.  If communicated in the right spirit, it can even be fun to hear criticisms of this book or that author, or the convictions they offer.  We are eager for conversations about these things because paying attention to books and reading are not only important to us–it’s my only serious hobby, really–but our best voices and leaders from the Bible on down through church history have agreed: it is important to use your mind, to think well, to study, to learn.  Books are tools for Christian discipleship, so we care about them.  Mature congregations and vibrant faith communities nurture an ethos of reading.  Serious Christians read, as they can, serious books.

I ruminate on this matter of the joy and usefulness of books, and the complexities of recommending them, in order to announce with great gladness that there is a new resource that will guide you in this journey, that will be valuable and helpful (yes, yes) and interesting and fun (yes, yes, again, yes.)  I couldn’t be more thrilled and have been eager to tell you about it.  For anyone who cares about books, or feels that they ought to, or wants to inspire others, this is a wonderful, wonderful resource.

Besides the Bible: 100 Books That Have, Should, or Will Create Christian Culture edited by Dan Gibson, Jordan Green, and John Pattison (Biblica; $14.99.  See our sale price, below.) 
With a bunch of guest contributors (including yours truly) these great guys have put together a book lover’s feast, a collection of introductory reviews that will make you smile, and smile big.  And maybe scratch your head.  And want to talk to somebody about it all.  If you love books, you will love this book.  If you don’t love books, you will find this a helpful guide.

The three authors and a few of their guest contributors are part of the Burnside Writer’s Collective, an on-line space for culturally engaged Christian writing, started by Donald Miller.  These guys are themselves very well read, and the forward to Besides the Bible is itself a lovely testimony to a kid growing to become a reader.  My story is not exactly like that—I grew into this book stuff slowly, and later than some—but I so enjoyed their explanation of why they wanted to do a collection like this.  Indeed, this is a lover’s gift, a gift by those who love the printed page and a gift to the Christian movement, evangelicals and others who may want some good advice about selecting good reads.  And what fabulous, rich, interesting, solid, helpful, advice it is!

Of course, I don’t agree with every review in the book.  And I don’t agree with every book choice as “essential.”  (As it ends up, neither do they.)  But we stock most of these titles, and certainly agree that they are worth knowing about, even worth reading, and in many cases, worth owning.  Whether you pursue reading some of these suggested titles, and in what order, well, that’s a long conversation of another sort.  But, as they point out from the outset, these are books you should know about, that you would be wise to know.  Being aware of significant books, or books that smart folks think are significant, is itself an education and a step towards being a better reader.  (Reading well takes a certain skill of seeing a bigger picture, you know: this author cites that one, who alludes to yet another.  Connecting the dots from a school of thought to a best-seller to a review who hates it, is important as our constellation widens and we “get” the references in books, articles, magazines, films, advertising, and even sermons. Knowing who’s who is so helpful.  In short, the more you read, the better reader you become.  With God’s help, the more you ponder these things in your heart, the wiser you become.)

So, this new resource will help you walk through some of the top books that have meant a lot to these good folks.  The reviews are short, they are helpful, they are mostly very interesting.  Most are initialed by one of the three primary authors, but then others are offered as guest essays, which are, themselves, a fun bit of discovery.  For instance, in Besides the Bible you can find comedian and actress Susan Isaacs on N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian;  Donald Miller on Viktor Frankl;  Peter Rollins on a book by post-modern philosopher John Caputo.  Learn why William Young, the author of The Shack, chose The Little Prince.  Read Phyllis Tickle’s wonderful rumination, explaining the importance of The Norton Anthology of Poetry.  Admired writers and thinkers Becky Garrison (her latest is Jesus Died for This?) and David Dark are in here—Dark’s beautiful piece on Franny & Zooey is one of the best in the book!  Brooklyn poet and pastor (and singer for The Welcome Wagon) Vito Aiuto explains the richness and warmth of Calvin’s famous Institutes of Christian Religion.  Karen Spears Zacharias (I hope you know her Will Jesus Buy Me A Double Wide?) reflects on the Collected Stories of Eudora Welty.  I keep thinking: is all this cool, or what?  Yippeee!

And those are only a few of the guests and a fraction of the diverse books listed and described.  You’ll have to buy the thing, of course, to see ’em all, but you will be delighted, I’m sure.  Many of these have been very important books in my own life, and say much about our own history here at Hearts & Minds: Thomas Merton, J.I. Packer’s Knowing God, John Howard Yoder, Francis Schaeffer, Madeline L’Engle, Richard Foster, Os Guinness.  They happily suggest novels and poetry, polemics and the work of sociologists, history and theology.  A few are memoirs (Traveling Mercies, The Cloister Walk), a few are Biblical studies (yay for Colossians Remixed) and a few are classics about art history, or culture. (The comments about Cultural Amnesia by Clive James were stunning; the review of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Christopher Hedges was very wise indeed.)  A few are of genres that are hard to explain, like the Pulitzer Prize-winning nature reflections so beautifully penned by Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.  Or the amazing graphic novel, Blankets.

 Of course we were thrilled to see Jayber Crow (Berry), The Brothers K (Duncan), Gilead
(Robinson), and a few others of the very best novels of our time that are rife with theological and spiritual insight.  I appreciated the short review of This is Water by the legendary David Foster Wallace.  The fiction suggestions are almost all very important, most of them very solid choices, but a few are curious.

Although it isn’t the book’s strong suit, there are plenty of titles recommended about the inner spiritual journey.  Who wouldn’t benefit from a reminder of the significance of historical classics like Paradise Lost or Pilgrim’s Progress; who doesn’t need short introductions to some of the important works in spiritual formation (from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers to the Rule of Saint Benedict to The Little Flowers of St. Francis to the 20th century classics of A.W. Tozer?)  I know I learned a lot from these passionate reviews, and was reminded of some books I’ve been wanting to read for some time now.  I think it would help nearly anyone develop a reading plan and remind you of some important authors.  And, I’m sure of it, add a handful of new authors to your “must read” list.   

The explanations as to why people found these books to be so rich and rewarding makes Besides the Bible an especially compelling read, and that much more enjoyable.  (No dry “required reading” list, this.)  When they tell you about a book, it almost always makes sense and feels authentic because these are books that the reviewers believe in.  It’s really like good friends telling each other about their recent bookish discoveries—and we get to listen in!  It is passionate, tender at times, sometimes clever, occasionally insistent.  And always helpful, reminding us of the good stuff.  Just for instance, many of us may have heard of Silence by Shusako Endo, or East of Eden by Steinbeck and the chapters on them are good reminders of their meaning and significance.  What fun to have an author explain his love for John Piper.  Or John Irving.  To hear about why A. J. Jacobs’ wacky The Year of Living Biblically is so very helpful.  Or, in a moving, brief review, why Velvet Elvis so touched one guest writer. This is great, great, stuff, a real reminder on why these “stories rendered in black and white words” can, as they suggest in their subtitle, renew our culture, change the world.

Okay.  I’ve got to say it, but I will be brief.  A few of the choices are dumb.  And I don’t like the subtitle of the book.  Occasionally—despite the extraordinary ecumenicity and breadth of their great reading habits–they seem to suppose that the reader is an evangelical, which may often be the case.  A few lines made me shake my head, and there are tons of omissions.  Why not this, I wondered?  You’ve got to be kidding me, where is her book, or his?  But, of course, this is a part of the fun. The choice to include a few influential, bad books was interesting (so you’ve got to read the reviews to see what they say; not every one is a rave.) And I wish there was a better index.  Look: I’ve seen other lists like this that make me wanna holler. Or they are so weighed down by what should be read, the canon, so to speak, that they aren’t very much fun to read about. This, however, is the best thing I’ve seen of this kind, the list closest to one I’d celebrate, the finest collection of reviews I’ve yet read, all told with verve and personality. Besides the Bible: 100 Books… is, now, one of my favorite books that I want to press into the hands of others.

And kudos for sneaking a couple extra books in giving us even more for our money. (City of Man and
Confessions in one review–oh yeah. Three Tim Keller books counting as
one—way to go Steve Taylor!   One summary discourse on the three most
important “new atheists” makes sense, too.  Even in my review, I named a second book, sneaking that in.  Heee.)  

As Gibson, Green, and Pattison explained their project to others, and wrote down some opening thoughts, they became clear that this isn’t necessarily “the best” or a “definitive” list.  It frees them to tell their story, report on what books moved them, what they think is helpful, work they can’t help but commend.  In fact, early in the preface they say this:

Let’s be clear: This isn’t a list of our favorite books or even the first 100 books we would take to a desert island (or whatever wacky list-making premise you prefer.)  Sure, Dan’s favorite novel happens to be Michael Chabon’s Kavalier & Clay, Jordan re-reads Everything Is Illuminated, and John once read the complete Hardy Boys series, but would we say those books are essential reads for Christians in America (and beyond?)  Not really.

There are a few that I just raised my hands in salute to the editors when I saw them included. (Nikos Kazantzakis! Dorothy Day!  Neil Postman! Jean Vanier!  Martin Luther King! )  These are not the sorts of authors you regularly find in most so-called Christian bookstores.  But it reminds me of why we do what we do, our love for books and promoting Christian growth, the wide berth of reading coupled with a serious desire to honor God, being informed by a Biblical perspective on life and times, and all that great books can offer those of us wanting to find God in our daily lives.  These guides–the folks from the Burnside Writer’s Collective—have done us a huge favor in offering these reviews. (Read an interview with them here.  It’s a great roundtable discussion on the book and a joy to read.)  They are entries into the worlds of other good guides.  We are grateful for it all, their work, the books they point us to, the beauty and goodness and sorrow and joy that emerges, sometimes slowly, sometimes like a thunderbolt, from the printed page.  We hope you’ll order some, pass ’em around, share the love.

If you follow Hearts & Minds, you know that we enjoy books about popular culture and believe it is important to encourage reading about faithful living in our ordinary, “secular” lives.  We believe that God cares about all of life, including the mediums and art-forms all around us, whether hip-hop fashion, popular music or graphic novels.  Such art can not only enhance our lives (and our awareness of the human condition) but can be seen as windows into the values and life orientation of the artist.  Sometimes, art (from high opera to comic books, serious literary fiction to popular video games) can reveal much about our cultural moment, the zeitgeist.  We are thrilled when people of faith have these sorts of conversations, sometimes even asking foundational questions about what we mean by “culture” or “popular culture” or entertainment and so forth.

And so, we especially love books like William Romanowski’s stellar Eyes Wide Open: Finding God in Popular Culture (Brazos Press) which I see as nearly a H&M classic, or the fabulous, wide-ranging, interesting and well-written recent collection The Day Metallica Came to Church: Searching for the Everywhere God in Everything by John Van Sloten (Square Inch Books) or the very provocative Prophetically Incorrect: A Christian Guide to Media Criticism by Robert Woods and Paul Patton (Brazos.)  Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God edited by Craig Detweiler (Westminister/John  Knox Press) is a rigorous Christian study, not for the casual player, but rewarding for anyone interested in integrating faith and the study of contemporary culture.  You may recall that we gave a lengthy review a few weeks ago to the wonderfully produced Saving Leonardo by Nancy Pearcey (Broadman) which gives a very sophisticated treatment to the ideologies and worldviews of the romantic movement and the subsequent shift in the meaning of modern art. 

There are even a few recent books which bring Christian insight to the vampire phenomenon, most helpfully Touched by a Vampire: The Hidden Message in the Twilight Saga by Beth Felker Jones (Waterbrook; $13.99 ) written by a thoughtful theology professor from Wheaton College.  It does not condemn the books outright, but neither does it merely accept them as an opportunity for fun escape.  (Neither does it “Christianize” the themes, as some might, suggesting that the well-portrayed longing for love in Twlight can be used to discuss with young women about how Christ being a passionate hero.)  Rather, Ms Jones is sharp, thoughtful, and raises important concerns, especially about gender and romance as portrayed in the popular novels and films.  As one who loves book blurbs, it strikes me as a delight to see popular level evangelical YA novelist Melody Carlson endorsing Touched… right next to Duke Divinity School professor and feminist ethicist, Amy Laura Hall.  Right on! 

(It may be self-evident, but you surely can understand what I am getting at by considering the good-but-distorted topic of human sexuality: even erotic literature can have a divine stamp–think of the Song of Songs in the Bible, at least—but it has also so obviously been abused by forces of advertising and pornography. To find a sexually pure story these days is rare, but, in principle, we must not “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”  All of life is made good by God and all can be seen in proper, normative ways. To hate the vile porn of the internet isn’t to say that the topic of human love or sensuality is itself wrong, or that we ought not use the internet.  Right?  Think, too, of the gross violence of slasher movies or the unacceptable blood-lust portrayed in graphic games and movies these days.  Still, shall we sanitize all war movies or refuse to read accounts of human sinfulness in novels and plays?  I think you get the point, that there are proper and improper, relatively healthy and unhealthy ways for the arts to portray the ugly sides of the human condition. Some religious readers tend to want to avoid any such “realism” while others just suck up whatever the culture has to offer, failing the “transformed mind” command of the down-to-earth, daily spirituality of Romans 12:1-2.)

Thoughtful, intentionally Christian, engaged, critical.  In-but-not-of, as Jesus suggests in John 17. Each of these favorite books (listed above) in their own way invite us to both enjoy, and to be faithful in our consideration of, various forms, genres, and works of popular art and entertainment.  Each presumes something good about God’s world that is fun to explore and healthy to appreciate, even as we are aware that every arena is most likely twisted or distorted by ungodly assumptions, views, attitudes or approaches. 

CHRISTIAN HORROR STORIES?

So, then, what might a Christian approach to horror, be?  Of course not all of us appreciate strong thrillers, let alone the creepy stories of ghosts and the paranormal. There are those who have explored this with lucidity and depth, such as Douglas Cowen, in Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen (Baylor University Press.) There is something very human, something appropriate, indeed, something theologically sound, about recognizing evil, and attending to the possibilities of the grotesque. Like the aforementioned topics of sex or violence, there is a way to be faithful in our approach to this genre of story.  That is, perhaps there is a Christian viewpoint, a set of appropriate habits of heart and mind, and some learned literary practices, that might allow us to enjoy (within limits) our odd interests in being scared.

My friend Jonathan Weyer has consider this a lot.  As a seriously orthodox theological thinker and writer (and ordained EP pastor) he has wondered about, and done workshops on, the reasons humans have this fascination with the eerie; he often suggests as a very helpful book, the classic non-fiction work of literary criticism by Stephen King called Danse Macabre (Pocket Books; $17.00) which was based on a course he taught on the role of the supernatural in literature. It explores in very profound ways this very stuff and has gotten raves from those who have read it.  (“Charming” one reviewer even called it.)  Indeed, the Philadelphia Inquirer called Mr. King’s Danse Macabre “one of the best books of popular culture of the late twentieth century” while the Washington Post wrote that it was “a labor of love.” 

THE FAITHFUL

Informed by King and others, Rev. Weyer understands how our interest in terror is related to our own experience of (or suppression of) terror.  Out of his intentionally Christian vision, this subterranean worldview informed by his solid Calvinist leanings, Weyer starting working on his own novel.  A horror novel, in fact, about murder, mayhem, and all manner of mischief.  It is about a conservative Presbyterian pastor (more anon) who has to reconsider his own worldview (not to mention his love life) as he experiences hauntings and eventually the demonic.  Yes, the new novel The Faithful (Brio Press; $14.95) is a “dance macabre” as the young protagonist not only is dr
awn into the investigation of a ritual murder, but comes to meet a cast of characters ugly and wise, sexy and violent, thoughtful and brave.  I don’t mean to suggest that Weyer has given us a full parade of the corrupt and virtuous, but there really are an interesting set of folks here.  I enjoyed them, and was struck by some quite a lot.

I do not read much truly horrific stuff;  perhaps you don’t, either.  I am sure there are books that are much more grisly and much more scary.  Some verge into the pornographic, but Weyer’s The Faithful does not.  It is upbeat at times, a bit funny, fairly realistic, and a captivating ride into a deepening look into, or an opening up of, what some call “the dark side.”  Ghosts, hauntings, occultic connections, exorcism?  From the mild to the horrific, it is here.  What a ride.  What insight into the world as it is, the good, the bad, and the truly ugly.  Library Journal, an important review source, just gave it a coveted “starred review.”  Not bad for a first novel!

Here is a brief interview with JW, found at Susan Isaacs hilarious Gray Matter website.  Here is his own website, for more info, there, too.  If you haven’t seen it on facebook or twitter, you’ll see my goofy video clip, shouting out a bit about the book.  Talk about a horror show!

Interestingly, and importantly, Jonathan is a campus minister with the widely-respected Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO) (and will be doing a workshop on this stuff at their Jubilee 2011.)  Much of his time is spent in conversation with the large atheist community at Ohio State in his home town of Columbus Ohio.  (Weyer gets the Ohio scenes right in The Faithful, too; he has researched well the geography, culture, and new age/paranormal legends in that region, giving the book an authentic feel.)  Perhaps he will someday write a non-fiction book about his ministry with those firmly outside of the church; he has some great stories about his friendships with these assertive, new atheists whom he has come to know and respect.  Now, though, we can see a bit of his awareness of the new crop of new atheists as the main character in his novel, Adian Schaeffer, an associate pastor of a conservative church, has been reading Dawkins and Dennett.  Adian has come to disbelieve in the supernatural.  As the story begins, he is nearly depressed, deeply conflicted about his relationship to the church, thinking about how to break the news to his very evangelical congregation: a preacher who no longer believes in God?  How can he tell them?  Of course, the fictional Adian realizes that he lacks integrity as he pretends to believe, going through the ministerial motions, and intends to own up and quit his parish job.  But then his fiance breaks up with him, she is murdered, and he becomes a suspect. The young Schaeffer panics as he enters the investigation, experiences an increasingly volatile spiritual battle,  and eventually meets a pastoral leader who is as wise as he is cryptic is discerning the truth of what is really going on.  Whew, what a drama, what a surprise, what a story!

The Faithful, is, then, a great read, a fun, moderately suspenseful, murder mystery.  It ends up being about apologetics and truth, about the gospel and hypocrisy, about the supernatural and the realities of spiritual warfare.  It is a story of a quest, of love lost, and of a redemptive perspective on the realities of evil in our fallen world.  Oh, and did I say?  It is a fun, great, read.  That is, it isn’t too didactic and the plot isn’t merely a device for spiritual teaching.  Nope, this is the real deal: a horror story, with “sacred terror” and a good bit of enjoyable storyline, well written, lively, entertaining, and provocative.

WANT AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY?

We have Jonathan Weyer doing a presentation at our shop Friday night, December 3rd, at 7:30.  He’ll tell us a bit about his views of a sanctified imagination and why it is good for Christians to appreciate the horror genre.  He’ll tell us a bit about his own fascination with the paranormal and ghost stories and the like, and perhaps share a bit about how the book came to be written.  (No, it isn’t autobiographical.  He’s not a closet atheist, although he has read Dawkins and Dennet, and he has not been a suspect for murder.  I don’t think he has a dog named Bishop and I don’t think he’s ever met a disciple of Charles Williams, as does Adian in the book.)

Jonathan will not only speak a bit about his views of a theologically-informed view of the horror genre, but will read from The Faithful.  He’ll autograph books, of course, and if this handsome (black and red) paperback might appeal to any friends of yours, just give us a name, and he’ll inscribe it.  (You have to let us know by Friday night, of course.)   Or, we can just get the book autographed. Autographed copies make nice gifts, eh?  Maybe this will help you build a bridge of conversation with that person you wanted to chat with about faith, but just didn’t know how to bring it up.

PRAY

Please say a prayer for us while your reading this.  Even though it will be a fun evening, and Weyer is a solid, mature, Christian leader, whenever one starts talking about the occult, or imagining scenes of spiritual warfare, it would be naive to think that such talk has no consequences. And we are not unaware that novels about murder or loss of faith can be painful for some.  We ask that God in His mercy, and Christ in His victorious power, and the Holy Spirit in great wisdom, guides us as we explore important themes, good books, fun reading, and, in faithful ways, how to be “in but not of” the worlds of our popular cultures, even in this world of contemporary fiction.  Join us if you’re around central PA, and pray for us if you can.  And order a book or two. Thanks.