Hope you enjoyed that last BookNotes — highlighting some books about finding God in the ordinary, celebrating the good gifts we might call a common grace, and enjoying creation. Since we were sharing titles about the goodness of creationI even listed a new cookbook (with stories of resilience) put together by immigrants from all over the world. I hope that was a blessing.

Speaking of creation, I’ve been thinking about Psalm 19 a lot lately, since the death of Calvin Seerveld. (The link, if it works, is an audio of his reading his own translation.) Did you check out our “Three Book From Hearts & Minds” podcast about his books? Hope so; it was pretty special, with a special guest. (You can watch on Youtube or listen at Apple podcasts or Spotify)  

Here are some brand new books that have come in the last week or so. A few are technically not even out yet, but we have them. These are worth celebrating. Read on!

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Rebecca Sue: A Sister’s Reflection on Disability, Faith, and Love Kathleen Norris (IVP) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

Okay, get out the Kleenex as this may trigger some tears. Maybe they will be tears of joy, just sheer exuberance that such a book exists. Or, more to the point, that such people exist, writer Kathleen Norris and her sister Rebecca. This may become a sleeper hit this fall as word gets out. It is very, very new and we hope to figure a way to get Ms Norris on some internet program. (Wouldn’t that be an honor!)

Norris, I hope you know, was a writerly phenomenon and a New York Times best seller and award winner decades ago. Her Dakota remains a classic of spiritual geography, on many a bookshelf next to Annie Dillard or Marilyn Robinson. Cloister Walk introduced many a Protestant (or unchurched altogether) to the life of a silent monastery. (It’s so good!) We loved, and continue to promote her very small book — a lecture at a Catholic women’s college, actually — called The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women’s Work. Her memoirs of her earlier live are illuminating, The Virgin of Bennington and Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life. Her girlhood comes up just a bit but this, in a way, is what some of us have been eagerly hoping for.

But who knew? This is (as are her other books() about place, community, spirituality, family, but focuses on an account of life with her sister Becky. As it says on the back cover, “It’s both an exploration of what life is like for one person with a disability as well as the simultaneously trying and rewarding journey for her family as they navigate systems such as healthcare and group homes.

Norris is a bit of a theologian — her book Amazing Grace was a Buechner-esque alphabet of words, sort of a primer on Christian faith — and she is a published poet. It will not surprise readers to be taken in by her lovely prose, her poetic phrases, her allusive sensibilities. This is a lovely memoir that I have only just begun. Trust me.

However, it is mundane. (Quotidian, dare I say?) For anyone who has or knows a family with a disabled member, you will get a glimpse of at least how this family managed — with (as one reviewer put it) “with vulnerability, humor, and a depth of spiritual insight.”

I read one interview with Norris that revealed some of the drama and grace we will find in the book. When asked what she hope readers would find, she said:

I hope that readers will encounter my sister as a full person who refused to let her disabilities define her. It strikes me that my sister’s transformation from a self-absorbed person to one who genuinely cared about others is, in a sense, the normal transition we all make from adolescent to adulthood. For my sister, narcissism was a good defense mechanism, a useful and maybe even necessary protection that served her well for years. When she finally began to shed it and take more interest in other people, it was a revelation.

John Swinton, of the University of Aberdeen (and author of several hefty books about disabilities and mental health in the church) says this:

“A profoundly moving tribute to the resilience of family and the beauty of unguarded love.”

Rooted: A Spiritual Memoir of Homecoming Christy Berghoef (Reformed Journal Books) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

Speaking of memoirs, I appreciated Berghoef’s story from more than a decade ago of her own spiritual journey (and what some now call deconstruction) called Cracking the Pot. The first edition has as the subtitle “Releasing God from the Theologies That Bind Him” while a second cover design is simply “A Spiritual Memoir of Expansion.” It is vivid and understandably passionate as she moves from a conservative sort of Calvinism (she was both a church planter and a Republican politico in DC) and the new one, Rooted, seems to pick up where that left off.

And what a lovely, wonderful read it is. Shane Claiborne always has a way with words and he explains this memoir like this:

This is a beautiful, salvific book by a wonderful child of God on a journey of healing and homecoming.

This really is a story of literal homecoming as Christy, her husband, and littles pack into vehicles and leave the stressful DC world to live on the 40 acres she grew up on, in a building near parents and grandparents on a flower farm outside of Holland, Michigan. As she makes the trek through Pennsylvania and Ohio back to the shores of Lake Michigan, she wonders if this extremely right-wing county (known for militias and Q-Anon types) will accept them. If her traditionally evangelical subculture will accept their more expansive faith. If her family home will be a place of homecoming.

As a memoir this is beautiful. Her almost rural life, almost homesteading, is rendered wonderfully with bees and chickens and farmer’s markets. She has always appreciated Wendell Berry and this slower, local life seems just right. But with each moment, becoming adjusted to this new pace of life in their new environment, she remembers. So this becomes a retrospective as well. What is nostalgia? What is homesickness?  What really happened back then and how does it influence me now?

You will love her stories of Mr. Pickle at the farmer’s market (and her grandad’s cane.) You will smile when she tells of her getting in trouble by setting a burn barrel on fire without adult permission. You might be shocked at how cold it got in her childhood farmhouse, heated with wood. You will cringe with empathy when she tells of getting her period for the first time and how she felt. As the old stories give way to more recent ones there are the stories of extended family and the death of her father. Any of us who have lost loved ones will be riveted by this bittersweet telling. Berghoef is honest and tender and a very good writer.

In the midst of becoming quite the Earth Mother and localist farm woman and calm mom her husband, a pastor, decides to run for US Congress in this overwhelming Red district. Those few chapters are inspiring — if any of you have worked on the campaign of an underdog you will appreciate it  — but there are pages that are what I want to call unbelievable (even though it tragically is believable these days.) The MAGA extremists begin their trolling and lies about the admittedly liberal Berghoef family, with everything from rape threats to other disgusting, terrorizing comments, including about her children. (She does not go into graphic detail as she cannot bear to write it.) You can imagine (and if you’ve read Nancy French’s memoir, Ghosted, you know.)

The drama and sadness in this book is palpable but her homespun life of rural living and local care is the primary tone. It is lovely and has acquired rave reviews from good writers such as Marilyn McEntyre and Parker Palmer and Bill McKibben and Debra Reinstra. Brian McLaren’s lovely forward explains why it made him feel alive..

There’s a lot to be said for writing that is both sane and savory, he notes, “that will help you survive and catch your breath.” Nice, eh?

As singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer puts it,

“Rooted is a gift in a weary world that so needs the spirit this book offers and the wisdom it contains”

You Can Trust a God With Scars: Faith (and Doubt) for the Searching Soul Jared Ayers (NavPress) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I’m not going to lie: I read a lot of religious books designed for spiritual growth and I’m not a hard-sell. I mean, I like a lot of ‘em. But, to be honest, many are repetitive, nice but not brilliant, fine, helpful, good but not spectacular. I could be talked into getting a bit excited about some but, well…. Most are a bit ho-hum.

And then every now and then a book comes along that takes my breath away. That just seems so right, so useful, so interesting, so helpful, that I want to shout. Or pray a prayer of thanks. I actually feel it in my body. You Can Trust a God with Scars is this kind of book, not only because I liked it a lot — I really did! —  but because, read through the eyes of others, I can imagine it being exactly what will hit the spot. It is smart and kind and fascinating and captivating and solid without being preachy or strict. And it is really well-written without being what we used to call purple. It’s lively without being over-the-top cool. Real seekers and serious readers can spot that sort of contrived enthusiasm a mile away. Ayers is the real deal.

I could and perhaps will write more about this after but let me say four quick things.

First, I knew Jared’s father, Jim Ayers — retired now from being a beloved Dean at Lancaster Bible College — when I was in high school. I owe him some degree of my own faith’s sturdiness as I saw in Jim a strong Christian and great leader in our early 1970s high school. He married a friend of mine and when Jared tells in the book of his mom dying of cancer, I broke down and wept. So this book means a lot to me, even if only for that distant connection and that one paragraph.

Secondly, I want to tip my hat to the very very cool tastes of the nearly middle-aged Rev. Dr. Ayers. He tells of going to a Sufjan Stevens show and cites Vampire Weekend and Sigur Ros, even, and movies like Fleabag right next to Lesslie Newbigin and N.T. Wright and Marilyn Robinson. He knows his way around Augustine and Luther and Calvin and contemporaries from Dorothy Day to Fleming Rutledge to Rowan Williams to Leanne Van Dyk to Miroslav Volf. (Even if none of them know It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia they might get his Julian Barnes or Cormac McCarthy quotes.) Anyway, this is one engaging read by a smart, fascinating guy.

The book is interesting as it is full of conversations with seekers, skeptics, ex-church folks and atheists slowly coming to faith. I gather he was raised in a pretty evangelistic sub-culture but as he found his way to Western Seminary (and the Eugene Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination) and eventually ordination in the PCUSA, he hasn’t lost his desire to see people have real answers to fair questions. This book is unlike any boson apologetics I’ve read as it is so winsome and yet so solid.

Although it is an easy read (and for me a page-turner) it is what some thinkers might call thick, not thin. There is a substantial story behind his stories and his invitation to the Triune God of the Bible and the meaning and purpose one finds in that story, is compelling.

From the title you will not be surprised by what he suggests is most compelling. At the heart of the Christian story is a God who dies, a Savior who suffers. Could you trust a God with scars? Please get this — or a few — and have them read to share with the next thoughtful person you meet who may be drifting from faith, or open to conversations about faith. It is excellent.

Making It Plain: Why We Need Anabaptism and the Black church Drew G. I. Hart (Herald Press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

We’ve highlighted this already, inviting pre-orders, but wanted to celebrate it again now that we have it here. Although I have spent plenty of time telling readers and listeners about the broad tradition of culturally engaged neo-Calvinism (starting with Kuyper and on through the likes of Richard Mouw or Vincent Bacote) I have always had an affinity for the Anabaptists. As the historic peace churches, Mennonites and Church of the Brethren folks came alongside me during my conscientious objector stint during the last years of the VietNam War draft (and during some arrests in my anti-militarism and anti-draft protests n the late 1970s.) Once when I was thinking of writing a book somewhat inspired by my reading of Francis Schaeffer, a Reformed publisher said it seemed too Anabaptist. Send it to Herald Press, they said. Ha. I have come to learn that I am not the only Presbyterian pacifist or Reformed reader who enjoys Herman Bavinck and Conrad Grebel, The Reformed Journal and the Bruderhof’s Plough.

In any case, I am sure this is not just my story. Most of us are willing to raise our spiritual eyes to broader horizons, to learn from others, to be informed by those outside our typical church setting. Right?

Anyway, Herald Press, a Mennonite publishing house, have done two previous books by the African-American Brethren in Christ scholar and activist, Drew Hart. The first was directly anti-racist (Trouble I’ve Seen) and the second was a bit more broad about how to inspire churches to be alternative communities to the secular world and the principalities and powers; Who Will Be a Witness is one of the best handbooks we know for churches wanting to be engaged in social action and public witness for peace and justice.

Dr. Hart teaches theology at Messiah University (a BIC institution outside of Harrisburg, PA) and also directs the “Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice” program in central PA. He has co-edited and contributed to a major scholarly work on Lexington Press called Reparations and the Theological Disciplines: Prophetic Voices for Remembrance, Reckoning, and Repair. Of course, we’ve got it.

Professor Hart’s new one, Making It Simple, is a popular-level read but it isn’t exactly simple. It makes perfect sense, though, and is easy to describe, complex as it becomes. Many mainline churches and socially-aware evangelical churches have all been tackling broad social problems and, of course, racial injustices, for some time. It has been my sense that evangelical publishers —  especially InterVarsity Press — have nearly led the way with the most readable and powerful resources for racial justice work and multi-ethnic ministry.  From John Perkins and the CCDA to Ron Sider’s ESA, to urban ministries across the country, we’ve seen some healthy blessings. But even though many of the best books on diversity and multi-cultural work have been written by people of color, there has never been much of a direct voice combining the Anabaptist tradition and African American Black liberationist theology.

Sure, King and those in his wake spoke vividly of nonviolence; Howard Thurman was a Friend, or Quaker and the great Vincent Harding was Mennonite. (Here is a great article about the history of Mennonites and King written by Lancaster anti-racist author Tobin Shearer.) Many white Mennonites and Anabaptists have spoken to racial justice issues but no-one that I know of has so intentionally brought together Anabaptist views of church and Kingdom and culture and the insights and ethos of the historic Black church.

Making It Plain shows why standard church postures have not been adequate to bring about a serious shift in church or society towards the beloved community. (He has an important chapter on the influences of Christendom, another on the impact of colonialism and the Doctrine of Discovery.) While other approaches to social action have their successes, none have been adequate and Hart makes the case that this is the kerygma we need — a combo of influence from two despised groups from the margins of the US religious landscape. The Anabaptists and the Black Church. Call it Anablacktivism.

Drew G. I. Hart indeed makes it plain in his new tour de force contribution to the health of the church. Both a love letter to the church and an indictment of mainstream Western Christianity, Making It Plain lifts the veil on Hart’s own faith journey, sharing what he discovered about the particular and necessary power of a spiritual formation that integrates both the Black Church and Anabaptist traditions, for such a time as this. With historical acumen and theological precision, Hart holds no punches, withholds no treasure, and comes with receipts. — Lisa Sharon Harper, author of The Very Good Gospel and Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World–and How to Repair It All

Becoming a Person of Welcome: The Spiritual Practice of Hospitality Laura Baghdassarian Murray (IVP) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

This just arrived and I’m very excited. I only know what a quick skim tells me, but I am sure this is more than I expected — better than I expected. What store doesn’t want more books encouraging hospitality, a fundamental (if somewhat old-school) Christian practice. Loving our neighbors, being generous, sharing time and maybe meals and more. Whether it is in our backyard or our churches, we need a welcoming spirit, right?

Here’s the thing about this new title: it doesn’t seem to be about the habits of sharing meals or inviting people over or welcoming newcomers to church. Sure, that’s part of any welcoming attitude, but this book really does explore what is underneath those desires, what sort of heart — character virtues — are needed to be the kind of person who does that kind of stuff? That is, this really does seem to be a book about spiritual formation.

Yes, Christian hospitality is about people seeing a stranger and offering a place of welcome. But my goodness, who does that? And what if one isn’t privileged with a nice, big house?

This story is by a woman  of Armenian cultural background and she tells stories about her own family, her own sense of community, and church leadership experiences. This makes this book a true blessing and offers something new, I’m sure.  And, again, starting with the love of God, this is more about spiritual formation that allows us to embody a practice of welcome, people who are vessels for God’s own generosity. In everyday life — our workplaces and grocery store lines.  This is a spacious, practical book about interior shifts formed by God’s Spirit as we are intentional about key spiritual practice which she outlines.

Grounded in a profound love for God, Becoming a Person of Welcome opens doors for its readers into deeper relationship with the ultimate, divine, first host as well as with the diverse world we get to serve. — Kara Powell, chief of leadership formation at Fuller Seminary

Reviving the Golden Rule: How The Ancient Ethic of Neighbor Love Can Heal the World Andrew DeCort (IVP Academic) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

If the previously mentioned book about the spirituality of hospitable persons and what sort of interior life of the Spirit is needed to be a welcoming person, this is another part of that grand question — how to serve our neighbors well. This part is the deeper, intellectual, Biblical-theology piece and it would be an excellent book to have on hand as you through the spiritual exercises in Becoming a Person of Welcome. Or, to read prior to the formational book, to get the foundational architecture right. This looks to me to be one of the most important recent works of this kind, a long-needed update to several older texts. This is about the Biblical charge to love our neighbor and “do unto others.” DeCort is a theologian and ethicist so he has been working on this for years.

His previous book, a beautiful little memoir called Flourishing on the Edge of Faith: Seven Practice for a New We, was very nicely done and I admired it much. It wasn’t simple to explain, but it was his own story of doubt and struggle. From getting a PhD at the University of Chicago to founding the Institute for Faith and Flourishing (and the nonviolent Neighbor-Love movement in Ethiopia!) he has been working on this stuff for a long time. I’ve admired DeCort from afar and can’t wait to dive in to this 260 page tome.

He starts with a chapter on the crisis of “othering” and then has a chapter on both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. He has a chapter on Jesus, and then one on the history of neighbor-love, which looks tremendous. His next piece explores five “twentieth century exemplars of neighbor-love” (Bonhoeffer, Simone Weil, King, Romero and Mother Teresa.) He has published on Bonhoeffer before and is quite the scholar, so I’m sure this will be profound.

Anyway, you get the gist. He calls us to “the abolition of othering” and, in what Shane Claiborne calls a book which is “the perfect fusion of simple and profound” he both explores the problems of the lack of love for neighbors and pushes us toward the profound spirituality of care. The tools and resources at the end look tremendous, to move towards application and living out this energetic vision of revolutionary love.

Dave Gushee, who has of late been focusing on the moral teachings of Jesus as a core of and key to Christian ethics, says that this is a rare volume, a truly important book. Listen to this:

This is one of those exceedingly rare “big books” in Christian ethics that traces a crucial concept historically while advancing the normative discussion for today… so impressive.. I highly recommend this book. — David P. Gushee, distinguished professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, co-author of Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context and Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God

The Art of Asking Better Questions: Pursuing Stronger Relationships, Healthier Leadership, and Deeper Faith J.R. Briggs (IVP) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I think I have read every book by JR Briggs and have found each and every one to be upbeat, readable, enjoyable, and very, very instructive. He is a pastor of great skill and a wise leader and yet a fun guy, a skilled, generous writer. I like his books a lot. And he’s from the Philadelphia area, too. Yayl

Emily Freeman, a popular evangelical blogger and writer (her most recent book full of common sense and verve is How To Walk Into A Room), says “When it comes to living a whole and healthy life, one of my favorite teachers is J.R. Briggs.” I agree; he just has this capacity to embody a joyfully dedicated, balanced life, pushing forward towards a missional impact in the world around him.

But here’s the thing with this new one, that I have not yet started: it seems lovely enough, but I gather it is made a bit meaty. Leadership guru Tod Bolsinger says this:

“I can’t remember the last time I read a book that caused me to stop mid-sentence and try something new in real time. Through this book I have been inspired to be a more artful questioner”

I hope to revisit this in another BookNotes column, but for now, know that this thesis is rooted in the practice of Jesus of asking questions. It is an art to reframe things, a prophetic ability, a must-have skill-set for pastors or leaders. J.R. shows us how to shift our quest for information to a deeper, more relational process. Maybe I’m saying more that I need to, but it seems this is somewhat based on a Christian insight about what it means to know — true knowledge is about connection, caring, being responsible. Don’t we want deep connection, true knowledge? If so, we have to go deeper and we do that by asking better questions.

There a dozen chapters here broken up into four parts, including some starting sections about why questions are important and what he means by a “question-asking life”

There is a middle section about influence and leadership, how question-asking can be part of a process of formation.  Even though he has a section playfully called “Ridiculously Practical Ways To Ask Better Questions” he ends with reflection on the very questions we ourselves have asked.

In other words, there are questions to ask others, questions to ask those who we serve, there are questions to ask people in power. There are questions to help others, there are questions we ask ourselves. There are questions we ask God.

The discussion guide looks great, too. I tihnk it would be a great small group or book club choice.

Hey, what scares you about reading this? How might it help?  See what I did there?

All That Is Made: The Comfort of Contemplative Prayer Keren Dibbens-Wyatt (Herald Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

As one who knows a bit about the contemplative tradition and the medieval classics of mysticism, and some of the contemporary writers in this movement (from Merton to Nouwen, Foster to Barton, Rohr to Rolheiser, etc.) I was surprised to learn that Keren Dibbens-Wyatt has apparently become somewhat of a respected voice, a spiritual guide, and a scholar, especially of Julian of Norwich.  Apparently people in the know love her.

So, if you haven’t followed her, welcome to the club of becoming a new fan. Her no-nonsense style is honest and clear, her writing to the point without too much flourish. And as I sat with this book in my lap, it was just what I needed.

I loved the introduction — a crash course on the fascinating Mother Julian (who may not have been a nun, actually, as an anchoress, and may not have been named Julian.)  And then Iwas equally captivated by her own story of becoming a modern-day mystic due to her own chronic illness. Given her own experience of heartbreak (two guys dumped her, to put in indiscreetly) and then as her physical pain and debilitation set she found [as it say on the back cover] “parallels to her life as a person housebound by chronic illness but also discovered comfort tea wisdom for Christian faith today.”

Julian wrote that famous lie about a hazelnut and this smallness and fragility of our lives become, for Dibbens-Wyatt, a clue to how we find God’s love. In what have been called “lyrical meditations on contemplation, creation, and learning to accept our smallness” this “hazelnut wisdom” may be just what we need.

I would say even for those who are alarmed about the horrors of the world — war, political injustice, heavy-handed repression on the rise — again, this sort of habit of solitude may be useful in countering our own helplessness and rage.  First, we recall, deeply and profoundly, that we are loved.

Brian McLaren is another author who writes plainly, without overblown flourish, and in his lovely introduction (man, he is good at this writing form) he names three sorts of people who will especially be drawn to All That Is Made. Curiously, he starts with spiritual seekers — those checking out religion, or something deeper than their current superficiality or wanting something that underscores the wonder of being alive in the world. If you are looking for “something more” it could be that the classic Christian contemplative tradition could be what you’re seeking. This book doesn’t try to argue you into Christian belief but it is an on-ramp to an encounter with the love of your Creator.

Secondly he recommends the book to those who are suffering physical or emotional pain. Keren Dibbens-Wyatt has been there, is there even now, and has much to offer.  And it isn’t simplistic self-improvement formulas or easy outs. You will appreciate how she used her anguish as a way to deeper her faith.

Thirdly, the forward nicely explains how this really is a fine primer on what we call contemplative spirituality.  This really could be the book that unlocks a whole new way of living faith, what McLaren calls a “portal.”

I get it, this might be a bit  unfamiliar territory, even odd. But it’s great. Check out this fun recommendation by Dr. Rod Wilson, author most recently of Thank You. I’m Sorry. Tell Me More.: How to Change the World with 3 Sacred Sayings:

Into a contemporary world where so-called influencers are large and loud yet often lacking substance enters a book authored by a little-known Christian mystic living with chronic pain, focusing on an obscure fourteenth-century woman who had visions, with a disarming emphasis on a tiny hazelnut. Careful readers will be invigorated by these compelling juxtapositions and struck by the power of fragility in nurturing genuine spiritual strength.

Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism’s Nonessentials Michelle Van Loon (Eerdmans) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

A decade ago we saw a few books— still very, very useful for some of us — by evangelical Christians asking if they still wanted to use that title or name to describe their particular faith tradition. Some said no, it’s too tethered to far right politics and has been smeared in ways that are irrevocable. Others say that despite the unfortunate misunderstandings of what evangelicalism was and can still be, and how it been sullied by extremists, it is a name worth retaining. It ought not be connected with Q-Anon and MAGA brutality and they want to fight for the integrity of the name. (Still Evangelical? Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning offers a great collection of essays representing a few different views; Dan Stringer’s Struggling with Evangelicalism: Why I Want to Leave and What It Takes to Stay is a must for anyone wondering about this; Richard Mouw’s admirable Restless Faith: Holding Evangelical Beliefs in a World of Contested Labels will edify anyone.)

For those who chose to walk away there is now the commonly seen phrase, deconstruction. Those who have torn their religious house down, walked away, moved on. Some have renounced Christianity and some have just shifted to less fundamentalistic sorts of faith. Many are in that netherworld of not being sure where they belong.

I say all that to remind you that many feel that, as the back cover of this book says, “Evangelical Christianity has accumulated too many practices, habits, and trends that get in the way of authentic Christian faith.” Michelle Van Loon says it is “time to downsize.”

This is not a book about leaving the evangelical fold and it is not about deconstruction. It is a balanced and careful (if personal) study of this fresh way of getting at this need to distance oneself from some of the less than sustainable (and downright dumb, some might think) cultural practices of the general American evangelical tradition. Whether your just evolving in your own faith a bit or have experience real woundedness, this book could help.

We first discovered Van Loon when she wrote a book about growing up as a secular Jew and eventually learning to celebrate her Jewish heritage upon becoming a Christian. (That was Moments and Days: How Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith.) I liked her 2022 book called Translating Your Past: Finding Meaning in Family Ancestry, Genetic Clues, and Generational Trauma. Her fine book about being pilgrims and noting her wanderlust was called Born to Wander: Recovering the Value of Our Pilgrim Identity. In any case she has been a respected Christian author for many years and this may be her most significant. She knows her stuff, as they say.

Although it is a wise and theologically aware book, the style is upbeat, sort of spoofing the downsizing motif in households. Want to clean up your clutter, move to a better space? Too much unwanted old stuff? It’s sort of fun. Almost, anyway.

She has chapter titles such as “Assess Your Mess” and “Commit to Purposeful Pruning” reminding us of the goal she calls “Chaos versus Clarity.” There are no shortcuts, she says, and “grief is part of the process” as we “say goodbye to useless things.”  Yup. The important second chapter, by the way, is “Who’s Going with You.” It’s poignant and important.

This is the time and place for Michelle Van Loon’s book. She has a knack for speaking wisdom into our deepest needs. Here, she does the necessary work of deconstructing our distortions of the gospel and reconstructing the ancient, relevant, and Spirit-filled foundations of our faith. This is a book for all of us. The church will emerge stronger for it.” — Leslie Leyland Fields, author of Nearing a Far God: Praying the Psalms with Our Whole Selves

Joining Creation’s Praise: A Theological Ethic of Creatureliness Brian Brock (Baker Academic) $74.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $59.99

This baby is (with the impressive index) 1161 pages.  One thousand, one hundred and sixty-one pages. Okay, let all the jokes commence: I’ll admit it. I’ve seen doorstops smaller than this.

But joking aside, this is one of those rare super academic books that we felt compelled to order and desire to tell you about. It is exceptionally important. While Ragan Sutterfield’s fabulous The Art of Being a Creature: Meditations on Humus and Humility that we’ve touted before (meaning it is also on sale for 20% off) will be plenty for most of us, this one is a must for scholars in the fields of Biblical studies, theology, anthropology, creation-care and more. I have no idea how long brother Brock has been working on this — his How to Do Christian Ethics came out a month ago from the prestigious T&T Clark. A few years ago he released two books on disabilities studies (one more academic called Wondrously Wounded on Baylor University Press and another lovely one in the Brazos Press “Pastoring for Life” series called Disability: Living Into the Diversity of Christ’s Body. But I gather that this major statement — magisterial and monumental puts it mildly, has been in the background for a decade. It is the work of a lifetime thinking hard about what it means that we, and every thing, is a creature. I love that phrase creatureliness and I appreciate a “theological ethic” that such a frame calls forth. Certainly it points us towards being doxological and “at home in this world.”

(He oddly doesn’t cite Miroslav Volf’s The Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything, but I gather it’s in that ballpark. He does have significant conversation with Craig Bartholomew ( a student of Seerveld’s by the way) and Bruce Ashford’s big  Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach which we raved about a few years back.  He also spends time with Peter Leithart’s late 2023 release,Creator: A Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1, which I have not read.)

I spent too long adding through the first 100 pages — the introduction was itself a college education! — and I’m dazzled. I was absorbed for another hour late Saturday night lost in footnotes galore. What a scholar he is, bringing together heady scholars and philosophers old and new. This notion — in philosophy and theology — is considered revolutionary, certainly by the secular West. I want to celebrate this learned book and hope somebody out there needs it.

It has rave reviews from some of the most important public intellectuals and Christian thinkers working today. Edinburgh’s Oliver O’Donovan, Southern Methodist’s D. Stephen Long, Oxford’s Anthony Reddie, Duke’s Jonathan Tran. Of course Norma Wirzba honors it.

Here Brock undertakes nothing less than the conversion of common sense in our industrialized, militarized society. By locating creatureliness at the heart of a biblically grounded Christian ethos, he points to the only genuine possibility for human flourishing into the future. The creativity, breadth, and thoroughness of this study, as well as the gracefulness of its exposition, will reward those who accept his challenge to think deeply and live differently in this God-formed world. — Ellen F. Davis, Duke Divinity School, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible and Opening Israel’s Scriptures 

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