Happy All Saints Day, or Reformation Day, or Halloween, or World Series week, or whatever you fellow book-lovers are celebrating these days. I hope you’ve got lots to read but if not (and even if you do) we’re here to help.

For those that missed it, HERE is the link to the recording of the fabulous conversational webinar I had last week with Jeff Crosby around his must-have new book World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading. Feel free to share it with book lovers everywhere.

Soon, we’ll get you the link for the lovely online conversation I had with the great Kathleen Norris, author of Rebecca Sue: A Sister’s Reflections on Disability, Faith, and Love.

And, for a few lucky readers, while supplies last, we have a few autographed copies of the brand new book by Diana Butler Bass, A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance.

I’ve reviewed each of these before and our 20% off discount offer remains. Hooray.

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For this week’s BookNotes I am going to try to be brief, even though I love some of these books and feel like the authors deserve so much more. Many I haven’t studied yet, but I am confident that they are great. I’ve curated a basket full of over 20 that I’m eager to talk about and want you to know about. Please send orders our way — we need the biz. Thanks.

Something for everyone, all 20% off, in no particular order. Happy reading.

 

Spell-bound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump Molly Worthen (Forum) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

The famous historian Tom Holland (Domino and Pax), like Worthen herself, is a recent convert to Christian faith, somewhat an evangelical intellectual. Holland says of Spell-bound: “The great story of charisma in American history, from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to MAGA, has never been more thrillingly told, never more learnedly explicated.” (I’m no expert on the tens of thousands of history volumes, but I’d said it has never really been told, thrillingly or not.) This is new ground for me and it is drawing connections between various peculiar features of the American ethos; it is very stimulating. I think Jon Meacham may be right when he says it is “a truly original study.”

Carl Trueman — a very different cat than Jon Meacham — says in a long paragraph on the back that is quite astute, that it is “a very thoughtful and entertaining read.”

I can tell you it is entertaining — and full of wit and energy, as a book on the human spirit and charisma ought to be. Why we search for Messiah figures and what kinds have captured our attention, how we understand the sometimes weird sort of charismatic leaders (and sometimes fall for them even if they are nutty), all of this is important today given the popularity of the current President. One of the key questions she is asking is what happens “when Americans lose faith in their religious institutions and politicians fill the void?” This is a sweeping social history and reveals that there is a connection between our drift from religious institutions and the rise of charismatic leaders. Yikes. With the notes, Spell-bound is over 430 pages.

The Great Contradiction The Tragic Side of the American Founding Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf) $31.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.80

Joseph Ellis has earned a Pulitzer Prize for his enormously rewarding Founding Brothers and won the National Book Award for his book on Jefferson, American Sphinx. He has, as they say, earned the right to be heard. In the hands of other scholars, I might be a bit wary, or bored, by another book exposing the contradictions deep within the hearts and worldviews of those who drafted the Declaration, saying all were created equal and then failed to resist slavery and accepted gross ugliness in their treatment of indigenous peoples. But if Ellis is weighing in on this much-noted topic, it will be well worth reading. Very well worth reading.

Ken Burns notes that “The American Revolution is often encrusted with the barnacles of sentimentality and nostalgia; we see what we want to see.” He tells us that “Jospeh Ellis has masterfully widened our lens to tell a deeper, more complex, more accurate story of our founding.”  This is said to be fluidly written and cogently argued (Annette Gordon-Reed, author of On Juneteenth and “elegant and concise” (Stacy Schiff, known for her book on Samuel Adams.)

Against The Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity Paul Kingsnorth (Thesis) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

I don’t know what is more interesting, this splendid, powerful new bit of cultural criticism or the story behind it. Kingsnorth is British and it has been said he was into the occult. Slowly he became aware of (among others) Wendell Berry (he deftly put together one of the best Wendell Berry readers and wrote the foreword, The World Ending Fire.) Eventually he came to Christian faith and is now part of the Orthodox communion. (Frederica Mathewes-Green has a lovely blurb on the back this new one.)

(And when you read the epilogue you get the connection between his title and a Wendell Berry line.)

Speaking of blurbs, the heady Iain McGilchrist (you should know his Master and His Emissary) says it is “the most powerful and important book I have read in years.” Nicholas Carr says it is eloquent and erudite. Sure it is about the perils of modern technology, with a bit of the Luddite vibe from Berry and, better, Jacque Ellul. So far I can tell you it is written very well, even moving at times. It is doubtlessly one of the important books of the year!

What Is Wrong With the World: The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid Timothy Keller (Zondervan) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

The late Tim Keller remains one of my favorite contemporary writers and speakers — so much is available  on line, interviews and talks — and this is him doing what he did so very well: he offers a distinctly Christian apologetic about very foundational things in a way that is just philosophical enough to attract the mildly intellectual and just theological enough to show his doctrinal chops and Biblical enough to impress anybody who cares about the classic Book, all while saying it in a winsome way that appealed to many of the disillusioned, doubtful and weary.

I’ve been to Redeemer, sold books for him, met him at several events, and liked his vivid speaking and solid prose. He wasn’t overly gregarious, wasn’t overly upbeat or goofy, and yet, for a PCA pastor, was remarkably open-minded and eager to think things through with anyone, from any perspective.

This is a series he did on sin. I think it is obvious that everywhere we look we see brokenness and sadness and Keller shows that a Biblical worldview and Christian tradition gives the best answers to this foundational question we all have to ask. What is wrong with the world? I think this will be akin to his absolutely essential book on idolatry Counterfeit Gods which is one of his excellent smaller works. We are glad that Redeemer got these talks into print and that Zondervan happily released it as a fine-looking book.  Each chapter ends with an eloquent and heart-felt prayer, inviting people to a gospel-centered faith and a bone fide experience of the grace of God.

Art + Faith: A Theology of Making Makoto Fujimura (Yale University Press) $17.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

Speaking of the fruit of Keller’s ministry, Makoto Fujimura, the brilliant, high-class, abstract artist was in Manhattan early in his career and became friends with Keller who encouraged him in many ways. Keller has endorsed his writing and they each had a chapter in the splendid It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God. Years later, Mako is still at it, and he continues to be in conversation with the world’s most impressive artists and the world’s leading theologians and Biblical scholars. (N.T. Wright wrote the foreword to this.)

You may say that this is not new and you are correct. (Yale University Press did just release his very new and really amazing Art Is… which I have reviewed here already.) I mention Art + Faith here, though, as it is brand new in paperback (and consequently much cheaper than the previous, sturdy hardcover.) I am not just saying this but for some reason, I am very fond of the paperback; it is a tiny bit more trim in size and it just feels right — better than the first edition, even.  It won, by the way, the annual Kuyper Prize. And carries a blurb on the back from, among others, Martin Scorsese. Very cool.

Understanding Biblical Law: Skills for Thinking with and Through Torah Dru Johnson (Baker Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I don’t know how Dru does it — that’s Dr. Dru — as he continues to write various sorts of books in various genres, all impressive. He makes his main living as a Hebrew scholar and as director of (get this) the “Abrahamic Theistic Origins Project at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford.” He is a visiting prof at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and directs the Center for Hebraic Thought. As brainy as all that sounds, he is a heck of a guy, a fabulous host of his The Biblical Mind podcast, and a good friend to many sorts of folks. (Geesh, he has the globally-respected Rabbi Joshua Berman of Bar-Han University offering a blurb on the back of this.) Brand new, it seems to be one of the best resources for understanding this portion of our Bible that we’ve seen in ages. It has been called “creative, timely, and entertaining remedy for widespread misguided readings of biblical law.”

This is a thorny question and vital for anyone who reads the Bible — whether it is the stuff about mildew in Leviticus or the stuff about debt cancellation in Leviticus or the questions about holiness in worship: anyone wondering how to approach Torah will find Understanding Biblical Law, as Michelle Knight says, “short and sweet but nuanced  and insightful.” She says “this is the introductory book I have been seeking.”

Awake: A Memoir Jen Hatmaker (Avid Reader Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

This had a whole lot of press when it came out a few weeks ago, including a riveting long piece in the New York Times Magazine. Lots of folks weighed in; left right and center, judgy evangelicals, sympathetic exvangelicals, those who appreciate memoirs about women who have been hurt by crummy husbands having affairs, thoughtful readers who never heard of her. Those in the evangelical book world know of her rise to fame (I still adore her early book Seven which was a good effort to disentangle faith from materialism and fame, trying to simplify and be responsible in a world of poverty.) Many, as expected, have turned on her, sometimes viciously. She has, admittedly, gotten lost in her own story.

(Hatmaker was a popular evangelical speaker and a Southern Baptists pastor’s wife so her story is not quite as weird as the remarkable, intense, The Woman They Wanted: Shattering the Illusion of the Good Christian Wife by Shannon Harris, but there is some overlap. It is also very different than the fantastic, moving work by Beth Moore that have raved about here, All My Knotted-Up Life, but there are some overlapping themes.)

I have not read this yet, only dabbled in a few sections.  I’ve noted that the great Kate Bowler says it is “a gorgeous, raw, deeply convincing memoir. This is a book for all of us who need to feel brave again. What a triumph.”

Lori Gottlieb says it is “like being offered a lifeline when you’ve drifted too far out to sea — it is warm, witty, wise, and wide awake to what matters most.”

I don’t know about any of that and I am sad that for whatever reason she seems adrift in matters of faith and church. But I get it, and I’m going to pick up this important testimony soon. I love memoirs and there is much to learn. I gather this is very well done. I hear it’s funny. One woman, herself an author and host of the popular The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast, says it is “one of the best books I’ve ever read.” Okay, then.

By the way, not to undermine the literary merit of this well told story and the value of hearing Hatmatker’s voice, off the top of my head I might also share two extraordinary memoirs of marital strife that ended well: How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by the very thoughtful and really funny Scott Harrison Key and the powerful 1999 Cleaving: The Story of a Marriage by Dennis & Vicki Covington.

Devotions for the Fall: Celebrate the Harvest Season with Gratitude and Joy Thomas Nelson Gift Books) $14.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

I selected this to include this time even though it isn’t going to be a long-lasting classic or transformational with life-changing depth. But, you know, it is just a beautiful little book with pictures of the fall’s changing leaves and lots of pumpkins in this season of blazing bonfires and getting out the LL Bean boots and cozy scarves. Summer really has faded where we live and the Thanksgiving gourds are on people’s porches. Maybe I’m trying to counter the ghoulishness of Halloween, which some people take way too seriously, I’m afraid.

Anyway, this is a lovely hardback with full color photos and 40 nice devotions, great quotes and daily Bible texts (and a couple of fall-inspired recipes and fun ideas for new traditions to spice it up.) Do you know somebody who loves the spirit of the changing seasons? This might make a nice little gift — maybe even for a housewarming token over Thanksgiving.

The Body Teaches the Soul: Ten Essential Habits to Form a Healthy and Holy Life Justin Whitmel Earley (Zondervan) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Again, this is too new for me to have read but I love Justin Earley and have appreciated him in several settings (like our Jubilee conference out in Pittsburgh) and over the course of three absolutely excellent, five-star books. We continue to always keep a big stack of The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction on hand as a core title in our self improvement / lifestyle section. His Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms applies the well described principles in The Common Rule to family life and is a must for young parents today. Lots of charts and graphics and good internal design on that one, too. And then came a surprisingly great, great book on friendships and the epidemic of loneliness in our high tech culture, Made for People: Why We Drift into Loneliness and How to Fight for a Life of Friendship. I loved it.

Now Earley has this brand new book with an uninspiring cover and a slightly off-putting title, even if it does allude, maybe, to The Body Keeps the Score which he cites. (The title is weird to me, anyway, as I hate anything that suggests there is a body vs soul dualism that is, as we all should know, orthodox, pagan Platonism, but not Biblical. At all.) I suppose the cover could grow on me and it is fully obvious, happily, that the book fully rejects that sort of dichotomy, affirming the body as an integrated part of the human person. He critiques gnosticism and the like early in the book (citing the classic Wendell Berry essay “Christianity and the Survival of the Creation.”) He has a section on food, studies Jamie Smith (and the big fat volumes of N. T. Wright) and even draws on Bill Bryson’s book on the body. Man, this guy reads widely, integrates so much, writes so well, and tells us amazing stuff in simple lessons that are do-able. Does this go on the philosophy shelf, the cultural section, on in the self-help section with others on the body? Maybe all of the above. I hope it find it’s way to your shelves.

Curt Thompson puts it well:

The Body Teaches the Soul reminds us of what the ancient biblical writers informed us of so long ago: that our bodies together with our breath makes us human, and we ignore or idolize the body to our peril.

The Quiet Ambition: Scripture’s Surprising Antidote to our Restless Lives Ryan Tinetti (IVP /formatio) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I knew nothing of this author even though we have a book he authored called Preaching By Heart that we picked up because of the forward by Richard Lischer and the blurb by Will Willimon. Now he’s got this solid hardback on IVP in their formatio line. He was a long-time pastor of an ELCA church and now teaches practical theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. I’m a new fan.

This book is written gracefully and is very much about how our lives might be best understood as small, quiet, moderate. It seems a lot like the Mockingbird stuff from the great David Zahl (remember how I raved about his Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World?)  Zahl, in fact, endorsed it, saying it “abounds with practical wisdom, timeless insight, and infectious humility.” In a way, it seems to be about humility, or at least a constellation of virtues around that that just might keep us from losing ourselves in restless ambition.

It reads differently than the masterfully brilliant book of Miroslav Volf, who wrote about this same topic recently, perhaps with some overlapping concerns. (See, again, one we reviewed, The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse.) If feels different than that astute study.

As you might have guessed The Quiet Ambition is a book of spiritual formation, written in lovely, gentle, reflective prose; it is a mature reflection on 1 Thessalonians 4: 11- 12. Harold Senkbeil says  “Tinetti opens our eyes to the glories of the simple, common, and ordinary — where God’s highest and best work is done by the lowliest people.” Sylvie Vanhoozer calls it “a tract for our burnout times.” Am I the ony one longing for a read like this?

Rhythms of Faith: A Devotional Pilgrimage Through the Church Year Claude Atcho (Waterbrook) $25.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

I hope you recall our rave, rave reviews and special joy in promoting Claude’s book a few years ago, the must-read Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just. As a professor of Black literature, the brotha knows his stuff and I continue to dip into that book over and over. I hope you have it.

Atcho is also an Anglican priest and pastors the Church of the Resurrection in Charlottesville VA. Again, this is impressive and delightful… and it therefore comes as no surprise that this new book is his long-awaited volume on how attending to the church calendar and liturgical cycles and helps cultivate and develop a faith shaped by the very presence of God in every season. As it says on the back, “More than just marking time, the church calendar invites us to walk with Jesus in a rhyme of remembrance, renewal, and formation, helping us see the gospel not only as a message to be heard but as a story to be lived.”

As you know, we’ve touted the forthcoming set of reflections on the church year by our friend Diana Butler Bass (an Epsiopalian from Virginia) and her A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance is now here at the shop. So is Claude’s — hooray. This is an embarrassment of riches, folks, two grand, thoughtful, culturally-relevant, set of meditations that guide us through this key spiritual practice, attending to and embodying time in a distinctively Christian manner. There are nearly 60 mediations in Rhythms of Faith, each around a liturgical day or key week of the church year. I am really, really excited by this and highly recommend it.

We Pray Freedom: Liturgies and Rituals from the Freedom Church of the Poor edited by Liz Theoharis & Charon Hribar (Broadleaf) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I hope you know of the Poor People’s Campaign:A National Call for Moral Revival, founded by the dynamic Black pastor, Rev. Dr. William Barber. Both Theoharis and Hribar work for the Poor People’s Campaign (Rev. Dr. Liz is co-chair with Barber and Dr. Charon Hribar is a co-director of theomusicology and movement arts for the Campaign. In other words, she’s the movement song leader — what a bit of brilliance!

 

So of course, the singers known as Sweet Honey in the Rock have a blurb on the back of this, saying We Pray Freedom offers a powerful blueprint for individuals, churches, unions, and organizations to work together toward liberation, justice,

and equality for all.” Nice, huh?

 

With other raves from the likes of Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis and Richard Rohr, this book of prayers and rituals and liturgies is a vivid companion to one that came out just a few years ago, We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign. To be clear, there are a real variety of prayers and services but there are also reflections about them, studies on them, even discussion questions to help mobilize folks to “pray with their feet.” It is as, or more impressive, as We Cry Justice. Get We Cry Freedom today!

The Prayer of Unwanting: How the Lord’s Prayer Helps Us Get Over Ourselves and Why That Might Be a Good Thing David Williams (Broadleaf) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

This thin, compact-sized book immediately struck me for three reasons. I like the size, the shape, the brevity. And the almost funny sort of subtitle, understated as it is. It’s clever but utterly profound, this question of whether we indulge our desires in our spirituality or allow God to undo them.

And then I realized I know this author’s name, his other work — we’ve exchanged emails. Wow. You should know him, too.

David Williams wrote a fascinating apocalyptic novel set amongst the Amish (When the English Fell) and a fabulous, even wonderful work about climate change and reasonable Christian responsibility, Our Angry Planet: Faith and Hope on a Hotter, Harsher Planet. We said that that was one of the Best Books of 2021 and I think I’ll read it again, now that the planet is even hotter and harsher. David is a Presbyterian pastor in a pretty normal congregation and I value his whimsy and his sane, pastoral perspective. His writing is not arcane or dense but it seems mature, even with fun quips and stories.

So this new little book is a study of the Lord’s Prayer, line by line, ruminating as a pastor with a penchant for writing novels only can. Amanda Held Opelt — who knows her way around good writing — says it “excavates the depths of transformative grace in Jesus’s ancient words.” Walter Brueggemann noted that it was winsome and reflects “an awareness wrought of real personal engagement with an eye on contemporary connections.”

Theo of Golden: A Novel Allen Levi (Atria) $20.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

Okay, this is a very special announcement — no time for a review, but a drum-rolled sort of shout-out. We have stocked this underground, self-published novel for a year and it has been really loved by those who try it. We used to carry Allen Levi CDs back in his singer-songwriter days, cool and allusive, fine storytelling stuff. When we heard he had done a big self-released novel we were impressed and jumped on that small bandwagon, sending them out here and there.

This rarely happens, folks, very rarely, actually, but a big mainstream publisher (Simon & Schuster) took notice and picked it up, re-issuing it this week in a just slightly trimmer size and a few dollars cheaper. The only difference is that it now says “National Bestseller” on the cover, which I guess is sort of true. Or it will be now that it will be sold into stores all over. Allen Levi is a good guy, a strong Christian, honest about doubts and struggle.  You should meet Theo. Of Golden, Georgia. Congrats, Mr. Levi, also of Georgia.

(We have a few of the slightly larger size volumes that were his original, first editions. They are $24.99 with our sale price, while supplies last, at $19.99. Let us know if you prefer one of those while they are still around.)

Between Interpretation & Imagination: C.S. Lewis and the Bible Leslie Baynes (Eerdmans) $38.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.19

I think I have written this line before, but just when you think nothing new needs to be said about C.S. Lewis another really great book comes out. I suspect that Dr. Leslie Baynes has worked much of a lifetime on this. She is a scholar of New Testament and Second Temple Judaism (and worked on the revision of the New American Bible.) She has been a scholar-in-residence at the Kilns (Lewis’s home outside of Oxford), and was an Inklings Project Fellow. I suspect this is deeply rooted in her expert Biblical insight and in her deep knowledge of all things Lewisy.

Edith Humphrey (who wrote an Orthodox take on Lewis called Further Up and Further In) says “among the many books on the work of CS. Lewis, this one is unique.” I am sure this is so.

It seems that Baynes is working to show the formative influences on Lewis and from her own study of his musings “as judiciously excavated from marginal notes of books that the owned and personal letters.” It is going to be a work both academic and personal, fascinating and, I suspect, lasting. Mark Noll calls it “masterful” and “captivating.”

Folks from various points on the theological spectrum cite Lewis on his views of things from time to time, including his view of the Bible. (Some find it intriguing that he was so accepted by conservative evangelicals years ago when he was not exactly an American born-again.) In any case, it is good to have a loyal fan and Bible scholar offer such a thorough study of his approaches to and engagement with the Scriptures.

There have been rave, rave reviews from everybody from David Bentley Hart to Michael Ward. Even Michael Christensen ( himself author of C.S Lewis on Scripture) says it is “a landmark contribution.” One of her points, as you will see, is that Lewis did some of his best Biblical work in The Chronicles of Narnia when he wasn’t trying to do Biblical scholarship but allowed his Biblical imagination to shine.

Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation T Christopher Hoklotubbe and H. Daniel Zacharias (IVP Academic) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Again, this just arrived so I make no pretense of doing a real review. I just want to quickly announce it, honor the publisher and authors, and insist that it is important. We are all slowly learning that hermeneutics — the art and science of Biblical interpretation — is not a neutral skill, but is always informed by the reader’s deepest presuppositions and the state of one’s worldview. It was Lewis who said, in one of the Narnia stories, that what you see depends on where you stand, and, of course, the kind of person you are.

Evangelical scholar Amy Peeler says it is “a must-read for everyone.” Willie James Jennings, the extraordinary Black scholar from Yale says it is “groundbreaking, urgent, and necessary at this present moment.” A number of First Nation Christian authors, such as Terry LeBlanc and Patty Krawec and Terry Wildman, all rave.

Dr. Hoklotubbe (with a ThD from Harvard) is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and director of the graduate studies program of NAITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, which is the first accredited Indigenous designed, developed, delivered and governed theological institute.

Dr. Zacharias (his PhD is from Highland Theological College at Aberdeen) is Cree-Anishinaabe/Metis, originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is the associate dean and professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College and is adjuster at NAITS.

The Way of the Wild Flower: Gospel Meditations to Unburden Your Anxious Soul Ruth Chou Simons (ThomasNelson) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

I can think of a big handful of different sorts of folks who would love this as a gift, those who would be truly blessed to see it. Ruth Chou Simons is a bestselling author who can craft beautiful, touching sentences, colorfully and tenderly. She is not deep or obscure but isn’t merely sentimental, either; there is a profundity of depth in her work that is focused on knowing God intimately and trusting the ways of Christ’s Kingdom. (Her last book was Now and Not Yet.)

Ruth Chou Simons is also an artist with a loyal, world-wide following. Her GraceLaced company offers all sorts of artistic products and I think she has done cards and illuminations, mostly of flowers. Many of her books have been laden with lush illustrations, and this one is as extravagantly designed as any (even if the flowers are themselves sometimes rather simple ones — not the bright orchids she has done before, but gentle Whiplash Daisies and Wavyleaf Thistle and Snowdrop and German Camomile.) It is about resting in God, yes, but she will show that such faith can lead to real freedom. That is, we can live the way of the wildflower. It is a metaphor worth exploring and she does it beautifully in this slightly oversized clothbound, artful book. Nice!

Barn Gothic: Three Generations and the Death the Family Dairy Farm Ryan Dennis (Island Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I do not know, yet, if this book could be about farms and lives like relatives of ours, but it’s at least close. Maybe you, too, know farmers, maybe even dairy farmers, who have a hard life and yet love their calling to care for their cattle or cows (or land and crops.) This vivid work of creatively told nonfiction will explore what it’s all like. The dairy industry has changed much in our lifetime and this not only documents it all for us, but draws out the deeply personal challenges of American farm families. There are personal bodily injuries and there are the wounds that come from the low milk prices and the big, big banks.

There are a handful of books I will never forget and this may end up being one like them. Think of the brilliantly written and emotional read documenting the shrinking furniture industry (Factory Man by Beth Macy) and a legal thriller about pollution and repression from big ag and their hog farms (Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial by Corbin Addison) or the struggle for health-care justice for miners with black lung, Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia by the magnificent by Chris Hamby. Of course Sarah Smarsh is rightly famous for her Heartland: A Memoir Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth. I wonder if Ryan Dennis will soon be mentioned among these classics? It is a  story that needs telling.

The President of American Farmland Trust, John Piotti, says “We owe a debt to the farmers that feed us — and to Ryan Dennis for this memoir.”  Indeed.

How to Remember: Forgotten Pathways to an Authentic Faith Andrew Osenga (Moody Press) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

Sometimes I weary of all the basic books on Christian living that come out. Many are absolutely fine, even good, but sometimes strike me as the “same old, same old” which are no better than lots of previously published titles. And then every now and then a book comes along that is so fresh and well written, interesting and insightful, artful and inviting, that it is a big cut above the others. Sometimes you can tell from the footnotes and citations — they have read deeply and wisely — and sometimes even a few pages are so compelling that you know this is a very good book. Such is the case for How To Remember by singer-songwriter Andrew Osenga. This is a great little book about “the beauty and wonder of old paths.”

And much of what these are, for him, this trail guide, as he calls it, is “what I’ve learned from oft-forgotten songs, prayers, and practices of believers who have gone before us.” He notes that “our culture has raced past these older signposts in its haste to grow and stay relevant, because we’ve forgotten that relevance is not about being trendy and modern.” Indeed, he notes, being relevant is to be trustworthy. Not bad, huh?

So here you’ve got a writer who also a singer-songwriter. Osenga works with Indelible Grace and Anchor Hymns and has collaborated with award winning artists like Andrew Peterson and Sandra McCracken and sang on the gut-wrenching unforgettable “Jesus I My Cross Have Taken” on Pilgrim Days. He’s sharp on faith and culture questions, caring and wise and artful, and this book focuses on real human stuff, big questions about prayer and faith and confession and joy and lament — and all the “sturdy traditions” that have gone before us that helps express our deepest true stuff.

The book enters this modern conversation by starting each chapter with a line from a mostly old hymn. Andrew found in these ancient songs a certain substance that is missing from much of today’s so-called worship music. This isn’t exactly a hymn-based devotional, at least not the way you’d think. But it is inspired by a depth and lyricism we’ve often lost in our modern faith communities. Join him. You’ll be glad you did. This is not a typical book, but richer and better, like the older hymns he cites.

Faithful Futures: Sacred Tools for Engaging Younger Generations Josh Packard (Baker Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I’ve heard that Packard, with a PhD from Vanderbilt, is a popular speaker and has great sensitivities to, as one of his previous books calls them, “church refugees.” With authors like Andrew Root, Kenda Creasy Dean and Kara Powell offering very impressive blurbs on the back of this brand new one, it is clear that his is a trusted voice. Cool, and trusted. This really is already touching those who work with youth or young adults, guiding them “from theory to faithful practice.”

As the publisher says, “In a world where young people are increasingly disconnected from traditional religious institutions and influenced by social media, Faithful Futures offers church leaders a lifeline: practical, research-based tools to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha in meaningful conversations about faith.

Kenda tell us it is “absolutely essential reading for anyone who cares about young people.”  The President of Youth for Christ says “Anyone serious about reaching young people should study this work closely.”

Worth Doing: Fallenness, Finitude, and Work in the Real World W. David Buschart & Ryan Tafilowski (IVP Academic) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

This powerful pair of scholars teach theology and historical studies at Denver Seminary and I am thrilled that this has arrived here at the shop a bit early. I’ve not spent much time with it, but I am so taken with it already that I wish I could now add it to my latest “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast episode that just released, the one which named three books on relating faith and the work-world. It’s a theme that means a lot to us here and we recommend titles for you to relate your faith to your career pretty regularly. I think this (especially for those in leadership groups that are mentoring others in the faith/work interfaith or who are trying to motivate others into this sort of conversation) is going to be a must. It is a realistic approach — not that others don’t look at the toilsome consequences of the fall on our workalikes — and it is serious about the realities of our limitations. I often get breathy and visionary, even zealous, when I speak of these things (just watch the Youtube of that podcast, or see the extra video we made advertising a bunch of books on calling and vocation and career and occupations.) But an unrealistic vision of what it means to be human in a rotten system with broken workplaces isn’t helpful. Worth Doing is a remedy, I’m sure, a good one.

Denise Daniels, whose book Working for Better I highlighted in that aforementioned podcast, says that this book is “a vital contribution to the faith-work conversation, especially for those who don’t always feel seen in traditional narratives of calling and purpose.” That is, as David Robinson from Regent College puts it, “If you don’t work in Paradise, this book is for you.”

I like that the great Kelly Kapic did the excellent foreword. He wrote You’re Only Human, one of the great books on human limitations (which he insists is less from the fall into sin but, in fact, constitutive of our created creatureliness.) I like the poetic writing and amazing chapter titles. The afterword is the best several page summary of the faith and work movement (with most of the best books mentioned) and is itself worth the price of the book. Ryan used to work at the esteemed Denver Institute for Faith and Work and it shows. Hooray.

Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl Anna Rollins (Eerdmans) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Eerdmans is known for academic Bible commentaries, thoughtful social ethics, often excellent guides to Christian living and lots of heady theology. But they also do excellent, esteemed biography and, increasingly, memoir. Creative nonfiction. They have found some breathtakingly good writers (think of the heartbreaking but compelling memoir Shattered: A Son Picks Up the Pieces of His Father’s Rage by Arthur Boers or Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Son by Chad Bird or the captivating brand new memoir about a woman married to a gay man, Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage, by Kelly Foster Lundquist. Where do they find these beautiful badass writers?) Anyway, I’ve not started this one yet but it seems to be a nearly groundbreaking memoir that examines what she calls “the rhythm scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which direct women to fear their own bodies and appetites.” Wow, let that sink in.

I do not know most of those who give this book such stunning reviews (although Kelly Foster Lundquist, of Beard, says it is a “visceral account of the work it takes to release the choke-hold of bodily compulsion, religious inspired and otherwise.” But it is getting a lot of good acclaim.

It seems Rollins spent years “learning to disappear” and this was due, in part, to the relentless pressures on women to be thin from the sexy voices of our culture and oddly, from the preachy ethos of her fundamentalist subculture. The journey this book takes you one is going to hit hard and I think it is important. It is divided into three literary sections — girlhood, marriage, and motherhood.

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