My heart still aches from the confusion I caused in the way in which I announced to a group of folks I care about the complexities of the book Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor. You can read the whole story and my discussion of the book by finding the last BookNotes here. (All of our previous BookNotes are archived at the website, by the way.)

The book, as I explained in great detail in last week’s BookNotes, clearly and with great pastoral care, critiques the unBiblical ideologies behind the extremist, often conspiratorial, far-right wing in American politics these days. Not unlike the new N.T. Wright paperback (Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies) it asserts that while good Christian folks can disagree about any number of policy recommendations and party affiliations, nowadays, much of the Republican Party in the US has become implicated in what must be named as ethically unacceptable views of race and economics and governance and truthfulness and has failed to distance itself with some exceptionally bad actors (from former President Trump’s friend (of infowar fame) Alex Jones, who viciously accused the families of murdered children at Sandy Hook of being involved in a hoax, to the guy with the proud Nixon tattoo, Roger Stone, to those with violent intentions (like the KKK and the Proud Boys and several popular militia groups) even to — my God! — holocaust deniers. The book is about that sort of extremist ideology that is an important part of the MAGA movement these days.

I tried hard in my big essay last week to explain that I do not think that all conservatives are part of the monstrous “Leviathan” that Campbell describes when he exposes the cult-like vibe of QAnon-tainted Christian Nationalism. Not at all. I’ve held multiple party affiliations in my own years as a citizen and most serious Christians, I am sure, are fully aware that they may not personally endorse every plank of their party’s platform, let alone like every person who is a media celebrity or political operative for that party. Maybe not even their primary candidate. Granted.

Still, I recommended another new book Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity by Joel Looper (now out from Eerdmans) who does a careful reading of Pauline texts about not falling for a false gospel to show how so-called Christian Nationalism could be understood not as a tawdry, alt-right sort of populism nor as a legitimate Christian political option as an acceptable part of a Christian worldview, but as a false gospel. Looper is a conservative evangelical, a Bonhoeffer scholar, and theology prof at a Baptist university and his assertion of heresy is profound.

Disarming Leviathan agrees, but Campbell writes as a brokenhearted pastor who has realized that some of his flock have simply gone off the deep end, confusing their former faith with MAGA ideology and fear-filled, politicized activism. This phenomenon of allowing the faith to be co-opted by political / cultural forces has been a constant threat in America — Reinhold Niebuhr wrote about it in several chapters of Christ and Culture in 1951 — but it has not been seen so weirdly with such vigor, in my lifetime. (You know the news, stuff one can hardly make up like the prayer of the Shaman during the Capitol riots and the President who pays off porn stars and uses tear gas to disperse protestors so he could get a photo op at a church he doesn’t attend, getting blessed by prosperity preachers.)

Pastor Campbell realizes, and explains in his new book, that having more gracious “common ground” conversations and being more civil so we learn to disagree well (as important as that is) isn’t enough for a time such as this.

Folks who have lost their way need to be called to faith, back to their first love (if they once were Christians) and, in any case, to Christ-centered discipleship. Serious social science shows that, oddly, many who self-identify as evangelicals in the polls who are fans of the MAGA movement are, in fact, often not familiar with basic Christian doctrines and rarely go to church. The very word evangelical has oddly come to stand for a certain sort of extreme  politics similar to what we used to call civil religion, on steroids. While the political polarization concerns us all, Rev. Campbell wants us to see Christian Nationalists mostly as an unreached people group (as missionaries call such subcultures) and for us to learn how to be caring evangelists of the gospel. As I said last week, there is no other book like it.

This week I’d like to list a handful of books that I think can be transformative for those who need to hear a fresh articulation of the true gospel in a way that is profound, deep, serious (and readable.) I’ve shortened the list to just twelve, each a winner in its own way, books that might grab you or someone you are in discussion with. But first, ten books on evangelism, quickly highlighted for you, since that was the main point of Disarming Leviathan.

FIRST, TEN BOOKS ABOUT EVANGELISM

Disarming Leviathan is remarkable in suggesting that the answer to some of the problems plaguing our culture is introducing folks anew to the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Which is to say, evangelism. He gives some helpful advice, and the last chapters of that book are wise and dear.

I thought it might be helpful to name just a few more that go into more helpful detail about sharing the gospel. Many of us are not terribly well-practiced at this and we understandably shy away from anything that seems pushy. While these are not set in the context of the various political ideologies of our culture, they are books that could inspire almost anyone. Talking about faith and “telling a better story” is a perennial question yet it seems especially urgent now. Anyway, here are a few — if you haven’t read in this genre, any of these would be a good start. ALL ARE 20% OFF.

Growing Your Faith by Giving It Away: Telling the Gospel Story with Grace and Passion York Moore (IVP) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I appreciate this older book that invites us to grow in our own faith by learning to articulate it, share it graciously, invite others to receive God’s gift of salvation. The chapters are short, there are good stories, and exceptionally helpful extra books and resources recommended. The second half has remarkable insights about sharing the gospel with “those who don’t like you” and another on sharing with “those you don’t like.” Ha. This covers a variety of settings and invites us all to stretch a bit for the sake of loving others well. York is a friend and a thoughtful leader; I like this book a lot.

Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace Harvie M. Conn (P&R) $10.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $8.79

If you read the very interesting recent biography of the late Timothy Keller (Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen) a good number of books and authors stand out. You won’t miss Harvie Conn, a Reformed thinker and missionary (who ministered among abused women in the sex industry in Asia back in the 60s.) He came back to Pennsylvania and taught a very wholistic, Kingdom-centered view of evangelism at Westminster Theological Seminary which particularly caught Keller’s attention. This little book emerged from Conn in those years and it is astute and visionary, passionate about living out the gospel by caring for people’s lives. It is sophisticated in bringing together “word and deed” and yet not overly complex. As he notes, evangelism includes the ministry of listening and serving as well as speaking. As we used to say in those days we must “meet people where they are.”

As Harvie put in it his classic little preface:

“My prayer is that this book will not emerge as one more exercise in blackboard evangelism, one more excuse to learn a little bit more and do a little bit less, to keep off the streets and out of the kitchen. May it direct us to the streets and not, pray God, to the study.”

Of course he was teaching this in an exceptionally rigorous academic community (so he didn’t object to time in the study) but his heart for others and his ground-breaking, wholistic, missional theology was captivating. Could this old book stimulate a new generation to be more  passionate about both justice and grace, about word and deed?

Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World: Evangelism as a Way of Life Becky Pippert (IVP) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

This is one of the most read and beloved Christian books of the last 50 years. It is not hard to read but it covers a lot (it’s over 300 pages) and I’d say it is a true classic. I hope you know it. She spoke at our Pittsburgh Jubilee conference decades ago and we at Hearts & Minds hosted her here for a series of workshops in our early years. She is charming and alert, a clear, thoughtful writer, and loves good stories. She is confident we can share the gospel easily with others if we just do it and suggests that folks are actually more interested than we realize.

Pippert’s more recent one is called Stay Salt: The World Has Changed: Our Message Must Not (published by Good Books; $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59) and it is very good, too. I highly recommend it. The late Timothy Keller wrote:

Out of the Saltshaker was one of the most important books on evangelism written over the last generation. Stay Salt may be the best book on witness for the next generation. I don’t know of a more lucid or penetrating book on evangelism to put into the hands of a Christian.

Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did Randy Newman (Kregel Publications) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Randy, who sadly died about a month or so ago, used to work for Cru in the DC area; we crossed paths several times and he was a gem of a guy — a great, funny, thoughtfully well-read, Christian leader. (His last book offered lessons from C.S. Lewis on evangelism, cleverly entitled Mere Evangelism.) For years, years ago in his evangelism with college age students, he had a fairly simplistic approach, clear and earnest, and he led many to make a profession of faith in Christ. Then a few decades ago, seemingly suddenly one year, it just didn’t work any more. Students were aloof or disinterested or would agree with everything he shared about God’s love and Jesus’s sacrifice, and, yet, walk away. He was ready to give up campus evangelism and he wrote this book as a way to rethink how to share the good news, mostly around asking questions and listening well. It’s the perfect sort of postmodern turn away from easy answers and formulas to remind us of the social context of seekers and to ask good questions. He is “questioning” old styles of rigid and simplistic evangelistic tactics and he is replacing them with earnest conversation and listening well. We carry all of his interesting books and we recommend them all.

The Invitational Christian Dave Daubert (Day 8 Strategies) $9.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $

I enjoy mentioning this small book from time to time because it is so winsome and useful (and short, making it ideal for a small group study or adult class or for an outreach committee.) For those who don’t read heady theology or missional theory, it’s a fabulous little read.

Here’s what’s unique about it. Dave is a Lutheran who has worked as a mainline church consultant for years. He knows his way around older, mainline churches — our buildings, the styles of our life together, our worship, our financial anxieties, our concerns. Further, while many of the books on this list are about engaging others in conversations about God’s love and Christ’s Kingdom, about personal faith and conversion, this is less about inviting people to faith and discipleship but about inviting people to church.

Let’s face it: that is a big ask for many of us but, frankly, a little less intimidating than inviting them to receive Christ’s grace anew and commit to trusting him. Yep, this is a simple book inviting people to become invitational even as their congregations form that sort of ethos. As our local congregations become hubs of meaning and purpose and service and spiritual renewal, it’s natural to want others to join in. With lots of stories from original research and great Bible and discussion questions after each chapter, The Invitational Christian is a very nice book about being more invitational, and why things might be holding us back. Can ordinary churches that are pretty non-dramatic learn to be more invitational in ways that truly recruits folks to join in our (admittedly low-key) fun? Yes, yes indeed. This book can help.

Trauma-Informed Evangelism Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers Charles Kiser & Elaine A. Heath (Eerdmans)  $19.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I hope you saw my longer review of this when it first came out. We commended it, glad for how it integrates a trauma-informed instinct, and is so deeply aware of the hurt people carry in their very bodies and how often bad religion has been part of their deep pain. Many are scarred and scared and reluctant to trust those who dare to speak of God or the church when they have been hurt, demeaned, maybe even traumatized by less than gracious encounters with toxic faith.

Naturally this includes those who have walked away from faith, including some who have done so reluctantly, out of self-preservation. For instance, this book asks how we can gently share good news with LGTBQ persons and others that have been shamed and mocked and rejected. This is not a simple book (it explains what we mean by trauma-informed psychology and struggles to understand what evangelism has been and could be) and it invites an expansive and generous alternative to the sorts of messages that too often seem to carry shame and rejection. This is about caring and appreciating “Christ’s own relatable human suffering.” There is much to ponder here.

Tongue-Tied: Learning the Lost Art of Talking About Faith Sarah Wenger Shenk (Herald Press) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

Kudos to Herald Press, a Mennonite publisher that has released some very provocative, thoughtful, culturally-engaged, and surprisingly fresh books of late. I wrote about this when it came out a few years ago, noting that it really does invite us to think about the words we use to describe our faith and how to regain a refreshing sort of vibrant way to describe theology and truth and Bible and spirituality. There are no cliches, no easy answers, and her lovely project is both prophetic and sophisticated and yet so very down-to-earth and caring, so much that Walter Brueggemann says it is a “wise, much-needed book.” Indeed.

Perhaps our most tender faith stories are really love stories, she suggests, and amidst polarizing cultural arguments, maybe this is just what we need: deeper conversations about our shared humanity and things that matter. Words made fresh.

As it says on the back cover, we don’t need to “relearn Christianese or brush up on churchy cliches. We need a language of faith that is authentic, candid, and robust enough to last.”

Learning to Speak God from Scratch: Why Sacred Words Are Vanishing–And How We Can Revive Them Jonathan Merritt (Convergent Books) $17.00  // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

Here is another that observes that many in our post-Christian culture simply don’t know anything about church or Christian faith and we have less of a need to convince them of its truth but to invite them into a sense of belonging to a story they’ve never really encountered. But how can we do that when the words we have learned to use to explain our faith and our convictions and our experiences are themselves unfamiliar to our post-Christian friends?

Sometimes (at least in many sophisticated urban areas) folks know our words — grace, sin, gospel — and they are turned off. Our God-talk (fairly or unfairly) has less than “good news” connotations. How do we learn to speak a faith language from scratch? Jonathan (raised a preacher’s kid in a Southern Baptist culture is now a New Yorker and an occasional writer for the Atlantic) has learned a thing or two about this. His story is fascinating.

As we all know, to further complicate things, not only is there sometimes negative baggage, sometimes people may truly not know what our “sacred” words mean. Other words they simply haven’t heard. For some, I’m guessing especially in middle America, they may be inoculated against them, too familiar with the lingo so as to fail to realize their stunning brilliance. How do we rethink how we talk about faith? As the old hymn puts it, “what language can I offer?”

There’s a very nicely written foreword by Shauna Niequist, an artful writer who knows well this quandary of using words in fresh ways.

In a time when thoughtless opinions run rampant, Jonathan uses his brilliance to help us think better. He is a masterful writer, who has a gift for language and communication. How fitting that he would use his gifts to help us communicate on the highest level! — Lecrae Moore, two-time Grammy winning hip-hop artist, author, I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion But Found My Faith

Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion Os Guinness (IVP) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I did a long review of this one when it first came out, noting how exceptional it was; Dr. Guinness is an amazingly smart and erudite scholar and social critic (who is related to the Guinness beer people and thinks deeply about vocation and calling and business and society.) This is the most sophisticated, important, serious study of how to actually convince others of things, and, also, is one of the most detailed and fresh takes on serious apologetics I’ve ever read. It’s quite a book, thoughtful and profound, drawing on insights from three huge influences on his own life and thoughts over the years: C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, and sociologist Peter Berger. These were important writers who Guinness reports were the three most important figures in his own faith formation. In a way, he spent most of his life preparing to write this magnificent book.

Fools Talk is informative and wise. It attends to cultural forces and the plausibility of conversation with folks and reminds us of the importance of the power of persuasion, never coercion. It insists that the gospel of grace must always be presented gracefully. It is very highly recommended.

Many Christian leaders and ordinary readers have said to us that it is one of the most influential books they’ve ever read. Here is a nice blurb (among many) that captures some of what it is about:

In a day when Christian apologetics seems to win battles but lose wars, when evangelism is abandoned by the church and biblical strategies are ignored, Fool’s Talk by Os Guinness is necessary and vitally important. Insightfully, he not only guides in the use of wit and weightiness, but also restores winsomeness to the art of communicating Christ. He teaches the reader to ‘relativize the relativists’ and build on the ‘signals of transcendence’ with brilliance. He acknowledges his debts to Peter Berger, C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, G. K. Chesterton and many others. Readers will be indebted to Guinness for the syntheses and wisdom we have come to expect from him. The benefits of the past are freshly and insightfully applied to the present. All people need to know they are deeply loved and forgiven by God. Fool’s Talk will better equip us to tell them. I heartily endorse this book. — Jerry Root, professor of evangelism, Wheaton College, author The Neglected C.S. Lewis: Exploring the Riches of His Most Overlooked Books

How To Reach the West Again: Six Essential Elements of a Missionary Encounter Timothy Keller (Redeemer City to City) $7.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $6.39

This is nearly a pocket-sized booklet, but it is worth its weight in gold! What a brilliant, serious lecture this first was, expanded, edited and printed up a potent little guide to thinking well about the decline of Christian faith in the West. It shows concisely how to have vital conversations about the gospel in a helpful “missionary encounter” and what it means for the church to respond well to our particular cultural moment. This was written as Tim was dying and yet remains a joyful, perspicacious, guide typical of his blend of deep cultural analysis, citations from the best social critics, and clear-headed, gracious, gospel-centered ideas. It really is about how to proclaim Christ well in this day and age. And, yes, he reflects on “the challenge of political polarization in a fragmented culture.” Short and sweet, this is solid stuff.

TWELVE (MOSTLY) RECENT BOOKS THAT REPRESENT A LIVELY, THOUGHTFUL, RELEVANT FAITH THAT COULD BE TRANSFORMATIONAL

This is a hard caption to live up to, curating a list of books — mostly those published recently, no less — that could be surprising to folks, deeply rewarding, touching, transforming. I have my personal list of those that suddenly impacted me or that left me pondering in a slow burn. Many of us resonate with that line from Thoreau who noted something to the effect that many people “mark a new chapter in their lives” based on a book that they read. I can’t promise that these will mark you for life or chauffeur your friends into a deeper, fuller life in God, but who knows? These are exceptional and seem somehow germane for those wanting to turn over a new leaf, lean in, be renewed. Scroll down to the very end to hit that order button. Don’t forget, ALL ARE 20% OFF.

The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Way That Jesus is the Way Eugene Peterson (Eerdmans) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

In the years of the first decade of this century, Pastor Pete was at his height, writing seriously, deeply, speaking at events, also doubling down on teaching the quiet, holy work of the pastoral vocation. In these years Peterson released a set of five books, sort of his magnum opus. These are a bit more dense than, say, his beloved Long Obedience in the Same Direction, its potent sequel, Where Your Treasure Is,  Run with the Horses (on Jeremiah) or Traveling Light (on Galatians.) Yet, the “spiritual theology” set that started with the exquisite, complex, must-read Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, are not only for pastors or theologians. Anyone can read them even if they are a step above the somewhat lower bar of popular religious reading. Again, they are not too difficult, but they can best be read slowly and carefully. Trust me.

The Jesus Way is one of the most mighty and necessary in this set and it is a conversation about what he calls “ways and means.” Jesus says — in a line often underplayed, if even noticed — that he is “the way” and not just the truth. Peterson means this rather literally: Jesus shows us not only the what of faith but the how. If there are any few books published in the last twenty years that speak to the ways in which Jesus should guide our discipleship and frame and shape how we live, this is one of the very best. Curiously, he starts — after a stunning, plain, wonderful introductory chapter — on those who came before Christ, prefiguring his way: Mose, David, Elijah, Isaiah. The American church, Peterson thinks, needs a strong dose of Bible, showing “in stark relief how what we have chosen to focus on — consumerism, celebrity, charism, and so forth — obliterates what is unique in the Jesus way.”

The three hefty chapters at the end are on what he simply calls “other ways.” His case studies there are Herod, Caiaphas, and Josephus and it is remarkable how up-to-date these ways are. Tempting, still.

Can we learn to “pray on the way” with other resurrection Christians, living with a style that is consistent with the message we claim to embrace? Can we. With God’s help, bring ways and means together? Maybe this book will help us see, and hopefully reject, much of the manner of the American way that has seeped into the way of being in the world of the church.

The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, The Flesh, and The War for Our Wants A.J. Swoboda (Zondervan) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I highlighted this before and while it could be the bland pinkish / caucasian colored cover, this book has not taken off (as far as I know) as it surely should have. This, my friends, is one of the most moving books I have read in ages and while I am not quite finished my slow plough through it, it is one that for many, will be underlined and dogeared, journaled about and discussed with a spiritual director or pastor or friend. It opens us up and asks deep questions.

It starts reminding us that the first of Jesus’s many questions in each of the gospels are something along the lines of what do you want? James K.A. Smith has pondered that Augustinian question in his extraordinary You Are What You Love (and that surely is one of my all time favorite, accessible books, alongside the bigger trilogy of which You Are is a summary.) A.J., however, works in this area of desire and writes so honestly and so lovingly, that it seems like (as New Testament scholar Nijay Gupta puts it) “a breathtaking combination of personal vulnerability, biblical wisdom, and pastoral hope.”

Too many in our culture have nothing but bad to say about desire, warning us of thinking too highly of our selves, our hearts, of our bodily needs, of raging desires. Others almost deify who we are — “you do you” and the like, honoring the essential human dignity by nicely ignoring our brokenness and rebellion. Swoboda neither demonizes or deifies our human creatureliness and he invites us to explore how our desires — good but disordered as they may be — can be reformed.

One of the ways this happens, he suggests, is through the limits and even pain of our “thorns.” He has a stunningly small adjustment to our common reading of a verse in Genesis where thorns are “for you” — that is, a gift, not only a curse — and by playing with this, he offers an urgent appeal to take up this gift. There is exciting news here, and great comfort. It’s a big, broad, paradigm-changing book that for many will not only point them to God’s goodness but to the cross of Christ, to navigating being transformed by thorns, and living well, not falling for false myths and inadequate stories.

The wonderful writer of many popular level books on spirituality, James Smith (author of, for instance, Good and Beautiful God) says:

This book brilliantly explains the essential role of desires in our formation into Christlikeness. As such The Gift of Thorns deserves a place among the essential books in Christian formation.

I was struck by how Smith in his good foreword noticed that the book had a light vibe, too, and was even funny at times. He like how he notes that there is a link in Swoboda between “desire and doxology, healing and hope.”

As the late great Dallas Willard once said, we are “at the mercy of our ideas.” This book will help you think better, to feel differently, to be transformed, no longer at the mercy of bad ideas. At least about this topic. Very highly recommended.

Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times Elizabeth Oldfield (Brazos Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

In early June I highlighted this, indicating that it looked very important, had rave reviews, was very well-written, and was arranged as a study of the seven deadly sins. For instance, she explores the move from “Polarization to Peace-making” (under a study of wrath) and “From Distraction to Attention” (acedia) and, for envy, the journey from “From Status Anxiety to Belovedness.” In this it almost strikes me a bit like some early Henri Nouwen who shows these moves from one thing to a better way in several of his books.

But this summary, as fair and right as it is, fails to capture what is surely one of the most intriguing books of the year. Ms Oldfield is British so there is that charm/annoyance of the occasional Brit-chat — “motoring” down the highway, you know. And she doesn’t often fail to wear her intellectual culture on her sleeve. Indeed, that is part of the story, as so many in her peer group and class are the sort that long ago gave up on gospel stories and anything other than the most remote cultural sort of Christianity.

Oldfield, as she explains in a riveting, long (must-read) introduction, became a Christian in her high school years at a camp; eventually she concludes this is intellectually weak and no longer sustainable. After losing her faith she is brought back — she cites feelingly the “Hound of heaven” line — and her depiction of anxiety and angst, longing and hope, the need to be alive, well, it strikes me as all very, very relevant. Maybe she is Gen X but who doesn’t ponder life’s deepest questions and yearn to make sense of things. To have a faith that brings true life, for the rest of your life? Oldfield is honest about her foibles and disordered values and she describes a thoughtful Christian discipleship as fairly and as convincingly as any I’ve recently read. It is no wonder that there is a rave review on the back by thoughtful, intellectual convert Francis Spufford.

Spufford calls it, “the bridge for the present moment, across which seekers for more meaning in their lives can travel in the knowledge that they won’t be bullied, browbeaten, or talked down to.”

“This book. This one. In your hand. Right now.”  – Francis Spufford

The book opens with her bursting into tears, praying, too, as she listens to her children singing in the back seat of their beat-up family car. I won’t spoil it, but it’s a moving story — the book is full of moving and even entertaining glimpses into her life — about the hope for meaning, for life — total (dare I say “abundant”) life. From the textures of this increasingly secular age to specific concerns (like, say, climate change and what that portends for her children) she shares her thoughtful, sophisticated Christian perspective fully aware that many readers may not share her faith or even an appreciation for the Biblical story and the church that holds it. She’s got plenty of her own baggage, after all, so she is an earnest apostle to the postmodern lost, or nearly dead, it seems to me. This is a book that deserves a readership and is the sort that you will want to give away to that particular person to whom it will make much sense. Get one or two, and have them at the ready. This is a great, great book.

Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation Lanta Davis (Baker Academic) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

This brand new book is going to appeal to many of our best Hearts & Minds customers, and this is for an array of reasons. It is a strong book. Let me name two of the most vital aspects of the project.

First, it is, in fact, a deeply theological and rigorously thoughtful view of the imagination. There are less than adequate books on the topic, alongside excellent ones that use the notion, like, say, Karen Swallow Prior’s great history of evangelicalism called The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis, or Ted Turner’s big book on the need for a church-based arts ministry, Oasis of Imagination: Engaging Our World Through a Better Creativity or even Walter Brueggemann’s profound Biblical exploration called The Prophetic Imagination. Becoming By Beholding: The Power of Imagination reflects on what the imagination is and how we can restore it to its central role in spiritual formation. Drawing on writers and practices and art and thinking from across the broad church spectrum (Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox) she offers great, great wisdom.

Besides offering insights into the nature of and role of imagination (at least in regards to its influence in spirituality) she does this by exploring art pieces from the great Christian tradition in the West. That is she walks us into a “rich, strange, and beautiful art gallery that unveils our own hearts and minds” (in the words of Calvin University professor Rebecca Konydkyk DeYoung.)

Becoming by Beholding has a nice section of full color glossy pages including photos of grand stained class, the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, moving icons and paintings and sculptures. These are essential for the book as she guides you to behold them, gazing and reflecting, pondering and taking in not only their artful craftsmanship and excellence, but their deeper, aesthetic meaning and the God to which they point. It is, as David Smith puts it, “food for the Christian imagination to linger over and savor.”

This is not just an introduction to Christian art, as lovely and good as those sorts of books often are. (See, just for instance, two we’ve raved about, 75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know: The Fascinating Stories Behind Great Works of Art, Literature, Music and Film by Terry Glaspey or Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art by Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt.) Rather, Becoming by Beholding is about taking in, in the words of Jessica Hooten Wilson, “the astonishing breadth and beauty and magic of the kingdom of God.”

Lanta Davis (who has a PhD from Baylor and is a professor of humanities and literature in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University) is a lovely and exceptional guide. It actually offers (in the words of Dordt College prof and cultural apologist Justin Ariel Bailey, “encounters with holiness.”

Can a book like this be transformative for one who never considered ancient art as a way into a deep relationship with God? Can we renew our imaginations in surprising ways that make us deeper, richer, fuller, even as we become better informed? Yes, yes, yes. But, again, this is not just about the good content and fascinating information. We are to behold. So we can become.

Becoming by Beholding is a work to behold. Not only is this book a study in beauty, imagination, and spiritual formation; it also models the very practices it preaches. To read it is to witness beauty and imagination at work and thus to leave its pages better formed and more ready to be formed by all the goodness the world has to offer.           — Karen Swallow Prior, author of The Evangelical Imagination

Do you think nonfiction is more serious, grown-up, and useful than moving stories, beautiful buildings, and pretty pictures? Let Davis guide you through the Christian artists and makers who testify across the centuries that the stories and images we behold indelibly shape our souls. — Jeffrey Bilbro, author of Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry Into the News, co-editor of Wendell Berry and Higher Education: Cultivating Virtues of Place

Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture Makoto Fujimura (NavPress) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Speaking of books on the arts which can be so very transformative, there are a number of books that open us up to seeing all of life as a stage of God’s glory and once one gets a Biblically-soaked vision of al of life being redeemed — including the aesthetic dimension — one truly can never look back. It happened for me with the little book by Francis Schaeffer called Art and the Bible and even more with the superlative book (that we continue to stock and sell from time to time) Rainbows for the Fallen World by the inestimable Calvin Seerveld.

One of my favorite people happens to be Mako Fujimura, both a writer standing on the shoulders of Schaeffer and Seerveld (notice how he is cited in the excellent The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective edited by Roger Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker) and an actual visual artist; he is known world-wide for his exquiste work.

His very first book is now out in a brand new anniversary hardback, printed on nicer heavier paper (and shown above, in bright white.) The original (which we still happily stock — in some ways it is more attractive) was handsomely designed in a great looking paperback and included a set of reflections, essays he called “refractions.” These ruminations emerged mostly out of his extraordinary experience of being a rising artist (and Christian) in New York during the hard aftermath of the destruction and sorrow of the attacks on 9-11. He notes in the new preface that some were written in airports and airplanes as he travelled advocating for the arts.

One of the reasons Mr. Fujimura’s first book was so astonishing is how it wove together themes of culture care (even in a time of war) and the arts. He wrote about how forming nearly impromptu art shows in the sacred space of lower Manhattan near Ground Zero helped give people a chance to mourn, to grieve and share grief, to regain some sense of beauty in a very tragic/ugly time, to find how the allusive pull of aesthetics could help. Few books that I have ever read have captured this Christian hope. While it perhaps felt to some like cheap idealism, it was compelling enough to win people over and showed how God’s people could work with others to honor the pain of our tragedy (and the worlds) and offer a way into a better story, a way better than rage or denial. Over time, Refractions absolutely holds up; I dip into it often and Beth and I rejoice now that there is a new edition. Kudos, Mako.

Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks Is the Key to Our Well-Being Cornelius Plantinga (Brazos Press) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I think I have said before, when this topic comes up, that I am not a fan of most books or popular speaking on gratitude. TED-talks and the like notwithstanding, I have an allergy to putting too cheery a spin on the sadnesses of this fallen world. The whole creation groans, we are told, and too many friends are hurting — myself included, too often — to be glib. I think in one of my reviews I shared how very surprised and blessed I was to enjoy the book on gratitude by Diana Butler Bass. Her Gratitude: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks rocked my world and since she is herself well attuned to the Biblical call to care for the hurting and is more alarmed than most about the weight of social injustice and climate disaster and the like, she, if anyone could, could get through to me. I loved that book and smiled when I said to God (and to her) that I am grateful for it. It mattered for me, greatly.

Enter another writerly hero, the author Cornelius Plantinga who is on my short list of authors I’ve promised myself to read anything they write. He can make anything inspirational and has rarely written a bad sentence. He’s got pastoral wisdom, a good bit of wit, and a big, broad, hope of creation regained.

Gratitude is the best theological exploration I have yet seen on the habit of gratitude and the spiritual practice of resisting the temptation to not be grateful. It has long been understood as a signal virtue of the Christian life. Diana helped me see how good and right and healthy it was. Plantinga will help us realize it is righteous. He makes the case that it is “the very key to understanding our relationships to one another, the world around us, and God.”  A transforming vision? Start here.

Beechdale Road: Where Mercy Is More Powerful Than Murder. A True Story Megan Shorter & Tim Rogers (Beechdale Road) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

In making a list of mostly recent books that might really touch someone deeply, books that can be life-changing, even, I didn’t quite know what all to include. I wanted to name at least one memoir, a life-story, as true testimonials are often most compelling, even if simply and plainly told.

This little book is beautifully created, a trim size with nice touches inside, making it immediately inviting. The story, though, is harrowing. Tragic. The subtitle gives it away, and the forward by Donald Kraybill — known worldwide for co-writing the bestseller (made into a movie) Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy — offers another hint. The authors are related to a man who captured and murdered an Amish special ed teacher in Lancaster County a while back. The story was in the news, but the quiet story of forgiveness and mercy were not as well known as in the riveted Nickel Mines shooting (about which Kraybill famously wrote.) This little book, though, tells a similar story and therein lies its genius and its ability to literally change a life. Through the “Amish grace” of tangible forgiveness so nicely documented in this hard story we learn of the capacity of people to forgive, of communities of faith that foster counter-intuitive, even radical values. As Dan Allender puts it in his good review, Beechdale Road “is an agonizing, compelling, and wholly redemptive story.”

Lisa Stoltzfoos of Bird-in-Hand was eighteen years old when kidnapped and killed and while her family’s grief is surely never forgotten, this story tells of the families of the killer, asking, as surely any family would, why? The horror and shame and sadness and anger become palpable as the members of Justo’s family (he is serving a life sentence) ask tough questions, live with remorse and anxiety and heartache of their own. It is honestly told. In this sense, the book is elegant and authentic and helpful.

The mercy shown by the Amish community in this episode, however, not unlike more well-known examples, is breathtaking. The book offers (as Chip Ingram puts it) “a story of hope and healing.” Indeed.

Anyone who reads Beechdale Road will be moved, and the “raw transparency” with which the story is told makes it compelling. But, again, the costly forgiveness offered and embodied in the midst of this horrendous tragedy surely comes from above. Only God could enable such graciousness. You have to read it to believe it.

The book is told in two voices; Tim Rogers (Justo’s brother-in-law) is a pastor who has served in our central Pennsylvania Susquehanna Valley for years for and Megan Shorter (Justo’s niece) is an advocate for adults in a Paradise, PA nonprofit. Some of the money from the sale of their book goes to aid in Amish special education, honoring the late Linda Stoltzfoos in that way.

An Intimate Good: A Skeptical Christian Mystic in Conversation with Teresa of Avila Laurel Mathewson (Whitaker House) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

It isn’t every book on this particularly Protestant, holiness-inflamed, revivalistic publishing house that offers such a fresh, moving take of one of the great Catholic mystics of the 16th century, Saint Teresa of Avila. Many know her name from her famous work Interior Castles although one sharp friend — not unfamiliar with this sort of mystical writing — quipped that he got lost in that castle. Yep, I did too, I’m afraid. She is deep.

(An entirely gratuitous aside: I’ve been slowly reading the magisterial They Flew: A History of the Impossible by Harvard historian Carlos Eire, which documents cases of medieval levitation commonly experienced by Teresa — at the dawn of modernity — which was, I’ve come to learn, much more common than most contemporary contemplatives enamored by this stream of church history realize or discuss.)

Which brings me back to why — given the almost impenetrable spiritual depth and eccentricities of the likes of Teresa — we need guides and interpreters, showing the human reality of these mystics and prophets and clarifying what they were about. (Richard Foster has done this impeccably in the two weighty devotional volumes he edited, Spiritual Classics and Devotional Classics.)

Laurel Mathewson does this kind of work, thoroughly, with Teresa, explaining how at age twenty-one she (Laurel) lost her mother to cancer and, despite being a bit of a skeptic, she ended up with an overwhelming sense of God’s love. It was then, in her existential crisis, she discovered the sixteenth-century mystic.

As the back cover says,

An Intimate Good is a beautifully written and moving memoir about the upheaval of loss, spiritual skepticism, and the dawning discovery that God is near, God loves us, and God is good.

One of the things that first drew me to this honest book was the endorsement by Winn Collier of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination who said Laurel Mathewson writes “from the heart of a pastor with the pen of a poet.” He would know, good pastor and writer that he is. I started it and was hooked.

It does seem to me that there are a few things going on here that are not in more standard treatments of classic contemplatives or the mystical tradition. Firstly, there is this very human journey; the book in many ways is a memoir of Mathewson and her journey to faith and to the work of ministry. I had seen her name in Sojourners so it ends up that it is no surprise that there is a great preface by Jim Wallis. That this book  — written by a poet, pastor, and social justice activist who works with refugees and immigrants — brings together the journey inward, so to speak, and the journey outward, is both beautiful and essential.  Jim quotes one of her last lines, playfully noting that some of us want the spiritual “high but avoid the hike.” Uh-huh. Some of the writers who wade in the deeper waters of such mysterious faith often remain in the world of the soul. That Mathewson does not is to the book’s credit (and maybe with a little help from the levitating, cloistered, troubled, reformer, and writer, St. Teresa.) Wallis recounts in his forward a great encounter with Laurel Mathewson and the notable, black mystic and civil rights leader, Vincent Harding. It’s worth the price of the book.

An Intimate Good can be transforming especially for those who are a bit afraid of the deeper mystics and who want a good story of very human stuff, and who want a intellectually solid exploration of themes in Teresa such as seeking and commitment and awe and finding belovedness. She walks you through that dense prose, those weird images, the complicated hallways of her interior castle.

Holiness Here: Searching for God in the Ordinary Events of Everyday Life Karen Stiller (NavPress) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

I’ve been wanting to list this book for a while because it is so very, very well written, both eloquent and casual, in a rich and thoughtful way. Few books are so conversational, but not chummy, so winsome without being zany. Her study of this “sacred and mysterious” matter is, as she puts it, “breathtaking and beautiful” and we are meant to live it daily. Few realize, though, what it means, what it looks like, how to do it.

Sure, she draws on classics like the famous, fat, and rather imposing 19th century tome by Ryle, the beloved Anglican Bishop from London. And yes, she knows modern Anglicans like J.I. Packer and John Stott. Her writing is lovely and better than any of these, even as her content is a fabulous blend of storytelling and illustration and lots of Biblical reflection. It is a great read, and Stiller is a great guide.

I think this book could be transformative for any number of us, and she hopes that it will — it is evident she wants to help others along the way as she herself has learned to live out holiness in its many wondrous facets. I like how she invites us to a lived experience, even to social holiness. In chapters with one word titles — Body, Money, Hospitality, Humility, Beauty, and more — she indeed shows how holiness can be lived, now.

Here are two great quotes (by excellent writers, themselves) among many who admire this Canadian and her writing:

Karen Stiller’s always beautiful, always poignant writing invites us to reexamine the seeming ordinariness of our daily lives with new eyes cleansed by tears and in search of hope. From reveries to realities, from hospitality to humility, from giving away to growing up — Stiller pays sacred attention to what has lost our attention and, in doing so, shows us that holiness is here, in lament and in joy, in complaint and in praise. Holiness is our reflection of the divine image in each of us as we strive to discover our truest selves: beings who are beloved and therefore able to love deeply from that first love. Sit with Stiller’s book and be still: Holy, holy, holy is this Lord Almighty, indeed.         — Carolyn Weber, author of Holy Is the Day, Surprised by Oxford, and Sex and the City of God

Karen Stiller has given us a remarkable gift in the pages of this book. She has dusted off an old, theological word that can be loaded with misconceptions at best and shame at worst and has polished it into a beautiful diamond of an invitation to pursue a ragged and rough and incomplete holiness in the everyday. In doing so, she has become a trusted and wise companion to all of us. What warmth, insight, vulnerability, and understanding you will encounter in Holiness Here. This book has changed my understanding and pursuit of holiness. — Jeff Crosby, author of The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts

The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life Michael Wear (Zondervan) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I told myself that I wasn’t going to put any books about politics on this list, hardly even any that are mostly about public life. I wanted generic but excellent books about transforming faith that might surprise or delight someone who may not even know what they are looking for. Certainly, as vital as they may be, books studying the themes of the 2024 election cycle are not, usually, utterly transformative in the way I’m imagining it in this short list.

However, this book. This book!  I adore Michael and his thoughtful balanced consideration of civic engagement (and he knows his stuff, having worked in the White House.) But in The Spirit of Our Politics he brings the insights of spiritual formation via his mentor Dallas Willard, into play in order to shape our souls in ways that will enable us to be better citizens. I’ve joked that this book could be called “Dallas Willard Goes to Washington” and that is so true. In The Spirit of our Politics Michael teaches about the “allure of gentleness” and transformation of our character through the “spirit of the disciplines.” He evokes Willard’s “divine conspiracy” and, helpfully unpacked one of Willard’s central (if sometimes vexing) notions — “the disappearance of moral knowledge.” Yep, he cites Willard’s philosophical textbook of that name, and the popular essays that emerged from it on what it means to know, even to know Jesus.

He is delightful in proclaiming grace and resisting the simplistic “sin management” even as he applies that to our political lives. He studies spiritual disciplines and shows how they might shape and inform our political efforts as citizens. So, okay, this is a book about political faithfulness. But he gets there in the most transformational way possible, by taking the rigorous, contemplative, profoundly evangelical (if drawing on ecumenical and ancient sources) to practice the way of Jesus, even in our citizenship and public and civic lives. This book shows the relationship between spiritual practices and Christ-likeness (as taught by Willard and his student Richard Foster) and politics. There is simply nothing like this on the market and it is a rare and rich book. Very highly recommended.

It’s rare to find a book so wise and helpful that I want to put it in the hands of every pastor, parent, and future leader I know. The Spirit of Our Politics is such a book. Michael Wear weaves together his expertise on American politics and Dallas Willard’s vision for the centrality of discipleship in the Christian life. In doing so, he accomplishes the rare feat of merging political theology and spiritual formation in ways that are profoundly necessary yet virtually absent in the current political discourse both in the church and in broader society. This book opens a window, letting a new, hopeful breeze blow into the dark, airless room of American politics. The Spirit of Our Politics should be required reading for every Christian in America. — Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing Emmanuel Katongole & Chris Rice (IVP) $20.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.79

This one is a bit older, being the first book to be released in a series organized by the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. It remains a life-changing book for some and pages have been written about it and the handful that followed. Like the others, Reconciling All Things is co-written by a scholar and a practitioner. In this case, Kantongole is a black African Roman Catholic priest and Rice is a white guy who has worked in justice organizing, mostly around racial reconciliation, most of his adult life. They both have life-changing stories from their lifetimes and it makes for a page-turning, heart-moving, extraordinary read.

The point of their work is that our world is broken; there is hostility and pain, alienation and division everywhere. The gospel of Christ, though, promises unity and restoration. The gospel word is reconciliation. Whether it is geo-politics or tribal hostilities, whether it is among broken families or broken social systems, God’s newness can break in and bring hope and healing.

They tell stories of how this happens and thread through the tales plenty of Biblical teaching. They insist that nobody gets it fully right, that we are on a journey, that as those who embody a message of hope, we must lament and be present. There is so much here it will take a life-time to live out, but God is present and powerful and they invite us to live into this Biblical story of redemption with fresh eyes to be agents of God’s reconciliation of all things. What a book!

Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age Richard Beck (Broadleaf Books) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Often, we celebrate when a paperback edition comes out. Usually they are cheaper and if we’re lucky, maybe have an extra blurb or endorsement. In this case, Beck has given us several new chapters, important good ones, and this recent paperback release is remarkable. Will it be the key to transforming your life, helping you see anew, live afresh? Maybe, maybe not. It isn’t for everyone.

As the title suggests, it is allusive. It’s a side-ways glance, telling it slant. Maybe I should just say it’s a bit odd. Granted. But as it says on the back of this lovey paperback:

With attention, we can cultivate the capacity to experience God as a vital presence and so experience an enchanted faith— even in this skeptical age.

Yep, he’s diving into the deep waters of the likes of Charles Taylor; for many of us Jamie Smith’s amazing, deep, How Not to be Secular: On Reading Charles Taylor was nearly enough. But then Andrew Root — in his ongoing series of books about church life, like being A Pastor in the Secular Age — revised our interest. It seems almost anyone who is an astute cultural critic these days has been citing Charles Taylor. Naming our secular age. Puzzling over how to find a better story than the one we imbibe.

Beck does this with aplomb. He’s a great thinker, a quick study, an amazing scholar. While he is in his day job a psychology prof (he tells about this often in his fabulous Substack blog) at Abilene Christian University, he is also a devout Christian and radical disciple of Jesus. He has books like Stranger God (get the double way to read that?) and a book on Johnny Cash. Right on.

Here he is trying to show how in our secularizing, modern world most are searching for ways to be spiritual. To construe some meaning in the mess, to find Something. The Truth is Out There was the saying of the X-files, right? Beck knows it is so — it’s out there. But discovering and encountering it as really real demands more of us than merely the quaint call to be in awe, to stand in wonder. I can do that on a beautiful day (especially if I’ve been listening to Van Morrison’s Visions of Wonder, say, or “It’s a Beautiful Day” by U2.) Beck guides us here to resist cheap understanding of doubt and skepticism because he thinks this is not exactly a crisis of belief but a crisis of attention. Yes, we need to gaze at the world in wonder, but this not only takes attention but a rejection of the forces and ideologies that prevent us from experiencing a sense of transcendence.

One person I know likened some of this to the great, heavy Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis, at least in theme, if not style. Beck is 21st century, though and through, even though he draws heavily, in the last chapter, on Zosima’s sermon in The Brothers Karamazov. It is, you may recall, about love. From there he moves to Golgotha, a “hard-won, cross-shaped love” that is “dearly bought.” Maybe even what Dorothy Day called “a harsh and dreadful love.”

Beck goes big at the end, upbeat, even, inviting readers to “Recover your sacramental wonder. Count your blessings. Look to the horizon in the Valley of Dry Bones…. “ On and on he riffs and rants, “God is everywhere present, breathing on this world, turning it to fire…”

What an ending for an amazing book.

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