Hearts & Minds BEST BOOKS OF 2023 – PART ONE

Dear, dear friends, customers, fans, and followers.

Here is our long-awaited Best Books of 2023 list. (At least I hope it was awaited by somebody out there.) We had a lot of end of year mail order work (thank you!) and then I got sick and we were exhausted and we had two webinars (thank you!) and, and, well… enough with the excuses.

All books are 20% off. Scroll to the bottom to find the link to our secure order form page at our website. We will reply promptly and confirm everything. THANKS for your support.

As I say in different ways each year — sometimes with more subtlety — I am not qualified to say what the “Best Books” are. Our metrics surely aren’t sales data, let alone our sales data, feeble as it is. No, I’d say these are just some of my favorites, although I’ve eliminated a few that brought Beth or me real pleasure or interest this year but they may be less than viable for a list that I hope gets noticed, at least in some rare corners of the interwebs. So these are some of our favorites that we hope to sell.

I think these are excellently written and/or wisely considered and/or nicely making a significant contribution. Not every one is rocket science but most offer something very, very special. I stand by them all and we applaud these authors for making it onto our list of true favorites. I recommend them, one and all and think you will be glad to expand your library a bit with these Hearts & Minds award winners.

You will notice that I try to honor one or two particular books but in several categories I name a few, not knowing how to discriminate which is “better.” In most categories, there are really strong books that are good for this reason or that, appealing to this sort of reader or that. I can’t often say just one is *the* very best.  Sorry.

Please stay tuned for PART TWO landing in subscriber’s inboxes in the next day or so. I’m already working on that and it, too, will be a fun and rewarding list.

Ladies and gents, book-lovers, all, here we go:

MY TOP TWO FAVORITE NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2023

Saying It Loud: 1966–The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement. Mark Whitaker (Simon & Schuster) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

I’m starting with a biggie, right out of the gate — my very favorite books, the best book I read all year. I tore through this, mouth agape, reading stuff out loud to Beth and anybody else that would listen. I thought I knew something about the history of the civil rights movement and I have read a number of excellent books on various aspects of the topic. This one is riveting, informative, extraordinary, stunning. I may focus on a specific year of the civil rights movement but its breadth is amazing and it is a page-turner that will make you want to know even more, and appreciate the work of contemporary historians. Kudos!

I think you may want to have this important work in hardcover but we are starting a waiting list for those who want the paperback (at $19.99 – less our 20% off = $15.99) which releases on February 6th, less than a month away. If you want to pre-order the cheaper paperback let us know.

I was in high school in 1966, and it felt like the edge of history. In his brilliant new book, Saying It Loud, Mark Whitaker has taken me back there, and the journey is both enthralling and a riveting reminder of the tumult, inspiration, and potent possibilities of the Black Power movement. It’s also novelistic in its fully realized human portraits of the movement’s backstory. I can’t say it any louder: this is not only a compelling read; it’s essential for understanding where we started and where we might find lessons in determining where we go from here. — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University, author, The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song

At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth Madeline Ostrander (Holt) $28.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

Although somebody somewhere has formally categorized this as a book of science, and in some ways it may be, it is vivid, robust, dramatic storytelling in the form of embedded reporting, a years-in-the-making expose of four very different locations impacted by global climate change. The brave and generous (and oh-so-talented) writer Madeline Ostrander visits four locales, telling us about individuals she meets with, over and over, as they grapple with extraordinary tragedies in their lives which have been upended by bad climate matters.

She embeds herself with rural forest fire-fighters in Idaho, bringing us to the heartbreak of whole towns being wiped out, telling the tender stories of those who lost everything in several of the largest fires in American history. She goes to Saint Augustine, Florida, a historic American city if ever there was one, threatened regularly with flooding, learning from historical preservationists and civic leaders the dangers of losing artifacts and space and wondering what to do as the sea levels rise. (She visits Annapolis, Maryland, as well, as a connected story about local citizens caring to preserve the rich places and stuff of American history, and it was riveting.)

Thirdly, she tells the exceptionally dramatic story of North America’s first bone fide climate change refugees as she moves to a cold (but warming) rural, Alaskan, Yupik village learning about the melting permafrost, glaciers, and formerly solid ground that is sinking, literally, below their feet. Whole Yupik villages must be moved and the industrial vehicles needed sink in the mud; will these native peoples endure in their homes and schools and towns? Ostrander’s prose will keep you turning the pages, perhaps between gasps and tears. You will learn about the realities of climate change (don’t let anyone fool you as if this isn’t happening to our fellow citizens) but, more, you will learn about a sense of place, a view of home, of homefulness…

Fourthly, she visits repeatedly an ongoing story of mostly black, urban activists in San Francisco who are unbelievably impacted by one of the largest examples of flagrant pollution, with explosions and fires and toxic dumps from a nearby Standard Oil refinery ruining urban gardens and endangering tens of thousands of mostly poor folks in the Richmond neighborhoods. These sections are inspiring as she tells about brave leaders doing urban activism, working for economic development and civic renewal all the while involved in demands for justice and restitution from the powers that be who were in league with the refinery’s negligence.

As she takes us into the lives of those rebuilding communities in the wake of climate disasters, she is not only giving us a set of interwoven stories to show how the climate emergency effects so many different sorts of ordinary Americans, but she offers stores of resilience and hope.  As author Michelle Nijhuis puts it “Amid the devastation and loss, she finds creativity, vital hope, and a sense of home that outlasts any address.”

Her writing is often luminous, her reporting detailed, her vision about the role of home and local renewal is nothing short of beautiful. With frontispieces from Wendell Berry and Barry Lopez, you’ll know she is a fine writer. When she reminds us, in the words of Greta Thunberg, to “act like the house is on fire because it is” you will know this long and compassionate book is worth every page.

Shows that the meaning of home is so powerful that people will make surprising, imaginative, even transcendent leaps to hold on to theirs. By this book’s end, you realize that maybe you could, too.” — Alan Weisman, author, The World Without Us

MY FAVORITE BOOK ON SPIRITUAL FORMATION

The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts Jeff Crosby (Broadleaf Books) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

What a huge category this is. I’ll weave through this column a few more great reads on contemplative spirituality and faith practices that enhance our interior lives but if I were to pick one that I truly know touched my heart and brought such pleasure in reading it, it would doubtlessly be this release from last Spring by the former senior editor of InterVarsity Press and now the head of the ECPA (the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association), our friend Jeff Crosby. I admire Jeff very much, not least because he is a lover of the printed page who appreciates all sorts of writers and who knows a thing or two about very good books. His lovely balance of gentle, thoughtful writing, good stories, and a very fun sub-theme of loving music, makes this a book about spiritual formation and longing and affection and care and renewal and more. I kept turning the pages, taking in his finely chosen quotes, his Biblical reflections, and his illuminating stories. Crosby knows many a fine writer — such as Christopher de Vinck, a best friend of both Henri Nouwen and Mr. Fred Rogers, if that gives you a hint of his range — and there is a fine forward by spiritual director Suzanne Stabile and a beautiful afterword by James Bryan Smith (of the “Good and Beautiful” series.) It doesn’t offer arcane mysticism or an over indulgence in eccentric monastic practices, but wise, solid, reflection on what we long for, what we love, how God guides us through life’s journey. You will learn more about how to name all this as this book will give you a fresh language for your soul. Highly recommended.

HONORABLE MENTIONS in spiritual formation

There are many great titles in this genre that deserve to be mentioned honorably, but I’ll name just two that I think are among the best this year.

The Gift of Restlessness: A Spirituality for Unsettled Seasons Casey Tygrett (Broadleaf Books) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Maybe you, like me, have a love for, but slight discomfort about, the many books that arrive in the category of spirituality. From deeply mystical works to those promoting inner transformation through focus on God’s grace to those that seem more psychological in nature than deeply relying on the Holy Spirit, they are often really good, yet, sometimes, I fear that most carry some baggage, sneaking an implicit dualism between faith and life, soul and body, the sacred and the seemingly secular. Do some of the modern contemplatives merely assume the medieval and early church synthesis with Neo-Platonism and Greek dualisms? Too many have some distinction between our inner and outer lives, our personal and public lives, what some even so bluntly might call our higher and lower lives.

Yet, many good writers of spiritual transformation properly affirm our life in God’s good world, our public, civic, and communal relations, our daily discipleship before God, rather than overindulging in navel-gazing and inner ecstasies. One such balanced, robustly human, deeply Christ-centered author is Casey Tygrett. He wrote a book about the human task of remembering and another on the joys of curiosity. Hooray.

The Gift of Restlessness is a book that reminds us that we are human. It is, in the words of one reviewer, “honest and raw and real.” It invites us to “reset” but not without adequately honoring the fragility of our human condition. As it asks on the back, “what if spiritual questions are not problems to be solved but invitations of the soul.” You see, here he “upends the notion that restlessness isa sign that we must move up, move one, or move out.” No, he invites us to pray well (using Jesus as a model) to create “a spirituality study enough for our unsettled seasons.” He writes well, so much that Marlena Graves calls it “a beautiful book.”

I was captivated by his well-written first pages as he sat in a treatment facility with his wife as they were admitting a teenage child amidst a mental health crisis; the sorrow was palpable, the situation plain enough, his comment that he wanted to pray but couldn’t quite, fully understandable. I was hooked. You will be too.

This is spiritual formation for real people in the real world. He invites a reflective attention to deeper questions about who we are and the nature of the world and the fidelity of God. He tells good stories and invites us to know God, even in our times in the wilderness. Which for most of us, is most of the time.

Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again Ruth Haley Barton (IVP) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

Long time readers of BookNotes will know how we so esteem our friend Ruth Haley Barton and how much her several books mean to us. She is at one ecumenical, drawing on the best spiritual writers from throughout time and denominational affiliation, and clear, practical, kind. Not every spiritual director (believe it or not) has such pastoral sensibilities and not every mystical writer has the charming ability to connect with ordinary readers. Ruth is one of the top tier writers of whom I often say that I would read anything she writes.

Alas, I wasn’t so interested in this one. It is a struggle for us in our family business to keep a mature and wise Sabbath; we have rarely taken lengthy vacations and a sabbatical is simply out of the question, as it is for most folks with normal jobs.

Yet, yet, yet: I am so glad I read this remarkable book, this mature reminder that “the goodness is in the rhythm.” I love that she reminds us that the journey to sabbath practice is “slow and gradual and it is a journey we need to take in community.” Oh my. How I related to her own story of practicing sabbath, her hard-won insights, even if her story is somewhat different than mine. How I appreciated, once again, reading about practical steps for “embedding sabbath rhythms in our personal lives, as well as our churches and organizations.” Many of us have a long way to go, despite the many good books and resources about this theme. Embracing Rhymes is a fabulous contribution and a major work. That some of it is about extended retreats and sabbaticals is important for anyone in ministry or those who care about this in ministry, even if it isn’t evidently obvious that most of us can do this. She isn’t unaware of this, either, and her insights are friendly, supportive, and direct.

There are tremendous quips and blurbs on the back, from Reformed theologian and teacher Kelly Kapic to racial justice activist Brenda Salter McNeil, from leadership scholar Tod Bolsinger to black poet, pastor, and organizer, Drew Jackson. There is a tremendous, nearly rare introduction by the great Catholic writer Ronald Rolheiser who not only shares why this book is so useful, but why it is especially important for faith leaders.

BEST BOOK OF POPULAR THEOLOGY

Why the Gospel? Living the Good News of King Jesus with Purpose  Matthew Bates (Eerdmans) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

We have our share of academic textbooks and major work of serious theological scholars. But our wheelhouse is what some call popular theology or applied theology, serious and oftentimes systematic study of the doctrines of the Christian faith but for ordinary readers (not the academic guild) showing out basic Christian living can be deepened and enhanced (of not revolutionized and reformulated) by reading accessible ruminations of theological themes.

Professor Bates is a master of this sort of stuff, having written two academic books (that are, nonetheless, approachable enough that any college educated reader could handle them — see, for instance, his magisterial Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King or the more popular level summary of that in Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ published by Brazos in 2019. He again has now popularized his work in an easy to read and (for some) mind-blowing little book showing how the way he formulates the gospel is most faithful and why it matters. In asking “why” Jesus came and why the gospel message is so powerfully needed, he gets at so many of the weaknesses of both casual mainline liberal theology and pious evangelicalism as well. The gospel, as many have shown these days (just think of N.T. Wright) is not that we are forgiven, but that the new King has come, that there is a regime change on planet Earth, that a historic announcement has been made that the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated.

If you still think that the gospel proclaimed by Jesus and Paul is that Jesus died for your sins, you need to read this little book. Of course, Jesus did die and rise and ascend for our sins, but the message of the Bible is that this good news of salvation through faith by grace is only the door into the real “gospel” Good News which is that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

And we are called to participate in that, sharing, quite literally, the glory of Christ in his new temple — all creation!

Why did God do this? Why does the Bible explain the gospel in these broad terms (of what some may summarize as “creation regained”?) Why have we missed so much? What does our allegiance to the Kingly reign of Christ matter so much? This little book of fresh and sensible exploration of solid Biblical teaching is my vote for the best book of applied theology I’ve read this year. Please, please, spread the word. This would make a fabulously rich and profound book for an adult ed class, a small group study, or Zoom course.

A provocative book because the church needs this kind of provocation, Why the Gospel? draws from complex and cutting-edge research to present timeless truths with inviting clarity. Anyone who senses that the gospel they’ve received is a tepid and ineffective counterfeit to God’s revelation of grace and power will benefit from Bates’s bold reminder that Jesus is King. —Amy Peeler, professor of New Testament, Wheaton College, author of Women and the Gender of God

Previous generations asked if there was evidence to support the claims of Christianity. Mountains of apologetic resources were created to address this question. But a new generation has emerged that isn’t focused on the gospel’s credibility, but rather its plausibility. Before asking whether it’s true they want to know why the gospel even matters. Matthew Bates has written the book our generation needs. He not only helps us rediscover the radical message of Jesus and his apostles, but he shows why this gospel is far larger than a narrow call to individual salvation. It’s the message the church, and the world, has been waiting for. — Skye Jethani, cohost of The Holy Post podcast, author of What If Jesus Was Serious

HONORABLE MENTION in popular theology

The Collected Christian Essentials: Catechism – A Guide to the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer Peter Leithart, Ben Myers, and Wesley Hill (general editor Todd R. Hains) (Lexham Press) $36.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $29.59

Many customers have loved the small white “Christian Essentials” hardbacks on several topics published by Lexham (with great looking black and white interiors and just enough substance to be substantial, but short and accessible enough for nearly any reader.) We’ve really appreciated these; I have said, I think, that Ben Myer’s one on the Apostles Creed is the best concise treatment ever and BookNotes fans might know I am a fan of Wes Hill and read all his work. His ruminations on the Lord’s Prayer are second to none.

I suppose it was Martin Luther who first put together a short catechism composed of the Ten Commands, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. I am only being somewhat tongue in cheek, but, golly: what more do you need to know? In this lovely trim sized hardback, these three small books are combined into one solid volume. It was a stroke of marketing genius, I thought; sure. All three in one. But upon opening Catechism: The Collected Christian Essentials s realized how much care and attention the publisher offers to make this not merely. a three-in-one compilation, but a true resource for Christian growth. There is a very good opening piece about the nature of catechism. There is a several page article on ordered prayer, offering a guide for liturgy, especially some texts for confession and forgiveness. There are some morning and evening prayers, Biblical texts to use, all typeset handsomely with some touches of color and something akin to a sacred Celtic design.

Man, this is well done, with some gold-colored pages, some graphic type, even including a ribbon marker, making it a really handsome study resource and a very nice gift. I suppose Anglican or Lutheran folks might most appreciate its somewhat liturgical feel, but, truly, this is a great book for anyone. We are delighted and happy to highlight it here in our end of the year’s “Best of” list. Thanks be to God.

BEST BOOK OF CULTURAL ANALYSIS

Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement Stephen Bouma-Prediger & Brian J. Walsh (Eerdmans) $39.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

As I hope you know, I highlighted this recent 15th anniversary edition in a recent BookNotes and hosted an hour-long webinar conversation with these two scholars (Shane Claiborne calls Brian a “theologian activist”) about this expanded version of the older book. Reading the new preface (by Ruth Padilla DeBorst, writing from her hopeful community of hospitality in Costa Rica) and the long new chapter bringing many of the arguments of the book up to date, I was even more moved than I was the first time I read this stunning work. I reviewed in 15 years ago, citing how it covers so very much — from postmodern mobility that allows some rich people to have many houses but no homes, and some poor folks to be unhoused but still with some sense of place in the world through their community of home — that is all closely related to our ecological homelessness. These two (one a farmer ecologist theologian and one a professor of theology with an emphasis on creation care) have so much insight about the changing culture and contemporary philosophy and yet their expansive work is always rooted in the Biblical narrative and always down-to Earth. They care for the poor quite literally and show their solidarity with the marginalized by citing poets of the street and telling the stories of indigenous friends.

Whether you need a really fresh and creative dive into the Bible or whether you want a big picture study of Christian cultural studies or whether you want to understand domestic poverty and its connection to global capitalism, well, this book does it all. It was an award winner 15 years ago and deserves to be honored as such now, again.

(Stay tuned here at BookNotes and at our store’s Facebook group page where we will link to last week’s webinar once we get it polished and ready to share. Hooray.)

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS in cultural analysis

The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis  Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I have written about this several times this past year and have ballyhooed it heartily where’ve we went. (Yes, including the knowingly tacky cover!) It has been one of my favorite books this year (and I am not alone) and a real pleasure to read. I learned much and enjoyed much.

I thought it was very well written and an exceptionally important testimony, in part because of Karen’s own rather public life as a scholar who taught beloved students at Liberty University, even as Falwell was destroying the integrity of the place. She never quite fit the fundamentalist mode, there, and never was a right-wing MAGA-type, so, like some other well know women who dared to offer a moderate voice among the idolatry of the far right, she paid dearly. On-line abuse, threats of sexual violence, gross and disgusting trolls and lost friendships came her way, shockingly, for those of us who don’t live in that world of far right extremism. Who knew it could be that ugly — among Christian people! She endured on with a gracious and moderate tone guided by a Biblical sensibility and continued to write about life and literature, public faith, and evangelicalism’s strengths and foibles, which she came to know more personally than I suppose she had expected.

In some ways, this well-researched work follows from her previous deep dive into early Victorian faith from when she produced the notable biography of 18th century writer and activist Hannah More (who was a colleague in abolitionist work with the more famous William Wilberforce, both who died in 1933.) Prior shows that much of American evangelicalism as a faith tradition has roots in Victorian English culture and religious impulses from previous eras which offered a social imaginary as much as a doctrinal system.

This fabulous book is both a history and contemporary study, again, less of an exploration of how evangelicalism’s doctrinal and theological views have come to be understood — she is an evangelical herself and holds to most of those standard convictions — but more how the “stories and images and metaphors” shaped the way most evangelicals see the world and lean into it. It is very much about just what the title promises, the evangelical imagination. If American evangelicalism is suffering from an identity crisis (and what religious tradition is not these days?) then this book could help, surely it could help. In analyzing her own sub-culture’s history and stories and art, she offers not only a glimpse into how to be self-aware about one’s religious biases and how they play out but gives tools and insight for all of us to understand the religious landscape of the 21st century. Evangelical or not, you should read it. It is that important.

Prior is among the most helpful Christian literary critics writing today. Her call for the reformation of evangelicalism is a call to repent, to allow new metaphors and analogies to drive us to more faithfully read and put into practice the Scriptures. An insightful work of love that aids a holy transformation of our imaginations. –Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

As an artist and follower of Jesus often falling into the gaps and fractures of the church and the world, I found this book to be a refreshing and eye-opening guide to navigating beyond the borderlands. Sanctified imagination is critical in developing as the body of Christ, in being the harbingers of hope and creators of beauty, and Prior is one of the most trusted voices to help us find our thriving. — Makoto Fujimura, artist, author of Art and Faith: A Theology of Making

QAnon, Chaos and the Cross: Christianity and Conspiracy Theories edited by Michael Austin and Gregory Bock (Eerdmans) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to name this as a “Best Book of 2023” — it seems outlandishly niche, and maybe even controversial.  But I sure feel that I need to mention it, as honorably as possible, suggesting it surely as a favorite and, more importantly, as one of the most timely and needed books of the year. There are a few other such volumes, and one or two coming, so wise publishers are realizing that normal people need resources to help us navigate this screwy world of conspiracies and weird disinformation and profound polarization. This 2023 book is a very wide collection of various sorts of fairly academic pieces, all highly connected to traditional Christian faith and the best theological wisdom. It deserves a special place on this list as there is nothing like it. Many of these articles and essays are very, very helpful even if, as with any large collection of essays, some pieces will interest some readers perhaps more than others. It’s over 285 pages with two dozen contributors.

As David Gushee puts it, this is a “generous and substantive engagement with the problem of conservative Christian susceptibility to conspiracy theories.” It is both a reasonable call to resist Trumpian misinformation (no matter how many ‘best dressed lists’ Eric Metaxas gets on, I might add) and a deeper exploration of how the rhetoric of conspiracy works (and how it might relate to our gospel-centered faithfulness.) A few of these chapters really made me think, and a few I’m eager to reflect on in the coming season.

There are a number of authors I do not know, but there is a surprising breadth of insight here from scholars I trust such as the amazing Dru Johnson (whose think tank on Hebraic thinking was housed at The King’s College and is now at Hope College), the fine communication scholar Tim Muehlhoff, our young hero, political theorist Kaitlyn Schiess, and a fine chapter co-authored by Marlena and Shawn Graves. Chase Andre has studied the rhetoric of MLK and now teaches at Biola; Scott Culpepper is a historian at Dordt University; Rick Lander is a much appreciated author on winsomeness (with two splendid books on IVP.) I’m struck by the social and theological diversity of this compilation and glad for Austin and Bock’s important curating of this vital resource. Kudos!

BEST BOOKS ON CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS
I will list three tremendous books that I have reviewed at BookNotes, each very special, and I will summarize by categorizing them as somewhat more basic, mid-level serious, and pretty rigorously academic. Something for everyone, and each is exceptional.
Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt (Baker Academic) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99
This is nothing short of stunning, a fabulous read, a lively study, and a great introduction on thinking Christianly about the arts and aesthetics evans it is an “instructive, engaging, and delightful” guidebook. There are full color reproductions and just so much great information, offered as a service to the Lord by serving her readers so well. There are few other books that might be compared to this — I’m thinking of the marvelous work by Terry Glaspey, say — but this comes with an artist’s eye and an art historian’s scholarly insight. Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt, who teaches at Covenant College, has a PhD from Washington University in St Louis and has come to be beloved in many circles which some of our best customers know well — the Lancaster Square Halo conference, the Calvin Festival Faith & Writing event, CCO’s Jubilee in Pittsburgh this February, maybe the Rabbit Room gang. In any case, this book is truly fabulous whether our tribe knows her or not, and it is only going to become better known as her reputation spreads.
I think, as one reviewer put it, Weichbrodt’s offer of “useful interpretive tools” is a real benefit of this book and you might want it if you long for “frameworks for faithful and generative engagement” with a real range of art both old and new. Scholar of modern art Daneil Siedell says it is “a remarkable text that will play a crucial role in helping to initiate countless curious but often confused seekers into the practice of looking at art.” Let us hope.
Bruce Herman says it is “an erudite and. yet wonderfully hospitable invitation” and I am sure many will enjoy it very, very much. One of the best books of 2023, for sure.

The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective edited by Roger Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker (IVP Academic) $45.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $36.00

We reviewed this heartily earlier this fall in a BookNotes all about resources on creativity and the arts. I explained that this neo-Calvinist worldview orientation is part of my own spiritual orientation and I value their direct conversation with the legacy of old, old Abraham Kuyper, and the likes of Hans Rookmaaker and Herman Dooyeweerd and Calvin Seerveld (who has an amazing chapter in this multi-authored volume.) Yes, it is a bit theologically specific, and some chapters are a bit more arcane than others, but, my, my, my, this really is one of my favorite books of 2023 (so much so I almost listed it at the very top of this BookNotes Best of 2023 post.) It is a bit more academic and rigorous, I guess, with some chapters on aesthetics and some on philosophies of art history, all exploring this “artistic sphere” in God’s good but fallen world.
I would be happy to send out a large list of many other books on this topic we have — some quite delightfully introductory and others more substantive, and this one would surely be on any sophisticated list. For those who follow this sort of work, it is an obvious must-have, nearly rare sort of volume. The lovely design (kudos to IVP) and color art and quite specific reflections by folks like Nicholas Woltersdorf, William Edgar, Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin and many more. Perhaps read my review here and see if this is for you. In any case, celebrate it with us here, now, with this little “Best of 2023” award. Hooray.

Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World Jeremy S. Begbie (Baker Academic) $39.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

I’ve highlighted this previously, but surely it is, as one reviewer insisted, “A remarkable achievement that breaks new ground.” It is a bit above my pay grade, mature theological study that it is, but I simply have to list it here as one of the Best Books in the genre in this year of our Lord 2023.

As I said a month or so ago in my review of it, we have obviously appreciated — and carried — every Begbie book since his extraordinary (and scholarly) work on music, released years ago. A few years ago he did one exploring what theology has to say to the arts, and another one on what the arts have to say to theology. He is prolific, academic, passionate, and a master of classical music. He is one of the finest writers in this whole genre, at least for those who want rigorous, dense prose.

Here he is doing much more than affirming that God cares about our creative juices or saying that our faith should give us lenses through which we can perceive goodness and delight in the arts of our fellow humans.In Abundantly More Begbie is making a major argument against one of the grand themes of Western philosophy and culture, a notion often  summed up in the word “reductionism.” Think of C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, perhaps, or other critics who explain how reducing life to just this or that is always troubling and never ends well. No, we need a robust, opened-up, multi-dimensional view of things, appreciating the very “teeming” creation God has given us.

As it says on the back, “In a culture that so often seems to shrink and flatten our vision, reducing the world to mere atoms and us to mere things, the arts can break our imaginations open.”

James K.A. Smith has written much against this anti-creational vision or reductionism, and recently, in a column in Image (the arts journal he edits) he explained how very important this new book is.  Here is what Smith said on the back cover; he happens to love the book, and I trust his judgments on these things a lot.

As only Jeremy Begbie can do, this book weaves theology and music, philosophy and poetry, science and Scripture to explore and celebrate the uncontainability of the triune God and the irreducible complexity of creation. Beginning with an astute analysis of our modern tendency to reduce, flatten, and de-complexify the beautiful, swirling kaleidoscope of divine and created reality, Begbie articulates a creative, constructive pneumatology that deepens our understanding of the resonance between theology and the arts. A remarkable achievement that breaks new ground. — James K. A. Smith, Calvin University; editor, Image; author How to Inhabit Time.
BEST BOOK ON CREATION CARE

Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping Is an Essential Christian Practice Steven Bouma-Prediger (Baker Academic) $25.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

Almost every year we tip our hand about our own reading habits and what we try to curate for our customers by highlighting books like this. Steve has already carried away a Hearts & Minds award (see above) but we’re offering him this second award: hooray! This is the best book on this topic I’ve read all year. And I’ve read a lot, believe you me. As I have said before, I find Bouma-Prediger exceptionally helpful, wise, thorough, deeply Biblical without being tediously exegetical. But he opens up so much, brings so much to the fore, and helps us all understand how creation care and ecological insight is central to the calling of all Christians, integral, not incidental (as writer Steve Garber might say) to our life of discipleship.

Not unlike the major work Beyond Homelessness, Steven here offers exceptional, fresh, creative, and faithful Biblical meditations between each chapter. These, too, are worth the price of the book, keeping the faithful eye on Scripture and showing the extraordinary way in which this story (that “begins and ends with rivers and trees”) should shape our daily lifestyle. Hooray.

I love the many blurbs on Steve’s book that commend him as a teacher, for this clear distillation of his several big books, and for his passion as an outdoor adventure guy. Hear this, and then buy this book, please:

I was twenty-one years old when I read my first Bouma-Prediger book. From that moment on, my life has been a sequence of events reverberating from reading this brilliant thinker. This book will have the same effect on a whole new generation. I can’t commend it enough. — A. J. Swoboda, Bushnell University; author of After Doubt

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS about creation care

I’ve read a number of other books on a Biblical-theological vision of creation care, the climate crisis and such and I want to highlight these other two as, among others, exceptional and stellar. Thank you to the authors and their publishers for allowing us to stock such good books. I hope your favorite local, indie bookseller has these sorts of things. If not, send us an order pronto. We’ve got ‘em! For now start here.

Following Jesus in a Warming World: A Christian Call to Climate Action Kyle Mayaard-Schaap (IVP) $18.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

We highlighted this when it first came out, suggesting it was one of the best evangelical studies of creation care, a theology of earth-keeping, and an accessible study of recent research in climate change science. More and more young Christians are waking up to these realities and Meyaard-Schaap (as vice president of the Evangelical Environmental Network) knows a lot about this; he was previously the national organizer and spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action.

Blurbs on the back are moving and compelling, from Kristin Kobes Du Mez (who calls it “an essential guide”), Debra Rienstra, Bill McKibben and Michael Wear (who reminds us that this book helps us see anew how “caring for the environment and how issues of environmental praise and degradation can bring us closer to Jesus.”)

So We & Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis Sarah Augustine & Sheri Hostetler with a foreword by Patty Krawec (Herald Press) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

What makes a book like this stand out other than the sheer urgency and centrality of this topic for contemporary faithfulness? What does a new book bring to our reading table that makes it necessary, among the many others? It’s a fair question, but there is something about this one that makes me want to shout it from the rooftops. We honor it in this “best of” list because it is urgent, yes, but also because it is so very nicely written, captivating, interesting, compelling.

And there is this key matter: as they say on the back cover, “ecological justice requires us to challenge our assumptions about creation and our relationship to it. It requires decolonization. We must turn to the leadership of Indigenous communities who struggle for all life as protectors of land and water, and we must call on people of faith to join them…”

There are other important scholarly works about environmental racism, about decolonizing the way in which most white folks think about environmental stewardship, about the relationship between ecological renewal and people of color. This one gets at all that from a very distinctively Christian perspective and is lovely in helping us all see the ecological crisis as a lively invitation to rethink a lot, and reassess our typical theological views, postures, practices, and habits.

Nathan Cartagena, a professor of philosophy of Wheaton College says the book is “a tour de force” and “a gift for us, our children, and our children’s children.” He is right. Native author Kaitlin B Curtice calls it “essential.” She is right.

You may know of Sarah and Sheri from their important work Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery podcast. (Sarah Augustine also wrote a book with that same title.) Both are active leaders on justice issues from within their Mennonite faith communities.

FAVORITE 2023 BOOKS ABOUT FOOD & COOKBOOKS

The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration Derrick Weston & Anna Woofenden (Broadleaf Books) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

We love and concur with Adrian Miller, a James Beard award-winning author of Soul Food, who calls this a “heart-warming, soul-satisfying, and salivating meditation.”  But it is more than a meditation — it is a handbook, a cookbook, a guidebook, and, yes, a theological and political exploration of justice in our foodways and cooking habits. It is a meditation on that room in our homes we call the kitchen and it is a reflection on those memories we have of food, eating, family, and nourishment. Of course as justice-oriented followers of Jesus — one black, one white — they bring an edge of urgency and a lot of joy to the journey.

The black and white illustrations are handsome enough, if inadequately repetitive, so some touches of color would have made the design considerably better. Still, this is one of our very favorite books in this genre in many a year. We toast the authors and cheer for their good work. Hooray.

Bread of Life: Savoring the All Satisfying Goodness of Jesus Through the Art of Bread Making Abigail Dodds (Crossway) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This beautiful book does not have the full-on Kingdom vision of food and sustainability and justice that is shared in The Just Kitchen and its God-centered devotional nature could have been expanded to include a bit more about the social ethics of food preparation and faithful eating. Still, it is nothing short of one of the most handsome books of the year, with lovely design touches from the inside covers to the type font to the warm, artful pictures. The text is dense and serious, if warm and lovely.

The topic is bread-making but the theme is God’s provision. As the publisher notes, “in this beautifully-photographed book, she shares 11 delicious recipes and shows you how to find your ultimate fulfillment through Christ, the all-satisfying bread of life.”

I worry sometimes when an author sets out to celebrate something good in God’s creation — as we should — and then merely “uses” it to make a bigger, “spiritual” point. I do not think this is the case, here, as she naturally weaves together recipes and redemption, food and faith, bread and the Body of Christ. Sure, it is finally, mostly, a Godly devotional, full of insights pointing us to desire God above all. But, man, those recipes look fabulous! From “Not Your Average Zucchini Bread” to “Weeknight Naan” to “Holiday Chocolate Babka” to something she calls “everyday cottage bread” (and more) these are so fun. I wish she had a gluten-free option for those with Celiac or serious gluten allergies…

Soul Food Love: Healthy Recipes Inspired by One Hundred Years of Cooking in a Black Family Alice Randall & Caroline Randall Williams (Potter) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

We admittedly do not do much fancy cooking and we don’t know that much about historic black cooking. I’ve read (and listened to radio documentaries) about the legendary history and sociology of black cooking.  When we discovered this fabulously illustrated cookbook, complete with sidebars and historic notes, we thought it seemed just wonderful. The great Viola Davis has a blurb on the back saying “Soul Food Love has preserved our traditions but reinvented how they’re prepared. Its focus on health is a godsend.” So there ya go: a healthy mother-daughter duo who “reclaim and redefine soul food — with 80 recipes to help everyone live longer and stronger.”

As the back cover puts it, “Soul Food Love relates the author’s fascinating family history, which mirrors that of much of black American in the twentieth century, explores the often-fraught relationships African American women have had with food, and forges a powerful new way forward that honors their cultural and culinary heritage.”

Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others – Recipes, Menus, Advice  Amy Thielen (Norton) $40.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $32.00

It is curious what we end up finding to carry in our Dallastown store — out of dozens of reviews of forthcoming or brand new cookbooks this one caught my eye. I didn’t realize that Amy Thielen was a beloved and respected food writer and cook, but I liked what they said about its inventiveness and how it was designed for pleasurable, creative cooking for those who say “let’s do it at my house.” I lived the title, a phrase our family used as I was growing up, about having “company.” (Do people still say that?) I know that many church groups and missional communities are increasingly teaching about hospitality and the ministry of shared meals and home events and this seemed, if a touch high-brow and urbane, pretty darn cool.

Who of us shouldn’t throw a few more parties?

Ends up I was right: this is on the “Year’s Best Books” list of nearly every major foodie publication and has gained rave reviews from all the major papers. Epicurious named it the Best Cookbook of 2023. What struck me was a NPR interview where an impressive critic said it was her favorite cookbook to read — that she had it by her bed, enjoying the instructions and advice and visions of hospitality. The first part I read was “A Note on Cleaning Up” where she admits that “we cookbook people” don’t talk about that much. Uh-huh.

By Bread Alone: A Baker’s Reflections on Hunger, Longing, and the Goodness of God Kendall Vanderslice (Tyndale) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Bread is central to God’s story— and your story, too, she says. I hailed this when it first came out early this past year as a gem — a memoir, a theological treatise, a missional project of care and hospitality. Vanderslice is a graduate of Wheaton College, Boston University, and Duke Divinity School so you can surmise she knows her stuff. She does workshops on bread baking as a spiritual practice and while the above volume – an oversized and exceptionally attractive cookbook and devotional — may cover somewhat similar grounds, this really is broader and remarkably interesting.

The back cover tells us that Kendall has struggled with hunger for as long as she can remember — “hunger for bread, yes, but also for community and the ability to “tase and see” the goodness of God. She has learned that bread offers a unique opportunity to heal our relationship to the Body of Christ — and our own bodies.”

By Bread Alone weaves her own faith-filled journey together with original recipes and stories about bread in Scripture, in church history, and in our lives.

By Bread Alone is a powerful invitation into the rhythms of baking and the rhythms of faith. As Kendall explains, these are complex journeys of nuance and transformation that mirror each other. Through a robust exploration of breadmaking and her own story, Kendall vulnerably and insightfully offers an alternative to the “Wonder Bread theology” that often plagues the church. This book nourishes and satisfies our deepest longings for the Bread of Life. — Kat Armas, author of Abuelita Faith and Sacred Belonging: A 40-Day Devotional on the Liberating Heart of Scripture

By Bread Alone is a soulful, searching glimpse into trusting the goodness of God when it seems most opaque. Kendall Vanderslice trades toxic positivity for the promise of sustenance, and the result is deeply honest and curiously comforting. These pages are dusted with the flour of daily bread. If you are lost, longing, hope-weary, or barely hanging on (aren’t we all?), read this and be nourished. — Shannan Martin, author of Start with Hello and The Ministry of Ordinary Places

BEST BOOKS OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep Dive Into Paul’s Greatest Letter N.T. Wright (Zondervan Academic) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

The last major book Tom Wright has released in the US was the Galatians commentary in the Eerdmans “Commentaries for Christian Formation” which came out in 2021. There will be a new co-authored Wright book (Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies — we are taking pre-orders) coming in March. For now, amidst a newly edited edition of his New Testament translation (now called The New Testament for Everyone) and the new editions of his compact-sized NT commentaries (with new covers and study apparatus in the back) we have this extraordinary release, a publishing event of such importance that I’m surprised we haven’t gotten more orders than we have. It is a major work, if not overly technical, and a bit of a new angle on any number of central theological concerns emerging from his study of “Paul’s greatest letter.” Dating back to controversies from his early lectures on Jesus and his first entry on Romans in theNew Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Wright has long been attracted to Romans. This, interestingly, is not a full commentary on all of Romans, as such, but is a deeper dive into Romans 8.

Naturally, he moves backwards and forwards as deftly as anyone, framing all of Paul’s magisterial letter by the broad “acts” of the unfolding Biblical drama. He and Brian Walsh worked out some of that seminal stuff years ago (and it shows up often in Wright’s work, so I was glad to see, of the very few commentaries he cited, he names Romans Disarmed by Walsh & Keesmaat.) If you love Romans 8 — and if you do not, you should! — then you need this book. Thanks be to God for new looks at the old, old, story.

N. T. Wright has long made it clear that Romans 8 is a text that is dear to his own heart and understanding of Paul. In this book, we encounter Wright as pastor, professor, and scholar. He teaches us how to read a text (as professor), what he discovers in the text (as scholar), and why Paul’s message in one of his most significant passages still matters for the church today (as pastor). It was also refreshing to witness Wright model the ability to grow as an exegete revising one’s opinion when better readings present themselves. This book is an exemplar of a pastorally and exegetically rich analysis of a dense but rewarding section of Paul’s most famous letter. — Esau McCaulley,  professor of New Testament, Wheaton College, author of Reading While Black.

Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters Carmen Joy Imes (IVP Academic) $22.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

One of the great highlights of 2023 for our work lives was selling books, as we do, at the Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh. One of the main-stage speakers and rock stars of the event last year was Carmen Joy Imes, an upbeat scholar with a heart for teaching and a passion for deep Biblical research that matters. Although she has written other good stuff , her important, award-winning book called Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters came out in 2019; this is a companion and is even better than that great one. It is asking, very much in light of the Genesis creation narrative, what it means to be human. It is a question that “proves foundational as we seek to understand purpose, identity, and significance.” In this very readable, but meaty, book, she offers a theological rich exploration of the Imago Dei and the implications of this “kinship relationship with God” for work, sexuality, gender, creation-care, and our eternal destiny. This is a major book, not overly technical, and a joy for anyone that loves God’s Word.

An interesting little feature of this book is how she has partnered with the amazing folks at the BibleProject (indeed, Tim Mackie has a recommending blurb on the back) to offer video clips throughout the book which help illustrate her major points. What a delight! Very highly recommended.

Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple Scot McKnight (Zondervan) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Almost every customer we talked to who has read this — save one, a good friend and Christian leader — has reported how much they enjoyed it, how much it either challenged them to think about Revelation in a new way or reinforced in their mind that they are not crazy to be suspicious of the end-times / rapture stuff that has for so captured some corners of the broader church. This book about “dragons, lambs, and strange beasts” can help us follow Jesus today, and it isn’t by preparing to applaud war in the Middle East, expecting a tribulation and rapture, but by resisting those popular misconceptions about this mysterious book of the Bible and realizing what is really going on.

There are a lot of books on this (just ask and I’ll send you a list) and there are deeper and more systematic commentaries. For an overview with an eye to reclaim a more legitimate and faithful and fruitful reading written by a beloved evangelical scholar, Revelation for the Rest of Us by Scot McKnight deserves a huge thanks and earns this silly little award from us here in South-Central Pennsylvania. Our hat is tipped.

Here are two good endorsements that will show you why we want to honor this book as one of the favs of 2023. One is by a woman who is a Texas, Baptist historian, the other a Methodist New Testament scholar from Baltimore, both very fine authors and leaders. Check this out:

A brilliant, fast-paced narrative that does so much more than make an incomprehensible book comprehensible. It shows us how white evangelicals lost our theological grounding, becoming the very monster we were supposed to resist; it emboldens us to become dissident disciples, leaving team dragon and returning to the side of the Lamb; and it gives us hope that a world where justice rolls down like water will one day be more than a dream. This is the most powerful interpretation of Revelation I have ever read, reorienting us away from bizarre prophecies and fiction bestsellers back to the truth of the gospel. You do not want to miss it. — Beth Allison Barr, Professor of History at Baylor University, author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth

If Revelation is not a book for speculation about the antichrist and the millennium, what is it? Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett have gifted the church, especially (but not only) its evangelical wing, with a revelation about Revelation. It is a call for dissident discipleship. This challenging but also pastoral book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the new forces of Babylon confronting the church and the world today. — Michael J. Gorman, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, St. Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore, author of Reading Revelation Responsible: Uncivil Worship and Witness Following the Lamb into the New Creation

BEST BOOK TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE PALESTINIAN CRISIS

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy Nathan Thrall (Metropolitan Books) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

We did one long BookNotes list of titles that we pulled off our shelves back with the war in Gaza was in its early days and tried to offer balanced, wise, informative resources to help just a bit in understanding (as the great book edited by Mae Cannon puts it, A Land Full of God.) On that list we named one book that I had just started; it had gotten considerable attention in mainstream literary and publishing circles for being so moving and well written, but I do not know many faith-based spaces who have talked about it much.

I was blown away by this book and name it here as one of the most unforgettable books I have read this year, one I am haunted by, one I wish I could press into the hands of those who seem oblivious to the ongoing injustices perpetrated by Israel with their crass land grabs, occupational forces, road blocks, checkpoints, arrests without due process, and the like. These repressive conditions should be well known and those that don’t admit to some awareness are being willfully, sinfully, ignorant; of course, since some Palestinians have resorted to violent resistance and some of those have evolved into despicable terrorist organizations (like Hamas and Hezbollah) who have done horrific things, it is hard to offer a balanced and wise view, trying to be the peacemakers which we are called to be. Always we must condemn the violence on both sides and try to understand the decades and generations of injustices that have lead to this horrible situation and the understandable fears and hurts on both sides of the literal walls and borders.

This remarkable book is about a Palestinian school bus that was in a horrible accident while visiting a play space just beyond a checkpoint in which, we eventually learn, some little children died, burned to death in this terrible event. Of course the ambulances couldn’t (or wouldn’t) come in time, the checkpoint backups which are routine (if dehumanizing and frustrating) inconveniences for Palestinians who live and work in Jerusalem’s sprawling neighborhoods, became barriers for parents to find their children in the hospitals to which they were taken (or not) and, eventually, the appropriate morgues. It is nothing if not tragic, large social and political issues made somewhat understandable in this one particular episode of sadness. Some of the scenes are brutal and much is terribly sad.

Much of the book, though, follows the father of the title, tracing back his life and work and joys and loves, his arranged marriages, his faith and his many good friendships with Jews and Arab Christians. Some of his Palestinian Muslim relatives are more radicalized, most are not. There is a multi-generational saga being played out and much of it is simply fascinating. Where people live, what they do, how they navigate the infuriating laws and lack of rights in their own homelands — not unlike the old apartheid restrictions in awful South Africa — is helpful to read about. If it were not so fullof gravitas, I’d say it was fascinating; seeing how dignity and love and family and human-scale stuff goes on, even in times of turmoil, is a good benefit of the read.

Much of the Day in the Life of… book, which reads almost like a page-turning novel, follows this extended family even as the narrative heart focuses on this awful day when they could not find if their child was one who died or not and the indignities faced at the hands of Israeli repression and bureaucracy.

Like the best creative nonfiction and long-form narrative reporting, there are no singular good guys or bad guys (although this one way into understanding the daily grind of persecution and injustice experienced by most Palestinians I have ever read.) This is not a screed nor even a passionate bit of advocacy. It is storytelling at its finest, around a troubling and unforgettable vignette, and the good and bad people and systems that surround this “day in the life” of one Abed Salama.

Nathan Thrall knows this land and its peoples well. He is a great reporter, and good writer, and an excellent person to tell this tale. I agree with the award winning scholar, historian, and writer Adam Hochschild, who describes it well:

It is hard to think of another book that gives such a poignant, deeply human face to the ongoing tragedy of Palestine. Thrall’s evocation of both a terrible crisis and the daily humiliations of life under occupation is nothing short of heartbreaking. — Adam Hochschild, National Book Award finalist and author of American Midnight

I know of no other writing on Israel and Palestine that reaches this depth of perception and understanding… One could read the book as a précis of modern Palestinian history embedded in the personal memories of many individuals, each of them drawn in stark, telling detail. To get to know them even a little is a rare gift, far more useful than the many standard, distanced histories of Palestine. –David Shulman, New York Review of Books

By the way, Abed and Haifa Salama’s five year old boy’s name was Milad.

SPECIAL AWARD OF HONOR – BEST OF SHOW

Every Moment Holy Volume III: The Work of the People edited and compiled by Douglas McKelvey (Rabbit Room Press) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

I don’t know what Best of Show really means outside of the dog world, but this is an award we are naming to seriously honor this extraordinary release, the third in the excellent series of Every Moment Holy prayer books published by the good folks at Rabbit Room Press. We are delighted to carry and commend this book for any number of reasons, not least because it is so very well made, so attractive, so well designed. (Huzzahs to my friend Ned Bustard for the layout and design, curating the art — some of which is his — and all the good details from the typography, colored ink, and ribbon marker.) This full-sized, leather-bound hardback volume is a sight to behold and a beauty to hold.

As important, but related to the elegant, beautiful design, it offers “the work of the people” — liturgies and litanies, spoken prayers and poetic pleas to God, written with liturgical grace and some unique rhetorical charm. Prayers books can be stuffy and overly wordy while many, these days, are nearly too colloquial and chummy. The Every Moment Holy books have struck a good balance, bringing us prayers to use in ordinary life moments (so there is indeed a mundane sort of ordinariness to them) but with an elegant sort of spiritual class in the vocabulary and the robust faith shaping them.

Indeed, these “liturgies” which attempt to consecrate “every moment” to holiness, are crafted, like the first in the series, for ordinary (and sometimes rather exceptional or unique) moments in our daily lives. (The second volume in the Every Moment Holy series, is specifically about loss, grief, sorrow, and lament. It is loaded with various sorts of prayers and liturgies for reading in various sorts of circumstances, but it is blessed by that specificity.) This third one, like the first, covers the most mundane moments to the most unusual. It has liturgies for various jobs and vocations, liturgies of creation and recreation, blessings and celebrations, petition and provision. There are prayers of sorrow and “prayers of the moment.” I cannot tell you just how grateful I am for the rich theology which undergirds these 400 glorious pages. I promise you, you will find this useful.

Unlike the first two, this new 2023 one, Volume III, is crafted by a variety of authors and the art, though in keeping with the style of the former, is made by several different contributing artists. In this new one you will find prayerful liturgies by known authors and poets (from Malcolm Guite, Luci Shaw, Leslie Anne Bustard, Fernando Ortega, Sho Baraka, Philip Yancey) and includes (unlike in the previous volumes) words from older saints such as Augustine, St Francis, John Donne, Johannes Kepler and Dorothy Sayers.)

PART TWO OF OUR FAVORITE READS OF 2023 WILL APPEAR SOON. There will be some really fun books, some serious stuff, a few scholarly ones, and a bunch of our best delights. Please stay tuned…
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There are generally two kinds of US Mail options and, of course, UPS.  If necessary, we can do overnight and other expedited methods, too. Just ask.

  • United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available and seems not to be too delayed.
  • United States Postal Service has another, quicker option called “Priority Mail” which is $8.50, 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 $9.20. “Priority Mail” gets much more attention than does “Media Mail” and is often just a few days to anywhere in the US.
  • UPS Ground is reliable but varies by weight and distance and may take longer than USPS. Sometimes they are cheaper than Priority. We’re happy to figure out your options for you once we know what you want.

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Sadly, as of January 2024 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is truly on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is now getting worse. It is still important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by long Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

We are here 10:00 – 6:00 EST /  Monday – Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

YOU ARE INVITED to a free webinar author conversation — meet Brian Walsh & Steve Bouma-Prediger, authors of “Beyond Homelessness” THIS THURSDAY, January 11, 2024

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WEBINAR WITH ME, STEVE BOUMA-PREDIGER & BRIAN WALSH RIGHT HERE.

About this time every January I’m sweating it out trying to craft a manageable list of my favorite books— some we might call the very best —that I’ve read the previous year. I’m squirming badly now as there are just so many to name and you will be surprised by some, I bet. We are thankful to God for this vocation of bookselling. We are grateful to each and every one of you who have supported us, sent orders our way, or otherwise promoted our little shop here in Dallastown.

One thing I am sure of, though, is that one of the very best books — in terms of importance and in terms of the sheer artful quality of the writing and the breadth and brilliance of the research — is one that I am so excited about that we are hosting a (free) live webinar this coming Thursday (January 11th – at 7:00 PM, EST) to talk with the authors. I invite you — I implore you — to join us. It’s going to be fun and, I think, quite compelling.

I’m not big on declaring one big “Book of the Year” but, golly, this one is surely on the top of my favorites list for 2023. Oddly, it isn’t even a brand new book, but an updated, 15th Anniversary Edition. I loved it 15 years ago and I love it even more now. I’m talking about Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement by Brian J. Walsh & Steven Bouma-Prediger (Eerdmans; $39.99 — OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99.)

It is a vast, fast-moving, delightfully complicated book, complex in all the right ways, and yet not arcane or difficult to read. Yes, these are both serious scholars with PhDs who have taught philosophy and culture and know their way around postmodern studies.

But they are also fun, down-to-Earth guys who quite literally have their feet on the ground; Steve teaches environmental studies as a theological ecologist (at Hope College in Holland, Michigan) and writes movingly about hiking and wilderness experiences and his love for the local watershed (where he bikes a lot, I’ve learned.) Brian is a former campus minister, and now a farmer, caring, with his wife and partner, author Sylvia Keesmaat, for The Russet House Farm in Ontario. They are Biblical people, full of Godly hope, and they enjoy life, good meals, (and have a mutual admiration for any number of folk and rock musicians, not least of which is Bruce Cockburn, who Brian has a whole book about.) They are, truly, “kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight” and, it seems, having a blast doing it.

As you can tell, I like these gents and I am sure you will enjoy listening in and participating in the online conversation on January 11th. The webinar is sponsored by their publisher, Eerdmans, and you can register for free HERE. The book is amazing and there will be a lot to talk about, so don’t miss a bit. We start at 7:00 PM Eastern Time.

By the way, there will be a free giveaway of a book during the conversation, compliments of the publisher, so be sure not to miss that. I told you it’ll be fun.

There are a few big things going on in Beyond Homelessness and I’ve written quite a bit more (years ago, when the first edition was released) which you can find by searching the BookNotes archives. I’ll explain just a bit here, now, about what is so good about it and why we are eager to have you attend our little online book discussion. For what it’s worth, the late Marva Dawn said of the first edition that it is “broadly researched and splendidly written” and that “this book is essential reading for anyone who wants truly to comprehend and mend our culture!” Wow and Amen!

First, in this new anniversary edition there is a new foreword by Ruth Padilla DeBorst (writing from Central America) which is simply inspiring and beautiful. There is a new preface that is touching and good. And there is a long “post-script” which is actually a lengthy, new, full-sized chapter that makes it well worth having. One friend who devoured the first edition purchased this expanded new edition and insisted, later in an email (with a picture of a page and all his underlinings and marginalia), that I can with confidence tell others to get this new version, even if they have the first edition. It’s that good.

Secondly (and this is what lies at the theological vision behind the book) there is the best Biblical stuff I’ve ever seen on the topics of home, creation-care, placemaking, exile, alienation, homecoming, reconciliation, and other such Biblical themes related to place, land, culture, agriculture, shalom, rootedness, neighborliness, ecology, and the like. They know and love the Scriptures and I am happy to recommend that you spend some time under their refreshing tutelage, learning what might be somewhat new terms alongside more conventional doctrinal rhetoric. They are nothing if not Biblical people.

Many have heard the overarching Biblical story described as a play with several acts, most succinctly naming the flow of the drama as creation/fall/redemption. They spin this as something like home/dislocation from home/homecoming. We are made in God’s image as home-makers and even East of Eden the gospel of Christ, the second Adam, returns us to our primordial calling, along with the other creatures in God’s household, to what they call homefulness. This fecund word is amazing and their Biblical scholarship exploring it is second to none. They draw on bunches of good scholars (evangelical and more mainline, Reformed and others found in fabulous footnotes) including helpful quotes from their friends Richard Middleton and Tom Wright; they make a fabulous, nearly breathtaking case of how the Scriptures invite us to the remarkable blessedness that comes from being grounded in place. This is not a fringe ethical concern or additional aspect of an eccentric social ethic, but is a nearly revolutionary re-articulation of the whole of the Biblical narrative and our place in God’s world and the meaning of our redemption in Christ. Read Beyond Homelessness with your own Bible handy and see if you don’t agree.

To supplement their detailed (but delightfully readable) explication, they have, between each chapter, extended creative tellings of various Biblical passages which they call “interludes.” They are retelling Biblical episodes in moving first person narratives or monologues and they are worth the price of the book. In the preface they strongly recommend that readers study these passages in Scripture, too, so the nuances and playful renderings they develop in the interludes are more fully understood. In any case, these Bible pieces are really well done and are a vital connecting thread tying their ideas together. N.T. Wright has raved about this and has called their Biblical reflections “lyrical.”

Further, their painful ruminations on our alienation from place — citing everybody from Dorothy of Kansas to Wendell Berry of Kentucky to James Howard Kunstler of New York — show further just what they mean. Sin and idolatry and bad ideologies have messed up everything and they wisely help us see just how far and deep the rot goes. Not only are we dis-placed — late capitalism and stuff like car culture and corporate agribusiness has had its way with us and a dualistic faith concerned about the so-called “spiritual” (which for many either means heaven or the internal nature of their souls) takes our eyes off the mundane and ordinary stuff of life — but our lack of interest in our places have allowed a climate emergency unlike nearly anything our (home) planet has ever faced. Being nearly disembodied and tragically displaced leads to ecological crisis. The creation groans and their profound Biblical insight about all this is simply the best stuff I have read, anywhere.

And you just have to read the final, colorful, poetic portions of the last chapter, “Redemptive Homecoming” to be captured by the vision of where all this is going… My, oh my.

Just so you know I’m not gushing just because I like these guys, it is true that many great thinkers, theologians, and activists have offered their own great reviews of this project. Listen to Shane Claiborne:

A daring exploration of one of the most primitive longings in all of us — home. Whether we are in the lonely suburbs or the lonely slums, whether we are cultural refugees or undocumented immigrants, here is good news. In these pages is a call to community, to live deeper, to discover that if we have the eyes to see and the imagination to dream it, there is another world at hand where every alien and orphan and estranged executive has a home and family, for there is a kinship that runs deeper than culture or class or biology or nation.

By the way, the new long extra chapter in this new updated edition cites the generative and important The Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything by Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, one of the great theological works in recent years. I’m glad they did but, to be honest, Bouma-Prediger and Walsh’s work in Beyond Homelessness remains seminal. There is no book like it.

And there is this remarkable part of the work: Perhaps equally foundational to their thesis of needing to be shaped by a rootedness in the Biblical story of creation, of home/exile/homecoming, is this notion that we are also shaped by a society that fails to honor a sense of place (again, think how Wendell Berry’s novels have explored this, or even Barbara Kingsolver’s, both hose work they plumb nicely.) Because of this we are unable to deeply inhabit our places and we are (oddly) numb to the suffering that goes on around us. Sometimes, the well off and upwardly mobile among us are nearly nomadic. (Ironic, isn’t it, that in this gig economy we have economically poor nomads migrating due to poverty and we have the uber-rich flying around, placeless, like in the novel and movie Up in the Air.)

Their opening description of Kenny (a guy who has seen some hard times and is without a house but who has some sense of community) and Kenneth (a guy with several well-appointed houses but no real home) invites us to ponder much. What is a home, anyway? What makes a house a home? What is the broadest vocation of home-making? Has the American Dream of suburban bliss in a fancy house created emotional cul-de-sacs, neighborhoods without neighbors? How might Kenny, who serves his needy neighbors, instruct us who live lives so busy that we hardly know our nearest neighbors? Why are so many writing about community these days, but yet fewer have lives that are available to others? What is with the current epidemic of loneliness? And what might the notions of postmodernism and the experience of postmodernity have to do with any of this? Can a Biblical vision of homefulness and kinship provide an enduring hope? How so?

And yes, the book is also about literal homelessness. Those who are unhoused and economically poor are hurting everywhere in our lands and it is a crisis that must be addressed. Their insight into economics — both global and local — including the housing crisis and domestic poverty, is excellent and helpful. They make complex matters understandable.

Many who follow BookNotes, I suspect, have read Matthew Desmond (Evicted and Poverty, By America) or Edin, Shaefer, and Nelson’s serious The Injustice of Place which explores the legacy of rural poverty in America, or the Pulitzer Prize winning report Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City (by Andrea Elliott) or the upbeat memoir of near homelessness, Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land.

We’ve got excellent Christian guides to understanding the needy and being involved in homeless ministry, such as last year’s Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness by Kevin Nye and one called Welcome Homeless: One Man’s Journey of Discovering the Meaning of Home which is by the amazing Alan Graham. Graham, we find out, has been influenced by Beyond Homelessness and touts it often.

Brian and Steve have both visited Alan’s one-of-a-kind project called Community First! Village in Austin, Texas, that emerged from his effective Mobile Loaves and Fishes mission. They tell of the transformation of his own faith and life through his work among the poor in the postscript to Beyond Homelessness and it is thrilling. (Alan was, in fact, the first person to honor Brian and Steve and the new anniversary release of Beyond Homelessness when he interviewed Brian at his podcast last month, which you could listen to here.) So, yes, although the book covers much, much, more, it explores the hardships of those without shelter.

From the stimulating and generative Biblical study about the call to homefulness to the wildly interesting cultural studies on how the sociology of place-less-ness has corrupted North American society, and what this “geography of nowhere” has done to us as people, on through to the burning (and related) contemporary crises of pollution and poverty, Beyond Homelessness circles around again and again to how a Biblical worldview (and the experience of exile as described in the Scriptures) can shape our very consciousness / imaginations and help us want to inhabit our places more intentionally. These two authors have seen sorrow and know that the Scriptures invite us to “weep with those who weep.” They want to live in what one of their mentors calls “the wild spaces of love.” Consequently, in faith, they are actually quite hopeful, and they take much delight in small, ordinary things.

This book will help you get on track. From knowing the species of trees in your neighborhood to knowing the names of your neighbors; from caring about gracious hospitality as a key to forming loving community to resisting the destabilizing forces of modernity that erode our care and kindness, Brian and Steve bring so much to the table — including Biblical explorations about the nature of tables — that one small review like this can’t do the book justice. So please join us for the on-line webinar this Thursday, January 11th at 7:00 EST.

So: please join us in celebration of this major work, prescient and important when it was released 15 years ago, and all the more urgent now. We will chat about our friendships, I’ll ask some questions about the book, we’ll invite them to tell us about their own lives in their own places that gave rise to this fruitful, collaborative work, and we’ll take questions from participants during the online webinar. It’s going to be informative, but more importantly, formative. I bet you’ve not often heard this kind of stuff, and it will make a difference, for you, for us, for God’s work in the world. Join us, please. Register here.

Register here now: https://streamyard.com/watch/K6Jj4sDCxFdC

 

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Buy the book now if you can, at our 20% off sale price.
We will send it right out, with pleasure. But don’t miss the webinar next week. Register today.

Beyond Homelessness explores the meaning of ‘home’ and emphasizes God’s covenantal and homemaking love for humanity. The authors nod to Barbara Kingsolver’s theory that home is simply a place of belonging–and a place where we share that belonging with others. If we have been gifted a place of belonging, love and affirmation, isn’t it our responsibility to share that with others? — National Catholic Review

“This fifteenth anniversary edition could not be timelier. Here are the stories of prophetic vision and hope that we need. Beyond Homelessness has the power to change the way we view who we are to one another. — Mark R. Gornik, author of To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City 

Not to confuse matters, but this would be a perfect place to remind you that a year or so ago I wrote passionately about a book done as a surprise for Brian Walsh at his retirement from serving the CRC as campus chaplain at the University of Toronto where he helped lead the Wine Before Breakfast community. A festschrift full of fascinating pieces and lovely stories to honor him, it was called A Sort of Homecoming: Essays Honoring the Academic and Community Work of Brian Walsh edited by Marcias Boniferro, Amanda Jagt, and Andrew Stephens-Rennie (Pickwick Publications) $34.00 – OUR SALE PRICE = $27.30.  Four people I’ve mentioned above, Alan Graham, Richard Middleton, N.T. Wright, and Beyond Homelessness co-author Steve Bouma-Prediger, all have excellent pieces in this amazing collection. And there’s plenty more. One reviewer, an urban church planter, said it will “leave you with a case of holy homesickness.” And I said, “This book will open your ears to the hope and homecoming embedded in Scripture’s story.”

Steve Bouma-Prediger, himself, by the way, had his own new book out this past fall, that we highlighted at BookNotes not long ago: Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping Is an Essential Christian Practice (Baker Academic; $25.99 – OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79.) It now stands next to several others that are vital for our ecological studies section here in the shop.

More on that next week when we celebrate it in our “best of” lists for 2023. It’s fantastic!

 

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  • United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available and seems not to be too delayed.
  • United States Postal Service has another, quicker option called “Priority Mail” which is $8.50, 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 $9.20. “Priority Mail” gets much more attention than does “Media Mail” and is often just a few days to anywhere in the US.
  • UPS Ground is reliable but varies by weight and distance and may take longer than USPS. Sometimes they are cheaper than Priority. We’re happy to figure out your options for you once we know what you want.

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Sadly, as of January 2024 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is truly on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is now getting worse. It is still important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by long Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

We are here 10:00 – 6:00 EST /  Monday – Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

FREE BOOK OFFER — a free Calvin Seerveld book with a purchase of any DAILY DEVOTIONAL from this list. All 20% off.

FREE BOOK OFFER, THIS WEEK ONLY

(UNTIL JANUARY 7, 2024.)

ORDER NOW AND WE WILL SEND A FREE BOOK BY CALVIN SEERVELD WITH EVERY PURCHASE.

 

 

Yep, buy a daily devotional from this list (this week) and receive as our thank you gift a personal favorite which I have mentioned occasionally before — On Being Human: Imaging God in the Modern World which has Calvin Seerveld reflecting on art objects and Biblical texts to inspire us to see what it means to be human. There are seven detailed chapters, black and white art reproductions (and an Advent hymn, written by Seerveld.) This gift is made possible by a donation of books by Seerveld himself, given to support our work.

Offer expires January 7, 2024.

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While some are reading this on New Year’s Eve, others may have already turned their calendar to 2024. I’ll invite you to skim back to the last BookNotes where I shared some titles about the classic church calendar and how following some sort of liturgical seasons can help us –as Jamie Smith puts it — “inhabit time.” The point of that Christmastime BookNotes was to share a free link to the webinar conversation I had with Paul Metzger around his book Setting the Spiritual Clock. It was a fun on-line conversation and I hope you can check it out at your leisure.

Now, I bet many are thinking of new habits and daily commitments (whether you call them “New Year’s Resolutions” or not.) Lots of folks are in the market for a daily devotional. We’ve got over 200 here at the Dallastown shop — some offer classic 365 page-a-day readings with a verse or prayer and others maybe have 30 days of devotional reading for those who want to give it a try or some have 52 entries (for us once-a-weekers.) Whatever your style — in format or content or style — we’ve got something for everyone. I hope our descriptions are helpful.

I’ve got some other lists of favorite older devotionals if you want to email me — I could send those to you via email. Just tell us what style or perspective or format your looking for. For now, though, here are some we thought we’d announce today.

(Might you send this out to a friend or two? We need more BookNote subscribers, more on-line readers, more customers for Hearts & Minds. We’d be grateful if you’d help us stay sustainable doing this. Being broader in tastes than some religious bookstores puts us in a rather unique niche, so it’s not necessarily viable.  We appreciate your help and support here at the start of a new year. Thanks.)

As always at BookNotes, these are all 20% off. Scroll to the bottom of this column to see the easy link to our secure order form page. As always, thanks for your support.

On Earth as in Heaven: Daily Wisdom for Twenty-First Century Christians  N.T. Wright (HarperOne) $29.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

We’ll start off with a Biblically mature, theologically sophisticated, serious-minded collection of 366 readings from our acquaintance and a bit of a hero, Tom Wright, arranged somewhat around the church calendar. Want to dip into a good handful of Wright’s books? It’s a great way to be introduced to his thinking, his understandings of the great story of Scripture, and how Christian faith is rooted in the unfolding drama of redemption, creation regained in Christ the risen Lord.

 

New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional Ted Tripp (Crossway) $24.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This is one of the biggest selling devotionals of the last 25 years, at least, and it is well worth having. Tripp is a Biblical counselor and faithful preacher, relating the ugly and broken stuff of ordinary life to the glories and power of a gospel-centered life. This focus on the gospel — that is, through the cross of Christ and the power of His resurrection we, received into union with Him by grace, can see fresh ways to allow the gospel to transform us, equipping us for coping with our foibles and fallenness — is what sets this apart. It does offer simple bromides of faith and religiosity. It assumes our complicity in sin, and celebrates that God’s “yes” is bigger and more transformation than any “sin management” or cliched religiosity. This shows how we can preach the gospel to ourselves, first, and receive new mercies, day by day. We even have a handsome, deep maroon imitation leather edition of New Morning Mercies ($29.99 – OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99) with wide margins for note taking.

Means of Grace: A Year of Weekly Devotions Fleming Rutledge (Eerdmans) $24.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This is a meaty gathering of 60 some of Rev. Rutledge’s great sermons, an extended message for each week. The publisher has done several big collections of her famously well-crafted sermons and these are drawn from those other volumes, arranged for the church year. Rave reviews on the back are from Marlena Graves and Samuel Wells, Alan Jacobs and Rich Villodas. Tish Harrison Warren calls it “brilliant”, noting Rutledge’s luminous prose.

For those wanting substantial theological sermons, based on the Biblical text, from this respected, elder preacher (one of the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church) this book is terrific; a gift, a blessing.

The One Year Shine Your Light Devotional: 365 Inspirations on Living Out God’s Love and Your Calling Chris Tiegreen (Tyndale) $24.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I like the theme of this — who wouldn’t? — about serving God in the world, sharing God’s love, taking up our call to be responsible agents of God’s Kingdom in the world. Each reading is substantive and the closing words are lovely. I recommend it but, to be honest, one of the reasons we like to show it is that some prefer (for themselves or a gift for others) a handsome leather-like volume. This is a rich deep blue with gold embossed dots that look like lightbulbs on a hip outdoor string of lights. There’s a yellow ribbon marker — it’s cool to hold and use.

Live in Grace, Walk in Love: A 365-Day Journey Bob Goff (Thomas Nelson) $26.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I love to tell the story when I’m showing somebody the hilarious, fun, hard-hitting, inspirational best-sellers Love Does or Everybody Always how I was with Bob when he was doing this book. He had convinced the publisher that the next books he owed them would be a bunch of short devotionals. How hard can that be? He was thinking of 30. The publisher wasn’t having it — he had to do about 320 more; I assured him I’d pray. I doubt if he needed my intercessions because, man, he can tell a story, he can write, and he knows His Bible. He lives full of extravagant grace, loving (as he explains in his earlier books) everybody, so there is always plenty of source material. He’s known for redemptive hi-jinx and infectious optimism, leaking the love of Jesus on everybody he can.

This great book is ideal for those not used to overly pious daily devotional reading and while every entry is based on a Bible text, there’s usually a practical application and a good story, some of which are simply unforgettable.

Savor: A 365-Day Devotional for Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are Shauna Niequist (Zondervan) $22.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I loved this book when it first came out with it’s rough-hewn, burlap-like cover; the textured cover and earth tones fit my style. I’m glad they re-issued it, though, with a more artsy set of paintings, a more contemporary look, ideal for anyone but seemingly pitched to younger women who are learning to “lean in to the sacred right where you are.” There are good devotions on which to meditate, Scriptures reminding us to savor each day and to “live on the lookout for shimmers of hope from a God who gives every good thing.”  We like this a lot.

Sacred Questions: A Transformative Journey Through the Bible — 365 Days of Responding to God Kellye Fabian (NavPress) $22.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

Allow me to set the stage reminding you of another book we’ve celebrated and often mentioned by Kellye Fabian — Holy Vulnerability: Spiritual Practices for the Broken, Ashamed, Anxious, and Afraid; such an earnest book invites the hurting or ashamed to explore practices of faith formation that will enhance their trust in the goodness of God. That guide to “holy vulnerability” resonates with this hardback devotional, even if this one’s focus isn’t necessarily on the bruised or broken. Rather, this one is for the skeptical, curious, or eager, those wanting to start fresh and figure some stuff out.

Sacred Questions is unlike some on this list as the format isn’t one that offers a quick several minute read and a question to ponder. Rather, there are prayers, verses, questions, reflections, stuff that pushes you and pushes you again to draw closer to God, to take up a real dialogue, spending time to listen and learn.

It can be done, generally, in 20 minutes a day, but you have to work a bit. As it says on the back cover:

On this yearlong journey of transformation, 14 intentional sections will guide you into a holy space where God will uncover your deepest questions and respond. Come, draw closer to the one who loves you. You will discover more of who he is… and who you are.

Buy this one and commit to some intentional study, reflecting seriously about what it means to know God and trust God’s grace, eating to, as she puts it, “eyes lifted to Jesus and your hands open to a waiting world.”

Nailed It: 365 Readings for Angry or Worn Out People Anne Kennedy (Square Halo Books) $27.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

Anne Kennedy is herself, she might note on twitter sometimes, a bit angry herself. Or at least snarky. And that is what makes this 365 reader shine — at least for those who appreciate dark humor and snide remarks scattered around a pretty traditionally evangelical view of the high regard for the Word of God and conventional faith practices. Well, except maybe those idealistic “read the Bible through in a year” plans — the back cover asks with a wry grin, “How’s that working out for you?”  It continues: “That’s okay, everyone gets stuck. Just ask Jael, or worse, Jonah.” Ha.

There are a lot of frustrated, confused, and worn-out people in the stories of Scripture. This brings them together, inviting you to spend a year, helping you turn your eyes on God’s grace in Christ every step of the way, despite yourself. Some who are not into daily devotionals have appreciated this fresh Bible teaching.

Heaven and Nature Sing: 365 Daily Devotionals for Outdoor and Nature Lovers edited by Sharon Brodin (Brodin Press) $16.00   OUR SALE PRICE = $12.80

This thick collection of a year’s worth of devotionals is a great bargain. It’s a big, handsome book and there is nothing like it out there. And it is out there — out in creation, that is. It offers fairly conventional Bible reflections, nature writings, discipleship messages, and stories of spiritual formation set in the great outdoors. There are rock climbers and hikers and paddlers and campers of all sorts, offering their on-the-trail insights. Take it to a wilderness cabin or read it around a campfire (or, like me, snug in my house, living vicariously Ha!). Kudos to a friend from the CCO’s experiential learning /wilderness  department who has a couple of really great entries. Nice!

Let Creation Speak! 100 Invitations to Wonder Michael Guillen (Tyndale) $19.99   OUR SALE PIRCE = $15.99

What a cool hardback (sans dust jacket) this is, offered by Emmy Award winner, the former ABC News science editor, Dr. Michael Guillen. Here he offers fascinating and inspiring daily readings based on the astonishing universe we inhabit. Surely the cosmos is more than a cosmic accident. Surely there is more to life than the daily grind. Being inspired by these succinct science writings to be pointed to divine purpose and hope.

I’m sure you know somebody who might not want a more typical Bible study, but would delight in these faithful reflections, taking delight and new hope in God’s presence in the world.

Upon Waking: A Sixty-Day Devotional Jackie Hill Perry (B+H) $22.99   OUR SALE PIRCE = $18.39

I know there are many who really respect Jackie; she’s an excellent writer, a strong, theologically-conservative black woman who rocketed to fame with her first memoir Gay Girl, Good God, followed by the important study of God’s trustworthy goodness seen in His holiness, called Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him.

This new collection says on the back cover:

“There is nothing in your hands that God won’t replace with more of Himself. So let it go. Let it fly. Let it burn. God is better, anyway.” It’s a call to “discover ourselves and the God we were made for.”

These are Scripture-soaked and gospel-centered, with just a bit of hip-hop poetry edge. There’s a nice ribbon marker, too.

Journey to Love: What We Long For, How to Find It, and How to Pass It On: 40 Reflections on Become a Better Human Matt Mikalatos (NavPress) $7.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $6.39

Yep, this is a small book, compact sized, and delightfully written. Matt’s a fun guy, a good writer and a thinker who brings a lot to the table, as they say. This is a story-driven set of reflections “about how to increase your capacity to give and receive love.” There are practical exercises and reflection questions — do it alone or with a friend. This will invite you to a space of knowing you are loved, and being inspired to share that love, opening your heart, being more fully alive.

I hope you know Mikalatos’s books, including his recently co-authored, award-winning Loving Disagreement: Fighting for Community Through the Fruit of the Spirit. In any case this short reader packs a wallop — you won’t regret spending time with this!

Undone: A Modern Rendering of John Donne’s Devotions Philip Yancey (Rabbit Room) $18.00   OUR SALE PIRCE = $14.40

We have promoted this before, last year when the earlier version was published as A Companion in Crisis and then earlier this year when the good folks at Rabbit Room Press re-developed it, added some texture on the cover, some French folded flaps, and a new title. But, the core of it is the same — the brilliant, clear-headed Phil Yancey astutely telling about the devotions written by John Donne so many years ago.

You may only know the “no man is an island” line from the great 17th-century poet and writer, but even Yancey himself said that “Nothing had prepared me for John Donne’s raw account of confrontations with God.” Yes, there was stunning suffering during the time of the plague and, with the global pandemic taking so many lives, Yancey realized how very helpful these very devotions (from a 400-year old manuscript) could be for contemporary guidance. He edited them severely, slashing anything archaic or obscure. He updated the language, paraphrasing if necessary, making this useful and clear for moderns. Follow the arc from fear to trust in 30 short but substantive readings.

Pierced By Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition Hans Boersma (Lexham Press) $22.99   OUR SALE PIRCE = $18.39

You may know Hans Boersma as a profound thinker, an ecumenical theologian who has (or so it seems to me) bridged the uniquenesses of the Dutch Calvinist Reformed tradition and the older Orthodox tradition, shaped by the patristics and early church fathers and mothers, the monks and the mystics. This book is not exactly a daily devotional but he makes the eloquent and elegant case that “holy Scripture requires holy reading.”  At the center are a set of extended reflections (with titles in prayer-book-like red and some ancient art) on ways to helping us learn to read slowly, carefully, devotionally. A friend recently told me how very much she appreciated his candor — Lectio Divina is not simple nor is it always a pleasant task, yielding lovely delights. Reading to hear God speak takes some practice and coming face-to-face with the Divine can be jolting, challenging, even. Be prepared to be pierced. By love.

Sacred Belonging: A 40-Day Devotional on the Liberating Heart of Scripture Kat Armas (Brazos Press) $18.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

We announced this enthusiastically when it came out this fall and it surely should be mentioned again here. This is well worth having on hand — it offers 40 days worth of imaginative reflection, inviting you into “a deep, expansive, and healing way of encountering Scripture.” Blurbs on the back rave, exclamations from Pete Enns, Kaitlin Curtice, Emily Freeman, K.J. Ramsey. Thoughtful, open-minded, and passionate leaders for goodness and grace all agree — this invites us to a more liberated relationship with God, the Bible, and our callings and vocations in the world. You’ll be shook a bit, I’m sure, delighted, maybe peeved. Each reflection is several pages with a good reflection question at the end of each.

Faith & History: A Devotional edited by Christopher Gehrz & Beth Allison Barr (1845 Books / Baylor University Press) $14.95   OUR SALE PRICE = $11.96

Oh my, this is a rare treat, but very, very cool, informed and inspiring, educated and edifying. Don’t let the bland cover or bargain price fool you, this is really great stuff. As Kate Bowler of Duke puts it, “This volume has brought together brilliant authors to dig deep into texts and pull out hidden gems and spiritual insights which will nourish our souls and minds.” Or, as Jay Green (of Covenant College) notes, this is authored by “some of todays’ most thoughtful Christian historians..” It “masterfully displays the integration of keen and learned historical insight with genuine, warm-hearted devotion to Jesus.”

It would be very cool if every discipline had a devotional done by scholars and leading lights in their field. For now, this collection of over 50 devotional readings on favorite Biblical texts allow these historians to shine in their Biblical insights, adding a prayer and thought exercises for reflection or discussion. There are over 40 writers, from George Marsden to Kristine Kobes Du Mez, Jemar Tisby to John Fea, Mark Noll, Margaret Bendroth, Shivraj K. Mahendra, and more.

On Love & Mercy: A Social Justice Devotional Stephen Mattson (Herald Press) $21.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Happily, there are other books like this these days, inviting people to daily Biblical and spiritual reflection to equip us to be more intentional in our discipleship for justice-work and peacemaking. This handsome hardback of 60 sturdy readings will serve you well.

It is both a hope-filled and Christ-centered devotional, doubling down on the call to live into a life of justice action all emerging from a worship of and love for the second person of the Trinity. Praise God for those committed to Jesus and to serving the poor and marginalized in the world. Each days entry affirms your instincts to care about these things and strengthens your holy resolve. As it says on the back cover, this devo “validates social justice practices within the Christian faith by centering the example of Jesus as the ultimate standard.”

Blurbs on the back are lovely, from leaders like Karen Gonzalez, Rev. Brandan Robertson, Jim Wallis, and Kaitlyn Schiess (author of The Liturgy of Politics.) The author, Stephen Mattson, graduated from Moody Bible Institute and his first book (also with Herald Press) was the excellent The Great Reckoning: Surviving a Christianity That Looks Nothing Like Christ released in 2018.

The Practice of the Presence of Jesus: Daily Meditations on the Nearness of Our Savior Joni Eareckson Tada with John Sloan (Multnomah) $20.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

I hope you know Joni Tada who has been a hero of ours for decades. She is exceptional in her faith and trust in the sovereign grace of God, despite her severe accident in the 1970s which led to her conversion (and eventual memoir and movie about her.) Her ongoing story as advocate for the disabled and for those who are hurting is strong, and this wise use of Lawrence’s famous mid-1600s work is more than a delight, it is nearly brilliant. There are very nice small illuminations here, too, which Joni (an accomplished artist, despite being a quadriplegic) did with the paintbrushes and pens between her teeth.

As it says on the back,

The Practice of the Presence of Jesus offers wisdom from these two everyday saints, written nearly four hundred years apart, that teaches you how to experience the nearness of God in your life. Through rich devotional content from Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God and through original art and new meditations from Joni, you’ll encounter a unique weaving of past and present spiritual reflection on a God who never changes.

As we recognize God with us moment by moment, our mundane becomes holy. Our pain becomes peace filled. And our uncertainties fade into the greatest, most certain hope of all.

Every Day Holy: 60 Devotions to Embrace God’s Gift of Time Meredith Barnes (Paraclete Press) $17.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

This is aimed at women, it seems, and is by an upbeat speaker and online presence, inviting readers to slow down, attend to God’s voice and work in their lives, and in so doing “embrace God’s gift of time.” The emphasis on the liturgical calendar reminds us, as this does in a parallel way, that our whole orientation in life can be shaped for more righteous flourishing once we see our very days as sacred, as we practice the holiness found in the mundane when we stop trying to put God in a little box for 15 minutes each morning.

These upbeat but solid devotions invite us away from worry and stress, away from performance anxiety and perfectionism, towards an intimacy with God that is grounded in the real lives of the real world. This is lovely and I’m sure it will be helpful for many.

Under the Wings of God: Twenty Biblical Reflections for a Deeper Faith Cornelius Plantinga (Brazos Press) $18.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

We have so many different books of daily devotionals from so many perspectives and styles that it would be hard to pick a “best” for any given year. Still, the evidence we’ve got come from feedback from customers and this is the most-talked about daily reader in quite a while. From a men’s group at a conservative Reformed church to a young adult gathering with evangelical connections to a mainline denominational prayer group, Under the Wings of God has been seen as a real winner — a blessing to be read and re-read. There are only twenty entries, but each is worth pondering. I trust Plantinga’s vision and orientation and he is a clear and even elegant writer. This is a great little book, highly recommended.

A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal edited and compiled by Sarah Bessey (Convergent) $21.00   OUR SALE PRICE = $16.80

I have some acquaintances who have contributed prayers or reflections or essays for this compact book, jam-packed with visionary faith for social change, justice, raw honesty, lament, and trust. From Black leader Lisa Sharon Harper to Episcopalian and wordsmith Barbara Brown Taylor, from hip hip spoken word artist Amena Brown to the edgy, tatted-up Lutheran Nadia Bolz-Weber. This prayer book tilts progressive in important ways but even for those who desire broadly orthodox faith perspectives, this collection will bring you before important writers with much to say. And some of it is deeply spiritual, righteous, good and true. Enjoy.

Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth Randy Woodley (Broadleaf Books) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Whether your interest in nurturing a more ecological faith or whether you are interested in submitting to indigenous Christian leaders to learn from them, this devotional by an esteemed Christian scholar, activist and teacher, is fabulous. We’ve highlighted it before, noticing how nicely it is written, how wise, how deeply in tune with a Biblical worldview, even as it offers uniquely native views to refine our imaginations. Woodley has written widely on earth-keeping, on Bible-based views of multicultural education, and, recently, about the problems with a colonialist sort of missiology. He is a Cherokee descendant, recognized by the Keetooway Band and, with. His wife, Edith, sustains the Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice at their farm outside Portland, Oregon.

Face to the Rising Sun: Reflections on Spirituals and Justice Mark Bozzuti-Jones (Forward Movement) $18.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

Rev. Bozzuti-Jones is a popular writer of several books, a former school teacher and an Episcopal priest at the famous Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City. Hailing from Jamaica, he knows the black spirituals of the African American experience very well.  (A popular one also offering  devotions on the spirituals is one to be used during Lent called Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word.) These old spirituals are songs of abiding faith passed down through centuries, that offer “a remarkable view of resilience, courage, and love. Formed in the crucible of fire, these songs express the suffering and horror of slavery as well as the love of God and the promise of a better future.” There are 31 readings, with lines from the spirituals linked to Biblical texts, a closing reflection question and closing prayer.

Arise to Blessedness: A Journal Retreat with Eight Modern Saints Who Lived the Beatitudes  Jen Norton (Ave Maria Press) $18.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.16

This Catholic writer and artist did a colorful devotional based on eight modern saints — some I had not heard of — based on their life of witness to the countercultural teachings of the Sermon on the Mountain. As they embodied the Beatitudes, they inspire us, and this book with illustrations and graphics and swirls of color invite readers to journal, write, draw, and color. There are some lectio visio type experiences, prayers to ponder, guidance as you “arise to blessedness” inspired by the likes of Saints Oscar Romero, Mark Ji Tianxiang, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and more.

Word by Word: A Daily Spiritual Practice  Marilyn McEntyre (Eerdmans) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

You know we are often touting the wise and well-stewarded words of this essayist, author, poet, and devotional writer. From her excellent and important little book Doctor to her When Poets Pray, from her Lenten book When Words Alight to her most famous Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies she is an author our BookNotes readers and friends of our work here generally admire. This book explores the very power of language, and how it can (in the words of Shauna Niequist in her acclamation about her love of the book) “heal and instruct us, challenge and shape us.”

There are fifteen chapters, each with a one-word title, evoking themes such as listen, receive, enjoy, accept, follow, rejoice, dare, leave, welcome, and more. There are seven days of rumination on that word so you work and pray with one topic per week, with eloquent daily guidance.  It’s a lovely, rich, thoughtful work.

Unfolding Grace: 40 Guided Readings Through the Bible ESV (Crossway) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This is nothing more — and yet, how powerful it is! — than wisely selected Bible passages showing in forty sittings how to read through the core redemptive plot line of the whole Bible. This is a handsome hardback with the ESV text set like a normal book (that is not in columns or with interrupting chapters or verses. The table of contents shows the respective Scriptural passages; naturally, the evangelical scholars who arranged this are not saying that an “abridged” Bible is all we need or that other un-included passages are not vital. Still, this is a way to do a daily reading of key texts that hang togethers as the unfolding drama. There is also a nice black and white woodcut before each reading, which makes it handsome to use, enhancing the sense that every key portion hangs together and tells a unified story of grace and redemption.

Morning and Evening Prayers Cornelius Plantinga (Eerdmans) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

For some, a daily reading, no matter how handsomely created or winsomely written or Biblically astute, just isn’t what they need. Some prefer a collection of prayers. We have plenty, from the classic Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie to the poetic Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons by Jan Richardson to the remarkable prayer book by Shane Claiborne and others, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. And you know how we’ve promoted the three volumes of Every Day Holy.

If you are looking for well written, theologically aware, down to earth prayers with just a hint of traditionally classic rhetoric, I think these 31 days of page-long morning prayers and page-long evening prayers are hard to beat. Very highly recommended.

AND THESE —three volumes of Every Moment Holy. These are contemporary classics, must-have, extraordinary volumes. As we’ve happily explained often, they are prayers for ordinary stuff, bringing liturgies of litanies (two or more voice prayers) to daily tasks and special occasions. The linocuts are amazingly relevant (with hidden notes, sometimes, relating to the prayer for that situation.

There are a few for grief and death and illness and lament in the first one, and those, not surprisingly, got the most positive feedback (well, those and the one about coffee) so the second volume is just that, prayers for various occasions of loss and grief.

The third is special as it expands the “work to the people” beyond Douglas McKelvey and Ned Bustard to offer poetic, liturgical, and dignified prayers by various authors and black and white woodcuts and prints by various artists.

The first two are available in two sizes — the somewhat larger, leather bound hardback and the compact, personal size, soft, flexible, leather bound. Both versions are leather and both are richly made on quality paper, two color ink, a ribbon marker. The new third volume is only available in the somewhat larger, hardback style, in a rich, blue leather. These are stunning in their theological beauty and in their artfully designed and crafted with attention to detail. Once again, our kudos to our friends at Rabbit Room for this great gift which has blessed thousands.

Please be sure to tell us which edition you want, and which version. Volumes 1 and 2 come in two sizes/styles while the newer Volume 3 comes only in the larger, leather-covered hardback.

Every Moment Holy volume I – leather-bound hardback  Douglas McKelvey, illustrated by Ned Bustard (Rabbit Room Press) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

Every Moment Holy volume I – leather-bound flexible softcover, personal size Douglas McKelvey, illustrated by Ned Bustard (Rabbit Room Press) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

Every Moment Holy volume II: Death, Grief, and Hope – leather-bound hardback Douglas McKelvey, illustrated by Ned Bustard (Rabbit Room Press) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

Every Moment Holy volume II: Death, Grief, and Hope – leather-bound flexible softback, personal size Douglas McKelvey, illustrated by Ned Bustard (Rabbit Room Press) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

Every Moment Holy volume III – leather-bound hardback edited by Douglas McKelvey, art design by Ned Bustard (Rabbit Room Press) $35.00    OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

Again, this new third volume only comes in the handsome, leather-bound slightly oversized hardback. The writers and contributors for the prayers and litanies are diverse and there are several artists who have contributed pieces, making this very much like the others, but perhaps with a bit more variety in tone and cadence. Like the others there are tons of prayers to recalls God’s presence and consecrate all manner of experiences, such as after a child has a meltdown, before playing board games, before teaching, for being single going to church, for when breastfeeding isn’t going as planned. There are prayers for sleeping, fishing, for mechanical repairs, for leaving ones home, for a child in foster care, for yard work. My, my. Very impressive.

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Sadly, as of January 2024 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is truly on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is now getting worse. It is still important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by long Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

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Here is the webinar we did with Dr. Paul Louis Metzger a month ago on his book “Setting the Spiritual Clock” and 7 more books about the church calendar and sacred time – ALL ON SALE

Beth and I and the rest of our team here at Hearts & Minds — Amy, Debi, Diana, and our little dog Rory — offer you greetings for a Merry Christmastime. We hope your Advent yearning has in some ways shifted to a celebration of the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God, discerned most clearly in the story of the incarnation. A pastor and author we admire, Rich Villados (author of Good and Beautiful and Kind), posted on Facebook some words of advice to preachers who were prepping before last Sunday’s services, and he said to just “trust the story.” Yes, yes, indeed. We hope you are learning with your families and faith communities to indwell this unfolding redemptive story where the long-awaited Baby King comes to heal the groanings of all creation. It’s a story of comfort and joy we hope you have found your own place in that story.

One of the ways we are reminded to do that — over and against the secularizing creep of the world’s pressures and its encroaching upon our imaginations — is to see our days and seasons in light of the big story told by the church calendar. One need not be in a highly liturgical church to have one’s sense of time shaped by the liturgical calendar, and there is (we are slowly finding) a unique benefit of spiritual formation when we pay less attention to the worldly and American celebrations and are instead more intentionally shaped by the church reminders over the course of a year of the life of Jesus. Sometimes these reminders are allusive and symbolic, which I think might be part of their normative power.

This was, in fact, why we hosted a webinar a month ago with my friend, the theological rock star, Paul Louis Metzger. We chatted for more than an hour about a book released not long ago done in association with the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, a lovely study called Setting the Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse (Cascade; $34.00; OUR SALE PRICE = $27.20.)

It is almost a daily devotional, written with thoughtful pieces to last a whole year, through and about the church seasons and we really, really appreciate it. It is a different book than his previous More Than Things: A Personalist Ethics for a Throwaway Culture (IVP Academic; $48.00.) IVP expertly hosted a free webinar with me and Paul discussing that book earlier in the year — you can check that out, HERE if you’d like. It was an impressive hour, believe me.

If More Than Things was a studious, deep bit of theological work on public life, social ethics, offering a Biblically-inspired vision of caring for people as people well (in contexts as diverse as disability studies, gender and sexuality, war, racism, medical ethics, and so forth) this Setting the Spiritual Clock one is easier to read, a guide full of Biblical reflections that help us focus on the highlights of the church year. (But the author’s wise, socially conscious worldview seeps through, offering more than an internal piety that doesn’t touch the real world or a fastidious traditionalism.) Starting in Advent, Metzger offers inspiring pieces that will surprise, delight, and challenge. On it goes through Christmastide and Epiphanytide into Holy Week, Eastertide, and Ordinary Time — with a couple of surprising devotionals on Memorial Day, the 4th of July, on Mothers and Fathers Day, Halloween, Earth Day and the like — this book promises to help us “reset” if we are “out of joint.” And who isn’t?

Setting the Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse (Cascade; $34.00; OUR SALE PRICE = $27.20) invites us to and gives us tools to live into the story of God, to imagine time as sacred, to have the seasons and rhythms of God inform our days and lives. It’s almost 290 pages and one of the grandest devotionals you can get. It was an honor to talk with him about it at that webinar and it is our delight to share it with you here.

HERE is the free link to the on-line conversation we had about Setting the Spiritual Clock. It is about a book we truly value by an author whose friendship means much. It was a discussion about a book that we were honored to help promote and I wanted to suggest it even now as we are soon to turn our calendars ahead to a new year. We hope you enjoy the recording of the webinar. Part way through you’ll discover that there were provocative questions offered by online participants and we jive around all over, with Paul masterfully responding to all sorts of questions and comments. One or two were a bit skeptical, one or two wondered how he might expand his insights about the rhythms and seasons built into the creation, and others wanted some practical help about how to get one’s spiritual formation practice more attuned to the liturgical seasons. Can this really help us as people? And what about church — what about worship styles and practices? As always, Paul invites us to read more and think together, to pray and seek God, to trust the Spirit. I think you’ll enjoy the chit chat and appreciate his warm and wise insight.

Dr. Paul Metzger is an excellent scholar (Professor of Theology & Culture at Multnomah University and Seminary and the Director of the Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins) and yet is so personable and gracious and helpful. It’s a fun conversation. (Thanks to publisher Wipf & Stock for helping us pull it all off.)  Again: here it is, the link to the webinar we held in late November. Enjoy.

7 MORE BOOKS TO HELP YOU THINK ABOUT TIME & THE CHURCH YEAR – all 20% off

Epiphany: The Season of Glory Fleming Rutledge (IVP) $20.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

I really appreciate the “Fullness of Time” series edited by Esau McCaulley, including the most recent — and quite timely — Christmas: The Season of Life and Light by Emily Hunter McGowin. Here is what I wrote when I advertised it in an Advent BookNotes column more than a month ago:

Well, if Tish Warren’s warm but serious study of Advent in the Fullness of Time series made me cry and Emily Hunter McGowin’s remarkable study, Christmas, made me gape in wonder at the full 12 days, this brand new one by the great Fleming Rutledge is nothing short of spectacular. I was so very glad when I heard that she was invited to contribute to this series — how could she not be included! — and while she has the magisterial, definitive collection of sermons on Advent and Holy Week (in Advent and , respectively) she has not written much about Epiphany.

I have skimmed this already, not really wanting to study and underline and ponder its glory quite yet — it feels like cheating — but I can tell you that it is substantive, serious, excellently researched, loaded with Bible exploration and preacherly cadences. It is just over 160 pages (granted, the compact sized hardback isn’t huge) and she offers wisdom, insight, some rebuke, some warning, and lots of very good news. This little release is, in fact, a huge publishing event. I don’t know if it is Fleming’s last book but it is important and to be cherished.

In Epiphany: The Season of Glory, Rev. Fleming Rutledge shows how recovering a delight in the glory of God in Jesus Christ is ‘needed by the church right now as a drowning person needs a lifeboat.’ Written with joyful urgency yet patient wisdom, this book should be required reading for pastors seeking to recover the wonder of Epiphany. Veterans and newcomers to celebrating the liturgical year will find a treasure of biblical and theological insight in this succinct yet potent work. Moreover, anyone who aches for an alternative to the empty ‘glories’ so widely pursued today will be nourished by this exposition of the strange yet beautiful reality of God’s resplendent glory, displayed in the crucified Lord. — J. Todd Billings, professor of theology at Western Theological Seminary, author of The End of the Christian Life

With palpable reverence and predictable erudition, Fleming Rutledge unearths the riches of the most overlooked season of the liturgical year. Epiphany is all about glory, chiefly the glory of the person of Christ revealed in majesty and power as the King of the Jews and Lord of the Gentiles in key moments of the biblical drama. In Epiphany and the season leading up to Lent, the church gathers a fresh chance to behold the glory of her Lord and to renew itself in the work of proclaiming his glory to the world. — Katelyn Beaty, journalist, author of Celebrities for Jesus

How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now James K.A. Smith (Brazos Press) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Those who follow BookNotes know I am a big fan of Jamie Smith. While a few of his books are very philosophically deep, and all are informed by his work as a Christian philosopher, many of his books are ideal for what we imagine as the thoughtful layperson. Not technically a scholar, but readers willing to spend the time to read substantive, important books. Smith can move from deep theological truths to contemporary culture in the blink of an eye and is one of the very best writers showing us how to “hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other,” as the saying goes. (And he’ll have a footnote saying who first said it, and another about a scholar who might warn us from misguided attempts.) I love him dearly and his book on time was a bit more elusive than some. It is a bit more demanding than You Are What You Love or even On the Road with Saint Augustine but it is not academic. One of the things that maybe made How to Inhabit Time a bit challenging is because, well, to be honest, as Metzger put it, there is this “secular creep.” We just find it hard to think about time, to imagine it, let alone to do so influenced by what Christian thinkers with Biblical wisdom have taught. Your typical pop-level book about Christian living just doesn’t touch this foundational stuff, even if it is the very air we breathe.

This offers sustained reflections on “the spiritual significance of time” starting with a riff on why many of us don’t even consider it. Like our “geography of nowhere” we are, too often, “nowhen” We are disconnected from the past and (at least some brands of Christianity) have us suppose that are above the fray, “above the flux of history” or immune to it.  And get this, as it says on the back cover (and as he makes an remarkable case in several important chapters) our “lack of an awareness of time and the effects of history — both personal and collective — (cause us to be) native about current issues, prone to nostalgia, and fixated on end times.”

This question of how we think about time sounds a bit heady, sure. One of the blurbs on the back is by Sophfronia Scott, who is a student of the mystic Thomas Merton. Granted. But even the great Archbishop of Canterbury (The Most Rev. Justin Welby) — who knows a thing or two about the liturgical calendar, obviously — has said, simply, that “this book has helped me — genuinely.” If the distilled wisdom and applied cultural thinking has helped him “think about time in a fresh way” I am sure it can do the same for you.

Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God. Bobby Gross (IVP Formatio) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

I have admired Bobby Gross for years and when he released this lovely daily devotional about the church year and sacred time, we wanted to host him here — our book party ended up being an Epiphany worship service. Ever since I’ve been very touched by certain devotional readings in this year-long collection and recommend it often. Usually, we display it whenever we set up a section at a book table that includes daily devotionals. But here, when pondering the influence of the “spiritual clock” and highlighted this webinar with Paul Metzger, I have to give it a renewed shout out. Bobby did not grow up in the liturgical church and so when he started attending a solid Episcopal church in New York (with his friend writer and poet and spiritual guide Madeleine L’Engle) he wanted to write a guide to this practice of keeping time in a way that those unfamiliar with the seasons would appreciate. Add to this one of the most influential essays I have ever read — the brief introduction by Lauren Winner — Living the Christian Year is a fine, conventional devo with 366 succinct daily readings, including a Bible text and a closing prayer. Highly recommended.

Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year Robert Webber (Baker) $20.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

I could say much about the late, great Robert Webber, an liturgical evangelical who was raised in a low church, Baptist-like setting. He rose to prominence by writing several extraordinary books about Christian and culture (The Secular Saint and People of the Truth) but increasingly was drawn to writing about worship. He predicted in the 1970s (in Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail) that more evangelicals would be drawn to liturgical churches and his work on worship — dozens of books both large and small — invited everyone to think harder about the form, content, and aesthetics of true worship. He began calling his project “ancient future” which had certain resonance with younger evangelicals and postmodern emergents. His Ancient Future Church was seminal and his Ancient Future Worship and Ancient Future Spirituality were excellent. This, then, Ancient Future Time, invited the newbies to more liturgical and artful forms of worship and prayer to consider the influence of the historic practices of the seasonal church calendar. For Bob, as he was called, it was more than simplistic rules about colors or holy days, but about how we construed time, our worldviews, our spiritual formation as Christians in the modern world. Metzger and Smith and Gross (above) all are quick to affirm that they are in his debt.

The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life Joan Chittister (Thomas Nelson) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

In the years before she died, the great literary, down-to-Earth spiritual writer (and advocate for healthy change within the book industry) Phyllis Tickle curated and edited a set of books called the “Ancient Faith” series. More could be said about each — they included titles like Sabbath by Dan Allender and Fasting by Scot McKnight and a beautiful one on fixed hour prayer by Robert Benson and more — but this one, on keeping the church calendar, was a highlight for many. Written by a progressive Catholic Benedictine nun (who has long been an active peacemaker and public justice leader), Sister Joan is beloved by many. About half of the book’s 30-some short chapters are about time, calendars, spiritual formation, following Jesus, worship, sabbath-keeping, feast days, and how the liturgical life “is not a relic from the past, but a resounding reality of life in the present lived out of an ancient but living faith.” She is wisely setting the stage for the second half which reflects on each of the seasons and times important in the cyclical church seasons. As Sister Joan puts it, “the liturgical year is an adventure in bringing the Christian life to fullness, the heart to alert, the soul to focus…it concerns itself with questions of how to make a life.”

Feasts for the Kingdom: Sermons for the Liturgical Year Khaled Anatolios (Eerdmans) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Who better than pastors and priests in the Byzantine Orthodox tradition to teach us how to understand the highlights of the church calendar? And what better way than to spend time reading sermons preached in keeping with the liturgical calendar, by an eloquent Orthodox preacher. These remarkable sermons are just that, messages offered in a real congregation (in a Melkite Greek Catholic Church, actually, a denomination that has its roots among Arabic-speaking Christians in the Middle East.) The messages are not generic, but specific, always based on the Bible, with a focus on Christ. Most sermons are about what their tradition calls Feast Days, which is to say, the celebrations of the seasons. They are made germane, even if deeply theological and festive, by being related to issues of the day. A few sermons are unique (one is an “election homily” entitled “Voting in Christ: Evangelical Counsel Before a Federal Election” and a few funeral and wedding homilies.

In a stirring forward, Reformed Protestant preacher Cornelius Plantinga notes that Father Anatolios trusts the text. He does not try to supply “his own juice” but trusts the power of the gospel. These messages are guided by their place in the liturgical seasons, but, finally, they are about the Kingdom of God, about salvation, about union with Christ in the struggle of daily discipleship. They will prepare your heart for feast days and other sorts of days as we grow into “resetting our spiritual clocks.”

Sacred Seasons: A Family Guide to Center Your Year Around Jesus Danielle Hitchen with illustrations by Stephen Crotts (Harvest House) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Here is what I wrote about this marvelous, handsome, big family devotional when we highlighted it at BookNotes a few weeks back:

Kudos to publisher Harvest House for doing a evangelically-rooted family prayer book that is attentive to the liturgical calendar. Some of you enjoyed that webinar we did with Paul Louis Metzger last week (around his book Setting Your Spiritual Clock ) and had I found time, I would have given this new resource a big shout-out. It is just slightly oversized, a nice hardback, with some handsome etchings and woodcuts in gold and red ink — it’s fabulous; very cool without being too glitzy.

UK Anglican poet Malcolm Guite has a great endorsement on the back (which is sort of rare) saying that Sacred Seasons is “a warm, winning, and above all practical introduction to the traditional church year.”

It is a handsomely designed book but it also has fun activities, delicious recipes, alongside the meaningful liturgies. It gently invites families into the ancient Christian disciplines of attending to the rhythms and cycles of the church calendar with a clear gospel focus on Jesus. Very nicely done.

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Sadly, as of December 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

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BOOKS TO PRE-ORDER, including “Black Liturgies” (Cole Arthur Riley), “Practicing the Way” (John Mark Comer), “Have a Beautiful Terrible Day!” (Kate Bowler), “The Servant Lawyer” (Robert Cochran), “Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage?” (Jessica Hooten Wilson), “The Spirit of Our Politics” (Michael Wear), “The Wood Between the Worlds” (Brian Zahnd) – ALL 20% OFF

As we move from the nearly somber, yearning season of waiting — longing to get out of the “bleak mid-winter” even as we know we aren’t truly out, yet — and into the festive 12 days of Christmas (leading then into what Fleming Rutledge in her must-read little book Epiphany calls “the season of glory”) we are eager to celebrate some forthcoming titles that will be released soon in the month of January.  See what I did there?  I’m causing you to wait with eager expectation, hoping to bring even some joy here, now, along the way as we anticipate what’s just around the bend.

Maybe that’s a clever metaphor or maybe a down-to-Earth rehearsal of our awaiting God’s restoration of all things when the final climax of history unfolds, but for now, it’s fun, (isn’t it?) to pre-order some forthcoming books.

Or, maybe you can pre-order one as a special Christmastime gift for someone — print out the book cover and tell ‘em Hearts & Minds will be sending them one in a couple of weeks.

I will highlight seven that we are very, very excited about.

Naturally there are many more a-coming and plenty of good ones coming further out — think about the grand collection of Brueggemann pieces curated and edited by Conrad Kanagy to be called The Emancipation of God: Postmarks on Cultural Prophecy (January 30, 2024) or the moving memoir by Mike Cosper, Land of My Sojourn: The Landscape of a Faith Lost and Found (expected mid February from IVP) or the already much-discussed Reading Genesis by novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson (due March 12, 2024.) And I can hardly wait to see a major March release by Square Halo Books, which will surely be a fabulous work on the Holy Spirit in Narnia, called (what else?) Aslan’s Breath: Seeing the Holy Spirit in Narnia by Matthew Dickerson (with some illustrations by Ned Bustard.) April seems a long way off but some BookNotes readers will want to pre-order Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and the Spiritual Life by our friend Bill Carter, a Presbyterian pastor, preacher and jazzman. See what I mean!

HERE ARE 7 COMING IN JANUARY THAT YOU SHOULD PRE-ORDER NOW. ALL ARE 20% OFF.

If you pre-order these now we won’t send an invoice or charge your credit card until we actually send the books. A few have specific street-dates and we cannot send them early; others we will get early and we are allowed to send them. Order now and you will be among the first to receive them. We are grateful for your support.

It is helpful if you are pre-ordering more than one if you tell us if you want them consolidated and shipped together or, rather, as soon as each releases. 

Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human Cole Arthur Riley (Convergent Books) $22.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60  //  ON SALE January 16, 2024

Granted, we have a number of friends and customers that have known Cole so her debut memoir, This Here Flesh, was a very good seller for us. It was very well received, got some serious attention by poets, black activists, folks who appreciate her theme that stories are how we best recall the meaning of our lives. That stunning book was nearly breathtaking at times as she ruminated on memories and her earlier and current life. She admits to issues of chronic pain and illness and yet loves the sensual embodiedness of this here life. What a book.

Another reason that book sold well and was eagerly received was because of her huge circle of folks engaged with her social media posts — started informally in the wake of the George Floyd murders and too much public discourse mocking anti-racist perspectives — followers of “Black Liturgies.” Sometimes poetic sayings, sometimes affirmations, sometimes more conventionally prayerful/liturgical forms, the project grew and many swore it meant the world to them. Quiet and humble Cole is, nonetheless, a born storyteller and a good writer and she continued to do good work and the project (I hate to call it a “brand”) expanded. Her Instagram “Black Liturgies” are impressive and meaningful.

Black Liturgies includes prayers and poems, yes. It has liturgies and short readings. We may stock it under “devotionals” or prayers I suppose. But it includes creatively rendered essays, introductions to each unit, and these are simply excellent, very moving, very honest, very well done. The opening chapter (a long introduction called “Architecture”is so captivating I have read it three times.

The first twenty-one entries (under the heading “By Story”) include reflections on calling, artistry, justice, rest, repair, body, fear, rage, memory, place, joy…  Each chapter starts with an epigram or quotes by black authors, followed by her essay in the form of a letter. This is not a cheap contrivance (even if it may be in the hands of another author.) She writes as if she is talking right to you, dear reader, and I can tell you she is speaking with candor and spirit, from her heart and soul, to yours. It is beautiful and fierce.

These quotes and the letter set the stage for a poem and prayers. There are many prayers under each chapter’s topic, and they are themselves creatively imagined and well-crafted. She then gives you some questions to muse over, ponder, consider, in the section called “Contemplation.” This first portion is offered in almost 200 pages.

The second portion of the book — about the next 80-some pages — is under the heading ‘By Time” and here she arranges Biblical texts and the prayers around times (dawn, day, dusk) and seasons (the main seasons of the Christian liturgical calendar, including Kwanzaa and Juneteenth) and a few occasions such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, birth, reunion, home going. This is extraordinary stuff, deeply Christian but with a generous, expansive tone.

At the end she offers a “liturgical template for alternative occasions” so you can reliably make your own poetical liturgies. There is even an index so you can easily find her prayerful words by topic or occasions

Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human is amazing and I invite you to pre-order it now. It will be much-discussed in some circles this year, I am sure. Order your copies today.

I am delighted that several prominent black scholars, historians, and spiritual leaders have endorsed Cole’s good work. It is an honor for her that I’m sure she doesn’t take lightly. This is impressive; very impressive. Read on, please:

Readers will be deeply moved by the beauty of Arthur Riley’s writing and her moral clarity, tenderness, and wisdom.  Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America and columnist at The Atlantic

Cole Arthur Riley is a spiritual guide and a gift in our lives. Restoring us to ourselves and reminding us of our humanness, our fragility, and the strength of faith, she calls us back to community, to breath, to our god-given selves. Black Liturgies is true spiritual balm for our troubled times. — Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author of What Truth Sounds Like and Entertaining Race

Black Liturgies is a garden for the soul. With rare wisdom, beautiful clarity, and generous vulnerability, Cole Riley brings her whole self to these letters, verses, and promptings, offering bright, deep truths about who we are and can be as Black women, Black people, and human beings. Hold these luminous words close and let them be your balm. — Tiya Miles, National Book Award-winning author of All That She Carried

Practicing the Way: Be With Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did John Mark Comer (Waterbrook) $26.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80 //  ON SALE January 16, 2024

Well, if the previous book was by a very excellent writer, a former English major sharing her faith from her embodied black experience — informed, yes, by some of which she told about, like growing up in Pittsburgh, in This Here Flesh — this one is by another excellent writer I like, a very white guy from a very white town (Portland, OR.) Okay, groovy rock star that he nearly is, John Mark Comer has now moved to LA where he works at Vintage Church. The book’s title draws on the name of a nonprofit he started which is designed to help folks clearly understand and embrace deep stuff about spirituality and being an on-the-ground follower of Jesus. In a way, Comer is a hip version of the late, great Dallas Willard. He’s like Rob Bell but with a straight-arrow, utterly orthodox theology. His books are all really great; Garden City remains an often-recommended title on work and rest (“and what it means to be human.’) So good.

This “practicing the way” by following so closely behind Jesus that he starts to rub off on you is not new news for those wanting deep spiritual formation to become more Christ-like. From Willard and John Ortberg to Ruth Haley Barton, Tish Warren, and Ronald Rolheiser, from Richard Foster to Kallistos Ware, he draws on a careful appropriation of the best work out there. The footnotes are tremendous (and when he says, “my favorite book on this topic is such and such” because…” you know you are reading somebody who has studied well and is sharing insights gleaned and offered as a true gift. Don’t you love an author who cites a lesser known Henri Nouwen book and tells a story about Dorothy Sayers and recalls a sermon by Tim Keller and explains why the Philokalia still matters for serious seekers? He knows the church fathers, the mystics, and yet is in good conversation with modern psychologists and cultural critics, from Janet Hagberg to Jamie Smith.

John has been on a bit of a trajectory since his wonderful, hard-hitting (but still fun) book called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World which then moved into the excellent (if a bit surprising, what with his exploration of evil and the demonic, even) Live No Lies: Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies That Sabotage Your Peace. You should know those two sharp hardbacks (sans dust jackets) and, now, consider this forthcoming one.

In this spacious, eminently readable volume, John Mark Comer meditates on how Christian discipleship is, at its root, the radical task of becoming an apprentice of Jesus — to be with him, to become like him, and to do as he did. The deceptively simple call is to take Jesus at his word, to open ourselves fully to him, to organize our schedules, our routines, our study, our daily practices around him, and, by doing so, to become people who can do as he would in our day and our culture. Comer’s experiences as a pastor, teacher, thinker, and an apprentice himself are helpfully on display here. Sit with this book slowly and let it be your guide into a life of apprenticeship to Jesus. — Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

Have a Beautiful Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs & In-Betweens Kate Bowler (Convergent Books) $26.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80  // ON SALE January 23, 2024

Don’t let the goofy, clever title or the purdy book cover fool you. (And, yep, those are thistles on that pastel cover — yikes.) Bowler is known for her pair of brilliant memoirs about having terminal brain cancer while a young theological faculty member at Duke Divinity School — those are, as I hope you know, Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) and No Cure for Being Human: (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) and I highly recommend them. Not as serious or Reformed (let alone seriously Reformed) as some good studies that some of our customers tend to like, she is a wordsmith with a wit on par with Anne Lamott.

She’s got a fairly scholarly work on Oxford University Press (nearly an ethnography of women prosperity preachers) and a great, honest, down-to-earth devotional called Good Enough. Catch the subtitle: “40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection.” She just recently co-authored a slightly oversized hardback book of blessings and affirmations called The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. I suspect you’ve caught her glorious, human and quite humane theme: we are loved by God, ragamuffins that we are, and life in this fallen world can be a bitch. And we need some help attending to some of this in real-world prose that honors our “beautiful terrible days.”

Is this a bit of a snorting nod to Mary Oliver? I don’t know — it might be like her, snarky saint that she is. But it’s good and rich stuff. We can’t just tell people to “have a nice day” or for God’s sake, to “cheer up.”  But yet, she knows the gospel is good news, truly good news, and to walk into that tension of the fallen-being-redeemed, and the now-and-not-yet of God’s Kingdom’s presence, well, it’s complicated. And so best to proceed with some snark and bluster.

And yet, hear this: her good writing allows her to embrace really painful stuff; not just being witty and light-hearted, altho she is at times. She looks honestly at regret and grief; she knows sorry and literal pain. She knows that you are often overwhelmed. She dares not make light of your anxiety or fears; she knows some have done us harm.

These poetic reflections are Bible based and the prayers are honest and raw. The “reflection prompt” is not cheesy or simple. She draws (even in these little closing prompts) thoughts from Tolkien and Tina Fey. She invites, gives permission, encourages, and the book just sings. Pre-order it today, why don’t you?

The Servant Lawyer: Facing the Challenges of Christian Faith in Everyday Law Practice Robert F. Cochran (IVP Academic) $28.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40 // AVAILABLE NOW

This tremendous 2024 release just arrived. Hooray!

I often mention that we have books to help ordinary Christian folks live out their faith in the work-world, thinking Christianly about various vocations, callings, and occupations. From the proverbial butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, to school teachers and engineers, doctors and sociologists, artists and counselors, we’ve got something for almost everybody. Alas, these books don’t sell well — there is a huge gap between Sunday and Monday, worship and work, it seems — and most pastors don’t buy them for the young disciples they are mentoring. Even campus ministers, who work with thoughtful, energetic students who want to learn everything about following King Jesus, often fail to relate faith and studies, spirituality and jobs.

One reason, by the way, I’ll admit, is that some books about faith and the marketplace are a bit complex, heady, theoretical. And this is good, helping professionals grapple hard with foundational stuff. But, still, some workers need resources that are not academic tomes. I get it. This brand new book is an example of just exactly what we need, serious but practical, not too scholarly and aimed at the ordinary working attorney. Thanks be to God.

The Servant Lawyer is for ordinary lawyers who go to work in ordinary law practices. As the back cover says, most lawyers “spend their days drafting documents, negotiating with other attorneys, trying cases, researching the law, and counseling clients.” The book sets out to answer how this “everyday law practices relates to Jesus’s call to follow him in servanthood.”

My, my, this is brilliant; this is good. Cochran is a published legal scholar and has written and edited other work on how a robust understanding of the Scriptures might shape our jurisprudence and theories of justice. He has clerked for the important Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals but mostly, he has practiced law with a real law firm in a medium sized city. He takes seriously the call (as he has written in academic works) questions of moral responsibility and care but here he distills a lifetime of experience into this huge, basic question — what does it mean to be a servant in this career? He is a master teacher and has been a practitioner. Every field should have a book like this written by a servant-leader of thoughtfulness and integrity like this.

It is fascinating to me that the Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon says it is “a much needed-book… Lawyers of all faiths and no faith will find valuable guidance in this wise book.”

Yes, Cochran has ringing endorsements of his rich scholar by the likes of heavy-weight thinkers like John Witt (of Emory University.) It has a great forward by John Inazu of the University of Chicago. But, happily, he also gets a rave review by the fun-loving, down-to-Earth, “love does” guy, Bob Goff.

Listen to what Goff says, noting that Bob understands the “monumental and mundane” about being a Christian professional in a world of temptations. Goff summarizes The Servant Lawyer nicely:

“Cochran winsomely shares his wisdom and experience. The unexpected key, he reveals, is service — serving clients, serving the common good, and most of all, serving Jesus.”   — Bob Goff, author of Love Does, Everybody Always, Dream Big

This book officially releases in February 2024 but we have it now! Maybe it is because I, too, have an endorsement on it or maybe they just got it out early. In any case, we have it. And we are thrilled. If you pre-order it now, we can actually send it right now. Hooray.

Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-The-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress Jessica Hooten Wilson; with illustrations by Steve Prince (Brazos Press) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99 // ON SALE January 23, 2024

Well, if you have any literature-loving folks you want to give a gift to that will shock their socks off, as we used to say, man, this is a literary event that will be unmatched in 2024. Yes, believe it or not, an unfinished work of fiction by Flannery O’Connor is seeing the light of day, explained, explored, and in some ways brought to greater fruition, if not actually finished, by the great scholar and teacher Jessica Wilson Hooten. The publisher calls it an excavation.

Esau McCaulley calls it a “part detective story” and the Booker Prize award winner George Saunders says it is “a true labor of love” for which “the literary world will be wildly grateful.”

Here is what Brazos say about it — get this!

In this work of literary excavation, an award-winning author transcribes, compiles, and organizes a final, unfinished novel by celebrated American fiction writer Flannery O’Connor. This book introduces O’Connor’s final work to the public for the first time and imagines themes and directions the novel might have taken.

Ms Hooten WIlson is the right person for the job, too, believe me. She is an incredibly smart, very well read literary critic, an excellent teacher and a very good writer. You may know her exceptional Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice — on our list for Best Books of 2023 that we will share before long — and her 2022 treasure, The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints (with a lovely, astute forward by Lauren Winner.) I am fond of her big, co-edited book Learning the Good Life: Wisdom from the Great Hearts and Minds That Came Before where, of course, there is an introduction to and excerpt of O’Connor alongside nearly 40 other key writers.

What an honor for her to get to be the one to explore and arrange and share this rarely seen novel of Flannery O’Connor with the world. (O’Connor died in 1964, leaving Why Do the Heathen Rage unfinished.) How fun to see excerpts and insights about the famously cranky, Catholic woman illuminating excerpts of this “work in progress.” I assume the literary world will be agog — there should be stories in The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, The Southern Review (famously founded by Robert Penn Warren),The New Yorker, and the like.

Pre-order it now and brag a bit about it over the holidays. It will be a handsomely designed volume, too, with black and white etchings/woodcuts by a son of the deep south, and former Pennsylvanian artist, Steve Prince, now at William and Mary, who has also penned a moving afterword.

The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life Michael Wear (Zondervan) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19 //  ON SALE January 23, 2024

Oh how I wish I had an advanced copy of this to tell you about. Trust me, though, I’m sure it is going to be excellent, one I will surely promote all year long as we move into this tense election cycle. Michael is a young man I admire as much as most politicos and his career and thoughtfulness is exceptional.

You may know a bit about his story — some of our local friends will remember when we crowded in to hear him here at the shop when we had him in Dallastown to share about his first book, Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House about the Future of Faith in America. A white guy converted mostly by black music, the youngest person to ever find employment in a White House administration, he both worked for and loved Barack Obama and left before the second term due to his own personal disappointment about a few policy shifts. Some of our local folks came out because they loved the idea that he worked for Obama. Others came out because he had quit his job with Obama. All in all, our bi-partisan crowd appreciated that Mike invited us to think about Christians in politics as agents of God’s Kingdom — not primarily carrying water for any secular party or ideological movement — and exploring how working out a public theology as we serve for the common good can give us insights about the nature of hope in a fallen world. Geesh, I thought we had a light-hearted Saint Augustine on our hands, if Augustine like soul music and knew what kind of healthier iced tea Michelle Obama wanted her husband to drink.

Michael has subsequently started a nonprofit educational organization and has been consulting, speaking, networking, and helping deepen a conversation about civic life from an ecumenical, balanced, nonpartisan Christian perspective. A few years back he co-wrote the excellent, clear-headed primer, Compassion (&) Conviction: The “And” Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement and now serves as the CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life.

The Spirit of Our Politics looks to be just what it says; literally it is about spiritual formation as our souls are shaped for public engagement. I know he likes and draws on Dallas Willard; I know he has been influenced by the teaching about spiritual disciplines from Renovate (founded by Richard Foster.) There are a few such books deeply relating spirituality and justice, but very few will do what I imagine this book will do.

Here is a line from the book that seems evidently true enough, but a notion we simply must grapple with:

“We cannot separate out the kind of politics we have — our laws, our political leaders and institutions, our political culture — from the kind of people we are.”

The endorsements on the back are from all across the legitimate political spectrum, with names like Josh Dubois and Ben Sasse and Tim Shriver on the back. Here is a blurb by Senator Chris Coons:

The Spirit of Our Politics gets to the heart of our current divided politics. Michael Wear has written a powerful call that affirms the agency each citizen has to contribute to a healthier and more just politics and society. As a Christian, I found here an inspiring path to return to the heart of our faith and build a culture of engaged, faithful service. Our politics would be dramatically healthier if The Spirit of Our Politics was our guide, and I encourage my colleagues, and all readers who seek a positive future for our politics, to read it. —Chris Coons, US Senator from Delaware

Listen to another writer, exceptionally wise for her age, the great Kaitlyn Schiess (author of the wonderful Liturgy of Politics and the recent The Ballot and the Bible) who says this:

If you are exhausted by and exasperated with politics, this book is for you. The Spirit of Our Politics won’t try to drum up your enthusiasm for our broken political system; it will draw your attention to a greater and truer story–and the way that story should then shape our common life together. Michael Wear has given us the gift of diagnosing the deeper spiritual problems underneath our divisions and disagreements–and proposing a better path forward.

The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross Brian Zahnd (IVP) $24.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.20 //  ON SALE February 6, 2024

This is another precious, provocative work that is going to be one of the key titles of this winter (into Lent, which starts early this year, by the way.) The Wood Between the Worlds as a title comes from an allusive phrase found in Lewis’s Magician’s Nephew, of course; I can’t wait to hear what author Zahnd (who is quite the literature lover) makes of it.

In any case, Zahnd is known for exceptionally interesting Bible teaching and for being a creative, solid communicator; I have an affection for him and his work (and his love of Bob Dylan) even though I know some find his Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God a bit troubling. I think he is right in insisting that we read the big, unfolding, Biblical narrative with a Christ-centered hermeneutic, and I like his high Christology. Like his friend Brad Jersak would put it, we need a more “Christ-like God” — which is not shallow, unbiblical, liberal theology but an effort at doing theology in light of true truths that we bank on: that the second person of the Trinity (you know the one we celebrate for the incarnation at Christmastime), the Lord Jesus Christ, is the best and fullest way to understand God the Father.

And such a Christ-centered orientation has hugely practical implications. Zahn has written about aesthetics (Beauty Will Save the World) and nonviolence (A Farewell to Mars) so is eager to show how radically Christ-centered discipleship can transform us, allowing us to bear witness to the work God is doing in the world.

The publisher has given us this much, for starters:

“Everything that can be known about God is in some way present at the cross. The cross of Christ is the wood between the worlds. There is the world that was and the world to come, and in between those two worlds is the wood upon which the Son of God was hung. As in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, the wood between the worlds is a portal. In this world of sin and death we do not despair because we believe there is a portal that will transport us to a world where, in the beloved words of Lady Julian, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

In any case I am guessing that this book is, among other things, a reflection on the notions of the atonement, the work of the cross, the questions of how best to understand the sacrifice of Christ. I suspect he will draw on (among others) the scapegoat theories of Girard. I hope he engages the exegesis of N.T. Wright. I have watched several times a great Lenten sermon Zahnd preached at his Oklahoma church a few years ago on the cross of Christ and its beauty. If this book unpacks any of that it will be one of the books of the year! From the table of contents I note that he covers a lot of ground. Julie Canlis calls it “kaleidoscopic.”

Listen to this from Julie Canlis, a Calvin scholar and author of A Theology of the Ordinary:

In the liminal Wood Between the Worlds, Brian Zahnd encounters the inexhaustible cross. Perhaps you are more familiar with the absent Protestant Christ or the afflicted Catholic Christ or the victorious classical Christ? Each one is true and speaks a faithful message. (Which one speaks to you? Which one pushes you away?) Brian’s book invites us to contemplate the kaleidoscopic mystery of Christ. Will we stop and be still before the mystery? Will we let this irreligious symbol transform all our notions of religion?

Or this, from our friend Eric Peterson, a thoughtful, gracious, PC(USA) pastor:

With the heart of a pastor, the mind of a scholar, and the soul of a Jesus follower, Brian Zahnd here shares the fruit of his long, unhurried contemplation of the cross of Christ. His keen insights liberate us from flawed atonement theories based in retributive justice that have persisted for far too long, and he breathes new life into the mystery of the cross: the supreme centerpiece of God’s love that radiates redemption and ushers us into the peaceable kingdom. — Eric E. Peterson, pastor of Colbert Presbyterian Church, author of Letters to a Young Congregation: Nurturing the Growth of a Faithful Church

It is helpful if you are pre-ordering more than one if you tell us if you want them consolidated and shipped together or, rather, as soon as each release. We want to serve you well so please let us know your preferences. THANKS.

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Sadly, as of December 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

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JUST IN: “Being Here” by Padraig O Touma and TEN MORE RECENT BOOKS THAT MAKE ME SMILE — ALL ON SALE 20% OFF

Owning a small business comes with a lot of headaches and the book industry is notoriously complicated — nobody but the big executives and top tier of celebrity authors make much so it is a given that those of us who try to make a living selling books do so because we love books and want to encourage the reading life. For people of faith working in the subcategories of theological books and other resources to help followers of Christ (especially if we view that with a wide-as-life angle of vision) well, it’s down-right disheartening most days.

We are so glad for our customers who are kind enough to send us orders from far away and who regularly ask for book advice. We thank God for you who read BookNotes and buy your books from us. But, still, often the vocation of being in the hot-seat here can be stressful, to say the least.

Which is why some days I’m struck with a profound realization of how lucky we are to be around book people, church folks, seekers and readers. And for good books that keep appearing and take our breaths away even in this busy time of year.

For this BookNotes I’m going to share a handful of mostly new books that just make me glad. (ALthough that old picture the day we got a bunch of Bob Goff’s Dream Big still makes me smile. It was a hard day, as I recall, and then that happened.)

These are mostly not that heavy, not all that game-changing, just titles that are reminding me this week to smile awhile. Maybe you, too, are happy for entertaining books that bring some joy, some goodness, a little bit of light.

I’m very sincere in this moody introduction, since it is often hard in this business of business, trying to serve customers well, and the scrooge in me is never too far below the surface. And yet I am delighted —yes! — when I see books that I know will make people happy.

But, I have this up my sleeve as well: maybe you need a gift for somebody that has some sense of meaning or joy to it but isn’t overly religious (or not at all.) Not all of our customers are Christians, and not all of our customers want Christian books. Or maybe they want such theological works for themselves, but they want to give a gift to a friend or loved one who is not particularly churched. Maybe I’m saying the obvious, but these might work, ya know? Order today so we can ship them pronto.

But first, the one that came today.

BRAND NEW: a new prayer book by Padraig O Tuama and TEN MORE RECENT BOOKS THAT MAKE ME SMILE — 20% OFF.

Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love Padraig O Tauma (Eerdmans) $22.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I love it that this arrived early! Hooray! I quoted this in a talk I did not long ago (I had an advanced copy) and have been pondering the long introductory essay for a month. As only an Irish peace-making poet can, he tells some stories (including about being laid up sick with a very big, favorite novel) and moves to the big question of this new book — what is prayer? It is, finally, “a way of seeing here, a way of being here.” This book is the perfect, delightful, lovely, challenging, and raw (and at time aesthetically eccentric) combo of poetry and prayer.

Being Here offers thirty-one collects crafted to invite readers into a deeper engagement into their world. They are, like a devotional, presented alongside scripture (and with illuminating literary texts.) Collects are, as you most likely know, a certain sort of prayer (that have a certain literary structure, even.) These prayer-poems offered as collects “recalibrates the language of literacy in a way that both contains and reenergizes ancient spiritual practices.” The essays included make it a really great read and while there is an overtone of lament, crying out for the abused, it makes me smile.

O Tauma is best known for hosting the Poetry Unbound podcast from On Being. His recent books include Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World (highly recommended) and Feed the Beast, a recent chapbook which we also carry.

Paidraig’s prayers balance doubt and devotion in a way that feels at once impossible and also desperately needed. I am in love with his unsentimental orientation to the holy. — Nadia Bolz-Weber, Accidental Saint

Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity… is a great new book and I’m rightfully enthused but you want to know something that really makes me smile. The very artful cover on it is a painting by Lanecia Rouse Tinsley of Houston and — get this — she also created an original painting for the forthcoming cover of a long-awaited book coming out next month by our friend Cole Arthur Riley, Black Liturgies. That little connection makes me grin. We’ve been taking pre-orders for Cole book, of course (at 20% off) and I’ll write about it soon. Be very glad.

 

The Book of (More) Delights Ross Gay (Algonquin Books) $28.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

Do you know Ross Gay, the best-selling author of The Book of Delights and the lovely Inciting Joy? He is a poet and known for his love of gardening; he teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington. This is a sequel to the phenomenal Book of Delights and it follows the same pattern. It is a set of short essays, one a day, naming something he took delight in. Some are fairly profound and may take your breath away and some seem, at first blush, a bit silly. He makes a gentle case for all, including good stuff from the sublime and the mundane.

He’s got an admirable outlook and these “small daily wonders” (written over the course of a year) explores allusively what brings us delight. It is, many say, a volume “to savor and share.” He’s an amazing person, a good wordsmith, but it will help you discover delight as well. Cue Bruce Cockburn’s “Don’t Forget About Delight” and start this one, soon. Enjoy.

Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier Arthur C. Brooks, with Oprah Winfrey (Portfolio) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

Arthur Brooks, not to be confused with David Brooks (who has a truly great new book out, Who To Know a Person, which I have written about already) is a conservative social science guy, who used to do more with policy and civic life and shifted to being known as a writer of sophisticated advice columns that matter for relationships, aging, and, in this case, being “happier.” Many of these pieces, in one way or another, appeared in his revered The Atlantic columns.

And Oprah saw them. She says in the preface that if she were still doing her TV show, she’d be having Arthur on the show, a lot. She’s a big fan.

It’s a little curious — she a liberal black woman, he a conservative white man — but they forged this friendship exploring science and neuroscience and habits and virtues. As she says forcefully, “I see myself in so much of this book. My hope is that you will see yourself, too. Not just the person you’ve been, but the truly happier person you can become.”

She explains that she is having fun — a word she never used previously about her own life. “May this book serve as a reminder,” she intones almost like a benediction, “ to embrace and share your happiness.”

The book is jam-packed with stories and data, wisdom and all manner of truth about things that matter. Oprah has an introductory chapter in front of a few of the major sections and another at the end. Most of the pieces are Arthur’s. Some are visionary, some are practical. It makes me glad to see such thoughtful public figures speaking graciously about ordinary folks and their ordinary lives. There’s even a chapter about finding your “amazing grace.” Not bad.

Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front-Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, That’s a Thing) Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester (Harper Horizon) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This travelogue book by two stand-up comedians is both dumb and smart, low-brow and sophisticated (well, a little, anyway.) There’s a lot of drinkin’ and some cussin’. These guys are live comics from the South and this is their travel guide to “Round Here” (that’s their own homeland, the American Southland), “Over Yonder” (which is the “Rest of America”), and “Yonder, Yonder” (which covers places they went on their trip to England and Scotland.) The thing about many funny guys? They just can’t help themselves. Even the footnotes are funny.

One of things they say often (especially in the great introduction) is that it’s okay to make fun of stuff, and that, frankly, mocking and joking around, when done well, shows more of what we have in common than what we don’t. So they’ve got a pretty grand ethical project here, and, off-color and rude as they are (you’ve seen stand up these days, I bet) it seems to have a decent moral core. Some of the jokes are okay and a few made me holler out loud. The whole thing was a fun trip.

As they put it, “When it comes down to it, we’re just two Southern boys who, by virtue of luck and little hard work, have been lucky enough to see the world beyond Mamma’s front porch.”

“When it comes down to it, we’re just two Southern boys who, by virtue of luck and little hard work, have been lucky enough to see the world beyond Mamma’s front porch.”

This is an irreverent summary of cities they know, major cities and the smallest of towns. “We even hop the Atlantic to review some of them fancy kings-and-castles places that PBS Viewers Like You can’t stop yapping about.”  That’s funny, no?

Chickamauga and Cheyenne, Napa and New Orleans, Seattle and Scotland. As they put it, again, “it turns out that no matter where we go, there’s something to roast, something to toast, and something to learn about what ties us together as humans.”

How to Be Married (to Melissa): A Hilarious Guide to a Happier, One-of-a-Kind Marriage Dustin Nickerson (Thomas Nelson) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This was the funniest book I read all year, the one that made me laugh the most. I wanted to read it and read it again to Beth, and, well, you had to be there. It is a hoot. And it lays down some serious advice, mostly by way of his telling of his own foibles and failures (and some darn funny sidebars by wife Melissa, who tells her side of things making clear what really happened.) As they both agree, “marriage isn’t always funny. But that doesn’t mean you can’t laugh about it.”

Nickerson, who has ordered books from us and has become a bit of an online friend, is a popular stand up comedian (and podcaster, I’m told.) I bet he knows Crowder and Forrester, and many stand-ups have somewhat similar stories of being on the road, the grueling schedules, and crowds, and late night temptations. Nickerson tells only a bit of this, but he makes it a point to explain how this on-the-road lifestyle effects his family. He is aware of it and he compensates the best he can. It’s a bit extreme but I suspect many of us can relate. I sure do. He’s a good guy.

The first major chapter (after he disses buying marriage books — just skip that paragraph) is about fighting well. And man, do they. It is a bit cringy at times, hearing how candid he is about these legendary battles that have become part of their story. But he explains it all with lots of drama and starts the pitch about laughing about stuff, even in hard times. He observes that, with marriage (unlike Southwest Airlines) your baggage does not fly free. He explains what sex has to do with Legoland; yup. (There’s a lot about sex in this book — not too much, but, well, you’ll see.) He tells why you should never put Scattergories on your wedding registry. As you might guess, they laugh until they don’t and even their dumb party games can turn professional-level hurtful.  Dustin does not like to lose.

It’s a wild ride and I’m glad they are still together. Their faith matters to them although they are pretty loose about it. Spoiler alert — part way through they admit to a fairly fundamentalist past. He even worked in a well-known toxic church for a while, which blew me away.

Anyway, this is just out in paperback, and that makes me smile, too. I enjoyed this book a lot and I am glad for them — they’ve got a lot to teach, even if they diss marriage advice books. From eating healthy to parenting to finances to church attendance, they get into it all. No formulas and no charts and no promises, even. Every relationship is one-of-a-kind, so good luck with your actual married human. You’ll need it. Especially if you don’t learn to laugh. This story of “how to be married” (to Melissa, at least) can help.

And get this: there is a foreword by the up and coming, very hip Taylor Tomlinson, who has toured with Dustin and thinks the world of him. She’s a real rising star and affirms his brand of raw, clean humor, explaining some serious respect for Dustin, Melissa, and their kids.

The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration Derrick Weston & Anna Woofenden (Broadleaf Books) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This came to us a bit early in October and we’ve been happy to see our stack here ever since We took some pre-orders and it is remarkable how many people have heard of this. There’s a big buzz and it is well-deserved. It makes us glad — it’s a book about celebration, after all, as it says on the cover, so hooray.

Here’s an updated version of what I wrote when we first announced this. I want to celebrate it again:

Derrick is an old Pittsburgh Presbyterian, a righteous urban ministry guy, and now a food and faith podcaster and gardening activist in Baltimore. His official bio says that he manages the Rockrose City Farm on Baltimore’s east side, growing food for ministries that distribute to those who are food insecure. A documentary filmmaker, producer, and former Presbyterian minister, Derrick is a firm believer in using one’s voice and the media to inspire and enact social change. Indeed!

You may know of Anna, who wrote a book we adored and that I wrote about briefly a time or two here at BookNotes, This Is God’s Table: Finding Church Beyond the Walls. That great memoir was about her essentially creating a fresh expression of the inclusive church by inviting folks to urban gardening. Her bio notes that she remains the pastor of both The Garden Church and Feed and Be Fed Farm in San Pedro, California. She is said to be “passionate about spirituality, justice, food, the earth, beauty, compassion, and community.” She is now based in Northampton, Massachusetts. We are fans and you should be, too.

This recent book is a delight. Slightly oversized like a good cookbook (it does have recipes!) it is, as one Colorado reviewer put it, “a heart-warming, soul-satisfying, and salivating meditation on the spiritual dimension of foodways.”

As you might guess if you follow any of this sort of writing at all, there’s a lovely endorsement by the important leader in the field, Nate Stucky, who directs Princeton Seminary’s “Farminary.” Read this, please. Rev. Stucky says:

Like a carefully and lovingly prepared meal, Derrick Weston and Anna Woofendon have given a rich and generous gift in Just Kitchen. With honesty, humility, and great generosity of spirit, Derrick and Anna echo a truth I learned from the keepers of the kitchen in my own family–there’s more going on in the kitchen than we usually realize. Yes, it can be a complicated and difficult space, but it can also be a space of interaction, preparation, transformation, reflection, healing, community, mutuality, celebration, and hope. For anyone who has longed for a guide to a more meaningful relationship with the kitchen, Derrick and Anna graciously show the way–recipes included.

Just Kitchen was one of our most anticipated books of the fall. There are short, smart pieces scattered throughout it with rich sidebars, interviews, and inserts. From a questionnaire about what you bring to your kitchen to a recipe for Collard Greens to a “breath prayer” for doing dishes to a reflection about church cooking (and a good bit on compost) there is a lot of good stuff here, all framed by justice and hope. There are stories galore, reflections, meditations, poems and recipes. It is both serious and inviting, profound and friendly. Did I mention hope? And joy? Cheers!

An Invitation to Joy: The Divine Journey to Human Flourishing Daniel Denk (Eerdmans) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I won’t recite the story of this amazing book again — I wrote about it months ago — but I’ll note that it is about joy so I sort of have to list it here. Really: who doesn’t want a deeper sense of gladness, a study of joy that leads to authentic flourishing, not just cheap laughs or momentary happiness. This is the real deal, a book about finding joy even in very unpleasant times and hard seasons.

As Christopher Wright the missional, Biblical scholar from Langham Partnership (John Stott’s old ministry) puts it in the helpful forward, “If you have lost your joy, this book will help you find it again.” It is “refreshing, rebuking, reviving, rewarding, and richly biblical and practical.” The author has been through a lot and is a respected PCA pastor. He’s as solid as you go and the book has gotten good reviews.

There ya go. What more do you want? Even serious scholars like George Madden of Notre Dame and Joel Carpenter of Calvin University have blurbs — Marsden calls it “winsome and thoughtful” and Carpenter says “Listen to Denk. He knows life in its depths, he knows God, and he knows joy.”

Every Step Is Home: A Spiritual Geography from Appalachia to Alaska Lori Erickson (WJK) $20.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

Ohh, this makes me smile and I’m glad to share it for those who want a good read. There’s several reasons that this is a lovely, interesting — even fascinating — book and I’ll be brief. First, the writer captivated me with a book several years ago where she travelled around the world exploring end of life practices and beliefs of various peoples. That was called Near the Exit: Travels with the Not-So-Grim Reaper and I loved her fair and open-minded reports of these various ways of coping with death. She is a professional travel writer (and explores how this deepened her faith in Holy Rover: Journeys in Search of Mystery, Miracles, and God) and this new one picks up again on her penchant for travel and for observing spiritual stuff along the way. So there’s that — I don’t get out much but I like reading about far-away places and I appreciate her glimmers of meaning found in her “holy roving.”

But more, this one is exactly a study of what we might call liminal or spiritual or sacred space in the United States. She is an Episcopalian Christian but this isn’t church history locations or even particularly Christian insights about things, but open-minded study of several places that must have been deemed sacred by ancestors. Some of these reports are fairly restrained — you can tell she is pumped but tries not to be too nerdy about it all in front of her husband and kids who sometimes accompany her on these seeking road trips. But some are just wild.

Have you ever heard about the Mounds (including the Serpent Mound) in Ohio? Ancient Native peoples built thousands of huge mounds all over the mid-West and by the 1800s most had been ploughed under, dug up, or farmed over. The newly founded Smithsonian Institute got some of them in Ohio to be protected historic places and their first book is a study of these unusual (and unusually large) markings. Some have astronomical connections. You’ve got to read this if you’re curious about this kind of thing.

There are moving chapters about holy dirt in the Southwest, about the Aura Borealis seen in Alaska, and her trip to the Redwoods in Northern California is awe-producing. There is a chapter on stone, she studies fire, and, of course, water. These are each set in great places and, again, you may have heard of some of these locations but I bet some will be new to you. Unless your a junior cultural anthropologist I suspect her explorations of the transcendent meaning of many of these spots will be new, as well. Who knew? — hidden in plain sight, as they say. In any case, the wit and family stuff as they make these road trips, looking for trails of divinity and rumors of glory, will make for an interesting read.   

Sacred Strides: The Journey to Belovedness in Work and Rest Justin McRoberts (Thomas Nelson) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I have written about this before and it continues to make me smile. Man, I’m glad for this guy’s presence on the planet; he is a good friend, a real encourager, a spiritual guide and life coach. He’s an artist, a singer-songwriter, storyteller, writer, and one of the coolest dudes I know. He’s fun, funny, and yet is serious about faith and mentoring others into a life of healthy, caring, discipleship. It would make me really happy to introduce you to him, so buy this book, okay? Buy a few and give them away, to sinners and saints and anybody young at heart.

As I’ve explained, he’s been on the road with rock bands, he’s opened for big names, and he’s got stories of the glory and the flame.He’s done radical mission work, has written about creativity for makers and entrepreneurs, and, here, he is using his experiences and storytelling to help us understand a few deep things.

The book is about rest. It is about work. It is about getting them working together, a rhythm, a “sacred stride.” This is brilliant, but it may take some practice. He makes it fun. You may shed some tears and I bet your laugh. He’s got a light tough but he is drawing on the best thinkers and profound mystics. His notion of discovering and resting in our belovedness is precious. This book makes me happy, even though I don’t stride very well. Maybe you don’t either. No worries, Justin will help.

Don’t Tell Anyone You’re Reading This: A Christian Doctor’s Thoughts on Sex, Shame, and Other Troublesome Issues Lina Abujamra, MD (Forefront Books) $26.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

For starters, the title is fun, isn’t it? It’s a religious book about s-e-x and while that isn’t as startling as it used to be, in this age of book bans and super-critical creeps using religion to tell everybody what they can and can’t even read about, the era needs some healthy candor and strong wit. Abujamra is an evangelical, a passionate follower of Jesus, and a woman who works with refugees and other marginalized folks. She has been a pediatric ER doc, and, like that guy on the insurance advertisement, she has “seen a thing or two.” She actually says she has seen it all and nothing surprises her. It’s a good place to start.

She notes that most people have some secrets — she does, too, she says up front — but that hidden part sooner or later comes out. So she decides to be transparent, talking about her own struggle with sexual temptation with openness and vulnerability. She admits her brokenness. She is clear that our “church and purity culture have failed our communities.” She “gets real about the excuses we make and the lies we tell ourselves, even when our behaviors point to a larger problem.”

Do you want a no-holds barred discussion on what and what the church needs to be doing to support Christians who struggle with sexual sin and with the community at large? I’ll tell you what: she shows that it has something to do with Jesus.

This is nearly a memoir, not a serious Biblical study or discourse on sexual ethics. It’s what she has learned.

As her publisher puts it, “If you’re going to have a difficult conversation, you might as well have it with a doctor.” Not that it’s that difficult. But she makes it real. And fun.

I’ve not studied all of this carefully, but people I know who admire her make me smile. She makes me smile. The book title — confusing as it may be — is trying to send a message against secrets and shame. That’s kind of subversive, actually  — the “don’t tell people” in the title comes quickly undone with the book which affirms candor and transparency. You should tell people you’re reading this! And while you’re at it, tell ‘em you got it here. Ha.

Psalms of My People: A Story of Black Liberation as Told Through Hip-Hop Lenny Duncan (Broadleaf Books) $27.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

This compact sized hardback makes me smile for a couple of reasons. Lenny Duncan is a gay, proud, Lutheran pastor from the inner city, originally from the streets of Philly. His call to the church to be just and inclusive, Dear Church, his memoir about his own homelessness, United States of Grace, and the little Dear Revolutionaries really touch a number of our friends and customers. These are not for everyone, admittedly — he’s blunt and colorful in his language, but his call to God’s grace and radical anti-racist justice is solid. He is currently a media producer (with a podcast called BlackBerryJams with PRX.) And this brand new release feels like some sort of major project, a life-giving side project that has become the big thing.

Psalms of My People is a study of the black experience in the US which, he insists, is vitally connected to the history of hip hop. It is a guide to the history of the genre, telling winsomely about the artists, the lyrics and their cultural context. He treats hip-hop as revelatory and (as it says on the back cover) “reveals its role as a conduit to tell the modern story of Black liberation in this country.”

It is a lot to ask of a genre of popular art that, like most genres, is laden with the good, the bad, and the ugly. But he brings “soft tenderness and sharp critique.” As Elle Dowd (a pastor who wrote Baptized in Tear Gas) puts it, it is “both delicious and, at times, bitter.” She insists it is “full of the contradictions we see reflected in all sacred texts and pregnant with possibilities for transformation.”

In a season when it seems there are lots of retrospective music projects, and not a little nostalgia, we need a book like this. It is demanding, fun as it seems. It features handsome black and white illustrations on every page along the borders. Much of the book is lyrical, poetic, a hip-hop style, for sure. I’m sure this isn’t enough for this topic — can you imagine only one book on Dylan or rock or Bach or country? But it is cool, it is hot, it is righteous, it is snappin’.

+++

TO PLACE AN ORDER 

PLEASE READ, THEN SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK ON THE “ORDER HERE” LINK BELOW.

It is helpful if you tell us how you want us to ship your orders.And if you are doing a pre-order, tell us if you want us to hold other books until the pre-order comes, or send some now, and others later… we’re eager to serve you in a way that you prefer. Let us know your hopes.

The weight and destination of your package varies but you can use this as a quick, general guide:

There are generally two kinds of US Mail options and, of course, UPS.  If necessary, we can do overnight and other expedited methods, too. Just ask.

  • United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available and seems not to be too delayed.
  • United States Postal Service has another, quicker option called “Priority Mail” which is $8.50, 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 $9.20. “Priority Mail” gets much more attention than does “Media Mail” and is often just a few days to anywhere in the US.
  • UPS Ground is reliable but varies by weight and distance and may take longer than USPS. Sometimes they are cheaper than Priority. We’re happy to figure out your options for you once we know what you want.

If you just want to say “cheapest” that is fine. If you are eager and don’t want the slowest method, do say so. It really helps us serve you well so let us know. Keep in mind the possibility of holiday supply chain issues and slower delivery… still, we’re excited to serve you. Blessed Advent.

BookNotes

Hearts & Minds logo

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

ALL BOOKS MENTIONED

+++

order here

this takes you to the secure Hearts & Minds order form page
just tell us what you want to order

inquire here

if you have questions or need more information
just ask us what you want to know

Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown  PA  17313
read@heartsandmindsbooks.com
717-246-3333

Sadly, as of December 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

We are here 10:00 – 6:00 EST /  Monday – Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

ON SALE – Thirteen Children’s Books for understanding the Christmas Story (one Spanish-language) – 20% off at Hearts & Minds

We have lots and lots of children’s books for all ages — from board books to picture books, fiction and nonfiction for kids and youth. We can make recommendations for all sorts of kids if we know something a bit about them.

It wouldn’t be the best Christmas season, though, without some little kid’s picture books about the holidays. Here in the midst of a somber Advent with wars and ugly politics and rising Covid rates again, we’re eager to find small joys where we can.

Here are some. All are 20% off. (Scroll down to the end to find the link to our secure order form page.) We don’t have tons of any of these, so order soon. We’ll reply promptly to confirm everything.

We don’t have all of the titles we shared in last year’s great list of Christmas children’s books, but check it out, too. We still have a lot of them.

Order now. We’ll get ‘em right out.  Ho, ho, ho.

Holy Night and Little Star: A Story for Christmas Mitali Perkins, illustrated by Khoa Le (Waterbrook) $15.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

We raved about a number of books written by Mitali Perkins in the last year or two (not least her Steeped in Stories which is an adult book reminding us of the joys and benefits of reading YA books.) This new Holy Night and Little Star is one of the best new nativity ones of the year, a companion to her allusive and brilliant Bare Tree and Little Wind. This tells the Biblical nativity story with a lovely view of Little Star who “loves to glow softly above Bethlehem’s low hills.” But when Make brings the galaxy together and starts handing out important new jobs, she begins to worry. (She likes things the way they are and doesn’t feel ready for big changes, as the back cover tells us.)

Of course the Holy Night comes. And listen to this — “the Child who’s changing everything is more familiar than she imagined?”

The artwork is truly wonderful. The human and animal scenes are soft watercolors and quite realistic — the slightly pained face on pregnant Mary’s face is the best I’ve seen, and Joseph bounding on a door with both hands makes their dilemma clear and poignant. But the angles and spiritual creatures are weird. I like that — it is good to shake off the views of sentimental renaissance cherubs and Hallmark angels — and there seems to be some sort of ethnic style here. In any case, the night is full of stars, some shaped like diamonds, which makes me think of Bruce Cockburn’s “All the Diamonds” but that’s just me. The color and swirls and vivid dark sky are unique enough, deeply envisioned, to capture everyones attention. Kudos.

The King of Christmas: All God’s Children Search for Jesus  Todd R Hains, illustrated by Natasha Kennedy (Lexham Press) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I hope you recall how we raved about the excellent The King of Easter: Jesus Searches for All God’s Children; this is an obvious companion, a lovely, great book — with a black holy family — which offers a clarity about the gospel and the point of the story that sends shivers. The end as it explains his resurrection and how He is present in the preaching of the Word, and shows a banquet, you’ll realize this is not merely a sentimental story about the birth of a baby. This is the King, the suffering servant, the One who reigns in grace among a renewed people. Nice. 

This is in a great set of books featuring a fat cat who shows up rather inconspicuously so it is called a FatCat book. The brand new one in that series just came out on the Ten Commandments by Harold Senkbeil, also illustrated by the talented Natasha Kennedy.

The Christmas Light Claudia Cangilla McAdam, illustrated by Igor Kovyar (Sophia Institute Press) $16.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $13.56

This conservative Catholic publisher has done some beautiful, rich, good books for little children and this one has an exceptionally realistic angle of vision, with lots of stone walls and strangers packed into the extra rooms of a Bethlehem innkeeper. It is a cold night and the daughter of the innkeeper gets up to tend a fire for warmth. As the publisher tells us, “…she approaches the newborn Baby asleep in the manger and has an encounter that changes her mood and alters her life forever.

This is a great retelling of the classic nativity story and shows to children how an encounter with Christ can change their lies, eternally. Moody, moving, beautiful.

Lullaby for the King Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Michelle Carlos (Beaming Books) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I saw a good article on the internet today from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity saying “Let’s Keep Creation in Christmas” and I’m all for that. Song of the Stars (by Sally Lloyd-Jones) which shows all creation getting in on the praise of the newborn Babe, has been a favorite for years, in full size and board book. Yes and yes.

Lullaby for a King is about a caravan that “traveled through wilderness, uphill and down, for hours that spun into days.” It is not unusual for storytellers and children’s illustrators to talk about in the animals in the stable/manger/barn. But this is awe-inspiring; truly. Nikki Grimes, as you may know, is an esteemed, award-winning black poet, and here she spins a tale of unexpected animals wending their way to Bethlehem with gifts for the newborn King.

Each animal — coming from all over, so it’s imaginative — brings unique gifts. There is something magical and allusive and playful and yet deeply honoring in this wild tale; the art is big and bold. Hooray.

All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings Gayle Boss, illustrated by Sharon Spitz (Paraclete Press) $20.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.79

I mentioned this a few weeks ago in a children’s Advent list, but I just have to mention it again. Here is most of what I said last month:

In the last few years many customers have ordered — and re-ordered, to give away to friends and loved ones, even seekers who are not yet in the Christian world of Advent devotions — the original book by Gayle Boss, All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, which wonderfully explores animal hibernation to allusively open up insights about night, waiting, new possibilities after a quiet season. The black and white illustrations in that volume are excellent, and it made sense when Paraclete last year issued a very handsome, bright red, deluxe, hardback gift edition. (And, as an aside, you should know the paperback Lenten edition, about animal extinction, called Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, also with stunning illustrations by David Klein.)

This year, Paraclete released a stunning, full color children’s picture book edition. It has similar but considerable abbreviated text, amazing artwork, and is a generous, lavish, children’s Advent book unlike any you’ve ever seen.

In a nice word of advice in the beginning, author Gayle likens this book to an Advent calendar and encourages readers to only read one spread a day, reading and pondering, slowly. She writes,

This will not be easy. The pictures are beautiful and the animals amazing and you likely will want to rush ahead and see and read all twenty-five at once!

A bit later she explains,

You can join creatures in their Advent waiting by staying with just one animal each day. One Advent 1, sink down with Painted Turtle. On Advent 2, huddle with Muskrat. You’ll be excited to see who’s waiting for you each day. By December 25, you will have discovered that the animals companion us and speak to us.

There is more animal wonderment and facts at the end, with some very nifty ideas of things to do, so they should surely follow along with those things to learn and do.

The Christmas Swallow Ben Harris, illustrated by Estelle Corke (Lion Press) $13.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $11.19

  We love the UK publisher Lion and their children’s BIbles are among our favorites. This is lovely, nicely illustrated, telling in young child’s prose, the standard Christmas narrative. As the swallow flits around there are a few repetive pharses making this good for very young chlldren. The author, though, is a specialist in Classical Studies at Oxford.

What is special is how the swallow gives us the birds-eye view, and her presence in each spread is artful, curious, and just a bit symbolic (maybe?) Lovely.

All Is Bright.. When God Came Down One Silent Night Clay Anderson, illustrated by Natalie Merheb (Swing High! Children’s Books) $18.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.16

We enjoyed this simple telling of the story with some nice poetic cadences. There are a few lines that are just so well put…

We like that Jesus and Mary and Joseph are not at all white Europeans. There are various shades and hues among the shepherds appropriately, but the child-like angels are from all over the world. It’s nice.

There is, also, hidden in each picture, a Bible verse. You’ll find most of them easily, but your little ones will have to hunt (written on the leg of a table, over the door of a building, one in a shepherd’s crook. You’ll have to look up those verses, then, to see what they have to do with the story.)

Jesus te llam: La historia de Navidad Sarah Young illustrado por Katya Longhi (Grupo Nelson) $15.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

We don’t have a lot of demand for Spanish language children’s books we wanted to highlight at least one. This is oddly entitled Jesus Calling and it is by Sarah Young, but it is not her famous adult one. It is “the story of the nativity” and it is a fairly cute, straight explanation of the events of that first birth and the flight into Egypt. I don’t know Spanish so can’t say much but it is the standard Biblical story with lots of text and lots of illustration for la ninas y el ninos.

Saint Nicholas the Giftgiver Ned Bustard (IVP Kids) $18.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

You know our affection for this storyteller, artist, and book publisher (yes, this is by the manager of Square Halo Books.) This, though, is on a larger press and in hardcover — what a delight. We celebrated this last year — it is a little kid’s rhyming tale with playful art in Ned’s unique style. It is in the cadence of “The Night Before Christmas” and you will learn quite a lot about at least some of the legends of this ancient Saint.

But what is the truth,

And what are the legends?
Who is this giftgiver,

And why all the presents?

Another super-fun matter: a half a year ago Mr. B and IVP did an equally vivid and even more interesting book on Saint Patrick. It’s fantastic. And — yep, get this: soon, his brand new one on Saint Valentine is coming. Ned has a blend of highly liturgical instincts and Reformed theology, all hued more colorful by his artistic sensibilities. These three colorful books are tons of fun and quite informative. We are, of course, taking PRE-ORDERS for Saint Valentine the Kindhearted which I suspect will be out soon.

Joy to the World! Christmas Around the Globe Kate DePalma, illustrated by Sophie Fates (Barefoot Books) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Most years we look for a well done book of this nature, playful, fun, interesting, full of the many different customs/ways of celebrating experienced around the world. We like the multi-cultural stuff, we appreciate the invitation to realize that Jesus’s birth is not just an American custom, and that many families from all over have fun customs and traditions. Not to get to philosophical about it, but you may recall that webinar we hosted with author Paul Metzger (and his book on the liturgical calendar, Setting the Spiritual Clock); well, these little customs and habits are pushing back against global modernity and what Paul calls “secular creep.” Who knew this colorful book was so important!

Joy to the World! Is all that one more. It is moderately detailed (not too much, though — it is a picture book designed for younger ones) and introduced Christmas traditions from 13 countries around the world. It has a small section about the Coptic Church in Egypt and explains the ancient congregations of Lebanon and the Middle East.

All About…Christmas Alison Mitchell (The Good Book Company) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

We enjoy many of the solid books from The Good Book Company (from the UK.) They are Biblically faithful, always with a good sense of the gospel. They are Christ-centered, God-glorifying, and always well done. This one is, as one reviewer put it, “Chock-full of amazing pictures and facts and figures. Just wonderful!!”

This is one of those nifty resources for curious children who like real history, encyclopedias, factoids. This admits that the beloved Christmas story is 2,000 years old and it is interesting to ask how we know it is even true.

This allows kids to dig into the Christmas story (from Matthew and Luke) to investigate what life was like in that time and place and to discover why we still celebrate this birth. In a way, this handsome, colorful, engaging book is good for all ages, with plenty to learn, lots of pictures (of everything from Roman soldiers to the nature of sheep to modern day holiday customs from around the world.)

Christmas: 25 Stories About Jesus’ Arrival The Action Bible, art by Sergio Cariello (David C. Cook) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This is slightly oversized, with well told stories dipping in to various parts of the story, starting with Isaiah, unfolding it, closer and closer to the birth. It’s full of action and adventure and yet nuance and thought-provoking questions. It is fun, great for families to read together, inviting young readers into the story. What would you feel if an angel invited you to see Jesus? Or if you were a young astronomer who noticed a new star in the sky? Or a donkey??

What’s fun is that on each facing page is a drawing from the comic book / graphic novel illustrations of The Action Bible. As you know, it’s a regular seller (especially for boys, but certainly not only for boys) by by Cariello who has left a mark in the world of DC Comics and Marvel Comics.

The Lion Book of Five-Minute Christmas Stories John Goodwin, illustrated by Richard Johnson (Lion Press) $12.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $10.39

Maybe you are gifted enough to paraphrase with color and whimsy the stories of Mary and the angel, Joseph’s dream, the no room in the inn bit, on through the warning dream, King Herod, and such. If not, no worries — this nicely made paperback Book of Five-Minute Christmas Stories is just perfect. They are each told warmly with wit and energy, some in the first person, creatively. A kid could read them, but they are designed to be read aloud. The art is nice, rich, playful, but not odd.There are nine Bible-based stories included in Five Minute Christmas Stories and the last is a very creative story about the first Christmas tree.

+++

TO PLACE AN ORDER 

PLEASE READ, THEN SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK ON THE “ORDER HERE” LINK BELOW.

It is helpful if you tell us how you want us to ship your orders.And if you are doing a pre-order, tell us if you want us to hold other books until the pre-order comes, or send some now, and others later… we’re eager to serve you in a way that you prefer. Let us know your hopes.

The weight and destination of your package varies but you can use this as a quick, general guide:

There are generally two kinds of US Mail options and, of course, UPS.  If necessary, we can do overnight and other expedited methods, too. Just ask.

  • United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available and seems not to be too delayed.
  • United States Postal Service has another, quicker option called “Priority Mail” which is $8.50, 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 $9.20. “Priority Mail” gets much more attention than does “Media Mail” and is often just a few days to anywhere in the US.
  • UPS Ground is reliable but varies by weight and distance and may take longer than USPS. Sometimes they are cheaper than Priority. We’re happy to figure out your options for you once we know what you want.

If you just want to say “cheapest” that is fine. If you are eager and don’t want the slowest method, do say so. It really helps us serve you well so let us know. Keep in mind the possibility of holiday supply chain issues and slower delivery… still, we’re excited to serve you. Blessed Advent.

BookNotes

Hearts & Minds logo

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

ALL BOOKS MENTIONED

+++

order here

this takes you to the secure Hearts & Minds order form page
just tell us what you want to order

inquire here

if you have questions or need more information
just ask us what you want to know

Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown  PA  17313
read@heartsandmindsbooks.com
717-246-3333

Sadly, as of December 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

We are here 10:00 – 6:00 EST /  Monday – Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

12 NEW BOOKS and 12 PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED, ALL ON SALE (20% OFF.) ORDER NOW.

We’ve still got weeks before Christmas so we’re happy to keep suggesting books — perhaps to put on your list (send your elves here, please) or for you to buy for a lucky loved one. Maybe you just need to know about these so you can order them later. Whatever the case, we are thankful for your willingness to “shop small” and support our very indie family business. We are grateful for you all.

Here are a dozen very recent books (some brand new) and then I’ll remind you of twelve others that we’ve already highlighted but that are so great I wanted to mention them again. If your stuck for gift ideas, just ask. I love playing book match-maker.

As always, scroll down to the end of this column and click on the link to the secure order page. All books mentioned are 20% off.  If you need them much before Christmas, be sure to let us know. We’ll figure it out for you. I’ll reply promptly to confirm everything.

TWELVE BRAND NEW ONES — all 20% off

Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair Christian Wiman $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

Those who have seriously followed serious poetry in the last decades know Wiman; he was rightly known in the last 20th century as poet, translator, editor. When his memoir My Bright Abyss took the literary world by storm — it was a luminous book about his return to faith after his seemingly terminal brain tumor — he became known in wider circles and more conventional Christian readers took up his volumes of poetry and a few on the work of writers and artists. Few writers are esteemed in the New York Times Books Review and The Christian Century and CT. I have followed him closely, especially after sitting next to him at an IAM event (hosted by Mako Fujimura) in New York years ago. Zero at the Bone just came this week.

You may have seen a number of interviews Wiman has done already and if you, you know this is an important work. The flyleaf notes that Zero at the Bone begins with Wiman’s “preoccupation with despair, and through pity brief pieces, he unravels its seductive appeal.” Some have linked his serious work to novelist and essayist Marilyn Robinson; like her work, he is very highly regarded as a public intellectual. Amit Majmudar says this quintessentially Wiman work is “astringently, transcendently human.”

 If there is one word to describe this beautiful and unsparing book, it is ‘truthful’: Christian Wiman interrogates pain, joy and God with a rare depth of honesty and a wonderful range of conversational partners, literary, mystical, scientific and more. — Archbishop Rowan Williams

Jesus Through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages Grace Hamman (Zondervan Reflective) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

I know I’m not the only sucker for good stuff on the Middle Ages. From knights and peasants, high literature and remarkable art, weird theology and amazingly astute thinkers (not to mention nuns and monks and mystics!) this was a truly generative time in Western history. And this brand new book looks like a lovely masterpiece — not even 200 pages, so not overwhelming, but great.

Good, classical thinkers like Jessica Hooten Wilson remind us that we enter a “school of love” under author Grace Hamman’s tutelage. Endorsements are robust and lovely, from the poetical Catholic writer Fritz Bauerschmidt to black literature prof (and pastor) Claude Atcho. Knowing how appreciated she is by sharp folks, I invite you to turn these pages and encounter Margery Kemp (1373-1440) and Fra Angelico (1395-1455) and the likes of Marguerite of Oingt (1240-1310.) And so much more.

Jesus Through Medieval Eyes has a foreword by historian Beth Allison Barr. You can hear Hamman on her podcast “Old Books With Grace.” Hooray.

Working from the Inside Out: A Brief Guide to Inner Work That Transforms Our Outer World Jeff Haanen (IVP) $18.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

I hope to describe this in greater detail later, but for now you should know three quick things, three audiences for this fabulous, accessible work.

First, if you are (as we are) a fan of the faith and work conversation — that is, thinking Christianly about labor, careers, the vocations we take up, our call to work, to serve in marketplaces and labs and schools and homes and cubicles and more — if you like those Christian perspectives on serving God in the work world, you will love this. There are a lot of books on this (and yet, some churches still speak nothing of the 9 – 5 lives of most congregants) but don’t miss this one. It is for us, friends, direct from one of the epicenters of this movement, the Denver Institute for Faith and Work, where Haanen has creatively served.

Secondly, if you do not know much about this impressive movement, the organizations and think-tanks and ministries and blogs and books about Christ’s Lordship over our labor, and how to relate work and worship, then this book really is for you. Not as dense as some, and yet not simplistic as some, it really is a truly excellent primer on all things about work. That it carries rave endorsements from two leaders of the movement (Katherine Leary Alsdorf, founding director of Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s Center for Faith and Work and Tom Nelson, president of Made to Flourish) speaks volumes. Philip Yancey doesn’t endorse many books, but there he is, opining that Jeff is an expert in this crucial “intersection of faith and work.” He’s right.

Thirdly, maybe you don’t care about this crucial intersection. This book is still for you. Catch the title’s theme — how does our interior life effect our normal lives? How does our “outer world” come to be shaped by our “inner work”? This “pulls back the veil on the deep emotional and vocational challenges faced by the majority” of North American folks, offering a way out of the “disintegration” both of our culture and our lives. In this, he is a master of the literature and theology of our emotional, relational, vocational, intellectual, and civil health. He wants to change the world and knows it has something to do with our inner worlds.

If you are into this topic, you have may even have been waiting for this. It’s here! If you’re new to this call, start here. If you aren’t particularly interested in the marketplace and shop floor, still, you surely care about the relationship of the journey inward and the journey outward and how discovering a reintegrated life can help heal our land. I highly recommend Working from the Inside Out.

A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent Christine Valters Painter (Broadleaf Books) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I know, I know, a Lenten book listed during Advent? Well, there are connections between the seasons — read the magnificent Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge if you don’t believe me — but in any season, this invitation to reflect on your true hungers as a way to nourish your soul (as she puts it) is a blessing. Right?

Fasting is an act of letting go, she says “making more internal space to listen to the sacred whispers of our lives.” In this stunning, little book she unpacks seven different kinds of fasts (including fasting from control, from our attachments, from our grasping, from multi-tasking and inattention, from the idol of certainty, and more.)

This is arranged very nicely, in a handsome compact paperack with a great cover. It has been called a “multistory approach to contemplation that is sensitive, thoughtful, and inclusive.”

Adam Bucko, author of the recent Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation, says, simply, that it is “a transformative pilgrimage of self-discovery and spiritual growth.”

“A transformative pilgrimage of self-discovery and spiritual growth.”

The Book of James: The Power, Politics, and Passion of LeBron Valerie Babb (Public Affairs) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I’m just going to admit it: I have no interest in basketball. At all. I hardly knew who LeBron James was until, reading a collection of essays by a writer I adore (David Giffels) about growing up in rust-belt Akron, Ohio (The Hard Way on Purpose) he told of the importance of the sport to his high school, the town, and the general importance of King James who had lived and played there. I came to realize that he was a larger than life figure, a black role model, philanthropist, activist. If Giffels liked him, I would care, too.  I started to pay attention.

And now we have this brand new volume that is said to be stunning, brilliant, exquisite, sharp. It is about the ethics of fame, the loyalty to place and family, about race and injustice. Mirin Fader says it is “an outright clinic on how to write about basketball, race, culture, and America itself.” It just came out, but it’s on my wish list. Ha.

 The Book of James is bigger than LeBron and bigger than basketball. Be careful handling this work because Babb’s insights are so sharp you might hurt yourself. Basketball fan or not, this book will take you places you never intended–and you will enjoy every moment of the ride.– Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

You Are Changing the World Whether You Like It or Not David LaMotte (Chalice Press) $19.99 OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Okay, David LaMotte is not a cool, urban, basketball staff. With his signature cowboy hat and acoustic guitar he may be more akin to Neil Young or maybe Wendell Berry. But yet, he’s a mystic (and has a great endorsing blurb on the back by author and poet Kathleen Norris.) He is friends with Bishop William Barber, who knows a thing or two about the “rhythm and artistry” that fuels changing the world for the better.

This recent book is truly one of the best guides I’ve ever seen to learn how to put feet to your ideals, to get involved in deeper forms of activism and social change. We are all planting seeds, all the time, he notes, and the question is whether we know it or not, and whether we are asking about what kind of seeds we are sowing. This book will help you take steps to be more wisely and fruitfully involved.

David LaMotte himself is a gift and he comes through in this new book. It is, in a way, a large gift, a resource, a manual, a hope-filled antidote to the myth of powerlessness. We can make a difference. He has the stories — some global and exciting, others more routine and local — to prove it.

He knows a bit about toxic movements, too, organizations and groups that are not empowering, not healthy. His discernment about this (sometimes learned the hard way) is excellent. He’s a fun and funny teacher, a fine folk singer, and a great storyteller.

LaMotte, from the Black Mountain area of North Carolina, is rooted in the Christian faith. Indeed. Yet he is generous and gracious about others, interested in collaboration and interfaith work. He has done thousands of concerns and talks all over the world. He is a Rotary Peace Fellow, has started a non-profit in Guatemala, and has set down here just about everything one needs to know to become a better human, engaging in the world, willing to work to turn around hopelessness and find joy in service. Brian McLaren is really right: it “rings true and will touch you deeply.”

Pilgrim: 25 Ways God’s Character Leads Us Onward Ruth Chou Simons (Harvest House) $34.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $27.99

I’m not always a fan of social media influencers and instagram stars and fashion gurus; okay I’ll admit, I don’t even know who most are, but I mostly don’t care. Increasingly they all have books and it irritates me. Too much rizz, not enough substance.

And then comes along an artist who is a conservative evangelical, an obviously Godly woman with much to say and a lovely touch. I’ve been won over by Ruth Chou Simons and her artfully illustrated journals and Bibles and all the stuff. Her actual books are good and this one is a hefty, larger-sized devotional inviting us on pilgrimage, to “travel the path Jesus sets before you.” This uplifting mediation on the character of God can accompany you on your pilgrim journey.

There are here twenty-five mature devotions that explore God’s faithfulness, explore a theological teaching about God’s attributes, supplemented with hymns that “illuminate the timeless truths about who God is.”

I think what is so appealing about this solid hardback are the pastel flowers, the illumination, the design, the tender watercolor art. She calls it a collection of “guideposts of grace” and some of that surely is in the presentation itself. Very handsomely done.

Sacred Seasons: A Family Guide to Center Your Year Around Jesus Danielle Hitchen, art by Stephen Crotts (Harvest House) $29.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Kudos to publisher Harvest House (who did the nice Chou Simons book, above) for doing a evangelically-rooted family prayer book that is attentive to the liturgical calendar. Some of you enjoyed that webinar we did with Paul Louis Metzger last week (around his book Setting Your Spiritual Clock ) and had I found time, I would have given this new resource a great shout-out. It is just slightly oversized, a nice hardback, with some etchings and woodcuts in gold and red ink — it’s fabulous, very cool without being too glitzy.

Malcolm Guite has a great endorsement on the back (which is sort of rare) saying that Sacred Seasons is “a warm, winning, and above all practical introduction to the traditional church year.”

“A warm, winning, and above all practical introduction to the traditional church year.”

It is a handsomely designed book but it also has fun activities, delicious recipes, alongside the meaningful liturgies. It gently invites families into the ancient Christian disciplines of attending to the rhythms and cycles of the church calendar with a clear gospel focus on Jesus. Nice.

Meaning in the Moment: How Rituals Help Us Move Through Joy, Pain, and Everything in Between Amy F. Davis Abdallah (Brazos Press) $19.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Amy Davis is an amazing writer, poet, liturgist, pray-er. She is a theologian and minister and here she quite simply offers tools for “creating effective rituals that explore their meaning and mystery.” She invites us to mark “ends, middles, and beginnings of life.”

Get this: she’s got a PhD from Drew and she teaches practical theology and worship at Alliance University. She has been involved in Missio Alliance and the North American Academy of Liturgy. She obviously gets around.

In our forty years of bookselling we’ve seen some fads come and go, trends both good and weird. Ritual studies are fascinating and while some of this sort of thing can go off-kilter pretty quickly, Abdallah is a reliable guide and Meaning in the Moment never gets too woo-woo. It may not be what your fundamentalist grandma wants and it may be a bit much for some strict dogmatists, but for most of us in the vast middle — wanting healthy faith, solid doctrine, practical ways to live out faith in the real world, and a pinch of mystery and ritual — this is fantastic.  As Mimi Haddad of Christians for Biblical Equality International puts it, “If life’s transitions find you confused, discouraged, and stuck, this is your book!”

It is, I should be clear, more than a handful daily liturgies or mystical rituals. It actually has plenty about the topic so you can get under your belt the key notions of ritual, how it all works and why, what ritualization means and ways it can enhance our sense of God’s inbreaking Kingdom. There is a short but wise forward by David O. Taylor (who recently wrote the stunning A Body of Praise: Understanding the Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship.)

Somebody I trust in all of this is Dru Johnson (we reviewed his Human Rites quite favorably when it came out years ago and still commend it.) Now at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, Dru  writes:

Davis Abdallah gives us a feast of ritual thinking and actual rituals to ponder and practice. This is not just a book about rituals; it helps us navigate our ritualed world with a trustworthy guide. — Dru Johnson, author of Human Rites and Knowledge by Ritual

Receiving This Life: Practicing the Deepest Belonging Kara K. Root (Fortress Press) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

I hope you recall that more than a year ago I reviewed Kara Root’s amazing, rich, heart-rending, moving story The Deepest Belonging: A Story about Discovering Where God Meets Us. She is a pastor of a small Presbyterian Church (and the wife of scholar Andrew Root, whose serious work on the church in the secular age we’ve touted here.) That book, the first of Kara Root’s, was on our “Best Books of 2022” list and, importantly, was honored by others. It told a few stories about church life and, somehow, drew us into care about God’s love shown in the reality of hospitality, a church of where people belong. Mark Yaconelli wrote, “This is simply the best book of Christian faith I’ve read in over a decade.”

Okay, so this brand new one, Receiving This Life, is a bit of a sequel, a follow-up, offering devotional reflections, prayers, practices, and liturgies that “invite attentive receptivity to ordinary moments.” She invites us to think about resting, noticing, surrendering and “empowers readers to embrace life as sacred, practice belonging to God and each other, and receive all of life as a gift.”

I loved this book! Being with Kara Root in these pages is a pure gift. Part spiritual director, part kitchen-table friend, Root gently unzipped every article of anxious faith I own and left my “worry time” self on the floor. Every chapter was a flood of relief. Don’t reach for this book. Receive it. — Kenda Creasy Dean, Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church

Receiving This Life is a true gift of a book. Root is an inspired storyteller, and the wisdom and care shared in these pages will be life-giving and faith-shaping for pastors and lay readers alike. I will be quoting from this book and drawing from it as a resource for my own ministry for years and years to come. Again, what a gift. — Austin Carty, author of The Pastor’s Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry

Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner Ralph H. Craig III (Eerdmans) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Eerdmans long-standing series of religious biographies is respected for their scholarly acumen and, usually, for their accessible writing style, bring pleasure to countless, curious, nonfiction readers. Some are about admirable religious leaders, others less so. All are fascinating, combining history, social context, surveying the religious landscape, and the foibles of the personal faith of the person under consideration. Some, like Dr. Allen Guelzo’s Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, have been very widely recognized, others less so. In recent years they’ve done great ones on Sojourner Truth, Ruth Bell Graham, Jackie Robinson, Dwight Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, and more. I’m looking forward to the February release of A Prairie Faith: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I applaud their newest in this Library of Religious Biography, one of the few they’ve done on a pop star, and a pop star who is, in her own way, a Buddhist. Who knew?

Ralph Craig here explores Tina Turner’s spiritual journey from her Black Baptist upbringing to her “uniquely syncretic Buddhism.” As the back cover invites, you will discover “how the Queen of Rock n Roll found power and enlightenment against the dynamic backdrop of late twentieth-century America.”

Read these early reviews. Some folks are very, very excited about this, and not just as fans, but as those seriously pondering faith in the modern setting. Fascinating.

Ralph H. Craig III has gifted the field of religious studies and the world with this critical, ambitious, and beautifully written religious biography of Tina Turner, Black Buddhist woman and pop culture icon. . . . This indispensable volume blends together the myriad worlds and religious ways of knowing at the helm of Turner’s artistic and aesthetic productions, and it offers a daring challenge to earnestly sit with and learn from Tina. Dancing in My Dreams is, without question, a must-read. — Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Harvard Divinity School

A deep, exciting journey through Tina Turner’s Black Christian roots, adult explorations of American metaphysical religion, and embrace of Soka Gakkai International Nichiren Buddhism. This insightful biography casts new light on Turner’s ‘combinatory religious repertoire’ and artistic spirituality beyond lay status. For religious studies and Africana studies, Ralph Craig’s comprehensive scholarship introduces a fresh understanding of spiritual leadership with Tina — a Black woman, survivor, global music superstar, and Buddhist teacher. — Vaughn A. Booker, author of Lift Every Voice and Swing: Black Musicians and Religious Culture in the Jazz Century

The New Revised Standard SBL Study Bible Society for Biblical Literature (HarperOne) hardback; $50.00 / paperback; $39.99 OUR SALE PRICES = $40.00 (hardback) / $31.99

Someone more knowledgeable about Bible translations and such might have more insight but I can say four quick things about this long-awaiting, nearly magisterial, newly updated SBL study edition.

First, it is in the updated NRSV and while there have never been many options for good study Bibles in the NRSV, this is the only study edition we know of in the NRSVue (with ue, standing for “updated edition.”) It includes the Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical Books.

Secondly, it is prestigious in its own way — SBL is the professional gathering of the best ecumenical scholars working in the field of Biblical studies. There are some evangelicals involved (some of great standing who helped with this, such as Nijay Gupta and Ray Van Leeuwen.) There are towering figures in the field (Beverly Gaventa, John Goldingay, Leander Keck, Ralph Klein.) There are many contributors who seem to be from the global church, lots of women, lots whose names I do not recognize. Some are classic — Patrick Miller on the Psalms, Kathleen O’Connor on Lamentations, Richard Hays on Galatians. From Carol Bechtel on Esther to Richard Bauckham on 2 Peter and Mark Allen Powell on Matthew, it’s a grand and diverse set of experts helping illuminate the texts.

Thirdly, it is, for those who aren’t aware of this, very ecumenical, and, frankly, fairly guided by critical scholarship. (That is, I gather they just assume there are three Isaiahs, not one; that the Genesis narratives were shaped over time by various sources, and, happily, that the shape of the canon and canonical context matters.) It is very different than, say, the lovely spiritual guidance offered in the plainspoken and generally very helpful Life Application Study Bible and the dogmatically conservative and generally Reformed ESV Study Bible. All study BIbles have their biases, and while these may be what some call theologically liberal, they are nonetheless often helpful and generally honest about all of that. I’ve only skimmed it and it will take years before a consensus develops about how good it is. For now, it seems to be the best of its kind.

Fourth, it is handsomely done, with a fairly decent size print, lots of sidebars and such (no color pages or photos, though, like, say, in the NIV Study Bible.) However, all of the ones we got in (and we got a lot) have page bleed through. It may be a deal-breaker for some that the gray sidebars that look so handsome on one page bleeds through to the other side, making reading the backside less than pleasant. Same with bold type, lines, graphics. HarperOne really dropped the ball on this. I don’t know what to tell you but to be honest about this unfortunate feature.

TWELVE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED 2023 THAT WE WANT TO HIGHLIGHT AGAIN. All 20% off.

The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts Jeff Crosby (Broadleaf Books) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

You will recall that I said much about this, how it is so nicely written, gracious, thoughtful, with lots of stories and allusions to music. One of of my favorite books of spiritual formation this year. I’m pretty sure this is going to be on a number of year’s end “best books” lists — it sure is on mine. Highly recommended.

 

 

N.T. Wright (Zondervan) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

What can I say. Wright has developed some new thoughts on Romans, seen largely in this close reading of one of the most important chapters in the whole Bible. If you love God’s Word, I’d say you should read this book.

“Like a falcon in a dive, Tom Wright takes readers on a majestic and soaring flight through Romans 8, the heart of Paul’s letter to the Roman house churches. There’s so much to see on atonement, spirit versus flesh, adoption, love, and hope, and Tom does not disappoint with his amazing mix of explanatory insights and easy readability. For many readers, reading this book will be the first time Romans actually makes sense to them.” — Rev. Dr. Michael F. Bird, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia, author, Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible

What If Jesus Was Serious About Heaven? Sky Jethani (Brazos Press) $16.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

Do you know this little series of “What If Jesus Was Serious?” There is one about the Christian life, one about church life, one about prayer. This new one is about the Kingdom of God, the reign of Christ over all things. It is not far off to say this is a quick and playful intro to stuff like Surprised by Hope or How God Became King by Tom Wright. There are illustrations, full-color graphics. It is a hoot, and brilliant. Yay.

 

Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping Is An Essential Christian Practice Steven Bouma-Prediger (Baker Academic) $25.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

I am not kidding to say this is one of the best books on discipleship that I’ve read all year. Give it to anyone who loves nature, and anyone concerned about the environment, anybody who understands ecology — or those who don’t. Fantastic!

 

 

How To Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told Harrison Scott Key (Avid Reader Press) $27.99   OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

When a sophisticated humorist writes a book about his wife cheating on him and you realize it isn’t a joke, it becomes a page-turning train wreck that you want to look away from but can’t. And you shouldn’t because this book is tragic and funny, awful and hopeful, good and bad and better. It’s complicated and weird — the life of recovery from bad relationship habits and bad religion and newfound trust and hope makes this one of the best memoirs I’ve read all year. I couldn’t put it down. I’m not kidding, I laughed and I cried.

Now I Lay Me Down to Fight: A Poet Writes Her Way Through Cancer Katy Bowser Hutson (IVP) $16.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $12.80

This small book of poems and essays means the world to some of us who care about the author, but, more, to anyone who needs honest lament, and serious reflection on God’s grace and the gospel’s hope, even in darn hard things. She is amazing. Get a few to have on hand…

 

 

Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination: A Theological Biography  Conrad L. Kanagy (Fortress Press) $24.95  OUR 20% OFF SALE PRICE = $19.96

I hope you recall my long review of this first and very good “theological biography” of one of the most important religious leaders of our time. Brueggemann’s recent friend, central Pennsylvania’s Conrad Kanagy really gets him, and the many interviews he did with Walt pulled out bunches of stories from Brueggemann’s storied past. This is a great read. At the very least, if yoiu are in a mainline denominational church, you could give this to your pastor and she will be very impressed.

 

The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Karen has made a vital contribution to our understanding of the religious landscape, to our understanding of the vital history — the good and the bad — of revivalism and evangelicalism. She works on the metaphors that have shaped the imagination of many, and unpacks the weight of those stories and images as they have both motivated and damaged so very many. This is a must-read, and it is truly fascinating.

 

The Spacious Path: Practicing the Restful Ways of Jesus in a Fragmented World Tamara Hill Murphy (Herald Press) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I hope you recall my little review of this, a gentle and thoughtful guide to the spirituality of spaciousness, of rest, of the ways of following Jesus. She is a spiritual guide and invites us to live well in Christ’s grace. Lovely, insightful, helfpful.

“Many people feel overwhelmed by life these days, and for good reason. ‘Normal’ appears as a distant dot in the rearview mirror. But what if instead of normal, we sought a graced and spacious life? Tamara Hill Murphy invites us into such a life. In The Spacious Path, we are reminded that God has provided wide-open spaces for us, and that we can live a life ‘earthed in Christ.’ Tamara graciously invites us, and then walks with us, on the path toward engaging a rule of life–one that points to Jesus as our firm foundation.” —  Gem Fadling, cofounder of Unhurried Living, Inc., and author of Hold That Thought: Sorting Through the Voices in Our Heads

Holy Unhappiness: God’s Goodness, and the Myth of the Blessed Life Amanda Held Opelt (Worthy Publishing) $27.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

Oh my, this caught me by surprised and I loved it. Give it to anyone who is struggling and wants to be okay with not being okay. Just maybe it is “holy unhappiness” and a gift, actually. Being “blessed” as typically understood maybe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Held Opelt showed in her great book about grief (A Hole in the World) that is she a good writer. Here she is a good thinker, too, fun and nearly brilliant. Exceptional.

 

How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South Esau McCaulley (Convergent) $27.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

If you follow Hearts & Minds and this BookNotes newsletter you know of McCaulley. His name comes up in recent months since he curated and edited that series called “The Fullness of Time” about the church calendar and the liturgical seasons. Previously he wrote the excellent collection of New Testament studies Reading While Black. He has a kids book, too. Here he tells his life story, from growing up poor in the Pentecostal south to his journey towards Anglicanism. It is a glowing memoir, fascinating, well-written, and surprisingly entertaining. It includes some hard stuff and is important for all of us. What a gift of vulnerable storytelling. Get it. Give it.

Where the Waves Turn Back: A Forty Day Pilgrimage Along the California Coast Tyson Motsenbocker (Worthy Publishing) $27.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

Back in the summer I did a long review article of maybe ten different memoirs that we were big on, and this was one. Tyson is a singer-songwriter, an indie folk guy who has released albums and done very artful work. In this meandering memoir he tells of his life, his faith, his doubt… it is grounded in a forty day hike in California as he carried his mother’s ashes, waiting for the moment to spread them in an appropriate place. This is a fabulous memoir, a great story, and his journey on the road is illuminating and quite the adventure. Cool stuff. Give it to any young adult who wants to be “on the road” or is trying to work out grief and confusion. He’s a good guy and this is a very fine book.

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Sadly, as of December 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

We are here 10:00 – 6:00 EST /  Monday – Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

RECENT BOOKS ON THE ARTS AND THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION — ON SALE NOW

Among other things both wondrous and mundane, two revelations stand out from our day-to-day work last week that lead me to this BookNotes listing of some new books about the arts, creativity, the imagination, and such.

First, we did that fabulous hour-and-a-half webinar conversation with Dr Paul Louis Metzger on his fabulous book Setting Your Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse on the significance of the church calendar. Thanks to all who joined in — we’ll soon offer a free link (at least at the Hearts & Minds Facebook group) to that Zoom discussion so you can join it. One of the things that struck me — besides Paul’s cheerful charm in his serious call to radical discipleship (not to mention his love of rock & roll and the blues) — was that conversations about the church calendar pretty quickly move towards symbols, metaphors, images. Talking of sacred time and practices to attune ourselves to the holy requires some imagination. To press against the encroaching modernist secularism — “secular creep” Metzger playfully called it — we need all the help we can get and some sort of sanctification can happen (slowly, perhaps) when we pay attention to rhythms and rituals and colors. We didn’t talk about aesthetics and the arts as such, but I know we were on the edge of that mystery that evening.

Secondly, some saw on my own Facebook page (and, again, at the Hearts & Minds group page) a link to an informal Sunday school class I helped with to kick off the first Sunday of Advent. We are doing a series at First Presbyterian Church (of York, PA) on poetry called “Waiting Words.” Our oldest daughter, Stephanie, did a really fabulous job setting the table with a little talk on Advent, slowing down, and how the practice of listening to or reading poetry can help. She cited, nicely, from the introduction to the marvelous book When Poets Pray by Marilyn McEntyre. After reading this BookNotes, jump over to our Facebook group to hear her good words, at least, and stay, if you’d like, to hear words by the great Presbyterian pastor and poet, Thomas J. Carlisle, Madeleine L’Engle, Luci Shaw, Drew Jackson, and Joan Rae Mills. I was inspired to think about how creativity and the arts, imagination and aesthetics can help us all.

And so, here are a handful of recent books which you may or may not know about. I hope you consider them for yourself, for creatives you know, and certainly for anyone interested in the art world.

We have many BookNotes lists — some quite extensive — showing some of the selection we have regarding books about faith and art. From classics like Madeleine  L’Engle’s Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art or one of my all-time favorite books, Rainbows for the Fallen World by Calvin Seerveld, to the must-have anthology edited by Ned Bustard (It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God) published by Square Halo Books or even their lovely, small one called Naming the Animals: An Invitation to Creativity by Stephen Roach, there are so many good ones. For serious folks, we have all the IVP Academic ones in their great “Studies in Theology and the Arts” series. Visit our website, click on BookNotes, and enter “the arts” or “creativity” into the little search box and you’ll be surprised by how much it will bring up from past BookNotes. The prices might have changed, but some of those old lists are really good. Enjoy!

For now, here are some fairly new ones, all 20% off. Order today.

The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective edited by Roger Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker (IVP Academic) $45.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $36.00

This splendid, extraordinary, remarkable book deserves its own full review but that will have to wait. For now, just a few quick words to say how much this means to me, how much we recommend it, and how wonderfully affirming it is to those who are both seriously theological and intentional about forging a faith-informed sense of aesthetics, a Biblical-driven vision of the imagination, and a critical (if gracious) view of art history.

First, this: the “neo-Calvinism” in the title is a faith tradition emerging from Holland in the early 1900s. The preacher/social reformer/Prime Minister Abraham Kuyper and his associates created a fresh take on the ways in which the sovereignty of God works in the world, and a call to be serious about cultural renewal. There are some who appropriate this tradition in stodgy, doctrinaire ways, but the thinkers — some art historians, some philosophers, some artists —  show that the tradition (with its delightful emphasis on common grace for the common good) need not be sectarian. dogmatic, or traditionalist (as some pitch it these days)

Two names come up on occasion in this fascinating collection who represented various strains or tones of Dutch neo-Calvinism; one is Hans Rookmaaker (whose artful daughter co-edited this volume from Holland), a Dutchman who found faith in a Nazi concentration camp (and who had, perhaps, the best record collection of American jazz and blues in all of Europe in those years) who later influenced early Francis Schaeffer.

The other is the extraordinary legal scholar and Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd, whose followers nearly started a  movement which in the 1960s and 70s created Toronto’s Institute for Christian Studies. Co-editor Roger Henderson studied at ICS (with Calvin Seerveld, the legendary philosopher of aesthetics there) and so represents that unique, mostly North American form of culturally engaging, smart, neo-Calvinism. These are two streams of the theologically-Reformed “neo-Cal” tradition that influenced Beth and I; those that know the origin story of Hearts & Minds have heard us talk of friends from Toronto’s ICS and the Swiss L’Abri that formed our vocation as booksellers.

This big, new book does have a tiny bit of insider baseball lingo, I suppose — Henderson gives us a good chapter on Dooyeweerd’s view of spheres of life and it is a gift for any serious thinker, it seems. There is a chapter swiping a line from Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (“Rumors of Glory”) that explains how the theme of the Kingship of Christ over all of life in Abraham Kuyper reformed Calvin’s view of the arts. Whether readers are Reformed or not it’s a great chapter!

Most of The Artistic Sphere, though, will be fabulous for anyone even vaguely interested in the conversation about faith and the arts. I can hardly think of a better follow up to, say, the Square Halo Books anthology, It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, or the good books by Mako Fujimura. It is truly interesting, a winning case study of what folks mean when they talk about the integration of faith and scholarship. With the variety of top notch authors — from E. John Walford to Nicholas Wolterstorff to William Edgar to Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin to Calvin Seerveld (whose essay is spectacular, by the way) just to name a few — this book is nothing short of magnificent.

And it is a visual delight. Kudos, again, to IVP. Most authors have been given a way of showing how their theories or insights work out in practice by them doing a second, companion chapter where they celebrate and evaluate art pieces. From James Romain on “I See the Promised Land” in the collaborative work of K.O.S. and Tim Rollins to Seerveld’s piece on the meaning of the crucifixion in Grunewald and Perugino to several pieces on contemporary protest art, the book is a full color feast. It is serious, of course, but there are playful design touches and light colors throughout. Full color art enhances every chapter.

There is, for those who care, a re-printed chapter from a previous book by Hans Rookmaaker and his lovely “Letter to a Christian Artist” from The Creative Gift. Also, Victoria Emily Jones has an excellent closing essay about the books and movements and scholars who have contributed over the last decades. It will be very important for scholars, students, and fun for aficionados.

More should be said — this is one of the grand releases of 2023. Whether you are familiar with the broad themes of a good creation that is drastically damaged by sin but that is being redeemed by a saving Lord, who promised to bring restoration even as we now live into the Kingdom of “all things (re)need” or not, The Artistic Sphere will inspire you to want to live a more full, more human, more full, richer life.  Five stars — very highly recommended.

For many decades, the Kuyperian tradition has been at the forefront of nourishing a Christian imagination in the world of the arts. This excellent collection proves the point, as well as demonstrating how Neo-Calvinism can resource artists and Christian thinkers to tackle together the challenges of the future. — Jeremy Begbie, Duke University, author, Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World

The Artistic Sphere is an engaging antidote to stereotypes that often cluster around Calvinism and visual images. These essays are not characterized by a uniform viewpoint. There are refreshing differences of emphasis and interpretation in the way topics like beauty, the imagination, or the social roles of art are discussed. This book is an excellent introduction to how the visual arts were and are shaped, understood, and used in Reformational cultures. — Theodore Prescott, emeritus professor of art at Messiah University, author, A Broken Beauty

Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World Jeremy S. Begbie (Baker Academic) $39.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

I’ve highlighted this previously, but surely it is, as one reviewer insisted, “A remarkable achievement that breaks new ground.” So it’s very worth whilte naming again.

We’ve obviously appreciated — and carried — every Begbie book since his extraordinary (and scholarly) work on music, released years ago. A few years ago he did one exploring what theology has to say to the arts, and another one on what the arts have to say to theology. He is prolific, academic, passionate, and a master of classical music. He is one of our finest writers in this whole genre, at least for those who want rigorous, dense prose.

Here he is surely doing much more than affirming that God cares about our creative juices or saying that our faith should give us lenses through which we can perceive goodness and delight in the arts of our fellow humans. It is even more than saying that beauty should be a key notion for our theological efforts. Sure.

In Abundantly More Begbie is making a major argument against one of the grand themes of Western philosophy and culture, what is summed up in the word “reductionism.” Think of C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, perhaps, or other critics that explain how reducing life to just this or that is always troubling and never ends well. No, we need a robust, opened-up, multi-dimensional view of things, the very “teeming” creation God has given us.

As it says on the back, “In a culture that so often seems to shrink and flatten our vision, reducing the world to mere atoms and us to mere things, the arts can break our imaginations open.”

James K.A. Smith has written much against this anti-creational vision or reductionism, and recently, in a column in Image (the arts journal he edits) he explained how very important this new book is.  Here is what Smith said on the back cover:

As only Jeremy Begbie can do, this book weaves theology and music, philosophy and poetry, science and Scripture to explore and celebrate the uncontainability of the triune God and the irreducible complexity of creation. Beginning with an astute analysis of our modern tendency to reduce, flatten, and de-complexify the beautiful, swirling kaleidoscope of divine and created reality, Begbie articulates a creative, constructive pneumatology that deepens our understanding of the resonance between theology and the arts. A remarkable achievement that breaks new ground. — James K. A. Smith, Calvin University; editor, Image; author How to Inhabit Time.

Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking At and Learning from Art Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt (Baker Academic) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Funny, as I pulled recent books off the shelf that I wanted to list alongside our lead title on the neo-Calvinists insights about the “artistic sphere” (above), this is the one I first grabbed. I selected it because it is the brightest, most interesting, best-done arts book of the recent past and it just shouted to be listed again. It is colorful and wise. Fun,too.

Yes, I highlighted it last February — we had it before the official release date and celebrated it by releasing it at the CCO’s great Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh last February. Now, this coming year, Elissa is a keynote, plenary speaker there and doing a workshop on the arts. Hooray. This is righteous!

Redeeming Vision is somewhat like other books which invite people of faith to a deeper awareness of the aesthetic gift, of redemptive moves in interpreting art, in seeing goodness and learning from it by way of engaging classic and contemporary art. It is a Christian guide but, frankly, is so very well done with so many full-color reproductions and insightful comments, that nearly anyone could appreciate it. It is rich and thoughtful and gives actual tools for evaluation and a helpful framework — so much so that Rachel Hostetter Smith of Taylor University says it provides a “useful toolbox.” It is one of those books that deserves a very, very wide readership. We are very happy to suggest it.

Redeeming Vision is an erudite and yet wonderfully hospitable invitation for the layperson to engage deeply with art and art history through a profoundly Christian theological perspective. A vital contribution to the library of any sincere student of visual culture and its central importance in our lives. — Bruce Herman, gallery director, Barrington Center for the Arts

Weichbrodt has provided what Christian discourse about the visual arts over the last fifty years has lacked: an on-the-ground guide to looking. Redeeming Vision is a remarkable text that will play a crucial role in helping to initiate countless curious but often confused seekers into the practice of looking at art. — Daniel A. Siedell New York City, author, God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art

Rembrandt Is In the Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith Russ Ramsey (Zondervan) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Okay, this came out late last year and isn’t brand new. We celebrated it as one of our favorite books of 2022. I mention it here, now, not only because it fits this column so nicely but because I wanted to suggest it as a great gift for a wanna-be art lover. Russ is a good writer, a beloved pastor, a cool guy, but he is not a professional critic, not an artist by vocation, not one who is known for this sort of book. But that’s it’s strength — call it “growing your faith by learning a bit about the arts” and coming to appreciate art more by learning some of the spiritual backstory of the artists. It does what it sets out to do, which is, frankly, to help ordinary folks learn to appreciate visual art better and to do so religiously.

In this sense, this fabulous 2022 narrative reminds me of two favorites we very often recommend — Terry Glaspey’s tremendous 75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know: The Fascinating Stories Behind Great Works of Art, Literature, Music and Film and his very useful Discovering God Through the Arts: How We Can Grow Closer to God by Appreciating Beauty & Creativity.

But Rev.Ramsey’s Rembrandt Is In the Wind is so, so interesting! The foreword by Mako Fujimura is excellent, the full color plates are great, and the back-cover endorsement of Karen Swallow Prior is punchy and to the point. She says, “The artists featured in these pages, artists who devoted their life and work to that which is good, true, and beautiful, remind us that we can — and should — do the same.

Imagining Our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy Mary W. McCampbell (Fortress Press) $28.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

Again, this is a 2022 release, another of our favorite books of last year. It deserves another big shout-out, as does the fabulously interesting author, the great Mary McCampbell. Anyone who has heard me speak about the importance of books and reading have surely heard me insist that reading widely has a benefit of deepening our sense of empathy — walking a mile in another’s shoes, ya know. This documents that with as much vigor and passion and scholarly wisdom as you can imagine. The opening chapter on what empathy is and the Biblical warrant for it is excellent and shapes her evangelical vision of why and how narrative works its magic on us.

Imagining Our Neighbors… is, unlike the other books on this list, about narrative art, which is to say novels, movies, plays, TV shows, music. She explores graphic novels, YA fiction, the big classics of contemporary fiction, and pop culture. I simply cannot say enough about this but it is a gem; thoughtful, serious, but utterly engaging. Hooray.

McCampbell takes the ingredients of the familiar and invites us on a theological and experiential journey to self and neighbor compassion. In her book, both storytelling and story analysis, from film to Holy Scripture, inspire and equip us to grow what seems so lacking today: empathy. — Christina Edmondson, psychologist, cohost of the Truth’s Table podcast, and author of Faithful Antiracism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change

God and Wonder: Theology, Imagination, and the Arts edited by Jeffrey W. Barbeau & Emily Hunter McGowin (Cascade Books) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

This book is not brand new but it is new to me, and perhaps new to you. I discovered it from two sources — there was a great review in the recent Christian Scholars Review that made me sit up and wonder how I missed this great anthology. And then I realized the co-editor, Emily Hunter McGowin, is the author of the little “Fullness of Time” book on Christmas, called Christmas: The Season of Life and Light. I loved that little book (that precedes the equally brilliant Epiphany:The Season of Glory by Fleming Rutledge.)  Maybe I was right, as I alluded to above, that thinking about the liturgical calendar and church year allows one to think about the imagination, about wonder and light and glory.

God and Wonder is a rigorous set of various academic pieces, mostly by theologians of sorts, some academics, some not. Here you’ll read an array of multi-ethnic and trans-denominational voices (Scott Cairns, a poet, is Orthodox; Karen An-hwei Lee is a provost and poet at Wheaton College and here writes on the Psalms; Cheryle Sanders is a beloved and respected professor of ethics at Howard University in DC (and a pastor of the well known Third Street Church of God there.) Nijay Gupta is a New Testament scholar and seriously published  Pauline scholar — he teaches at Northern. In any case, these various writers are weighing in on the question of wonder. How does a Biblical and spiritual sense of awe lead to not only an enhanced imagination but a passion for the arts?

There are chapters on children, on a theology of the imagination, of “radiant awe.” Jeremy Begie has a piece called “Encountering the Uncontainable in the Arts” that is akin to his new book that I mentioned above.

A few chapters that I’m diving into soon:

  • “Making as an Act of Longing and Lament” by Tish Harrison Warren
  • “The Artistry of Place” by Andrew Peterson
  • “Placed Wonder through the Arts” by Jennifer Allen Craft
  • “The Wonder of Cinema in Dorothy L. Sayers and Spike Lee” by Crystal Downing
  • “Songs and Symbols for an Overcoming Church” by Cheryl J. Sanders

Doorway to Artistry: Attuning Your Philosophy to Enhance Your Creativity Esther Lightcap Meek (Cascade) $32.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

This, my friends, is a very impressive book with which we have great affection. Esther Lightcap Meek is a friend and a retired philosophy professor we admire very much. Her other books are about (get this) knowing. That is, to use the fancy-pants works, epistemology but she brings a common person’s tone to it because her deeply Biblical / covenantal view of knowing is, as the Bible seems to teach, with head, heart, and hand. That is, we are full-bodied creatures, not only brains, and to “know” in the Bible is much, much more than mere cognition or brain knowledge. We know with our bodies, actually.

She makes this point in several important books drawing on the amazing 20th century philosopher of science, Michael Polanyi (and, I’d guess, somewhat in league with that great popular writer, Steve Garber.) In any case, Esther has inspired students — even a rock band who did an album called Esther to show how much her courses influenced their artistry — and now, here, she is showing how all that works for artists.

The subtitle says it all — this is about attuning one’s philosophy so that we might have a proper framework that elicits an attentiveness to our creative impulses. Being an artist — or inhabiting that “artistic sphere” whether an artist, formally, or not —“involved you intimately with the world around and beyond you.” So, she says, “your artistry involves profound but simple philosophical matters.” It goes to the very core of your being.

This book is grand, with a big, caring vision. It offers philosophy for the common person, but, especially designed to help them with their creative side, offering exactly what the title promises: a “doorway to artistry.”

There are nifty illustrations by Martin Smith and a great, collaborative foreword by Makoto Fujimura. She draws on thinkers and writers from Wendell Berry to Robert Farrar Capon to Lewis Hyde to D.C. Schindler — especially his Love and the Postmodern Predicament.  Can you know in order to love? Want to learn to love in order to know? This book will help.

Oasis of Imagination: Engaging Our World Through a Better Creativity Ted Turnau  (IVP-UK) $39.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

We import this one from the UK and we couldn’t be happier. Well, it is a bit big and a bit pricey, but, man — what an inspiring manifesto. Turnau is a leader in both church and the arts community in Prague. He wrote a very thoughtful book a decade ago called Popologetics, which offers a method of classic apologetics drawing on popular culture. (He also wrote last year and published on New Growth Press one called The Pop Culture Parent.) He is currently Chair of Literature and Culture at Anglo-American University in the Czech Republic.

This book is upbeat and readable — even at 450 pages you will not be wearied — and although he draws on serious philosophers and theologians (from Heidegger to Kundera to N.T. Wright, from Dooyeweerd to David Dark to Neil Gaiman. Wow.)

Turnau here offers a consistently Christian, thoughtful overview of a theology of imagination, drawing on worldviewish thinkers like Al Wolters and artists like Makoto Fujimura. He is indebted to Tim Keller and even Francis Schaeffer. And like each of those thinkers (each in their own way) he interacts with contemporary scholars, European thinkers, playwrights, artists, cultural critics. He has Biblical work (including some great footnotes) and helps Christians in their creative culture-making. His hope is to “help the Christian church enter into and contribute to this conversation in ways that build bridges, ways that heal rifts, even in a world that might no longer welcome Christian commitments.” We excited about this.

Imagination Manifesto: A Call to Plant Oases of Imagination Ted Turnau & Ruth Naomi Floyd (IVP-UK) $14.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

Okay, this (as you can tell from the cover) is a companion volume to the bigger Oasis of Imagination. This is, as they put it in the back of Oasis, “to put theory into practice.” Nice

Three quick things: Jesus calls us into the world so we should be intentional about our engagement with our cultures. This book helps us quickly get up to speed about how the imagination is an important part of how God made us and why it is part of God’s call to seek the good of our communities. It is about why Christian artists need the church but also about why the church should not only be helpful to artists, but should be planting some kind of artistic / creative works in our community.

Secondly, you should know that Turnau’s co-writer here is, in fact, a vibrant black woman — from Philly! — who is a jazz composer and singer (and who has worked with the anti-trafficking work of the International Justice Mission.) She is known for exciting lectures of art and justice, on music and beauty and racial reconciliation. We are fans.

Thirdly, this is not only a distillation of his bigger book, but this team-effort offers a path beyond culture wars with a compelling call to action; Naomi is an artist and activist and perfect for this on-the-ground manual. This little guide offers practical suggestions for “getting started with planting oases right where you are.” Wow.

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  • United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available.
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Sadly, as of December 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over and is on the rise. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen. Pray for us.

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JOIN US FOR A FREE WEBINAR THIS TUESDAY NIGHT – An Evening with Paul Metzger discussing “Setting the Spiritual Clock” 7:00 PM (E.S.T.) REGISTER NOW

PLEASE REGISTER NOW FOR OUR FREE WEBINAR WITH PAUL METZGER

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28TH – 7:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time.)

REGISTER HERE.

 

I know it is a busy weekend with many folks travelling to be with relatives, meeting up with turkeys and parades and — hopefully — offering prayers of gratitude and hopes for peace. Our last BookNotes was sent into the holiday maelstrom of Facebook ads, email spam, and social media posts about everything from great family meals to profound losses. I hope, somehow, you saw it, and spent a little quiet time pondering the great books we described about Advent. We’ve got ‘em, and if we can help, we’re here to serve you further. Thanks.

In that last BookNotes column I started with a book by my friend Dr. Paul Louis Metzger, and now we are inviting you to join me as I chat with him in a free webinar this Tuesday evening. Maybe you tuned in to the last conversation I had with him and if so, you know the time went fast. We think this one is going to be a blast.

Paul is a scholar at Multnomah University and Seminary in the Pacific Northwest town of Portland, Oregon — it’s the place where, among other things, the popular Bible Project guys came from. Metzger teaches there and also directs The Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins, which is a think-tank/learning center to help Christians more intentionally and faithfully engage, as they say, the culture of which we inevitably are a part. As Calvin Seerveld has written, “culture is not optional” — it is where God has placed us, like it or not. We can study our context and enjoy God’s world and work to repair the dark and broken parts — alert to even the subtle things that erode human flourishing in this secularizing era —or we can go with the flow and get carried along by the ubiquitous social forces and steams, which, well: you know how that ends. For God’s glory and our neighbor’s good, we’ve got to put on holy armor and (with whimsy and joy and faith and hope) resist with all we’ve got.

It isn’t just the big stuff we must fight — starvation, racism, ecological destruction, elder abuse, porn, war, dishonest politics, the ideologies that give us the idolatries of nationalism and technicism and such. (As a matter of fact, Paul has written a scholarly work of applied theology about these very things called More Than Things: A Personalist Ethic for a Throwaway Culture.) Actually, though, the deeper questions are matters of the heart — sure, they flow out to shape culture and society for better or worse, but the Bible suggests there is a profound interplay between the state of our hearts (the things we love and value) and the state of our cultures. Idols are personal — oh, so personal — but also social, communal. We live within our social contexts, our habitus, as some call it, and yet we shape the very contexts. If we’re not careful, we end up looking like the idols we serve.

We need the mind of Christ and the practice of virtues and some friends along the way. We need churches who are aware of all of this and whose worship is thoughtful, intentional, and formative for us. I think this is why the Setting the Spiritual Clock is part of a series (“Worship and Witness”) put out by the Calvin Institute on Christian Worship.

It is not uncommon knowledge that we live in a secularizing culture, what the grand philosopher Charles Taylor has famously called “the secular age.” James K.A. Smith is an expert and helpful companion as we try to learn Taylor’s insights (see his How (Not) To Be Secular: On Reading Charles Taylor) and I am glad that Paul Metzger has studied this stuff well.

This Tuesday night we here at Hearts & Minds are hosting a webinar with Paul to help us figure out how — even in the hectic month of December — we can keep this secular age from eclipsing the meaning and joy of our days. Please join us.

REGISTER HERE:  https://bit.ly/3G8XOR8 

If the page this takes you too seems a little funky — no worries. They’ll send you a conformation for the event 7:00 PM this Tuesday. You’ll be able to chime in with questions and comments, too, via a Zoom chat, although your face won’t be on the screen. 

The word “eclipsing” in the subtitle is important, as we will see. Paul is drawing on the sorts of cultural studies offered by Smith and Taylor (and others) to make a case why the seasons of the church year are so important.  What some call the “liturgical calendar” is that orientation we get as people in the church (or at least we should!)  Waiting in Advent, honoring the incarnation at Christmas, standing in the glory of epiphany, moving with Christ towards the humility and sacrifice of the cross during Lent. You know the rest, right? Holy Week, the death and bodily resurrection of Christ, the promise of power and presence, ascension, Pentecost.

If we are attentive to this cycle of events our days will, sooner or later, be less attuned to or shaped by back to school and Halloween and April 15th and Memorial Day and July 4th but rather more profoundly by the moments and seasons that teach us, year by year, about the life of Christ and the Triune God of the Bible.

Paul’s book Setting the Spiritual Clock has a lengthy introduction which includes some of the best writing I have read about all of this. The bulk of the book is a big devotional (not exactly a daily devo, but a bit sporadic, weekly, seasonal) just chock-full of teachings, explorations, inspirations, and applications of the practical stuff of this kind of life, a life shaped by sacred time. I love it.

One need not be a high church Episcopalian (I am not) to appreciate the gist of this approach to time, to seasons, to counting our days in truly Biblical fashion. And one need not be a cultural historian or social critic to realize that we live in a fast-paced, ever-changing world, what Len Sweet used to call “hot wired” and it is getting to us, eroding our faith, deforming our habits, hurting our children. We need to learn a new way of considering not just our daily discipleship, but the frame that gives it all meaning, subconsciously informing all we do. This framing context for a uniquely Christian habitus to counter the secular creep comes from our understanding of our calendar. It comes, by keeping time, in church and at home.

Join us, won’t you, for this free Zoom presentation. All you have to do is REGISTER HERE and then you’ll get the free access code sent right to you.

The fun begins at 7 EST this Tuesday. We’ll go a bit more than an hour, I’d guess.

Our event is graciously co-sponsored by the great Calvin Institute on Christian Worship in Grand Rapids and the publisher, Wipf & Stock, out in Oregon. What a joy that these institutions are trusting me to interview Paul and give him some Hearts & Minds hospitality, setting the stage for him to share a bit about the book, why he wrote it, its goals and value, and how we might make sense of this new year, Advent season 2023.

I know this is short notice — could you please share this with folks who might appreciate it? I’m sure most BookNotes fans will enjoy it, but we’re especially hoping pastors, worship leaders, church liturgists and musicians, educators, youth ministers, and other ministry workers might join in. It’s going to be lively, interesting, and I believe helpful as you set your face to the new year.

HERE IS WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE LAST BOOKNOTES:

Setting the Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse Paul Louis Metzger (Cascade) $34.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $27.20

I’m starting our BookNotes Advent list here for two reasons, at least. First, this is an absolutely fantastic devotional with some excellent Advent content, one I can hardly speak of with enough vigor and enthusiasm. I’m absolutely not just saying this because I did a Facebook Live session with Paul around his previous IVP Academic Book More Than Things: A Personalist Ethics for a Throwaway Culture when it first released last August. Granted, I loved that heady book and came to admire the author very much (and had a blast chatting with him.) But, no, I’m not just pushing the work of a friend. I really, really value Setting the Spiritual Clock and think it adds much to the conversations on these themes about the importance of understanding time and the flow of our days. There is hardly anything like it (as Gordon Lathrop implied in a fabulous Christian Century review.) I will speak in greater detail in another BookNotes, soon.

We are doing another Facebook Live gathering on the evening of Tuesday, November 28th where I interview Paul about this book (register here) and I couldn’t be happier, set, as it will be, right after Christ Our King Sunday and what will then be the week before the first Sunday of Advent. Paul is an ecumenically-informed, learned evangelical scholar, and he will tell us why the church calendar is important, how understanding sacred time helps us focus our lives around the life of Jesus. It’s going to be fun (really, it will be.)

Setting the Spiritual Clock is not only an Advent devotional although there are a good handful of excellent devotional readings for the season. It covers the whole year, so you’ll find good pieces on Christmas and Epiphany as well. From there, he has smart and theologically wise reflections on all the major church seasons (and a few other important days, from Black History Month to Mothers Day to a fascinating entry on Hanukkah.) We all worry about the “secular creep” in our lives and not only has Paul read Charles Taylor and Jamie Smith’s important How (Not) to be Secular, he realizes that one of the great tools to resist creeping secularity is keeping the ecclesial year. This is part of our spiritual formation and his book can help. As Kristen Deede Johnson of Western Seminary puts it,

“This is a gem of a book…. Its content deserves to be mined and treasured as we seek to follow Jesus in these complex cultural and political moments.”

If you purchase this hefty volume you not only get some great ruminations on Advent and Christmas and Epiphanytide, but more than 275 pages on the whole year through. Whether you are in a high liturgical church, part of a more moderate mainline Protestant congregation, or worship in a free-flowing nondenominational auditorium, this is a book that “serves as a guide and traveling companion for the liturgical year, which circles the glorious Son as he breaks through the secular eclipse.” Fantastic.

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TO PLACE AN ORDER 

PLEASE READ, THEN SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK ON THE “ORDER HERE” LINK BELOW.

The weight and destination of your package varies but you can use this as a quick, general guide:

There are generally two kinds of US Mail options and, of course, UPS.  If necessary, we can do overnight and other expedited methods, too. Just ask.

  • United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available.
  • United States Postal Service has another, quicker option called “Priority Mail” which is $8.50, 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 $9.20. “Priority Mail” gets much more attention than does “Media Mail” and is often just a few days to anywhere in the US.
  • UPS Ground is reliable but varies by weight and distance and may take longer than USPS. Sometimes they are cheaper that Priority. We’re happy to figure out your options for you once we know what you want.

If you just want to say “cheapest” that is fine. If you are eager and don’t want the slowest method, do say so. It really helps us serve you well so let us know.

BookNotes

Hearts & Minds logo

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

ALL BOOKS MENTIONED

+++

order here

this takes you to the secure Hearts & Minds order form page
just tell us what you want to order

inquire here

if you have questions or need more information
just ask us what you want to know

Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street  Dallastown  PA  17313
read@heartsandmindsbooks.com
717-246-3333

Sadly, as of November 2023 we are still closed for in-store browsing. COVID is not fully over. Since few are reporting their illnesses anymore, it is tricky to know the reality but the best measurement is to check the waste water tables to see the amount of virus in the eco-system. It is bad and now getting worse. It’s important to be aware of how risks we take might effect the public good — those at risk, while not dying from the virus, are experiencing long-term health consequences. (Just check the latest reports of the rise of heart attacks and diabetes among younger adults, caused by Covid.) It is complicated, but we are still closed for in-store browsing due to our commitment to public health (and the safety of our family who live here, our staff, and customers.) Our store is a bit cramped without top-notch ventilation, so we are trying to be wise. Thanks for understanding.

We will keep you posted about our future plans… we are eager to reopen.

We are doing our curb-side and back yard customer service and can show any number of items to you if you call us from our back parking lot. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience as we all work to mitigate the pandemic. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see friends and customers.

We are happy to ship books anywhere. 

We are here 10:00 – 6:00 EST /  Monday – Saturday. Closed on Sunday.