You are warmly invited to join me the next two consecutive weeks as I interview two very, very impressive authors.

These conversational webinars are being hosted by us here (virtually) at Hearts & Minds, put together with help from the publishers (Zondervan and Paraclete, respectively) and will feature an hour or so with two wonderful writers, thinkers, communicators, and passionate advocates for a better world. You have heard me talk about both authors and both books at previous BookNotes so I will be brief.

Please feel free to share this with somebody who might appreciate knowing about these free online discussions. I sure do wish others beyond our circles would hear about these two outstanding events.

First, you are invited to spend an evening with Dorothy Littell Greco, author of the recent book (which I named as a “Best Books of 2025”) For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America published by Zondervan. It sells for $19.99 and at our 20% off BookNotes discount it is just $15.99.

There has been a lot of concern expressed in recent years about mistreatment of girls and women in our society (even in churches of various stripes and denominations.)  Dorothy (who has worked as a journalist and is a long-time writer) helps us understand the nature of this devious misogyny and what we can do about it. As I noted in the previous reviews I did at BookNotes, her book is very informative about this problem in various sectors of social life — sexism in the work-world, the church, entertainment, healthcare, education, our intimate family lives and more — and, happily, it is hopeful. It is rooted in gospel-hope!  For the Love of Women offers well-researched diagnosis and truly helpful steps to not just uproot but to heal from this painful stuff.

It is a heavy topic, we know, but I have been told I’m an okay interviewer and I know Dorothy is a great conversationalist. We’ll chat about the book — maybe about her other books a bit, even, and her calling as a writer — as she give us suggestions for moving forward to a future that pleases God and brings healing to the public and personal hurts many have experienced. I am confident that it will be an important time. Spread the word, soon, won’t you?

It is this coming Tuesday evening, January 27th.

Join us at 7:30 EST this coming Tuesday night, January 27, 2026 at 7:30 pm EST.  Log on and listen in; there will be a way to ask questions and make comments, too, through the online chat feature at Zoom.  It’ll be good to gather.

Below is the link which allows you to pre-register. It’s a secure site which will then send back to you a link which is your free access to the online Zoom discussion of For the Love of Women with yours truly and author Dorothy Greco, at 7:30 EST on 1-27-26.

Use this registration link for the webinar with Dorothy Greco:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/misogyny-in-america-with-dorothy-greco-and-byron-borger-tickets-1980724025881?aff=oddtdtcreator

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One week later, on Tuesday evening, February 3, 2026 (at 8:00 pm EST) will be another free online evening of conversation and it will be a fabulously generative time, a conversation with one of the most interesting and thought-provoking and Christainly faithful people I know, my long-time pal and ally, Steve Garber. Any time with Steve — a phone call, a Facebook post, a Zoom meeting — is precious and inspiring, so our Evening with Steve Garber will be what he sometimes calls “a conversation with consequence.” I’m sure of it.

As you may know, we were among the first to get his brand new book, officially released this week, from his lovely publisher, Paraclete Press, Hints of Hope: Essays on Making Peace with the Proximate. The usual price of this very handsome paperback (with French folded covers) is $24.95 but at our BookNotes newsletter sale price it goes for $19.99.

I wrote in one of my early announcements of it that I am sure it will be listed as one of the very best books of 2026.

Hints of Hope is eloquent, literary, and filled with captivating tellings of long stories, complex examples of good men and women all over the world who have dared to make a difference in this hurting world. Filled with visions of vocation, they make peace with the notion that they cannot do everything and are glad to do what God gives them to do, repairing the world little by little, in faith, hope, and love. That word proximate — think approximate — says so much and undergirds the important title: Hints of Hope.

I sincerely hope that some who are energized by our webinar with Dorthy Greco this Tuesday will then come to be strengthened for the long haul of a life of Kingdom service by Steve on February 3rd. That starts at 8:00 Eastern and you’ll be able to type in questions and comments online. It’s going to be quite a conversation, I promise.

Below is the link which you must use to pre-register. Once you pre-register they will send you confirmation back which will be the link you must use to join the fun. Pre-register asap, please.

You must register in advance for this webinar with Steve Garber:

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As of January 2026 we are closed for in-store browsing.

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. We’ve got tables set up out back or can bring things right to your car. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see old friends and new customer

Okay, friends, I hope you saw my big PART ONE of our epic FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 list. It is agonizing trying to rate or judge these books, some of which have become absorbed into part of my being, my memory of the year, my sense of things. Not every book leaves a mark, and I like skimming a lot — an occupational privilege and hazard. But so many are so good. The earlier post was mostly a list of my true favorites. Thank you to those who trusted my suggestions and took us up on a few. We live for this. And, whew, some of those books were really amazing for me.

Use the secure order form (the link is at the bottom) to order more and we’ll do the discounts and take care of the rest.

But there’s more. A lot more. Here, then, is the even more epic PART TWO of the best books of 2025. I’m not going to differentiate between those that are really, really great and those that are stellar and those that are fabulous and those that are necessary. Words fail me. Let’s just say these all richly deserve an honorable mention. I’ve already announced or reviewed most of these at BookNotes so use that search box in our BookNotes tab at the website to search out what you can find, if you need to.

Here we go, presenting true honorable mentions, some of the great books of 2025 (in no particular order.)

You don’t have to fret about finding the best; I’ve curated that for you. Send us an order today. All are 20% off.

 

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

This truly was one of my favorite reads of 2025 and I still grab it off the shelf and page through it, looking for memorable stories, paragraphs, lines and phrases. Ayers is a great writer, a fine storyteller, astute about those who are suspicious of faith or who have been burned by harsh churches. I loved his movie and rock music citations, his general ability to bring just the right story or illustration to the narrative, and his very solid Biblical and theological insight. There are reflections about these complicated days but there is a high and constant view of Christ, too. This book actually covers so it is an enjoyable primer for anyone about the basics (and even legitimacy) of the Christian faith. As Leanne Van Dyk has said, it is a book for those who yearn.

Let me just say two quick things that I mean as utter and sincere selling points, features that delight me even if they aren’t central. First, it is lovely to see a PC(USA) pastor — born and raised in nondenominational churches, by the way — writing such a thoughtful book on NavPress. While some may think of them as a house that mostly does rather formulaic discipleship resources or inductive Bible studies, this is just one of many, many examples of NavPress doing some of the best books in the evangelical publishing landscape. So kudos for this bridge-building, faithful work. And, secondly, it’s nice to see an author who grew up in central PA making a national name for himself. I hate to be sentimental, but, man, I’d like it if you ordered this book so we can send it out from Jared’s old stomping grounds. You Can Trust a God with Scars is good for seekers, for the hurt ones, but also for any of us who need a good read to build faith and joy. And I went to high school with his parents. Come on!

Clear, compelling, and propelled by a soaring Christology, Jared Ayers breathes fresh air into the fathomless mystery of what it means to have a wounded healer God on our side. For a doubting, cynical generation, this pastoral, humble, persuasive voice is a giant step forward in the journey of faith seeking understanding. — Eric E. Peterson, founding pastor of Colbert Presbyterian Church

In an age of disillusionment and disenchantment, we need wise pastoral voices who bring a curious mind, an awakened heart, and a lively, compassionate pen to our many perplexing questions. We need voices like Jared Ayers’s, and I’m excited to support the work he’s creating and the beautiful gospel it evokes.— Winn Collier, director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary and author of A Burning in My Bones and Love Big, Be Well

Birds in the Sky, Fish in the Sea: Attending to Creation with Delight and Wonder Matthew Dickerson & Matthew Clark (Square Halo Books) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

We’ve raved about this more than once (and highlighted it at two different events this past year, first, when it was brand new, at the big Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh last February where it sold out!) It is a lovely meditation on creation, nature-writing, Bible reflection, affirming the wonder and beauty of God’s good world. The linocuts and woodcuts of Matthew Smith are clever, fun, curious, and at times stunning. It’s a beauty, full of delight but also urgent. This is important stuff. One of the very best books of 2025. Spread the word.

And, you know, if Marilyn McEntyre — one of the great wordsmiths of our time and a true lover of literature —like it, it’s worth getting. I love her lines, here, endorsing it.

Whether you rarely venture into woods and wild or revel in nights under starlight, or simply love the local park, this visually lovely and richly thoughtful book will invite you to look again and be amazed and delighted at the creatures with whom we share the planet and the mystery of being at all, including those “formed to frolic.” The rare combination of personal reflection, poetry, biblical understanding and exquisitely detailed images makes it a book to linger over, reread, and share.
—Marilyn McEntyre author of Midwinter Light: Meditations for the Long Season

The Core of Christian Faith: Living the Gospel for the Sake of the World Michael Goheen (Brazos Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This. This is. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year and I’m very eager to commend it. I’ve reviewed it before in BookNotes so I won’t repeat myself, but just want to offer a celebratory hip, hip, hooray.

Goheen’s name is important in some circles as he helped Al Wolters revise and expand his famous Creation Regained: The Biblical Basis for a Reformational Worldview. He famously co-wrote The Drama of Scripture with Craig Bartholomew and then they did two follow ups, Living at the Crossroads (about the formation of a Christian worldview) and Christian Philosophy (for students studying in university.) If you know anything about our own origins story here at Hearts & Minds you’ll see his sort of perspective over much of what we attempt, offering resources to help people think missionally about all of life being redeemed.

Eventually, Goheen was called to really put into practice this transforming vision for missional living by starting a training center for some like-minded churches in Arizona. I absolutely adored his exceptional The Symphony of Mission: Playing Your Part in the God’s Work in the World (2019) which shaped much of his work in Arizona. He mentions training folks to get this wholistic Kingdom picture. How does he transmit that I wondered, this symphony of mission, everybody living out faith in their respective zones of life? What’s the secret sauce?

Now we know. The Core of Christian Faith is a book that summarizes the teaching he offers at The Missional Training Center in Phoenix on how to “live the gospel for the sake of the world.”

It is not pure or heady systematic theology as you might think from the title.  As the publisher explains, Goheen “lays out a formation process that guides Christians to (1) return to the good news as a comprehensive and powerful message of God’s kingdom, (2) recover the Bible as the one true story of the whole world, (3) retrieve a deep consciousness of their missional identity, and (4) engage in a missionary encounter with culture.”

If time permitted, I’d say more. I hope those who like theology will order this, and it will maybe push them toward application a bit (and, maybe, a reformation of the core truths they sometimes obsess about or how to express those core truths.) And if you are skeptical of the language “core truths’ and doctrinal stuff, I invite you to think this through with Goheen. It will surprise you at how energizing and formative it can be.

Goheen distills a lifetime of pastoral and academic wisdom into a compelling vision for the church’s role in God’s redemptive mission. Built around a fourfold core for discipleship, it offers a practical and profound framework for faithful living. A timely and Spirit-filled invitation, this work will inspire congregations to embrace their vocation for the sake of the world. — Summer Montoya, director of spiritual formation, Redemption Church Gilbert

You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

We have honored Karen for her fine and thoughtful writing over the years. I was taken with her amazing memoir written in light of books she loved; what a joy that she did the first major biography of abolitionist and novelist and poet Hannah Moore (Fierce Convictions) and then we hosted her in the store when she did the groundbreaking book about virtue and reading (On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books.) Karen has left her mark with various sorts of resources on cultural engagement and, of course, literature. She has worked in higher education for years, and has had reason to counsel many young adults as they discerned their future vocations and careers. When she attended the collegiate Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh last year with other campus ministers who use the language of calling and vocation, she exclaimed tome that this was her tribe! 

And then this book came out this summer. I tis a compact hardback, not a tome, with a beautiful cover. I was going to be impressed and I knew I’d learn much, as I always do from her, but I’ll admit I was just a tiny bit worried, or at least aware, that there have been a plethora of such titles here of late. Like the topic of faith and work, we went from hardly anything a few decades ago to nearly a glut. Would You Have a Calling really bring new insights or fresh inspiration?

The answer is assuredly yes. It is one of the best little books on this topic, parsing the nuances of vocation and calling, of various meanings and the implications of this lingo. It is gracious but instructional, lovely, but full of quality information. There is big picture vision about purpose and destiny, but there’s lots of common sense, too. And we need common sense in this breathy conversation about this big topic of the search for meaning and purpose.

The second half brings something new to this topic, too, so even if you think this theological / worldviewish foundation is something you understand well, I commend how she brings the virtues of the true, the good, and the beautiful to the topic. Either half of this fine book should be award-winning. Together there is no doubt. You Have a Calling by Karen Swallow Prior, is one of our favorite books of 2025 and we name it with this very honorable mention.

All Things Together: How Apprenticeship to Jesus Is the Way of Flourishing in a Fragmented World Heath Hardesty (Multnomah) $19.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.20

Oh my, what a book this is, and what a great recommendation I want to offer. Yes, yes, an honorable mention, but also a full-throated suggestion for a fun read, full of stories and Godly orientation, helping “our fragmented liger an be made whole.” It invites us to “come apprentice to the One who brings healing to a fractured world.” As I have said more than once in our BookNotes this past year, I have a friend I admire who has compared Heath Hardesty’s writing to a young Eugene Peterson. I frankly would not have made that connection, but he is talented, wise, full of citations from literature (and pop culture in a way rarely found in Eugene’s books), and he offers a deep, winsome invitation for a “long obedience in the same directly.”

As I noted in a previous review, you gotta love a book — well, at least I love a book — about spirituality and faithfulness that is written, smartly written, by a blue-collar guy. His descriptions of his varied jobs were droll, if not out and out funny. I appreciate a pastor who has worked, literally, in plumbing and yet seems like a sage. Or, as one reviewer noted, has the soul of a poet.

In a way, this call to apprentice to Jesus is working in the same fields as Dallas Willard did, or as John Mark Comer does now. Full-life, spiritually-rooted formation in our creaturely bodies (oh how I love Romans 12: 1-2) is known to be what is needed — church is not a venue for inspiring entertainment or even pious worship but there is some integral connection between liturgy and life, between our interior lives and spiritual formation and how we actually live in the world This book offers great storytelling and well-told examples of those who are longing for something big to live for and want to know how to become the kind of people who can take up that adventure. He is writing about integration, a whole life, a multi-dimensional embodiment of following Jesus everywhere.

Jon Tyson the cool writer and pastor in New York City has a very impressive foreword in which he warns us not to read this book too quickly. He says to prayerfully look for those places in our lives that are “unseamed” (as opposed to seamless.) He is right. This may be one of the best books of its kind in 2025 but I think we will need most of 2026 to allow its advice to get through to us. Get it now and read it slowly.

There are six chapters in Part One under the heading “Re-Imagining Apprenticeship” and there are seven chapters in Part Two, habits and practices for “Re-Inhabiting a Fragmented World.”  This is a really good book.

Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Orbis Books) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

I’ve named this several times and each time I was impressed with how much I appreciated this book. Some of us have been trying to bridge the age-old gap between spirituality and justice (and dare I say, between love of God and love of neighbor) for much of our lives.

Those taken by a vision of our interior lives (from monastic contemplatives to pious Pentecostals) often miss the implications of their warm hearts for the broken world, especially broken systems and political injustices. Similarly, those called to the front lines of anti-war work, standing for the oppressed (and, these days, against our own government’s violent arrests of many fellow citizens!) are seemingly disinterested in things of the spirit. Let alone the Spirit. And so, on we go, various churches emphasizing one part of the gospel, and each side missing a huge component of Biblical faithfulness.

Since author Wes Granberg-Michaelson has served as the head of his denomination (the Reformed Church in American) and has spent decades with several global ministries (including the World Council of Churches) he surely knows this ungodly dichotomy and has spent much of his living trying to bring folks together, evangelicals and Catholics, prayer warriors and social justice warriors, those who care about the Word and those who care about the world.

In this book — absolutely a vital read for us all, now, and a “Best of 2025” — Wes is less trying to solve the bigger problem of how to bring together various tribes within the church, but, rather, how to bring the strengths of at least two major traditions into the same person. Can we be contemplatives, knowing God and our interior true selves deeply and be people of action, even activists? Can we do the “soulwork” of justice work?

There are a precious view books on this topic. Thomas Merton, of course, wrote about it, as did Parker Palmer, and, recently, Daniel Wolpert did Looking Inward Living Outward: The Spiritual Practice of Social Transformation. That could be a companion volume to Wes’s major work.

The Soulwork of Justice means a lot to me, not only because I feel strong that this is very important and not only because I trust Wes very much. (He’s a Hearts & Minds customer, after all.) More, though, I think this book has ministered to me, struck me, formed new thinking about age-old stuff. I raced through an advanced manuscript Orbis kindly sent my way, and then I read it again, later, slowly.

Complete with old diary entries (which are exceptionally illuminating) Wes offers four movements (as he calls them), each feeling a bit to me as if by a modern-day Henri Nouwen, maybe with some edge from Richard Rohr.  He forged these four moves from his years of pastoral work and social action. (Did you know he used to be a top aid to an anti-war Republican Senator? Did you know he was for years the right hand-man to Sojourners founder Jim Wallis?) While anyone can benefit from this splendid work, it seems on the face of it that Soulwork is written for citizen activists and those aching to make a difference in the world. It is a guide to the inner work they must do if they are going to be whole themselves and not foist their issues on their public justice groups and peacemaking efforts.

He and his wife are now gently shepherding a small, rural Lutheran parish, and loving it. They are adept in Enneagram stuff, spiritual direction standards, and deeply Biblical sorts of spirituality. I admire this guy so much, and think Soulwork deserves not only much acclaim but much discussion. Why not buy a few and circle up some friends and ponder this together?

The Transforming Fire of Divine Love – My Long Slow Journey into the Love of God John H. Armstrong (Cascade) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

Years in the making by one of the preeminent ecumenically minded evangelicals of our lifetime. John has been a pastor and evangelist, a leader at the top levels of evangelical networks, a fabulous and popular speaker, prayer warrior, midwife of renewal. But in the last twenty years he walked away (and in some cases was forced out) of some conservative (often Reformed) circles because his heart was breaking with the divisions in the Body of Christ. He took inspiration from an older essay and sermon by J. I. Packer and then committed himself to reach out to Catholics and mainline Protestants, Orthodox leaders and open-minded evangelical friends. His organization his called ACT3.

John has written several books on unity in the church and the kind of love that we need if we are going to adequately renew the Body of Christ in inter-denominational ways. All of his books are vital, important, gentle, and not as provocative as some say. He’s solid as a rock. We have them all.

And, now, this year, he has given us what may be his most meaty book ever, a substantial study of the nature of divine love. He is not the first to try to probe this inscrutable fire, but his humble study is one of the best I’ve ever read on this topic.  The thoughtful forward is by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (who also has a book on this Best of 2025 list.) Too many of our starting assumptions about the nature of God fail to start with the assertion in 1 John 4 that “God is Love.” This is a “readable primer to help you develop a doctrine that, he suggests, “can free you from guilt, fear, and many misconceptions we have about God.”

Five Views of the Gospel edited by Michael Bird & Jason Maston (Zondervan Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Although some of these CounterpointsBible & Theology can be tedious, the back and forth of varying perspectives and the edenic tone, even in the critiques, are always very edifying and informative. It’s like reading four theology books in one, along with the responses of each author. Here we are approaching one of the most important topics, one that, sadly, is not settled. The older school debates between so called liberals and fundamentalists, or mainline vs evangelical, are less nuanced and unhelpful. While this conversation— all from solid folks who affirm the authority of Scripture and stand in solid historic faith traditions — sheds light on this huge matter. What do we mean (and more importantly, what does the Bible mean) when we talk about the gospel? If we don’t reflect on this every now and again, I’m convinced we will not serve God well. So this is a core book on a topic that needs clarifying and robust debate.

We have here what we might call the “King Jesus Gospel” (offered by Scot McKnight), the “Reformation Gospel” (by Michael Horton of Westminster West), “The Wesleyan Gospel (proclaimed by David deSilva), a Pentecostal perspective (by Julie Ma, with a PhD from Fuller, now a prof at Oral Roberts) and a Liberationist view (by Shively T. J. Smith; she is a much-respected United Methodist and ecumenical scholar, involved in the revisions of the NRSVue, and a professor of New Testament at Boston College.)  The discussions are illuminating to say the least.

I liked Craig Keener’s comment that he found himself “agreeing with much in each essay and hoping that such dialogue can help us synthesize the best insights of each, while keeping Jesus’s identity and work at the center.”

 

Nijay Gupta notes that it will help readers “ponder the width, height, and depth of the glory of the good news of the Messiah.”

By the way, for those who follow these things, Matthew Bates, who I appreciate a lot (see his little book Why the Gospel: Living the Good News of King Jesus with Purpose) did an important book this year that I haven’t read but seems award-winning. It is called Beyond the Salvation Wars: Why Both Protestants and Catholics Must Reimagine How We Are Saved. Some bigwigs at a Southern Baptists seminary were so alarmed they had a big video presentation about it, warning readers, and Bates replied that they slandered him, saying things about his alleged claims in the book that he did not say and that no charitable reading could deduce. Such dishonest is an affront to the God of the gospel and such overreactions are in bad form. In light of that dust-up, Five Views of the Gospel is that much more appealing and their discourse is a model of congenial debate.

Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues and Vices for a Whole and Holy Life Grace Hamman (Zondervan) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Last year we highlighted Hamman’s lovely Jesus through Medieval Eyes. While technically not an exact sequel it is a companion volume, another study of how the medieval world framed and shaped folks into classic Christian virtues. There has been a rediscovery, in recent decades, of both the value of studying the middle ages, and, importantly, the nature of character formation, virtue ethics, and how we are conscripted into a story that shapes who we are. This book explores how that happened in ages past and how these “old paths” might offer something useful for our own efforts of wondering how to become better people.  She does this with an insightful realization of the medieval habit of coupling of virtues and vices, and explains it all by drawing on letters and sermons and art and more. Fascinating and very helpful.

For any of us who struggle with vice and virtue (that’s a joke, since that’ all of us, eh?) Ask of Old Paths could be a delightfully interesting, informative, and finally a transforming read, helping us learn how to live “a whole and holy life.”

Becoming God’s Family: Why The Church Still Matters Carmen Joy Imes (IVP) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I liked the first volume in this trilogy a lot. It was called Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters (and campout in 2019); I simply adored the sequel, Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters and it was spectacular seeing her at the Pittsburgh Jubilee conference a few years ago [and she will be there this year, speaking there February 14 and preaching from the main stage on the 15th.] The great Christopher Wright wrote the forward to the first and former Jubilee keynoter Richard Middleton wrote the forward to the second. She’s a good writer, charming even, and a respected scholar, as you can tell from these other names eager to work with her.

Wheaton College prof (and Anglican priest) Esau McCaulley, author Reading While Black, wrote a great foreword to 2025’s Becoming God’s Family. Again, this is an indication of how many folks from varying circles value her work. With this third in the set, she has created a must-have trilogy of titles. I really believe these are some of the most accessible but profound Biblical studies resources of this century!

Becoming God’s Family is a theology, or I guess I should say a Biblical foundation, for the church. We are calling into a tribe, a community, a family, and this didn’t start in the time of Jesus or Pentecost. The early church and its struggle to find unity amongst great differences, is based on the covenantal promises of a God who calls creation into being and forms a community. The church is the upshot of a long, complex, and painful drama unfolded in the Bible.

As with the other two in this series, Carmen has links and suggestions throughout from The Bible Project. The guys who do that are young colleagues of hers, having studied under her own beloved professors. This summer, by the way, she invited people to shop with us, and recommended, among weeks of online videos full of ideas, a book by her first academic mentor, the late Ray Lubbock, who wrote Reading the Bible for a Change: Understanding and Responding to God’s Word.

Anyway, Becoming God’s Family: Why The Church Still Matters by Dr. Carmen Joy Imes, is one of the great little books of the year. Use it in your church!

The Anxious Generation Goes to Church:  What the Research Says about What Younger Generations Need (and Want) from Your Church Tom Ranier (Tyndale) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Okay, should a summary of another bigger, esteemed (and truly award winning) volume win a Hearts & Minds award? Yes, yes indeed! The popular church consultant Tom Ranier here has done a huge service by summarizing much of the data from the mammoth The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt is one of the great social scientists and public intellectuals of our time (and intellectually, he has become know as one who is not notably aligned with any ideological school of thought as far as we I can tell and is generally respected by scholars of the left and the right.) Yet, Haidt’s important work on the “rewiring” of children today needs to be updated, explored, nuanced, and— importantly for most of us here —applied to the unique struggles of Christian families, local churches, and youth ministries. So, while it may sound cheesy, The Anxious Generation Goes to Church is just what we need, asking (and answering) how church folks can respond to the alarming data and concerning trends documented in Haidt’s big work.

And, Rainier notices, young kids are going back to church. Some of the research he uncovers is actually hopeful. If the church is ready for them.

Of course Haidt is not the only one who has done good research into the rising generation or sounded the alarm about the harmful effects of screen technologies and social media on kids today. His coining of the phrase “the anxious generation” has stuck, though, and Rainer and his team are to be applauded for their bringing this practical and useful resource to us. Kids are interested in faith and many are emotionally fragile. What shall we do to serve them well in our congregations? Dare I say every church leader should be grappling with this?

There is a wise and useful foreword by Ryan Burge, another scholar with a knack for helping church folks get the big picture and discern what to do about it all. Look for his brand new book, by the way, just out, called The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us (Brazos; $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59.) We just got it in and it looks important.

Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting in Divine Love Michael John Cusick (IVP) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE  = $20.80

There have been a number of recent books relating the interesting psychological notion of attachment theory to our alienation from God and self and description union with Christ and deeper spirituality in terms of, well, being well-held. I heard Walt Brueggemann allude to this 30-years ago and it blew me away. We may be uneasy in life because we didn’t form the most durable and gracious attachments in our babyhood or childhood, but God, the nurturing divine Mother and Father who holds us well, can heal that, once we know we are, as Nouwen often put it, beloved. People were almost weeping in the middle of a Brueggemann talk on Isaiah.

Michael John Cusick is the CEO and founder of Restoring the Soul, an intensive counseling ministry in Denver. He is a licensed professional counselor, spiritual director, and former assistant professor of counseling at Colorado Christian University. I don’t recall that he cites Brueggemann in this book (nor does he call God Mother) but he’s drawing on this deep well of relating our spiritual resilience and helpful faith with this matter of “sacred attachment.” Man, he writes wonderfully and offers a fresh take on spiritual formation literature — so much so that I want to name this as an honorable mention for one of the best books of 2025.

There are good discussion questions at the end, too, making it useful for a group or to read with a friend or counselor. The writing is vivid, the examples, stories, and illustrations ring true. It is poignant and strong. As Ken Shigematsu (pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, and author of Now I Become Myself: How Deep Grace Heals Our Shame and Restores Our True Self) writes, “I absolutely love this book! Cusick not only brilliantly unpacks insights from Scripture and psychology, but with breathtaking courage and generosity, he reveals his life to us so we can experience the joy of wholeness.”

Wow, listen to this from Curt Thompson; he should win an award for best book blurb:

We don’t believe we are loved until we feel it in our chests. Given how infrequently this happens, no wonder we are as exhausted as we are. But thanks be to God,  Michael Cusick takes us on a deeply personal and comprehensively practical journey that invites the reader into the wide place to stand of which the psalmist writes. A wide place in which you become the beauty and goodness that you have been destined to become. Read this book and rest. Read this book and be revealed. But mostly read this book and know — in your chest — what it means to be loved. — Curt Thompson, The Soul of Shame and The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope

The Myth of Good Christian Parenting: How False Promises Betrayed a Generation Evangelical Families Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Cramer McGinnis (Brazos) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

The religious book world — especially the enterprising evangelical book world — has for decades churned out hundreds of books about family and marriage. We have read scores and happily sold many. Yet (as much as Beth and I love talking about are marriage and as much as parenting littles meant to us) we’ve never been as big of a fan as some, I guess of these self-help guides

First, some Christian marriage and parenting books imply, wrongly, that the Christian life is mostly about focusing on the family. Secondly some were just odd, and some dangerously bad.  Although we have carried a wide range of resources — secular ones, those from mainline and Catholic publishers, and, yes, many from traditionalist publishers like Focus —we anchored our family section with warm resources like Feast of Families by Virginia Stem Owens, or thoughtful stuff like Rodney Clapp’s Families at the Crossroads: Beyond Tradition Modern Options and of course our favorite Gender and Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. What fun we used to have showing Parenting Is Your Highest Calling: And 8 Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt. And how we appreciate the classy prose of Michael Mason in books like The Mystery of Marriage and The Mystery of Children. In more recent years we loved the Dorothy Greco title Making Marriage Beautiful. I could go on — there are so many good ones.

But yet, for every Parenting for Peace and Justice we’d sell, or The Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas or Seasons of a Family’s Life: Cultivating the Contemplative Spirit at Home by Wendy Wright we’d have folks looking for manuals affirming (unbiblical) sexist gender roles and super-strict discipline techniques. Beyond the almost cult-like stuff (BabyWise, Bill Gothard) there were seemingly fine books that had some ugly content.

This has all come to light in a recent must-read book called The Myth of Good Christian Parenting. We name and honor it here not because it was a favorite book or a delight but because was hard, but important. It includes a detailed look at bad books and programs that masqueraded as faithful. Gulp.

I couldn’t put it down and I will admit it made me uncomfortable at times. The sign of a good book.

This title deserves a very honorable mention for the detailed and nearly comprehensive study they have done about Christian parenting books over the last decades. Some of this includes older stuff, and some are fairly recent. It is an expose, a critique, and a positive call for better thinking, better resources, and more gentle way to be faithful to Christ as we raise our children. This hit close to home, mostly because there was so much in the book about the Christian publishing industry, the titans of our era (Dobson, etc.) and how we really should have been more discerning. There are powerful stories and compelling suggestions. This book is important. Thanks to the authors, Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Cramer McGinnis, and to Brazos for their brave, helpful work.

The Deep-Rooted Marriage: Cultivating Intimacy, Healing, and Delight Dan B. Allender & Steve Call (Thomas Nelson) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

As I hinted above, and as I wish Burt and McGinnis might have made a bit clearer, not all faith-based family-themed books were dreadful. Yes, good people may disagree about gender roles and toxic views may not damage their books. (I disagree with Tim and Kathy Keller’s minor excursion into headship, for instance, but still regularly recommend their very intelligent Meaning of Marriage.) Anyway, there are great books in this genre, and some have been written by Dan Allender. I’m not even sure I always like the way Dan, a gentle and thoughtful hero in my book, has phrased everything (in, say, books he co-wrote with Bible scholar Tremper Longman like The Mystery of Marriage, a fine study on IVP, or God Loves Sex, an excellent book on Baker.)  So, in light of the above title, and aware that not even our best writers and thinkers  get it right all the time, I was unsure what I’d think of this new one.

But, wow. What a book!

I am eager to announce this as one of the favored books on my 2025 list. It’s a gem, thoughtful, deep, informed by profound studies about our interior lives, our traumas, our longings and desires. We have to be honest about what we bring to our relationships, which can create what singer-songwriter Mark Heard call “a climate of love.” We’ve got to work on it. I love Allender & Call’s used of the word cultivating. The words in the subtitle are so good — cultivating this honest ecology of grace and authenticity and attention to our stories can create “intimacy, healing, and delight”. This focus makes this book extraordinary.

The Deep-Rooted Marriage is not the simplest marriage book, but it is one of the better books in this whole genre in many a year. Certainly one of the best books of 2025. Three cheers for intimacy, healing, and delight! Three cheers for these two collaborative authors.

The Redeemed Reader: Cultivating a Child’s Discernment and Imagination Through Truth and Story Janie Cheaney, Betsy Farquhar, Hayley Morell & Megan Sabin (Moody Press) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

How can we not honor this book as a major contribution for Christian parenting? What a significant website and newsletter they have and what a good book this is, collating and sharing their robust vision of thoughtful parenting by using great books with children. They have done amazing work and every parent (or church library) should have this.

I may not word every paragraph as they do, and I don’t worry quite much as they do about some of the philosophically complicated themes in children’s books these days, but they are routinely thoughtful, make an excellent case for the points they offer, making The Redeemed Reader a volume that stands on the shoulders of the still lovely Honey for a Child’s Heart and the must-have Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to Choosing the Best Books for Children published in 2022 by Square Halo Books. The Redeemed Reader authors even cit Leslie and Théa and Cary from Wild Things so that’s nice. Their commitment to “truth and story” speaks volumes and they know their stuff.

Hooray for this. Get The Redeemed Reader: Cultivating a Child’s Discernment and Imagination Through Truth and Story for any Christian parent you know. (And then follow it up with Wild Things and Castles in the Sky.)

Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together Ilana Kushan (St. Martin’s Press) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

Can I list a book that I haven’t read? Okay, I started it. And read a handful of amazing reviews and long interview with the author, Ilana Kushan. I feel like I know this book but, in the name of transparency, really, I haven’t gotten to it yet. But I am confident I have to name it. It is simply breathtaking in its style, a thoughtful memoir about reading. About being read to, and about reading to children.

Here is why I’m so enamored with the idea of putting this on a list of Best Books of 2025. You see, the author is Jewish mother of five living in Jerusalem. She is passionate about reading, but only gradually comes to learn “how to relate reading not as a solitary pursuit and an escape from the messiness of life, but rather as a way offering connection and teaching independence.” This book is about her introducing literature — sacred and secular, as she puts it — to her children. She realizes it makes her a more compassionate reader herself and (yep)a better mother.

One of the bits in this remarkable book is her telling about reading the Torah with her children. Of all the many books there are about reading, even memoirs about reading, even about the power of reading to children, there are very few that I know that are, in fact, about reading Scripture together.

Children of the Book is arranged in five parts (corresponding to the first five books of the Bible.)  She finds “profound parallels between the Biblical narrative and the daily rhythms of parenthood.”

She tells of “the first picture books that create the world through language for babies to the bittersweet moment our children begin reading on their own, leaving us behind, atop the mountain, as they enter new lands without us.”

This has been richly called luminous and from the bits I’ve read, I’d agree. It is beautiful, profound, and a delicious meditation on shared stories and “a life richly lived through literature.”

Contesting the Body of Christ: Ecclesiology’s Revolutionary Century Myles Wentz (Baker Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Okay, this is another that I’m still working through and I can’t not list it. It is amazing, if scholarly, and fresh, if a very detailed study. I like Myles Wentz a lot. (He wrote a brilliant little book just a few years ago called From Isolation to Community and before that co-wrote a very compelling “field guide” to Biblical nonviolence.) His PhD is from Baylor and is the professor of Baptist Studies at Abilene Christian University in Texas.

This book — which carries a foreword by the weighty Canadian Anglican Ephraim Radner — is hard to explain, but it is basically using the four classic phrases about the church (“one, holy, catholic, and apostolic”) to see how congregations and church groups did or didn’t live into the theology implied in the phrases. That is, it is about our unity and our holiness and more. He shows how they were “remade, contested, and reaffirmed in surprising and innovative ways.”

Tom Greggs is at the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton and says, “Wentz leads readers in a scholarly way through stories and journeys of the Spirit’s work in the church…Global in horizon and ecumenical in foundation, outlook, and scope, this book offers a wise and exciting account of the four marks of the church in a way that offers hope and looks to renewal. It deserves reading and rereading by church people and theologians alike.”

See. You know I love this stuff. It may be over my head, but those of us born in the 20th century (or, shall I say, born again in the 20th century) should recall that these were tumultuous times for churches around the world. In this book, Werntz explores the landscape of twentieth-century ecclesiology. And it’s complicated and studious but it mattesr.

The publisher reminds us that:

The church changed tremendously in the twentieth century, with new churches emerging and old churches being renewed. This period encompassed the birth of the World Council of Churches, the rise of American evangelicalism, the Second Vatican Council, the coming of age of charismatic Christianity, and more.

I didn’t realize it when I decided to name it as one of the significant books of the year, but I now see that Christianity Today gave it their 2025 Book Award of Merit in Academic Theology. Told ya so. Ha!

The Hybrid Congregation: A Practical Theology of Worship for an Online Era Michael Huerter (IVP Academic) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

Some years I’ve done lists of nothing but books from academic presses or scholarly houses. Or I’ve awarded the best of this sort, making it seem like I read more heavy stuff than I do. But, still, in this award I’m wanting to honor a combo of a genre (academic or university press books) and a topic (books about the local church and her worship.) To be honest there are dozens of fabulous-looking scholarly works in categories like liturgics, jurisprudence, aesthetics, sociology, history, or science. And, as you may guess, we have dozens of new books on the local church and various sub-themes from mission to conflict, leadership to worship. Anyway, we’ve got a combo here, a scholarly book on the local church. Whew.

One of the most useful recent titles that is pretty academic but important for even ordinary church leaders is, I think, this year’s The Hybrid Congregation. It is a popular version of his academic dissertation at Baylor on the nature and contours and spirituality of the online experience of church and how traditional congregations might develop hybrid ministries in healthy ways. There are huge theological implications and fascinating sociological points. Huerter asks, “In the constant flux of the digital revolution, what must churches understand about digitally mediated interactions in order to make effective decisions” about them?

This serious book includes interviews with leading scholars and practitioners (conducted by Zoom, I note with a smile.) It is in this sense these are “digital ethnographies” and he explores several online groups that have, in fact, fostered meaningful community.  As the back cover explains, there is “reflection on church participating, embodiment, mediation, and virtuality in digital and hybrid spaces.”

If you are interested, use the inquiry page to ask for more resources on this if you want something practical and easy. I do not think this is impractical, but it is heavy, with diversions into studies of critical thinkers like Adorno and reflections about media ecology, of the working nature the internet, of the importance of music in church worship, the relational theology of Martin Buber and a look at what he calls “online ritual communities.” His views about music are worth the price of the book, and his call to form community in the digital age is excellent.

One cannot summarize brilliant projects like this, but I can say this: he is neither utterly opposed to digital community (as if talking on line isn’t real or doesn’t happen physical, which is obviously does) not is he unaware of the important voices calling for a resistance to the seemingly disembodied ways of the digital environment. Listen to how Terry York (author of Let Our Words Become Flesh) put it:

Whether we fear the hybrid congregation or fantasize about it, Huerter keeps our feet on the ground. He calms the fears of virtual-hesitant individuals and asks the virtual veterans to see beyond the screen. The questions raised offer an opportunity for us to reexamine our worship practices and to consider what expressions of embodiment they privilege or marginalize. — Terry W. York, author of Let Our Words Become Flesh

With the diagnostic rigor of his academic mind and the compassionate bedside manner of his pastoral heart, Michael Huerter gives a compelling and thorough assessment of the congregation in the digital age. Especially after the dislocations of the past decade, this book lays bare the myriad interlocking systems that produced our current moment of fracture and encourages us to refocus on the task of building richly textured Christian communities, whether online or off. — Joshua Kalin Busman, assistant dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College and associate professor of music at University of North Carolina at Pembroke

1 Corinthians: A Theological, Pastoral & Missional Commentary Michael Gorman (Eerdmans) $39.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

I hate to have to say this but I’ll admit, it is a massive, often technical commentary and I just didn’t read it all (yet.) But, believe me, it is one of the best in this genre in a long time, and Gorman is, as always, nothing short of brilliant in his formulation, style, and substance. I had reason to want to study I Corinthians a bit this fall and I was glad for this stellar resource. It is big, detailed, with lots of academic footnotes, but still is readable, upbeat, even, and designed to be useful to educated readers. That is, it isn’t a highbrow treatise for the academic guild or even just for seminary profs and Bible teachers. I think anyone with some awareness of Biblical studies or who has read a commentary before, would handle this fine.

Gorman here brings together cultural studies and exegesis, theological background and a bit about the history of interpretation, a concern for how to live this out faithfully in our congregations. The subtitle is not just a catchy phrase, but is Gorman’s Godly heartbeat. It’s clear in this volume. My, my, this is what a commentary should be!  It deserves very honorable mention when we’re looking at books published in 2025. Kudos, Mike. Thank you.

Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon Austin Carty (Eerdmans) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I sometimes, when touting this book on a podcast or before a group (or in my BookNotes review last summer), say this last, but I’ll lead with it: the title is a line from A River Runs Through It. That’s the kind of writer Carty is; we should know this well because he wrote one of my all time favorite books The Pastor’s Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry. (I am not a pastor, of course, but I know a lot and care about many of them, and so I ate this up and used it in workshops and speaking engagements wherever there were clergy. Or people who might give books to clergy.) The Pastor’s Bookshelf is fantastic.

And so this is maybe even a bit more arcane. I mean, what self-respecting Christian bookworm wouldn’t want to read a book about pastors and reading. But a book on homiletics? On writing? Really?

I am sort of a nerd and like homiletics texts, or at least some of them. The role of the sermon is important in the worship of God and too often, well, it’s hard to crank out good ones every week. It’s hard, taxing, important work. I was very eager to year Austin’s eloquent and bookish words. It is an art, he notes, and part of that art is living it. Yup. Wow.

I adored this book. I think pastors and preachers and Sunday school teachers and professors and writers should all read it. If you care about pastors, or maybe don’t like pastors, you should read it. It is somewhat of a memoir so it isn’t painful, I promise. Sure there are good textbooks to wade through but the fairly short Some of Their Words Are Theirs is a real joy. One of my favorite book of 2025, honorably awarded.

A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone A. J. Swoboda (Zondervan Reflective) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I can’t believe it has been out since the Spring and I reviewed it that long ago. I’ve highlighted it at more than one conference this summer and fall (and year-end podcasts) and declare it as one of my favorite books of the year. Truly.

Why, you ask? Well, I’d read anything by AJ (and really commend his other co-authored 2025 book Slow Theology: Eight Practices for Resilient Faith in a Turbulent World.) I appreciate his passions and wide knowledge — he has written books about eco-theology, doubt, suffering, the Holy Spirit, a famous on on the sabbath; his Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants that came out last year was way under-rated and a incredible read. So he writes a lot and is engaging and entertaining and informative.

But this new one has a special place because is sort of close to my own calling as a bookseller and occasional public speaker and sometimes Sunday school teacher. I want folks to see themselves as life long learners, as those being formed in ways where their faith makes a difference (in but not of the world, as I sometimes remind.) Having a “teachable spirit” is a New Testament phrase that gets at it poignantly. What are you learning this season?

Do you have a teachable spirit? Are you willing to learn (even from surprising places?) Do I?
In this fabulous book Swoboda ruminates on learning from everybody from children to experts, enemies and the dead, popular culture and our elders. The first chapter is on learning how to learn. It’s not just about reading books, but I can’t help but think that bookworms and readers will adore this. Hooray for this.

The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight Travis West (Tyndale) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I am not sure I met Travis West when I spoke at Hope College a few years ago and when I wandered around the offices at Western Seminary also there in Holland, Michigan. But, man, I wish I would have. I’ve got a number of mutual friends who admire West immensely (not least of which is the great writer Winn Collier who stewards the Eugene Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination there at Western Seminary.) I know people who have taken his energetic Hebrew classes and I have heard from others about his joy, his charm, his love, his integrity.

And yet, it has not always been easy as this captivating book shares. He and his wife have been through their share of tragedies and illnesses and their life together — beautiful in so many ways — has been painful. So it is with many of us, eh?

As I kept turning the pages in this excellent read I kept wondering what sort of person has this kind of tenacity and resilience and vulnerability and candor about life’s pains and yet is joyful present, happy to serve God and others. How does he do it? How does his wife, stricken with chronic pain, do it?

One of the keys is this congruence between their inner and outer lives. Robust as his whole-;life discipleship obviously is, The Sabbath Way invites us to a posture of delight, even of play. His exploration of sabbath themes — a day of rest, yes, but also a lifestyle of trust, a lifestyle of connecting with others — reminds me of a rare friend or two. I admire this book and I admire the author. It was a joy to write about it when it came out early in the summer and we are sure it is one of the most lovely books of the year. It was a personal favorite and if you love the Scriptures, you’l appreciate his insight. If you like reading about Sabbath, obviously, this is a winner and you will love it. If you long for a life of delight, rooted in the goodness of creation and the presence of God in all things, this book will foster and cultivate a spirituality of your days that will help sustain you.

These two excellent quotes (among many others) show why we think this was such a great book for 2025 and, certainly, a blessing as we move into 2026.

Reading this book feels like having a dear friend gently lead us into God’s presence. Without downplaying our busyness or our pain, it welcomes us into God’s rest, into the goodness of his life and love. This is so different from what we normally see and experience in the world and the church. We all need this book– I certainly did! — Kelly Kapic, professor at Covenant College,  author of You’re Only Human

I need The Sabbath Way; you need The Sabbath Way. With cultural and economic forces that seem outside our control, we need to hear Travis West’s encouragement and wisdom to slow down, pause, breathe, and re-member our bodies, minds, and souls. This is not a call to enhance performance. It is a call to enhance our humanity. The Sabbath Way is a deeply spiritual and deeply humanizing project, and a timely gift to a culture desperately in pursuit of its next accomplishment. — Emerson Powery,  Dean of the School of Arts, Culture, and Society; professor of biblical studies at Messiah University.

For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America Dorothy Littell Greco (Zondervan) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

As I’ve noted on the one above, there are some books that deserve honorable mention as one of the best books of 2025 even if they aren’t necessarily charming and pleasant and delightful. This author, Dorothy Greco, is in fact, charming and pleasant and delightful, and, in fact, wrote a rare book about marriage that is about beauty in relationships — Making Marriage Beautiful. She and her husband seem to have that lovely quality, and she wrote about it also in another book that is a bit on the rare side, a book to deepen the joy of those married for a while, called Marriage in the Middle: Embracing Midlife Surprises, Challenges, and Joys. She is super smart so in both of those books she does some cultural studies stuff, honoring the paradoxes (crisis or opportunity?). and moves beyond simplistic formulas. She can be fun and funny. So we like her a lot. But, alas, this recently-released book has been on her heart and mind for a long time and while we’ve never met, she has asked us to send books on occasion, so we’ve had an inside glimpse of some of what she was working on. Wow.

With a background in public policy stuff but well formed by a good local church, as a thinker who is a gracious writer, Dorothy is ideal to bridge the hefty gap between fans of feminist studies that use words like misogyny and patriarchy and more conventional evangelical Christians. The book is published by Zondervan, after all, so it is no progressive screed.

So if any BookNotes readers wonder, let’s lay that to rest: she’s written lovely books on marriage published by two stalwart evangelical presses (David C. Cook and InterVarsity Press.) This cannot be dismissed as “woke.”

But, also, let’s be honest: this is exploring some really dark stuff. It’s hard-hitting and, I think, an exceptionally valuable resource to accompany the post #metoo movement, such as it may be, to figure out how the church should react to the horrors of sexual abuse and crass sexism. In its gospel-centeredness, it is full of realistic hope.

And, to be clear, misogyny isn’t always seen in domestic violence and sexual abuse (which happens, we know, even in the church.) It is often subtle or systemic or related to structural / policy matters. Like racism, we must work on our own hearts and attitudes but we must also address the forces and systems, and For the Love of Women does just that. It is serious, but not dry. We really think our customers should order it.

We name this as one of the most important books published this year, and we are proud to have it be released by a respected voice in our Christian publishing landscape. I think it should be widely read, seriously discussed, prayed over and deeply considered.

As Carolyn Custis James (author of Half the Church and Maelstrom) puts it, “only when we understand the depth of the crisis will we be able to find remedies both globally and in our own cultural context. Dorothy has made a significant contribution to our understanding, and I pray her book will be widely read by women and men alike.” Well put!

Good people can, of course, disagree about the meaning of Biblical texts about women’s ordination or the meaning of the word “headship” in the New Testament. We strongly favor what we take to be the faithful position of affirmation and full authority women leaders. But this book goes beyond intramural debates (not that they are not urgent) and is deeper, more systematic, exploring the way abusive masculine privilege has harmed girls and women, in various sectors of the church and world. For the Love of Women is seriously Christian with insight for the local church but it offers a vision of the common good, helping to bring healing and restoration across various zones of our social life together.

For the Love of Women explores how this harm to women has been encoded and “baked in” to the spheres of healthcare, government, the workplace, media and entertainment, the church, and, yes, in our most intimate relationships.  Sadly, alarming trends and mean rhetoric are on the rise in America.  We’ve got work to do.

Those we trust have also raved about it. Professor Soong-Chan Rah calls it ‘essential.” Dr. Marlena Graves calls it “undeniably outstanding.” Listen to this urging by another award-winning author:

For the Love of Women is a prophetic, pastoral, and grace-filled book. If you are a woman, you will see something of your own experiences in these pages. If you know a woman, you will see something of her experiences here. If you love a woman — any woman, including yourself — I urge you to read this book which wisely and lovingly exposes a great wrong that is deeply woven into our whole world (including the church, and then wisely and lovingly points a way forward. — Karen Swallow Prior, You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful

PLEASE NOTE: WE WILL BE HOSTING A FREE ONLINE CONVERSATION  WEBINAR WITH DOROTHY GRECO ON TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 27, 2026.

I’ll highlight it again, soon, with details on how to register for this evening with Dorothy Littell Greco about her outstanding book. Mark your calendars now, please.

Nervous Systems: Spiritual Practices to Calm Anxiety in Your Body, the Church, and Politics Sara Billups (Baker) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Holy smokes. I’ve got this on my bedside, and have been reading it in bits and pieces, wanting to linger, and then speed up, gulping down pages, stunned. It’s so good. I’ll admit it’s one I’m still working on, but, man, this is a powerful read, a book that combines vulnerable storytelling — about her gambling-addicted father, about drunks and the Mafia — and keen insight about culture and our awful polarized situation. Its play on words is striking, eh? We think, rightly, that she will speak of neurology and anxiety, but there is also this sense that there are cultural systems (I’d call them principalities and powers) that are weirding us out. Yes, this examines problems in our bodies and in the Body of Christ.

As it says on the back, “it’s no wonder we’re overwhelmed.”

Her situation in a complicated family and with her own evolving faith is well told — an earlier book was Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home is also wonderfully written and explains so much — and I’m grateful for her serious insight and her memoir like ruminations. This book deserves the attention it is getting and I hope will become a best-seller in 2026.  It launched in her hometown Seattle just this November.

Sara Billups masterfully takes her reader by the hand and honors the deep complexity of what it means to be human and follow Jesus in a world like ours. This is a thoughtful, challenging, and hopeful read. — Aundi Kolber, Try Softer and Strong Like Water

An extraordinary — and extraordinarily wide-ranging — tour through the valleys of anxiety that shape so much of modern life. Nervous Systems brims with rare candor, wisdom and humor. I loved it. — David Zahl, The Big Relief

Insane for the Light: A Spirituality  for Our Wisdom Years Ronald Rolheiser (Image) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I was a little surprised how many (relatively speaking for our small mail-order biz) of this were ordered when we first announced it in late October. It was a good seller for us, and I guess that is part because Rolheiser is known. He is, I am sure, one of the most beloved spirituality writers today. He is a Catholic priest and the back blurbs are from James Martin and Richard Rohr and Sister Helen Prejean. It’s not every day we see a book endorsement from Basic Pennington, and the Celtic writer Herbert O’Driscoll weighs in as well (saying that Rolheiser can be lyrical, even, but “never sentimental — and all the time he is absolutely grounded in reality.”) SO, yes, when he has a major new book, it is noticed by those who follow these kinds of ordinary mystics.

But also, let’s face it. I think many of our BookNotes fans are aging, approaching their wisdom years. Maybe our gang needs this sort of thing. From excellent books like Aging Faithfully (the great little book by Alice Frying) to Parker Palmer’s On the Brink of Everything (with the wonderful subtitle “grace, gravity and getting old”) to Aging: Growing Old in Church by Will Willimon, just for instance, there are a lot of titles like this. It’s good to have Fr. Rolheiser bringing his incarnational sort of down-to-Earth spirituality to bear on this season of life.

I have not read this yet. I just turned 71. I guess I need to, eh? I’m sure it’s a winner, so here we go. Yes!

The Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness Joash P. Thomas (Brazos Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I’ve highlighted this already and could go on and on. Allow me just to offer a few friends who have raved about Father Thomas and about his book. You’ll note something significant in these enthusiastic endorsements and that is that they all realize (it is a theme of the book, actually) that Jesus — a Jewish Messiah shaped by the Hebrew Scriptures, the law and the prophets —  not only cares about justice but created a church that must also. Joash Thomas studied at Dallas Theological Seminary and was nicely shaped by the best impulses of evangelicalism. He loves the Word, he loves the living Word, and he is committed to the local congregation, the body of Christ. Some books on justice work are not as evidently rooted in the experience of the local worshipping body. So, hooray for this. It is significant and beautiful enough that it would deserve this “best book of the year” award if were just about justice; it really is full of insight and, as a person from India, Rev. Thomas draws on the experiences of the majority world church. This is important.

But, The Justice of Jesus is also about the local church and how to do life together in a way that really does bear witness to the work God is doing among us and through us in a world of need.

Here are the key chapters:

• Part 1: Cheap Justice Versus the Justice of Jesus
• 1. Why Justice Seems Antithetical to the Western Church
• 2. The Cost of Just Discipleship
• 3. How Churches Today Are Prioritizing Justice
• Part 2: Decolonizing the Western Church
• 4. Decolonizing Our Theology
• 5. Decolonizing Our Communities
• 6. Decolonizing Our Budgets
• Part 3: How Your Local Church Can Prioritize the Justice of Jesus
• 7. Prayer
• 8. Advocacy
• 9. Partnership

Listen, please, do these short raves:

Joash Thomas is a gift to the world, and so is this book. I’m so glad Joash loves the church enough to critique it. Pass this book on to everyone you know. — Shane Claiborne, activist and author of Jesus for President and Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical 

Joash’s deep love for the church shines from every page as he invites us all into the group project of liberation. — Sarah Bessey, editor of A Rhythm of Prayer; author of Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith

A timely and courageous gift to the global church, this book will leave you grateful for its depth, clarity, and uncompromising authenticity. — Danielle Strickland, advocate, and author of The Other Side of Hope: Flipping the Script on Cynicism and Despair and Rediscovering Our Humanity

Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World Kat Amas (Brazos Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

We here at Hearts & Minds received this book by a favorite Cuban-American writer in October and it released officially in early November. I adored the cover and just lingered over it for a bit, and then announced it at BookNotes. We adored her IVP book Abuelita Faith about women on the margins (and what they can teach us all about Biblical wisdom and spiritual and emotional health and persistence.) Her 40-Devotional Sacred Belongs was a powerhouse that came out in 2022 and we recommend it for anyone who needs to be reminded of radical truths about belonging.

Liturgies for Resisting Empire combines the special juices of both — passion, Biblical study, social action, a disposition to hear the marginalized, and shows us how to resist the dehumanization increasingly known in this secularized, modernist culture. To be sure, much of the ugliness comes from the Trump administration and the MAGA ideologues who applaud brutal ICE agents doing unspeakable things even to US citizens, supporting a level and sort of authoritarian police brutality we’ve not seen in our lifetimes. If we ever were reluctant to use dramatic language about resistance to the empire, it is time to take up that rhetoric. Indeed, there is an evil empire underscored by principalities and powers and they must be named and resisted. As you should know, we need prayer and wisdom and courage and faith, solid, theologically informed and Biblically-based, if we are going to form the beloved community and offer shalom in our messed up world.

Praise the Lord for voices like Kat Amas, and thank God for Brazos Press that brings such healthy, provocative, and important prose to us all. Liturgies for Resisting Empire is not only a favorite book of 2025, it is one of the most urgently needed. I put it here with some of my other “must reads” of the last year, and now is the time to give it a try.

For what it is worth, as I was surprised to see, and as I explained in my early review, it is not a prayer book or even a collection of “liturgies” (if you mean by that prayers or responsive readings.) Yes, each chapter starts with an invocation and ends with a benediction. There is a closing prayer, creatively worded, earnest and powerful. But the heart of the book are the homilies, if you will, good, strong prose, explaining what we mean by resisting empire (the first chapter is about joy) and why a deeply spiritual set of practices and rituals will be useful to keep us going in these times. If you wonder what people mean by decolonizing our thinking and writing, this is a great example. If you wonder how the early church sustained its witness in light of the brutalities of their day, this is a good read. Black writer Danté Stewart says her words “dance and sing in a way that made me rethink what it means to dance and sing and write as a theologian.”

“Armas makes her mark as one of the most brilliant biblical scholars of her generation.”          — Karen González, The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong

Racial Justice for the Long Haul: How White Christian Advocates Persevere (and Why) Christian Jeske (IVP Academic) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Okay, I’ll admit I’m cheating a bit on this one. The official release date was early January 2026 but we had it a month early (thanks IVP!) reviewed it at BookNotes. The author is a vibrant, even plucky writer (we loved her earlier book on traveling the world with a missions vision, 2012’s This Ordinary Adventure: Settling Down without Settling), not to mention a research piece about the work world in South Africa. We appreciate her global and spiritual journey (influenced by some of the same justice-minded evangelicals that inspired us over the last decades.)  Now, she’s an anthropology prof at Wheaton, and has spent years researching this incredible book. There is nothing like it that we know of, a series book that is both informed by social science, shares lots of fascinating stories, and draws vital lessons for how to maintain a commitment to an obviously urgent task.

As this hefty project illustrates there is a fairly unique methodology here which included interviews with Christian leaders of color and White advocates. The qualitative ethnographic research is nicely shared, offering real-live examples of how white Christians can learn from leaders of color.

Insofar as Jeske is offering insight (as the subtitle puts it”) about persevering in advocacy, in a sense, this research and spiritual wisdom is good for anyone wanting to take up “a long obedience in the same direction.” We do not need flash-in-the-pan gestures or activists zipping from cause to cause. Tenacity based on humility, advocacy that is brave and long-suffering, vision that recognizes the nature of slow, reforming change, all are parts of how we keep going.  There is stuff about lament and there is writing about grace. The stories are detailed and inspiring.

I think of Steve Garber’s new book Hints of Hope about how to be at peace with the proximate. I think of the inner work needed as explored in the aforementioned Soulwork of Justice by Wes Granberg-Michaelson. I think, yes, of Liturgies of Resisting Empire, named above. Sure, these are wise books to put into conversation, allowing each to shape you into a faithful servant of God’s Kingdom, for the rest of your life. Jeske is a very important ally and can point us towards sustainable discipleship and a way forward. Racial Justice for the Long Haul was not short or simple but one of the great books I’ve been reading in the last month and we honor it now. Order it today!

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

When this released early this fall it was an instant hit and if you haven’t ordered it yet, I’m sure you should and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Briggs is, as always, a handy wordsmith and an effortless writer (or, that is, reading him is effortless and he seems so fluid as to make it seem easy.) Yet, he has worked at his craft and he has worked at his pastoral efforts and even learned from his failure. (His first great book was, in fact, about ministry failures, dramatically called Failed. After that, I loved his Ministry Mantras that I often recommend for leadership teams, elders, boards and pastoral staff.) This new one is for anybody, and I mean anybody!

This books does just what he says in the subtitle — it offers clues to a deeper faith (learning to be curious about faith and asking questions about things that matter most is key) but, more, it invites us to ask questions of ourselves and of each other. Leaders need a self-awareness and asking good questions will help, but (again) whiter one is a leader as such The Art of Asking Better Questions is a skill that can be learned (and needs to be, I’m afraid.) JR has put his finger on something here and his wisdom is fantastic.

It seems the part of the book that will be most decisive for many is the stuff about asking questions of others. And of course, learning to listen well to what we hear. His visionary / big picture stuff is a delight, but he gets practical, too, offering samples and stories and strategies.

These habits and postures and skills can be learned; asking good questions is an art, but who doesn’t need stronger and better relationships? Get a few today and share them widely. You’ll be glad you did.

Tim Keller on the Christian Life:The Transforming Power of the Gospel Matt Smethurst (Crossway) $27.99 OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

I think I had this on the short (ha) list of books I wanted to celebrate in this big list of best books of 2025 before I opened the cover. The book just looked great, modern but not weird, sophisticated but not stuffy, well made but not excessively expensive. It was a well made volume and a delight to look through. I had heard that the late Presbyterian pastor’s wife, Kathy Keller, had told a mutual friend that she loved this book, that even though she did not know the author and the book wasn’t written out of Redeemer’s impressive network, she was, almost surprisingly, delighted at how it captured Tim’s heart, his desire for a Godly and wholistic ministry in one of the the world’s largest cities. Tim Keller on the Christian Life tells that story, of course, but like a series Crossway does on other church leaders from the past (Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Bonhoeffer, Stott) it is more about what we can learn from their life and teaching. As such, this is a fabulous book not just for Keller admirers, but for anyone who wants to grow in an intellectually serious but spiritually robust way.

Keller was, on one hand, an old-school Reformed Calvinist who was taught at Westminster Theological Seminary. Although much of that school’s tradition is less than what we might call culturally engaged or attentive to the nuances of  a secularized, pluralistic culture, there were influences there — just read Harvie Conn’s book Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace or the cultural studies stuff by the brilliant Bill Edgar (also a jazz pianist and scholar of black gospel music) — and they rubbed off on Tim considerably.

Another school of thought within the broader Reformed tradition is the influence of the great theologian, social reformed and pastor turned Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Abraham Kuyper. Yep, he was the Dutchman who preached about “every square inch” of the good but fallen creation being claimed and restored by Christ, the animated head of what became known as neo-Calvinism (and which influenced our beloved Jubilee conference held in Pittsburgh, sponsored by the CCO whose motto is “transforming college students to transform the world.”) Keller, besides his gospel-centered vision of a transforming understanding and appropriation of justification through faith alone also had this socially-transforming cultural vision. It is no surprise his church started an innovative Center for Faith and Work and hosted speakers from pluralism advocate John Inazu, artist Mako Fujimura, human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, and Biblical scholar N.T. Wright.

Tim Keller on the Christian Life is a great read, even if you are not interested in the gospel as it is articulated in the old school Reformed dogma or the neo-Calvinism of contemporary Kuyperianism. Smethurst doesn’t even go into all of that exactly, but from my perch here at Hearts & Minds, Keller was not only amazing and influential, as this book shows in practical chapters about prayer and suffering and social action and grace, his ministry and writing brought together some themes that many ordinary church folks could learn from. It’s one of the great books of 2025 and deserves an honorable mention.

Read it in tandem with the authorized Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen and the fabulous little collection done in 2022 by Square Halo Books, The City for God: Essays Honoring the Work of Timothy Keller. But don’t miss Tim Keller on the Christian Life.

Disciples of a White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood Angela Denker (Broadleaf) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

I had an advanced copy of the manuscript for this last winter and started it promptly; it came out in March. I am not sure when I finally worked in a book review at BookNotes but — as is often the case when we’re busy — I am sure I did not do it justice. I wished, in refreshing myself with it again, that I had pushed it harder, promoted it more widely. It is a good, good read, an inviting and interesting, and yet very, very important. Deadly important.

I like Angela Denker a lot. She was raised in an independent fundamentalist church and knows well the odd way some fundamentalists, charismatics, and conservative evangelicals have gotten mixed up with right wing extremism. We all know that the current mixed syncretism of idols of power and race with Christianity has eroded the witness of the church and given religious cover for terrible offenses. The way in which (religiously-inspired) hate groups are on the rise — and I’m talking about stuff beyond Trump’s affinity for the Proud Boys or even Tucker Carlson’s platforming Nick Fuentes and his neo-Nazi Groypers —is one example of this cultural moment. Angela Denker has a first hand understanding of the parts of the religious landscape that inform some of this stuff. Her study of patriarchy and how boys are shaped and formed within conservative church communities — from standard macho stuff found all over to deeply troubling misogyny — is detailed and graciously reported. It feels almost like a memoir, the best sort of embedded journalism as this mainline Lutheran pastor visits and talks with those who are raising boys to become soldiers in the culture wars and sometimes, macho fighters for white supremacy.

We really, really liked Denker’s earlier book, Red State Christians which also had a first-hand, memoir style as she invited readers to join her on her quest to understand fundamentalist and others who found themselves supporting MAGA and Trump. Because some of these people were once her own tribe, she was a perfect guide. As a mother of two young boys herself, she, again, cares about this topic and has some skin in the game.

As the back cover puts it, in Disciples of a White Jesus Denker “casts her journalists eye across the US as she explores modern American boyhood’s connection to the alarming rise of white nationalism and white supremacy.”   I love Jemar Tisby’s wise observation (that the book is about identity and its malformation.) Read this:

This is a book about identity — its loss, its malformation, and the struggle to forge new ones. With the tenderness of a mother and the insight of a scholar, Denker pulls us off the path of easy outrage and leads us to look more closely at the inner lives of white boys and men. For those of us who seek a healthier church, community, and nation, Disciples of White Jesus is timely and essential reading. — Jemar Tisby, author of The Color of Compromise and The Spirit of Justice; professor of history at Simmons College of Kentucky

Readers should not be fooled by Denker’s storytelling ease and graceful prose into thinking this is simply another anodyne book about child-rearing. Her arguments about the sources and the persistence of racism, misogyny, and what she calls ‘brutish masculinity’ are powerful and, sadly, all too relevant. More important, she offers a way out — the examples of godly men who are working to subvert this toxic culture.  —Randall Balmer, author of Saving Faith

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

There are times when we give a title a “Best Book”of the year award because is it utterly captivating, delightfully great read as we say. Other times, we celebrate a book because it is breaking new ground, offering really fresh insight or contributing something important to a given topic or genre. Sometimes we think it is a significant book that needs to be considered by anyone working in that field. Happily, in Becoming a Person of Welcome any one of these motivations would convince me to give this an honorable mention; she covers so much. It really is engaging and wonderfully done. It really does offer new insight, bringing the popular conversation about and teaching on hospitality to a new level, for those who read it. And, yes, I’d say it is a must read for anybody thinking about this ministry or this theological topic.

The joys and value of this book are many and I could write more. In a nutshell we can say that this is the spirituality of hospitality, that is, what sort of interior character down need to create a posture that is hospitable. Hospitality, Murray shows, is not merely a practice, something we do. Yes, we do it — show grace to strangers, invite people to our homes, allow our time to be interrupted, learn from others, greet newcomers to our spaces with welcoming gestures and the like — but she is asking, down deep, are we living out of a well of graciousness, are we really welcoming, do we have hospitable hearts.

For some other writers, I think, this deeper dive to the nature of our inner lives and this call to explore in our spiritual formation ways to become the kinds of people who know how to be hospitable, might seem either strict and shaming or it could be cheesy and overly pious.  Laura Baghdassarian Murray strikes a beautiful balance and presents a book that we stock in the store on our shelf about hospitality and on our shelf about spiritual formation. Hooray!

Why Christians Should Be Leftists Phil Christman (Eerdmans) $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19

You can read my longer review of this from early last Fall but, I’m telling you, it really was a book I couldn’t put down. I didn’t always follow every line (although many were brilliantly conceived and eloquently written) and I didn’t agree with some, but, again, man: this was a Book of the Year for sure. You may not like it at all — that too many terms aren’t fully defined is one beef — but I think it would be a very valuable book to go through. Maybe with a group, even a politically and theologically diverse group, if you can manage it.

Phil Christman is a superb essayist, writing many columns and published pieces and two short collections, centered on his life as a blue-collar midWesterner. His first publisher of those two was a fitting indie outfit called Belt Press (as in Rust Belt) and, again, they were highly regarded in the world of letters. The first was MidWest Futures (2020) and the second was  released in 2022 with the delightfully provocative title How Not To Be Normal.

I don’t think most know it, but he used his writerly chops to help edit a day-by-day devotional of the writings of John Calvin (now out of print.) He was raised, I gather, in a fairly strictly fundamentalist culture, or at least indie evangelical, and ended up at a Calvinist institution. His writing appears sometimes in the Bruderhof’s Plough journal and he teaches writing at the University of Michigan and also in a nearby prison. Anyway, he’s deeply middle America and writes cleverly, self-assuredly, with candor and wit, and is mostly pretty straight forward. He can be biting but usually he is charming and the book is full of grace.

I say all this to suggest that he is a good read, a reliable thinker, and that Why Christians Should Be Leftists is a rare sort of book. It does not have the fire of old-school evangelicals like Tony Campolo or Ron Sider; it isn’t dense liberation theology or even sophisticated political theory. He knows his stuff, but it’s mostly what I might call a meditation, a straightforward polemic, reflecting on the values of Jesus and how, if we are to be consistent in following the Rabbi, then we should align ourselves with movements that are anti-war and that urge charity and justice for the poor.

Of course he mocks ideological Marxists and in this day and age it needs to be said that one can be left-leaning, even socialist, without being a communist, or even a pinko.  If you care about the Sermon on the Mount, say, and if you have ever been involved in any local organizations of a civic nature, you have to read this book. And if you haven’t, well, you really have to read this book. It was a personal fav for me in 2025.

Leftists don’t have to be Christians, and Christians don’t have to be leftists, but there’s a case to be made that the vision of the Sermon on the Mount ought to be honored above all in a politics of equality, where the last can be first not just in God’s eyes, but in the arrangements of this world too. Here that case is made with a wit, vigor, and steadfast attention to grace that are pleasures to witness in themselves. Read the book, and whether or not you find your conscience prompting you to walk into a socialist meeting, you will be challenged to think more deeply and more prayerfully about the proper outworking of your faith. — Francis Spufford, Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense

The Father You Get And the Ones You Make, Believe In, And Become Patton Dodd (Broadleaf) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I adored this good book, whipping through it quickly because I wanted to find out what happened next. Patton Dodd is a writer I’ve long admired and a quite good thinker, and an eloquent representative of thoughtful, generous faith. He’s also funny. This memoir is his accounting of his own life through the lens of the men in his life — his own alcoholic father, other guys he admired, step-fathers and pastors and more. And, of course, how all of this influenced his own parenting style when he became a dad himself. I loved those parts.

It was the early 2000s, I think, when I crossed paths with Patton; maybe he was writing for an impressive journal edited by Andy Crouch. He was smart and funny and incisive in his insights about living faithfully in the modern world. But yet, we learned more in a powerful memoir called My Faith So Far: A Story Conversion and Confusion about his early immersion in a Pentecostal-type megachurch and a season at Oral Roberts University. Yet, he knew the messiness of faith and his story colorfully told of his navigation through certain sorts of exuberant religion and the real life angst of a Gen X kid turned religious adult.

This new one, The Father You Get, is a great read for men, for dads, but, to be honest, for anyone wanting a lively account of a man’s thinking about his own life and dad. Good or bad, alive or dead, you have a dad, right? It is amazing to me that remarkable blurbs on the back, some by those who themselves have had some issues with their fathers — Ian Morgan Cron, Jonathan Merritt, Nancy French, Stephen Prothero.  It has been called brave and riveting and stirring and funny and insightful. It certainly was a personal favorite of mine in 2025 and I’m naming it a Best Book… with a manly back slap and big high five.

Here is how he explains what’s he up to:

This book is a memoir that is also about the work of storying yourself. It’s pegged to fatherhood, but it’s not just about men. It’s about coming to terms with the influences that formed you and the influence you have on the people you love.

I write about my dad, a mess of a man who messed up his family. I write about the father figures I pursued, the fatherly God my mom believed in, and the father I’ve been trying to become. I make fun of myself a lot, because storying myself helped me get comfortable with all my downsides.

Yup. This is one you ought to read. You’ll laugh and maybe cry and thank me later.

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

Geesh, it seemed so long ago, almost a lifetime ago, even though it’s only been 15 years since Christy Berghoef wrote her amazing first memoir, a book called Cracking the Pot which reflected on how this “cracked pot” shifted from strict Calvinist doctrine and Republican politics to become a questioning, authentic, caring voice of a generative faith that was aligned with what then was called the “emergent” movement. Names like the great Phyllis Tickle and Brian McLaren and other well known thinkers graced the back of the book as she narrated her journey out of some pretty weird right wing stuff in DC as her husband started a progressive church plant; it was the sort of book that was more rare then than now, post-evangelical progressives finding their way in the world. But it stands as a great read and more than relevant now.

Now there’s a different name for this movement of evangelical young adults shifting away from their legalism and shame cultures — deconstruction — but in the emergent village of the early aughts, there was a encouraging and mostly positive vibe of reforming faith by rejecting Enlightenment-based postures of certitude and creating space for postmodern styles of worship. She wrote about some of this in her own voice, telling her own story and it was a great memoir. Shortly thereafter her smart husband wrote a book (we have that one, too) called Pub Theology: Beer Conversations and God. And to think, a dozen or more years later, back in Western Michigan, he ran for US Congress.

His running for congress is a critical point in Rooted — would their family even be safe given the militias and hate groups operating in their region? —and but it is her story, not his, and their journey home to a flower farm in Michigan is both charming and gut-wrenching, beautiful and intense, a wondrous bit of prose and, finally, an exceedingly hopeful story. I love the subtitle, about homecoming, don’t you? That they could manage to return to her parents plot of land and family business in a rigorously doctrinaire church culture within a famously red county with their hippie back-to-the land sense of beauty and awe and their capacious faith (he is now a UCC pastor) and pull it off is a sign of grace and God’s miracles. Rooted is about homecoming, yes, but it is also about slower living and inner healing, it is about forging friendships through neighborliness and nurturing a sense of place. It is about girl hood memories and a nearly middle aged mother. It is, yes, a story of a new kind of faith from what they experienced before, but it is not didactic. It is a memoir, a story, a journey.

I adore this book of her journey, a memoir of this stage in her life.  Endorsements for this are compelling and lovely, from Parker Palmer and singer-songwriter Carrier Newcomer and Marilyn McEntyre.

The always hopeful Bill McKibben says:

Those of us lucky enough to have known a place and a community well and deeply will recognize all the joys and complications in this book; for others, it will be an eye-opening and heart-opening account of what’s still possible in this country.

The Place of Tides James Rebanks (Mariner) $28.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

I’ve almost saved the best for last, but that isn’t fully honest as I’m not even finished with this. I’ve known for months that I wanted to read this and that I’d love it and that I’d want to somehow celebrate it as a great book of our time, by a renowned, almost Scottish writer. (He lives in the Lake District of Northwest England near the famous Highlands.) His book The Shepherd’s Life is a stunner, beautiful and powerful and lyrical and wise, about being a sheep farmer. The writer of H is for Hawk called it “bloody marvelous.” We all love James Herriot, of course, and mean no disrespect, but this guy is a world-class author, a legend in the world of literature and letters. And he’s a sheep farmer and ecologist. His writing has been called “transfixing” and “elegiac as a tender hymn to a disappearing way of life.”

Here’s a funny little story. When I was publicly interviewing writer Jeff Chu — himself an “accidental farm hand” — about his book Good Soil, a question came from the audience about what he is reading now. The stakes feel high for me in such situations (especially if the learned writer and expansive reader asks if I know the book. Gulp.) Jeff said he had the new Rebanks in his bag (I think I’m remembering this correctly) and I was thrilled but perplexed as the book had not been released yet. He got it in the UK (or maybe somebody sent it from the UK) and so he had a jump on it. I exclaimed how exciting this was, how eager I was to read it (as a mortal in the US) once we get them. I think it was like a week or two later when The Place of Tides came in. I recalled how glorious Jeff said it was, how he so appreciated the writing (not to mention the author’s sense of place, his ecological vision, his work as a naturalist of sorts, alongside his farming and herding.) Rebanks has a degree from Oxford and used to have a job which — on the first page of the book — took him to the Arctic to an island along the coast of Norway. Norwegians took conservation seriously, his boss told him, and they could learn from them.

“Everything I knew about Norway could have been written on the side of a cinnamon bun,” in one of the most entertaining lines of the year.  Soon enough he leaves the dull office of the tourist board on the island of Vega “asking the questions I was supposed to ask” and got on a fishing boat heading farther out to sea, to an even further flung island, exploring the lives of wild women he had seen in pictures, caring for birds in epic Arctic wildlife. And so his adventure begins. You will be hooked by the first couple of pages.

And maybe, for you, too, this beautiful, enchanting volume, A Place in Tides, will be a book of the year.

A FINAL HONORABLE MENTION TO EXTRAORDINARY, INNOVATIVE SMALL GROUP STUDY GUIDES

The Community Practice: A Four-Session Guide to Cultivating Community in the Way of Jesus John Mark Comer (Waterbrook) $14.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.20

I hope you know the marvelous book from a few years ago called Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. We always keep it on hand. There are free online lectures and conversations about the book at his “Practicing the Way” website and they are really excellent — they are some of the best video stuff I’ve ever seen.

There is a jam-packed, fairly large course book that we sell that goes with the streaming content for Practicing the Way.

John Mark and the talented folks at “Practicing the Way” have now spun off a good handful of other spiritual practices (some from the first course, others new) offering four-week streaming on line (free) programs that are just stellar. You can even access online the free study guides to be used with these fabulous streaming lectures but it’s a lot to copy and a little complicated. We sell the real study guides that the publishers have released — crisp, intersting, multicolored, with enhancing color photos and worksheets and homework assignments and space for journaling. The videos are among the best I’ve seen anywhere and the workbooks are superb. We don’t always think workbooks are needed for classes watching videos but in this case we really recommended them.

The one shown here on “the community practice” course is one of several such four-week books — on sabbath, solitude, generosity, simplicity, prayer, service, Scripture, fasting — but this one is maybe the best (so far.) Comer weaves together Bible text and neuroscience and academic theories about group building and good advice about being intentional about forming small fellowship groups with whom we regularly eat together, share joys and sorrows, confess our sins and struggles, and remain loyal through conflict. Given the pervasive power of American individualism, this four week course is not enough, but it is plenty. It is fantastic and a good, good start to learning the practices of community. Get this little study guide and download the free streaming videos to see if you’d want to share them in your church or group. Highly recommended.

Let Peace Reign: Love, Justice, Dignity in God’s Kingdom Drew Jackson (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $

IVP has alway done very workable, solid, helpful study guides. The LifeGuide Bible Study series remains our biggest sellers (although we are really glad for their New Testament for Everyone study guides created with just a page of content before the questions by N.T. Wright.) There are others.

Lately they’ve done some that are a bit more artfully done, with a more colorful format and a super classy design. They’ve got QR codes for more content (everything from poems and spoken word testimony and lecture.) And the group interaction is more complex, with various levels of involvement and different sorts of sharing (and some prayer practices) making them more interesting than merely answering the inductive questions (the format of the LifeGuide series.)

I do not know if the handful studies that look like this with the super graphics and bold print and creative explorations will be well branded as a series, but there currently arefour and they are called the Made for PAX Bible Study Series as they apply the principles from the Made for PAX ministry about everyday discipleship that includes working for peacemaking, equity and wholeness.

As much as the Bible talks about shalom, as much as we are called to be agents of God’s receptive reconciliation, as direct as Jesus was about peacemaking, there is precious little in the conventional small group format on this essential theme. We are thrilled — thrilled! — to celebrate this series and, in particular, this recent study written mostly by a speaker, poet, and public theologian who loves bringing together the themes of public justice and peacemaking with a poetic sense of contemplative reflection. Drew’s upbeat resource is ideal for groups just beginning a justice-journey but will be appreciated by those wishing to have a small group study on this topic. Whether you are an activist or not, Let Peace Reign is a six week interactive study with QR codes to watch more live videos that you will find truly enriching, challenging, and faithful.

Others in the Made for PAX Bible Study Series include:

Liberated at the Cross: Peace and Reconciliation in God’s Kingdom — A 6-Week Interactive Bible Study with Video Access by Kristel Acevedo (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99 We’ve been waiting for a lifetime for a Bible study guide like this — the strong visuals, the QR links, the interactive poems and such. The strong content of the power of the cross, the liberation Christ’s Kingdom brings, the solid teaching about this wholistic sort of redemptive vision— may goodness. This is excellent and groundbreaking!

We met Kristel, by the way, at Jubilee last year — she is amazing. We have another Bible study resource she did and she (and her work)  is highly recommended

Migration: Experiencing God’s Care for Immigrants – A 6-Week Interactive Bible Study by Alexis Busetti & Dorcas Cheng-Tozun (IVP) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59 This one has brilliant, contemporary art and a few QR codes to bring up stories, poems, and testimony. Wonderfully multi-sensory. There is nothing like it.

Mental Health: Experiencing God’s Care for Our Mind, Body, and Spirit – A 6-Week Interactive Bible Study by Dorcus Cheng-Tozun (IVP) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

What church isn’t talking about this? Which small group doesn’t know somebody struggling? I would bet that may readers of BookNotes have been looking for a small group study on this topic.

This one also has brilliant, contemporary art and a few QR codes to bring up stories, poems, and testimony. It is made with a real contemporary design flourish and the interactive content looks really helpful.

As of January 2026 we are still closed for in-store browsing.

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. We’ve got tables set up out back or can bring things right to your car. It’s sort of fun, actually. We are eager to serve and grateful for your patience. We are very happy to help, so if you are in the area, do stop by. We love to see old friends and new customers. 

This is PART ONE of our epic BEST BOOKS OF 2025 LIST. Part two is coming soon.

Three bits of prelude before our big awards show, naming our favorite books of 2025.

First, thanks to those who have prayed or reached out to us regarding Beth’s breast cancer and chemo treatments. She has had remarkable faith and courage and, frustrating and painful as it is, we’re hanging in there. She continues to work most days and she is truly grateful for the cards and notes (especially those tucked into payments.) We are grateful for your business this past year and glad for your support. We appreciate, now more than ever, orders and prayers, preferably both. Ha.

Secondly, a thank you to those who have shared their appreciation for the informal “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast that we do almost every other week. They are posted, eventually, at the store’s Facebook page, but always at Apple or Spotify podcasts or you can watch us chat at YouTube. My conversation partner — Phil Schiavoni or Sam Levy from the CCO — set me up to talk about three titles (although I do usually manage to sneak a few other title shout-outs and author name-drops — imagine!) A number of folks advised me to do this, so we’ve been doing it for a couple of years without much traction. Maybe this will be the year it takes off. We are grateful for those who appreciate my yapping.

Thirdly, setting up books at off site events has always been part of our vocation and we’re glad to meet people out and about. From a local Presbytery event to a Bonhoeffer event at Gettysburg Theological Seminary to Water Street Mission’s day with Curt Thompson to the inspiring Poiema arts conference here in York to a weekend with Brian McLaren in State College, amongst others, we had a blast lugging boxes and selling books, so we thank those who invite us places.  What a joy to serve God’s people here and there.

A stand-out event this year was the delight we had in being the first bone fide bookstore to show off the then brand new A Beautiful Year by our long-time pal Diana Butler Bass. Diana spoke (accompanied by her very cool and book-loving husband, Rick) at Highland Presbyterian Church in Lancaster and you can hear her presentation about the book HERE. (Watch for my enthusiastic announcement in the beginning, too. Huzzah.)

We’ve again hosted a few online webinars this year, too, and we have two more scheduled soon — stay tuned for information about an online evening with Dorothy Little Greco on her book For the Love of Women (January 27th) and, then, the following week, a live webinar conversation with one of my besties, Steve Garber, discussing his brand new Hints of Hope on February 3rd.

But I’m getting ahead of myself as I wanted to thank those who joined us virtually this fall for a splendid evening with Jeff Crosby talking about his fabulous Paraclete book World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading (you can still watch it here) and another online gathering with the altogether lovely and eloquent Kathleen Norris; we talked about her recent book Rebecca Sue: A Sister’s Reflections on Disabilities, Faith, and Love. It is no surprise that I recall it as one of the great privileges of our career, chatting with Kathleen about her sister, Becky.

And speaking of (daunting) conversations with authors (gracious as they always are) we were honored to host Jeff Chu, talking about his splendid, multi-faceted, beautifully written memoir Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand; thanks to local folks who came out to FPC to spend an evening with Jeff with plenty of locally sourced Chinese snacks. Here’s my BookNotes column before the event.

Perhaps the most rewarding event was a quiet pair of talks which were, in my view, among the highlights of the year. The dearest life-long friends of Beth and I include Gail Heffner who, with her colleague at Calvin University, Dave Warners, wrote a university press book last year about their decade-long struggle to build a coalition with college students and many others to help clean up a very polluted stream that flows through Grand Rapids, Michigan. Called Reconciliation in a Michigan Watershed: Restoring Ken-O-Sha and vibrantly documenting their work (both the details of watershed clean up and restoration and the formation of and teaching about what they’ve called reconciliation ecology), we brought them here during Earth Day weekend to partner with two watershed groups in Central PA. It’s a busy weekend for those working in creation care so turn-out wasn’t huge, but the conversations with Gail and Dave, first at a Mennonite church near a famous creek in Lancaster and then the next morning at a cafe near the Codorus Creek in downtown York, were rich and important. You can read my BookNotes column before those events HERE. It’s pretty interesting if I do say so myself.

I could go on, thanking folks as different as the congregation at Duke Chapel who had me zooming in to their adult forum more than once this year to Market Square Presbyterian Church that hosted me doing a four week class on reading as a spiritual discipline and Kingdom adventure. And all of those who have helped us lug in and tear down at big CCO events. You know who you are.

All of these events mean a whole lot to us and when you order books from us (we hope you know) you are somehow joining in this story of a small-town bookstore trying to offer enthusiasm and some degree of wisdom about reading widely in these distressing times. Your support matters, believe me — we need every order we can get!

God’s world and Word are durable, despite the brokenness all around, and we seek — as Garber puts it — hints of hope. At least that, often through good stories and poems and memoirs and history and theology texts and mores about public affairs. Christ is Risen and even in the hardest times of vile political leadership and terrible public policy and war and hunger and pollution and all the rest, we know God is with us. And books help us live into that big story of redemption, joining God’s work in the world, learning from (and even enjoying) the fruits of authors who have shared ideas and dreams and visions (in fiction and nonfiction) with us. What a privilege to serve you as we read widely for the sake of God’s Kingdom coming, “on Earth as it is in heaven.” Thank you for your love of books and your support of our work at Hearts & Minds.

Okay, from webinars and podcasts to big conferences and author events, you know the main day-to-day work is (for you and me both) finding time to read real books, to open pages, to underline and ponder, to enjoy and share, to cherish the printed page. It’s pretty quotidian (a word I first learned from Kathleen Norris.) I hope our weekly reviews help you sort through the clutter and advise you a bit about what to read next.

You know I don’t like top ten lists (even though I did a great countdown with two other brilliant readers and podcasters, which you should listen to HERE. Joshua Johnson’s Shifting Culture work is amazing and you should support his media feeds. ) I don’t like ranking books or saying these are “best.” Some are significant, some are beautiful, some are great, each in their own way. And there’s little account for taste and preference — we’ve sure learned that in our nearly 45 years of bookselling.

So, with that backpedaling and qualification, I’ll share if not the best books, certainly my favorites (to read myself or to proclaim to others.) It’s my quirky bookseller’s list, my picks for something like the Best of 2025. It was a very good year.

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FIRST: MY OWN PERSONAL MOST FAVORITE TOP 16 BOOKS OF 2025

World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading Jeff Crosby (Paraclete Press) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Of course I have to lead off with this, the most charming and inspiring book about reading I have ever read. Jeff’s clarity and graciousness and eagerness to share why people of faith should read widely is a gift, an antidote to the anxiety we feel when we recall the downward shifts in reading, cultural literacy, education. With brief contributions by several others and fabulous book lists after each chapter, this book is not only a delight but a very, very helpful resource to have and to share.

I want to be an enthusiastic cheerleader for World of Wonders and hope you might consider sharing it with someone you know. Let’s spread the word! See one of my reviews HERE.

The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s Paul Elie (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) $33.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.40

I suppose this is tentative choice for my favorite book of the year, learned and detailed, almost 500 pages of excellent writing exploring the lives and faith (such as it was) of writers, poets, rock stars, painters, social activists, and artists of various sorts. From Vaclav Havel and Salmon Rushdie to U2 and Dylan and Pattie Smith (and so many more) to Andy Warhol and Martin Scorsese to C. Everett Koop and Act Up, he weaves extraordinary plot lines and connects dots of what he calls “crypto-religiosity.” I could go on and on; the Vanity Fair review says it like this: “Elie’s synthesis of the era is virtuosic and revelatory. And his mini-narratives are set pieces, laid out with such intricate detail that the book, at times, feels as finely chiseled as a work carved from Carrara marble.”

Phil Christman (whose own 2025 book will appear in our next list of honorable mentions)) said in the Chronicle of Higher Education that “Elie rarely encounters an artist about whom he cannot find something intelligent to say . . . The Last Supper is an altogether admirable piece of crypto-religious culture in its own right . . . I finished the book with a renewed appreciation for the way belief itself is a complicated thing.”

Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People Imani Perry (Ecco Press) $28.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

Imani Perry is one of the great public intellectuals of our day (think of her award winning South to America which I raved about a few years ago) and I’m grateful that she writes so very well and is so able to switch from paragraphs of great historical detail and philosophical depth to beautiful anecdotes and heart-breaking reports and delightful phrases exploring the glories of the ordinary. This deep study of African American culture (and, also, African cultures) and the fascination with the color blue is almost audacious in making an oddball case that a color matters to a people group, and breathtaking in the ample evidence she offers.

Black in Blues has been called everything from exquiste to searing to extraordinary to fascinating to brilliant and is doubtlessly one of the best books of the year. There are glorious passages I read out loud to my wife and bitter studies of ugly slave ships and other degradations; there are lovely reflections on plants and flowers and there are memoir-like ruminations on her own travels, ancestors (and color choices.) There is an extraordinary familiarity with so much — again, Perry is a world-class scholar, teaching at Princeton University —and while some pages of Black in Blues are almost arcane and dense, there are captivating stories of bluesmen and pop songs. There are wise and enchanting comments about stuff you may know about and I assure you there will be eye-opening things you will learn. I loved this book and as painful as some portions are, I very highly recommend it.

“Black in Blues is a stunningly original journey in search of the historical origins of the very soul of African American life and culture. Along the way, Perry shows, with telling detail and in engaging prose, how ‘The Blues’ became Black, and how Black people became ‘Blues People.'” – Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand Jeff Chu (Convergent Books) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

How can I not name this, an unforgettable book by my friend Jeff Chu. As noted above, we hosted Jeff here in York this past summer when the book was new, and his relational styled friendly presence was a blessing, even as he did not shy away from speaking hard truths many of need to ponder. As I’ve explained, it is a book about his sense of a call to seminary which ended up focusing on the innovative “Farminary” program at Princeton Seminary. He comes from a family of legendary Chinese cooks (and pastors) but he knew little about agriculture, so this memoir is fun and a real page-turner, even as it explores hard stuff — struggles in seminary to integrate faith and learning, the role of food and cooking in his Chinese-American family culture, stuff about being gay and stuff about racism and stuff about complicated relationships within family systems.

I agree with the many rave reviews who have insisted that this is a glorious book that invites readers in, makes readers feel cared for, reminds us of important truths about love, about grace, about God and goodness. He’s an excellent writer and Good Soil is certainly one of my favorite books in recent years. Enjoy!

Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America Beth Macy (Penguin Press) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

I hope you saw my long review of this a few weeks before Christmas as I explain why I so appreciate the solid investigative writing of thereat Beth Macy, and why this book — about her returning to a struggling rust-belt town in Ohio where she grew up — resonated so, and is so very important for all of us. Want to understand, again, the white rage that leads lower income folks struggling with disenfranchisement and addictions and all manner of rural poverty stuff to adopt the MAGA ideology? What a better story of mid-American small town life than, say, Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy? Want to know what happens when a writer known for her concern for ordinary folks — think of her great book about the struggles of the North Carolina furniture industry, Factory Man, or her two books on the opioid crisis, Dopesick and Raising Lazarus — goes home to her own hard girlhood and wonders what would happen if she were a student in that embattled school nowadays? Read Paper Girl for a great, page-turning story of this woman and her old home-town (and the high school reunion committee torn asunder by racism and MAGA stuff) and read Paper Girl for a civic lesson on the ground of middle America and its struggles these days. Unforgettable.

Rags of Light: Leonard Cohen and the Landscape of Biblical Imagination Brian J. Walsh (Cascade Books) $23.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.40

I think I said in one of my BookNotes reviews that I’m not that big of a Leonard Cohen fan and,  yet, I adored this incredible book exploring his lyrics (folk and rock music and his published poetry and spoken word work) and comparing and contrasting them with Biblical texts. Walsh, is admittedly, a friend and hero, and I’d read anything he wrote — you should too, perhaps starting with a brand new one coming this week called On Prophets, Priests, and Poets: Christian Formation at the Gates of Hell. But even taking into consideration that I tend to enjoy books written by friends, and I’m a sucker for thinking about faith and popular culture, and I like the idea of relate song lyrics (wisely and fruitfully) to Biblical passages, even though I’m disposed to like this, I wonder if others will like it as much as I did. And I am almost sure of it.

If you want to get into the Scriptures, being activated by a Biblical imagination, and see how the Bible can be opened up well, putting God’s Word into conversation with the 20th century Jewish poet (Cohen died in 2016), Rags of Light is a great guide. Too many handle the Bible poorly (and people quote song lyrics cavalierly, I think.) Walsh does neither; he gets Cohen’s body of work and takes his words seriously, and he’s got a solid and generative hermeneutic of standing within the Biblical text (inspired by the likes of Richard Middleton, who wrote the foreword, and Walter Brueggemann, say.) I’m telling you, there is nothing cheesy or simplistic (let alone a fanboy paean) here, but just a fabulous, fun, inspiring, reflection of the laments of this pop star and a healthy does of Old and New Testament faith.

You should get it, even if you’re not a Cohen fan. And if you are, what are you waiting for? One of my favorite books of 2025.

Makers By Nature: Letters from a Master Painter on Faith, Hope, and Art Bruce Herman (IVP Academic) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I have previously tried to wax eloquent in BookNotes about this exquisite book and am glad to name it now as one of my absolute favorites of the year. Although more can be said, I’ll just say three things about why it is on my short list of best books of the year and why you should consider ordering it.

Firstly it is a beautifully made (paperback) book, one of the best I’ve seen in recent years, with good touches of color and artful design. If you care about books you will love having this. Secondly, although Makers By Nature is written by a renowned visual artist inviting us to think about our creative selves and our role as makers, it does cover so much, with Bruce sharing his years of true, faithful wisdom about calling and prayer and pain and relationships and hope and work and yes, hope. So even if you are not a painter, you will enjoy and benefit from this treasure chest of good writing. Thirdly, it is written as a set of letters to various people; it is a device, I gather (although some of the people are real.) This makes it a personal and tender and dare I say exciting read.  Highly recommended.

The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy Matthew Taylor (Broadleaf Books) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $ 26.39

Sadly, I have felt compelled to read a good handful of books these past few years about the extremist right that is so damaging our country, the neo-Nazis and MAGA conspiracy nuts, the lying President and those who have locked arms with him, sexual predator that the has been. Specifically, there have been many books exploring how people of so-called Christian faith have fallen for this far-out, pagan stuff, usually under the rubric of Christian Nationalism. You, I hope, have read at least one of the many critiques of this undisciplined frame of mind, from solid Christian thinkers like Tim Alberta or Amanda Tyler or Dave Gushee or Caleb Campbell or Paul D. Miller. Most of them are jam-packed with revelations and loaded with facts.

Among these many good books, though, there is a missing piece.  There is a major part of the far right anti-democratic movement that has rallied behind Trump and helped with the January 6th attack on the Capitol that few writers have explored and that is what is called the “New Apostolic Reformation” of neo-Pentecostals driven by what they call the “Seven Mountains Mandate.” This plan — to exercise Godly influence over key spheres of society and culture — does not sound bad (at first, to me anyway) until you realize they (a) really view this as a project of conquest and theonomy and that (b) they are pretty spiritually eccentric and at times even heretical about their views of prophecies, dreams, super-natural visions, and alleged direction from the Holy Spirit. The NAR has been theologically exposed as dangerous for years, but now that they are using their networks to (as one put it) “co-opt the way of Jesus for political domination” it is essential we know about them. The Violent Take It By Force (a Bible verse that Taylor reports was all over twitter the day of the Capitol riot, affirming the rampage) is an amazing book that fills the needed gap with incredible detail.

Taylor is a good journalist (with charismatic experience himself) and he goes into riveting detail about each of the major players in this politicized NAR movement. He looks at Paula White,  Lance Wallnau, Cindy Jacobs, Dutch Sheets, Peter Wagner, Ché Ahn, song-leader Sean Feucht, and others who have literally millions of followers all over the world. The “charismaticization of the far right” is one of the most significant and unexplored topics of our age, and this book nails it. I couldn’t put it down and I am sure I will remember it as long as I live.

Art Is: A Journey Into the Light Makoto Fujimura (Yale University Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I do not have to say much about this splendid, rich book. We were very glad to get many pre-orders from our previous announcement in BookNotes. Mako is an admired painter, a great voice for a creative and generative view of faith and culture, and a friend of Hearts & Minds. We have sold quite a few of his several books over the years — his first, Refractions, was re-issued in an anniversary hardcover edition in 2024 — and his excellent Yale University Press, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making (with a good forward by N.T Wright), that came out in 2021 came out in paperback this year. Art Is is his follow up and is one of his most handsome and perhaps best books he has yet done. He is inviting us to ponder how art might (to put it prosaically, as he never does) inspire us. It is, as Christopher Rothko put it on the back cover, that “Art is awareness, a journey of looking and listening that encompasses the worlds around and within.”  As art is a door to the imagination and faith, this is a stellar reflection on how and why that is.

So many have raved about this; listen to Joyce Yu-Jean Lee of the famous NY Pratt Institute, who says,

Through an intimate studio tour, Art Is invites creative souls into Mako’s painting process — fusing the alchemy of light with his theology of making. This luminous, heartfelt reverie fosters an embodied connection with God, humanity and nature–an inspiring read.

Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land Ross Halperin (Liveright Publishing) $31.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.59

It took me a while to explain the details of this detailed, journalistic report of a multi-faceted Christian public justice ministry in Honduras; it is a big book and my long BookNotes review didn’t even do it justice. I wish my efforts there to promote it were somehow circulated more widely as people the world over should know if this amazing effort. A couple from Calvin College (now University) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, started this heroic effort to fight corruptions, gang violence, drugs, violent cops, political complicity, election fraud, and more, and this reported risked years of his life following them and their local allies there to tell this riveted story of faith and justice and peacemaking and hope.

It is sticky and messy and complicated. They don’t always get it right and they don’t always succeed. They consult with the likes of IJM’s Gary Haugen and hammer out ideas, week by week, month by month, year by year. (Kurt Ver Beek’s fruitful thinking, based on years of experience in the barrio, can be seen in a book he co-wrote with his Board member Nicholas Wolterstorff, an impressive Christian political philosopher. That 2019 book is fabulous and is entitled Called for Justice: From Practice to Theory and Back. Of course we reviewed it at BookNotes and have it still.)

If you read one book about what wholistic Kingdom efforts might look like in an unjust land, Bear Witness should be it. This gripping story is hard to beat. Kudos to a secular publisher doing this story about evangelical Christians, and kudos to Kurt Ver Beek and his team for following God’s call to make a difference in their lifetime.

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

If you have been paying attention at all, you surely know of this beautiful graphic novel-type, illustrated volume. I’ve touted it time and again, on podcasts and at BookNotes, taking it to nearly every book display we’ve done, anywhere, this year. It really is a treasure to see and a joy to watch people browse through it. I’m not going to lie — it’s nice when they order a few, as folks often do once they see it.

Hendrix is a very talented graphic designer, perhaps most known for his well-executed and powerful paperback The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler (which has been a bestseller since it came out in 2018.) Pitched as a cartoon book for kids, Mythmakers is ideal for thoughtful middle school or older teens, but, to be honest, I suspect we’ve sold as many to adults. It is, to put it simply, about the creative process of Lewis & Tolkien’s as they collaborated to make stories. Their epic mythmaking, Hendrix seems to suggest with the sidebars and cartoon speech bubbles, is not merely for fun or even merely the art of doing fiction. Behind their friendship and artfulness and writing and mythmaking is a scheme, a vision to push back against the sterile reductionism of secularized modernity.

Yep, offering myths like Narnia or the Ransom trilogy or the legendary stories of Middle Earth and the Lord of the Rings series is, this colorful, fun books illustrates, is a way to fight the erosion of goodness and beauty and truth and virtue and God that is lost in the modernist worldview. They saw this in the dark days of the mid-twentieth century and their faith (one famously Protestant, the other Catholic) allowed profound fellowship and a last aesthetic of storytelling that truly has changed the lives of countless readers. This fun book explores how it all worked.  Hooray. How many might you get?

Barn Gothic: Three Generations and the Death of the Family Dairy Farm Ryan Dennis (Island Press) $30.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.79

I wrote about this at length in a BookNotes column before Christmas and I can’t stop thinking about this well told, down-to-Earth, poignant memoir about a colorful family of dairy farmers in Western New York. I know that some Hearts & Minds friends know the farming world; we even have generations of dairy farmers in one side of our family. This book tells the drama and danger and daily joys of running a dairy farm with keen insight and fabulously interesting ruminations.

Barn Gothic really does help readers be reminded of the hardship of farming in this modern sort of capitalist culture; yes, it rails against the infamous “go big or go home” push from the awful Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz (under Nixon) and the vast (!) repercussions  of industrial farming. (And know this, Trump’s Sonny Perdue is just as terrible, pushing farm consolidation and profiteering from the seed and petrochemical businesses.) However tragic all this is, making the work harder and less fulfilling, Barn Gothic is no Wendell Berry-inspired screed or public policy manifesto (although there is a short appendix that is the best history of all this I’ve seen.) No, this is a memoir, a family tale, a story about family and community and work and play and rural life and — perhaps most poignantly — a story about fathers and sons.

The third main man in this generational story, the author Ryan Dennis, grew up wanting to work the farm and  excelled at his good work with the planting and the herds, the milking and the repairs, the harvesting hay and meeting with the co-ops, etc. etc. Alas, he soured on it a bit, and, simultaneously, developed a passion for writing. He goes off to college, eventually get an MFA and a PhD (in Galway, Ireland.) He returns home when he can, but he will not take over his father and mother’s farm. He has become a writer. And what a book he has given us, a tender gift, sad and true and, oddly, a joy to read. Highly recommended.

American Bulk: Essays on Excess Emily Mester (W.W. Norton) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Most years I am enamored with fresh writers who can turn a phrase, and we have been early fans of writers who eventually became household names (at least in some circles.) We met Barbara Brown Taylor when she only had a few collections of sermons in print and to this day I quote from The Preaching Life. We loved the writing of Kate Bowler before her first book came out; Anne Lamott, Nadia Bolz-Webber, and Sara Miles are wordsmiths whose prose often blows us away.

Although not writing with a theological orientation and offering little of direct spirituality, American Bulk is so thoughtfully done, deeply considered, and gorgeously, energetically written, that I almost think of Ms Mester in a league of our other favorite writers. She has been called “sly”, “humane” and “dryly witty.” She is a bit punchy, has a great, easy-to-follow storytelling style, loves Costco, but brings a cultural and even philosophical heft to a few of her curiously captivating stories. This book is much more memoir than critical essays, but the genre of storytelling does yield to some analysis of the American tendency to hoard. Yep, this is a poignant, passionate, funny, and at times profound study of materialism and compulsive shopping. And did I mention hoarding?

What happens when consumption starts to consume you back?

Inquisitive and deeply observed….In a late-stage capitalism heaving with choice, Mester assumes the role of a millennial Virgil with both style and grace. Mester forges a compassionate route through brand-name overabundance to better understand the impulse to consume. — Shelf-Awareness

American Bulk is composed of some of my favorite nonfiction essays on family, capital, love and dysfunction that I’ve ever read. It’s a refreshing and needed reframing of what all these things mean, today, right now, as the neon haze of fast-food signs flicker from their long-time dominion of the American experience. Mester examines our compulsion to consume with careful incisions that I kept highlighting and coming back to, just to whisper the words to myself to make their clear-eyed cleverness my own. — Arabelle Sicardi, beauty writer and author of the The House of Beauty: Lessons from the Image Industry

A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance Diana Butler Bass (St. Martin’s Essentials) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

You know this one, perhaps our biggest seller of 2025, even though it only came out in November. We’ve posted a bit about it and highlighted it in podcasts. Thanks to Diana and Rick — big name authors with a hugely popular Substack — for suggesting that folks order from us. We picked up some new customers and friends though that and got to send out a boatload of this lovely and thoughtful weekly devotional on the church calendar.

In my introductory comments above I suggested that you check out a video (from Highland Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, PA) and watch Diana discuss why she wrote this book and the subversive public theology that can emerge from simply paying attention to a truly Christian view of time. As you would expect, she puts it wonderfully. We can think more creatively and faithfully about our way in the world when our imaginations are shaped by a different calendar, and this set of Biblical readings following the liturgical may be the best book of it’s kind.

Diana is not the first to do this sort of year-long collection readings around the church year, but A Beautiful Year is a watershed book, very highly recommended.

The Uncool: A Memoir Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press) $35.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

I wondered if I should list this thinking it was a guilty pleasure, and when I was a guest on Joshua Johnson’s amazing “Shifting Culture” podcastI was a little chagrined and excited to hear that he listed this among his favorites of the year. Well, me too, brother, right on. It is, if you haven’t heard, the life story of the famously young (he was in high school) writer for Rolling Stone in the early and mid 1970s. The film Almost Famous was made about him, and Cameron Crowe — who had scored rare interviews with everybody from Dylan to Greg Allman to Zeppelin to Bowie to Joni — went on to make several important films. To say he was a wunderkind is putting it mildly.

Cameron was a lovable kid, a true lover of rock and roll, an ardent fan of the sort who had so many albums that said so much about his identity. (I relate, friends, I relate.) He was a very good writer in his day, and would tour for weeks on end (yes, skipping school) with Yes or The Eagles or Kris Kristofferson to get a good interview. I loved the stories about the magazine, about the politics and culture of the 70s, but, mostly, about the music and the stars. What a story.

Of course, as a good memoir, there is much more going on. He had a sister (who loved the Beach Boys and other lovely songs) who took her own life. His mom was a wild one, eccentric and unique (and wanted him to go to law school.) As he ages and goes into film, the story stretches out and I didn’t want it to end. It was a tender, good story, despite the occasional scenes of drugs and such which were surprisingly less influential than I even expected.

The book starts with a memory of the first time he heard Dylan (with his mom!) and then, in real time, was writing the liner notes for the first major boxed set of Dylan albums (Biography.) Oh my, I thought, this is going to be a heckuva read, at least for boomers like me. Hooray.

Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music Charlie Peacock (Eerdmans) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

If I ended the year with a fun music memoir (the above-mentioned Uncool by young Rolling Stone reporter Cameron Crowe)  I almost started it with an advanced copy of a book that released in February 2025, the incredible Roots and Rhythm by CCM artist, producer, thought-leader, and cultural creative, Charlie Peacock. I did a long review of this marvelous book last winter but I name it now as surely one of the great reads of the year. I enjoyed it, I learned much, I admired Charlie even more than I did, and I marveled at how God has worked in this artist’s life. What a read!

Charlie, as you may know, was both a punky sort of alt rocker as a young kid, new to Christian faith, who put out several really good albums in an era of CCM (contemporary Christian music) when much was stupid, derivative, sloppy, or cheesy. Yet there were true stars, serious artists, people wanting to be “in the world but not of it” in their rock and roll worldview. Charlie was a leader in those years, playing with bands and helping many. He became a producer and worked with — as he says on page after page after page of this fascinating autobiography —names that are recognizable as stars in the CCM world (Amy Grant, say, or Switchfoot) and whose names you would know from AM or FM radio. Yep, he has worked with rockers and jazzmen, with soul singers, and has met everybody from Al Green to Jackson Browne to Bono to Grammy winners The Civil Wars. He’s not only met them, he’s produced some of their recordings!

It isn’t every Christian book published by Eerdmans that ends up getting reviewed in Variety magazine (which called it “absorbing and exquisitely written”) along with an incredibly interesting interview. So this is a book that tells of his own journey to faith, his thoughtful sort of discipleship as a creative (he is friends with Steve Garber, for instance, who has an nice blurb on the book) and how he has promoted this thoughtful vision, with his wife Andi, by forming these Art House places in a few key cities, spaces for good conversations about faith and life and justice and art.

Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music is a good retrospective of a colorful life of a real do-er, a guy who left his mark (and is still doing so, despite chronic headaches — pray for him, please.) He names gear and tech stuff from the recording studios, he names record label execs and talks about deals and offers and plans and betrayals. It is fascinating for those of us who follow pop culture, and more for those who want to hold up examples of people who have lived with integrity in a particular profession. He’s a good thinker, a fine writer, and an admirable person. Praise be to God.

8 UNFORGETTABLE BOOKS I READ THIS YEAR THAT WERE PUBLISHED PREVIOUSLY

In some cases they came out in paperback in 2025, so it counts…

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted Suleika Jaouad (Random House) $20.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

We had this book with its great hardback cover for a year and I told folks I started it, but I never really read it seriously until this year, now that it is out in paperback. Friends, this story of a woman who gets a rare and debilitating sort of Leukemia as a college student and her love-life and family struggles as she goes through treatment is — I am not exaggerating — one of the most unforgettable books I have ever read. I adored it, even if her life and worldview is very different than my own. This is what a book can do, give you a glimpse, an entertaining glimpse, even, of some of the most horrible stuff faced by some of us. That my wife had just been diagnosed with her breast cancer as I had started this one seemed like a weird coincidence and I am glad Beth’s prognosis and treatment was nothing like Jaouad’s. But still, this book meant a whole lot to me this year.

The last third of the book (a tiny bit of spoiler) is about a road trip she takes, meeting people who had written to her (when she became known as an online cancer celebrity of sorts, due to a New York Times column she did about being a young adult with serious chronic illness.) This road trip is a blast and incredibly poignant making for a very satisfying read. Not overtly religious or theological, of course, but I still recommend this to our Hearts & Minds friends.

(Have you seen American Symphony, the documentary made by her husband, Jon Batiste? Yep, that’s her, and their falling in love is part of the second half of Between Two Kingdoms.)

Paul: A Biography N. T. Wright (HarperOne) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

We announced this when it first released with enthusiasm knowing what we knew about Wright and his work on Paul — I’ve read some of his academic stuff — and was so happy for it, but never got around to reading it in earnest. It got rave, rave reviews, called majestical and erudite and compelling, etc.

It is one of the only ones of his more popular level titles that I had not read but it wasn’t until I was doing an adult ed class in my church this Fall that I realized I needed this big picture of the life of Paul. I had a dozen books spread out before me, and this one captivated me more than all the others. I read from it out loud in many of the weekly classes, and I couldn’t put it down. Maybe you are like me and go in study phases — the prophets for a season, maybe the Gospels on you do a deep dive into the Psalms or whatever — and this opened up so much of the New Testament letters that it has become one of the vital books in my list of must-reads.  I made me care about Paul even more and understand his essential Kingdom work in those years. I made me admire Tom that much more, again, too. What a book.

Read it along with The  Challenge of Acts: Rediscovering What the Church Was and Is, perhaps, or The Day the Revolution Began, but Paul: A Biography is the best book on Paul and an introduction to his life and message and work that I have read.

Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World Barry Lopez (Random House) $20.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

Barry Lopez is an excellent wordsmith, a great travel writer, a passionate naturalist, a vivid reporter who embeds with researchers studying, oh, say, wolves in the Arctic or the temperatures in Antarctica. He has traveled in rural Africa, the jungles of Asia, the deserts of the great American Southwest. He is observant, thoughtful, eloquent, at times nearly spiritual. I have long adored his writing and his gracious bravery— I think it was, to be honest, Eugene Peterson who first turned us on to him. Peterson had ordered a bunch of Lopez books from us, and said something about how he admired him as a person and as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction. I was fascinated

I hadn’t read much Barry Lopez since that first little bit decades ago, so when this posthumously published collection of pieces came out — some from travel magazines, some from more scholarly journals, some from outfits like National Geographic or maybe Orion, I knew I wanted to pick this up. I thought it was going to be essays about climate change and such, and it sort of is, as the “burning world” is the backdrop for his courageous research and writing. But if there is any theme to this collection it is the “embrace fearlessly” and the humility to do so. There are standout pieces about Alaska, and an incredible story or two about Antarctica — so interesting!

Lopez did not take the task of writing lightly. . . . Sentences shimmer and punch. . . . In one of the 27 essays that are collected here, he tries to pin down the point of it all: ‘The central project of my adult life as a writer,’ he says, ‘is to know and love what we have been given, and to urge others to do the same.’  He loved this world, and did his best, and pointed us the way. — The New York Times

Mesmerizing . . . The book reviewer runs out of superlatives, quailing before the work of the nature writer, essayist and fiction writer Barry Lopez (1945-2020), whose insight and moral clarity have earned comparisons to Henry David Thoreau. . . . To read Barry Lopez is to put yourself in the hands of a master observer who is enthralled by the strange beauty of our fragile planet, and who will be the first to tell you how little he actually knows. — The Wall Street Journal

How to End Christian Nationalism Amanda Tyler (Broadleaf) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

This was, by all accounts, one of the classic recent works on the dangers — religiously to our Christian message about the gospel and politically to our fragile institutions that uphold our Republic —of so-called white Christian Nationalism.  It came out in 2024. Tyler is a hero for many, a Baptist from Texas who has studied theology and has a law degree and has often advocated for a robust (Christian) understanding of pluralism and the health of the public square. Like many Baptists she is passionate about the separation of church and state and has now become one of the leaders of a movement offering a solidly Christian appraisal and alternative to this hybrid / syncretistic idolatrous worldview of religious nationalism.

Yet, although I knew she was wise and prudent and thoughtful and solid, I hadn’t read the book. Until we were asked to bring a batch (and other such titles) to a lecture she was giving at a Bonhoeffer conference at the United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg. I figured I should bone up on the book before I met her and am I ever glad I did. It was spectacular, clear, thoughtful, wise, balanced, all that I had hoped. And she was an excellent presenter, sharp and Biblical and passionate and strategic.

Tyler bought some books from us and we enjoyed meeting her. Importantly, I became a fan of her book and want to name it here as one of the most important resources we’ve discovered this year. I hope you know it. We have plenty, ready to send them out. Colossians 2:8 notwithstanding, I think your going to need them…

In God’s Good Image: How Jesus Dignifies, Shapes, and Confronts Our Cultural Identities J.W. Buck (Herald Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE= $15.99

Again, it is sometimes hard to keep up with the releases of so many good books and, like you, we have an endless stack of what online folks call their TBRs (to-be-read.) This was on my stack when it came out last year and I just didn’t get to it until 2025. It is a good read, not exactly an anti-racist title, but a deeper dive into the broader question of ethnicity and identity and what it means that we are made in God’s image. A gospel-orientation can help (as the subtitle puts it) dignify and shape our cultural identity. Oh yes, and confront them if they are distorted or become idolatrous.

In God’s Good Image by an author whose other book we read a a year or two ago, Everyday Activism: Following 7 Practices of Jesus to Create a Just World and loved how he wove together deep piety and faith with habits of activism. With a big view of redemption and how spirituality can infuse action for justice, deeply evangelical but a true activist, Buck was a rather rare bird, or so it seemed, common-spirit. His degree was from the evangelical school Biola, which itself is fascinating.

This book about cultural identity must have emerged from his academic work and his dissertation advisor has a great forward. Buck himself tells about his own experience as a white guy in this diverse class of folks from all over the world. Being of a majority race or ethnicity is a very different experience than it is for those who are minorities, and this book will help us understand and respect that. For those doing multi-ethnic ministry or racial reconciliation work, this will be a real asset. If you are new to this, I’d very highly recommend it.

Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See Bianca Bosker (Penguin Books) $19.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.20

I hope you recall the big review I did of this at BookNotes earlier in the year. There’s a few things that might offend some delicate readers, but, mostly, it is an immersion in the world of high art — museums, studios, galleries — mostly in sophisticated postmodern New York City. The author did a similar book on the often arcane and colorful world of high-end wine culture and this, too, is her grappling with a skepticism about the whole scene.

Bosker starts the book admitting that as an educated and cultured person she knew enough not to say out loud (when looking at an abstract art piece) that “my four year old could have done that” but, yep, she thought it. She wondered, really, if that is art. What is art. Who knows? Who decides? And why do some seemingly simplistic splashes of color sell for a thousand dollars while maybe another might go for a million or more? And yet another is mocked. Who’s to say?

The colorful and brave Bosker (also a wife and mother) soon learns that the serious art scene is skeptical of outsiders and with access hard to come by. Many are wary of critics and there are spies and operatives and such, who can make or break openings or showings. There is money and there are drugs, although sometimes little of either and sexism and bias. There is, though, always art, and colorful connoisseurs, aficionados, critics, reviewers, writers, buyers sellers, and artists and the occasional celebrity. She spends a year or more hanging with them all and what she learns is amazing. She is an interesting, revealing, witty writer and you’ll be pulling for her as you learn a lot about a world you most likely don’t know at all. Wow. What a blast. Hold on.

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma Claire Dederer (Vintage) $17.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

I am glad I read this late this year and was still finishing it last week (granted, in 2026) when the sad, sad news broke about Phillip Yancey’s affair, which brought this book into relief in a big way for me. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to name it as one of my favorite reads this year but it certainly is one of the important ones. I have a friend or two who won’t stop talking about it and I think it is a very significant bit of thinking and a very impressive bit of writing.

Monsters is a long meditation about what we do about art that we love when we learn that the artist was a bad person, who has done terrible things. From Woody Allen to Miles Davis to Picasso, from David Bowie to Michael Jackson, to Richard Wagner, to dozens more, she asks what to make of their important art (art that you may love, that you may even find life-saving) knowing what you know about their abuse or racism. She calls them Monsters and she talks about what she calls “the stain.”

I get it. In our own world we’ve had to ask, do we return the good books of serial rapist Ravi Zacharias? Yes. Do we continue to put money in the pockets of known abusers? Insofar as we can help it, no. We never liked Mark Driscoll and his macho, manic ugliness, anyway, so, obviously not. But what about the fine early books of Eric Metaxas who has gone off the deep end with election conspiracies and a weird adoration from Trump that is nearly devoid of reason, let alone Biblical fidelity? What about writers who are addicts, say?  What about Philip Yancey?

Ends up that Dederer doesn’t have easy answers, either. It is complicated, and this is, partially at least, a study about the nature of fans, for fans. She talkes about different sorts of failures of humans, and different sorts of loyalty fans have; and, more than ever, our knowledge of the biographies of the artists color our perception of their work. She has a long chapter about women writers who leave their children (as she has done at times) and in another dazzling piece, she ends up realizing she had to stop drinking, as she was betraying her family and herself through her daily boozing. She calls herself a Monster, suggesting that we all are, after all. She doesn’t seem to know anything about Christian theology but this is a study, finally, of sin and grace. As she eloquently pokes around the themes of the brokenness of humans and of the need for some kind of mercy for us all, she almost sounds, well, you know; Christian.

Dederer is a very intellectual writer and literary critic with long pages of dense prose (naming critics I never heard of and authors I hardly knew) suggesting to me that she is in a fairly insular world of highbrow literature of a certain era, assuming her readers know what in the hell she’s talking about. I skipped a bit, annoyed. But then I backtracked, got the vibe again, and was riveted by her stories of coping with good art done by bad people. To laugh at Annie Hall or not? To value the cinema of Roman Polanski? To listen to Bowie’s middle period or not? Her chapter on Miles Davis is amazing. I was gobsmacked by her revelation of her own excessive drinking and her realizations of what we might call the human condition. Her love for her teen kids and their friends is evident and her care about right and wrong in a #metoo world is deliciously commendable. I really loved most of this important work.

She spends some time exploring the role of subjectivity in art appreciation (duh) and seems to know only certain sorts of texts about aesthetics, making me smack my head at times. Her passion for an ethical sort of love for art — poems, novels, rock or jazz or classical albums — is beautiful and inspiring, but the book is at its best when it moves from highbrow critical theory and tells the stories about her watching a movie with a friend, or how other women felt about hearing stories of this or that artists abusive ways; her chapter on Raymond Carver was stunning. I suspect this is a question all of us face at one point or another — what do we do about books or movies that we love created by broken people. What’s love got to do with it?

This heady book will help.

Star Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding True Faith April Ajoy (Worthy) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

As I said above I have read and written about many books on the foibles of those involved in the Christian nationalism world. From truly evil stuff like some of Trump’s followers putting up with neo-Nazi antisemites and ugly hatred for people from other countries, to conservative Christians who end up seduced by a certain sort of political worldview without understanding much about civic ideologies and what the Bible demands of us to resist the ways of the world, I have read many. I skipped this one — okay, I’m going to be honest here — because I didn’t like the cover. Or the title, even. I saw some great reviews by people I respect, but just couldn’t pick it up. Don’t judge a book by its cover, I often way, but I hated those sparkles, even if they were ironic.

Earlier this year I was trying to find just the right book for a customer wanting to explore this topic, a customer who was really part of the conservatively evangelical megachurch world, a pretty traditionalist reader who wanted to move into some awareness of the dangers of blending too much right wing stuff with authentic Biblical teaching. I started to read this story of this Christian gal who walked away from that stuff and — behold! — I couldn’t put it down. From Ajoy’s childhood singing a patriotic song on Jim Bakker’s PTL show on through her participation in the “March for Jesus” rallies and cheesy campaign videos for Republican candidates, she tells it all with verve and self-awareness. It was, like the blurbs had promised, an amazing read, fun and funny, energetic and Godly, a perfect memoir about an evangelical who loved Jesus and realized she needed to get rid of some of this nationalistic ideology from her walk. I realized the power of the cover, even, and this became a favorite title for those who want this sort of a read.

If you only have time to read one book on the state of American Christianity this year, it should be Star-Spangled Jesus. — Jonathan Merritt, author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch

Star-Spangled Jesus is the Rosetta Stone for understanding white Christian nationalism. Behind all the stats and the polling are the people who subscribe to this ideology, and few will even come close to April Ajoy’s first hand experience in the movement. Star-Spangled Jesus will help you understand white Christian nationalism’s hold on so many people and the danger it poses to democracy and the church. — Jemar Tisby, author of The Color of Compromise and The Spirit of Justice

9 GREAT BOOKS FROM 2025 THAT I INTENDED TO FINISH THIS YEAR BUT DIDN’T (YET)

but I can assure you they are fabulous, of a notable, award-winning calibre.

Your Soul is Required: The Theology and Sermons of C.T. Vivian edited by Joanna Walker et al (Fortress) $39.00  // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.20

Anyone who knows anything about the civil rights movement or 20th century African American history knows the importance of C.T. Vivian. His Black Power and the American Myth is still read, 50-some years after its initial publication and his memoir It’s in the Action remains a vital glimpse at his relationship with his fellow leaders of the movement. This book fills a huge gap, a collection of his sermons and some assessment of his theological views. Compiled by friends and family, it is a recent tribute and excellent resource. I’ve dipped in and will continue to read them as the Spirit moves.

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

This book will have you hooked on the first page; it is so well written and interesting and even captivating, I have turned the pages eagerly, delighted that such an important critique of the myths of science and technology and progress that have shaped the secularized modern West, is also so charming and gracious. Kingsnorth is amazing, a person who has come to Christian faith (in part through his reading Wendell Berry.) Yes, he is concerned about “the machine” and how, now, the big question is what it means to be human.

While there are some wise insights showing how both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum have (by and large) carried water for The Machine and this damaging worldview, he gets a little cranky about progressive’s legitimate concerns about social justice and multi-ethnic justice. I set the book down reluctantly to ponder more and need to finish it soon.  I will have no difficulty as it truly is well written and an enjoyable (if learned) read. Some of the great social critics alive today have raved about it. (And other reviews, delighting in his great prose and capacious mind, have still called it “vexing’ and “overwrought.” I get that.) Read one thoughtful review (in Mere Orthodoxy) that worries about what seems to be an uncharacteristic blind spot by Felicia Wu Song: here.

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

Yes, this is about the doctrine of sin and as theological discourse goes, Tim Keller is one of the most engaging and accessible popular theological writers in our lifetime. Although not an academic work, it is intellectually sound and stimulating and vital, enough for me to name it as a favorite this year. It was released late in the fall and good as it is, I needed to set it aside for a bit. Is it fair to say a book about sin is a fun read? That a book asking one of the deepest questions we can ask is a good read? Yes, indeed.

Many these days seem to have rejected much of evangelical theology in part because of an understandable revulsion to how some conservative preachers have failed to honor the goodness of humans, the joy of being alive, the common grace that has allowed for great beauty in the world. Keller doesn’t miss that stuff. Others have left the faith because they think the way some have described the work of Christ on the Cross has been nearly abusive, as if a mean-spirited God needs to get some pound of flesh. Granted, these are concerns, and if anybody can articulate the historic doctrines of sin and redemption with winsome balance and compelling exploration, it is Keller.

I suspect some will find it too traditional (he was traditionally Reformed, after all, a PCA church planter, trained at Westminster Theological Seminary.) Still What Is Wrong With the World is a book that needs to be grappled with. Agree or not, I hope you agree it is one of the worthwhile books of the year.

Twelve Churches: The Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity Fergus Butler-Gallie (Avid Reader Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I am not alone in singing the praises of this mammon studio church history, a deep dive into twelve different places, reflecting on how a certain sort of faith and a certain theme within church history developed over time at that particular place. We study beauty and justice and renewal and sex and violence and evangelism and all sorts of topics by way of looking at churches in Africa, Europe, Palestine, the US, Asia, South America, the Caribbean — all over the world!

This big, fat, book is a treasure trove of incredible learning and you’ll have a blast reading about these congregations, some dating back to the earliest days of Christianity. There is great beauty and goodness to be found in these places, and much weariness and corruption. From the blood-wash marble of Canterbury Cathedral to the bombed out windows of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham to the glories of Hagia Sophia (in Istanbul) or St. Peter’s in Rome, Twelve Churches looks at twelve places and twelve eras.

The Devil Reads Nietzsche: A Public Theology for the Post-Christian Age Michael McEwen (B+H Academic) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

Inspired by the brilliant work (and title, The Devil Reads Derrida) by James K.A. Smith this fabulous little (but meaty) book came out in the Fall and it look me a while to get to it. I’ve got my excuses. Once I studied the footnotes, I knew he was drawing on the best Christian philosophers (even Dooyeweerd) and contemporary thinkers like Jamie Smith, so I knew I wanted to see where this was going. There are a number of interesting Christian studies of the great atheist philosopher, and efforts to learn from his rebukes about Christianity. I haven’t finished this yet (I said it was meaty) but I’m sure that it is one of the best books of this sort to come out this year.

Here is how the publisher describes McEwen’s project:

The Devil Reads Nietzsche intends to both excavate Nietzsche and explicate how American culture has selectively adopted and appropriated Nietzschean ideals into its stories, symbols, and practices. To be clear, this project is more than a historical excavation of Nietzsche; it’s primary aim is to disciple readers to engage with cultural ideologies from within the biblical-theological narrative, and an interaction with the grandfather of postmodernism and deconstructionism will serve as a “case study” of how we might do this charitably, wisely and winsomely.

Dordt College professor Justin Ariel Bailey, author of Reimagining Apologetics and the excellent Interpreting Your World, says that the sort of public theology that McEwen is working towards, is “clear-eyed, irenic, and hopeful, inviting that, after all has been heard, Christianity’s story is more capacious than Nietzsche’s parodies…”

Practicing Life Together: A Common Rule for Christian Growth Paul J Gutacker (MoodyPress) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

I am very glad to name this as one of the most important small books of 2025 for a couple of reasons and while I admit (sadly) to have not finished it yet, I couldn’t be more grateful for this particular bit of work. Gutacker, for starters, is, by all accounts, a gem of a guy, a gentleman and a scholar. He mentors students in an important think-tank like community, a study center at Baylor University in Texas called The Brazos Fellows. In his work there — affirming the life of scholarship and bringing faith and learning together in fruitful ways — he ends up needing to guide young academics into this vibrant life of the mind done for the glory of God. The book he wrote about forming a rule of life for fellowship groups of young adults — a rave review on the front cover is by Alan Jacobs — is a rare blend of theological thoughtfulness and gracious attentiveness to the life situation of young adults. He invites students to grow wisely in faith and uses contemplative and classic spiritual practices as ways into forming community and lasting friendships.

Although the setting is the Christian Study Center movement, it is, in a way, Life Together for any 21st century young adults, bringing Bonhoeffer’s little classic to life for today. As the back cover says, perhaps with a potent play on words, “left to our devices, to our whims and impulses, we find ourselves distracted and discouraged.” The only way to build a rule of life, he says, is to do it together.

From life at the table to the life of prayer, from learning to wonder and learn to the “lifelong project of discernment” Gutacker serves the Brazos Fellows and this little book has come out of this real-life experience of helping groups commit to specific practices that can be formative and life-giving. If you know anybody who is interested in building Christian community, if you’ve read Life Together (or done the excellent four part “Community Practice” offered by John Mark Comer’s Practicing the Way curriculum) then Practicing Life Tougher is the next book you need. Short, powerful, important, I tip my hat with joy.

Brooding Upon the Waters: A Memoir of Farming, Fishing, and Failure in America’s Lost Landscape Howard Schaap (Slant Books) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

The editor of Slant Books wrote me a note a while back along with an advanced copy of this manuscript, insisting that it nearly had Hearts & Minds name on it. He knows us well, and knew I would like the format of memoir, the feisty, vivid prose, the ruminations on small town and rural life, even the Dutch Calvinism of the writer, a professor at Dordt College in Iowa. The pathos of this story — a story of mental illness, connected to a place and a landscape, a dad and a troubled family farm in an often suffocating faith tradition — is poignant and makes for a powerful reading experience.

Oh, how I recommend it for a meaningful glimpse of life in this part of Minnesota, near what some call The Driftless region. But, more, the joy and delight of memory, the memory of farming and fishing, overrides the failures, especially fishing. I’m part way through this beautiful book and had to stop in order to read more books in this list and write. But it is on my bedside and I’m dipping in whenever I have a free moment. It is a bit rare — Slant should be more widely known — and it is extraordinary.

Once in a great while, the story of one man’s hard life can explain the demise of an entire culture. A hauntingly tragic tale told with immense tenderness, Brooding Upon the Waters sheds the light of grace upon our troubled times. Never have I read a more beautifully written, profoundly loving memoir from the heart of America’s heartland. — Paula Huston, author of The Hermits of Big Sur

On Holy Ground: Finding Your Story of Identity, Belonging, and Sacred Purpose Keith Anderson (Cascade) $21.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.80

Often, when I hear of a new book, I order one to skim through, wondering if it might catch my attention and be useful for others. Will I love it? Can I sell it? As a bookseller, that’s always the question — will a book, no matter how nicely written, be helpful, and worth a person’s limited finances? Will anybody care?  I’m aware that there are plenty of fine books designed to help people grow in their faith and while I mean no disrespect, they are a dime a dozen.

I didn’t have to wonder, really, about On Holy Ground as I have followed Keith Anderson for much of our career and have read other books he has done. He has not churned out dozens, but has only written when he needed to, short, wise books of Christian discipleship and daily Christian living. Basic but mature, accessible but well written. I trust this guy. And, wow, this one is bringing together themes he has worked on much of his life.

Here is a sense of what this book brings together, a spirituality of the ordinary that allows us to be so sure being loved that we belong, and can therefore be used by God to love others well, working for a redemptive “ecosystem.” Read this:

There is a universal human need to understand our identity and find belonging and sacred purpose in the most daily moments of our lives. When we know our identity as the beloved of God, our lives take on practices that are urgently needed in our divisive culture today, starting with compassion, hospitality, and discourse, and joining a movement to boldly proclaim Abba’s love. Sacred purpose involves everything we do on holy ground, which is where God walks with us, before us, and alongside us–in time and place. As we enter the fray, we find ways to live as people of justice, grace, and conviction, seeking the kingdom of God as our priority as we address those issues that are so charged and divisive today: race, inclusion/exclusion, individualism, and trauma. Within the image of an ecosystem, we understand that — Scripture (the living word) points us to Jesus (the incarnate word), who calls us to sacred purpose (a living relationship of following Jesus), at our own altars in the world, for all of our lives.

Over a long lifetime, I have known no one wiser than Keith Anderson. On Holy Ground is a resounding call to embrace what it means to be human and gift others with the face of God. There has never been an era where it is more important to rediscover the roots of our reason to be on this earth and to do so with wonder and joy. This profound and beautiful book will do far more than transform your life–it will set a course for a kinder world. — Dan B. Allender, founding president, The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology

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

I trust you’ll understand that I have not finished this big book of remarkable history by one of the great young public intellectuals and scholars writing today. Over 430 pages, Spellbound works out a complex thesis, about the role of charisma, a distinctive aspect (she shows) throughout American history.

She goes to good lengths explaining what she means by charisma — it has to do with leadership, sure, but a certain sort of persona who has some sort of power to engage listeners and make them followers. This may be a natural born sort of charm and ability to influence or it may be crafted and used for good or evil. That the ancients and the Bible refer to charisma (even as an anointing of the Holy Spirit of God) her usage is more broad (yet not unrelated.)

The riveting opening sequent in the lengthy and potent introduction is set in1634 with that memorable woman in Puritan New England, Anne Hutchinson. Her Bible study is attracting more or more people and they are critical even of local clergy and their sermons.

She moves quickly to October 1919 when Marcus Garvey was shot, only to live and lecture about liberation exuberantly in Philadelphia a few weeks later. The crowd went wild.

Next up is a scene in Florida from Donald Trump’s campaign in the fall of 2016. She narrates it well. These glimpses span nearly four centuries and “encompass wildly different ideas about supernatural and worldly power.” This, also, is what this amazing book is about, trying to see how people have attempted to “understand and harness the invisible forces that infiltrate their lives.”  What is the relationship between God and charisma, between leaders and followers, between different manifestations of power, even the supernatural sort and the overtly political sort?

Years and years in the making, this hefty book deserves many accolades here at the end of 2025. It will continue to sell and be talked about in 2026, I am sure.  Worthen is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, a freelance journalist and scholar, and, recently, was appointed as a Fellow of our Trinity Forum. Her fairly recent adult conversion to Christianity, I have been told, developed while writing Spellbound.

 Spellbound is a wild and satisfying romp through the history of American religion and politics, and a simultaneously sober and hopeful appraisal of the present moment.  —Los Angeles Review of Books

Elegant and insightful, Spellbound is an important contribution to the urgent project of understanding America in our time. — Jon Meacham, author of And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

Although I’d rather muse on Epiphany, I suppose it’s okay to exclaim Happy New Year! And, as you will see, I’m hoping to make good on this new year window of opportunity by suggesting a few great daily (or weekly) devotionals. New Year resoluter or not, who doesn’t want a fresh start, taking on spiritual practices that can create habits that are life-giving and transformative?

You too, by the way, might help in this bookish ministry by buying something for someone else. You know as well as we do that there are some folks who aren’t big readers and who don’t have the capacity or interest to read a long-form study of Christian theology, let alone a mature perspectival exploration of their work or public lives. So a devotional is the best they can do for Christian formational reading and we should help them now while the time is ripe.

I’ll list a few I’m excited about — you shouldn’t have to waste time fretting about what to read, and with this list you won’t have to.

(Although, truth be told, we have hundreds of others — old ones and new ones, cute ones and dry ones, short, simply ones, and others that have more intellectual heft. There are fancy leather ones and cheap paperbacks, some written with whimsy, others with deeply Biblical intensity; some are for 30 days, some are a year long. We’ve got daily, prayerful volumes of old medieval saints or collections of excerpts of great writers like Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis, MLK, Richard Foster, Madeleine L’Engle, Eugene Peterson, N.T. Wright, Richard Rohr, or Tim Keller.  Let us know if you need further help.)

And, as I’d hope you’d expect from Hearts & Minds, we do have a few that are good for people in their various work-worlds or unique situations. For instance, our dynamic friend Megan Foltz, RN, has a fabulous little devotional for nurses called Anatomy of Holiness. Educators will appreciate This Year, Lord: Teachers’s Prayers of Blessing, Liturgy, and Lament by Sheila Quinn Delony. History buffs will love Faith and History: A Devotional edited by historians at Baylor, Christopher Gehrz and Beth Allison Barr. I suppose it is more of a study, but scientists (or science majors in college) should have Jesus, Beginnings, and Science: A Guide by David & Kate Vosburg. I’ve appreciated the recent 100 Prayers for Writers: Creative Fuel for Inspired Work by Bob Hostetler. Scholars and profs should know Growing in Understanding: Devotions for Christian Academics by Dirk Jongkin which we get from the UK. Finding God in the Garden: Devotions for Every Season would appeal to anyone with a green thumb. And we’ve often celebrated Heaven and Nature Sing 365 Daily Devotionals for Outdoor & Nature Lovers edited by Sharon Brodin for hikers, rock climbers, paddlers, and others who play in God’s great outdoors. Married couples might consider the tender collection of stories and lessons in Devotions for a Sacred Marriage: A Year of Weekly Devotions for Couples by Gary Thomas or the serious, daily devo by Tim & Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: A Couple’s Devotional.  Send us a note if you have specific needs. We’re here to help.

FIFTEEN GREAT DAILY DEVOTIONALS

A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance Diana Butler Bass (St. Martin’s Essentials) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I have highlighted this before and have shared that introducing Diana at a Lancaster (PA) presentation helping launch this book a month or more ago was one of the highlights of our year. Her lovely, thoughtful, provocative lecture explained why she wrote this book and how attention to the seasons of the church calendar might be just what we need to enhance our radical loyalty to Christ’s reign, even as we are faced with nearly insurmountable social and political problems. The book is beautiful, the spirit is lovely, the chapters solidly Biblical. I mean, they are really Biblical, and very interesting, packed with fresh insight.  It starts in Advent and has plenty of food for thought for the whole year.

Bill McKibben notes that many can hardly “summon the energy or the hope required” for being a Christina now, but, in this moment, Diana goes deep.  Brian McLaren says this book will be celebrated as one of her best. Anne Lamott is right to call her “a brilliant scholar and a wonderful storyteller.”

Rhythms of Faith A Devotional Pilgrimage Through the Church Year Claude Atcho (Waterbrook) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I’ve announced this before, too, but I want to suggest again that it is so very good I’m sure you’ll be blessed spending time with it each day. If Diana’s book, above, has a set of weekly meditations, this is a daily reader, so the devotions are a bit more brief, more succinct, perhaps, but they are loaded with stories and examples and insights. Like many BookNotes readers, Atcho is a fairly recent convert to honoring the flow and rhythms of the liturgical year — he was raised in a more non-liturgical setting and is now (besides being a community college professor) an Anglican priest. He tells about how this church calendar thing has shaped him, and it is nothing short of wonderful. Supplement A Beautiful Year with Rhythms of Faith. You won’t regret it

Every Day for Everyone: 365 Devotions from Genesis to Revelation N. T. Wright & John Goldingay (WJK) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

I’ve explained this before in a fairly simple way: you may know that N.T Wright did a set of short, succinct Bible commentaries called the New Testament for Everyone. It includes his own translation of the text and there is one (or sometimes two) volumes on each book of the New Testament. Part-way through that popular series the good folks at WJK (a Presbyterian publishing house)  realized they could use an “Old Testament for Everyone” commentary series that would offer similarly succinct but wise insight. And it would have to have a fresh translation of the text and (I gather they said) it had to be done quickly. The brilliant and exceptionally reliable John Goldingay took up the task and started doing the “Old Testament for Everyone” book by book by book. He worked hard and just after Wright’s NT set was being completed, Goldingay’s OT set was done. Hooray.

And here, my friends, are excerpts of those two sets of commentaries, first, the “…for Everyone” ones on the OT by Goldingay and then, in the second part of the year, the NT entries by Wright.  Every Day for Everyone unfolds chronologically and is a great resource for dipping into at any point, and exceptional for a daily guide to reading the Bible thoughtfully.

Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year Christine Valters Paintner (Broadleaf) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

We have long been a fan of Christina Paintner, the online abbess at Abbey of the Arts, a virtual global monastery offering retreats, prayer services, books, and resources to nurture contemplative practices and creative expression. We’ve appreciated her quiet, gentle books on Celtic spirituality, on creativity, on communing with creation, books like her recent, quite handsome Broadleaf title, Breath Prayer.  This new one is not merely a faith-based version of a popular trend, but is nearly a mystical call. “Your word is waiting,” she says, “hovering just beneath the surface. All you need is the quiet courage to listen and receive it.” She’s an expert spiritual director and guides us here to listen and wait and “open yourself to deeper sources of wisdom in order to embrace a guiding word that will anchor your life for the coming year.” Whew.

Writer Jon Sweeney (who has a brand new book called Experiencing God: 36 Ways According to Saint Francis, by the way) says of it, interestingly, “This book helped me feel the difference between the din and the hum of the world. With its help, I’m learning to quiet the one and embrace the other.”

Daily Doctrine: A One Year Guide to Systematic Theology Kevin DeYoung (Crossway) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

I just recommended this earlier today to a customer wanting to dig more deeply into Reformed theology, but who isn’t well-read in the genre. This handsome hardback seemed to be meaty enough for her tastes and yet, it being a daily reader in a devotional format seemed to help make it more accessible, do-able. DeYoung is an energetic PCA pastor and thinker and writer and here offers a set of readings, one a day for a week, each week or a different topic.

This is no-nonsense but warm, rich and full and majestic, pointing us to God and God’s attributes and how God has worked in the world. If you want to get into the glories of historic/classic Protestant views of justification and sanctification, union with Christ and Kingdom service in the world, thinking through the core tenets of the faith from the Triune God to the dignity of the human person to the seriousness of sin to the work of Christ to the nature of the church to the hope of new creation, this book of “daily doctrine” could be just what you’re looking for.

Enough for Today: 40 Reflections for Surviving the Wilderness Donna Barber (IVP) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I love these rather small, compact-sized volumes that carry plenty of insight but are not as daunting as a major, year-long read. And this brand new one — oh my, I so respect this author. She is a black woman activist leader and a bit of a contemplative. She was cofounder of The Voices Projects which (as they say at their website) “gathers leaders of color – who work in the arts, business, church, media, politics and education – for important conversations about the current challenges and triumphs within our communities and our role, as cultural influencers, to bring about change.”

Anyway, we loved Donna Barber’s Bread for the Resistance: Forty Devotions for Justice People and have long awaited a new one from her candid and inspiring pen. This is for anyone who has been in lament — from illness or anger, experiencing violence or other sorts of trauma — and she offers good words to hold on to in the midst of the wilderness. As she says, “Don’t walk away. Rediscover the God of your first love and find a way forward with renewed hope and faith.”  You can face your fears, rediscover your identity, and — yes!  — find manna, “enough for today.”

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

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

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

With other raves from the likes of Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis and Richard Rohr, this book of prayers and rituals and liturgies is a vivid companion to one that came out just a few years ago, We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign. To be clear, there are a real variety of prayers and services but there are also reflections about them, studies on them, even discussion questions to help mobilize folks to “pray with their feet.” If you are involved in organizing around poverty or food banks or anti-racism work, this collection will be useful for you.

For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional Hanna Reichel (Eerdmans) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Resources like this are rare and important, at least for many of us. It is a solid, Biblically-based, theologically-sophisticated little guide for “ordinary Christians seeking to live faithfully in extraordinary times.

Look closely at the cover and you’ll notice the classic SOS symbols, hinting that this is for those of us who know our society is in trouble. The MAGA movement is pressing against democratic rules and many fundamentalist churches have made right wing extremism a shibboleth, a central part of their false gospel. And so many folks are falling for it, with right-wing violence at an all time high. (And violence from the extreme left wing isn’t very pretty, either.)  Sure most of us are frustrated that Trump names stuff after himself — from buildings to bills to bombers — almost all the time; sure we hate his stupid midnight tweets that sometimes are vulgar and repulsive, filled with vitriol and name calling. His cozying up to neo-Nazis and his disdain for the poor simply must be resisted. This little devotional is for those who know about our perilous times and want inspiration to keep on keeping on.

Kristen Kobes Du Mez — a reliable and sane and pleasant voice amidst the hubbub — says the book contains “remarkable historical and theological depth” and exclaims that “this is the book I have been waiting for.” Jemar Tisby says “each entry is immediately relevant to our current context yet also echoes with ancient wisdom.” Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, in discussing the hard work of care and discernment (“of interpreting the past for the present”) writes that “For Such a Time as This reveals Hanna Reichel to be a master of the craft.”

Reichel is a professor of theology at Princeton and an elder in her PC(USA) church.

The Art of Living in Season: A Year of Reflections for Everyday Saints Sylvie Vanhoozer (IVP) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

This was a big seller last year and we explained that it was wonderfully, wonderfully written, creatively developed around famous creche sets popular in the author’s native France, and that it followed the liturgical year, and the seasons of creation, inviting us into the story of God in the realities of ordinary life. Those that got it loved it, or so we’ve heard. This past Advent we promoted her new small one, The Art of Living in Advent: 28 Days of Joyful Waiting, which was a big hit. She’s such a fine writer and brings this unique, artful flavor. Highly recommended.

My spiritual life has long been shaped by the liturgical calendar, but this book opened a cornucopia of new insights (and delights) for me. I was utterly charmed, a smile dancing on my face as I read each chapter. The adventure starts in Vanhoozer’s native Provence with its distinctive Advent traditions, and from there she artfully shows us by her felicitous language and personal example how to incorporate the wisdom of her tradition where we each live and work. Along the way she helps us taste a culinary spirituality, inhabit an earthy theology, and practice a neighborly hospitality, all the while anticipating our eternal home with God. — Bobby Gross, author of Living the Christian Year: How to Inhabit the Story of God

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

One of the great theologically-inclined preachers of our time, we have long promoted Rev. Rutledge’s fine works. I trust you know her major works and her collections of sermons (and her most recent little gem, Epiphany: The Season of Light.) This fabulous hardback collection of 52 sermons offers an excellent resource for the formation of your own life and discipleship and a good way to come to better familiarity with the preaching style and doctrinal content of Fleming’s good words. Cornelius Plantinga, a wordsmith and preacher we trust, says she writes with “clarity, deftness, wit, and grace.” We very highly recommend this to accompany you this or any year. As Plantinga promises, her masterly command of Scripture “becomes a powerful magnet for our attention.” Don’t you long for that?

Read these impressive endorsements, please:

This brilliant collection from Rutledge’s sermons leads us into the beauty of the church calendar, in which time itself forms us in the truth of the gospel. That the themes of Rutledge’s sermons naturally lend themselves to the pattern of the liturgical year is a testimony to the depth and range of her theological insight and her profound care for the church. Rutledge is not only a gifted theologian and homilist, but a profoundly gifted wordsmith as well, and her luminous prose gives insight on each page. I will be using this book for my own devotions, and I commend Rutledge’s wisdom to the whole church. — Tish Harrison Warren author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

A church year’s worth of biblical meditations by the great Fleming Rutledge? Yes, please! Rutledge is one of the best preachers of our time because of her relentless focus on the boundless grace made available to us in Jesus Christ. With a preacher’s heart, an incisive mind, and a lively theological imagination, she opens the gospel to us week by week. What a gift. — Alan Jacobs author of How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds

I cannot think of a more reliable guide to escort us through the church calendar with weekly devotions than Fleming Rutledge. Her love of holy Scripture and the sacred calendar combined with her half century of preaching expertise make Means of Grace a precious gift. From Advent through Ordinary Time, the words of Fleming Rutledge are indeed a means of grace to help us behold the glory of Christ. — Brian Zahnd author of The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross and When Everything’s On Fire: Faith Forged From the Ashes

We Make the Road by Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation Brian McLaren (Jericho) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I really like Brian McLaren, as a person and as a writer. I think among some more traditionalist evangelicals he is viewed with some suspicion but I think that is mostly unfair. Sure, he shifted from his independent, Bible church decades ago, engaging questions of postmodernity and helped a generation of younger emerging evangelicals evolve into a more ecumenical, standard sort of mainline Protestant vision, always with a missional vision of God’s call (in the Bible!) to love and serve others, pointing the way to God’s grace which leads to reconciliation and the common good.  Yes, he is known for some innovative (but don’t we usually appreciate that?)

Brian has written good books of spirituality (I even have a blurb on Naked Spirituality) and he has done some remarkable work on the interconnectedness of global issues, from ecological degradation to world hunger. He has done older books on church renewal and ecumenical thinking and he has done Biblical studies resources, including a few on the teachings of Jesus. I enjoy him, respect him, and even when there are lines in some books that I wished might have been differently rendered, all in all, he is a fruitful thinker, a good writer, and an example of the sort of creative leader that we encourage folks to read and discuss.

His year-long devotional, We Make the Road By Walking, is a generative book, useful, full of hope and joy and faith and action. I very highly recommend it — if you are a fan, you really should have it. If you are not, I’d invite you to check it out. His lovely themes here of spiritual formation and the re-orientation we get as we truly hear and do the Biblical story — what the Bible calls repentance — and then the possibility of responses of fidelity, gestures of obedience and action, are all superlative.

Starting with famous meditations on being human and our longing for awe and wonder and the need to discover meaning, ending with Christ’s death, resurrection, and the Holy-Spirited action of the church, We Make the Road is a guide to being fully alive, in faith and hope. Yes!

God Didn’t Make Us To Hate Us: 40 Devotions to Liberate Your Faith from Fear and Reconnect with Joy Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail (Tarcher) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

Here is how “Father Lizzie” is described at her Epsiopalian Church plant in Austin, Texas: “Named one of Sojourner Magazine’s “12 Women Shaping the Church” in 2025, Rev. Lizzie is known for her passionate, fierce, and colorful reclamation of Christianity as a writer, priest, online creative, and proud mom of two. Lizzie has lived all over the world, with her boots now rooted in Austin, Texas. She’s living her dream as the founding planter of Jubilee Episcopal Church! She is passionate about evangelism for a God who makes each of us for joy, which is why you might see her doing silly dances and talking about church history on Instagram & TikTok with her combined 100k followers, or on her podcast with fellow Episcopal priest Rev. Laura called And Also With You.

As you might guess, this devotional is upbeat and chatty, fun and funny, vibrant and very well written. It is ideal for those who have reason to think that Christianity is not for them or for those who have been excluded or hurt by judgmental types and traditionalist churches. Her parish is, as you might surmise, inclusive of LGBTQ folks hints at working out an embodied sort of queer theology. Progressive as it may be, God Didn’t Make Us to Hate Us is — as I see it — evangelical and full of good, gospel-news. The title says it all, and this is a healthy invitation for those who have deconstructed their faith to not throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say, That is, it is an invitation to faith in God’s goodness and love and grace a call to find wholeness among God’s people.

Two more quick notes: in each major section she starts with a brief essay, exploring a myth (or fairly standard teaching that is questionable) countering it with a mystery. There are beautiful, playful, upside-down insights that show what she’s doing in this upbeat book.  And then, secondly, there are some poignant and tragic bits in the book, too, as Lizzie shares family loss and how she coped with trauma on her way to some sort of healing. She’s a good pastor, inviting us to this audacious goodness without failing to name how broken things really are.

Everything Could Be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints and Mystics Kreg Yingst (Broadleaf) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This is a remarkable, artful set of modernistic icons, block print designs of 100 saints and mystics. Many you’ve heard of but I suspect there are some you may not recognize. Some are stylized in incredibly creative ways and almost all of them work stunningly. I’ve got my favorites — Thomas Merton is splendid, Harriet Tubman is spot on, and Corrie Ten Boom, with shaved head and concentration camp attire, took my breath away. John Perkins was maybe my favorite, rendered so well. The Nigerian Catholic eco-warrior Wangari Maathai is fabulous, Tutu is cool in dark shades, Frederick Buechner was nice to see. The black African Saint Augustine is brilliant as was Benedict of Nursia. A few struck me as odd — I didn’t love the Dorothy Day, or John Wesley, or Mother Teresa, although he writes about them well. I’m not sure why I didn’t love the picture of Brother Lawrence, although the spoons hanging in the background were a nice touch. Not sure how dear Clare of Assisi might have been rendered differently. I didn’t like the C.S. Lewis one at all.

But these are small, picky matters. Okay, so I don’t like how Yingst did Luther’s nose. The overwhelming artfulness of this, though, is vivid and provocative and amazing. I’ve been dipping into this for a year now, and am still enchanted. The writing is solid, descriptive and reflective, with a good lesson drawn from each portrait. The quotes and the Scripture is helpful.

The overall design of each piece is sometimes really captivating too —the weirdness of Columba, the way Abba Antony’s hands stretched out in prayer frame his anguished supplication, the pencil in the picture of Bonhoeffer, that peanut in the one about George Washington Carver, the dove of peace hovering largely over nonviolent activist Eileen Egan, the ladder in the print of John Climacus and his “divine ascent.” I was deeply moved by the mushroom cloud in the background of Akashi Nagai (whose wife was burned at Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.) This book has so, so much. Use it prayerfully, read it devotionally, follow the Advent or Lenten guides in the back. Kudos to artist and writer Kreg Yingst.  Wow.

Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints from Every Era and Place D. J. Marotta, illustrated and details by Ben Lansing (IVP) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

If the above-mentioned Everything Could Be a Prayer offered provocative woodcuts with bold graphics and somewhat progressive tendencies — including Black Elk and Oscar Romero and Sojourner Truth and Albrecht Durer — this one has a just somewhat more classical feel. The devotional pieces are a bit longer (well written by the Anglican pastor D.J. Marotta) and the art more of a graphic novel sort of illustration. It is masterful and I so, so appreciate it. Several customers have ordered and reordered it.

It is hard to compare the two as, on one hand, they are very similar (and both came out last year.) But yet, Our Church Speaks, rather than written by a rather renegade bohemian artist, it is by a team of Anglican Church planters, sharing how their church stands in the global tradition of worldwide saints. In fact, these are mostly characters with Feast Days in the classic tradition of the church calendar. If Yingst happily does Henri Nouwen or Christina Rossetti, Our Church Speaks offers wonderful illustrations and graphic designs of (with a few additions) those whose lives are celebrated within the church calendar. The opening essay — “Saints Over Celebrities” — is nearly worth the price of this big, handsome book.

There are 52 entries here, from Benedict & Scholastica to Johann Sebastian Bach, from Teresa of Ávila to Catherine of Sienna. The first picture is Gregory of Nazianzus while the second is Mary Slessor and the third is Thomas Aquinas. Their description (and rendition) of Absalom Jones is fantastic and they’ve got some other historic black Christian leaders, like Harriet Tubman and MLK.  Other ethnicities are shown and saints from nearly every continent are richly portrayed. They are uniformly interesting, very informative, and beautifully rendered. I’m a big, big fan, and I am sure this fabulous book will guide many into a deeper sense of our worldwide faith.  The appendices are amazing, too, by the way — one shows the chronological listing of saints by century, the other listing the saints by geography and there is a concise guide to (globally-aware) church history. This is solid, interesting, faithful stuff. Very highly recommended.

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

I cannot say enough about this just slightly oversized hardback that includes rich woodcuts, full color photography, activities, poems, prayers, and liturgies for families wanting to live into the riches of the church calendar. The author is not a high-brow Anglo-Catholic or anything that liturgically sophisticated, just an ordinary Christian mom trying to see how their family, and yours, might have fun following the church year. As with the best books about or devotionals for the church seasons, it is focused on the person of Christ, God’s work in the world and the major holidays. As poet Malcolm Guite puts it, Sacred Seasons is “a warm, winning, and above all practical introduction to the traditional church year.”

More than an intro to the notion of following a Christian calendar, it is a guide to how to “make Jesus the center of your family’s year” and a classy handbook chock-full of ideas on how to follow these time-honored traditions. There are opportunities to remember, yes, and fun ideas and even recipes to help you observe the liturgical seasons. It is tangible, useful, rooted in the grandest vision — a Christ-centered view of time.

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Here we are, already into the days of Christmastide. Pull out those great little books Christmas: The Season of Light and Life by Emily Hunter McGowin and Epiphany: The Season of Glory by Fleming Rutledge to get more out of this time of year. Sure we have New Years coming soon but to allow our very sense of time to be shaped by the elemental things of our faith is more urgent — most helpful and very good.  Both of these books are in the “Fullness of Time” series (IVP formatio). We have each at $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59.

Both are small hardbacks, great to give or keep for yourself, explaining the history and meaning of each season of the church year. Highly recommended.

I’ll say it yet again soon but don’t forget that there are two new devotionals this year that start in Advent and invite us into a routine of reading about the church calendar.  Many astute reader have joyfully named A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance by Diana Butler Bass (St. Martin’s Essentials; $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40) as their favorite book this past season. Her meditation which starts the book, exploring how the ways of being and values implied by the Roman calendar can be countered by the liturgical calendar  as we orient our lives around Christ, is well worth the price of this wonderful book. It offers meaty, delightful, weekly essays for a year.

Claude Atcho, a professor of Black literature and an Anglican priest, recently released Rhythms of Faith: A Devotional Pilgrimage Through the Church Year (Waterbrook; $25.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00.) He offers a year’s worth of daily readings, helping us walk with Jesus “in a rhythm of remembrances, renewals and formation.” I like it a lot.

Both books insist that the gospel is more than a set of doctrines, more, even, than a message, but a story to be lived. One way we live in to and embody our sacred story is by embracing a Biblical view of time itself.

And of course, that view of seasons and story comes to us through the grand, messy meta-narrative known as the Holy Scriptures. And, yep, many of us will make some sort of commitments in this new year to read it more intentionally, more carefully, more faithfully. I’ll make some suggestions about tools to do that soon.

FIVE THOUGHTFULLY DONE NEW BIBLE STORYBOOKS

In this edition of BookNotes, near the end of the year, I’d like to celebrate five great children’s Bibles, new resources that are really spectacular. These are beautifully and creatively designed and featured a lot of text so they are not quite for preschoolers. Delightful as they look, with fabulous art, I’d suggest these for older kids, even those in older elementary or middle school ages. I even think adults could supplement their standard Bible reading (using a few different translations and a study Bible or two) with these sorts of wonderful, clear, inspiring, colorful re-tellings of the tales.

I love these kinds of books.

There are so many more; we really are in a golden age of great kid’s Bibles. Just think of the amazing (and interactive) The Peace Table: A Storybook Bible released by Herald Press and one we love. For younger children there’s the classic The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones (Zonderkidz) and the splendid Growing in God’s Love: A Storybook Bible edited and curated by Libby Caldwell and Carol Wehrheim (flyway books). For somewhat older readers, we have raved about The Book of Belonging: Bible Stories for Kind and Contemplative Kids by Mariko Clark, illustrated by Rachel Eleanor (Convergent) and the really solid God’s Big Picture Bible Storybook: 140 Connection Bible Stories of God’s Faithful Promises by none other than N.T Wright, illustrated by Helena Perez Garcias (Zonderkidz.)

Allow me to highlight just five new ones. Each is glorious, unique and enthusiastically recommended. Sure, each may be flawed somewhere, somehow; you may not love every word choice or illustration. Of course. But I’m sure you and your children will be truly blessed by these great resources and maybe get a fresh appreciation for the grand story told in the Bible. And at least four of these are so excellently illustrated they are a true sight to behold.

All are 20% off and we can ship them promptly.

The Kingdom and the King Storybook Bible Bob Hartman, illustrated by Catalina Echeverri (The Good Book Company) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I simply cannot say enough about this marvelous new storybook Bible. I’ve longed for a full Bible picture book to be illustrated by Catalina Echeverri — you should know her playful but enticing work from the “Tales That Tell The Truth” series of wonderful picture books that usually connect stories from across the Bible with a gospel-centeredness that is splendid. This one is playfully but thoughtfully told by storyteller Bob Hartman and it seems (as the title suggests) to underscore the Kingship of Jesus, how the reign of God through the saving Messiah, is the key to bringing together God’s faithfulness throughout the unfolding drama. Wow.

As you can tell from the cover, this is bright and rich, multiethnic and fun without being goofy.  I do not think it is cavalier although there are touches of whimsy and plenty of smiles. There are 70 stories from Creation to New Creation. And lots of great design features.

You can read this out loud with gusto to kids as young as four or five or just give it to older readers who will be absorbed in the clear, faithful storytelling and be intrigued by the wonderful illustrations. It’s very well made with good paper and a nice red ribbon marker, too. An excellent choice.

See a good sample of several pages HERE. Be sure to come on back and keep reading!

God’s Colorful Kingdom Storybook Bible: The Story of God’s Big Diverse Family Esau McCaulley, illustrated by Rogério Coelho (Tyndale Kids) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I am sure you know that we admire Esau McCaulley, an Anglican priest and Biblical scholar (who studied with N.T. Wright) now teaching at Wheaton. He edited and curated the series on the liturgical calendar (“The Fullness of Time” mentioned above) and is respected (or dissed by loud-mouthed bigots) for his excellent Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope. A few years ago he did a kids book about an African American girl’s hair (linked to Pentecost!) called Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit And this Fall he did a solidly Christian picture book about going to a BLM March called Andy Johnson and the March for Justice. We love how an academic can do personal memoir and high-end Biblical scholarship, popular level liturgics and colorful kids books!

Anyway, I will just say this about this must-have kid’s Bible resource: it emphasizes how God’s big plan all along was to create a community of blessed people, diverse and multi-ethnic. In Esau’s easy-to-follow retelling of the key point of the Biblical story, he shows the way in which people of color and diverse nations play a key part. This is brilliantly insightful, telling little ones stuff that, frankly, many of us have missed in our devoted Bible reading.

I will also say this: God’s Colorful Kingdom, good as it is, important as it is, solid as it is (theologically and exegetically) is in the voice of a pastor and dad. That is, Esau retells the story and explains stuff, almost like little homilies along the way. That makes it really interesting and useful, even if it may seem maybe a bit more than a Bible storybook paraphrase. It’s a multi-ethnic Sunday school curriculum based clearly on Scripture, explained. There’s a lovely personal forward by Beth Moore.

There are 16 Old Testament stories and 15 New Testament stories (including a few not often told in storybook Bibles.) The art is curious and plentiful and younger kids will be attracted as will those at least up to 10 or so.

God’s heart for justice is woven throughout Scripture, and it is prime time for a project like God’s Colorful Kingdom Storybook Bible! I am excited for children to explore this ancient message that is incredibly relevant for today’s families. Esau writes with wisdom and love, and I enjoyed his faithful teaching of familiar stories with careful notes of God’s heart for the diverse humanity He created. I felt both sadness and joy as I flowed through the pages. As a pastor’s kid, I was taught that God loved everyone, but sadly, the material I grew up with did not illustrate this truth with accurate representation. That’s why I am overjoyed that my grandson will not have to merely imagine the Kingdom of God as a place that welcomes everyone; he will see it page after page in this storybook Bible! The theme is brilliantly amplified by Rogério Coelho’s illustrations. God’s Colorful Kingdom will be a treasured and dog-eared companion for families that want their children to see the beauty of diversity in Scripture.                     — Dorena Williamson, best-selling children’s author of Every Breath, Every Blessing: Finding Hope on Tough Days and Crowned with Glory

The Just Love Story Bible Jacqui Lewis & Shannon Daley-Harris, illustrated by Cheryl “Ras” Thursday (Beaming Books) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I was not sure if I would appreciate this storybook Bible, wondering if it was just a bit too focused on social justice concerns and inadequate on matters like the resurrection. I respect Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, a Black preacher from the historic Collegiate Church in Manhattan, which dates to 1628, and was eager to check it out. I was overcome with joy as I read it, captivated by the way in which these authors glean insight, faithful, hard-won insight, from the heart of the Biblical stories. I nearly wept at times, reading and pondering their unique take on the text. I was captivated and this one has become one of my favorite books of its kind.

Of course we shouldn’t mind they point out that some of the Bible stories never really happened (Jesus made up parables, after all!) although it has caused some to bad-mouth it, already. (Al Mohler says things about it that I found to be simply inaccurate.) Of course we should be glad they highlight some key Bible teaching that more conventional study Bibles often omitted. It was the great Apostle of the crosss, Paul, of course, who said the greatest thing is love. So let’s emphasis that, even as leaders like MLK did, that love an be a revolutionary force for beloved community and social good.

I highly recommend The Just Love Story Bible, whether you are a stalwart member of a progressive denomination or if you are somewhat new to the ways in which liberation and freedom and justice and inclusion and dignity are core to the Bible’s teaching. This will teach you and your children to get the freedom stories as understood not only by the historic black church but for anyone with eyes to see the truest telling of the Biblical tales.

Not only do I love the way they explain the flow of the Biblical stories and the nature of genres and Biblical storytelling in words kids can understand, I appreciate the way they hint at the cultural, religious, and historical context of ancient times. And I adore the colorful artwork — with many of the characters in various hues of brown. The art is upbeat and clever, modern but not

eccentric. Kudos to Ras Thursday for her very good work.

There are Fifty-two Bible stories: Twenty-six from the Old Testament and twenty-six from the New Testament. I’d say maybe ages 6 – 12 or older.

Reverend Jacqueline J. Lewis is a public theologian and the first Black or female senior minister at the progressive, multicultural Collegiate Church in Manhattan, which dates to 1628. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and Drew University, she was the creator of the MSNBC online show Just Faith and the PBS show Faith and Justice.

The Story of All Stories: A Story Bible for Young Catholics Emily Simpson Chapman, illustrated by Diana Rennin (Votive / Word on Fire) $49.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $39.96

This gem was, again, a bit of a surprise to me, not knowing what to expect. Like mainline Protestant and evangelical publishers, one never quite knows the theological language or aesthetic quality of books from Roman Catholic presses. Some are great and some are awful. The Story of All Stories, for a handful of reasons, is one of the best children’s Bible storybooks we’ve seen. It is expensive, but it is majestic and beautiful.

It has the shape and format more of a regular Bible or thick book (and in this regard it brings to mind the very modern-looking, hefty The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung and graphic designer Don Clark.) But when one opens up this standard book it is a full color children’s storybook edition, jam-packed with both text and vivid art. I’m struck with the writing and the visuals; as with the others on this list there is attentive storytelling that is serious about communicating the Scriptural text and art that is a bit cool, but not goofy or needlessly eccentric. The design is so impressive, with lots of colored pages with different colored ink, making it inviting and exciting.

A big question for many readers of BookNotes will be if there is much of a uniquely Roman Catholic bias in the telling of the stories or if any overtly Roman doctrine colors the rendering. I looked for this and, frankly, found nothing objectionable to this Presbyterian’s eyes. Sure they have Jesus saying that what we rather rudely call the communion elements are His body and blood since that’s what the gospel accounts have him saying.

There is a story from Tobit, and one helpful entry about the Maccabees.

A very special feature of this mature children’s Bible storybook are the epigrams at the end of most stories, which include a quote from a figure from the Church Fathers (like Bede or Justin Martyr or the Syrian Aphraht) or Saints like Augustine or Theresa Benedicta) or Popes or Catholic scholars (such as Cardinal Henry Newman, Fulton Sheen, or the modern day Bishop Robert Barron.) Under those pull quotes are a key point of the texts and what they call a “key connection” which is a gospel-centered application. (After the story of the cleansing of the temple, for instance, the “connect” is “Jesus cleaned our hearts so they can be hold spaces where God can dwell.”)

The author, by the way, is an award-winning woman out of Steubenville, Ohio, who has written several adult books as well as a few for kids — co-authored with the respected Scott Hahn. You can see her weekly newsletter on Substack, Through a Glass Darkly.

The art is exceptional — really excellent, often muted with browns and earth tones, with the characters properly portrayed as Middle Easterners (although lots of the men have very long hair.) Diana Renzina is a Latvian artist and this surely must be one of her major projects of her career. Kudos!

I only wish the cover didn’t say it is “for young Catholics as this is a story bible for all, young or old, Catholic or not. Maybe by giving it to a Protestant child or teen you know you’ll be quietly undoing years of religious conflict and even discrimination. This collection of Bible stories is a great gift, pointing us to Christ, who called us all to be one.

As with these others, you could read most of the stories out loud to a younger child, but it is for readers maybe ages 7 to 12 or 13.

God’s Stories As Told By God’s Children: An Illustrated Storybook Bible various authors and illustrators (The Bible for Normal People) $39.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

I have written about this when it first came out earlier this year (here) and I can’t help but list it again as there is nothing quite like it in print. It is a child-like storybook Bible written by serious Bible scholars, thoughtful leaders, Christian activists, men and women who are Protestant and Catholic, evangelical and mainline. As you may know The Bible for Normal People is an educational ministry (founded mostly by Pete Enns, author of How the Bible Really Works) offering a reasonable, non-fundamentalist approach to telling the Bible stories for all their worth, in ways that allow the stories to stand as inspired literature.

The title God’s Stories As Told By… may carry a bit of a double-meaning. Yes, obviously, these storied paraphrases of the texts, like every children’s storybook Bible, are being re-told in the words of ordinary people, God’s children, all. But maybe they are implying that that is how the whole Scriptures really came to be, anyway: obviously, these are fully human documents (divinely inspired, we believe) that tell what God was doing in their own ancient words. This is subtly by trying to offer a contextualized approach to Bible reading, even for kids.

Just for instance: the first chapter is on Jeremiah 29 (called “In the Beginning — “…that begins where you’d least expect.” Then it offers a grand telling of Genesis 1 (by Jared Byas) and another telling of how humans are made in God’s image (by Mari Jørstad.) I like those a lot.

Sidebars and “Let’s Talk” sections (with QR codes for even more discussion) offer plenty of extra kid-friendly conversations. There is stuff about history and about wisdom and about faithfulness and forgiveness. It’s ideal for those who want to have good conversations with kids about how we know what we know about faith and how the Bible came to be. They insist that the ancient conversations and tensions and questions and answers recorded in Sacred Scripture are the same we are invited into today (hence, the theme of ongoing discussion.) They say the Bible is weird like that — it is written by people but is God speaking, less with data and more with story, less “do’s and don’ts  and more a call to be wise. Let’s face it: the Bible is sort of weird and it’s fun to have a youth Bible just come out and say it.

One of the things I so appreciate about this remarkable collection is that some contributors are authors we respect, and some we even know. Carolyn Custis James does Genesis 16 and 21 in a bit called “Hey There, Stranger —the one with the God who sees.” Marlena Graves does John 13 (“Do This & Remember”) the story which reminds us of the servant nature of our King. Shane Claiborne colorfully retells Matthew 5 – 7 (“The Sermon on the Mount” — the lesson “about living and loving well”) and does the Good Samaritan story, too. They’ve got heavy weight (non-white) theologians like Miguel A. De La Torre and Drew Hart, mystics like Richard Rohr and indigenous faith leaders like Randy Woodley. They’ve even got the esteemed Epsiopalian Old Testament scholar Ellen Davis. There are pastors and parents literally from all over the world who have contributed.

The art is okay, varied, by illustrators from all over the world. Each has a special style but most are fairly conventional, often not too vivid.

I’d say this is for ages 6 – 12 or so.

They’ve got an amazing website that they call “Curious Faith Cues” where there are further maps and questions and expanded historical context. The family and group activities are amazing…  don’t miss it! We are one of the few bookstores promoting this and we’d love to send some out at our 20% off discounted price. Enjoy!

PLUS, THIS BONUS:

Jesus, Our True Friend: Stories to Fill Your Heart With Joy Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago (Zonderkidz) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Okay, one final one, brand new, wonderful, but not a full children’s storybook Bible, This grand new one is from the beloved creators of The Jesus Storybook Bible (“where every chapter whispers his name.”) Hooray for children’s writer Sally Lloyd-Jones (she has done over 40 books!) and the very creative designer and artist, Jago.  As you can tell from the title, it is a more limited telling of a few stories about Jesus. And I’d say it is for younger children maybe 4 – 8 or so.

This is slightly larger than most children’s picture books and the colors are vivid and while not exactly whimsical, certainly done with verve. Like the writing, which is bright and conversational, theologically informed, and utterly charming. It starts with a creative paraphrase of parts of John 1.  I love this.

As it say on the back,

The Bible tells the wonderful story of how God loves His children and comes to rescue them. And at the heart of that story is a young hero — the Great Rescuer, Jesus, God’s own Son. He stepped out of Heaven and came to live with us and show us what love is really like.

Stories include The Party That Went Wrong, Our True Friend, The Two Sisters Jesus Loved, Jesus and the Stone Throwers, Jesus and the Deadly Storm, Our True Older Brother, and Breakfast on the Beach. I wish we had room to show you more (the shot on the right is from the Mary and Martha story, which is very nicely done.)

As she notes in the beginning — on a wonderful page written to “children and their grown-ups” — these are seven Good News stories. “They come from theme when Jesus was on Earth. They start with a party and end with breakfast!” Then she says, earnestly, “I hope they fill your hearts with joy.”

We do too.

Buy a couple of these great volumes — give them to your children or grandchildren, your neighbor’s children, your church or public school library. Why not? Let’s start the New Year right, helping others find joy in reading the greatest story ever told. You shouldn’t ever be without a few good children’s resources around. We’ve got you covered.  Click below where it says “Order Here.”

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BookNotes

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Books, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, make wonderful gifts. You can share adventure and joy, solace and challenge, offer something that means a lot to you or offer something you know your loved one or friend would appreciate. You can gently hint at deep things you hope they’ll consider anew or you can offer a full-on lifeline. You can share a meaningful memoir, artful poetry, a good novel, or a fun cookbook. There is literally something for everyone. And they wrap up really nicely, eh?

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

We don’t have big quantities of many of these suggestions so order soon while supplies last. And do tell us if you do or don’t need your items by Christmas Eve. The order form is interactive and expansive so type in whatever info you want us to know.

Gift certificates / cards are always welcomed gifts and we can send them to you via snail mail (with an envelope) or via email for you to download yourself. Just let us know who they are for and how much you want it to be for.

In any case, here are some ideas, random titles, all recommended in one way or another. Feel free to browse through all the archived past BookNotes, too — what a lot of good books we’ve announced and reviewed this year.

FOR ANYONE, BUT ESPECIALLY A BOOK LOVER

World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading Jeff Crosby (Paraclete Press) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I have reviewed this, hosted the author at a hearts & Minds webinar, and talked about the book at our “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast. I’ll just remind you of it here — it is a splendid book, perhaps the best of its kind. A book about why reading matters, a charming telling of great reading experiences, the why and wherefore of the reading life. You can give this to serious readers, sure, but you can also give it to those who may not naturally be inclined to pick up a book like this. It is inspiring. It is fun. You have my word on it — it’s a great gift. And your favorite bookstore owner has a nice blurb on the back, so there’s that. Hooray. Buy a couple and give ‘em out! Ho, ho, ho.

FOR A NATURE LOVER:

Birds in the Sky Fish in the Sea: Attending to Creation with Delight and Wonder Matthew Dickerson & Matthew L. Clark (Square Halo Books) $25.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.70

This is almost a perfect little gift, pocket-sized, with a beautiful blue cover, with artful woodcuts scattered on almost every page spread. The writing is exquisite, lovely for the wondrous insight about nature (creation!), and how to be reflective and attentive, but also for informative natural history prose. Dickerson is always amazing, and this is glorious. And Matthew Clark brings a beautiful, artful (and at times almost eccentric) illustration to the work, giving it even more delight and wonder. Fantastic. You’ll feel good giving this, I’m sure.

The Language of Rivers and Stars: How Nature Speaks of the Glories of God Seth Lewis (The Good Book Company) $14.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

Yes, I raved about the handsome little Birds in the Sky Fish in the Sea book but this one is equally charming, maybe a tad more meandering, covering lovely ground on so many fronts, good stuff in what Alister Begg calls “a work of poetic theology that is as beautiful as it is faithful.” Seth Lewis, we are told, “lives, hikes, works, and writes on the south coast of Ireland.” That explains some of it. He’s a majestic writer and gentle wise. He shows us “how to decipher the language of creation and discover God’s voice.”

The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit Priyanka Kaur (Island Press) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

Eloquent, luminous, full of wonder, what Sy Montgomery (of The Soul of An Octopus) calls “deeply meditative in the vein of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass.) Some good folks have taken up the vocation of caring well for very old apple trees and this intimate study of historic orchards is wonderfully researched and full of lovely hope. Fascinating and eloquent.

Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees Beth Norcross & Leah Ramey (Broadleaf) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

There are a lot of books about the scientific mystery of the language of trees. We’ve got bunches. This one explores how, as Belden Lane puts it, “the deep wisdom of the Standing Ones is that everything belongs; nothing stands alone.” Folk singer Carrie Newcomer calls it “a beautiful meditation.” It is spiritually alive, for sure, but not conventionally Christian, not at all pushy. It would make a good gift for somebody who doesn’t want too much direct Bible…

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

We’ve got dozens of excellent books on Biblical-based creation care, faithful ecological theology and such, and this is one of the very best. Good for the experienced activist against global warming or the newbie, we recommend all of Bouma-Pediger’s good books. We’ve written about them all. This one was named one of our Best Books of the Year in 2023 and it is only more urgent now; if you know anyone who cares about earthkeeping even a bit, they will love this. Highly recommended.

FOR AN ARTS LOVER

Art Is… A journey into the Light Makoto Fujimura (Yale University Press) $30.00  // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

We stock all of Mako’s major volumes and highlighted this before it came out. If you were not one who pre-ordered it, you may want to put it on somebody’s list to get for you. And you should get it under somebody’s else’s tree as so many will love this mature, handsome, serious volume. All of his books are a wonder.  Rowan Williams notes that this new book “offers insights into his creative process and is a work of real freshness and beauty.” Love it!

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

I have raved about this wonderful collection of stories about artists who struggled with pain or doubt, whose work helps us all be more aware of our human realities. Ramsey is a theologically-informed pastor and tells these stories in ways that can inspire anyone.  I’ve even got an endorsing blurb on it  — right next to the much more qualified art guy, Ned Bustard of Square Halo Books. If he likes it, you know it’s good.

Rainbows for the Fallen World Calvin Seerveld (Toronto Tuppence Press) $35.00  // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

Many esteem this as one of their all time favorite books, and this philosophically minded art critic and cultural analyst, befriended some of the finest artists of our time, from Mako Fujimura to Michael Card. This is about normative aesthetics, art history, Christian philosophy, and the call to renew culture. It is rare and we’ve got it. AND — get this: we will gladly offer a free Seerveld volume that in many ways is the little known sequel to Rainbows for the Fallen World called Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves with any purchase of Rainbows. It, too, is an eccentric and powerfully written collection of essays and talks about the arts. It is brilliant and, although hard to find, often goes for around $50.00. We have a bunch that we got from him before his death and we’ll share them here, now. FREE with a purchase of Rainbows. Wow. (While supplies last.) Please ask for this if you want one. We’ll gladly do it for those that request it, with a purchase of Rainbows…

OR FOR ANY CREATIVE

Honest Creativity: The Foundation of Boundless, Good, and Inspired Innovation Craig Detweiler (Morehouse) $29.95  // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.96

I’ve long admired this Fuller prof, a guy who has written about modern culture, film, tech, and the like. He’s obviously a thoughtful Christian presence in the midst of edgy cultural stuff, aware of the zeitgeist and inviting us all to be wiser salt and light. Because he has worked with so many cultural creatives (and because he himself is such a creative) it makes sense that he has written a very thoughtful study of “the transformative power of authentic creativity.” It is both an empowering guide (with practical tools) and, as Christian Swanson puts it, “maps out the artist’s journey of facing obstacles, self-doubt, and fear.” She, by the way, is the award-winning director of Chicago P.D. amongst other great shows. Mako Fujimura calls him “a faith-filled master teacher on the elusive subject of creativity, especially in the backdrop of an AI revolution.”

The Discipline of Inspiration: The Mysterious Encounter with God at the Heart of Creativity Carey Wallace (Eerdmans) $26.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

If you’re not familiar with this very thoughtful book by a very good novelist and writer, do put the name into the search box at our BookNotes and read my previous review. I’ll just say this, here, now: it is for writers or artists or anyone wondering how to evoke some creative spirit. Perhaps you just feel inspired to playfully add something to an old, standard recipe? Where does that come from?

Carey here reflects on the source and power of inspiration — hint: it’s deeply spiritual — and she offers practical disciplines (standard fare for those of us walking intentionally with attention to our interior lives) such as silence, community, and rest. Wayne Adams, a multimedia artist (and former board member of the sadly now defunct Christian arts organization CIVA) says “I fell like I’ve been waiting for this book my whole life.”

FOR AN ASPIRING WRITER

Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies Marilyn McEntyre (Eerdmans) $20.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.79

Since this is a quick gift-giving guide, I won’t wax eloquent about this as I often do, but it is one of my all time favorite books and you could give it to any reader, book lover, words-lover, and certainly any writer (journalist, poet, novelist, or nonfiction author.) She offers strategies to steward our words well and offers brilliant, poetic, meditative, but really wise ideas as vital as “tell the truth” and “stay in conversation” to as unique and smile-inducing as “love the long sentence” and “play.” Get this book for almost anybody on your list who cares about the printed page.

Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life Maggie Smith (Washington Square Press) $28.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

I know not all BookNotes readers will know Maggie Smith but she is a much-discussed poet, writer, professor, and creator of a respected Substack column about the craft of writing. She has received a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a coveted Pushcart Prize and numerous awards; she is published in places like The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Atlantic and the like. She is known for the exquisite You Could Make This Place Beautiful, a memoir I loved. Elizabeth Gilbert, who has some pretty sweet writing chops, has written “Oh, how I wish I’d had access to this book thirty-five years ago, when I was just starting out as a writer…. I admire this book, and its author, with all my heart.”

Writing, Creativity, and Soul Sue Monk Kidd (Knopf) $29.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.20

We used to carry (and still do) Sue Monk Kidd’s early books of Christian spirituality but she has become even more widely known for The Secret Life of Bees and other good fiction (including one of Beth’s favorite novels, The Invention of Wings.) This guide to creativity is brand new and is said to be “part memoir, part philosophical investigation, part advice to aspiring writers.” I liked in the flyleaf copy that they called it “a touchstone for the spirit.” I am sure it will be a warm read, but full of her fierce intelligence and laden with the search for meaning and for beauty.

If you have any Sue Monk Kidd fans in your circles, this is a no-brainer, I’d say.

The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life Suleika Jaouad (Random House) $30.00  // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I can hardly imagine any thoughtful book lover not loving this beautiful anthology, a collection of amazing pieces — some by famous writers, others you’ve never heard of — to inspire you to keep a journal. It is about this practice of response; in this sense it is for anyone, learning the habit of reflection.

Suleika Jaouad is the author who wrote that breathtaking memoir of an edgy young woman struck early in her college years with a radical kind of depilating leukemia. The first half of Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted is the utterly gripping account of her treatment and the second part is mostly her life-giving road trip around the country. It is one of my favorite books of recent years and the quiet little bit about her falling in love with Jon Batiste is pretty nice, too, but I digress.

The Book of Alchemy is going to make an awesome gift. Jaouad is the brilliant and passionate person who put this fabulous 300 page reader together, carefully curated, nicely done, but there are oodles of entries and excerpts by writers of all kinds. Amazing blurbs on the back are from Elizabeth Gilbert, Kate Bowler, Hanif Abdurraquib, and Adam Grant.

FOR SOMEONE WANTING TO GROW IN DEEPER CHRISTIAN FAITH

All Things Together: How Apprenticeship to Jesus Is the Way of Flourishing in a Fragmented World Heath Hardesty (Multnomah) $18.00  // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

Hardesty is a vibrant writer for sure, a pastor who used to be a plumber. He writes like a dream and has the vision and demeanor of an excited Eugene Peterson. He is deeply influenced by the likes of Dallas Willard and is all about apprenticeship to Jesus, discovering a relationship with him that can give us wholeness and hope. It’s a great read.

I could hardly put it down and if you know anybody who just wants to be enthralled with a fine Christian guidance and inspiration about being one with Christ and taking discipleship seriously, All Things Together will please and delight. And challenge. It’s a winner for almost anyone…

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

I wrote a good review of this stunningly delightful and honest book at BookNotes and explained how it is culturally savvy (with lots of quotes from TV and pop songs, from U2 and the like.) He’s a solid thinker, offering an apologetic for why God is trustworthy, in part because His story features a King who dies. What an upside down gospel! He gets the truth of things and tells it well. I loved this and it would assure any  believer to trust the gospel and would even be good for those unsure, seekers and skeptics. He’s a gracious and thoughtful writer, right on my wavelength. I’m sure you could give it to somebody.

The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight Travis West (Tyndale) $18.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

This is one of the most fun, honest, upbeat, and readable books on sabbath life I’ve read in a long while. It really is upbeat and fun and yet is exceedingly solid by a professor of Hebrew at Western Theological in Holland, Michigan. Winn Collier, of the Eugene Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination, wrote the foreword, and Winn is brilliant and a good writer so if he likes it, you should get it. And feel good giving it. Part of this story, by the way, was the hardship West and his wife have had with her chronic illness and some personal hardships. What an inspiring story! This will invigorate almost anyone to be faithful and, yes, to rest in Christ.

You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press) $21.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

This is a compact sized, smallish hardback and every word is sweet, special, wise, and good. What a great little book this is, mature and interesting, bringing a fresh take on conversations about calling and vocation. I’m confident that this will clear up so much spiritual confusion as folks come to understand this foundational notion of God’s call and vocational passion. It is clear and practical and inspiring. Highly recommended for young and old.

I like that artist and writer Andrew Peterson says he “heartily commends this book.” So do I. It’s a small hardback with a great cover, making it a nice little gift, even for a teen. Hooray.

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

If In your circle of gifting you have people who would know who Keller is, this is a no-brainer. It’s brand new and would make a great gift for fans of the late pastor and public thinker. Too culturally savvy for the super-strict legalists, too Reformed for others, too concerned about race and justice for the right and too conservative for progressives, he was a unicorn, a rare breed of evangelicals with an intellectual approach to cultural and spiritual issues. We respected him immensely.

This is a book on sin. Okay, so that’s not going to work for every gift-wrapped treat under the tree. But for those eager to grapple with the deepest questions of human living, of the biggest problems and the greatest answers, this collection of thoughtful sermons is nothing short of brilliant. Not for everyone, but a great, grand book. Buy a few now, even if you don’t wrap them as Christmas gifts. You should own this and read it carefully. We all should.

Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity Norman Wirzba (Cascade) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

Want a mature and thoughtful work by a Duke professor (who happens to be a friend of Wendell Berry and the preeminent writer about agrarian lifestyles)? He has written about the profound hope we have as those living well in God’s good world and has done books on everything from food to farming. Norman Wirzba is a scholarly writer who has done lovey prose and inspiring work for all of us. We are delighted to have discovered that this older, out of print book — one of his best! — has been reissued in paperback. Hooray for this little known work, now given a new chance. Maybe you should give it to someone. Perhaps the new foreword by Diana Butler Bass will further entice you.

Way of Love “invites readers to discover the Christian faith as a school that forms people in the practices of love.” All right; wow. This book is particularly special’s it shows not only that love is a practice — a muscle to be exercised is how some may put it — but a “key to understanding what Christian teaching is fundamentally about, and why it matters for our daily lives”

Rave reviews on the back are from colorful memoirist J. Dana Trent and astute theological Anglican David Ford and the always trustworthy and poetic writer, Marilyn McEntyre. She notes that his reflections on this are themselves “acts of hospitality that offer a kind of nourishment we need again and again.” I bet you know somebody who would appreciate this thoughtful, nuanced, deeper study.

The Life You Were Reborn to Live: Dismantling 12 Lies That Rob Your Intimacy with God Gary Thomas (Zondervan) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This book is a wonder and makes a great gift for that person you want to hep along their way towards deeper intimacy with God and more vibrant, faithful discipleship. It is informed by excellent thinking and scholarship but is readable, practical, full of stories and anecdotes, and convicting (in a good way.) What a joy to read a basic book about Christian living that is so darn good

Thomas is an upbeat writer. He has done excellent books on spiritual formation and he has done a good handful of books on marriage and parenting. He’s a practical guy, down to Earth, but full of pastoral experience, explaining to folks how to take steps towards greater maturity and joy in the Lord. Here, he helps expose the cultural assumptions we all tend to hold — about busyness and self-sufficiency and the nature of worship and our view of sin, not to mention difficulties — and dismantles those so we can get to a point of freedom in Christ. Somehow, we’ve got to get beyond our sense of restlessness and find a deeper trust in God. Know anybody you could give this to? I bet you do. Buy one for yourself while you’re at it, and offer to read it with them. There’s plenty to ponder, pray about, and discuss. Happy reading!

Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues and Vices for a Whole and Holy Life Grace Haan (Zondervan Reflective) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This very well may be one of the best books of 2015 and, sadly, it is only known in a small circle of readers. Maybe you can help spread the word, giving a couple away. Granted it may not appeal to everyone — it is about medieval faith in the Middle Ages, especially how they viewed virtue, what we might call character formation. Can we find wholeness by taking up practices that lead to goodness? Can this glimpse into Christian history and “old paths” give us language and ideas for transformation, today.

Hamman wrote the excellent Jesus Through Medieval Eyes which we adored; this new one is even more urgent, I think, helping us  all by offering a book that (in the words of Sarah Clarkson) “grips the imagination and stirs the heart.” Yay.  (The title, by the way, comes from the book of Jeremiah.)

Why Everything That Doesn’t Matter, Matters So Much: The Way of Love in a World of Hurt Charlie Peacock & Andi Ashworth (Thomas Nelson) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

If there was one handbook of remarkable essays (written as tender personal letters) about serving God in our modern age, this set of pieces by Charlie and Andi, might be the first that springs to mind. It is conversational, eloquent, wise, and relevant. Not too academic, but not simplistic or cheesy. If you have the sort of Christian friends who want to just read up a bit on a variety of aspects of faith and discipleship, this book is a gem. I am not embarrassed to say some of it is brilliant. I hope you find somebody to share it with.

There are pieces on the imagination and the arts, there is stuff about calling and career. There are letters about politics and polarization and wisdom for singles, parents, and the broken-hearted. There is advice on homemaking and cooking and words on study and reading. A few are specific (like about knowing when to move on, and even move) and a great piece on “talking about Jesus in the public square.” From hard-learned insight about marriage to ideas about faith in the daily/ordinary, this great collection is a book to read and re-read. Give it to anyone who needs a smart friend, good words, bread for the journey Why Everything That Doesn’t Matter, Matters… makes a great gift. Hooray.

Whitefield on the Christian Life: New Birth to Enjoy God Tom Schwanda & Ian Maddock  (Crossway) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

This ongoing series by Crossway is always edifying, informative, and often beautiful. Their “on the Christian Life” books about Luther and Bonhoeffer and John Stott and Bavinck and Packer and (quite recently) J.C Ryle, are all very interesting and commendable. But Whitefield?

Tom Schwanda is a good author (who did a remarkable book on the mystical tendencies in the Puritan writers) and I trust him a lot. He introduces the human side of this controversial and exceptionally popular open-air preacher of the eighteenth century. (His friendship with Benjamin Franklin is legendary and fascinating.) He was larger than life and deeply theological, even as he preached up a storm everywhere he went. I trust you know some of the almost unbelievable stories of his influence.

Former Pittsburgh Theological Seminary missions professor, Scott Sundquist, notes that “the apt subtitle of this volume, New Birth to Enjoy God, reminds us that Whitefield’s theology, and the best of ecumenical evangelicalism, is driven by gratitude and joy.” Indeed.

There are critical assessments here, and the chapters on Whitefield’s changing views on abolition and slavery are the best I’ve read. Mark Noll, the preeminent evangelical historian says that the book not only has very thorough research but offers “empathy balanced by criticism.” I think there may be somebody on your list who needs a book like this.

The Core of the Christian Faith: Living the Gospel for the Sake of the World Michael Goheen (Brazos Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I think giving Christian folks books about doctrine and theology is a good thing, although too often such books can be received with a smile and maybe a good intention, even, but, really — who is going to read a major theology tome? The Core of the Christian Faith, however, is unlike any introduction to theology you’ve ever read. It is missional in scope, visionary in its passion, and offering a compelling perspective for God’s redemptive mission in the world, telling the story that can shape our story. Want to join up? Want to take up a process of becoming a new person for the sake of a new movement?  This book is engaging and relevant and frames the story of redemption (for all of life) in a way that matters. You can give this to anybody wanting to learn more about the basics of the faith in fresh, dynamic, Kingdom ways.

“In an age overflowing with discipleship and spiritual-formation resources, Goheen has written a book that stands out as essential for Christian today, As I read, my heart was stirred for Christ and my imagination ignited with fish was to faithfully participate in God’s mission today.” — John Crawford, pastor of formation, Redemption Tempe

FOR A JUSTICE ADVOCATE (or SOMEONE WHO OUGHT TO BE)

The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Orbis) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

I will not say that this is the only book of its kind as there are others that attempt to offer a spirituality of action, a contemplative sort of activism, building bridges between prayer and politics. But this is the best. It offers a great bit of narrative writing sharing four movements (as Wes calls them) toward an integrated, spiritually-rooted, sort of worldly Holness. If you want to be a long-term activism — whether your cause is immigration reform or peacemaking or serving the poor or working on ecological sustainability issues, whether your style is protest or policy — The Soulwork of Justice is for you.

Do you know any justice activists who need this sort of stature, experienced guide to sustainable faith? (Or, on the other hand, do you know anyone deeply interested in our interior lives, spiritual formation, and mystical encounters that need to be harnessed for the sake of the common good and public justice?) This book is for them. It is a winner; it is ecumenical and suitable for mainline Protestants and evangelicals, for charismatics to those in liturgical churches.

Wes Granberg-Michaelson has spent decades serving the global church and may be one of the most ecumenical Christians on the planet. His passion for justice is legendary and his wisdom is well-earned. I like and trust him a lot. You can give this book about the spirituality of justice work and other sorts of activism to nearly anyone. Wrap a few of these up — it’s a great way to celebrate the birthday of Jesus!

Racial Justice for the Long Haul: How White Christian Advocate Preserve (& Why) Christine Jeske (IVP Academic) $29.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

I am working on a longer review of this for later in the year or maybe for when I announce it as one of the best books of 2025. Brand new, serious, thoughtful, passionate, and well-written, this is laden with stories and loaded with research, done by a woman who is beloved as a mentor and teacher at Wheaton and who has written previously good books about her journeys of service around the world. She is, to put it succinctly, well acquainted with the griefs of this fallen world.s

I know there are a few serious activists and thinkers who would relish this brand new book as a gift this holiday season. We’ve got tons of books on racism and racial justice and cross-cultural ministry and multiethnic reconciliation; some have suggested we have the widest inventory on these theme of any bookstore in the country. I don’t know about that, but we have read a lot, and this brand new book, I am convinced, ought to become known as a classic. We will learn about the truest basis for hope, the need for lament and the ways ethnographic research can help us all as we commit to a grace-filled, Kingdom vision for long-term anti-racism work.

This book presents Jeske’s findings in her large research on what makes anti-racism work, work,  and what keeps us going in productive and fruitful ways. If you don’t know who to give it to, get one for yourself and work on it. You’ll be better for it.

Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land Ross Halperin (Liveright) $31.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.59

When I think back of the many books I’ve read this year on social justice themes and on global development and third world issues, this one clearly stands out. It was the most engaging, the most memorable, and the one that seems most appropriate as a gift for many sorts of readers of nonfiction. If you know people who like good narratives, creative, immersive journalism, powerful, important storytelling, this page-turning, edge-of-your-seat wonder is a boy to give.

Go back to our big BookNotes review if you need more info, but this is an investigative sort of report on the incredible ministry of Kuret Ver Week (of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan) who moved into one of the poorest and most unjust barrios in all of Latin America. Jill Leovy, the acclaimed author of the gut-wrenching Ghettoside, says “Kurt Van Been and Carlos Hernández are possibly the bravest people in the world.”

This reads like a thriller — a big, fat, thriller — and while excellently reported, it is “rife with vivid human and physical detail.” It’s almost like a novel, gripping and inspiring, about a team of faith-based activists trying to stop the police corruption that allows wanton murder on the stress of this Honduran town. Their long-terms efforts at multi-faceted, systemic reform is unlike anything I’ve ever read about, anywhere. Whether or not you know about the complexities of Latin American politics and poverty and repression, Bear Witness is a heck of a read that will be hard to forget. Give it to somebody who cares, or maybe somebody who doesn’t.  As their Board member Nicholas Wolterstorff puts it, “Take this and be moved and inspired.”

The Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness Joash P. Thomas (Brazos Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I’ve read a lot of books about the Biblical basis for outwork for social righteousness and public witness and few frame the journey towards justice in the context of the local church. The Justice of Jesus does exactly that. Soooo —  give this book to somebody who cares about our broken world, yes, but also it would be a great gift for anybody who longs for Spirited church renewal, who wants to rethink what the local church could and should be.  Want to know what a seriously Christ-centered church could be about? Wonder how to prioritize justice in “our church pulpits, budgets, and theology”? Rev. Joash Thomas (with a degree from Dallas Theological Seminary) is a popular international speaker — he was born and raised in India. His multi-ethnic congregation is in Hamilton, Ontario, and I know he is widely and deeply respected.

Blurbs on the back are rave, from the usual suspects — Shane Claiborne, Kristin Du Mez, Danielle Strickland. Sarah Bessey exclaims, “Joash’s deep love for the church shines through on every page as he invites us all into the group project of liberation.” I bet you know somebody who would be blessed by this.  Please consider sharing this book with somebody you know.

FOR AN ASPIRING BIBLICAL SCHOLAR (or anyone interested in the Scriptures)

Introducing the Old Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey Rolf Jacobson & Michael Chan (Baker Academic) $54.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $43.99

There are plenty of other introductions to the Hebrew Scriptures (write to us if your interested) but this makes a great gift — a hefty, bright, hardback, moderate in tone, wise, endorsed by Walter Brueggemann, Brent Strawn, and David DeJong of Hope College song others It is a lively, engaging, serious study, lavishly illustrated. A major gift, for sure.

Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey Mark Allen Powell (Baker Academic) $59.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $47.99

Again, like the Old Testament one, above, this is a lavish, hefty hardback, full of good, thoughtful, scholarship and even elegant insight. I first heard of this scholar — for those that might want to know — from my friend Marva Dawn. Powell is Lutheran, so that makes sense as Marva, when she wasn’t Anabaptist, or writing with Presbyterians like Eugene Peterson, was deeply Lutheran. Craig Evans, of Houston Baptist, says it is a “no brainer” to use this text. Yay.

On Earth as in Heaven: Daily Wisdom for Twenty-First Century Christians N.T. Wright (HarperOne) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Few understand the big picture the unfolding drama of the Biblical story as does N.T. Wright. In my view his many books are essential reading for faith in our day.  He is invigorating and wise, very, very helpful. This daily devotional walks you through the church year (although he starts with Easter / resurrection not Advent) with excerpts from his popular level books, a bit each day. I’ve used this to swipe quotes and find succinct one page readings of his many themes. This book will be a cherished gift.

Whispers of Revolution: Jesus and the Coming of God as King Michael Bird (Baker Academic)  $39.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

Michael Bird is a prolific writer, having worked with and co-authored books with N.T. Wright. (Most recently, their excellent paperback Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies.) Here, in this major new hardback, he asks the questions about how Christ was seen as King.

As the back jacket puts it, “This careful and concise work covers a wide range of topics related to the historical Jesus in His context. Bird studies Jesus in light of archaeology, Judean history, and apocalypticism. He scrcutiznes the sayings of Jesus and stories about Jesus, challenging many scholarly paradigms to offer a portrait of Jesus that avoids both sensationalism and pious simplification.”

Jesus, clearly, “became the catalyst for a movement that would defy and then consume the Roman Empire.” How did this happen? This explores the realities of who Jesus was and claimed to be. Lord of the world!

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

I may have this listed here in a category for aspiring Biblical scholars but I’d say this is ideal for any one who loves God’s Word, is interested in the Hebrew Scriptures, who wants to know what in the world we’re to do with Biblical law. It is rigorous but readable, fun, if serious. If anybody can bridge the often arcane world of Hebrew scholarship and hip, modern readers, Dru can. I love this guy and I love this book. It is pitched by the publisher as a “creative, timely and entertaining remedy for widespread misguided readings of Biblical law.”

Okay, then: give this to anybody who loves the Bible, anybody with questions about the Old Testament Torah, or anybody who just wants a super-engaging, detailed Biblical study. Dru has a PhD from the University of Saint Andrews, is a Templeton Senior Research Fellow and director of — get this — the Abrahamic Theistic Origins Project at Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford. He orders books from us for his Center for Hebraic Thought. Not bad for a former punk rocker, eh? Give this book to one and all who has even a hint of deeper interest in the nuances of this often perplexing question.

The Vision of Ephesians: The Task of the Church and the Glory of God N. T. Wright (Zondervan Academic) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Just in time for holiday gift-giving, this is the very new book by Tom Wright, another in his series of meaty but succinct studies of various books of the Bible.I loved his Into the Heart of Romans and then The Challenge of Acts. This third, new one studies in his special way — with an emphasis of Older Testament echos that point towards a new creation coming as Christ’s Kingdom restores all things — the majestic book of Ephesians. There are nine chapters, developed over just 150 pages. Perfect for newer or more experienced readers.

“Wright sets Ephesians within the biblical narrative of redemption, drawing on Old Testament passages and the historian milieux of the Jewish and Roman cultures of Pauls’ day.” — Lynn H. Cohick, Houston Christian University

A VERY SPECIAL THREE-BOOK SUGGESTION OF GREAT BIBLE TEACHING

Over the last several years Dr. Carmen Joy Imes, a wonderful Bible scholar, preacher, teacher, and on-line friend to many, has been busy writing academic commentaries (a technical one on Exodus is forthcoming) and sharing good ideas for further Biblical study. But through her teaching career and writing projects she has done three exceptional books for ordinary readers, sort of a trilogy, all tracing a certain theme throughout the unfolding drama of the Bible. Carmen is a friend and hero of ours, and these three books are, of course, sold individually, but we wanted to gently suggest that you might want to give all three. They are very cool, all together and would make a great package. The first is excellent and wise, the second is magnificent and urgent, and this new one was personally one of my favorite Biblical studies books of the year. You’ll hear more about it again, soon.

Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters Carmen Joy Imes (IVP Academic) $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19

This study of the Old Testament law is, as one seminary prof put it, “warm, witty, and winsome; theologically rigorous, rhetorically convincing, and pastorally helpful.” Wow. The foreword is by one of the contemporary greats, the missional Biblical scholar Christopher J.H Wright.

Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters Carmen Joy Imes (IVP Academic) $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19

Bible Project guy TIm Mackie calls it “accesible and profound” — the theme, besides the ongoing important doctrine of creation (including creation care) from throughout the Biblical drama — is what it means that humans are made in the imagoes God and are called to love and respect follow image bearers. The most important writer on this topic wrote the amazing foreword, J.Richard Middleton.

Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters Carmen Joy Imes (IVP Academic) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

My, my, what a book, what a needed call to a Bible-based critique of individualism and a healthy view of extended family, community, church. She has such sensible (and realistic) passion for God’s people and knows a lot about the various sort of congregations out there, all of which are scooped up in the big, bold, narrative of the people of God’s covenant brought along throughout the whole history of reception. God’s grace enfolds us into a family! What a book! The foreword is by Biblical scholar and Anglican priest, Esau McCaulley.

FOR MEMOIR AND BIOGRAPHY LOVERS

I hope you saw last week’s reviews of Barn Gothic and Paper Girl. They were wonderfully told stories, one set in rural Western New York on a diary farm, the other a season in a small rust-belt Ohio town which has seen better days. Both were informative and captivating and intimate. We recommend them.  Here are some other random ones.

Cloistered: My Years as a Nun Catherine Coldstream (St. Martin’s Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

You will learn about how a woman comes to sense a calling, about Coldstream’s grief when she lost her father, what she thinks about her vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and the practice of silence. One reviewer called it “engrossing and moving” and another called it mesmerizing. Some have found it a bit disturbing as it isn’t a simple story (and she is no Thomas Merton.) This inside look at a Carmelite monastery and her journey away is engrossing.One obviously doesn’t have to be Roman Catholic to enjoy this.

Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General Nigel M. De S. Cameron (University of Massachusetts Press) $34.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $27.96

I’ve met Dr. Koop and I once drove Dr. Nigel Cameron (a scholar of bioethics) to an event, so I naturally feel connected to this remarkable release. Koop was an elder at the famous 10th Presbyterian in Philadelphia and a legendary pediatric surgeon who rose to fame and controversy when appointed Surgeon General by Ronald Reagan. I say the book is remarkable for a few reasons, but certainly it is almost surprising to see this major biography, written by an evangelical scholar, released by a major secular academic press. Yes, Koop was an outspoken anti-abortion leader (and made a famous film and book with Francis Schaeffer just before Schaeffer was so utterly co-opted by far-right religionists who never understood his worldview.) In any case, this tells that story and more, so much more.

Here’s the heart of it, making it a historic biography that needs to be known: Reagan appointed C. Everett Koop to the position of Surgeon General in 1981 and Koop took the job more seriously than anyone expected. From campaigns against smoking to other public health issues he didn’t bow to the market-forces of the far right and when it finally mattered most, he saved lives by serving those dying of AIDS in an era when hardly anyone got involved in their plight (and Koop’s sponsors spit hatred and vengeance upon the afflicted, saying it was God’s judgement on their gay lifestyle.) Koop was traditional in his evangelical sexual ethics but he took his job seriously and brought vigor and compassion in a time when such voices were rare. Oh to have a public health expert with such integrity and compassion.

Dr. Cameron mined thousands of documents and conducted hundreds of interviews with family and friends making this an exceptional, even majestic study of the “precocious boy from Brooklyn who was already the world’s most celebrated pediatric surgeon when he became one of the most recognizable public figures of late 20th century America.” I can think of a number of people who would value this. I hope you can, too.

Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession Austin Channing Brown (Convergence) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

This is the much- anticipated follow up to Brown’s New York Times bestseller from a few years ago, I’m Still Here. We promoted that energetically, and sold quite a few. Years later, she is a bit more honest about her wounding experiences in her largely white spaces, including white churches (including white churches that hired her to do cross-cultural conversations yet criticized her when she did her job in a fairly non-controversial way.) This book is gripping, with some pages full of funny stories, some that, as a white guy, I maybe didn’t even get (although my wife howled through a scene where Brown imagined conversations with black women rolling their eyes at the wrong products available in the black hair care section at a standard drug store.) One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry though some of this and it is a compelling story, a memoir of her interior life and onward into her future career.

Memoirist Kiese Laymon (Heavy) says Austin Channing Brown “is in absolute control of her literary superpower. Here we have  a spectrum of fullness and peculiar longing that is born of rugged honesty and tender care. Exquisite work.”

The Father You Get And the Ones You Make, Believe In, and Become Patton Dodd (Broadleaf) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I loved this very moving, often upbeat, sometimes tragic story of a boy who becomes a man without an active father in his life. As Ian Morgan Cron — whose own reflection on the topic called Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir of Sorts remains utterly unforgettable to me — puts it, “With the eloquence of a poet and the unflinching honesty of a man who has wrestled with his own story, Dodd delivers a poignant memoir about fatherhood, grace, and the long shadow of a painful past.” It is brave and moving and captivating, for those whose own fathers have failed them and for those of us whose dad’s did not. It’s for anyone, a story of empathy and grace.

The Exact Place Margie Haack (Square Halo Books) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I keep returning to this splendid, simple biography, where Margie Haack tells of her family growing up poor in upstate Minnesota, with a rough father, and her rough and tumble girlhood and yet her longing, her desire for more, her “deep-rooted sense of purpose and place which was awakening in her” The Exact Place is the first in a trilogy and all three are spectacular (No Place and This Place.)

This is great, entertaining storytelling with hard-won insight; Margie came to believe that she was in “the exact place” she needed to be to find faith, to meet Christ, to find grace. I recommend this book often — she knows something about life being a divine gift and this book bears witness to the mysteries of it all. By the way, the fabulous sequel, No Place, shares amazing stories from her college years, her young marriage to Denis, their struggles with American fundamentalism in the late 1960s, and their season in a hippy commune out West doing ministry in a wild setting. What a story! The final one, This Place, finds her at home, offering essays on the Divine in the ordinary as they minister to folks through Ransom Fellowship out of their hospitable home back in Minnesota. A great trilogy.

Good Soil The Education of an Accidental Farmhand Jeff Chu (Convergent) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.80

If you follow our work here at the bookstore or read our BookNotes often you may recall we hosted Jeff for an in-person event here last summer. It was a blast, really, a great time where he allowed me to interview him about this fabulous, fascinating, wonderful, loving book.

The short version is that Jeff found himself wanting to go to seminary in mid-career as a successful journalist in grand New York City. He ends up at Princeton and, further, ends up at the learn-by-doing course of farming, famously called the Farminary. He’s a foodie, obviously deeply Asian-American, and gay. And while he now preaches like a dream, and leads others who have been disillusioned with much of Christianity these days (he had worked with his good friend Rachel Held Evans and, after her death, finished a book she started.) Maggie Smith calls it “a big-hearted meditation on belonging, compassion, and the transformational power of friendship..” His friend Barbara Brown Taylor raves saying “it’s smart, kind, honest, and revelatory in all the right ways — but the truest thing I can say is how befriended I felt from the very first page.”

There’s stuff about food, Asian cooking, race relations, being gay when his beloved parents wouldn’t attend his wedding, his slow and complicated faith journey and, yes, the task of small farming, the land and crops and sweat and joy of learning to love by attending to the land.

The Faithful Spy: A True Story! Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler John Hendrix (Abrams) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

We’ve got a number of stellar biographies of the famous German pastor / theologian / resistor and have more than a dozen books about his work, this graphic novel approach is certainly the most arresting, the most novel, the most captivating (especially for those not wanting to wade through hundreds of pages of dense prose.) I don’t mean any insult or condescension to say this is a cartoon book; modern illustration has become a major art form and hefty force in the reading world, and Christian artist John Hendrix was ahead of the curve. (I’ll mention his latest, a graphic story of Lewis and Tolkien further down this column.)

This is fabulously-drawn, richly illustrated, edgy, even, and it tells the story well of Bonhoeffer’s conviction that the teachings of the Bible should lead believers to say no to Hitler’s fascism.  About 175 colorful pages, for youth or adults.

FOR FANS OF LEWIS & TOLKIEN

The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation Michael D.C. Drout (Norton) $35.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

Norton is a prestigious literary publisher and Drout has offered what Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey has called “a splendid and original combination of sharp analysis and deeply felt emotional memoir.” It is a bit of a memoir, it seems, as Drout invites us to read over his shoulder, understanding his reader’s journey through the works of Tolkien. He observes that the fiction isn’t just good but is qualitatively different so that reading about Middle Earth feels like actually entering the magical place.

He is not alone in saying that Lord of the Rings is not just a book, but a, an experience, a life-changing one, no less. Verlyn Flieger (author of Splintered Life) notes, too, that Michael D.C.Trout “is the son of a reading father and the reading father of a son.”  He’s been studying Tolkien for fifty years and this major work is the result. Brand new.

The War for Middle Earth: J. R. R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Confront the Gathering Storm, 1933-1945 Joseph Loconte (Thomas Nelson) $29.99

I have highlighted this new book previously and the word is starting to spread — it is a careful reading of history and an inspired dose of good storytelling and brings some new layers to these creative writers and their passions. Indeed, they were confronting what they saw as the darkest forces of their age. As you might realize, it is good for fans of these authors, but would also be good for anyone interested in mid-20th-century history. Any “Greatest Generation” guys on your list?

Mr. Loconte wrote a previous book (A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and A Great War) exploring how the “mechanized slaughter of the First World World” had created a certain disillusionment in Western civilization, so, naturally, prophets were needed to push back on the ideologies of modernism and communism and Nazism. Could the beloved works of Lord the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia help reframe and embolden a devoted Europe and West? The War for Middle Earth is quite new — I’m sure it would make a great gift for many fans.

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

This book will make a great gift, a delight and surprise, as it is a graphic volume, cartoon-ish illustrations with artistic sidebars and nicely designed and complex illuminations. What an art form this is!  This graphic novel type hardback is lush and lavish and while it is pitched at. youth, it is a serious study of not only the friendship of the two great Inklings but it is about the point of their collaboration.

In a similar approach to Loconte, Hendrix shows not only that they were pushing back against the modernist that gave us two devastating wars, but that the secularism that was ascending was eroding any sense of glory, of dignity, of creativity, of wonder. They wanted to re-enchant the secularism of modernity and did so with their myth-making. The Mythmakers will delight anyone who cares about big picture stuff and also anyone who just wants to see cartoons of these two guys drinking and writing and dreaming up new worlds. Highly recommended.

FOR THOSE WORRIED ABOUT MODERN TECHNOLOGY

Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart Nicholas Carr (Norton) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Was it really fifteen years ago when Carr wrote one of the most important indictments about how “Google is making us dumb” in his must-read book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains? If that was a nearly seminal volume, this long (long) awaited volume is a must read as well.

Modern novelist Jonathan Safran Foer says that Carr is “among the most lucid, thoughtful, and necessary thinkers alive.” I hear he’s a great guy, too. He is elegant and eloquent and he knows his stuff.

Theologian and literary critic formerly of Wheaton, now at Baylor, Alan Jacobs, says “Carr has proven to be among the shrewdest and most thoughtful critics of our current technological regime; his primary goal is to exhort unto develop strategies of resistance”

Who do you know that needs this thoughtful, measured, vital work?

Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age edited by Brett McCracken & Ivan Mesa (Crossway) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

As I noted before, this paperback is jam packed with bunches of essays that are doing at least three things. First, as you may notice from the title, this is a tribute to the great Neil Postman and his still-relevant book Amusing Ourselves to Death. And, then, it is updating that, wondering what the pundit and author of Technology might say to our modern era of AI and algorithms and ubiquitous screens. Thirdly, this isn’t just standard fare hand-writing 9although there is an adequate amount of that, as there surely must be) but it is a book that is inviting followers of Jesus to embody a uniquely Christian view of life, to lean into practices that are godly and edifying.

Beautiful and wise writers like Jen Pollock Michel join sharp scholars of apologetics and media ecology to help us rethink our relationship to screens and to deepen our daily discipleship.

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

I have written about this before and if you’re in a certain sort of network online you most likely have read numerous reviews, comments, and seen podcasts and interviews with this serious British scholar. His conversion away from the occult and to the Orthodox faith is one thing; his friendship with Wendell Berry is yet another, and his tendency to be as hard on the political left as he is on the political right makes him appealing to many. Mostly, though, this is a deep, philosophical rumination on how we’re undoing our very humanity as we yield to ever-encroaching technology

Kingsnorth is a clever writer, so much so that he has been called “eloquent and erudite.” Nicholas Carr (of Superbloom and The Shallows) says it is “a searching, moving meditation.” Orthodox writer Frederica Mathewes-Green says Kingsnorth “makes it finally clear what we’re up against” One of the smartest guys on the planet, Iain McGilchrist, says it is “the most powerful and important book I have read in years.”

FOR A LOVER OF POETRY

Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age Joy Harjo (Norton) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Back before the Kennedy Center honored artists like Kiss and Sylvester Stallone and our President fired the head of the Library of Congress we had a well-known Poet Laureate of the United States.  For quite a while it was Joy Harjo, a Native American poet (she is a member of the Mvskoke Nation) of considerable merit. She wrote an earlier, soulful memoir, Poet Warrior, and this is the long-awaited newest, telling in short poetic reflections about her coming of age years.  Jacqueline Woodson, a National Book Award winner, exclaims: ”What a beautiful and brilliant call to arms.”

She has been through some stuff and yet this seems to be less about coping and more about thriving. This short, lovely book shows her growing into a generous social ethic, a sense of responsibility, becoming a maker.

By the way, we have a stunning little hardback by Joy Harjo offering an art-filled enhancement of her poem / lyrical prose Washing My Mother’s Body: A Ceremony for Grief (with art by Native watercolor artist Dana Tiger) (10 Speed Press; $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39.) If you know a woman who has recently lost her mother, this might be a cherished little gift.

Word Made Fresh: An Invitation to Poetry for the Church Abram Van Engen (Eerdmans) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

This is one of the finest reflections on the role of poetry in the life of faith that I’ve seen. It does have a bit about the use of poetry in congregational life, but it really isn’t for church leaders or preachers or liturgists — it is for all of us as God’s people, breaking open new insights through the wit and power of words.

Poet, memoirist, and theological writer Christian Wiman puts it out there, saying, “what a brilliant, humane, intelligent, and necessary book.” He calls it “an ideal guide through the art of poetry.”

James K.A. Smith says “I’ve been waiting for someone to write this book. Sensitive to newcomers and even skeptics, Abram Van Engen is a warm, wise, generous, guide into the manifold gifts poetry offers.”

Maybe you should give it to somebody who cares, or maybe even to somebody who doesn’t.

The Word Within the Words Malcolm Guite (Fortress Press) $14.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.20

A perfect little stocking stuffer, this small book (part of a large “My Theology” series) is a great essay, passionate and smart and compelling. It tells of his own faith and how poetry and literature has mattered to him. If you appreciate his poetry (and even if you don’t) this shows how Christian faith informs and shapes his poetry. He invites us to what he calls “the poetic imagination” which is almost sacramental. These short chapters are full of poetic lines and allusion, Scripture and storytelling.

Poetry Unbound: 44 Poems on Being With Each Other Pádraig Ó Tuama (Norton) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

What a lovely and great anthology, with each the 44 poems then reflected upon by the Irish poet, peace activist, and spiritual guide, Pádraig Ó Tuama. Many know his podcast and public radio show “Poetry Unbound” where

Like the previous collection, Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World, 44 Poems has  been applauded and enjoyed. It has been called “magnificent” and “mesmerizing.” Have a special friend? This would be a sweet and thoughtful gift.

FOR GOOD FUN

Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-first Century Life Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbina (Avid Reader Press) $28.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

Okay, to be clear, this isn’t a joke book and it isn’t that funny. One reviewer said it was “incendiary stuff”  But, man, it’s a deep dive into ancient thinking — who knew they worried about the speed of life in the 1500s! It is playful, to be sure; it has been called cheeky.  I think somebody on your list just might think it is entertaining, which is a good start And maybe they will draw some solace or take a hint.

These authors are witty and they are scholars and they’ve got sections like “How the Mystical Visions of a Franciscan Nun Explain Your Obsession with Recipe Videos.” Ha.

100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life Dick Van Dyke (Grand Central) $29.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.20

Do I agree with his advice? Who cares — he’s 100! And still at it. As he says, “it’s been an intensely eye-opening process these past many months, as I’ve reflected on my 99 years of life, work, and relationships.” He continues, “I’ve unearthed lost treasures of memory, reconsidered my well-worn stories, connected with fragments from my distant past to immediate present, and hit upon patterns and themes that pan the entry of my life’

Okay, but so what? He tells you. He is an optimist who doesn’t let the physical and emotional pains (and failures and defeats) define him. He has experienced bitterness and loneliness — who knew? He does not want to “throw the towel in on life itself.” He’s earned the right to be heard. Gladly, he does speak his peace with vigor and joy. It’s Dick Van Dyke, y’all!

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World Bob Goff (Thomas Nelson) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I know this is an oldie but it is the safest Christian book to give to a skeptic because it is laden — and mean laden! — with joy and whimsy and goodness. Goff is full of energy and has tons of hilarious stories, all poignant and some nearly incredible — freeing imprisoned child soldiers in Africa, starting a school for girls in a war-torn country that doesn’t permit such things. But much of it is about flipping over his jeep or having business meetings at Disneyland, or giving house keys out to strangers. There is a method to his madness — well, maybe there isn’t. He is intoxicated with God’s love and wants to have a blast leaking it out on others. What fun this book is. Hooray.

We’ve got and highly recommend all his others, including, most recently, an only slightly more serious daily (Bible based) devotional called Chasing Whimsy: 365 Days of Possibility. What fun-loving person wouldn’t like a book with a title like that? Come on!

Roughneck Grace: Farmer Yoga, Creeping Codgerism, Apple Golf, and Other Brief Essays from On and Off the Back Forty Michael Perry (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) $18.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.16

Whenever I do these big, sprawling omnibus sorts of collections of mini-reviews I sneak in some Michael Perry. Every one of this books are enjoyable, poignant and hilarious. [Except for his novella, Forty Acres, about a tragedy in the life of a farmer.] Almost always he is funny and has something to say, even if he isn’t very polemical. Except when he is, like about Apple Golf or cleaning the chicken coop or mower maintenance. He is a great, rural writer and I would suggest any of his books to almost anyone. But be prepared to chuckle, maybe even belly laugh.

Maybe you’ll get a kick out of his reflections of being in an elevator in New York with real, live supermodels. “I had this troubling image of my fashion aura flaking off to drive through the citrus infusions like low-class floaty dandruff, the models breaking into uncontrolled spasms of career-derailing puffy-eyed sneezing fits triggered by airborne allergens redolent of Farm & Fleet (pants, T-shirt, flannel shirt), Fruit of the Loom (gray tube socks), and the late Ralph’s Boot & Shoe (clodhoppers, possibly infused with trace elements of chicken poop.)” Yep, he can read the room…

In Defense of Dabbling: The Brilliance of Being a Total Amateur Karen Walrond (Broadleaf) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

Okay, I’m not going to lie: this is not a book that I’d describe as more fun than a barrel of monkeys. It is joyful, but not sensational. It is upbeat but not hilarious. Still, I name it here because the thesis itself is a hoot and half. It argues for (yes, it is nearly polemical) for a relaxed view of expertise, inviting us to be amateurs. Dabblers. One reviewer says Karen Warlord is “wise and delightful.” Another says In Defense of Dabbling is for fuzzy stargazers; whatever that means, it sounds about right.

“A welcome permission slip to feed our curiosity, to pay with and explore whatever we’re drawn to — not for our side hustle, not to become a professional, but for our humanity.”

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

Okay, this isn’t a bait-and-switch; well, it almost is. It is a marriage book. By a guy who says he doesn’t like to read marriage books. But he’s the only bone fide stand- up comedian I know and here he tells his story of his oddball personality and gonzo career and what it takes for his fabulous wife — a pretty spunky gal, herself, you’ll discover —  to stay married to him.

Or maybe it’s the other way around.

Nickerson is a really funny guy — catch his show somewhere if you can, or google him. Maybe you know that one of the very top comics working today is Taylor Tomlinson who wrote a truly lovely and heart-felt foreword (and she’s not even married.) This really is a funny book and ideal for some couple who won’t read anything straight and studious. Trust me on this.

FOR PROFESSIONAL PASTORS OR CHURCH WORKERS

I know you know some, church workers and ministers and leaders. What to get them? Not socks, ya know? We have hundreds if not thousands of books in that category here. Here are three that might surprise (and bless) them.

Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church Winn Collier (Eerdmans) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This is a small novel, a bit of creative fiction presented as a series of letters Without going into the plot or lovey details, it is basically about a retired pastor, a bit on the cranky side, who comes out of retirement to pastor a small town, ordinary little church. He makes a deal that they are just going to take it slow and learn to love Jesus and care for one anther. Winn Collier was a pastor (and now directs the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination at Western Seminary in Holland Michigan.) He shows what pastoral ministry really is all about.

The great Robert Benson says “If you are a lover of words and wisdom on the printed page, you should read Collier.” It is a fun story about church and love and goodness and grace. Your pastor will appreciate it, believe me.

A tour de force — an angle on understanding the life of both congregation and pastor that exceed anything I have ever read.” — Eugene Peterson

Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon Austin Carty (Eerdmans) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

This is a small book so it isn’t like your overdoing it, but wrap this up and it will be a life-line, and a few weeks from later you’ll get a note or a hug from your pastor — she or he will feel seen, understood, appreciated. And they’ll appreciate not only the keen insight but the poignant stories of the life of a pastor who has to crank out a hopefully inspired sermon every single week.

Nobody will think you are suggested they need help — they will just know you are honoring one of the most challenging part of their jobs, a major part of their weekly grind.

This is wise and lyrical and rich and fun. I was captivated. Every pastor should read it, I’d think. That title, by the way, is the last line of the marvelous novel about a presbyterian fisherman, A River Runs Through It. Carty is that kind of a writer.

(By the way, Austin Carty’s The Pastor’s Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry (Eerdmans; $22.99 // $18.39) is one of the finest books ever on how pastors and preachers need to be reading widely. Carty is energetic and fun and an exhilarating advocate for the reading life. We’d be delighted to send it at our sale price. )

A Movable Feast: Worship for the Other Six Days Terry Timm (Imagination Plus) $10.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $8.79

This little book, written by a friend of Hearts & Minds, an energetic and thoughtful pastor in Pittsburgh, is a treasure and a gem. It is plain-spoken (although very nicely done. He’s a good preacher and teacher, after all, not to mention a musical, so at time the book just sings!) It is not arcane or heady, but a pastor’s guidebook, a leader’s manifesto about something that few would disagree with but too few spell it all out. It is about how we are to worship God 24/7 and our service in God’s Kingdom happens mostly outside of the church. If that is the case — and it obviously is — how should the gathered worship of the people of God look like. How do we worship well with a view towards the other six days?

There are books about liturgy and worship and church music and Sunday prayers.  And we need ‘em. And there are lots of books about Kingdom service in all of life, taking faith into the marketplace and home and school and public square. Thanks be to God that many are increasingly realizing the vocation of serving in Christ-like ways in the real world. We love proclaiming the nearness of God in the messiness of life and the privilege of practicing the presence of God wherever we are.

But, really, how many books are there that explore Sunday worship for the sake of the work world, liturgy for life, prayer to animate our politics? Terry Timm’s ministry relates Sunday to Monday and this little book reflects on that with lovely stories and creative proposals. It’s not weird or demanding, just a nice guide offering some growth and intention as church leaders offer a moveable feast. Hooray.

The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us Ryan Burge (Brazos Press) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

This just arrived a bit early and I opened the box minutes ago. Many informed readers have been waiting for the next Ryan Burge book as he has become one of the most trusted sociological observers of the trends facing American church life. And here it is!

Burge has been doing research for years — his book The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They are Going was widely discussed; his 2023 release, The Great DeChurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It take to Bring Them Back, was very significant. And now there is this, one of the most urgently-needed works of this increasingly known data scientist.

In The Vanishing Church the subtitle tells it all: he is asking how the religious landscape has changed in recent decades as polarization has eroded the church, hurting ourexpirencef of community(both in the congregation and in the mediating structures of civil society.” Dramatic shifts are afoot and these trends must be understood. If you known church leaders who’ve some room under their trees, get this from us today.

In the Name of Jesus: Reflection on Christian Leadership Henri J.M. Nouwen (Crossroad) $14.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.96

This small book is a powerful reflection by the late mystic priest and lovable joker, Henri Nouwen. Only Nouwen can write so intensely about person, intimate matters and matters of public justice with wit and charm. This study of the temptations of Jesus in the desert as applied to leaders, it has been considered one of Nouwen’s all time best. The Roman Catholic journal Our Sunday Visitor reviewed it decades ago saying “There is more packed between the covers of this little book that adults will find helpful to living a Christian life than y you’ll find in many a volume three times its size.”

Often on the list of must-read spiritual resources for pastors (but, in my experience, oddly not known very well), one reviews=er notes that Nouwen “pushes Christian leaders to by mystics with a strong sense of theology, who have abandoned the deception of upward mobility for the Cross of Jesus.”  Yep. Wow.  Give this one away to anybody in leadership.

FOR COOKS AND THOSE WHO LIKE TO EAT

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

You might find some cookbooks with more lavish photos, with hipster chefs or sexy cooks and wildly lavish concoctions spread out just so, but, I’m telling you, this is a real-world, truly great, quite handsome, righteous volume to cherish and to share. Derek is a black Presbyterian and Anna is an Episopal priest with roots in Anabaptism (who wrote a beautiful book about church planting, of sorts, through urban gardening.) Both love land and food and extended families and The Just Kitchen shares what Adrian Miller (a James Beard Award-winning author of Soul Food) says is “a heart-warming, soul-satisfying, and salivating meditation.”

Can our kitchens be places of holiness, spaces of healing and wholeness? Can we live our principles of justice and beauty in the way we cook and eat? They tell beautiful stories, offer great tips, and bring together social activism and receipts full of grace and celebration.

Maybe you’ve heard of Nathan Stucky, founder of Princeton Seminary’s Farminary (made better known through Jeff Chu’s great memoir about becoming a farm hand there) and he has a great blurb on the back of this, noting how there is more going on in the kitchen than we usually realize. This book wonderfully offers a fresh way to underscore that. Merry Christmas!

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

We know that bread is central to God’s story and, in one way or another, it is most likely part of yours as well. This is a beautifully-written, exciting and poignant study told mostly as memoir as Kendall describes a Christian view of food and a faithful way of thinking about cooking and eating and highlights much of what she does in her ministry called the Edible Theology Project. Can the communion table connect with the kitchen table? Does our hunger for food hint at other hungers, for connection and belonging? Do our very bodies have something todo with the Body of Christ?

These are heavy, deep questions but she brings a nice touch, lots of “taste and see” pedagogy and opportunities to learn by watching her experiment with dough, in her mixing and kneading.

Extending the Table: Recipes and Stories from Afghanistan to Zambia in the Spirit of More-with-Less Jetta Handrich Schlabach (Herald Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Herald Press’s titles have been important to us over our 43 years of bookselling and few books symbolize their Mennonite orientation to life and service and faith and joy that the classic More-With-Less Cookbook. It’s been updated a time or two and remain a staple in many kitchens and in our cookbook section here at Hearts & Minds. Extending the Table is a sequel, what they call a “World Community Cookbook.”

This is a lay-open paperback, sturdy and useful, but also lovely, with full color photographs of this international cookbook. And here’s the thing: as much as we love the international food anthropology on the “Splendid Table” and other such podcasts, Extending the Table offers fairly simple global foods, using ingredients that are pretty readily available. This is not an exotic treat, but something to be used, integrated into ordinary cooking, bringing God’s cross-cultural vision to bear in daily meals. Sure, some of it may be new for many of us but it’s enticing and not too complicated. A great introduction to global cuisine (with stories, proverbs, and recipes, of course, from almost 100 countries.) We think it would make a great holiday gift.

Cup Overflowing: Wine’s Place in Faith, Feasting, and Fellowship Gisela H. Kreglinger (Zondervan Reflective) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

We’ve written before about this biblical and theological scholar who grew up working in her family vineyard in Germany and her other remarkable work on a Christian perspective on wine. This might make a great gift for that special connoisseur.

We have several recent books that are moving away from alcohol in caring and thoughtful ways, from 2024’s It’s Not About the Wine: The Loaded Truth Behind Mommy Wine Culture by Celeste Yvonne (Broadleaf; $26.99) to the brand new Freely Sober: Rethinking Alcohol Through the Lens of Faith by Ericka Andersen (IVP; $18.99.) But for those that aren’t quite there, this sharp and sober study is a delight. Gisela Kreglinger is knowledgable and wise.  One reviewer says her new book is not a guide but a path. Her take on the Biblical view of wine can bring delight and a healthy dose of praise for the goodness of God’s creation.

Other great endorsements on the back are from Malcolm Guite, Kendall Vanderslice and Winn Collier.

FOR HISTORY BUFFS

We the People: A History of the U. S. Constitution Jill Lepore (Liveright) $39.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.99

This almost 700 page tome is a true treasure. I need not state the obvious about the current regime’s resistance to standard Constitutional law, so I’ll just note that this topic is more urgent now than ever. As the publisher writes on the back cover, “From the best-selling author of These Truths comes We the People, a stunning new history of the U.S. Constitution, for a troubling new era” Indeed.

Jill Lepore is a brilliant historian and popular thinker— dare I say she is a public intellectual? Yet, she is not arcane or overly academic, but a good writer for ordinary, thoughtful folks .

I love what Congressman Jamie Raskin says, with a fascinating take:

“Not only a historian with prodigious powers of original research, not only a spellbinding writers with a golden pen, Jill Lepore is a preacher at an open-air American revival meeting: she will tell you a gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past that destroys your complacency and makes you reimagine what is possible for the secular miracle that is America.”

It has been called “remarkably engaging”, “pulsating”, “astonishing” “lyrical” and “eye-opening.” What a major work this is. It’s a sizable gift, too, that will last them weeks and weeks of enjoyable learning.

Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity Fergus Butler-Gallie (Avid Reader Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

Maybe you’ll remember that I raved about this fascinating book earlier this year when it came out this fall. It looks at a dozen churches from a dozen different eras. Each is used to explore a certain theme or issue that shaped the church and, frankly, helped change the world. What a great idea, and it is executed so well — gorgeous, captivating writing and informing us of so very much.

From the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank of Palestine to Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, to Canterbury Cathedral in England this book looks at beauty and power and violence. The story of “expansion” seen in Teplo de las Americas in the Dominican Republic is thought-provoking, as is the study of Christ Church in Zanzibar, Tanzania. From the story of the First Meeting House in Salem Massachusetts to the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, you can see that this is a cross-cultural and centuries-spanning collection of deep dives into church history. What a creative approach!

The Wars of the Lord: The Puritan Conquest of America’s First People Matthew J. Tuininga (Oxford University Press) $35.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.79

In the volatile world of popular discussion regarding religion and America’a colonial era, or religious people’s treatment or indigenous people, many distrust good historians or are so loyal to lovely but less than honest tellings that they get angry if we suggest it is wise and good, even righteous, to admit to past failings. How can we get past the nonsense and study what really happened from a caring and just perspective? I recommend this solid, peer-reviewed study by Calvin Theological Seminary historian Matthew Tuininga; that Tuininga teaches at a seminary with conservative, Reformed (nearly Puritan) roots makes him an invaluable scholar since he has a natural understanding of the worldview and faith of many of our colonial settlers.

However, his affinity for Reformed theology aside, he is relentless in pursuing the truth and here has given a truly gripping story of what happened in seventeenth-century New England and those who, while seeking freedom of religion and from persecution back in Europe, still displaced and too often slaughtered indigenous people. How could that possibly have happened if they were God-fearing people?

Tuininga makes a harsh and dreadful claim, here, as I think a good historian must: he maintains that the Puritans thought that their war against heathens was for the common good, in honor of  God as they understood God’s will to be. Crazy, even sick, as that sounds, this book gets at the unique worldview of the New England colonists, exploring how religion was woven into even the horrors they perpetrated. The Wars of the Lord is well-written and for those who care about this stuff, a bone-fid tour de force and obvious page-turner.

FOR POP CULTURE MAVENS

Roots & Rhythm: A Life in Music Charlie Peacock (Eerdmans) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

This is without a doubt one of the best books I read this year, and it will be a great gift to anybody that has followed contemporary Christian music — at least the smartest, but artful versions of that from the 80s onward. This is at once a conversion story, a spiritual journey, a reflection on a working man’s vocation, and a not-too-subtle subtext of the need for artistic excellence, in a pop culture (and a copy-cat evangelical sub-culture) that promotes commercial stuff that is less than aesthetically rich. But, too, an artist has to work, and in Roots and Rhythms, Charlie goes from working with someone the most legendary names in rock and roll — you know them — to producing cheesy gospel singers. Some who are actually not so bad; some who are. It’s a funny world.

This has been called “a beautifully crafted memoir unveiling the ancestral, musical, and spiritual roots of Grammy Award-winning music producer Charlie Peacock.” Jazz bass player John Patitucci — himself a Grammy winner — says Charlie is “an amazing, soulful storyteller at all times — as an author with Roots and Rhythm, as a musician, improviser, producer, songwriter — and band a man of faith, family, and integrity.”

Give this book to anyone who wants to learn about the hard, long road of working in the contemporary music industry, including some great stuff about his personal faith and vision, but, also, gear, tech stuff, production details and tons of wonderful name-dropping.

Rags of Light: Leonard Cohen and the Landscape of Biblical Imagination Brian J. Walsh (Cascade) $23.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.40

Okay, maybe this isn’t for your typical pop maven. But if he or she is familiar with rock music history, they know the enigmatic and mystical Jewish singer-songwriter, Leonard Cohen. This is not a fan biography or a gossipy look at his fascinating life. Nope. This is a close reading of his evocative lyrics, but into rigorous conversations with the poets and prophets of the Bible.

This intense study is akin to what Brian Walsh did with his still much-discussed book about the lyrics of Bruce Cockburn, Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination (not to mention his two spectacular sermons on the lyrics of U2 in Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog.) He has an uncanny ability to see stuff in the songwriter’s lyrics and sound that evoke Biblical notions — again, stuff has an uncanny ability to see. Walsh knows the Bible well, loves pop culture, and dives deep into the body of Cohen’s work. Even if your gift recipient is not a huge Leonard Cohen fan, this book will inspire, especially if they read the Bible. If they are a fan, it will blow them away. It’s that good.

Kudos for the “Short Theological Engagements with Popular Music” series. There are several good ones (on Radiohead, the Indigo Girls, Tupac, Black Sabbath, but this is the best of them all.)

Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run Peter Ames Carlin (Doubleday) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

Peter Ames Carlin has given us, we are told, the classic study of the tumultuous time of making Springsteens famous third album. Fans know it almost wasn’t accepted by the record label, and the making itself was wild. Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Springsteen almost throwing all the master tapes away, he was so unsure. As a near perfectionist he just wasn’t sure if this was the album he wanted to make, that it was good enough. The money guys in the suits didn’t think so, either.

Carlin wrote Bruce which some think is the definitive biography on The Boss. (He also wrote an acclaimed work on R.E.M.) He’s a cultural anthropologist, a music lover, a biographer, a documentarian, an artist of sorts himself. He gets it, offering a rare bit of empathy and insight and attention to detail. Not unlike The Boss.

Born To Run —“from the opening piano notes of “Thunder Road” to the final howls of “Jungleland” — is clearly a seminal American album, a classic from this American rock star. This beyond-the-scenes account of the making of the album is sure to please real fans. And interest almost anyone interested in that era of rock and roll.

The Uncool: A Memoir Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press) $35.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

This could easily be shelved in our memoir section and would appeal to anyone who just loves a great coming of age story, a story of an eccentric mom and dad, a sister who died young, a bright kid who was bullied and found solace in the rock radio his mom forbid. (Until, in fourth grade, she took him to a terrible Elvis concert and a life-changing Dylan concert.) As you’ll find, his mother was quite the character.

But it really is about Crowe’s early career as a rock journalist, how as a 14-year-old he started asking for interviews with rock stars from Jackson Browne to the Eagles, from Humble Pie to Yes to Led Zeppelin. His complicated friendship with Gregg Allman and the Brothers after the death of Duane is one of many highpoints. He was only 16, getting kicked out of bars where he was interviewing stars like Kris Kristofferson and Jim Croce and Jethro Tull. From his early work in Rolling Stone — as a kid! — to the film about him (Almost Famous) this compulsively readable book tells the whole story. I stayed up till 3:00 am reading it the other night. May the person you give it to enjoy it that much as well. If you know anybody in their 60s or 70s who came of age listening to Joni and CSNY and Bowie and Fleetwood Mac they will love this. Poignant, rock and roll fun.

Everyday Apocalypse: Art, Empire, and the End of the World David Dark (Vanderbilt University Press) $24.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.96

David Dark of Nashville, Tennessee, is one of my favorite humans walking around God’s good Earth and this utterly transformed, re-make of a classic from last century, presses afresh into his visions of art, artfulness, pop culture, rock music, and how that can undermine the awfulness of these times. Or something like that. He’s a social critic, a gospel prophet, alert to signs of life, even coming on our screens and headphones and out of the way art galleries.

Dr. Dark knows his Radiohead and his Simpsons; he’s written about U2 and, as he puts it, “The Righteous Cinema of Joel and Ethan Coen.” The Ohioan basketball guy and rock critic Hanif Abdurraqib wrote a brilliant forward. From Beck to Flannery O’Connor to The Truman Show to the resistance to evil found in Saint John’s Apocalypse to Black Lives Matters, this is a book that will cause jaws to drop and heads to spin. Which is to say it isn’t the safest Christmas gift.

FOR THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT THE ROLES AND DIGNITY OF WOMEN

For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America Dorothy Little Greco (Zondervan Reflective) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I read an advanced copy of this and wrote a good review here at BookNotes (and Beth and I believe in this book so much we are hoping to arrange a free, online webinar conversation with her in the new year.) This book is not only insightful and loaded with more data than you may wish, it is passionate, Biblical, inspiring. It will evoke deep empathy and some degree of outrage. This is really good, just want is needed. Lots of great readers are raving — from Karen Swallow Prior to Soong-Chan Rah to Hannah Anderson, all excellent writers and solid thinkers.  I think Dorena Williamson is on to something when she raves, saying “this book is a defining work for our time.”

I urge you to read For the Love of Women, which wisely and lovingly exposes a great song that is deeply woven into our whole world (including the church) — and then wisely and lovingly points a way forward.”  —Karen Swallow Prior

Dorothy Greco previously wrote two excellent books on marriage and this brand new one deserves our support. She explores an anti-women bis in entertainment and church, in the boardrooms and our bedrooms, from the work-world to the political world, she explores it all. Somebody you know needs this book. Somebody you care about needs others to be fired up. This book could spark a movement. Buy a bunch!

Redeeming Eden: How Women in the Bible Advance the Story of Salvation Ingrid Faro (Zondervan Reflective) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Oh my, this great, new book offers great insight for reading your Bible and is good on a couple of fronts, for a few reasons. First, it tells the unfolding drama of the big redemptive story of God that threads from Genesis to Revelation. This project of showing the overall plot line of God’s work in Scripture is more common than it once was, but we still need all the help we can get.

More specifically, it does this by highlighting the role of women (over missed) in the stories of Scripture. Framing women’s role within the context of salvation history is nothing short of brilliant. No author has done this before — Carmen Joy Imes notes that “I couldn’t put it down.” Christine Caine says it was filled with “nonstop aha moments.” Redeeming Eden will be a blessing to many; highlighting “how women in the Bible advance the story of salvation” is nothing short of a gift. You could give this to anyone who cares about the Bible but certainly for those who need reminded that women matter as much as men.

Be Good to Your Body: Getting Back to God’s Design in a World of Wellness Trends, QuickFixes, and Conflicting Health Advice Jordan Lee Dooley (Waterbrook) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I’ll admit it: many folks, men and women, don’t necessarily warm up to pictures of women with long, hippy hair in a long cotton dress by the mountains or standing in a field. At least in this cover design she doesn’t have her hands lifted in praise in the ubiquitous cliche of women standing in fields worshipping. Ha. But, I’m telling you, this book is not cheesy or simplistic; a functional medical practitioner wrote the forward and it sets up Dooley’s good, Biblical teaching about the body and natural healing quite nicely. Be Good To Your Body is both a theological study of our creatureliness (and, particularly, of women’s unique creatureliness) and a spiritually-aware guide to living in our skins, our bodies. It covers everything from nutrition to some honest skepticism about the cosmetic industry, sexuality, exercise, and more. It understands the dangers of body shaming and it invites discernment about online health claims and quick fix formulas. I guess it is mostly geared to younger women.

You could give this to almost any woman who wants to be more intentionally shaped by a Biblical vision of our bodies and lives or is frustrated by the standard medical (or pop) advice. It shows the pitfalls of diet culture and the biblical notions stewardship as a way to approach holistic health. We are not a project to fix but a God-given gift. Alongside these big picture notions, Dooley offers daily habits and strategies towards a more natural sort of aligned wellness. There are prayers and exercises. Yay.

WHOLESOME FICTION

I know, it’s an odd category to mention, but I know not everybody wants to spoil the holiday mood with heavy books like The Road or Demon Copperhead, brilliant literary works that they are. Some of us have taken a walk on the wild side and have the scars to prove it: like the Bible itself, we don’t shy from sex and violence in radical art.  But yet…  Many want to give a lovely novel that will bring delight and a little inspiration. I get it. Here are three delights.

The Life-Saving Adventure of Gracelyn Gordon and Her Dog Ethan D. Bryan (Blue Cat Publishing) $14.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.96

I’ve raved about this at BookNotes before, a self-published novel that has won the hearts of readers who have given it a try. It’s about a visual artist while grieving the death of her beloved creative, playful father discovers a set of messages her father left insisting she go here or there — it’s a nation-wise caper, a real-life scavenger hunt that unfolds as she goes place to place, learning something about her dad and long deceased mom, and, more about her own sense of self and calling.

Gracelyne Gordon is her name and yes, she has a dog. And a best friend who encourages her to do this crazy thing, to take this journey. I loved this book. It’s a grand story, captivating and touching. It is endearing and interesting and makes a perfect gift for a reader wanting a thoughtful, sweet story.

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

Here is what I wrote about this in an announcement about it at BookNotes in the end of October with a new line or two.

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

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

The well-told plot is more complex than this, but the very short version is that a comes upon a bunch of old portraits and travels around trying to find the people in the pictures and sharing the old photos with them. And you learn a whole lot about a whole lot of very human stuff. You could give this to any book lover and then will be glad.

The Ballad of the Lost Dogs of East Nashville: A Novel John J. Thompson (Gyroscope Productions) $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19

I wrote about this last fall in a BookNotes column about a handful of recent novels and this, too, would make a great gift for the right reader. John J. Thompson has been involved in the alternative Christian and Americana music scene for years— he helped with the famous Cornerstone rock Festival for years and knows the coolest folks in the CCM world, like the band the Lost Dogs, who really don’t fit into this Nashville story.

But it is about the power of music, some unlikely neighbors making new music together, bringing redemptive hope to new relationships in their quest for deeper meaning. The main character is a guy named Jerry, a recovering alcoholic, who was traumatized by his experiences in Viet Nam but warms up to some musicians he drives bus for. He starts listening to great 70s era music like John Prine and Ry Cooder, and, well, it goes from there. He meets an African American neighbor who introduces him to other music and musicians from h is church and they all learn to be there for each other, right there in a gentrified neighborhood in East Nashville. It’s a deep story, told nicely and very cool. Know anybody that watches The Voice or likes local music? This is a winner for them.

FOR DEEPER CONTEMPLATIVES

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

Mark is an old friend, a man I admire, who was involved in the evangelical world, ended up a UCC pastor, and now is working with Richard Rohr. He has served in social justice work and does very good writing in a few Substack columns. Rohr’s emphasis on contemplative action is a major theme for him, but in this, his first book, he introduces mystical sort of spirituality not as an escape from the troubles an glories of this world, but as a way to engage the Divine in the mundane. The title is exactly right and in it he cites ancient mystics and modern prophets, social justice warriors and Biblical scholars. He shows that a contemplative deep experience of God is possible, even for — especially for — ordinary folks. Every hear of Brother Lawrence? Read Kathleen Norris’s The Quotidian Mysteries?  Get taken with Parker Palmer? This is that sort of book, locating mysticism within the ordinariness of our active life in God’s world, calling us to (as John Calvin himself put it) know God and know ourselves.

You could gift this to anyone longing for a more experiential sort of faith, for people who read Rohr or Mirabai Starr (who calls it “clear, kind, and plain-spoken.”)

Brian McLaren, of course, likes it a lot. He says, remarkably:

“For years I’ve been wishing for a book that could introduce ordinary people to the spiritual life in a a healthy, honest, accessible way. Mark Longhurst has written what I’ve been waiting for.”

Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting Divine Love Michael John Cusick (IVP/ formatio) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Oh my, some fortunate souls are going to get this as a Christmas gift and it will change their lives. I mean that. This is one of the most sensible and transformative books on the spiritual life I have read in years.

The excellent evangelical pastor who is attuned to the deeper life is Ken Shigematsu (see his latest, Now I Become Myself or his excellent God In My Everything: How An Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God.) Ken writes,

“I absolutely love this book! Cusick not only brilliantly unpacks insights fro Scripture and psychology but with breathtaking courage and generosity he also reveals his life to us so we can experience the joy of wholeness.”

Sacred Attachment is about attachment theory so it makes sense that a neuroscience therapist like Curt Thompson (I assume you have some of his must-read books!) says, “Read this book and rest.” Yes! It helps you know what it means to be loved. This is the heart of authentic spirituality, right? Shedding some baggage about our shame and lack of spiritual growth is essential. This book will help.

As Ian Morgan Cron puts it, “If you are sick and tired of trying to acquire or attain God’s affection or trying to muster up faith, this book is a must-read.” It will be an appreciated gift, maybe even a lifeline to somebody you know, I’m sure.

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

Justin Whitmel Earley is a delightful guy, nearly a force of nature, down to earth yet charismatic, and his writing is honest, earnest, practical, and very deeply informed by the best Christian worldview thinking and profound spirituality. I love this guy, and have read his other excellent practical books. He’s one of this breed of theologically-informed Christian writers who is shaped by good books and a good community helping form him into a wise and yet approachable leader. I’d read anything he does.

This brand new one, in the words of Curt Thompson, “reminds us of what the ancient biblical writers informed us of so long ago: that our bodies together with our breath make us human, and we ignore or idolize our body to our peril.’

Yep, some of us ignore our humanness (even our bodies) while others idolize our material selves, as if what we get is all there is. So, profoundly, Justin’s The Body Teaches… is a subtle push back against dumb cultural assumptions.

But, happily, it is about spiritual formation — including habits that shape our bodily life. As we return to balance and health we can resolve tensions with anxiety and insomnia. Drawing on the latest research, Earley shows that some simple habits can improve our health and deepen our relationship with God.

Is this spirituality? Indeed, of a very practical and embodied sort. This is a great gift for a new year of new resolutions about self-care, exercise, and rhythms of fasting, Sabbath, and feasting. It is instant that this embodied stuff — sleep, nutrition and the like — can be deeply spiritual. What a great gift. Get a few!

Poems & Prayers Matthew McConaughey (Crown) $29.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.20

Some years we tell about the three richly written, exceptionally handsome three volumes of Every Moment Holy which are some of the best prayer resources we’ve seen in our 40+ years of bookselling. They come in leather-bound hardbacks, or softer leather compact editions.  Last year we raved about the wise, wonderful, creative, and solid Prayers for the Pilgrimage: A Book of Collects for All of Life by David Taylor, a beautiful gift for anyone. But this year I wanted to suggest a rather odd book of prayers and poems by one of the great actors of our time. Isn’t it fun to know that such an actor and writer goes to church? That he prays!

Alas, as a fairly orthodox Biblical-informed believer, I’m not sure Matthew McConaughey’s prayers are fully faithful, Biblically or theologically. I dunno; I’m not here to judge, but it isn’t informed by Luther or Calvin or Bonhoeffer or the vocabulary of the Psalms or Jesus’s prayers, if you get my drift. But yet. There are people on your list that wouldn’t know what to do with the prayers of Every Moment Holy or the prayer practices of Richard Foster. They may not know J. I. Packer from Kate Bowler, but they long for someone to affirm their spiritual longing. Maybe this can build a bridge, offer a guide to spiritual practices and reflection that isn’t so churchy but might touch a nerve.

I think this might be an option of a somewhat “religious” book to give to a seeker or skeptic.  These provocative prayer-poems are pretty remarkable, actually. He’ll add some personal stuff, there’s some art and graphics, and notes like, say, after one free verse poem, he says, “This was inspired by Judges 17:6 in the Bible, with some Texas Ranger giddy-up justice mixed in.” Ha. I bet somebody you know will love this.

Prayers from the Cloud: 100 Prayers Through the Ages Pete James (Eerdmans) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I think this would make a fabulous gift for a Christian believer of any sort as it is so informative, heart-felt, and ecumenical. He offers descriptions of a person who wrote a prayer — and it covers the wide breadth of the church universal — and then has that prayer on the facing page. You’ve heard of the “great cloud of witnesses” spoken of in Hebrews? These are prayers from that exact cloud, sometimes ragged, sometime eloquent, some long, some shorter, from various centuries and continents. Whoever you give it to will learn something about various pray-ers, but more, will have these prayers handy.

Pete is a good, good guy, a retired Presbyterian pastor (and an adjunct at Gordon Conwell.) He has seen some tragedy in his life, too, so he knows a thing or two about needing solid help. Prayers from the Cloud would make a great Christmas present or a gift to kick off the new year.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PERSONAL GROWTH AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP

Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, The Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit Brené Brown (Random House) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

As we said when we first announced this earlier in the fall, it is a hefty volume, with tons of content, lots of insight, based on very recent research. Brown is a master of good storytelling, applicable gems of take-away application, and inspired (almost spiritual) courage. She resists shame and invites us to “dare to lead.” It’s a phrase she uses, and it is good for anyone.

The book is vintage Brown, inspired and upbeat with a bit of social science and neurological truth. It is mostly about the mystery of paradox, how true and authentic leaders work, what it means to be nurturing and generous. It is *the* psychology boo of the year. Somebody on your list will love it. Maybe you too? We’ve got it here— order today.

Discovering your Internal Universe: The Unexpected Good News About Anxiety, Panic, and Fear Cody Reese (Eerdmans) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I find it hard to explain this amazing book, a book that is unprecedented, unique, visionary, important. It’s a beautiful read, a honest book, powerfully written — Felecia Murrel (author of And: The Restorative Power of Love in an Either/Or World) says it is “heart-pounding” and I get why she says that. It is considered “a liberating and life-giving approach to making peace with anxiety.” Matthew Paul Turner says it is “a profound gift.”

Listen to what Brian McLaren writes of it:

Science classes teach us about the vastness of the external universe. But who helps us explore our internal universe — our inner world of dreams and dread, of imagination and terror, of panic and peace? I can’t think of a better guide than this book and its author, especially if you are dealing with anxiety, which all of us do at least some of the time. Seldom has such wisdom been shared with such clarity and mind-awakening storytelling.

In the Low: Honest Prayer for Dark Seasons Justin McRoberts & Scott Erickson (Baker) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I could go on and on about how eccentric and weird and wonderful this is — the curious graphics and poetic prose, the normalizing of depression, the humanity of it all — but I assume you know something of this pair. We’ve highlighted their art/prose devotionals Prayer: Forty Days of Practice and May It Be So: Forty Days with the Lord’s Prayer before (as well as the wonderful storytelling writing that Justin does in books like Sacred Strides and that Scott does in books like Say Yes and Honest Advent.) This new one is a gift for those who are hurting, depressed even, suggesting that it’s not unusual — it’s what it means to be alive.

The prose is evocative and sparse the graphics nearly postmodern. It is too odd and curiously allusive for some who might not get it. It’s not your grandma’s self help book (unless your grandma grew up listening to Jefferson Airplane and grooved at Woodstock, which, I guess, is a possibility, eh?)  It is funny, at time, but it insists that we are often “in the low” not because we’re broken but because we are human.

In the Low is a colorful collection of contemplative words and images for seasons of depression. It “meets you were you are and sit with you there the way God does: intentionally and without judgment.” I think it would be a life-giving and very cool (and colorful) gift for somebody you know.

Telling Stories in the Dark: Finding Healing and Hope in Sharing Our Sadness, Grief, True, and Pain Jeffry Monroe (Reformed Journal Books) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

I have written about this before and won’t again explore all the amazing stories and glories in this excellent book, but will commend it strongly as a real option for a gift for somebody who has has some hard times this year. It sounds (with that sad-sounding subtitle) depressing, or maybe off-putting, but I assure you it is not. There’s greatly and redemption in being honest about our difficulties and the tragedies explored here are offered for the sake of finding hope and healing. Monroe— who wrote an earlier excellent book on the work of Frederick Buechner, which tells you a lot — does a fine job telling the story, in each chapter, of some often awful tragedy. Then he brings in some other conversation partners to explore what was said or wasn’t in the episode. Friendly and supportive counselors or pastors weigh in and by the end of each chapter there is great clarity and glimpse of hope. Storytelling can become a practice of healing.

Yes —telling our secrets, our stories of the dark, can be a gesture of pushing back against the darkness. This book will be a lifeline for somebody who needs permission to talk, to feel, to care. If you know of somebody that needs it, don’t hesitate.

FOR A SCIENCE LOVER

God Speaks Science: What Neurons, Giant Squid, and Supernovae Reveal About Our Creator John Van Sloten (Moody Press) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

I have exclaimed often about this splendid, joy-filled, informative book offering an experience of “God’s majestic, everywhere presence.” Van Sloten is a pastor and writer and advocate for a view of faith that includes Christ’s care for every zone of life, for the vocation of ordinary folks, doing real-world jobs. In this book he highlights a bunch of scientists, researchers, naturalists, and other nerdy experts, each who view their scientific endeavors as a holy calling.

There are other books that attempt to integrate a theological worldview with the scientific tasks of research. This, rather, invites us to wonder, to praise, to see God’s hand in the ordinary sorts of work that various sorts of scientists do. You’ll meet chemists and ecologists and scholars of physics and astronomy. Some do medical research, some work with animals. If you know anybody who is passionate about STEM stuff, this fabulous and quite readable book would make a lovely, upbeat gift. Yes!

A Christian Theology of Science: Reimagining a Theological Vision of Natural Knowledge Paul Tyson (IVP Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

If the above book was so inspiring and interesting that even a sharp teen would love it, this is a serious-minded, almost philosophical study, a bold book, which Hans Boersma says is “destined bo become a classic.” This is breaking fresh ground in this long and often contentions discussion about what a Christian philosophy of science should be. As C.D. Schindler (of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute) puts, it, this work by Professor Tyson “represents a significant moment in the growing concern to rethink and indeed to reorder the relationship between science and religion.” It is provocative, timely, lucid, and original. Whew.

Beyond Evolution: How New Discoveries in the Science of Life Point to God Sy Garte (Tyndale) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This is a fabulously interesting and handsome hardback, not quite as accesible and fun as the first (by Van Sloten) nor as dense and philosophical as Paul Tyson’s tome.  Beyond Evolution just came out and explores new evidences about purpose and what some might call “intelligent design’ seems to be wired into the deepest activities at the cellular level. Science geeks will nerd out on this, as it covers some astonishing details, but it is always explanatory and upbeat Garte challenges both secular scientists and people of faith who may distrust scientists, to “follow the evidence wherever it leads — and argues powerfully for why that evidence warrants a belief in God.”

Dr. Garte was at our Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh last year and is an active United Methodist churchman and a fine biologist, a former atheists, converted to the gospel by the evidences of science. He, of all people, cares about a bringing faith and science into greater harmony. Very impressive, written with a nice touch.

FOR SKEPTICS AND UNBELIEVERS

I don’t know if holiday gift giving is always the best time to share a gospel-centered apologetic for God’s Kingdom — please don’t pick fights over the turkey dinner or under the warm glow of the Christmas lights — but, on the other hand, it is a time when families go to church, read the Bible story, see Christmas cards about the baby Jesus. In a way, it is difficult to not talk about the deepest things during this wonderful time of the year. Okay? Be safe out there, be nice.

Bulwarks of Unbelief: Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age Jospeh Minich (Lexham Academic) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

Holy moly, this is one hefty books, deep and passionate and important. For those who have found Charles Tay for’s analysis somewhat persuasive, this book enters that conversation about the headwinds (or is it the tailwinds?) of modernity. Carl R. Trueman wrote an intellectually serious foreword, saying it is “a signifcant contribution to recent conversations about modernity, faith and what it means to be human in a technological world.”

Alastair Roberts, a senior fellow of the fascinating Theopolis Institute calls it a “scintillating treatment of the spiritual condition of modern.” He insists it is both “culturally perceptive and physiologically astute.” How did atheism become so thinkable in the West over the last century? Who doesn’t long for some sort of re-enchantment?  This is one heady book for somebody on your list who reads philosophy and cares about the troubled times within our anxious culture. Again, this is not for everyone but for serious thinkers only.

Beautiful, Disappointing, Hopeful: How Gratitude, Grief, and Grace Reflect the Christian Story Drew Hyun (Zondervan Reflective) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This is one of my favorite books of 2025 and you could give it to almost anyone. A Christian who is experiencing suffering or anyone trying to piece together some sense of meaning in this seemingly random world. Wouldn’t it be good news to help somebody see a bigger picture, some semblance of sense in our mixed up lives? Believer or not, this is a lovely, honest, moving book that invites unto be honest about outlives and admit to at least three big things

Good things have happened; there is beauty and other signals of transcendence. And things are messed up; there is injustice and pain and ugliness. Yep. And yet there is hope; most of us long for it, some of us sense it Can these aspects of our lived experience provide clues to what the Biblical narrative describes in terms of a good creation gone bad but that is yet being redeemed?

Indeed, the Bible story helps us explain our lives: they are beautiful, disappointing, and hopeful. These three words, as Rich Villodas puts it, “capture the essence of life and are core to the Christian story. Drew Hyun has offered a compelling resource for those of us who are longing for a faith big enough to embrace these realities.” Give a couple of these away this year. It’s the perfect time of year to be honest — and hopeful.

When Life Feels Empty: 7 Practices to Cultivate Meaning Isaac Serrano (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This book is just amazing, a very fine bit of classy, warm writing, loaded with philosophical depth and serious consideration. If you know somebody who feels like something is missing, like the story they are living is somehow lacking purpose or direction, this could be a great gift.

Some think that life is purely physical, without higher meaning or aim. As it says on the back cover, “This narrative leaves countless people feeling hollow, disconnected, and lost.” But what if there is a better story, one that could lead to fulfillment and purpose and even hope?

This is the sort of apologetics that won’t lead to fights about the relevance of the Bible or the facts of this or that controversial church position. Rather, it invites all to read about purpose and meaning, about our context and the wisdom from the lived traditions of the Christian faith.

Yes, Serrano offers specific practices. After a set of chapters which he calls “Signs and Symptoms” which explores our tragic context (one chapter is called “Zombies” and another is “Religious Materialist”) he moves to the heart of the book, “The Remedy”, which explores both belief and embodiment. He invites readers to the classic stuff of church live — knowing God, receiving communion, singing, belonging. If somebody is truly baffled and wonders why you go to church, give them this.  It is compelling, inviting us to rename our lives by the story that comes to us from church and leads to a good life, with God. Wow.

Bridging the Abyss Richard L. Cleary (Xulon Press) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

I could go on and on about this, not only because it is a edge-of-your seat novel but because the author is one of my best friends (and most loyal customers here in Dallastown.)  Dick had a conversion to Christ as a young man in the 1970s and has ever since desired to make a good case for why people should give themselves to the truths of the gospel. He has studied his own field (he is a retired science teacher) and become an adjunct philosophy professor. He knows Aristotle and Plato, sure, and can cite Dostoyevsky and Lewis and Kierkegaard and the apologetics of Timothy Keller. He knows his stuff.

A few years ago he wrote a novel (In the Absence of God) about a couple of college profs who argue about the meaning of life, the nature for truth claims, the evidence from science, the historicity of the Bible, It was actually a blast for those who like those kind of conversations, but was, admittedly a bit short on plot. Bridging the Abyss changes that, in spades. It is a thrilling story of crime and suspense and Christian ministry and college controversies. Throughout all a few key characters have to grapple with why evil things happen, if there is a God, do we derive our morals out of thin air or are they rooted in something based on God and truth.

As the story of a missing girl unfolds the debates deepen between the main characters, “illuminating the tension between competing views the world as they are illustrated in shelves of the characters that inhabit these pages.”  Give this to anyone who wants a good, thoughtful, mystery story with a real point, someone who wants to bone up on arguments for and against the existence of God, and for anyone who might benefit from listening in on the passionate discussion in the fictional story.

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THREE IMMENSELY IMPORTANT AND TRULY CAPTIVATING READS ABOUT LIFE IN  SMALL TOWN and/or RURAL AMERICA (plus five more briefly mentioned)

With my wife’s cancer and my birthday fast approaching and our store’s happy 43rd anniversary a week ago, I’ve been thinking about my life, my past, growing up, old high school pals, college friends. I miss my deceased parents and only brother (and several college buds who died too soon.) Beth would say the same. So these three books each touched me personally.

Growing up in the rural outskirts of a medium sized town in a rural county in the 1960s was, in some ways, idyllic. I had a lovely childhood, playing in cornfields and learning to hunt. It’s funny, in the mid-60s, the classmates I considered to be “rich kids” were, I now realize, merely middle class. We were, too, almost.

Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America Beth Macy (Penguin Press) $32.00 // OUR 20% OFF SALE PRICE = $25.60

Beth Macy’s Paper Girl is one of the most important books of the year, and certainly one I’ve pondered as much as any, lately. The stories she tells of returning to her small high school in rural Western Ohio — Urbana, near the town of Springfield that Trump’s people lied about, saying the Haitians were eating dogs — made me wonder about so much. (One of her class reunions went sideways as political polarization seeped into the reunion Facebook page and they had to cancel the whole thing.) My old high school is bigger and better than it was, I think, but for many of us, her story will resonant. She returns to a decimated Rust Belt economy, the social fabric tearing, the kids hurting, the school barely holding on. She got to college on a Pell Grant but, of course, Reagan and his Republicans slashed that years ago, and now Trump’s team is cutting the social safety net even more, so her story is tragic and urgent. As a rough-neck Midwesterner might say, it’s a helluva book. I’ll be listing Paper Girl as one of the best books of 2025 and wanted to give you a heads up.

I’m sort of choked up, thinking about this, my friends, but I want many readers to get this journalistic report-slash-memoir by a reporter I admire as much as any nonfiction journalist out there. I couldn’t put it down as she documents small town chaos, broken families, rural poverty, school truancy and social services hampered by right wing politics that seem to disdain anybody helping others. You may know her stunning Dopesick (the TV show was excellent, but the book had nuances as only a good book can) and the sequel — I called it a must-read and declared it one of the best books of the year two years ago — called Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis. Of course almost every Labor Day I highlight an old review I did of her specular Factory Man about a brave furniture factory owner in North Carolina who took on off-shore rip-offs, fighting global economy thugs to keep his workers employed. What a story of the little guy, of the complexity of institutional dysfunction, based on what we Christians would (or should) call idolatry. The principalities and powers were causing lay-offs and shut-downs and her story explored earnest resistance to the ways of the world. It, too, is one of my favorite books.

And so, when Paper Girl was touted as Macy’s most personal book yet, showing off her reporting chops and investigative journalism alongside her own memoir, I was excited. We stocked it here and I read it immediately. It was a great glimpse into a brave woman who endured the hardships of an alcoholic father and poverty stricken mother and became the first in her extended family to go to college. (Again, through the social investment of the Pell Grants which helped smart, poor kids go off to college.)

This is one of the compelling take-aways of the book, her Pell Grant example being nearly axiomatic: it helps us understand the need for institutional reforms, structural adjustments, policy proposals that are useful for the rural poor and to help alleviate complicated, multi-faceted problems facing many American regions that were hurt by the free trade stuff of Reagan and Clinton. Don’t get her talking about NAFTA and the other Neo-liberal reforms of the end of the last century. It was, as we see so clearly now in the current regime, an era that caused the rich to get richer, boldly so, and the poor to get further entrenched in various sorts of crummy hardships.

Paper Girl imagines what hardships a contemporary Beth Macy might be facing if she were growing up in Urbana, Ohio, in that same school, now, instead of in the 1980s. She finds some other youth who are facing domestic violence or parental alcoholism and the like and imagines that these kids are sort of like what her life was like. Except. Except there are more dangers and fewer supports, less help and greater odds. One boy — a beloved drum major in the dwindling high school band — sleeps in his car, a car that breaks down as he travels to his first week of community college. There is a youth center in town doing exceptional work but the founder of the remarkable nonprofit is gay and (despite being a former high school football star) is despised by many, and right-wing MAGA guys got a grant the center had won cancelled, significantly kneecapping the only major service of its kind in the town. Beth Macey travels with the teens, hangs out at the youth center and their after school programs and embeds herself with everyone from the beloved band director to a brave truancy specialist who faces down drug-addled parents, getting their kids to school. She tells the story of the hurting, small-town poor and a way that is impeccably documented, both experientially and citing the research of sociologists and researchers. Her passions for the poor and dispossessed is clear in her other vibrant books and it is tenderly on exhibit here. I admire her, her book, and want to press it into the hands of anyone who cares about a good chunk of our American citizenry.

Call it flyover country or the rust belt or whatever, but the region Macy describes and the stories she documents is both heartbreaking and infuriating. And the political polarization and the increasing dysfunction and poverty is happening near you, too.

I mentioned that there is more personal memoir / storytelling here than in her other  very engaging projects. This makes this book important (and page-turning) almost for another reason: it is a story — or at least a subplot in the engrossing narrative — of her own siblings and extended family that stayed in Ohio even after she moved away and won awards for journalism and public advocacy. She writes about her aging mom and other typical family stuff. And, yes, some of her loved ones are Trumpians, and, worse, some are QAnon conspiracy theorists. (As are some of her beloved high-school pals; they go out for coffee or drinks and promise not to talk politics, but one of them can’t not bring up the pedophile rings run by the Democrats and other bizarre accusations promoted by the weirdo-dark web.) Some family members are hurt by her liberal politics and others try to convert her to evangelical faith. Her now-regular visits back to Ohio and her trying to rebuild relations with extended family (including a family deeply distressed by accusations of sexual abuse, a niece that was believed only by Beth — the family Pentecostal pastor told them not to believe such accusations against a man he thought was Godly.)

This is crazy-making and anguishing but Macy keeps the narrative going, bringing in new chapters of the lives of the youth she’s tracking, the drama at the school and the youth center, the politics of the local town and county. It’s a snapshot of America, my friends, and an unforgettable one. It is no wonder the Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks calls it “heartfelt, intimate, and enraging”

The important journalist Jeff Sharlet (of the excellent, powerful, The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War) calls Macy “one of our greatest chroniclers of the America that’s fallen victim to the crises of capitalism” and suggests this book is “memoir, biography, elegy and advocacy.” Sarah Smarsh (famous for Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth and Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class) says it is “essential.” She notes that the crisis Macy is exploring in Paper Girl “requires not just digging for facts but digging even deeper into our very souls.”

I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay Matthew Ferrence (West Virginia University press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

I would like to ease into this review telling you a dozen things I liked about it, the good writing, the feisty politics, the idealism, the rage. I could quote beautifully-crafted paragraphs that left me wondering “how does one learn to write like that?” and, yes, “wow.” I’m a fan of this incredible book and I commend it, at least to some of our readers.

I loved this book so much and it made me think about so much that I want to rave about it, but yet, there are some issues that a few readers will find distracting. It is very well crafted but a few times it is so poetically written, it is abstract to a point of being head-scratchingly obtuse (indeed, there is a whole chapter about poetics as politics and politics in need of poets. I think he is speaking mostly metaphorically, but still.) He’s a college lit prof who ran for office as a far-left Dem in a very red region, so quixotic that even the state party ignored his campaign — why invest in a sure loss? — and his anger about this drives much of the book. I don’t blame him, but geesh. So it’s both deeply written with poetics and metaphor that might lose some of us on occasion and it is angry. There’s that.

But he’s right. There’s a terrible scene of a Democratic breakfast in his Northwestern Pennsylvania town of Meadville when the shorts-wearing, rough-looking guy, urban hero and cool Lieutenant Governor of our fair Keystone State, (now Senato) John Fetterman appears and does not even mention Ferrence’s quixotic campaign, offering no local support other than the urgent call to vote for Biden. Ferrence is deep in the struggle and gets no help whatsoever from his party, not even a shout out when he is standing right there. Which not only makes him bitter, but is a symbol of what much of this powerful book is most about, a theme that Wendell Berry often describes: the main conflict in our culture is less ideological, as such, but is between rural and urban. And this dude is rural, having grown up on a farm in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

I know his exact home(somewhat blighted from careless coal mining) area outside of the state university that I attended — and where he now lives in what might be considered a rust belt town, in Crawford County in Northwest PA. Meadville was a robust industrial town and was once a heart of industry (they made, among other things, zippers!) Of course many of the robber baron types extracted wealth while paying poor wages and lived well elsewhere. Much of I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me is about how both rural and rust-belt, postindustrial towns (not to mention inner cities) have much in common. They are passed over, mocked, despised and the people, for reasons sociologists are still trying to parse, often vote for candidates that do not have their back. This prophetic rant is the latest, and in some ways, the most tender and compelling, treatise to be read alongside Paper Girl by Beth Macy and, also, her Factory Man, or maybe Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild (not to mention her amazing 2024 book Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.) But his is beautiful and personal.

Here are two other striking portions of I Hate It Here… Besides the beautiful story of the nearly redemptive family farm in Indiana, PA (with strip mines and polluted creeks and fracking pipes all around) Ferrence and his new wife moved to the glorious desert ecology near the border with Mexico and his reflections about the topography there are glorious. But his passion for the dignify and freedom of refugees and immigrants is palpable and radical. His ruminations about the militias who knowingly trash the water stations set up in the desert for needy sojourners is righteously angry. The chapter about their season in the Southwest — and his longing for home in Pennsylvania — is worth the price of the book.

And then they move to Paris. His wife was pursuing a PhD in French and his vulnerable sharing of how out of place he felt, how foreign, was unlike any travel memoir I’ve read. I highly commend it, how he connects the poor seeking refuge in the American southwest and his own nostalgia for his family farm, and his hopes for a restoration of a sense of place when they return home. Themes of exile and homecoming are increasingly voiced and his yearning in that chapter is, without him saying it, is nearly spiritual.

But then there is the campaign. His loss. His bitterness. His failure. And his content rumination, from this angle and then that, about why rural folks, small town people, and rust belt burned over districts are plighted, caught, stuck, voting, regularly, for those who simply do not care for them or their places. He pulls no punches in talking about it; one chapter is specifically about violence and it is worth a couple of reads.

I mentioned that he makes much of metaphor; there is a chapter called “Crown Vetch” which is about an exploitative, colonizing, invasive species of nasty ground cover. You can imagine what he does with that. Another glorious chapter is “Succession” which, in natural history studies, is about the evolution of forests. He runs with that beautifully, too.

I do not know why he calls the book I Hate It Here as he clearly does not. He waxes beautifully about the natural grasses and flowers they’ve planted in their downtown Meadville home. He writes like Aldo Leopald and Wendell Berry, affirming the long-haul in the same place.

From lovely writing about the county fair (and great sections about showing animals) and the anguish of polarization between Red and Blue America and the details of running against a do-nothing, blustering right wing incumbent (who he ungraciously calls every name in the book) I Hate It Here, Please Vote for me: Essays on Rural Political Decay is a fabulous, striking, unforgettable read.

Existing in the same context of What You’re Getting Wrong About Appalachia and Appalachian Reckoning as an attempt to both understand the shifted political sands of place, and to assert a theory as to why, this book is an opportunity for people to deepen their understanding of rural people and politics. — Neema Avashia, author of Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place

A direct look at the media narratives of politics. Ferrence wrestles with how he understands himself as an individual, a demographic, and then as Aristotle’s political animal. It is a fascinating look at the making of political and cultural tropes from the inside. — Edward Karshner, author of Writing the Self: A Phenomenological Approach to Composition Theory

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

I announced this a month ago and was glad a few people picked it up. Still, I hadn’t read it at that point and was just suggesting it looked good, and had good reviews. Many Hearts & Minds readers, I figured, would enjoy a memoir and collection of moving ruminations on life on the farm. It’s a beloved genre and I figured this seemed like a fun one to recommend.

But, man. What a book! I simply couldn’t put it down and I was moved, deeply moved, by some of the stories and the tragedies that befall this three generational family of Western New York dairy farmers. It’s not quite like the gentleman farm that Matthew Ferrence grew up on in Western Pennsylvania (his dad made his main living as a biology prof at the local university.) And he’s not writing with the humor and grace of my favorite farmer-writer, Michael Perry, although I bet Perry has read him already wondering why Dennis hasn’t made at least one joke about all the manure.

Ryan Dennis, though, is the really real deal. His dad and mom were hard-working dairy farmers and in the end of the 20th century into the 21st, these were very hard times. We learn just a bit about farm subsidies and milk quotas and the infamous insistence of Department of Agriculture head (under Nixon), Earl Butz, that farmers must “go big or go home.” As a few got bigger, smaller ones languished and, despite being encouraged by the likes of Louis Bromfield or Wendell Berry or the new agrarians, most farmers were in deep debt and facing often unjust pressure from banks. (M&T Bank has an ugly bit in Barn Gothic.) Barn Gothic is not often polemical, but the subtext of the farm crisis and the mess of agribusiness is there.

There are sweet and tender remembrances in this story, some of which feels like a short collection of readings or captivating essays. Always well written, the details of tractors and plows — most dairy farmers also grow their own silage for their herds, so while there is plenty of fun stuff about cows here, much of it is about farm implements and the many tools needed to repair them. The barns are filled with manure and other outbuildings are like garages and repair shops In the midst of the clutter and mooing, dad and son will tape together two big lids from teat-cleaning fluid and make hockey sticks and mess around, with the errant improvised puck flying into the flank of an unsuspected Holstein.

Most cows are pretty compliant with the milking and feeding, but there are always those that kick, and when a cow is dry (not making milk as she is pregnant) she can get cantankerous. It makes for some good drama.

The bigger drama of Barn Gothic, besides the hair-raising injuries and daily danger, is the question that appears half way through; will Ryan take over his grandpa’s farm, the one adjective to his own father and mothers. The two farms are, for odd reasons, tied together financially, and there is an occasional question about the health of the relationship between Ryan’s dad and his father (Ryan’s grandfather and family patriarch and good, old-school farmer.)  Ryan’s dad tries hard to be a better dad, and while singularly focused on his dairyman’s work, he’s at times fun and funny. I liked a lot of this; you will too,

“Even though Ryan grew up watching his father and grandfather struggle to survive, he always thought he would follow in their footsteps and take over the family farm. But as he milked cows and fed calves, the world outside the barn was changing. Between 2003 and 2020, forty thousand dairy farms went out of business in the United States.”

We know in the beginning of the book that Ryan has become a writer and is no longer running a family dairy farm. In the first page the two men are drinking gin on the porch and talking about the old days of the farm, the region, the milk industry, their lives. We learn that Ryan has become a writer drawn to telling rural stories and writing for literary journals that creatively tell of farm life. He is no longer a farmer and neither is his sister. Barn Gothic explains how they all got where they are. One reviewer calls it “deeply personal and unique.”  I call it a beautiful, profound elegy.

We owe a debt to the farmers who feed us — and to Dennis for this memoir.” — John Piotti, President, American Farmland Trust

 

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I could list oodles of others about rural life, about small towns, about domestic poverty and the church’s call to be involved in helping. Write to me if you need more ideas and I can sent a list. And then there is an increasingly good shelf of ministry in rural settings and small town pastoring.  Again, let us know if your interested!

For some reason, these five just seemed to be important to share now, to be read alongside or after the above three.

Disposable: American’s Contempt for the Underclass Sarah Jones (Avid Reader Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

This is brand new and I’ve read a quarter of it — what a book. Holy smokes. The first chapter is on an old phrase “social murder.” Do you know its origins? Jones is a senior writer at New York magazine (covering politics and, often religion even though she says she is an atheist.) Can the most predatory features of late modern capital even be constrained? Can we be honest about the inequality in our Mammon-driven culture?

She uses the disparities during COVID (including the horrific differences in death rates) as a way into this discussion, blending astute and up-to-date data and personal story, making this a vivid, passionate study. Beth Macy calls it “a masterful act of love.”

Disposable is a massive work of journalism–and a masterful act of love. Meticulously reported, voraciously researched, and poignantly rendered, Sarah Jones makes the blurry clear and the unseen visible. Both a scathing rebuke of corporate health care and a clear-eyed call to action, this book reminds us that we should not and cannot put the pandemic behind us. — Beth Macy, author of Dopesick and Paper Girl

Incisive . . . In the tradition of Barbara Ehrenreich, Jones combines interviews and firsthand observation of poverty with deeply researched history. . . . A full-throated, class-first critique of how the right-wing tendencies of American capitalism made the pandemic so devastating for the working poor. What Jones brings to this telling is an unflinching focus on American capital, its unholy marriage to the political class, and the way that union has eroded ordinary people’s faith in authorities. —The New Republic

White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (Liveright) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

While this incredibly important work deserves a longer, more careful review, I hope you at least recall that we’ve featured it before, suggesting it with enthusiasm. Read it and make up your own mind if this is as compelling as I think it is. On the back is says it is “a generational work with far-ranging social and political implications White Poverty promises to be one of the most influential books in recent years.”

We can hope, but it has to be read and discussed, reviewed and shared, cited and used as a catalyst for deeper understanding and action. I think it is profound and could become influential.

I suppose you know of Reverend William Barber, the vibrant black pastor who founded Moral Mondays and is President of Repairers of the Breach. He is a spiritual leader calling us all to higher ground and righteous action. As Representative Jamie Raskin puts it, Barer “upholds the movement of interracial ‘moral fusion’ as the only way to pull America back from the complete economic and moral impoverishment of right-wing politics.” Black leader and scholar Eddie Glaude says it is “brimming with insight and prophetic fire.”

Poverty, By America Matthew Desmond (Crown) $20.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

I needn’t say much about this. Desmond is famous for the award winning and exceptional study of homelessness called Evicted. Here he brings his stellar journalistic skills and research habits and reporting gifts to offer what dozens of outlets called one of the best books of 2020. Now in paperback, this book by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author is simply one that is — I the words of novelist and bookseller Ann Patchett — “essential and instructive, hopeful and enraging”

Yep. Like others on this list, the writing is vivid and hopeful, even, but first it is fierce and enraging. And informative. We’ve got to know the facts about poverty in these times and it does no-one any good to have a sentimental or judgmental or wrong-headed view of things. This book helps us see why the United States, even as the richest country on earth, still has more poverty than any other advanced democracy.

If you are serious about working on this topic, this is a must-read, learning to become what Demond calls a “poverty abolitionist.”

The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country Elizabeth Currid-Halkett (Basic Books) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

I read this when it came out the summer of 2023 and wrote about it later that year. It was striking and enjoyable — I’ve been reading stuff about rural life and small towns for a long time — and while I do not recall what all I said about it, I’ll remind you now that it is important for a number of reasons. Currie Halkett is an honest sociologist and when COVID-19 hit, her research needed to be meticulously carried out by phone calls and Zoom. It may have somehow facilitated entering oddly deeper relationships as she came to know families from small towns all over the land, and she learned what sort of common values urban and rural folks share. The mix of qualitative research and quantitative is impressive. I noted that she was particularly open to talking with families about their religious faith and found it somehow plausible and even pleasant to include in her conversations topics of about faith and ultimate meaning.

As the publisher has put it, ”In The Overlooked Americans, public policy expert Elizabeth Currid-Halkett breaks through stereotypes about rural America. She traces how small towns are doing as well as, or better than, cities by many measures. She also shows how rural and urban Americans share core values, from opposing racism and upholding environmentalism to believing in democracy.”

One of the takeaways from this big book is that “when we focus too heavily on the far-right fringe, we overlook the millions of rural Americans” who are neither deplorable or fanatics, Some are, in fact, rather content with their lives.” Is this somehow in contradiction to the beautiful diatribe by the localist professor in Meadville, PA? Did she talk to injured and defeated farmers like the Dennis family in rural New York? Did she talk with anybody in Urbana, Ohio? I don’t know. It’s good data which points in a helpful direction and I recommend it. You’ve got to read Beth Macy first. Start with the powerful Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America.

The Wages of Peace: How to Confront Economic Inequality and Love Your Neighbor Well Brian Humphreys (Herald Press)$19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Obviously, each of the above titles would note that American problems, even with poverty and hunger, are more than economic. Reading Paper Girl you’ll be entertained reading quite a narrative, but you’ll be reminded about mental health issues and drug abuse, about people pulling their kids out of public schools and familial dysfunction. You’ll learn about work habits and faith and values and policy.

Still, deeply connected to the social inequalities and cultural problems of what the Sarah Jones book calls the “underclass” is the question of money. Economics. I hate to scare anybody away, but it is an often-talked about topic in the Bible and we’ve got scores of books that explore what Scriptures teach about poverty, injustice, and public justice. One simply cannot read theBible and remain disinterested in economics, as it is a key topic from Genesis to Revelation.

The Wages of Peace is just one relatively short and upbeat book tracing about how people of faith might confront economic injustice. With a foreword by Liz Theoharis (who wrote the weighty but vital Eerdmans volume, Always with Us? What Jesus Really Said about the Poor) you know this is substantive, theologically and in terms of Biblically-based passion. But it always has a certain level-headed hope, showing what can be done, how to proceed, offering stories to clarify and embolden.

With inflation and stagnant wages and so on, it’s hard for many to get by. Humphreys is a Mennonite so he is shaped deeply by the call to be peacemakers. It’s an operative image in The Wages of Peace (the title comes into a clearer light, eh?) and he invites us to be aspiring economic peacemakers. He invites us to “seek shalom in the marketplace and the neighborhood” and take up (as one chapter puts it) “Local Economic Peacemaking.” Socioeconomic stuff is admittedly complex so this book moves us towards talking well about money and profits and stewardship and sharing and wise public policy. Get it now to have on hand after you’ve read a few of the above titles.

The Wages of Peace is a rallying cry for the church to pursue true shalom by biblically reframing assumptions about wealth and work, by dismantling systemic barriers, and by activating economic equity for all, one living-wage job and empowered voice at a time. — Leonard Sweet, author, Jesus Human and Designer Jesus

 

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We hope you enjoyed that last BookNotes a few days ago listing more than a dozen brand new Advent resources for 2025. In the BookNotes column a year ago I shared links to a handful of previous posts listing great resources from previous years and some of these remain popular and, in some cases, nearly essential. Those links provide some lovely books for adults and children, families and churches, of various styles and price-ranges. I hope you browse those archived BookNotes and are reminded of some of the great ones we’ve shared in the past.

12 NEW ONES. Here are 12 new children’s books that are wonderful for this season. As the season of Christmastide draws nearer I’ll list other good gifts for kids, but for now, these might prove useful in your search for resources to explain all that we are about to celebrate. Praise the Lord for this month of anticipation, right?

THANK YOU. Remember that great ad that ran on TV years ago of those guys waist-deep in cranberry bogs, humble farmers simply thanking you for your support of their work? That’s us, too — up to our ears in books, grateful for those who appreciate the quality of our down-home service. From Dallastown, thank you for your support.

ALL ARE 20% OFF.  As always, our BookNotes selections are all offered at 20% off. We don’t make that much on them selling them at sale prices, but we hope it enables you to pick up more than you might otherwise. Let’s do it!

The Biggest Story: Advent Kevin DeYoung, illustrated by Don Clark (Crossway) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

Hefty, colorful, and sturdy, this large-sized lift-the-flap board book has the big theological vision and amazingly colorful graphic style to make this a spectacular stand-out this season. Sure to be used over and over in homes and Sunday school classes, this is inspired by but a supplement to the extraordinary The Biggest Story Bible Storybook. It features new devotions by DeYoung and vibrant art by Clark and his innovative design team.

This is not the only Advent tool that does this, of course, but it does say in the introduction that “this Advent book does not tell the traditional Christmas story — at least not in the traditional way. Instead of recounting familiar scenes full of shepherds, angels, and wise men, this book focuses on the prophecies leading up to the Christmas story. You might think of it as the story before the story — or, better yet, as a fuller version of the Biggest Story.

The Biggest Story Advent highlights twenty-four promises from the Old Testament about the coming Messiah (and then, only then, a final chapter that summarizes the birth of Christ from Matthew 1.) It starts with the “snake crusher”, a theme DeYoung explored in his first, great children’s book, The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden, also illustrated by Don Clark. Their big Biggest Story Bible Storybook evolved out of that as did the big Biggest Story Family Devotional. They all are shaped by this historical / redemptive vision of the unfolding narrative that points to Jesus. As DeYoung puts in the introduction to the Advent book, while some prophecies in the Old Testament are well known during Advent, some are less familiar, emphasizing “that the coming of the Deliverer fulfilled the larger story of God’s redemptive purposes for His people.” And, in fact, for the whole creation!

This big, fat, lift-the flap board book is a sight to behold and a simple way to engage children in the biggest story behind the Nativity. Highly recommended, especially for children maybe as young as 4 or 5 and up to maybe 11. It really is cool looking so older kids may be captivated.

The One We’re Waiting For: An Illustrated Advent Devotional for Families Taylor Combs, art by Aedan and Natalie Peterson (B+H) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

If the above Biggest Story Advent board book and its 25 lift-the-flap pages is a bit too juvenile for your kids then this one, with modern but rather traditional art, might be a great fit. It included ornaments for each day of December that can be punched out, making this a handsome hardback, a great book to read and cherish, but also a family activity book, with this nifty project artfully included.

The opening reflection on “What is Advent” is very good for kids and the note for parents introduces (or reminds) us of Tolkien’s fascinating phrase, eucatastophe; a great tragedy, or a sudden turn of events that prevents a greater catastrophe. J.R.R. called Christmas “the great eucatastrophe of human history.” Anybody that starts an Advent book like that has earned my respect and, believe me, this book deserves your careful look. The daily readings may be a bit long for some preschoolers but it is ideal for elementary aged kids, into middle school.

Not unlike the DeYoung one, above, The One We Waiting For makes great use of Old Testament stories that have — for those with a trained eye and Biblical imagination —connections to the coming of the Messiah. From texts and stories as unique as Jacob and Esau and Rebekah to Joshua 6 to the story of Ruth and so on, the line “There is One coming..” and “He’s the One we’re waiting for” ends each story. There is a song suggestion and three good questions to discuss, on the OT text and its connection to the ongoing story. I really like the illustrations, too, and the ribbon marker, making this a fabulous keepsake.

Promises Made / Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas Marty Machowski, illustrated by Phil School (New Growth Press) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

Wow, what a great idea. Again, working this deeply Biblical motif of the history of redemption and the “promises made and promises fulfilled” nature of salvation history, this book cleverly gives two weeks worth of reflections, with great, contemporary, somewhat stylized artwork. You can count on New Growth Press to offer gospel-centered, grace-based content and almost anwayswith the very best in children’s illustrations. This book, not surprisingly, is stellar.

Here is part of what makes it fun and useful. It is one of the crazy books that can be read from start into the middle and then can be flipped over and read from back to the middle.

The first half covers seven “Promises Made” (starting with “The Promise of a Son” in Genesis 3) and then when you turn the book over, you start again, in the “Promises Kept” section. Here’s the thing: it’s best to start reading this one week before Christmas so you come to the climatic last promise on Christmas Eve or Day. Then you flip the book over and start the “Promises Kept” devotions, reading that the week after Christmas. What a great idea.

Here is how the good folks at the “Redeemed Reader” website put it:

Promises Made Promises Kept is a unique book: during the first week, families will read from the Promises Made side. Half-way through the book (on Christmas Day, naturally), readers must flip the book over and start again from the other side (Promises Kept). But Jesus Himself did the same thing: turned the world upside down when He appeared as an infant to a humble couple in Bethlehem all those years ago.

With die-cut cutouts on the front and back cover (or, should I say, the two front covers) the art shows through making this a really neat-looking picture book. Great for elementary age and up through middle school, with good discussion questions, too. Nice.

Twas the Season of Advent: Devotions and Stores for the Christmas Season Glenys Nellist, illustrated by Elena Selivanova (Zonderkidz) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I believe this was out previously but I somehow missed it, and so I”m listing it here, admittedly knowing it is now brand new. But it may be new to many of our BookNotes readers and I am thrilled. I don’t know if I’m happier about the charming, expansive prose of Glenys Nellist or the esteemed art of Elena Selivanova, one of the great illustrators of our time. (Check out her pages at the Beehive Illustration site to see samples.)

I believe this may be among my favorite seasonal books, lavishly (but not overdone) and creatively illustrated and illuminated, with each entry including an earnest, child-like prayer. Twas the Season of Advent stands alongside Twas the Evening of Christmas and Twas the Morning of Easter, all stellar.

Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime: Celebrate the True Meaning of Christmas Julie & David Lavender, illustrated by Shahar Kober (Z Kids) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Just to be clear, this isn’t really about Advent as such. What is unique about this book from a solid indie press is that it is text heavy, with pages to read out loud to little ones. It is well written, nicely designed with Bible stories (but no examples or reflections or other stories to clutter the power of the straight Biblical text.) It is enhanced by some very nice illustrations. (But it is not mostly a “picture book” as much as I like the rich illustration by Israeli illustrator Shah Kober.)

There is a full page of what they oddly call Bible study for each story, even though it only telling about Bible truths, mostly for application. (They might have called this “living the story” or “going deeper” or “applying the lessons.”) and then very appropriate questions for conversations at bedtime. Over 215 pages, this is useful, nothing particularly imaginative, but with a standard focus on Scripture. Why not try this custom of reading the Bible together at bedtime? (And, of course, it would be suitable to read anytime — I recall our own family’s best intentions for routines and schedules that seemed rarely to be actually kept.) Children’s Advent Stories is about the age-old effort to (as it says on the back) “unwrap the true meaning of Christmas with bedtime stories.”

God’s Big Picture Bible Stories: The First Christmas N.T. Wright, illustrations by Helena Perez Garcia (Tommy Nelson) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

By now I hope you know (perhaps recalling our several shout-outs) that the great New Testament scholar Tom Wright has done a large-sized children’s Bible storybook called God’s Big Picture Bible Storybook. This is in that format and style but actually has more content than the Christmas portion of that storybook Bible.

For those that appreciate Wright’s keen insight and literary voice and want to take in his telling of the nativity story, this is fantastic. There are two pages in the back that highlight five Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in the Nativity story, so there is that bit of “Big Picture” perspective which I appreciate a lot.  It is just a few inches bigger than a typical children’s picture book, giving it some extra heft (good for reading aloud and good for church use, maybe.) The art is vibrant and realistic by the same London-based, Spanish artist who did the bigger picture Bible. She is amazing and respected throughout the world. Yes!

The World’s Best Christmas Light – A Light-Up Board Book Chelsea Tornetto, illustrated by Amanda Morrow (ZonderKidz) $14.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

I needn’t say much about this neat little gift book for a very young child other than to say it has a few pages a happy inter-racial family looking at Christmas lights. It’s fun, a common-enough experience, with some cute rhyming words. Fine. And then the child realizes that the best Christmas lights display is a single light. Maybe not the biggest and brightest but the clarity of this one light wins the day.

What’s fun about this simple story is highlighting the light of God’s love as better than all the glitz, but, great for tiny little fingers, is a button to push that causes the picture of the light over the manger scene to actually light up. Yep, there’s a real glowing lighten the last page. Babies and toddlers will no doubt get a kick out of this gimmick, eh? Merry Christmas!

The Wonders of the First Christmas: Explore the Birth of Jesus through History, Archaeology, and Art Andy McGuire (Zonderkidz) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I love this simple, intriguing book and would’ve poured over it in my childhood I’m sure.  First, I must say this — it is not an encyclopedia-type book with photos and examples of the history of art. (The art oddly mentioned in the subtitle are the illustrations by Mr. McGuire himself — fun and funny and fascinating, but it is not a survey of Western archeology and art.) That would be a whole different sort of text.

This is for inquisitive younger readers and in every two page spread — the pictures are vivid and the angle of vision is often clever (you’ve got to see the pictures of the camels!) — there are sidebars of facts, details about what archaeologists and historians have learned about the nature of daily life in the time of the birth of Jesus and the years afterwards. It’s a pretty standard telling of that first Christmas but laden with extra details complimenting the gospel truths with historical, cultural, and geographical facts. From the nature of donkeys to the meaning of the word angels to how a manger was made to speculations about the wise men to a sidebar about Egypt all enhance the experience of trading this well-told story.

The author and artist, by the way, has written a lot, including a fabulously similar book called The Things God Made but is perhaps best known for illustrating the big, artful, informative book by Marty Machowski published by New Growth Press called The-Ology: Ancient Truths, Ever New. He’s talented and experienced and this picture book with sidebars is a fun one for kids maybe as young as 4 or 5 but the historical parts might attract older kids. Or adults.

The Memory Tree: A Holiday Grief Book Joanna Rowland, illustrated by Thea Baker (Beaming Books) $18.99 // OU SALE PRICE = $15.19

Although not overtly religious this is, in a very special way, a sacred book, one of the most tender and lovely books of recent years. It is very simple prose (indicating it is, a first blush, for very little children) who tell about how sad they are celebrating this Christmas season with a person missing from the family. (Readers do not know if it is a parent, or most likely a grandparent, or maybe — as in the real story that inspired this book —a sibling.) The child decides to pick just the right Christmas tree (“that you would’ve picked”) and finds ornaments that remind her of her lost loved one. The family joins in and soon even others are adding ornaments that remind them of the deceased. That each ornament brings to mind a certain memory or story is made evident and as company comes over, they leave a special seat at the table in honor of their beloved member. Oh my, this will cause tears to well up, and this is good.

Christmas is an awful time to try to celebrate when one is carrying hard grief. This is one child’s ingenious plan to make the most of it, honoring their lost family member and having a memorial tree full of memories.

There is a long letter from the original family who inspired this story — their 20 year old daughter, Marisa, a beloved swim coach and community leader. She was well-loved and the memory tree was one way they learned to honor her. Every public and church library should have one of these available; bereavement centers, grief share groups, and others who know those who have lost loved ones may want to share this gentle, caring story and find comfort.

The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t Laura Alary, illustrated by Ana Eguaras (Beaming Books) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Could this be based on a true story? I don’t know, but it sure could be. Aidan’s city is hit with an ice storm just days before Christmas, causing the electrical grid to go down. Are all their Christmas plans ruined? Uhh — you bet. This is a disaster.

As it says on the back, “One disappointment piles on another: Grandma and Grandpa cannot travel, the Christmas pageant is canceled, there are no Christmas lights, and it’s impossible to cook Christmas dinner.” Is this going to be the worst Christmas ever? More profoundly, will this be “the Christmas that wasn’t?”

I’m not going to tell you how this drama all plays out, but you can guess there is a lesson to be learned. And the gospel rings out, the true truth of the Christmas story somehow realized anew. In the dark.

One lesson is that sometimes our Christmas celebration is not all we hope or expect it to be. This is something that many of us need to remember (not just children); the nostalgia and images of a romantic holiday that are embedded in the social imaginations of Americans makes the quest for a happy holiday nearly an idol, or so I suspect. This simple, animated children’s story might be just what we need: maybe it will help us ponder how “sometimes when things are taken away, we are brought closer to the heart of the holy mystery that still draws us into its warmth.” You’re going to love this.

The Birds of Christmas Olivia Armstrong, illustrated by Mira Miroslavova (Eerdmans) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I’m not going to lie — I’m not always fan of folk tales. From old Russian tales to indigenous First Nations stories to African fables, some are just too complicated. Honorable as they may be, some are not immediately attractive to me or some kids. Not so with this classic European tale, a story told so nicely by Olivia Armstrong (and creatively illustrated by Mira Miroslavova, a Bulgarian artist) that I almost cried. This one really works!

The story is fairly simple — a raven is flying late at night and ends up at the scene of the Nativity, awakened by the Star. She comes to know what is going on and flies to various species of birds, each which comes to the manger to play a part — singing sweetly as the Nightingale did or making a feather pillow like Wren and Stork (or making an announcing ruckus like Rooster.) It’s fun and the plot builds as a small bird there laments having nothing to offer Mary and the Baby Jesus. Oh how she wanted to contribute. Just then, a fire begins to wane and the baby shivers; the little bird knows just what to do — she flutters her wings by the fire and fans the flames until it is warm again. What a parable!

However, a hot coal fell upon the breast of the little bird, but is saved, and blessed, by Mary. You’ve seen a robin redbreast? Now you know how they got that way.

Eerdmans does artful children’s books, often imported from Europe. Olivia Armstrong shared this story in a way that was just right. Big kudos to Miroslavova, too.

One Star, Three Kings: The Journey of Epiphany Rebecca Grabill, illustrated by Isabella Grott (Paraclete Press) $20.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.79

This Is a large, colorful book that is complex and interesting and tender and curious. It has two sorts of writing, Most of the book is creatively written with the engaging, storytelling of the characters, some speaking in almost ancient cadences and phrases, and then there are interludes of pages of contemporary facts and scholarly speculations. There is a great section explaining some theologies of when the Magi first saw the star; there is a page asking “where did the Magi come from?” You’ll appreciate a spread telling what the three gifts of incense, myrrh, and frankincense were typically used for and what they symbolized. There is a page about astronomical ideas of what the moving star was. There are Bible verses and colorful drawings.

But most of the story unfolds as a drama unfolding in real time, and what a drama it is. A small bit is that some of the wise men hear singing along with the star (and in one page the author says it is the song and voice of the “Holy Mother.”) It’s a mystical moment or two, deepening the wonder of the story. I didn’t realize this, but apparantly some think that the Wise men returned at the time of the crucifixion (this, too, they see in the stars.) It explains that they eventually were baptized by Thomas and are considered saints and martyrs to this day. There is an informative spread of just a little bit about how Epiphany is celebrated around the world. Nice, fascinating, a useful contribution about a key moment in the Bible and church calendar about which is there is precious little for inquiring kids.

I hope you saw the last BookNotes — you know the one the other day where the formatting got all bungled. Can’t say why that happened but the video came through. The good folks at the Christian Study Center called Upper House in Madison, Wisconsin, had me on their UpWords podcast for an hour chatting about Advent, Christmas memories, the Biblical vision of hope and a whole bunch of old and new Advent favorites. All the books mentioned there get a 20% off so if you’d like you can listen to that (on Spotify or Apple Podcasts) or watch us on YouTube and then use our secure order form at the Hearts & Minds website to place orders. We’ll be sure to write right back to confirm everything.

By the way, it’s worth watching a bit of that as you’ll see me unrehearsed, describing for the first time in public my friend Steve Garber’s forthcoming book, Hints of Hope: Essays on Making Peace with the Proximate. It releases officially in late January 2026 but we’ve been assured by Paraclete Press that we’ll have it in December. PLEASE CONSIDER PRE-ORDERING THAT NOW — I could even be an IOU sort of Christmas gift for his many fans. The official retail price is $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99.

There are so many great Advent reads and holiday books that I have described the last few years, I hate to skip over them. Why not go back to our website’s archives and revisit those BookNotes columns (use the search box and put in Advent) — the prices might have changed a bit but most are still in print and most likely readily available. Don’t miss my descriptions of books such as the excellent, literary A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Brith Season edited by Leslie Leyland Fields & Paul Willis or the must-read The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope or the surprisingly good Rediscovering Christmas by A.J. Sherrill.

Here are twelve brand new ones.  All are 20% off. Read well, live in hope.

Waiting for Jesus: An Advent Invitation to Prayer and Renewal Rich Villodas (Waterbrook) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

I hope you know how much we esteem Reverend Rich Villodas, a vibrant and powerful pastor in NYC. His church is delightfully multi-ethnic, healthy and sane, deeply evangelical with high regard for personal faith and Biblical fidelity who never fails to draw on the best of wise insights from other traditions. He’s rooted in the Bible and its grand, redemptive story but he quotes black poets and Latina scholars and calls us to live out our faith in gracious, embodied ways. I can’t say enough about his fine, approachable, provocative books of Christian living.

Waiting for Jesus is another to be added to his recent study on the Sermon on the Mount (The Narrow Path) and his powerful call towards the common good in Good and Beautiful and Kind. As you might expect from an Advent reader, it is concise and brief. It’s a trim, hand-sized hardback with 25 great reflections. The four weeks of reflections are shaped by the themes of Waiting, Peacemaking, Rejoicing, and Beholding. It’s a curious flow and I found it compelling. I highly recommend it.

By the way, at the end of each day’s meditation there is some guidance and prompts suggesting silence and preparation, a “prayer for presence”, a Scripture, a quote from another “guide” (from medial mystics to Thomas Merton, Bonhoeffer to Dallas Willard, often deeply prayerful) and a reflection question to ponder before a closing prayer. You will, as the title suggests, experience this as a call to renewal. Happy holidays, for real!

Incarnation: 8 Lessons on How God Meets Us Derek Vreeland (NavPress) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Some years in our annual Advent listing I try to give a nod to one of the great books in all of Christian history, the dense but seminal On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius. C. S. Lewis wrote the forward to the paperback edition from Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press although other cheaper editions are available. Last year I highlighted my friend A. D. Bauer’s nice, short and useful book One of Us: Reflecting on the Radical Mystery of the Incarnation (Square Halo Books; $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59) which you should consider. 

This year, I’ll suggest this very nicely produced 8-lesson Bible study book, Incarnation by Derek Vreeland. It is part of a series NavPress is doing (including matching volumes coming next season on the crucifixion and on the resurrection.) Incarnation is ideal to study this season, but is, of course, foundational for any Christ-follower and would be good for any time. Best used in groups, I’m sure you’d enjoy it solo, as well. The Bible texts used are in The Message paraphrase, which is fun. God is with us, friend, and this study allows you to dive deep into this fascinating reality that the Creator God of the Universe came in flesh and blood and, as Engage Peterson colorfully put it, “moved into the neighborhood.”

I hope you recall our promotion of Vreeland’s wonderful 2023 book Centering Jesus: How the Lamb of God Transforms Our Communities, Ethics, and Spiritual Lives. He knows his stuff and this handsome, new study has lots of reading, Biblical exploration, reflection questions to discuss and application points to ponder. As with any diligent study of Scripture, you will be drawn closer to Christ and challenged into deeper discipleship. Happily, there are fine closing prayers to help us all not just learn more, but live well because of it. Perhaps even a bit incarnationally.

The Advent Tree: Meeting Jesus in God’s Big Story Kara Eidson (WJK) $17.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

When we first opened our store over Thanksgiving weekend of 1982 local folks seemed glad that we had Jesse Tree ornaments and resources. We both grew up knowing of this custom which decorated a tree with symbols of God work in the Older Testament, showing the thread of redemptive promises throughout Scripture. The custom seemed to wane and over the years we’ve had fewer people ask about Jesse Tree resources. And now — hooray! — we have a brand new book with an upbeat and fresh take on this great, seasonal tradition.

Kara Eidson is a pastor who is a fine communicator (we used her DVD Stay Awhile in our own church last year) and we’ve appreciated her Lenten study,  A Time to Grow: Lenten Lessons from the Garden to the Table. Now, we’ve got an intergenerational resource (or a fine book to read on one’s own) that offers daily reflection, creative symbols, and engaging insights. It’s more than a devotional (and with the book there is free access to digital resources (wjkbooks.com/AdventTree) to enhance yours of the book during worship, group study, or family time.)

Her United Methodist colleague Magrey DeVega says,

Edison reminds us that as we make our way to the manger, we ought to lean in and listen. There, among the stars and the shepherds, we will hear the voice of our spiritual ancestors, joining us in celebrating the fulfillment of a story generations in the making. To truly commemorate Christmas means to remember all that led to the coming of Christ. This book shows us how.

I love that quote. Read it again.  Well put, isn’t it?

Unhappy Holidays: Blessings for a Blue Christmas Sherah-Leigh Gerber (Herald Press) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

There have been a number of good resources of late inviting us to care well for those who aren’t up for a joyful Christmas and who recoil from the trappings of the festive America holiday cheer. I am sure some of you reading have lost loved ones in recent months, have gotten a horrible diagnosis, are fearful of losing a job, are distressed by abusive memories and alarmed by the grave threats to our democratic order daily promoted by our current political regime. Who can rejoice in times like these?

Unhappy Holidays is asking the question “how can we hope when not all is merry and bright?” Ends up, this honest collection of fascinating stories and tender words are just what many of us need.

Besides the honest, good reflections there are some appendices, good stuff on adapting this for a small group, some about using the material in communal worship, a set of sensitive Advent candle-lighting litanies, and a plan for a Blue Christian service.  Very useful.

For other resources (which we’ve highlighted, among others, in a special Blue Christmas BookNotes list last year) don’t forget Blue Christmas: Devotions of Light in a Season of Darkness by Todd Outcalt (Upper Room; $14.99 // our sale price = $11.99), A Weary World: Reflections for a Blue Christmas by Kathy Escobar (WJK; $16.00 // our sale price = $12.80) and Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-with-Us, Then, Here, and Now by Scott Erickson (Zondervan; $19.99 // our sale price = $15.99.

The Art of Living in Advent: 28 Days of Joyful Waiting Sylvie Vanhoozer (IVP/formatio) $12.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $10.39

What a lovely little book this is! You will be sure to find it literate and thoughtful, beautifully done and, dare I say, both unique and profound. It is a sure, solid, resource that you will revisit often, making it one of the best new resources of the year.

The Art of Living in Advent is not drawn from but is similar to her previous year-long daily devotional The Art of Living in Season. That year-long one followed the church calendar and its theme or motif was drawn from the author’s girlhood in Provence, France, a region known for extravagant, multi-figured creche sets including workers, peasants, gardeners, merchants, and farmers galore, all crowding around the nativity. Her memory of these unique, expansive creches included insights about how they incorporated common folks and daily life, all caught up in the redemptive project begun in the manger. Somehow common life was dignified and all manner of townspeople played a part in this cosmic drama. What a beautifully illustrated and poetic set of reflections she offered in that volume last year.

This new, pocket sized one, The Art of Living in Advent, is all new material, with new, tasteful but clever artwork, pastels just like in the bigger book. William Edgar calls it “exquisite” and Amy Peeler, an Anglican priest and Wheaton prof, says it is “a veritable feast of image, flora, story, and Scripture.” If. you have her previous one, I’m sure you’ll want this one. If you haven’t gotten that one yet, this is a great intro to her style, insight, and charm.

Praying with Saint Nicholas: A Christmas Devotional Matt Mikalatos (Tyndale) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

You might want to know that even before we’ve highlighted this here, now, it’s become our best selling Advent book this season. Folks from several locations are using it and Matt has been righteous enough to tell people to buy it from indie bookstores. Our name comes up — he orders from us himself — so followers of his have found us. What a blast sending out a handful here and there. We even pitched it last October at our annual Wee Kirk (small church) conference in Western PA.

You may recall that we featured his fabulous Praying with Saint Patrick early last Spring and while Irish folks are passionate about their flamboyant and storied saint (and who doesn’t love the true story of this converted slave who returned to teach his pagan captives to read and lead them to Christ.) This one has even wider appeal and is arranged nicely with readings and quotes and stories. Nicholas — who was a bishop in Myra, an outpost of the Roman Empire which is modern-day Turkey— was a man of great generosity, helped trafficked children, cared for the needy, and did all sorts of remarkable things, including crafting remarkable prayers (“for light in times of darkness” and “to be a blessing.” And yes, he got into a fight over the divinity of Christ in the famous dust-up (okay, he just up and punched him) with Arius at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. You gotta get this book!

The Star Still Beckons: Gifts of Presence at Advent and Christmastide Leonard Sweet (The Salish Sea Press) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

This is a book for which we’ve waited for years (decades?) and I’m thrilled to announce it here. Sweet published it himself in his little, indie publishing outfit from Orcas Island (in the state of Washington) so you may not have heard of it. He’s a master wordsmith, an amazing reader, who, with his photographic memory, can draw on sources old and new, obscure and au current. That is, he’s a blast to read and I promise you that you will learn new stuff, be challenged to reconsider things you thought you knew, and be invited to live out this Advent journey in fresh and maybe even exciting ways.

Here is what is says on the back:

In the chaos of the Christmas clamor, The Star Still Beckons, invites unto pause, breathe, and journey back to the sacred heartbeat of the season. With his signature blend of rich theology, poetic insights, and cultural imagination, Dr. Leonard Sweet leads us through an Advent encounter — one that begins in a stable and ends in stardust. You’ll encounter wonder in wounds, dignity in dirt, and a God who chose not majesty but matter to declare: You matter.

Read that again and wonder about stables and stardust, not majesty but matter. Wow.

He would say that this is not just another devotional, but a “symphony of silence and song.” There are “donkeys and dancing, manger grime and divine glory.”

There are a set of six reflections here, all well-written, jarring and at times jubilant, first four for the Sundays in Advent. Then there are three more, one for Christmas Eve, one for Christmas Day, and one for New Year’s (in which he tells about the Scottish “Hogmanay.”) There is a detailed guide in the back, full of special “interactive” — more than discussion questions, but stuff to do together — and invitations to find sacred space and interact with the material alone and together. There are “prayerful ponderings” and more.

Somebody said “Whether you’re a Silent Night soul or a Jingle Bells spirit, these pages offer sacred space to rediscover the enchantment of Christmastide.” Exactly.

A Child Is Born: A Beginner’s Guide to Nativity Stories Amy-Jill Levine (Abingdon) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

A Child Is Born four-session DVD $44.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $35.99 A Child Is Born Leader’s Guide  $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

Agree or not with this upbeat and opinionated and provocative New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine is legendary for bringing her own expertise as a Jew to the study of the gospels. A (Reformed) rabbi and prof at Vanderbilt and nationally recognized scholar and teacher, she writes with passion and insight. This is another in a series of books offering introductions — for seasoned church folk or those unfamiliar with the basic historical gist — of Biblical stories. Here she asserts that the miraculous birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary stands in a tradition, starting with Abraham and Sarah. James Howell asks “Who else would remind us that Samson, Moses, and Hannah, too, are “the chorus rising in with their stories when we hear of Mary’s conception?” “Pondering our Old Testament stories of unexpected pregnancies and births illuminates what’s up in the stories of Mary and Jesus.”

Adam Hamilton calls it “a wonderful and inspiring book — a book to be savored.”  Even the contemplative Catholic writer Father Ronald Rolheiser weighs in, saying that A Child Is Born that Levine’s Judaism allows her to”highlight Jesus’s roots in Judaism in a manner that helps us understand him and his teachings more accurately and more in depth.”

One leader calls it “a masterclass” and “a literary ultrasound.”   Four chapters and an Epilogue. 115 pages.

With Heart & Soul & Voice: Advent Devotions on the First Christmas Songs Tim Chester (The Good Book Company) $14.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

Ha — what a great idea. It’s been done before but never so well: here Chester explores the Biblical songs sung in the birth narratives in the gospels. That is, there are meditative essays on Mary’s Song (The Magnificat), Zechariah’s Song (The Benedictus), the Angels’ Song (The Gloria) and Simeon’s Song (The Nunc Dimittis.)

There are seven readings on the first two of these songs; five for the next two. Each day includes carol lyrics, prayers, quotes from famous theologians old and new. I respect Tim Chester (who serves in urban London) a lot; in a way he reminds of the impeccable John Stott.

“So much of the joy and courage we need each day is carried in these life-giving songs” — Kristyn Getty

Everyday Gospel Christmas Devotional Paul David Tripp (Crossway) $7.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $6.39

Perhaps you have heard of Tripp’s mega-best seller, New Morning Mercies perhaps the biggest selling devotional in recent years (except for Jesus Calling.) We routinely stock the hardback and the nicer gift edition as well. Tripp has written bunches of books combining his astute, conservative Bible exegesis and his caring counseling insight, offering a gospel-centered and grace-based view of Biblical insight for living. His devotional captured (among other things) what Luther might have been meant he advised that we “preach the gospel to ourselves” each day.

Following that still popular New Morning Mercies devotional, Tripp release another called Everyday Gospel. It, too, is an intense and handsome hardback, offering Christ-exalting and personally transformative meditations, day by day, offering kernels of the gospel to transform everyday life.

This new, slim collection of 25 readings drawn from Everyday Gospel, shows that Tripp loves Christmas, and loves to connect its glorious truths with our everyday lives. As he reflects on Biblical events from Genesis to Revelation he shows us the historical redemptive insight about who Jesus is and why He came to be born in that Bethlehem manger.

After each reflection there is a poignant question to ponder and a rich prayer to enjoy and share.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus: An Advent to Christmas Pilgrimage Andy Langford & Ann Langford Duncan (Abingdon Press) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Andy Langford is a respected and vibrant United Methodist pastor from North Carolina and Ann Duncan is daughter, a graduate of Duke Divinity School and a United Methodist pastor serving in California. They both are writers (and collaborated on The Gospel According to the Hunger Games Trilogy.) I love the idea of a father/daughter book project and this one is both, or so it feels to me, both gentle and quiet and yet at the same time exciting and invigorating.

I think it comes across this way, with tones of contemplation and vigor, because it is working the metaphor of a pilgrimage. There’s even a map of ancient Palestine in the front, giving a sense that we are going someplace for real, down to dusty Earth, and, maybe, we will encounter thin places. We are ordinary folks trekking along but it is a sacred journey. This, they say, will get us to open our eyes to the goodness of Christmas.

I think of the U2 song about all that we can’t leave behind. I think of the burdens of this season, of this life. We need a transforming journey. We need to let some stuff go and head out fresh. We need this season to think about the Word becoming flesh.

There are five main chapters in this Advent pilgrimage, and with each they give a destination. The first chapter, reflecting on the lectionary text of the first Sunday of Advent, is called “An Early Prophet: Isaiah” and the journey’s destination is ancient Jerusalem and the first temple. The second chapter of this travelogue is called “Two Later Prophets: John the Baptist and John the Theologian” and the destination we head for is the Jordan River and over to the Island of Patmos. The third leg of our journey is to meet “The Mother of God and the First Disciple Mary” in Nazareth, while the last stretch for the Fourth Sunday of Advent we head for Bethlehem and the Second Temple in Jerusalem, in a chapter called The First Witnesses: Angels, Shepherds, Simeon, and Anna.” At pilgrim’s end we get to the First Sunday of Christmas and the title here is “The Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas): Grace Born In Bethlehem.” The final afterword closes with a good piece saying that “our pilgrimage ends and continues…” The destination? The new Jerusalem and your local congregation. Nice, eh?

The messages of Come Thou Long Expected Jesus strikes me as solid, mature, thoughtful, common-enough stuff. It’s brought to life by the pilgrimage metaphor, I think, and by the good writing, preaching, storytelling, and the historical stuff in each locale. I hope you enjoy it.

(Although we’d have to order them (which we would gladly and easily do) I’m told there is a DVD and a leader’s guide. Let us know if we can help.)

All Is Calmish: How To Feel Less Frantic and More Festive During the Holidays Niro Feliciano (Broadleaf) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

I will suggest this therapeutic book as a nicely written, often insightful, often energetic reminder of the stresses brought on by various seasonal holidays; the author mentions Thanksgiving, Diwali, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s, occasions which often “makes us frazzled and frantic. Stressed and stretched. Distressed and depressed.” She is a trained and certified psychotherapist and an expert on anxiety and relationships. Maybe you’ve seen her on the TODAY show or in the Oprah Daily. She is a first generation Sri Lankan American and is a popular writer and counselor.

I have dipped into this hardback in several spots and have been each time been engaged and entertained. I’m not sure it’s that brilliant — it’s mostly common sense stuff about connecting with others, letting go of perfectionists tendencies, reducing expectations, and finding the joy of simple pleasures. But they are taught with compelling stories and anecdotes, not preachy, spoken like a friend. She’s breezy and tells stories about leaving cookie-dough unbaked (her plans were, she tells us,”half-baked.”) She tells a funny story about getting a big Christmas tree off of her roof (“the closest I have ever come to wrestling an alligator.”) She has some helpful advice about gifts and gift-giving (which is not everyone’s forte) Okay.

If you like upbeat, even charming, writing with a bit about brain science and boundary-setting and the value of religious rituals even at our business, this winsome might be a fun companion for your harried season. As best-selling author Julie Lythcott-Haims (How to Raise An Adult) simply puts it, “Niro Feliciano gets it.” We do not have to “lose ourselves” in the process of striving for a meaningful holiday season. We really can — as Feliciano’s watchword puts it —“be times of connection rather than perfection.”

The book’s footnotes include fascinating summaries of research on mental health and resilience and pieces from journals like the Harvard Divinity Bulletin (on the value of silence) and Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience (on cortisol) and Studies in Psychology (on FOMO.) Yet, the final appendix listing suggestions for simple holidays are so banal (and upper class) I’d snip those out if I could. Otherwise, what’s not to love about a book called All Is Calmish.

We hope you appreciate these rather diverse sort of resources, curated for your reading pleasure. Don’t forget to check back to last year’s column (where I have convenient links to five other previous BookNotes seasonal lists.) Just jump on our website and see the archives of old BookNotes. We’ve got a whole lot of books here, so let us know how we can help you some right for you or your group. Thanks for your support this season.

AND NEXT ISSUE — coming soon — ADVENT BOOKS FOR CHILDREN & FAMILY.

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