***Don’t forget, if you are local, or know anyone local, that we are having an in-store “release party” and author appearance to celebrate the brand new book on Christian faith, climate change and earth-keeping stewardship called Caring for Creation by Mitch Hescox and Paul Douglas. Join us at 7:00 PM, September 29th here at the shop in Dallastown.
If you can’t attend but want a copy autographed by both authors, just let us know.
We hope you liked our little list of new titles of note in our last BookNotes. It isn’t every day we get significant new releases by important religious writers like Timothy Keller and Brian McLaren or books as grand in looking at religious tends (particularly showing how faith impacts civic and political life) such as the new book by legendary Newsweek writer Kenneth Woodward. What a fascinating list that was; I hope you saw it. I love sitting outdoors in the cool evenings in the fall reading with a light I drag out there – I hope you can find a good spot to do some extra reading this month. There’s some truly great books these days!
THE STRUGGLE TO FIND FAITHFUL, HELPFUL BOOKS ABOUT SPIRITUALITY AND KNOWING GOD MORE DEEPLY
We hope you know that we have tons of books about spiritual formation here at the shop and that we love introducing people to the kinds of spiritual writers who will help them in what some call “the journey inward and the journey upward.” Our spiritual formation into Kingdom citizens committed to Christ’s Kingship occurs in a manner of ways — certainly as we worship well with the gathered people of God, being attentive to how Christian worship invites us into the redemptive story of God. (See James K.A. Smith’s must-read “book of the year” You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit to explore this (the middle portion on worship is extraordinary.) Or, see Mike Cosper’s excellent The Rhythm of Grace: How the Church’s Worship Tells the Story of the Gospel as one accessible and interesting title which gets us thinking about this fruitfully.)
But, of course, we read books alone and in small groups, too. Some of us have spiritual directors or companions and some of us are called to walk alongside others offering spiritual guidance and encouragement. Books are tools in this side of life, too, and have long been used as the primary way to teach others to pray, seek God, and walk in the power of the Spirit. I hope you have some in your collection.
There are wonderful classics, however — as we sometimes say when folks write to us asking for assistance In selecting good titles — what is considered a “classic” and most useful depends on one’s own faith tradition and religious scruples. For some, Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline is the very best; for others, they may prefer Donald Whitney’s similarly arranged Spiritual Disciplines for Christian Growth which draws on more Puritan and Reformed writers (in contrast to Foster who draws on everybody within the broad stream of Christian spirituality, from Julian of Norwich to Thomas Merton to A.W. Tozer.)
Some think Richard Rohr is one of the best recent writers for inner formation – his book on contemplative prayer called Everything Belongs was very well received and his last book, What the Mystics Know, was a helpful overview of much classic thinking about spirituality and discovering our true selves. Rohr’s forthcoming one, The Divine Dance, is due out next week and is described below. Some find him too willing to adopt unbiblical Eastern sensibilities and thinkers like Jung or de Chardin to be fully trustworthy. So what is best for you in your own journey and what you’ll find most helpful in pointing you towards the Risen Christ may depend on what your used to and what you’re willing to read (with discernment, always, always, always.) We are happy to chat further if it would be helpful to have a bookseller “on call” for advice.
In the last month I heard two stories that bear repeating here.
One person went into a mainstream chain bookstore and wanted a book to help her know God better. A fairly average Christian, sincere but in a church that doesn’t teach much deep content, she was ill-prepared to wade through the neo-pagan and self-actualizing and hyper-prosperity stuff all on display side by side there in their classy shelves. From Course in Miracles to Pema Chodron to Creflo Dollar, she was simply overwhelmed. She knew that some folks (myself included) generally like Rob Bell, but Be Here Now didn’t seem to be much about God. She left confused since the sales associate there suggested something about witchcraft. I’m not making this up.
The other person went into a large mainstream evangelical Christian bookstore. She knew a bit more about religious writing and seemed to want something like she might see in the footnotes of Richard Foster – maybe Sacrament of the Present Moment or maybe Merton or Henri Nouwen or some sort of Ignatian spirituality. She knew Dallas Willard influenced Foster so she was eager to see his stuff. The store had no Roman Catholic writers and no Dallas Willard. She saw stacks and stacks of Beth Moore and Joyce Meyers and those little devotionals by Sarah Young. But nothing that seemed deep and thoughtful and mature and helpful for her. Even the books on prayer, apparently, seemed cheesy and formulaic. She did what many of us do in times like this, she turned to google and by some miracle found my BookNotes list of some good books on prayer for various levels and styles and tones. It seemed, she said, just what she needed.
So, anyway, I hope you find something good when you shop with us, and hope you are glad to support our little efforts here to provide a different curation of books than is found in more popular stores, a selection that’s deep and wide but not snooty or overly eccentric. We want to help ordinary folks and ordinary churches with a creative but faithful selection.
HERE ARE SIX NEW BOOKS ON SPIRITUAL FORMATION
Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God Rankin Wilbourne (Cook) $19.99 Oh my, every now and then a book comes along that I categorize as a “sleeper.” That is, few know the author, the publisher isn’t particularly renowned, the national press most likely isn’t going to do stories about it. But it is worth its weight in gold, ought to be known, is a true winner. We can only hope that Wilbourne’s new book gets noticed and used and stays in print long enough to become very well known. UwC is a book that does what we might think of as basic Christian growth, just solid teaching about the nature of God and how God works with and within us, but it is better than most such books. It offers clear-headed (and often very inspiring) advice, not terribly dressy or loud, just solid teaching, guidance, motivation, good stories, good quotes, well put. Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God answers big worldviewish kinds of questions – who am I? Why am I here? Where am I headed ? How can I become that which I want to be? Pastor Wilbourne is good on questions like “what is the gospel” and invites us into a way of thinking about Christian formation that is practical and wise.
On the back of the book it asks “Do you secretly wonder if there’s more to life… but feel stuck?” I can’t quite figure out if this marketing line is useful – it is obviously trying not to seem like a heady theology text or a mystical spirituality book: it’s practical, it is saying. Maybe it is just the way they think to market stuff at David C. Cook given their own understanding of the market for their often passionate, often upbeat, often young-adult oriented evangelical books. But I’m telling you, Union with Christ is more than a call to be passionate and change the world for God, more than a cheap promise that if you find God with enough enthusiasm, voila, everything will come alive. It may be perfect if you feel stuck, but it isn’t primarily about that.
No, this book reminds us that this formation stuff is a longer, slower process, and it is dependent on getting a few very foundational truths right. One of these classic truths – a favorite of John Calvin’s, by the way – is the notion of “union with Christ.” I was first introduced to this notion by a book also called Union with Christ that has been out of print but is now available again by the beloved Lewis Smedes. Others have written on it – you will see the next book I list is about this as well, which is curious. Wilbourne’s, though, is very, very special. He studied at Princeton Theolgoical Seminary and is not only well read but a great storyteller. It is a really, really good book and I commend it to you.
In fact, Tim Keller says “This is simply the best book for laypeople on this subject.”
Less succinct but equally compelling is this endorsement by John Ortberg who wrote a very nice forward:
I’m trying to remember the last time I was more excited about a new book or a new author. Rankin Wilbourne brings a remarkable flair for writing, and a great breadth and depth of learning, to the most important subject in the world: What is the true and sufficient destiny for human life?
Wow. Keller says it is the best book on the subject and Ortberg says he can’t recall when he was “more excited about a new book or new author.” It doesn’t get much better than that this season.
The author is artfully literary (with an epigram from Dante in the front) without being too highbrow, draws on pop culture, too, and tells some good stories. He’s theologically conventional and orthodox, which is to say, he isn’t off the rails or weird. Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God has this tone of urgency – it is important, important content – but is reasonable and lucid. It is helpful, trustworthy, interesting, insightful, and I am glad to have found it. It deserves to be well known. Kudos to Cook for the handsome hardback design and making this such a nice, good volume. It deserves to be taken seriously.
Closer Than Close: Awakening to the Freedom of Your Union with Christ Dave Hickman (Navpress) $14.99 It isn’t every week that we get two great books on the exact same topic (unless it is justice or marriage or prayer or… well, actually we often do get new books that are similar.) But never on this topic, as few are writing about it. Like Wilbourne, Rev. Hickman is well grounded in this doctrine that is woefully not explained as much as it should be in our churches. He is taken with how we are one with Christ and explores what that means, but, like Wilbourne, he has an extraordinary capacity to take big and even controversial theological matters and apply them to ordinary folks living ordinary lives. Like Wilbourne, Hickman is a pastor who is eager to help people overcome a gap in their lives.
The gap, it seems to me, includes a gap between Sunday and Monday, or, between faith and life. Hickman (as I’ve mentioned before when I announced this book a few weeks back) wants us to be able to live out faith with missional energy and whole-life Kingdom vision by appropriating what we most deeply believe and allowing the good news of the gospel to sustain our fidelity to the gospel, day by day by day.
The second gap, besides this big question of how to live out faith and advance God’s Kingdom in our ordinary lives is this more internal question: how do we really know God? How to we discover God’s grace in ways that allows us to have intimacy with God? We may not always do it, but at least we sort of know what it looks like to follow Jesus. But to know Him? To abide in Him? To be one with Him? There is a gap here between head and heart, it seems to me, or between heart and hands. We simply don’t always know what it really means to have a “relationship” with Jesus. And we too rarely explore that in light of a robust theology of the Trinity. Hickman really gets this stuff right, and Closer Than Close is a true gift, full of life and passion and insight. It take evangelical cliches about Jesus being in our hearts and explains what that does and doesn’t mean. And what to do with that awareness.
If God takes up residence in us, if we become a new creation in Him then we can live into that friendship with God. My CCO friend Phil Schiavoni often reminds us that John called himself “the one Jesus loved.” Can we see ourselves that way? Do we really realize we are beloved – also “the one Jesus loved”? And that He dwells with us as we are one with Him?
I bet most readers of BookNotes know we can’t earn or come to deserve our salvation, that God’s grace is gift, that all of life is, finally, a great gift. But yet, we find ourselves in these cycles of striving and trying to make our relationship with God “work.” We sing hymns or praise choruses that speak of this intimacy with God but it isn’t quite our own experience. We maybe are okay with that, or maybe we carry within us longing (or even shame) and wish for something better. I believe Dave Hickman’s book can help.
It is interesting to me that Fil Anderson wrote the forward to Closer… Fil himself “crashed and burned” in his own spiritual journey, a moving story he told with considerable rawness years ago in Running on Empty. He sees in Hickman a similar sort of insight learned the hard way. Anderson writes:
David’s scorching honesty and humble transparency ravished my heart and brought me to tears. Despite the severity of his physical and emotional struggles, what had most plagued him was his soul’s desperate search for what he’d already been given. Clearly, the greatest discovery of his life was when David woke up to the truth that he had been perfectly one with Christ since the day he gave his life to Christ.
In a way, this is a book about experiencing the love of God. It is about how to receive from God the deepest truth that God cares and that in Christ we have an unbreakable relationship. As Fil says, Anderson “writes as a man who has been ambushed and held captive by the consuming fire of God’s love. It is a love, David writes, “that crossed all boundaries not just to be close to you, but to be closer than close.”
Part one of this book is called “Divine Mystery” and part two is called “Divine Reality.” He draws on early church fathers, medieval mystics, deep theologians like Paul Tillich and popular spirituality writers such as Jean Vanier and Brennan Manning, not to mention many contemporary Biblical and theological scholars from across the theological spectrum. How I enjoyed seeing Meredith Kline and Abraham Kuyper sharing footnote space with Karl Rahner and John Murray. Anderson is the founder of Charlotte One, a network of churches, so he has a huge commitment to the local congregation; in fact, there is a chapter on the role of the local church in nurturing this kind of union with Christ. His MDiv is from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Closer Than Closer: Awakening to the Freedom of Your Union with Christ is his first book although he has a fantastic chapter in a great and honest book called Inciting Incidents: 6 Stories of Fighting Disappointment in a Flawed World. He’s the real deal.
The Emergence of Evangelical Spirituality: The Age of Edwards, Newton, and Whitefield edited by Tom Schwanda (Paulist Press) $39.95 I hope you know Tom Schwanda; his previous book is beautifully entitled Soul Recreation which is a provocative and compelling argument that the staunch Puritans were – get this – more contemplative and mystical in their spirituality than many may realize. Seriously Reformed dogmatists draw on the exceptionally rigorous and exceedingly logical theological formulations and systematic schemes of major Puritan pastors and preachers but Schwanda shows that they have an often-missed mystical side to their deep piety. Schwanda (who teaches Christian Formation and Ministry at Wheaton College) is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America; his PhD in historical theology is from Durham University in England. He is a remarkable individual and is doing very, very important work.
So it makes great sense for the prestigious “Classics of Western Spirituality” to recruit him to edit this long-awaited volume in 18th century evangelical piety. He knows this good material as well as anyone and has the eyes – might one say “the eyes of the heart” – to really see what is going on in their deep faith.
From the post-Wesleyan Anglican revivals in England (think of John Newton and William Wilberforce and poetic hymnists like Augustus Toplady and William Cowper) to the awakenings happening in the colonies – think Jonathan Edwards through the revolutionary war-era Whitefield – Schwanda pulls together a fantastic array of primary sources. Wisely, he includes letters and poems, diaries and hymns and other sources that aren’t necessarily formal theological writing or sermons (although there are plenty of sermons) and he includes men and women – Anne Steele, obviously, and Hannah Moore, among others. There is a great guide to each of the authors in the beginning, a useful resource itself. This book is a treasure trove of spiritual writing and will appeal to Reformed and Anglican fans as well as anyone drawn to mature, meaty Biblical piety. What a book! I so appreciated what Karen Swallow Prior (author of the wonderful book Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More: Poet, Reformed, Abolitionist) said of it:
In displaying the richness, variety, and deep texture of the evangelical movement’s beginnings, The Emergence of Evangelical Spirituality is as interesting and delightful as the age it examines… a gift to church history and evangelical scholarship.
After a fantastic overview of the good arrangement and organization of the book and a bit about the historical era by esteemed Notre Dame historian Mark A. Noll (which itself speaks volumes for the integrity of this work) there is a lengthy, meaty, and tremendously inspiring introduction by Professor Schwanda, again, almost worth the price of the book alone. The primary texts are then given, arranged by theme. He has readings on “New Life in Christ”, a chapter on the Holy Spirit, a section on the use of Scripture, and a great unit on varying spiritual practices (including some remarkable stuff on family prayer, the art of reading sermons, fasting, the Lord’s Supper, and more, from known authors like Francis Asbury and Jonathan Edwards but also by the likes of Anne Dutton and John Witherspoon, from his famous sermons preached at Princeton in May of 1776!) The next section is called “The Love of God” followed by stunning section on love for neighbor. I guess is obvious that most writers just don’t do it like that any more.
“The Classics of Western Spirituality” is a “library of great spiritual masters” (as they have branded themselves) and is overseen by a world-renowned interfaith editorial board. There are hundreds of volumes now, and we can get any of them. They have already released big volumes on the Pietist and evangelical traditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with volumes dedicated to the Methodists John and Charles Wesley and German Pietists like Philip Jakob Spencer and August Hermann Francke. Some of this European stuff really did influence subsequent American spiritualities, and it seems to me that anyone wanting to delve more deeply into the roots of our contemporary religious scene (at least among Protestants, and certainly among evangelicals) would be wise to be familiar with some of this.
As Mark Noll says in the first paragraph of his good foreword:
To that general strand of Western Protestantism, Tom Schwanda has now added a wide-ranging sampling from individuals from the eighteenth-century Atlantic -wide British empire who, if they could not always see eye to eye among themselves, stood together as the recognized pioneers of a distinct form of modern spirituality.
These are “the recognized pioneers of a distinct form of modern spirituality.” As church historian Douglas Sweeney writes of Schwanda’s Emergence of Evangelical Spirituality volume, it “offers the best introduction to early Evangelical piety that has ever been produced – must reading for anyone interested in the history of Christianity.” We are thrilled to stock this, glad for Schwanda’s good work, and hope it is recognized as the treasure trove that it is.
PRE-ORDER NOW The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell (Whittaker House) $23.99 Well. I have mentioned Richard Rohr often in these pages, and I greatly, greatly appreciate his deep desire to integrate a profound, deep spirituality with an active, even prophetic, public faith. I have read or listened to him for years – he was known early on as a leader in Catholic charismatic renewal, an early voice in the conversation about postmodernism, a long-standing activist for nonviolence, creation-care, and service to the poor. (He is a Franciscan, after all.)
His Center for Action and Contemplation attempts – imperfectly, obviously – to open up space to consider that huge question so eloquently asked by Thomas Merton and Parker Palmer and so many others: what does it mean to be actively contemplative, or, put differently, to be contemplatively active. Richard has a little book called A Lever and a Place to Stand (now reissued with the new, evocative title Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World from a Place of Prayer) which potently tries to show us how a life of peace and justice activism must be sustained by prayer, and that a life of inner spirituality must give rise to active, even subversive faith against our broken, idolatrous, dangerous world. This is his thing – even though he has books on all kinds of stuff, including male spirituality, addictions, and aging.
Mike Morrell is an activist of sorts, involved in a range of progressive projects from The Buzz Seminar, The Wild Goose Festival, and is the Communications Director for the Integral Theology think tank. He writes on all kinds of stuff including the arts, social media, permaculture and more. He is, to use a phrase from Richard himself, a young wild man.
And this makes sense. Morrell is a former evangelical who discovered Rohr and it seems natural to have Mike working with Richard to work out a view of the Trinity that is at once orthodox and feisty, serious and joyful, mystical and practical, ancient and future. Brother Rohr has taught on the Trinity before and many have wished for him to clarify his views and help us all learn to join this dance. Morrell is a perfect conversation partner and surely helped Rohr make this book a bit edgy and cool and situated among the yearnings of those looking for some third way between conservative fundamentalism and wishy-washy spirituality unconnected to Biblical faith.
So if all this makes sense, given the new interests among progressives it is also important. Richard Rohr has been saying that The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation is his most important book ever. (Wow!) The book therefore deserves not only attention, but eager anticipation.
I have an advanced copy of The DIvine Dance and have only slowly begun to work with it. It is extraordinary, I will tell you that. I covers all kinds of stuff – “body-based knowing” and the role of metaphors and a beautiful bit called “suffering’s surprising sustenance.” As you might guess, it is a bit creative – drawing on quantum physics and the writings of Ken Wilber and accounts of early church debates. A beautiful forward is from William Paul Young, author of The Shack and Eve. There is the colorful and nearly playful connecting-the big-picture–dots we sometimes get form Rohr There is considerable Bible exegesis and lots of quotes from medieval saints and theologians and a few modern ones, too. He recommends Cynthia Bourgeault’s book on the trinity which is, shall we say, a bit odd and a bit unorthodox. So, yeah.
But here is what doesn’t make any sense, and which I am intrigued and excited about. The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation is published by Whitaker House, a publisher known for older school Pentecostal authors, deeper life pietism, and sometimes some pretty goofy charismatic authors. They publish much mature work — old books by Andrew Murray, say and so sometimes offer a few surprises — a nice edition of Athansius’s On the Incarnation or a novel by George MacDonald. They are not usually friendly to Catholic authors. There are some new editorial folks there, I have heard, and some read a bit more widely than perhaps their founders. Their tastes are expanding, I suppose, and the backstory of how this small and not-very-ecumenical publishing house acquired this new manuscript surely has something to do with friends and favors and new efforts to present to kinds of Christian literature to this corner of the religious world. If Whitaker House is turning over a new leaf this is certainly a dramatic way to do so. As ecumenical and open-minded as I tend to be, I am beyond perplexed by this move. The book seems eccentric and less than conventional. It doesn’t strike me as close to anything else in their entire catalogue. Publishing it at Whitaker House will be considered wildly brave or exceptionally foolish.
In any event, a new book on anything by Richard Rohr is, these days, nearly a publishing event. A book by him on the Trinity is remarkable. A new book on a small, Protestant fundamentalist/ Pentecostal outfit is more than remarkable, it is amazing! If Father Rohr’s Divine Dance was on HarperOne or a progressive publisher like Convergent or Jericho, or any number of liberal Catholic houses it wouldn’t be at all surprising. So what did Whitaker House see in this? What does Mike Morrell bring to the mix? How does this take on the Holy Trinity help us in these days and how will being on Whitaker House effect Richard Rohr’s footprint in the publishing world? Smarter people than I will have to say. I are sure that many of our customers will be eager to read it even though I refrain from saying anything much quite yet.
I will say this. Mike and Richard both knew the late Phyllis Tickle. Phyllis, you may recall, was a beloved Southern scholar of religion who became Episcopalian as a younger woman, was known and loved 
throughout the religious publishing world as an editor, writer, and vigorous cheerleader for authors and bookstores. You may recall that Phyllis’s last major book (besides a lovely book collection of poetry) was The Age of the Spirit: How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy is Shaping the Church. I mention this to suggest that this new book by Richard Rohr is another indication that Phyllis was on to something. We need good conversations on the Trinity and we need help in understanding the work of the Spirit. Our own transformation and our participation in God’s gracious redemptive work in the world is at stake.
There is a lot of mystery here, but a lot that is critical to get right. I for one, am eager to learn whatever I can, from wherever I can. The stakes are high, but Phyllis is right: from the church’s earliest days we have been baffled and (too often) fighting about the nuances of the nature of God and our engagement with the Divine. The brand new The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (due out the first week of October) may be outside the box – in content and in the curious partnership with this smallish Western Pennsylvania publisher – I, for one, am looking forward to how this book will be received and how we can all grow in our discernment of God’s Triune presence. Maybe we really can join the dance.
Buy it today and we will send it out as soon as it releases next week.
Meeting God in Scripture: A Hands-On Guide to Lectio Divina Jan Johnston ( IVP) $17.00 This handsome new paperback just arrived and I’ve not yet used it – it isn’t a book to quickly skim but to work with, to explore, to sit with, to practice. There are 40 guided meditations nicely arranged, so obviously it is a book to use, to absorb, a resource for your own quiet time. As with some of her earlier work it is a beautiful blend of contemplative prayer and Bible study. The whole lectio process is explained well and she gives us these generative exercises and Scriptural meditations to find a richer encounter with God even as we reflect carefully on the Biblical text. Jan is a skilled and faithful interpreter of this ancient practice and a fine, fine writer. We have promoted her many other books (including the gorgeous When the Soul Listens and Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace.) Meeting God in Scripture is going to be a great asset for those just starting out with this contemplative practice or will be an addition to those who collect these kinds of Bible study resources.
Punching Holes in the Dark: Living in the Light of the World Robert Benson (Abingdon) $16.99 I have said often and will say again that I will read anything I can get my hands on by Robert Benson. If he wants to send me his grocery list or last will and testament, I’m all over it. He is a master of great sentences, an enjoyable writer who tells gentle stories about his life, honest tales of insight learned in the push and pull of the day to day.
A lifetime ago he was affiliated with the famous Southern Gospel and evangelical pop music scene – yes, he is from that Benson of Benson Music Company – and his family is legendary in one of the fundamentalist denominations from the South. He has since moved a bit left in the big pew that makes up the church and although delightfully ecumenical, Robert is a contemplative, a retreat leader, and an Episcopalian. He sometimes refers to Jesus as The One Who Came Among Us and God as The One Who Made Us, a verbal tic which ends up being quite endearing. His writing is not breathy or zealous; it always strikes me as calming, even when he is telling a story that moves from heartbreaking to hilarious, all on the same page.
Although he has written about baseball, the writing life, moving his elderly mother, Miss Peggy, into an assisted living facility, taking care of the landscaping of his yard (Digging In), other books which I’ve mentioned here include several about contemplative themes, about prayer (Living Prayer and In Constant Prayer) and more generally about the spiritual life (Between the Dreaming and the Coming True is stunningly beautiful.) He has books on Benedict, on the sadness of our brokenness within the Body of Christ, and a lovely book on the Eucharist. That he likes good food and movies and baseball and his lovely backyard and treats with dignity the poor and others in his own neighborhood reminds me that he is not a mystic holed away in a monastic community; he visits retreats (often as a public speaker, which gets him some good stories, too) but he truly is a pretty ordinary guy, living a life like some of us do. His lives out this contemplative, spiritual life in some pretty common place ways with some fairly down to Earth experiences and writes about friends and neighborhoods and church meetings and work and worries and family.
And yet, throughout his amusing stories and his tender tellings of family concerns – not all pretty, I might add – Mr. Benson brings a deeply sacramental view of life, a contemplative tone, a wisdom born from time spent in silence and in liturgical worship. Although, it is true: his description of his own foibles and insecurities even while at retreats remind me why I like this guy so much. I, too, often skip out during these “sharing” times from hell. I love that he says how much he loves people and has a few friends, but that he just likes them better when they aren’t around. Ha.
The theme of this latest book is clear from the title, Punching Holes in the Dark: Living in the Light of the World. He is working a bit from St. John’s gospel, with issues of light, of faith in the One Who Is Light (see what I did there?) and trusting that the Light is breaking into our lives and into society in redemptive ways – often through very broken people. It is almost a cliché these days, but think of that line from Leonard Cohen, “There is a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in.” Consider Benson’s book a commentary on that evocative line.
He does like his literary quotes, although he uses them with discretion. A story from Jackson Brown shows up, a line from Mary Oliver, a quote from Annie Dillard, an epigram from Thomas Merton. That he draws on good lines from the Book of Common Prayer offers theological substance and genuine elegance. That the Frederick Buechner offers a glowing endorsement on the front (and Eugene Peterson is on the back) gives you a sense of how wonderful Punching Holes in the Dark really is. Buechner notes that Benson looks at his life “with candor and hope.” That the words “dark” and “light” are in the very title – and that it calls us to something (punching holes in the dark) gives us much to chew on.
Yes, this is a book about the spiritual life, but he doesn’t offer formulas or disciplines or practices. He tells his story of deepening his walk with the Light, he tells us of the goodness of God, he invites us to follow Jesus by loving others well. He is deep and humble and funny and wise, at least mostly wise. I like it that he’ll introduce a story saying “A year or so ago I inexplicably made the third or fourth dumbest move I ever made.” Maybe you too have made some dumb moves, but want a serene and candid storyteller to remind you of the Way. Maybe you need reminding that the Kingdom is coming, that it is, in fact, already here. This book will help you “let the Light of the World sneak in.” Thanks be to God.
Robert Benson is a graduate of and an adjunct faculty member of the Academy for Spiritual Formation and a member of the Friends of Silence and the Poor, an international ecumenical prayer community. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical Timothy Keller (Viking) $27.00 This extraordinary book deserves to be carefully studied, it deserves to be reviewed well, and it is certainly adequate to send to friends who are deeply agnostic, seriously skeptical or who think that the Christian faith is so odd and untrue that it needn’t even be explored. I can only announce it here, but I do so with great pride: to get to promote such beautiful, thoughtful, informed and honest books, sturdy in more than design, is a great privilege and great joy. Regardless of what you think of Keller’s broad-ranging cultural engagement based on a fairly conventional, gospel-centered sort of thoughtful Calvinism, his apologetics — based on years of real face to face conversations with serious and often sophisticated urbane secularists — is not only admirable, it is worth engaging. Read this book, work on it carefully if you have to. It is rich and deep and interesting and good. By the way, if you know his excellent Reason for God, this is a bit more philosophical, a bit headier, perhaps; it is what might want to call a prequel. Here’s how Tim puts it:
Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life Bill Burnett & Dave Evans (Knopf) $24.95 Speaking of lovely, sturdy books this fine work was just released by Knopf — surely one of he more prestigious mainstream publishers. Evans had some connection with Tim Keller, as a matter of fact, making it a rather serendipitous occasion for this book to come out this week, too. It can be explained rather simply: it looks at design thinking and offers very specific guidance for how to take those artful principles and apply them to your own search for a life and career and calling of purpose and meaning and happiness. David Kelly (founder of IDEO) says it is “the career book for the next decade…the ‘go-to’ book that is read as a rite of passage whenever someone is ready to create a life he or she loves.” Wow.
Networked Theology: Negotiating the Faith in Digital Culture Heidi A. Campbell and Stephen Garner (Baker Academic) $22.99 I hope you know this “engaging culture” series from Baker Academic. We stock each and everyone and they are thrilling. I don’t know why they aren’t more discussed and more widely used in churches. (Maybe they are in some places.) These are thoughtful, serious, but not systematic theology texts; they are applied theology, each taking up aspects of contemporary culture and thinking about it and within it from a Biblical vantage point. (The last one was magisterial and a lot of fun to read — Leisure and Spirituality: Biblical, Historical, and Contemporary Perspectives by Paul Heintzman.) Kudos to William Dyrness and Robert Johnston for editing this astute series.
Earth Psalms: Reflections on How God Speaks Through Nature Francine Rivers with Karin Stock Buursma (Tyndale) $16.99 Do you know the beloved, often moving, spiritual novels of Francine Rivers? She has a major, dedicated following for those who read Christian fiction — Redeeming Love is a Western re-telling of Hosea, for instance. Here the talented inspirational writer does a very different sort of book — a weekly devotional based on the beauties of creation. We have a major section in the store of what some called nature writing and we have books for the outdoorsy types, finding God in the wind and rain and such. Some are luminous, poetic, some nearly pantheistic, I fear. This, though, is utterly orthodox as she takes us to the joys of beholding a persistent woodpecker, the majestic redwoods, a glorious sunrise. This is sweet and dear stuff — finding God’s goodness in good things, realizing God’s presence and nearness, God’s attention and joy and love. Happily, there is stunning full color nature photography enhancing every reading making this not only a moving book to hold but a glorious one, too. There are glossy pages, a ribbon marker, and a truly beautiful cover. The Lord offers us “countless blessings” it says in handsome calligraphy. This book is one of them.
Spiritual Leadership: Why Leaders Lead and Who Seekers Follow Thomas G. Bandy (Abingdon Press) $19.99 We got quite a shipment from Abingdon this week – we’ve ordered almost every single book they’ve published this season, it seems. There are some standard authors they release and Bandy is one of them. (Bill Easum, too — we got his new one in this week as well. More on that, called Execute Your Vision, later.) In keeping with my theme of the variety of good books that show up, week by week, this is surely one we’ll want to read and explore and stock as we do book displays on the road this fall. The back cover has bunches of raves reviews — from a Protopresbyter in the Greek Orthodox Church to Lovett Weems, Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary, to Cory Sparks who is the Director of the LANO Institute for Nonprofit Excellence.
The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian Brian D. McLaren (Convergent) $21.00 I have read about half of this and am eager to continue on as I find time this crazy week. I think Brian is always worth reading and agree or not with every emphasis and every new insight there is little doubt that he offers kind and pastoral wisdom about many things. He is balanced and fair and eager to bear witness to the truths of Christ as he sees them. Just last night I was addressing a mainline denomination known for it’s more liberal styles and views. I encouraged them to read this as it ends up being a bit close to what they could be, but with a zeal and passion that is characteristic of a evangelical. This is not a lazy or sloppy drift towards liberal, ambiguous (non)theology, it is a robust and passionate call to faith that is creative and liberating and full of love and grace. Granted, I may wish Brian had a tiny bit of Keller in him, and I may wish Keller had a bit more Brian. I hope I”m not alone in enjoying them both and seeing a place for both.
Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science Mike McHargue (Convergence) $24.00 Wow, what a book. I am not sure what to make of this — haven’t read it yet. But I’ve seen the very attractive trailers done on line and am eager to check it out. Rob Bell, not surprisingly, wrote the forward — Rob has long been interested in quantum physics and string theory and the like, and it seems that this “science guy” had a weird rediscovery of his faith by studying the intricacies of what Barbara Brown Taylor has called (in her collection of beautiful pieces about faith and science) “the luminous web.” This guy was an atheist and science — cosmology and neuro-biology, actually – lead him to faith in the Risen Christ. He says you can meet Jesus even if you don’t understand it all. Well, yeah. He’s very, very smart, really, really funny, and full of faith and doubt and courage and heart. I’m excited by this. With blurbs on the back from Pete Holmes (of a HBO comedy show) and Tanya Luhrmann (a prof at Stanford) and Franciscan Richard Rohr and Donald Miller, well, this has something for everyone. 
Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama Kenneth L. Woodward (Convergent) $30.00 No offense to the edgy, cool, thoughtfully progressive Christian Convergent publishing, but I thought this would have been on Random House or Knopf or one of the prestigious New York houses. I suspect it will appear prominently on the New York Times bestseller list and be taken serious on the Sunday morning talk shows. Woodward, you know, was the religion editor for over 40 years for Newsweek. As news stories and trends emerged and evolved in the last half of the last century, he was there. He says this and it doesn’t seem prideful, just a matter of fact. This is his eye witness account, in many instances, of history makers from Martin Luther King to the Dali Lama, from Dorothy Day to an aging Billy Graham, from Abraham Heschel to Sun Myung Moon. He knows about liberation theology and EST, PET and Roe v Wade, TM and the Jesus People, consciousness raising and compassionate conservatism. He tells about being in Nicaragua with Ernesto Cardenel and tells of Wheaton College grad Michael Gerson tutoring George W. Bush on Catholic social thinking with concepts like “subsidiarity” and “the common good.” This is living history par excellence.
Born to Run Bruce Springsteen (Simon & Schuster) $32.50 STREET DATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
categories of coping with cancer and other chronic illnesses, books on death and dying, and titles on bereavement and loss and grief. We have so many helpful books that are for those living with loss and into their grief and we have books for caregivers, helping solve the big concern about how to minister to and walk alongside those in bereavement, including children! (It is interesting that we even sell books about pet loss, for adults and children.)
Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission Amy Simpson (IVP) $17.00 Here she tells her story of her mother’s oddness which moved to profound brokenness and an eventual full on break with reality. Her father used to be a country preacher and in the new city where they lived they found little support and there are tragic stories of how they were (shall we say) not served well. It is a call to the church to be more aware of mental health issues, she profiles several congregations that are doing good work with those who have special emotional and mental health needs, and inspires us all trust God as we move into some rough waters. What a book!
Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry Amy Simpson (IVP) $16.00 This is also a book very much worth having even though it is less the big picture of faith-based insights into our mental health crisis and more of a personal story. Perhaps it is fair to call it a bit more of a self-help/personal growth book, although it is informed not only by her own journey, but by the best data and social science regarding this remarkably prevalent spectrum of disorders. For what it is worth, don’t be put off by the subtitle, as if we can do away with illness by just having more faith: Simpson clearly opposes such bad theology; in both the Troubled Minds and Anxious books she is vibrantly evangelical and deeply spiritual but offers no simplistic clichés or false promises. I am sure you know somebody who will benefit from this story, who needs this insight, who will benefit from learning to faithfully live while coping with anxiety, stress, fear and the like. 
Darkness is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness Kathryn Greene-McCreight (Brazos) $18.99 As you noticed above, I am a big fan of Simpson’s two books, and the first, Troubled Minds, is the best to read if you’ve never read anything along these lines. It outlines (in part through personal narrative) her families struggles with psychosis and homelessness and loss; she tells what churches should and shouldn’t do. I commend it. But, having so commended it, I think I want to say that this one, Darkness Is My Only Companion, is my favorite book, on the subject – at least for those who want a slightly deeper and more reflective read. Green-McCreight is a trained theologian and a powerfully, elegant writer. She bravely takes us into the darkness that often accompanies depression and anxiety disorders and brings the awe-full situation onto the page in and into our own imaginations so beautifully. She draws on the Psalms (including the Psalms of lament) which have served her as her own lifeline. As we might expect from Brazos Press, the book is mature, theologically ecumenical (Greene-McCreight is associate chaplain at The Yale Episcopal Church at Yale and priest affiliate at Christ Church in New Haven) and simply deserves to be read. It is out in a revised and expanded edition. It is a book that is at times troubling, at times remarkably hopeful, always insightful, and you will be glad you read it.
Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness Matthew Stanford (IVP) $20.00 Both Simpson and Greene-McCreight draw on this book and see Dr. Stanford as an important friend and colleague, and it is, along with those listed above, an essential volume for anyone wanting to start a library on this topic. I cannot say enough about how clear and wise and thoughtful and sound all this is. If the previous books drew on the author’s own stories, Grace for the Afflicted brings a clinician’s expertise and training to bear. It is a remarkably good and thorough handbook, offering detailed information about various sorts of disorders. He nicely weaves together his medical/scientific training and his Biblical faith. It is so good to see this natural and wise use of the Bible even in a book that offers such clinical professionalism. The author has a PhD in neuroscience (from Baylor University) and is a nationally recognized researcher in the area of aggressive and impulsive behaviors. (He has done some pretty significant investigation of those with post-traumatic stress syndrome as well as brain injuries.) Amy Simpson told me that he’s a really great guy, too, as she has shared the stage with him and worked well together. This is a major contribution and a wonderfully informed and faithful work.
Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families Robert Albers, William Meller, Steven Thurber (Fortress) $29.00 This is a very helpful resource and we highly recommend it, too. I think what makes this particularly helpful is how it draws on such a variety of authors from such a diversity of backgrounds, faith traditions and experience in mental health stuff. As you might expect from Fortress Press (a publishing house affiliated with the ELCA) this is perhaps aimed at those who are situated in mainline denominational parishes; the author includes pastors within the United Methodist, Lutheran and Episcopalian tradition. Several of the chapters are by respected researchers and psychiatrists who are published in their own specialty area. It is about doing ministry, of course, by which they mean congregational ministry, so it is certainly useful for pastors, Christian educators, deacons, Stephen’s Ministers and the like. Even though Fortress is known for doing academic titles, this blends some rigorous, dispassionate medical and theological studies with narrative and testimony, making it at times lively and eye-opening. Besides the expected chapters on bi-polar disease and personality disorders and depression and such there are chapters on autism, brain injury, dementia, addictions… it is a fine, serious handbook covering a lot of ground.
Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith Monica A. Coleman (Fortress) $26.99 Wow. I just started this a few weeks ago and it is passionately written, eloquent and bold, as this woman shares her own anguishing story. This is a major work, released as part of the cutting edge People’s Theology series edited by Doug Pagitt and serves as a fine example of the old adage about theology emerging from autobiography. Coleman has very bravely here shared her own experiences as a black woman, with the issues and anguish one might expect. There is not only some account of racism but also a vivid account of sexual violence – what we might now call date rape – and more. As the book develops the tension deepens and we seem to know what is happening. Kudos to all involved in allowing this kind of story to be told. Take heed.
Anatomy of a Soul: 
Counseling and Christianity: Five Approaches Stephen P. Greggo and Timothy A. Sisemore
Preventing Suicide: A Handbook for Pastors, Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors Karen Mason (IVP) $18.00 I don’t need to say much about this–we have a small section of good books that tell about the grieve of losing a love one to suicide. (One of the most beautifully written and wise is by our friend Albert Hsu who writes of the loss of his father who took his own life, entitled 
The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People with Addiction Jonathan Benz and Kristina Robb-Dover (IVP) $16.00 Several decades ago we became known as a store that had one of the best selections of recovery resources around. Eventually, 12-step stores opened, recovery work became a cottage industry and went mainstream. It peaked and we don’t have – for whatever reason – as many requests for this kind of stuff as we used to. From drug and alcohol abuse to eating and sex and relationship addictions, from multiple personality disorders to post-traumatic stress to garden variety co-dependencies and the baggage from being raised in dysfunctional families, we have resources that can help. This new book, published earlier this year, is a great title that helps congregations see themselves as part of this movement. It is very, very good and a useful thing to think about as congregations are discerning new missions and new identities and new paradigms. Get this on your radar, part of your vocabulary, part of your vision. Benz, by the way, is a certified addictions professional out of an evangelical background; Robb-Cover is a PC(USA) pastor who went to seminary at Princeton.
Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet Barbara C. Crafton (Jossey Bass) $19.95 Again, I don’t have to say much about this – we have an entire shelf of books about depression; it is such a commonly experienced disorder that I’m surprised we don’t sell more of these sorts of books. We have some that are very profound, some that are a bit too simplistic for my tastes. They come from a variety of perspectives and offer a variety of angles. From Gerald May’s Dark Night of the Soul to the moving recent memoir by Gillian Marchenko, Sill Life: A Memoir of Living Fully with Depression, we have a lot. Jesus Wept, we think, is one of the best short reflections that offers not only a glimpse into the experience of those struggling with depression but also a multi-layered and thoughtful vision of God’s presence through it all. Rev. Crafton is a great writer and beloved as an Episcopalian priest and author and spiritual director.
Healing the Wounded Heart: The Heartache of Sexual Abuse and the Hope of Transformation Dan Allender (Baker Books) $16.99 Again, we have bunches of books on this topic and, sadly, they are needed, widely so. We have a few we most heartily recommend (depending on the emotional needs and writing style and religious tone preferred by the person reading it.) But near the very top of our list has for years has been the classic The 
Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse by the very, very reliable, insightful, and caring author Dan Allender (NavPress; $16.99.) Do you know him? He’s written bunch of stuff, often with his friend Tremper Longman, the renowned Old Testament scholar. Allender spoke on the main-stage of the CCOs Jubilee conference a few years ago, and you could watch him, here.
If You Feel Too Much: Thoughts on Things Found and Lost and Hoped For Jamie Tworkowski (Tarcher) sale price $15.00 while supplies last This collection of stories, memoiristic impressions, rants and epiphanies about some sort of grace that can be experienced even in hard times remains a very popular, much-discussed book among young adults who are often hurting, bewildered, feeling alone, disconnected, unappreciated. As we’ve explained before, this edgy book tells of Jamie’s passionate and hopeful episode writing “love” on the arm of a woman who was cutting herself and how a group of late-night, music-loving rock fans surrounded this despairing friend. Can we come alongside the lost and hurting? Can those who feel a lack of love find new hope? Does God’s love somehow leak out onto the cool kids anguished by their alienation as well as the run-aways and underground? This book reaches so many folks and we are glad to keep telling people about TWLOHA mission and Jamie’s moving tribute to this way of loving others no matter what. Called “hauntingly beautiful” it reminds us that it is okay to admit that things are right for us and it is okay to ask for help.
Wholeheartedness: Busyness, Exhaustion, and Healing the Divided Self 
The God Who Heals: Words of Hope for Times of Sickness curated and edited by Johann Christoph Blumhardt and Christoph Blumhardt (Plough Publishing) $18.00 This. This is one of the most beautiful collections of great readings that we’ve seen this year! You may know the Plough classics that were put out for Advent and for Lent compiling quotes from writers, theologians, mystics, poets. This looks like and is shaped like those beloved treasures, a handsome hand-sized hardback that offers small excerpts and pieces. These mature reflections are all from the older Blumhardt (who lived in the 19th century) and the son Christoph, who was a contemporary of Karl Barth and Bonhoeffer. Pastors and hospital chaplains and those who do home visitation – Stephen Ministers or local church deacons or visiting nurses, say – should have this for their own deepening of how to think about illness, healing and wholeness, but also to share with the sick or bereaved. Here you have 60 pieces (each linked to a Biblical text) and gentle, encouraging, insightful words of blessing. Highly recommended. By the way, you may recall that Saddleback pastor Rick Warren lost an adult son to suicide and he and his wife have written and spoken bravely and helpfully about that tragedy. Warren has a very moving forward to this Blumhardt book. Kudos to Plough for making old, rich writing seem handsome and new.
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US FOR A BOOK RELEASE PARTY
Caring for Creation: The Evangelical’s Guide to Climate Change and a Healthy Environment by Mitch Hescox and Paul Douglas (Bethany House; $14.99)
re-dedicated his life to Christ; he called that season his Jonah experience. (Interestingly, in a theme that will re-emerge later in the book, his own spiritual re-conversion happened while on a grueling hiking journey in the wilderness, witnessing a blazing saguaro cactus deep in the Sonoran Desert. It is notable, they later say, how many people say they find God in nature, and have had significant spiritual encounters with God while in the beauty of creation. Not a bad reason to care for creation and steward well our eroding environment! These guys are conservatives that believe in conservation!)
Permit me a little digression, here, but we just got into the store the pocket sized, truly brilliant, long needed A Little Book for New Scientists: Why and How to Study Science by Josh A. Reeves & Steve Donaldson (IVP Academic; $12.00) which is tremendous, just tremendous, on these very themes. Designed for college students, it is great for anybody who likes reading about the interface of religion and science.)
Embracing Creation: God’s Forgotten Mission John Mark Hicks, Bobby Valentine & Mark Wilson (Leafwood Publisher) $14.99 This wonderfully done new book is so refreshing and interesting as it relates a wonderfully robust view of new creation in the Bible to our environmental crisis. It invites us to explore the full story of God’s work in the world — God, creation, humanity, sin, redemption, promises of restoration. It draws on brilliant and well known friends of ours such as Richard Middleton, Al Wolters, and N.T. Wright as well as some of the finest Christian thinkers about environmental science and creational stewardship. All three authors have advanced seminary degrees and are not only Biblically astute, but have studied church history and know flow of ideas, the ups and downs of theological insights and how they have been applied. Hicks teaches at Lipscomb (he earned his PhD from Westminster Theological Seminary) while Valentine is a pastor in Tucson AZ. Mark Wilson (whose first Master’s degree was in biology) has worked for 36 years in conservation through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. How great is that?
Hospitable Planet: Faith, Action, and Climate Change Stephen A. Jurovics (Morehouse Publishing) $18.00 This author is remarkably skilled at thinking about both big picture stuff about climate change and how energy use can be refined and reformed, both institutionally, in our church buildings and in our own personal lives. With a PhD in Engineering, mitigating climate change as been the focus of his engineering work for two decades. (He has nearly 20 technical, scholarly papers published and he has presented at many professional conferences.) So he knows what has to happen about the sorts of structural changes we need to make. As a person of faith, Jurovics realizes that the Scriptural teachings of the Older Testament law and prophets “contained instructions relevant to contemporary issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, preserving biological diversity, treatment of the land and sustainability.”
Windfall: The Blooming Business of Global Warming McKenzie Funk (Penguin) $18.00 I named this as one of our favorite books of 2015 and re-announced it when it came out in paperback. I was struck by the curious range of rave reviews it got – including Wired and The Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones. It is thoroughly enjoyable (“as entertaining as it is disturbing” The New Yorker said.) The environmental/literary journal Orion awarded it one of their books of the year, which is impressive. I just have to announce it here, again.
Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence Christian Parenti (Nation Books) $16.99 Now out in paperback, this book was awarded “Book of the Year” status from numerous nonfiction reviewers; Bookforum says “if you read one book on climate change this year… Tropic of Chaos should be it. The way you understand the changing climate and the resulting conflicts that serrate our world will be transformed.” This is a book of science, yes, but also of political affairs, perhaps even of geography. It is a study of violence through the lens of the environment. As such, I think it seems extraordinarily important and we’re glad to have it in paperback.
Great Tide Rising: Towards Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change Kathleen Dean Moore (introduction by Sister Mary Evelyn Tucker) $26.00 I have said often that some of Moore’s early writings are among my all time favorite books. I adored Riverwalking and Holdfast: At Home in the Natural World and commend her eloquent, insightful prose for those who read Terry Tempest Williams or Annie Dillard, even. To call her writing lyrical was obvious and I longed for better ways to invite people to read her glorious essays. Wild Comfort is about “the solace of nature” and, as one reviewer wrote, her “descriptions are powerfully visceral. Readers will find that the world seems larger, wilder, and yet safer than they had thought – more beautiful and more like home.” I think I have read all of her books, and have been deeply moved by them, even though I do none of the outdoorsy exploring she and her family do. Whew!
Trace: Memory, History, Race, and The American Landscape Lauret Savoy (Counterpoint) $25.00 I list this for a few reasons but I do believe that many of us will become more aware of our need to grapple with the questions of environmental stewardship not just because we come to realize the Bible tells us so or because we realize the crisis is imminent but because (think of Jamie Smith’s books) we love well. That is, we love the world the way God does. So, nature writing and books which maturely ponder a sense of place and that help us see and stand in awe of God’s good creation are bound to be helpful. (Also, some of this genre offers some of the finest writing by some of our most artful essayist and memoirists working today — for instance, certainly one of the most widely and universally acclaimed books in the last few years was the luminous, gripping bestseller H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald.) Hence, even for those who are not outdoorsy or wilderness types, reading well about the great outdoors is a good practice.
Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human John Mark Comer (Zondervan) $19.99 I raved about this previously, holding up its solid vision, its chatty, easily understood vision, its young-adult-friendly design and cool style. Love it. And, happily, many others do, too. This may be the best new contribution to this topic in ages — fun, clever, and, I think, truly insightful. 
Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work: A Storycorps Book Dave Isay (Penguin Press) $26.00 I suppose you’ve heard StoryCorp on NPR, those great little story-telling audio features. This brilliant book is the best survey of our attitudes about and stories of work since the classic Working by Studs Terkel. These short chapters are grouped under the categories of Dreamers, Generations, Healers, Philosophers, Groundbreakers. You might be surprised to see which jobs are described in which categories — Groundbreakers include a video game inventor, a county clerk, a pastor, a chef and restaurateur, a NASCAR driver, and a building contractor. Philosophers include a beer vendor and beekeeper and science teacher. (Not to mention a “salmon slicer.”) Healers might seem more predictable — lovely stories from an oncology nurse, a hospice chaplain, a 9/11 first responder, an Ob-gyn doc and an ICU nurse, but also iron workers, a grocer, and an English teacher. I loved the pieces by those who are doing what their forefathers or mothers did (farmer, actor, firefighter, a tool and die maker, an engineer, an oil rig driller, and more.) The book opens with those called Dreamers and it could include many of the workers who tell their stories, but these are especially powerful — an NBA referee, a library assistant, a dentist, a forensic artists, a street corner astronomer..
The Gospel Goes to Work: God’s Big Canvas of Calling and Renewal Dr. Stephen Graves (KJK Inc. Publishing) $10.00 For the price, this small paperback is one of the best bargains around. This book is mature, thoughtful, helpful, innovative, and uses a handsome two color ink design with very nice graphics giving it a contemporary, classy feel. Graves has been at this for decades and this is a very fine update to the state of the art of this conversation about Christian faith and daily work. This approach — which he calls “The Baseline and the Blue Sky” — offers practical pointers for whole-life discipleship framed by God’s big picture work. This is excellent.
A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World Katelyn Beaty (Howard Books) $22.99 This is a very nicely written book, thoughtful and at times provocative, insisting that God has created us — male and female — to reflect the image of God by working (paid or unpaid, at home or in the world) but that in our culture women have certain obstacles to overcoming in finding their own voice in the typical work-world culture. (And one of those obstacles may be unhelpful attitudes and teachings from some very prominent Christian leaders.)
Work: Prison or Place of Destiny? David Oliver (Authentic) $14.99 This was written in 1999, published in England. I really like the sort of forward-thinking- real-world evangelicalism across the pond. This book seems a bit more practical than some more abstract ones, and yet more charismatic in tone, lively, Biblically, Spirit-lead, seeking churches that are in the front lines of God’s revival. This edition has been updated and there is an excellent afterword by Dr. Christian Overman who offers an overview of the theology of work centers and grad programs (in North America) that have sprung up in recent years. There is, by the way, also a chapter by Mark Greene of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. He used to work in advertising so knows well the struggles and temptations and opportunities within the so-called secular corporate world.
Every Waking Hour: An Introduction to Work and Vocation for Christians Benjamin T. Quinn & Walter R. Strickland (Lexham Press) $12.95 We discovered Lexham Press because they are doing the on-going project of very large, handsome, excellently translated hardback editions of Abraham Kuyper. This one — Every Waking Hour — is equally well done, but in a a compact, small hardback; it is part of a trio of companion volumes, Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians by Bruce Riley Ashford and Every Good Thing: An Introduction to the Material World and the Common Good for Christians by David Jones. All three of these are handsome, clear, Biblical, a bit conservative in orientation. They are created in cooperation with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m very glad to see seminaries working on this stuff. Every Waking Hour is a very fine, no-nonsense introduction to this topic.
The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs Sebastian Traeger & Greg Gilbert (Zondervan) $16.99 I think this is a fabulous contribution to this topic…. again, it covers standard stuff, affirms the priesthood of all believers, invites us to reject a churchy sort of view that places ordinary work-world Christians as some kind of second class believer. Okay — clear enough, good enough. What this one brings to the conversation, though, is a robust and deep reliance on the gospel itself, the transforming power of Christ’s cross, the way we must put Christ first in all things, and understand the way grace transforms everything. It is like any number of books in its call to relate Sunday and Monday, to think Christianly about work. But fewer books invite us to a serious self-assessment about whether we have made our work an idol. Can trusting God alone and the goodness of God’s grace free us from the cultural pressures of either working too much, or maybe not enough? These good authors help us see how the gospel can free us from “both an all consuming devotion and a punch-in, punch-out mentality — in order to find the freedom of a work ethic rooted in serving Christ.” When this book says it will help us “find God’s vision for your job” it isn’t kidding. It’s solid, mature, transformational stuff, rooted in a gospel-centered approach. Good discussion questions, too.
Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve Demi Prentiss & Fletcher Lowe (Morehouse Publishing) $18.00 I find it interesting that some of the finest books in the 70s on this topic — the few that existed — came out of mainline denominational churches. (I think of the Lutheran Bethlehem Steel executive William Diehl who wrote Thank God Its Monday.) Dutch Calvinists at the alternative labor union in Canada were writing as were Mennonites and Catholics, but not too many evangelicals. Now, the faith/work conversation and the centers to study this are led by thoughtful evangelicals and conservative Protestants, it seems. This, though, comes from the mainline Episcopalian church and documents great examples of mainline, often liturgical parishes, that are equipping congregants to see their work as a mission field and that their work matters to God. Dorothy Sayers (who wrote the seminal “Why Work” essay) was Anglican, of course, so it is fitting to see Episcopalians taking up this tradition, rooted well in their own Book of Common Prayer and its call to the missio dei.
Consider Your Calling: Six Questions for Discerning Your Vocation Gordon T. Smith (IVP) $16.00 I have long appreciated Smith’s clear, intense writing about spirituality. He’s in the league with Richard Foster and the late Dallas Willard — and his recent work has insisted we need a more deeply rooted, spiritually-mature, Christianly-shaped sort of character (see Called to Be Saints!) One of his books which we listed on previous BookNotes bibliographies about calling and vocation is Courage and Calling; it is substantial and thoughtful. I have sometimes even called that one “Richard Foster meets Os Guinness” in that it has a robust view of calling but has a bit of a contemplative tone. In this newer, compact little book he gives us six questions to ask in reflecting upon one’s calling, a thoughtful guide to doing some inner work in considering one’s vocation. We reviewed it previously but it deserves to be on this list as it is so very useful and wise. Highly recommended.
Your Vocational Credo: Practical Steps to Discover Your Unique Purpose Deborah Koehn Loyd (IVP) $16.00 I have to sometimes whittle it all down to one book — at the Jubilee conference each February, say, when students who want a practical, visionary, but useful book on discerning their own sense of call. So many young adults are still unclear about choosing a major, a field of study, a future career. And, I have to say, at least at this past year at Jubilee 2016. this was the one that most resonated with college age students. it is fun, upbeat, energetic, has lots of stories, a missional zeal, even. And it seems practical, even it is full of wonder and mystery and daring. If the smaller more sober one by Gordon Smith (Consider Your Calling, see above) appealed to those who wanted just those six questions, or a slightly more prayerful tone, this one seemed happily to meet the needs of many. Written by a wise young woman who promises to “w
More: Finding Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure Todd Wilson (Zondervan) $15.99 I tend to like books that are well-written, a bit on the abstract side, nothing too formulaic or workbooky or simplistic. That’s me. But every now and then a book comes along that is very nicely written, is rooted in broad, good thinking, and yet offers a framework from which to obtain really practical guidance. This is one of those rare ones, informed by the likes of Os Guinness’s brilliant The Call and yet full of self-assessment questions and vocational guidance and down to Earth ideas of making decisions. Here is what the promo copy says about it: 
Know Your Why: Finding and Fulfilling Your Calling in Life Ken Costa (Nelson) $16.99 I was thrilled to see this new book being released — we have been glad to list and tell about his earlier book called God at Work and it was nice to know he had another one coming. Costa is an internationally renowned banker, having worked as chairman of UBS Investment Bank (and other financial marketing organizations in London.) Not every book — hardly any books, in fact — carry endorsements from Louie Giglio (of the Passion Conference) and the Archbishop of Canterbury (who says “This book has all of Ken at his best…Written from his own experience, it speaks to the concerns of young professionals everywhere.”) Brian Houston says “There are few people on the planet whom I find more fascinating than Ken Costa…” Inspiring, for sure! I trust it to speak about vocation and the call into the work world because I know the author’s other book and his remarkable experience within the financial institutions of the global economy. 
EmotiConversations: Working Through Our Deepest Places John Elton Pletcher & Holly Hall-Pletcher (Resource Publications) $20.00 I hope you recall that we’ve given a shout out or two to a lovely little novel by Pletcher — a parable, really, which allows us to enter this faith/work conversation in story form — called Henry’s Glory. We are always glad to promote really unique books that are solid and useful like this when it is written by a friend and customer we trust, and Henry’s Glory brought a fresh voice into this body of literature. Well, Rev. Pletcher here goes a bit deeper and (get this) has partnered with his mother (Holly) to co-author this book about the complex and fascinating topic of emotions in the workplace. Wow.