Great new books keep coming and we have dozens and dozens — children’s books, Bible study guides, New York Times bestselling novels, history, science, psychology, stunning memoirs and provocative social science. We’ve chosen almost 20 brand news ones to describe briefly. Whether you are reading this before or after the US election we are in momentous times and we’d be honored if you’d glance back at the books on politics we’ve listed over the last half year — yep, you can scroll on back and be inspired or depressed or stimulated or provoked. There are some really interesting releases and some very wise authors. For now, though, here’s to some well done new titles that have to be on a curated Fall Hearts & Minds list. Enjoy.

We are glad for those who use public libraries and, of course, appreciate anyone who shops at their own small-town local indie bookstore. We bookstore owners scattered all over this county, are all, in one way or another, in this together, and we are glad that you support places that stock real books for your browsing pleasure. But, ya know, we really do need the business and are glad for orders sent our way here in Pennsylvania. We are told we’re a bit unique in the ecosphere of book providers and if you like any of this, we would be grateful for your support.

BEFORE WE TELL YOU ABOUT THE BRAND NEW ONES, HERE ARE A FEW WE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AND NOW HAVE IN HAND. Pre-orders have been sent out and the authors, publishers, and we, here, thank those who reserved some. It helps. You can go back to our website archives of previous BookNotes and search for my original reviews if you’d like, but I’ll fill ya in here. They are still quite new, so we figured we should celebrate them again. Here are a few…

All are 20% off. You can click on the “order” link at the end. Thanks.

Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive Russ Ramsey (Zondervan) $29.99 // SALE PRICE = $23.99

This is a book that I so appreciated and on which I have a blurb on the inside endorsements page. What an honor. A sequel to the collection of artists looked at in Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith, each chapter telling the moving stories of the anguish or doubt in the lives of famous artists. And how they can help you! So good.

 

The Challenge of Acts: Rediscovering What the Church Was and Is N.T Wright (Zondervan) $29.99 // SALE PRICE = $23.99

This is about the size of Wright’s recent (and important, I think) Into the Heart of Romans. Not a major, technical commentary, but not an overly succinct guide (like in his usefully brief Acts for Everyone.) This modest hardback so far packs a wallop and brings his visionary understanding of the Kingdom coming — what some call realized eschatology — to bear on the adventures in the exciting book of Acts. Perfect for anyone needing some inspiration for their Bible reading without wanting a super technical commentary.

By the Word Worked: Encountering the Power of Biblical Preaching Fleming Rutledge (Baylor University Press) $19.99 // SALE PRICE = $15.99

We were honored to announce this a while back, inviting folks to pre-order it from us. Her first book with the prestigious Baylor University Press, it is the edited transcript of her “Parchment Lectures” given at Truett Theological Seminary on the topic of homiletics and a robust theology of the Word of God.

Editor Kimlyn Bender (professor of Theology and Ethics at Truett) writes in the introduction of hearing Fleming the first time at a conference at Princeton. Bender recalls the striking person and her sermon (on the topic of the Word of God in John’s gospel), writing:

I knew when I heard it that I had heard more than the words of a fiery Episcopalian. What overwhelmed me was the content to which it pointed, indeed the gospel to which it gestured. I could speak of Reverend Rutledge’s many intellectual and rhetorical girts, as well as of her wit and graciousness that I experienced in our conversations at the conference, but what truly struck me was the sermon itself.

Dr. Kimlyn recalls Rutledge later reflecting on customs of preaching about the characters involved in the Transfiguration story, and exclaiming, “I don’t want to hear about Peter, I want to hear about GOD!”

From Bible to Barth, Northrop Frye to Caravaggio, William Willimon to Flannery O’Connor and always back to the Bible, this new Rutledge book offers great insight about the power of the proclamation of the Word of God in our churches.

Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis Norman Wirzba (Yale University Press) $26.00 // SALE PRICE = $20.80

Wirzba is a very fine writer, a scholar who teaches (at Duke) theology and spirituality, is an editor of compilations of Wendell Berry writings, a farmer, himself, and — yes! — a friend of Hearts & Minds. It’s an honor to know such folks and he really is full of — as Rowan Williams (former Archbishop of Canterbury and no slouch on the academic front) puts it, “concentrated moral energy.” Even the title of this new one (that we announced months ago, it seems), Love’s Braided Dance, is thick with nuance and allusive suggestion, poetic and delightful. But it is no flight of fancy. The book is a study of this world as it is, complicated and in crisis. Listen to Mako Fujimura who has a splendid endorsement blurb on the handsome back cover:

Peering straight into the heart of the darkness of our violent world, Norman Wirzba invites us on a riveting journey of hope. Love’s Braided Dance choreographs a movement for a sacred dance of forgiveness with love and courage.

How about that? “A journey of hope… with love and courage.” We need love and courage more than ever this days and if this lovely text gives us signposts of hope, it is worth every penny. Of course he draws on agrarian principles, applying that imagination, creational vision to the world today.  I can’t wait to read the chapter “A Hopeful Architecture” and have high expectations for the second to last, “A Hopeful Economy.” Hope grows, as he puts it, “in places of belonging.” This book will help you find your place. Highly recommended.

Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World) $30.00 // SALE PRICE = $24.00

Perhaps you will recall that we announced this suggesting it is the first collection of essays and nonfiction pieces he has put together in a book in quite a while. He did a moving memoir in 2008 (that we still stock) and the award winning Between the World and Me, followed by an important collection of his journalistic essays, We Were Eight Years in Power — subtitles “An American Tragedy.” He moved into fiction, the Black Panther Wakanda books (The Water Dancer), his take on Captain America, etc. Now he is back with public affairs work, good writing with striking insights about American power and privilege and his work as a black scholar.

His important essay on Gaza in The Message collected was debated in a national TV interview a few weeks back and it seems there is much controversy, about the piece and about his reaction during the episode. You should read it yourself.

Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age Rod Dreher (Zondervan) $29.99 // SALE PRICE = $23.99

I highlighted this and had hoped for a lot of pre-orders; not too many saw it at that time, I guess. It’s now out and it is a beautiful book. Maybe some readers have had enough of his negative cultural assessments and alarmist calls to create conservative Christian enclaves (The Benedict Option and Live Not By Lies.) This beautiful, engaging book reads perhaps more like his wonderful memoirist works like How Dante Can Save Your Life, say. This book, as I noted before, is about being open to a sense of wonder, responding to the even weird paranormal stuff that we all know about but often don’t cope with. These stories of those captured by deep meaning and the mysterious aspects of life are nothing short of splendid.

Some have said this new book is his best, and it well may be. Yes, there is some Charles Taylor-esque expose of modernity’s disenchantment, but he explains it wonderfully. It really is a thrilling story of a hurting man’s struggle to find hope amidst the mystery. Put on some old Van Morrison and give it a read.  Highly recommended.

The Scandal of the Kingdom: How the Parables of Jesus Revolutionize Life with God Dallas Willard (Zondervan) $29.99 // SALE PRICE = $23.99

Thanks to those who pre-ordered this; gathered together well after his death, this collection of pieces on the parables is being billed as a sequel to The Divine Conspiracy Part Two. Which makes it nearly “The Divine Conspiracy Part Three.” Richard Foster suggested that The Divine Conspiracy was one of the great books in all of church history (and Foster would know, given his impeccable breadth of reading) so any follow-up from Willard on this theme is obviously welcomed. He is missed by many, and his influence continues to grow as witnessed by the bold forward by the energetic John Mark Comer. There is also a study-guide type workbook, too. Wow.

The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust Francis Collins (Little Brown) $30.00 // SALE PRICE = $24.00

When we announced this earlier this summer we were thrilled that it was coming. We got a few pre-orders and the author had a few media appearances. There was a great program at the always-worth-watching Trinity Forum conversation. Kudos to them for hosting that (even though, almost inexplicably to me, some were nasty in firm rebuke.) Despite the contentious policies set in place during the pandemic to assure some sort of public health and the less than fully understood virus, Collins kept at his job doing his best, allowing his theology and values and scientific mind to lead his work as scientists and policy advisor.

There is always a fringe sort of conspiracy set who despise what most science figures say these days, but there are also those who we might describe as “in the middle” or not fully decided about what might have been better in those frightful years when thousands were dying each day. Those folks need this unflinching retrospective and beautiful testimony of Collin’s good work. Anyone who wonders about the different ways of knowing God’s creation and the different ways of talking about public health, the insight about wisdom is nearly brilliant. For anyone — as Senator Roy Blunt puts it, “seeking common ground and common goals” The Road to Wisdom is a great illustration of how Collin’s served and what he stands for.

Many know that Collins has worked with those in the cystic fibrosis community, having discovered some of what causes that deadly disorder. He writes music for kids in wheelchairs and speaks and sings at gatherings for those who are stuck ill. He doesn’t brag about any of this, but I know that is the sort of good man he is, a doctor and scientist with a heart of gold, influenced by his conversion to Jesus Christ. His call for listening, for wisdom, for hope, is exactly what we need.

An inspiration; and unflinching look at Francis Collins’s life as a research scientist, a man of faith, and a servant-leader who oversaw the work of our nation’s medical research agency through turbulent times. — Yo-Yo Ma

A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: A Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality Kathleen Norris & Gareth Higgins (Brazos Press) $19.99 // SALE PRICE = $15.99

In my advance announcement of this I exclaimed how much I have appreciated Gareth Higgins’s other books on film, and how surprised I was that literary figure Kathleen Norris (a) knew the Irish Higgins and (b) loved movies so much. She has written lovely, even holy, memoirs about her faith journey and interior life and like Annie Dillard, say, is esteemed as an eloquent writer and keen observer of faith and life. Who knew she loved the movies?

And that anybody could think of a book like this, chronicling how to think about life from birth to death…  this is really, really fascinating!

A Whole Life in Twelve Movies comes with a fabulous foreword by the Jesuit James Martin and explores a film (or sometimes two) each about birth, childhood, community, “The Breaking and Remaking of the Self”, two chapters on vocation, relationships, overcoming success, generosity, transforming conflict, death and beyond and a final one (on a film called Into the Great Silence). There is a “for further viewing” section, too naming other films to enhance one’s life journey. This book is a great idea, a self-help sort of book of extraordinary guidance through life by way of telling about the characters and plots of important films. I didn’t know all of the cinematic features, but sure did know some. Can you guess in which chapter they explore Babettes Feast? Wonder Woman 1984? The Fisher King?  The oldest one they explore is from 1937 and then they jump to 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. They have several from the previous decade and the most recent was released in 2020. Pretty cool, huh?

Reading the Bible Latinamente: Latino/a Interpretation for the Life of the Church Ruth Padilla DeBorst, M. Daniel Carroll R., and Miguel G. Echevarria (Baker Academic) $19.99 // SALE PRICE = $15.99

I highlighted this sight unseen on a June BookNotes list of important, forthcoming titles on reading the Bible well, including a number inspired by the much lauded announcement of the pioneering The New Testament In Color edited by Esau McCauley. In that BookNotes I said that we:

…simply couldn’t miss this opportunity to name it with these others. We respect Ruth Padilla Deborst immensely (and still am astonished she showed up with her famous father in our store one day years ago) and we love Danny Carroll who we met years ago as well. Echevarria haș a contribution in the above-listed New Testament in Color; his PhD is from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is professor of Greek at Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC. He did the recent Engaging the New Testament: A Short Introduction for Students and Ministers published just this Spring, also by Baker Academic.Together they have given us what Justo González has called an “unexcelled” introduction to the topic. Perfect, eh?

Again, to be clear, we list these books not just for, in this case, Latino or Latina readers. No, this is for the breadth of all of God’s people. An unexcelled basic introduction to Latina and Latino readings of Scripture. It tells the church at large that the Bible is still relevant in our day and will be relevant wherever believers are willing to take the risk of reading it with new eyes.

Reading the Bible Latinamente reminds us that the only way to understand the word of God honestly and clearly is to see it through one’s cultural identity and social location. The authors make the case for a beautiful and transformational reading–a reading that liberates rather than discriminates, marginalizes, and oppresses people. This book is not just for the Latino/a church but for the whole of God’s people. — Al Tizon, North Park Theological Seminary, author, Christ Among the Classes: The Rich, the Poor, and the Mission of the Church

+++

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering Malcolm Gladwell (Little Brown) $32.00 // SALE PRICE = $25.60

I suppose most BookNotes readers will know of the remarkable social critic, excellent writer, podcaster, and person of faith, Malcolm Gladwell. He has written fun and intriguing books that have made their way into the public discourse over the last decades. One of his most famous was the runaway best-seller, The Tipping Point published early in the new millennium. The subtitle was “How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.” I’m still a fan.

Alas, Gladwell is one of those honest thinkers who wants to admit when he’s wrong or when he has changed his mind. His weird collection of arcane details and his astute study of experience and big data makes him, now, reassess. Revenge of the Tipping Point is his sequel, almost 25 years later that as the jacket discretely puts it, “reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light.  He’s exploring what we might call “the dark side” of social epidemics and tipping points. You can hardly believe all the stuff tells about from interviewing the world’s most successful bank robbers to those with alternate takes on everything fro Covid to the opioid crisis. He’s concerned about social engineering but he gets there by an opening chapter on Miami and another on “The Magic Third.” What a book.

A Prophet in the Darkness: Exploring Theology in the Art of George Rouault edited by Wesley Vander Lugt (IVP Academic) $36.00 // SALE PRICE = $28.80

This book fits well among others in the essential IVP Academic series, Studies in Theology and the Arts; we stock them all and think they are excellent resources for those interested in this growing field You may recall our rave review of the wonderful Eerdmans hardback published recently by Wesley Vander Lugt (Beauty is Oxygen.) While this one is less aimed at ordinary readers as that one is, it still is fascinating enough that we hope it gets many, many readers.

Vander Lunt edited this collection of fabulous chapters, each working on various aspects of the vision portrayed by Rouault. In many ways, I am attracted to this due to the groundbreaking book published (now out of print) by Square Halo Books where Mako Fujimura and historian Thomas Hibbs explored some little known, even rare, Rouault pieces. That seminal, small work may have inspired some of these contributors — Hibbs is in here and he footnotes that early title, and Square Halo friends James Romaine and William Dyrness are here, too. What a splendid collection of older and younger scholars of aesthetics and art history!  There are a lot of essays I’m looking forward to, but I started with Pittsburgh-based artist Pamela Rossi-Keen’s chapter, “Art in Community: Rouault, Walter Brueggemann, and Postindustrial Imagination.” Wow.

There are plenty of Rouault reproductions in A Prophet in the Darkness but there is also a centerpiece of artistic interludes, full color plates of other authors, some inspired by the great Frenchman.

And, for BookNotes friends who will care, there is a beautiful, final afterword, two poems by Leslie Anne Bustard, originally written as she beheld the beauty of the original Square Halo volume of Rouault paintings.  What a very, very nice touch in an otherwise splendid book. Kudos to IVP for keeping this kind of Christian scholarship alive.

The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R Tolkien John Hendrix (Abrams) $24.99 // SALE PRICE = $19.99

Well, speaking of friends of Square Halo Books and their manager / printmaker Ned Bustard, John Hendrix is an illustrator, designer, and graphic artist that Ned knows well and that we have often talked about together. Many adore his two children’s books based on miracles and parables in the gospels, and every year we enjoy his children’s picture book Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 but he is perhaps most known for the excellent graphic “novel” edition Faith Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler. Like that one, Mythmakers interweaves handwritten text and cool design with graphic art in his signature style and, yes, tells the extraordinary story of the friendship between two of the great fantasy writers of the 20th century, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

The two men’s friendship (wonderfully explored in books like Diana Glyer’s insightful Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings or the magisterial The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings by Philip & Carol Zaleski or Clyde Kilby’s handsome Paraclete collection A Well of Wonder) has rarely been some charmingly portrayed than in this new artful edition and we are sure Mythmakers will be on many a Christmas list in a month or so. We are honored to have mentioned it early on, glad it has just arrived, and thrilled to know we might get to send  some out. It’s a solid, sturdy hardback, over 200 pages, full color illustrations on every page.

The Holy Ordinary: A Way to God Mark Longhurst (Monkfish Book Publishing Company) $18.99 // SALE PRICE = $15.19

I could go on and on about this readable little book and perhaps will revisit it again later in the season. It’s on a small indie press but should become well known as it is just so clear and helpful; it is nearly a bell-weather book about the nature of contemporary faith, church life and religious expression. We have, I might add, known Mark for a long time and admire him very much. He hints at some of his story in The Holy Ordinary and it is not uncommon (if more vivid than for many of us, perhaps.) Mark was raised as a preacher’s kid in the evangelical mold, went to a Christian college, increasingly became wisely aware of the flaws of the more strict side of evangelicalism and moved to a devout and passionate faith informed by mainline denominational approaches to the Bible, prayer, witness, worship, and justice. He became a pastor in the UCC and advocated for an inclusive, gracious faith and, in his own telling, was still longing for more, hungry for a deeper encounter with the goodness of the God he so readily proclaimed. The heart of the book is how any of us can find a more contemplative and mystical encounter with God but Longhurst’s own backstory is what we might simply call a journey from evangelicalism to mainline Protestantism to ecumenical mysticism. He is still ordained as a Protestant preacher but he works with Father Richard Rohr, well known Franciscan mystic and social activist who wrote a lovely blurb for Mark’s book calling it “wonderful” and “dear to his heart.”

There is a deeply holy way to life that is wholistic and mystical but which still attends to the ordinariness of raising children and being involved in civic life. Yes, he draws on medieval saints (like Hildegard of Bingen) and modern spiritual writers (his stuff on Merton is very good) and is a good guide for anyone, even if one isn’t involved in a traditional church at the time. This openness and graciousness (even as he offers more Bible study than many books on the contemplative streams of experimental spirituality) make it an ideal book for folks of all backgrounds.

There are four main units or parts to this journey. The first is entitled “Contemplation” and starts with a meditation called “Say Yes.” This is about living vibrantly and “showing up to reality.” I liked that he drew not only on Merton but Howard Thurman.  The second part is on “Connections” (and he invites us to “sing to the cosmic Christ like John Muir” and calls us to love animals (“like St. Francis”) and “Make Sense of Angles Like a Scientist.” He explores here the significance of the resurrection and reflections on the trinity. Part three is on “Liberations” which shows, again, that an attentiveness to the interior life necessarily makes us more aware of the injustices of the world. He ruminates with James Baldwin and is honest about racism. He calls us to be “subversively joyful.” I love it!

The fourth part is a bit longer and is under the rubric of “Embodiment,” he is both very practical here (making room for the holy, creating sacred space, meeting God in the arts, and more) and, again, reminds us that we pray in and through our bodies.

The final part is called “Transformations” and here we “enter that dark night” and even prepare for death. There’s some profound stuff here (including a nod to the Shakers, actually, who welcomed Christ’s arrival so distinctively.

For years, I’ve been wishing for a book that could introduce ordinary people to the spiritual life in a healthy, honest, accessible way. Mark Longhurst has written what I’ve been waiting for. As inviting as a warm conversation in front of a crackling fireplace, The Holy Ordinary may be what you’ve been waiting for too.— Brian D. McLaren, author of Naked Spirituality: A Life With God in 12 Simple Words and Faith After Doubt

The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today Jennifer Powell McNutt (Brazos Press) $19.99 // SALE PRICE = $15.99

Jennifer Powell McNutt is an author whose name should be increasingly known; she has contributed to several projects, co-authored volumes (like the short and compact but fully astute Know the Theologians) and has done major, academic work (particularly around Reformation history; one of her weighty texts is a book called Calvin Meets Voltaire set in 1798.) She is a lively and beloved professor and chair of the  Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College and it may be that this becomes a break-out book for her, alerting many to her good writing and fabulously creative, faithful mind. I heard she just lectured at Princeton, which is notable.

This great book is, as you can tell from the title and important subtitle, a book exploring the seminal role of Mary Magdalene in the New Testament. (That it, it is not Mary the mother of Jesus, of Magnificat fame.) This Mary M. was, of course, among the last to bear witness to the death of Christ at the cross and was the first at the empty tomb. Her role in the ministry of Jesus (in all four gospels) was, as Professor McNutt says, “pivotal in many ways.” How so? Read this — there’s so much to learn. For instance, get this: church tradition tells of her important role in the first century having perhaps been a missionary and church planter. This book happily helps us learn about that, too. As the publisher explains:

McNutt invites readers along on her journey through southern France, tracing the path remembered by some church traditions as where Mary Magdalene spread the gospel. Christians will learn from the disciple known as the “apostle to the apostles” how to embrace Jesus’s calling to “go and tell” with faith and courage. They’ll also be encouraged by the reminder that God uses ordinary, imperfect, and unexpected people to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

You know that I value good book endorsements and trust those who are in the know about things. I’m telling you, you should notice those who have endorsed The Mary We Forgot — After a great forward by her colleague Esau McCaulley, it is like a who’s who of youngish Bible scholars and Christian writers we adore. Check this out:

“It is difficult to praise this book too highly. I commend it to all who want to follow Jesus, especially those interested in the attention, dignity, and tasks of ministry that he gave (and gives) to women in the church. Highly recommended!” — Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest, former New York Times columnist, and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

“The fanciful story of prostitute-turned-saint makes for good drama, but what does Scripture really say about this Mary? McNutt rightly dwells on what the Gospels teach: her faith and deep devotion to Jesus. This was a delight to read.” — Nijay K. Gupta, professor, Northern Seminary; author of Tell Her Story

“At a time when we have forgotten so many biblical women, this book calls us to remember one of the most crucial. Take up and read!” — Beth Allison Barr, professor, Baylor University; bestselling author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood

“A rich and provocative book that brings the larger biblical narrative to life again.” — Karen Swallow Prior, author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis

“McNutt leaves no stone unturned in her quest for the real Mary Magdalene. This book was a joy to read!” — Carmen Joy Imes, associate professor, Talbot School of Theology; author of Being God’s Image and Bearing God’s Name

His Face Like Mine: Finding God’s Love in Our Wounds Russell W. Joyce (IVP) $18.00 // SALE PRICE = $14.40

Oh my, I needn’t say much about this, but it is a very, very powerfully written,  thoughtful, eloquent, honest, raw, well-written study of God’s own suffering found in our own, and His love to be experienced when we are most wounded. One reviewer said it left him breathless.

For anyone who suffers — and is that not all of us? — this is a lovely, artful, good read, but also offering a clear-headed (if maybe a bit surprising) theology of God, an exploration of the nature of God and God’s involvement with us, here and now. What a wonder.

To be honest, I liked the look of this when it first came out last summer, but I hadn’t explored it. Now that I have started it, I am sorry I didn’t say more sooner. Listen to this from IVP:

Russell Joyce was born with a rare craniofacial disorder called Goldenhar syndrome, where the left side of his face was not formed. Years of patchwork surgeries made him more outwardly presentable, but not without deep pain and physical and emotional scars. But a life-changing encounter broke through to him with a power he never thought possible, in the very place he never thought to look — his broken face.

This set Russell on a journey to understand what was hindering him and others from experiencing the power of God’s grace and being truly set free. During a season of starting a new church in Brooklyn, New York, he learned how the broken places of our lives can be transformed when Jesus meets us in the realities of our woundedness. God doesn’t love us despite our wounds but through those very wounds. By his scars we are healed, and we can find new depths of freedom in Christ, scars and all.

A warning: this journey will not be easy. A promise: it will be well worth the risk.

Church planter, Ralph Moore reflects,

“‘Yes, you are broken. But you are not ugly. Do you hear me? There’s a difference. I choose you as you are. I will always choose you.’ In a visualization exercise, Russell Joyce spoke those words to his younger physically scarred self. Understanding that Jesus and our loved ones embrace us, scarred as we are, is key to this incredible book. I’ve seldom come across something that speaks to the secret pain I carry. This book brought healing to my soul as it will to yours.”

Scripture Hymnal Randall Goodgame (Rabbit Room Press) $29.99 // SALE PRICE = $23.99

I suppose you know the great fiction and fine work put out by the classy little collective in Tennessee known as The Rabbit Room. Maybe you at least know the beautiful (three volumes) known as Every Moment Holy. That their name is a nod to Inklings lore, they are, shall we say, really cool and solidly creative.

Their latest releases is this lavishly produced, just slightly oversized hardback hymnal, with two color ink, some wonderful litanies and prayers in the back, and handsome embellishments of lovely design touches. It’s a great book to behold, a great book to hold.

The heart of Scripture Hymnal, though, is the theologically rich and wonderfully curated set of Scriptural songs written and chosen that connect head and heart, Bible and music. That Indelible Grace founder Kevin Twit is thanked in the acknowledgements might tell you something. Goodgame is known as an Dove Award winning songwriter and is respected and beloved for his Scripture-based songs. This carries out that effort, offering word for word Scriptures in songs that can be sung alone in devotional settings, in small groups or at home, or in congregations.

The interior illustrations are by the talented Stephen Crotts.

Gifts & Gratitudes – A Year of One Thousand Gifts: A Journal Ann Voskamp (Thomas Nelson) $22.99  // SALE PRICE = $18.39

Sacred Prayer – 90 Days of Intimacy With God: A Journal Ann Voskamp (Thomas Nelson) $22.99 // SALE PRICE = $18.39

Many, many folks a few decades ago were swept up in making One Thousand Gifts a best seller and there were subsequent gift editions and podcasts and all sorts of stuff celebrating this then new author, Canadian farmer and mom, Ann Voskamp. She has gone on to do any number of lovely books and Advent calendars and more, but, still, some think of her One Thousand Gifts as her most enduring, lovely, inspiring work.

Gifts & Gratitudes brings back the great writing of that landmark book by arranging them in short excerpts alongside full color (rather rustic) photography and very class interior design and graphics. There is space for journaling, too, in these heavy-stock paper pages. All in all, this is a devotional journal that includes excerpts of One Thousand Gifts and arranges them in a beautiful gift volume.

The second book mentioned, Sacred Prayer: 90 Days of Intimacy with God continues the style with very contemporary, classic graphics and photos on handsome paper. This, too, is more of a journal, with daily spaces for your own writing, alongside prayer prompts for every day (for three months.) Some of the writing from this attractive book is taken from her more recent volume Waymaker: Finding the Way to the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of. What a lovely adaptation of that thoughtful work into a prayer journal.

Redemptive Service: Loving Our Neighbors Well Lisa P. Stephenson & Ruthie Wienk (Baker Academic) $26.99 // SALE PRICE = $21.59

Oh my, I could write about this for pages, but I can also tell you about it very quickly. It is, almost without a doubt, the most thoughtfully readable, upbeat, but solid exploration of a Biblical theology of loving our neighbors that has come out in ages. It offers a distinctively Christian, sophisticated evangelical approach to redemptive service. It draws on old writers we love like Brian Walsh & Richard Middleton, John Perkins and Bryant Myers and contemporary social critics like Amartya Sen and Matthew Desmond. And the first part, especially, features tons of great Bible teaching with excellent footnotes drawing on remarkable Scriptural teachers from a wide breadth of scholars.

Decades ago there was a much-discussed divide among those who favored preaching the gospel and those who did social action, caring for the poor or standing for justice. Debates between those favoring word or deed plagued us — it was a cheap stereotype then (and not at all the case now, in any case) but many saw this as the differences between “conservative” evangelical churches and more mainline “liberal” ones. In our circles, at least, Ron Sider blew that apart with his insistence on both/an and did a string of books insisting on a Biblical view which brings together word and deed, gospel proclamation and embodied prophetic action against injustice, prayerfulness and political action. So many followed suit and the books making a case for a holistic Kingdom approach fill shelves of our bookstore. (Just think of Al Tizon’s must-read Whole and Reconciled: Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World as one example of fresh thinking on this.)

Enter Lisa P. Stephenson and Ruthie Wink of Lee University who both work with what is called their Benevolence Program. Old-fashioned as that phrase may seem, their opened-up understanding of the value of benevolence and their theological foundation, offered here with rich, careful, study, makes this one of the best introductions to this topic we have seen in years. It compares and contrasts benevolence and service and the pursuit of justice, showing how this service to others  is central to our identity and mission as Christians. It is up-to-date and vital.

Blurbs on the back of this readable if nearly academic book are themselves masterful. Mimi Wariboko of Boston University (a Pentecostal scholar) and Stephen Offutt of the Baylor Institute for Studies Religion and Fuller’s famous Amos Yong all insist that this book demonstrates how anti-poverty work and other social change activities are key to faithful Kingdom living. One reviewer notes that “at the core of a flourishing Christian community is a symphony plurality of callings that articulate the common good of God’s Kingdom.”

Since these authors have PhD’s and are teachers of young evangelical students, they’ve learned something about how to pitch this wholistic vision and how to help others discern their own callings into ministries of social change. They are fluent in the educational pedagogy known as service-learning and their college offers global perspectives (which is evident in the book.) They can help us all discern God’s call to care and give us good direction on ways that can develop. This really is a very, very important book and I hope many consider working through it.

The Gift of Small: Embracing Your Church’s Vocation Allen T. Stanton (Fortress Press) $26.00 // SALE PRICE = $20.80

Do you remember that in the last BookNotes I mentioned that we’d be showing books, speaking and leading workshops for the annual Wee Kirk conference in Western Pennsylvania? Wee Kirk is Scottish for “Small Church” and this gathering invites those with small congregations to join together to celebrate their unique gifting and their own problems and possibilities. We have bunches of books on small congregational life (with books on small church leadership, doing education in a small church, administrative stuff, missional vision, and more, not to mention books helping us understand the contemporary contours of small town life, rural settings, and the like.)

The Gift of Small is a brand new one that is concise and clear and affirms the context of typical small churches. He warns that worrying too much about numbers and growth is not only unhealthy but perhaps idolatrous, an almost unconscious capitulation to idols of efficiency and numbers and metrics of quantity over quality. I think he is really right, and I like not only his storytelling and his up-to-date research and data on church size and styles, but his hopeful invitation to think about vocation and calling. The relationally-rich, non-programmatic small church creates a network of friends that can help members attend to God and appreciate a sense of God’s call.

I’m not sure he does it justice but Stanton spends a few pages interacting with my friend Steve Garber and his important Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good which many of our customers have found deeply stirring. This notion of vocation is important to Stanton (both the vocation of the church and the vocations of the membres) and it is good to have him discuss this, as so few books about congregational life do. Stanton is aware of blue collar and rural people and wants the small church to be a community that is formative in the way at which Garber suggests (even if Steve’s stories are not set in Appalachia.) Stanton is a United Methodist small church pastor and health care worker in rural Tennessee. His previous book was Reclaiming Rural: Building Thriving Rural Congregations. Congrats to him for this new one, one of the ones I highlighted at Wee Kirk 2024.

American Reckoning: Inside Trump’s Trial – And My Own Jonathan Alter (BenBella Books) $29.95 // SALE PRICE = $23.96

American Reckoning  just released this week and I am half way through. I can’t wait until my after-midnight reading time tonight to pick it up again. He is a clear, spunky, good writer who has honed his craft in years and years of Newsweek columns and in countless other mainstream media stories. He is a storied writer, having done books on FDR and has developed close friendships with many of our contemporary politicians (most famously, Alter did the best big biography there is of Jimmy Carter called His Very Best and an excellent pair on his friend Barack Obama.)

We learn a lot about Alter in the first portion of American Reckoning as he talks about his civic minded, politically active family, his mother’s involvement in Chicago politics and his being shaped by her values and of women in public life. (In the year Martin Luther King famously lived in a slum in Chicago, Alter’s mother hosted him; Jonathan would have been about seven years old when the famous MLK visited.) Years later, he became close to John McCain, knew the in-house tensions and good working relations between Obama and Biden (even though I gather Alter isn’t a big fan of Biden even if he understood Biden’s antipathy towards those with elite educations and higher-class lifestyles.) Somebody dubbed him a “Zelig of journalism.”

As one who reported on — sometimes affirming and sometimes not — political leaders of various stripes, having been in their meetings, travelled on their planes, imbibed in after-hours libations and conversations, and came to know many decent public servants, you can suppose how he came to disdain Donald Trump and his break-the-rules revolutionary style and his rich-man’s demeanor and arrogance. Alter knew Trump decades ago in New York City and wrote stories on him in the last century about his consistent dishonesty and the embarrassment he was to working people in the hard-scrapple city of the Big Apple. He knew in those years Trump’s pal the notorious Roy Cohn — remember when Nixon sued Trump and his father for blocking Black people from renting their apartments? Years later when Trump said so many bad things (more than once!) about veterans, Alter took it quite personally; he loved his dad who was a WWII hero and he was close to McCain, who Trump mocked for being a Viet Nam torture victim and POW. Alter cares about this human-scale stuff and he also cares about the Constitution and he cares about his country, even as he has struggled to maintain idealism and hope in these complicated days.

When Alter, who comes across (to this reader, anyway) as a decent, patriotic, Democrat-leaning, public scholar and fair-minded journalist, gets a chance to be one of only a handful of reporters allowed into the Trump trial (for abusing political funds to pay off Stormy Daniels) he jumped at the chance. He actually didnt want the job since he knows so many details already of Trump’s mendacity, but he felt called, like he had to do it. Alter is emotionally fraught over how many fellow citizens approve of such a cad (not to mention how Trump acolyte Judge Aileen Cannon ruled for more and more delays for the Florida case about the former President refusing to turn over classified documents he had at Mar-a-Lago) and he takes Trump’s nod to those who rioted at the Capitol on January 6th quite personally — as we all should, it seems to me. He despises Trump and all that he has done so his moment-by-moment reporting of this astonishing trial is free-wheeling and opinionated. Plus, he has cancer and, as the subtitle of the book reveals, he is facing his own sort of reckoning.

As he puts it, pondering how the rule of law is so important, and the former President’s own suggestion that he will not accept outcomes of the upcoming election, “That’s why it’s important to invest a sordid trial with the constitutional grandeur it now deserves.”

It is a sordid trial and Alter doesn’t sugar coat it; it is not a classy, profound meditation, but a street level look as the whole thing unfolded. If you like courtroom drama, you’ll find it here.

Jonathan Alter’s American Reckoning is a wonderful hybrid — a memoir of an extraordinary career in journalism, a political history of our recent past, and above all an insightful account of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York. It’s also a cry for decency and democracy at a critical moment. — Jeffrey Toobin, author of Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Rightwing Extremism

John Lewis: A Life David Greenberg (Simon & Schuster) $35.00 // SALE PRICE = $28.00

Well, speaking of books about famous people, few leaders of recent memory have been as fondly remembered by most — a few hated him — fellow politicos than the civil rights leader and friend of MLK, John Lewis. From his days on that famous bridge in Selma to his days in the US Congress, Lewis has been a stalwart leader — dare we say  a drum major — for justice.

The late Mr. Lewis has written his own books (in 2012 he released a book called Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America) and a few years ago Jon Meacham wrote the well-received His Truth Is Marching on: John Lewis and the Power of Hope. We are glad that some who read “graphic novels” know of the comic-style illustrated three part biography about Lewis, called March Books One, Two, and Three.) But no one has done the sort of major, serious, thorough biography that he was due, and now our wait is over.

I haven’t started this yet, but it is said to be of the calibre that would put it alongside, say, eminent Pulitzer Prize winning volumes such as King: A Life by Jonathan Eig,  Frederick Douglas: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight and The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcom X by Les Payne. Congratulations to David Greenberg for giving us such an important new volume about a true American hero.

Invisible Jesus: A Book About Leaving the Church and Looking for Christ Scot McKnight & Tommy Person Phillips (Zondervan Reflective) $22.99 // SALE PRICE = $18.39

We have so many books about those who have deconstructed their fundamentalist faith and those wanting to understand why so many are leaving even less strict churches. There is nearly a cottage industry of these books and in part because they are often so moving and interesting and in part because we mourn this trend and want our customers to understand it, we stock many. This is yet one more. But…

It does seem to me that this is a bit different than many that offer (often understandable) laments about mistreatment in churches or incoherent mixes of political or social opinions which masquerade as Biblical truth. No, this isn’t just another recital of those important criticisms, but is an invitation for all of us to first listen. McKnight and Phillips, one a working Bible teacher and author and the other a working pastor, suggest that “instead of seeing today’s movement of deconstruction as a problem to solve, could it be a prophetic voice resisting a distorted gospel?”

They tell us about recent studies and share the results of many candid interviews they did. They look at various themes and strains within and among those leaving the church and offer stories of those who have tried to make sense of former convictions that no longer seem true, those who have deconstructed but not given up faith. There are those who may stay away from church in part because they want to be faithful to Jesus and His ways and they see church as part of the problem, not an ally to their own growth and spiritual formation. Wow.

As the back cover puts it, “Invisible Jesus is a prophetic call to examine ourselves and discern whether the faith we practice and the churches we belong to are really representative of the Jesus we follow. Each chapter examines a different topic and offers biblical reflections that call us to not only listen more carefully, but to change how we live out our faith as followers of Jesus today.”

Perhaps you will recall the important book about goodness that McKnight co-wrote, reflecting about how congregations could develop a culture of tov, a Hebrew word he explores. In A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing Tov and then in Pivot The Priorities, Practices, and Powers That Can Transform Your Church Into a Tov Culture, he gives us principles to help avoid abuses and toxic relationships in overly harsh churches. This new Invisible Jesus is not unrelated as he sees that some who are leaving the church are practically right to do so: they see the problems of arrogance and the idols of certainty and the lack of safe acceptance and they wonder if they can endure. Scott McKnight and  Tommy Phillips help us listen well and wonder how to take seriously the charges against us. Can deconstruction be a form of conversion, away from consumeristic religion and towards the real thing? Can the Jesus who is at the heart of Christian faith still be the number one thing?

Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments Joe Posnanski (Dutton) $30.00 // SALE PRICE = $24.00

Joe Posnanski is without a doubt one of the top tier, if not the top king, of sports writers in America. He is awarded for his eloquence and insight and he is beloved for knowing so much about the sports he writes about. Sports fans everywhere know him and those who like reading about sports love him. We have a few fans who adore his two recent baseball books, Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments and, of course, The Baseball 100.

Lifelong student of the game, Posnanski here writes as eloquently about a very different sport and, yet, it shines with the same eloquence and passion and fun and interest as his baseball books. I have had a favorite football book before — oddly, I know, it was by wild man novelist Steve Almond who wrote in 2015 (when we were learning most about brain injury in the sport) Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto. And I loved Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood, the wonderfully told story of Baltimore Colt’s captain Joe Ehrmann and his conversation to Christ, written by esteemed Sport Illustrated penman Jeffrey Marx. But this season I’m going to start these 100 moments to explore why we love football. Why We Love Football is going to be great, I’m sure.

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts Oliver Burkeman (Farrar Straus & Giroux) $27.00  // SALE PRICE = $21.60

Do you know the best-selling smash Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. That’s in paperback, now, and is ideal for those who are obsessed about our “lengthening to-do lists, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction.”  It was a bit philosophical, thoughtful and wise; a few of our customers said his questions about resisting the futile modern fixation of getting everything done helped them reframe their use of time and their daily choices. He is not overtly writing as a person of Christian faith although somebody told me that he cites one of my own favorite theological writers — maybe Jamie Smith, or maybe Andy Crouch. In any case, he is said to be bright and gracious and helpful.

This new one, Meditations for Mortals, is almost what we might call a daily devotional, or a set of thoughtful (almost secular) inspirational readings. This isn’t claptrap or cliched inspirational bromides but good stuff to ponder, mature advice, interesting ideas. Cal Newport (Slow Productivity and Deep Work) says it is “More than a book of ideas, Meditations for Mortals offers a practical path towards personal transformation.”

How does this happen? Newport continues,

(This) helps you sidestep the shallow allure of frenetic busyness and find a liberating joy in the limits and imperfections of life. A must-read.

Krista Tippett applauds his “personal, literary, and journalistic adventures into wisdom” and suggests this is a “retreat of the mind” and is a “very special book.” She says we should read it “for the sake of our aching world as well as the state of our own souls.”

By the way — this is so interesting: he is on a mainstream secular publisher and he writes that he favors Buddhist practices of meditation; maybe he’s into Zen and other sorts of psychological / spiritual habits. But yet, in his fascinating annotated bibliography he cites several contemporary Christian writers (like Covenant College’s Kelly Kapic and Mockingbird’s David Zahl’s Low Anthropology and evangelical faith/work writer Jordan Raynor) and identifies them as such. He has epigrams by C.S. Lewis and is as up-to-date as commending Hearts & Minds fav Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield. And he says, “If you’re the sort of person who enjoys cold showers and punishing triathlons, you might try exploring Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time. So there’s that. And his appendix is an “index of afflictions” —which you might even want to turn to first.

God Has a Name: What You Believe About God Will Shape Who You Become John Mark Comer (Nelson Books) $25.99  // SALE PRICE = $20.79

We reviewed this when it was released several years ago, now, in a handsome, uniquely shaped paperback. One person told us it was the most life-changing book she ever read and not a few people were deeply struck by his description of God’s own self-revelation in giving us a name. This is solid, serious, theology made playfully cool and upbeat for contemporary readers. There are even some cool line drawings that remind you of some editions of Rilke or something. I was glad for that black paperback, but it has now been expanded, given a new subtitle, some different back cover copy, and put into a more standard hardback (sans dust jacket per his other books like The Ruthless Elimination or Hurry or the new blockbuster Practicing the Way.)

We are told there are more than 4000 more words in this expanded edition (on the practice of contemplation, mostly , I think) and the slightly different format is itself nice. It does seem to be of renewed interest because of the contemplative spiritual practice shared in Practicing the Way and the new workbook size companion guide. If you already have the older paperback of God Has a Name I can’t say it is worth it to get this new hardcover. If, though,  you are somewhat new to the Comer party, or have only just looked at the great (free) online streaming “Practicing the Way” video course, you might want to pick up this newly released, handsome edition. Like the others by Comer, we have it at 20% off.

When the Church Harms God’s People: Becoming Faith Communities That Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded Diane Langberg (Brazos Press) $19.99 // SALE PRICE = $15.99

This just arrived (a bit early) today and I’ve not had time to look at it yet. But we ordered a bunch (sight unseen, as is often the case in this biz) for at least two reasons. First, heaven knows we need books on this topic. There are a lot, but we need more. Please, God, help us heal the wounds of so much hurt. And, secondly, Langberg may be truly one of the most knowledgable and insightful and vital authors on this topic of toxic faith, church abuse, the abuse of power, and the psychology of recovery. She has a PhD from Temple and as a psychologist (with more than 50 years of experience) she is thoroughly, deeply Christian. (Her remarkable book, Suffering and the Heart of God was done years ago before “trauma informed scholarship” was a thing, but she surely named it well, published by the gospel-centered folks at New Growth Press; her important work on understanding abusive churches, Redeeming Power, was done not long ago by Brazos.)

And so, we are pleased to announced the brand new guide to becoming the sort of church that can resist abuse and, in truth, care for the victims. There are several books emerging now that the scandals of sexual abuse in churches is well known — think of the two Tov ones by Scot McKngiht or the latest by Aimee Byrd (The Hope in Our Scares.) But none of the many are written by a therapist who has such expertise about serving the abused as Langford nor by one who has put herself on the line working to expose the offenders and stand with the hurting. She is a person who we should listen to.

This is a book for every Christian, but it is also a book for anyone wounded in the name of Jesus or seeking to understand who Jesus is and what the church is designed to be. — Rachael Denhollander, speaker, author, and victim advocate

As one of the foremost psychologists of our time, Langberg unpacks how the church can once again reflect the true beauty and character of Jesus: the preeminent good shepherd. A must-read book for both the sheep and the shepherds who guide them.
— Boz Tchividjian, attorney for abuse victims and founder of GRACE

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• United States Postal Service has an option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.83; 2 lbs would be $5.58. This is the cheapest method available and sometimes is quicker than UPS, but not always.
• United States Postal Service has another, quicker option called “Priority Mail” which is $8.70, if it fits in a flat-rate envelope. Many children’s books and some Bibles are oversized so that might take the next size up which is $9.50. “Priority Mail” gets more attention than does “Media Mail” and is often just a few days to anywhere in the US.
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