I was asked to do a Zoom adult ed forum at a fascinating church in Durham, NC last week. I’ve been with them virtually before, talking about books and the reading life, but this time I was asked to speak for an hour offering a big picture view of the dangers of Christian Nationalism. Or White Christian Nationalism, as it often is described. I’ve read more than fifteen books on the topic and skimmed another dozen and felt like I could give my take on the idolatry of nationalist ideology, the ways well-intended people can go very, very wrong and the danger of that when a far-right extremist vision that is prone to violent language gets wrapped in evangelical zeal and Pentecostal power.

We know from the photographic evidence how much Jesus stuff was amidst — and even more at the periphery — the rioters as they attacked the police and ransacked our beautiful Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

From the prayers of Paula White and Cindy Jacobs to the shofars that were often used to the teeming religious tee-shirts and Bible-quoting tweets, we know that people of Christian faith were very deeply involved in riots and the effort to stop the certification of the election. From odd evangelicals like Eric Metaxas and Michael Lindell the Pillow Guy to the even more bizarre, like Pennsylvania Gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano who visited the cultic Rod of Iron Ministry — known as the “gun church” (which literally uses AR-15’s in its liturgy) to the infamously, nutty, January 6th QAnon shaman (who respectively removed his bull-horned helmet to offer a prayer once he had overtaken the police and taken the Senate floor), the twenty-first century movement of self-proclaimed apostles and prophets make the conversations about faith and public life exceptional fraught. Who are these people?

This kind of mayhem and the right-wing patriotic spirituality that blesses it is something different than the civil religion noted by the likes of Robert Bellah years ago or even what became known as the Christian right (Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979), bellicose as it often was.

This latest iteration of God and Country patriotic faith is weirder and at times sounding more extreme than even Falwell shilling for Botha’s apartheid regime or Ollie North lying about his deadly involvement in the contra slaughter of peasants in Nicaragua. As ugly as Falwell defaming Christian leaders like Alan Boesak or Desmond Tutu was or as awful as the religious support for American-financed death squads in Central America was, or as grossly anti-ecological the rapture-ready James Watt was and as lamentable as the complexities (and deadliness) of our God-bless-America campaigns of Shock and Awe in Iraq were, this recent manifestation of passionate, prophesying faith making an idol out of MAGA ideals is really something yet again. New Christian Nationalism is not just traditional and patriotic Christians working for conservative policies. It really is a strange worship of theocratic tendencies and orthodox Christians simply must contend with it.

Whether one goes back to the fifteenth century papal bull of Pope Nicholas V (“The Doctrine of Discovery”) or ponders the ways the pilgrims and puritans saw themselves as ancient Israel, mimicking her conquests of land and people or how the Founders drew on some Christian influences giving the impression (to some) that America was therefore a Christian nation, or even the ways in which faith was used for evil —think of chattel slavery or of the KKK, say, or how many Christians (fundamentalists, mainline, and Catholic) protested against the civil rights movement (see Randall Balmer’s short Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right (Eerdmans; $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59) for one look at the ugliness of fundamentalism in those years) —  knowing even a little about all this history, it is clear that the current Pentecostal / Seven Mountains Mandate stuff has a big back story and their large movement promoting a confluence of some sorts of faith with mostly bad politics didn’t happen out of nowhere.

There are dots to be connected, I think, from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 which removed the Catholic monarchy in England, offering Protestants their own special privileges and rights, to the American Revolution — some of those revolutionaries saw themselves as the heirs of those previous British Protestants fighting for their rights — on up to the religiously motivated anti-communist zealots like Carl McIntyre and Phyllis Schlafly and the current idolatry within some strains of American exceptionalism.

These built on each other, adding anger and resentment at each stage (blame Rush Limbaugh and the vitriol of the birther movements for some that) to now, when we have religious leaders praying for a strongman “Christian prince” who can do whatever it takes to reinsert a certain sort of Christian culture through domination of the political sphere. Journalist and religion scholar Matthew Taylor notes that one of the most cited verses on right-wing social media on January 6th was “The violent take it by force” — surely a mis-appropriation of Jesus’s meaning when he learned that Herod killed his cousin John the Baptist. In any case, Matthew 11:12 was used, and often mis-quoted, saying “The violent take it back by force.”

As was famously once said, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Or, as Jeremiah suggested more than once, “Don’t say there is peace, peace where there is no peace.”

Things are not okay.

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I started my little presentation on Christian Nationalism by noting that, in my view, we ought not disparage brothers and sisters for trying to relate faith and public life. That we need a Biblically-informed, theological robust, intentionally Christian approach to politics is an axiom for me, so it isn’t that the New Apostolic Reformation or the latest Pentecostal leaders of Christian Nationalism are wrong to bring faith to their citizenship or the issues of the day. Rather, it is that they are doing it in such a wrong-headed way. I have a whole list of books about faith and politics HERE (arranged by their depth and level of sophistication) and commend that as the bigger question of how to do politics more faithfully once we understand how Christian Nationalism gets it wrong.

Of that big list, I will just list three, quickly, here, to frame this discussion of (White) Christian Nationalism; one is very easy to read, one I might call just a bit more in-depth, and the third maybe more challenging and thorough (but not scholarly or academic as such.)

How to Be a Patriotic Christian: Love of Country as Love of Neighbor Richard J. Mouw (IVP) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Balanced, delightful, humble, How to Be a Patriotic Christian is a fabulous read by one who has explored civic faithfulness for decades. If the Christian Nationalists make an idol out of their dis-ordered love of country and their particular take on what Christian politics should be, this is a lovely, reasonable call to love things like your own nation and place well, in the right (limited and provisional) way. I think Rich Mouw is a must-read about nearly anything and this is an inspiring little work that really ought not to be missed.

The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor Kaitlyn Schiess (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This young writer has a real gift and it becomes evident in this brilliantly powerful exploration of the false idols in our Christian communities as it invites us to ask how we are formed to think as we do about politics and citizenship. What most influences your political opinions? She shows how we in the church should be more intentional about have our civic convictions shaped by the first things of our faith, nurturing a gospel-centered, Kingdom vision of political service. It’s so rich and thought and righteous. By the way, her historical overview of how the Bible has been used and misused in American political history is also quite excellent. See her The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go From Here Brazos Press; $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99.)

Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why It Matters Miranda Zapor Cruz (IVP Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I love this book — a very comprehensive overview of various models and options for Christian political engagement. She shows the strengths and weaknesses of various ways to integrate faith and politics and how Christian citizens should (or shouldn’t) support current regimes and policies. There’s so much to learn from so many interesting angles and styles. She is generous and insightful about them all. The final two chapters explore two models that are not faithful: “Invading the Country to Establish the Kingdom” is how she describes the Dominionist approach and “Eroding the Distinction Between Kingdom and Country” shows the problem with the Christian Nationalist approach. This is one of the best recent books on true Kingdom citizenship and political life. Congrats, Dr. Cruz.

WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

Here Are Your Gods: Faithful Discipleship in Idolatrous Times Christopher J. H. Wright (IVP) $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19

I’ll start with this one even though it is not about contemporary American politics or Christian nationalism as such. It is more general, a study of themes of idolatry in the Old Testament and what it means to be faithful amidst political idolatry. It’s a good start by an excellent, world-renowned Biblical, missional scholar for any conversations about these turbulent times.

Strange Worship: Six Steps for Challenging Christian Nationalism Drew J. Strait (Cascade) $24.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.20

I list this one up front, here, because, as the title suggests, white nationalism is idolatry, leading to very strange worship. Although, as the subtitle shows, this has good ideas for congregations wanting to work towards beloved community. So good. with lots of first-steps and more radical ones. Well worth reading. The author is a Mennonite Bible prof and a nonviolent activist.

American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church Andrew L. Whitehead (Brazos Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Whitehead co-authored a seminal book on this stuff published by Oxford University Press but this one is more accessible, more crisply written, and overtly evangelical. Whitehead is fabulous as he offers a wise, Godly critique of the idolatry that pervades Christian nationalism. Kristin Kobes Du Mex calls American Idolatry “an essential primer.” Good stuff on moving forward, too. I want to say it is very highly recommended.

American Christian Nationalism: Neither American Nor Christian Michael W. Austin (Eerdmans) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Austin is a widely read and respected ethics prof who has written wonderful books on everything from humility to the American conversations about guns to a faithful response to the chaos from QAnon. Here he shows “how nationalism is contrary to American values and Christian virtues” and offers a better form of civic engagement. This one is short and matter-of-fact. Joel Looper of Baylor notes that “he avoids any hint of a polemic tone” so this one is perhaps a good starting resource for those who wonder what the fuss is about. It is almost too polite.

Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity Joel Looper (Eerdmans) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I appreciate this as he offers fellow evangelicals (and others) what the back cover calls “a theological rationale for resisting Christian nationalism.” I am glad that he brings home a central truth that the sort of religion and worldview of the Christian nationalists is, frankly, what the Apostle Paul would say is “another gospel.” How have we so lost our way as to not see this? For those who care about the clarity of the message of the gospel, this book should break your heart. I hope some folks buy several and study it with others, especially for those who many not care much about the social and political issues in our country these days. Looper (who teaches at Baylor) University has written well on Bonhoeffer and brings insight about how the MAGA ideology has a secularizing influence on the church message and is eroding the claims of the gospel.

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

In a way this is the essential guidebook for anyone alarmed by the force of Christian nationalism and who wonders how to resist it. Jemar Tisby says it is “a potent tool for taking action” and William Barber (co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign) says “Amanda Tyler is a powerful sister.” Kristin Du Mex says it is “clear, concise, and compelling”… the perfect book for anyone confused about Christian nationalism and wondering what they can do about it.”

We met Amanda Tyler earlier this year and it was an honor to meet her and a real encouragement to hear her insight, based on lots of experience. She is a lawyer, a Texas Baptist, and a super-smart organizer against this high-powered stuff. She’s the real deal. Congressperson Jamie Raskin notes that How to End… is a “labor of love for Tyler’s country and her faith and it is a gift to America in dangerous times.”

American Heresy: The Roots and Reach of White Christian Nationalism John Fanestil (Fortress Press) $24.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.20

I found this indispensable to get at the colonial origins of white Christian nationalism. Randall Balmer notes that the author “expertly demonstrates in American Heresy, the idea that the United States occupies a special plane in the divine economy extends back to the contain era and the nations founders.” I was reminded here that the Founders “drew on English Protestant notions of divine protection and providence.” This leads, he shows, to “violence, nostalgia, racism, propaganda, conspiratorial thinking and nationalism.” It’s complicated, of course, but this is an excellent contribution. This is one piece of the big backstory, but it is an essential piece, since one of the prominent tenets of all Christian nationalisms is that America was founded as a Christian country with God’s special blessings. Don’t miss this.

For what it is worth, as an aside, we recommend even in the best of times (and now, especially) the very fine and award-winning historical work by our friend Dr. John Fea called Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? (WJK; $40.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $32.00.)

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in Age of Extremism Tim Alberta (Harper) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Although not an academic study of the roots of Christian nationalism precisely, this study of conservative evangelicals and their foibles on the way towards right-wing nationalist fervor is a remarkable, important book. And a compelling, captivating read. This may be my favorite one on the list. Alberta is the son of a Gordon-Conwell-graduated pastor in the mid-West who, famously, was savaged at his fathers funeral for a critique of Trump he had written in 2019 (American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump.) That his spiritual siblings in his home church could be so aggressive against him in front of his father’s casket shocked him into doing another book, written with his own faith more centered, exploring how the evangelical movement got caught into political and cultural warrioring in ways that seem so distance from the earnest faith in Jesus he learned in his childhood.

This is a major work of investigative, up to date journalism, a page-turning report that the New York Times called “brave and absorbing.” Tim Alberta is honest, insightful, and a gripping storyteller. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory  is a must-read, now in paperback.

Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism  Brian Taylor & Beau Underwood (Chalice Press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Okay, while we are trying to discern the theological and philosophical roots of this drift into nationalism, we can’t just point the finger at the fundamentalist Christian right and the extremist Pentecostals. These authors make a case that mainline Protestants with their patriotic hymns and civil religion haven’t helped discern a Jesus-oriented, Kingdom sort of political ethic, either, and are more complicit in ways that we maybe haven’t considered. There is some deep historical research (and what Randall Balmer called “trenchant analysis here — a jeremiad that must be heard.

Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — and What Comes Next Bradley Onishi (Broadleaf Books) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I couldn’t put down this lively read, considered “a riveting history of the white Christian nationalism that led to the January 6 insurrection.” The prestigious Kirkus Review gave it a coveted “starred review” saying it is “a clear-eyed, compelling study of the road to January 6 and the possible future of the politics-versus-religion battle in the U.S.” It is rigorous and sincere, an insider’s story of what is “fueling the extremism from the religious right.”  His section “what does white have to do with nationalism” is very helpful.

Maybe pair it with the even more intense and extensive The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by the riveting and artful Jeff Sharlet (Norton; $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19.)

The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide Pamela Cooper-White (Fortress Press) $24.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.20

I have written about this before and think it is a very valuable piece for any of us wanting to stay in relationship with those who are deeply enmeshed in this extremist worldview (or even understand it.) Cornel West — who delightfully has good friends on the political right that are very different from himself — says it is “brilliant and courageous”and “the best treatment we have of the complex psychological dynamics of the dangerous Christian nationalist movement in America.”

West continues, “Without losing sight of the humanity of even the most racist and sexist of our fellow citizens, Pamela Cooper-White has given us a powerful and needed text on just how close we are to losing our democratic experiment.”

Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith April Ajoy (Worthy) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I think the book listed above is solid and caring but it is written by a scholar who is, as a Lutheran, pretty much an outsider to the movement. Ajoy was an insider, for sure. She was raised in the evangelical subculture, a conservative foot-soldier in the Lord’s army, a youth for Christ who bought into all the cultural ethos and political issues until she didn’t. This is wise and insightful and written with a lot of spunk and not a little snark. The sparkly cover is a hoot, the prose is lively, the book a great read.

Jemar Tisby says “Star-Spangled Jesus is the Rosetta Stone for understanding white Christian nationalism.”  Shane Claiborne says it is written with “defiant joy.” Yup.

Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy Katherine Stewart (Bloomsbury) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Katherine Stewart wrote the excellent 2019 expose The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. The Washington Post called it “gripping… required reading for anyone who wants to map the continuing erosion of our already fragile wall between church and state.” It was a seminal volume to help us (in the words of Rev. William Barber) to “challenge the false moral narrative of religious nationalism.”

This more recent one is some of the best journalistic reporting I’ve seen on the topic, a deep dive into what she calls the Funders, Thinkers, Sergeants, Infantry, and Key Players that make up the inner workings roiling American cultured politics. Who knew some of this? Reporting often from first hand accounts on location, this is — even for one who knows a bit about this extremism and ugliness — shocking.

Join this vivid writer as she exposes the extremist churches, conspiracy mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and others attacking democracy at its foundations.  Wow. Just wow.

Christian American and the Kingdom of God: White Christian Nationalism from the Puritans through January 6, 2021 Richard T. Hughes & Christian Littlefield (University of Illinois Press) $24.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.96

Hughes has been a hero of ours in many ways, writing very good books about the myths that drive the American worldview.(He also has a fine little book on the task of the Christian scholar.) He used to teach near us at Messiah College and is an Emeritus professor at Pepperdine where Littlefield also teaches. Both are strong advocates for understanding the ways which the Biblical Kingdom of God should shape our discipleship in following Jesus and how this has been perverted to mis-shape the citizenship of many Christian people. It is complex and nuanced and is an ideal text for those studying religion, politics, or current events. This is an expanded edition of an acclaimed earlier version. Rave reviews on the back from John Fea and David Gushee. Including the notes it is 388 pages.

The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong with Christian Nationalism Paul D. Miller (IVP Academic) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

For some readers, this book by a conservative Christian political theorist and solid scholar (and former White House staffer under both Bush and Obama) will be an excellent choice. He offers what Amy Black (of Wheaton) calls “a refreshingly different approach” which is exceptionally charitable in interpreting those whose views he is concerned about.

Endorsements for this rigorous title are from the likes of Samuel Perry, John Inazu, Peter Wehner, Karen Swallow Prior, and it has a good forward by David French. As it says on the back, “Christian nationalism is at odds with the genius of the American experiment and could prove devastating to both church and state. Christians must relearn how to love our country without idolizing it and seek a healthier Christian political witness.”

Miller spent a decade in public service as director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff, as an intelligence analyst for the CIA, and was a military intelligence officer in the US Army. He is now a professor at Georgetown and has also written on just war theories (see his Just War and Ordered Liberty.)

Defending Democracy for Its Christian Enemies David P. Gushee (Eerdmans) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Dave Gushee is an important author, a former evangelical with deep experiences within classic, conservative Protestantism; he’s well-versed in and and thought hard (for years) about different views of faith and politics. He now teaches at Mercer University in Mississippi and is a prolific writer on theological ethics, following Jesus, and many social issues. This is an amazingly succinct and yet wide-ranging survey of how authoritarianism is creeping all over the world. He asks “if American democracy is in danger, how do we protect it from reactionary Christianity?”

“David Gushee has written that rare book that combines reader-friendliness, moral clarity and political detail… Read it and then give it to everyone you know.” — Marcia Pally, author, White Evangelicals and Right-Wing Populism: How Did We Get Here?

The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy Matthew D. Taylor (Broadleaf Books) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

This book was a real page-turner for me, even though it, frankly, was less a jeremiad against Christian nationalism and, rather, a careful, detailed, even empathic study of the nuances and networks (and key players) in what is called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR.) He connects the dots with these Pentecostal leaders who — if you don’t travel in those circles at all — you may not have heard of, but have millions of followers all over the world. Those of us who know a bit about charismatic renewal and the “third wave” of the Spirit and the language apostles and prophets of this new manifestation will be fascinated how the Latter Rain revival is described as so influential. And, believe me, despite wondering when and how it will happen, man, do the dots get connected. Cindy Jacobs was at the Capitol on January 6th. So was Ché Ahn. Paula White’s White House office was used for a regular prayer call for the President and that Rolodex and Zoom call lists were used to bring the tongue-speaking prophets to the protests on January 5th and 6th 2021. This is the best study of the political implications of NAR and is a vital, reasonable, wise, look at this growing part of the worldwide body of Christ.

There are fabulously interesting chapters on Paula White, Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, Ché Ahn, the whole Seven Mountains Mandate thing, and how worship is seen as a weapon against demonic powers which hold regions, cities, and institutions captive. This is really urgent and I can’t say enough about this broad-ranging survey of charismatic and Pentecostal movement in the US and how so many networks — from John Wimber and Peter Wagner to the Toronto Blessing and the Kansas City Prophets — turned into a huge force helping Trump spread his conspiracy theories about stolen elections.  Don’t miss it. Wow.

Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor Caleb E Campbell (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This little volume is like no other and it has been our biggest selling title in this whole genre of books about faith, politics, Christian nationalism and the dangers of the extremist right. Whether you have loved ones giving the wink to neo-Nazis or approving Trump’s weirdly eccentric antics — did you see his tweet the other day with a grotesque picture of himself with QAnon symbols in his hand? — whether they are hard-core Nationalist or just MAGA-ish, this is the book will help you navigate your relationships and bear witness to the true gospel of Jesus.

Here’s the short version of what I’ve said in several longer reviews: Disarming Leviathan takes the conventional strategies of missionaries entering a foreign land and applies those to doing healthy, contextualized ministry with those who have drifted into nearly cult-like loyalty to dangerously corrupt ideologies. We must carefully learn the symbols and myths, the stories and values, the language and logic behind what is essentially (to use Joel Looper’s phrase, above) a false gospel. We have to have heart-to-heart, deep conversations with Christian nationalists the way we might with others who have gotten way off the path of conventional Christian teaching or who have not be truly converted to His Kingdom. We must, in relevant and winsome ways, invite people to become followers of Jesus.

Campbell is a megachurch pastor in Phoenix and has learned the hard way that civil conversation (as virtuous as that always is) is not adequate when talking with those who need not just reasonable chats and civil listening, but gospel-centered, evangelistic conversations. Can you truly minister to those God loves as a missionary to Christian nationalists?

“What I love about Caleb Campbell’s approach is that he recognizes Christian nationalists as neighbors who need discipleship in the way of Jesus.” — Carmen Joy Imes, Bearing God’s Name, Being God’s Image and Becoming God’s Family

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How’s everybody doing out there?

I mean after your church service this Labor Day weekend.

I’ve given up trying to get my church to talk about a Christian view of the work-world and have stopped for the most part moaning about being a businessperson excluded from the prayers, even on Labor Day. I hope you servants of God making a difference in your vocations and callings, job-sites and work zones, got a least a mention at church this week. Because what you do matters, to God and for the common good.

We even sang a song I hate. The morbid “Come Labor On” ought not even be in the Presbyterian hymnbook, if you ask me. If you know it you know it has ugly lines like saying we ought not ever rest (a bit of Pelagianism, perhaps?) and one which minimizes our personal pain. Worst, it presumes that the “work” from which we dare not rest is evangelism and mission — you know, “the Lord’s work.”  I think even conventional missionaries might think it is a bit much, but for those if us who don’t do that kind of work, it is insulting.

(For an excellent and detailed study of relating work to worship, by the way, and the need for liturgy and worship design to related to our various vocations, we recommend — in words much better than mine! — the outstanding Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk & Corry Wilson (Baker Academic; $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60.)

So if you are among the many who want to take Labor Day with some sort of theological rigor and thank God for our jobs, and for those workers who serve the common good, I offer this handful of recent titles and the reminder that here at BookNotes we have shared bunches of columns naming titles to show how God loves our work. (Last years Labor Day BookNotes column was a fun one, including a bunch of work-themed memoirs.There were a lot of links to previous lists, too.)  There are a handful of classics I mention often and I do hope you search through our BookNotes archives to see the reviews I’ve done to help move the needle on this important conversation.

Before a couple of shout-outs for a handful of new books about this theme, I’ll invite you to listen to the latest Labor Day “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast — you can watch it at Youtube here or listen in podcast style at Apple or Spotify. I name three very different books on work — one pretty easy to read but a foundational one, Work That Makes a Difference by Dan Doriani; another is deeper and reflective on blue-collar work and the trades (Shop Class as Soulcraft), and thirdly, one about the spirituality of virtue and vice in the workplace by Paul Stevens, Taking Your Soul to Work. And THEN I list three more, fun memoirs about people and their jobs. So I cheated a little, talking about six titles. Thanks to my CCO pal Sam Levy for hosting me and setting up that discussion.

And while I’m sharing Happy Labor Day links, here’s a lively 45-minute video of a presentation I gave a few years back at the Colorado Christian Business Alliance out in Denver — it’s pretty good, I think. I hope you like it, or at least don’t cringe. I get pretty fiery at times, surprise, surprise.

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I remember in the late 1970s hearing Jackson Browne sing “The Load Out,” at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, his song about the roadies who help the rock star and his band, lugging gear, setting up and tearing down, behind the scenes, night after night, as they were recording the Running on Empty album, released later that year. It’s a long story but I hung out with some of those very roadies after the show, watching them work and exercise their own craft with precision.

Even then I wondered why church music — either contemporary Christian pop songs or the old hymns — so rarely mentioned the ordinary work-a-day world.

Check out the wonderful collective of artful indie-folk musicians under the name The Porter’s Gate and their worship album called Work Songs for a  good step in the right direction. This link is to the album at the streaming BandCamp site but they have very well-produced videos for most of the songs, too — for instance, here’s You’re Labor Is Not in Vain and Wood and Nails (featuring Audrey Aussad and Josh Garrells.) None are too direct about work, really, but with titles like “Establish the Works of Our Hands” and “We Labor Unto Glory” you get the drift. (“Father Let Your Kingdom Come” by Urban Doxology and Liz Vice is a blast and “Every Father, Every Mother” with Madison Cunningham might make you cry.)

Remember that line from Luther, about how the men making the beer barrels and the women milking the cows are as important to the Kingdom of God as are the priests and nuns?  He and the other 16th century Reformers were busy focusing on the most urgent need of the day — recovering the gospel of grace through faith alone — that they didn’t work out all the societal implications of their doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers” and their redemptive vision of the restoration of all things. But the sweeping claims of the Reformation certainly unleashed a dynamic into Western history that, to this day, we’ve yet to fully work out, and that is exploring a Christian view of work.

Again, we here at the bookstore stock books on faithful Christian thinking and creative, redemptive practices, in engineering, health care, journalism, policing, education, law, the arts, counseling, urban planning, medicine, the performance arts, banking, various sorts of sciences, sports, the culinary careers, special education, political life, creative writing, social work, and, of course the trades. (And yes, pastoring and Christian ministry jobs, too; we have plenty of books about those callings, as well.) Not to mention unpaid jobs, the obvious work of parenting and homemaking, caregiving of the sick and the vocation of retirement. With the popularity of great new books like the lovely You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful by Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press; $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59) maybe people will be inspired to think again about their various callings and particularly their jobs.  I hope some of these will be of use.

So give that “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast a listen and share it with your friends. I love telling about these kinds of books and we hope others will find it helpful, informal as it is. We really would appreciate it. Thanks for caring.

HERE ARE SOME (MOSTLY) RECENT BOOKS ABOUT THESE THEMES. ALL ARE 20% OFF.

Ordinary Saints: Living Everyday Life to the Glory of God edited by Ned Bustard (Square Halo Books) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I’ll start here even though it is not that new. As I’ve often said, it is a delightful idea for a book and very well executed — there are chapters on work and play, hobbies and delights, coping with hard, hard stuff. From raising chickens to grieving well, from coping with wayward children to going to movies, from doing home repairs to grand parenting, this collection of mostly short pieces is fabulously interesting and exceptionally edifying. In a fun way.

I mention it also for other reasons. First, our late friend Calvin Seerveld has a deep, intriguing essay on knowing. As only a philosopher and art-lover would, Cal shares how to know well. He described ordinary knowing and a more complicated kind. He talks about the relationship of knowing God and knowing oneself. Any curious thinking about anything — this week about work and labor and marketplace ministry — should be informed by this kind of Godly awareness.

Second, if I may toot my own horn just a tiny bit, I have a chapter in here on working in retail. I’m not so much talking about the joy of talking about great books and hearing the rewarding replies of those who enjoyed a good read, but, rather, the nitty-gritty of sales, paperwork, ordering inventory, managing staff, and all that other behind the scenes stuff. It was an honor to write it and I hope it helps anyone who enters a retail shop to imagine what’s really going on as we try to offer good customer service. Anyway, it’s my little piece about working Coram Deo in a small family retail business. Thought you’d want to know.

Faith & Work: Galvanizing Your Church for Everyday Impact Missy Wallace & Lauren Gill (Redeemer City to City) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Maybe your church isn’t having these conversations at all. This would kickstart some stuff, for sure. Or, more likely, your church isn’t averse to blessing congregants by commissioning them into full-time Christian service right in the jobs they’ve got — most pastors and leaders have some intuition that most of us spend most of our time at workplaces that are not the church building. So if your leadership is (a) unaware of this movement to talk about church members serving God in their careers and jobs or (b) is interested but not sure how to go about developing such a mindset and becoming a center for “galvanizing” folks, then this book is the one you’ve got to read.

Missy and Lauren have been active for a long time in several sorts of teaching and learning communities, exploring the theological foundation for the faith and work movement. But here they offer strategies to overcome the common obstacles to an integrated vision and offer practical guides for “understanding and addressing brokennes in individuals and systems. They offer “a roadmap for implementing the principles of faith and work within your church and city.” The tools and resources in Wallace & Gill’s Faith & Work are very helpful and we couldn’t be happier to have a book like this to recommend.

This book should be required reading for every church leader who believes the people of God are called to live out their faith in every sphere of life — including their work.

 

— Dr. Michaela O’Donnell, director the Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary, and author of Make Work Matter: Your Guide to meaningful Work in a Changing World

Five Mere Christians: Binge-Worthy Biographies That Show You How to Glorify God in Your Work Jordan Raynor (Harvest House) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I know we have promoted Jordan Raynor’s other good books, especially his excellent 2024 release, The Sacredness of Secular Work: 4 Ways Your Job Matters for Eternity (Even When You’re Not Sharing the Gospel) and his great picture book for kids, The Creator in You. He gets this full-orbed vision of imaging God in all we do, including our vocations and callings, our employment and our jobs.

This new book is fabulous, fun, frisky, even. He, with some help from a co-author named Kaleigh Cox, offers upbeat biographies of five “mere Christians” (nod to Lewis) and especially unpacks in these stories how that person saw their vocations as holy callings, how they related faith and their field, how they understood their work as Kingdom service.

The five people explored are Mr. Fred Rogers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ole Kirk Christiansen, Hannah More and C.S. Lewis. These dynamic and fascinating people were called to the work of children’s television, civil rights and labor activism, becoming the founder of LEGO; there are great chapters on the playwright, poet, and educator involved in the British abolition movement, and, of course, the Oxford don and writer of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work Elaine Howard Ecklund & Denise Daniels (IVP) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I’ve been a fan of Denise Daniels in the faith and work movement for years. She is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Wheaton College and wrote the very impressive Working in the Presence of God which was about spiritual practices for everyday work. Elaine Howard Ecklund is amazing, too — she is a professor of sociology at Rice University — where she has done research on a number of relevant topics. (She is perhaps most known for her studies of how scientists think about religion and about how people of Christian faith think about science. Her major scholarly publications are on Oxford University Press but some of the implications of all that is in the fabulous Brazos Press title, Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear.) Anyway, both of these women are sharp scholars, respected leaders, and great communicators. This ends up being a really, really great book, at once serious and enjoyable, breaking some new ground and very insightful. I really hope you check it out.

Working for Better is research based; they have conducted a “first-of-its-kind” set of research projects to form a data-driven approach to the challenges of foster faith at work.” As the publisher informs us, this book “presents results from the most comprehensive set of studies to date on religion in the workplace.” In a way, it is ground-breaking.

They look at how the Christian faith can be influential in the workplace and identify. Five key tensions arising from changing demographics in American culture, and suggest practical applications, no matter who you are or where you work.

This is what Curtis Chang (author of The Anxiety Opportunity) calls,

“a fresh vision of how to integrate faith with work, one that expands beyond tired categories of evangelism, ethics, and excellence. Working for Better points the way forward with a thoughtful combination of theology, data, and narrative.”

When Work Hurts: Building Resilience When You’re Beat Up or Burnt Out Meryl Herr (IVP) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

You know the old adage of not judging a book by its cover. I don’t know, but I’m guessing this publisher’s designer was going for a cheery, self-help look, not wanting the topic to seem too dour. The author is upbeat and hopeful and she is writing about faith-filled resilience, so I get it. (But, please — designers: skip this goofy italics font, especially if you’re using it so consistently in the interior. It looks like a mess.)

Maybe that’s the point: our workplaces are often hot messes, scrambled and busy and not tidy. This topic has plenty of heaviness, and When Work Hurts has adequate gravitas, honestly describing the discouragement many of us face.

As it says on the back,

We might get discouraged, disillusioned, or devastated by our work. We may experience trauma or harassment on the job, or we might have experienced work loss by getting fired. If you’ve been beat up, burnt out, or brokenhearted by work, you’re not alone.

Have you been there? I have. And it’s awful. When one knows the presence of God with you and Christ for you in these situations, it is, on one hand, a lighter load, since the Triune God is there. But yet, it seems to me, that when one has convictions about the significance of work in the Christian scheme of things, when you believe your job matters, it is even more painful with it goes bad. It is emotional and complicated and that this book names “vocational pain” is really something. I highly recommend Herr’s approach  — thinking about the biblical story of the ancient Israelites in their journey through file, return, and rebuilding, “as a framework for navigating work loss.” Well done!

One reviewer says “this book is a simple and profound gem for the many moments when our lives are not.” Yes!

Amy Sherman has written two outstanding, detailed, meaty works that should be part of any core library on these things — Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good and  Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society. She notes:

“No one who’s dealing with disappointments, oppression, confusion, or toxicity at work will feel alone again after reading this book.”

There are some helpful suggestions to process the information at the end of each chapter. Thoughtful and wise and theological astute as it is  it is brimming with positive ideas and helpful tools to use. There is nothing like this in print. Thanks be to God.

Why Your Work Matters: How God Uses Our Everyday Vocations to Transform Us, Our Neighbors, and the World Tom Nelson (Brazos Press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

If you’ve read any of our older, archived BookNotes about faith and work, the first edition of this book comes up as often as any. It was called Your Work Matters and it told, among other things, the story of a good pastor in a healthy church that came to realize he was failing to equip his congregants to serve God in their work in the world. Tom called it “professional malpractice” by preaching and teaching and leading his church as it the Kingdom of God was all about the church. Once we saw the talents and passions of his parishioners and encouraged them to think faithfully about their callings in the world, things really shifted. Anyway, that book is classic and vital and this is a considerable updating (enough to warrant a new publisher and new title.) As much as we liked that first one, we are very happy to celebrate and promote this new one. It offers a grand theological story and “exploring recent developments in how we work, how God shapes our lives through work, and why our work matters for eternity.”

There are prayers and discussion questions, too, making this an incredibly useful books to go over with friends in a small group or class. Hooray.

The Conversation on Work edited by Ian O. Williamson (Johns Hopkins University Press) $17.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.36

This is part of the “Critical Conversations” series b Johns Hopkins University Press, a set of paperbacks which are drawn from a website where scholars present papers, journalists revise them for the general public, and all sorts of good conversations ensue. This is a top-flight conversation, collecting all kind of good articles from around the globe. It includes big picture stuff about the changing face of work in these days, it includes details about who runs what and why, it has lots of focus on choosing a career – I suppose this is used in college career centers and the like. There is a whole bunch of pieces about the role of technology (robotics and AI)  in work, these days. The Conversation on Work has a lot about how work is changing and many contributors speculate about the jobs of the future.

Editor Ian Williamson is the dean of the University of California School of Business and he is to be commended for this well organized set of essays on the intricacies of the workplace.

Go Forth: God’s Purpose for Your Work: An Eight Week Bible Study (Redeemer City to City) $13.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.19

Very handsomely designed, expertly done, inviting conversation on key Biblical texts that point us to a robust vision of the all-of-life-redeemed worldview that would undergird any call to social engagement, cultural reformation, and certainly the call to work in meaningful ways. Yes we are called tow work and yes, the places we work and the entities we work for are broken, distorted by sin and ideology, damaged by idols and foibles galore. But God equips us and sends us to be agents of goodness. Do these 8 lessons on your own, with a group at church, or, better, with some interested folks in our workplace. Fabulously interesting and well designed. Kudos, especially, to Lauren Gill and Charlie Meo.

The Missional Disciple: Pursuing Mercy & Justice at Work: A Six Session Course (Redeemer City to City) $14.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

I love what it says on the back cover: “As disciples of Jesus, our workplaces are often our primary places of mission. Yet we sometimes fail to recognize two key dimensions of our work — mercy and justice.”

This study course is designed around short videos presented by leading practitioners and theologians of the faith-in-the-work-world movement. It has case studies and lots of stories and great examples, even as it is honest about how hard it is to think well and serve creatively in many job sites. There are case studies from the commercial arts, education, filming, finance, and the hospitality industries. If you want to consider the work-world aspects of the vocation of being missional or ponder new ways to serve the hurting, this study is sure to help. We are so thrilled to stock it.

The Missional Disciple is an immensely helpful resource for the church.I encourage you to read this book with a small group of friends and expect to be transformed!  — Tish Harrison Warren, author, Liturgy of the Ordinary and Payer in the Night

If very Christian considered how the can better love their neighbors on the margins, steward their power, and be a restorative presence in their workplace, it would be nothing less than transformational. This course show us how to do just that.  — Timothy Keller, founder, Redeemer City-to-City, author of Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work

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BUY ANY BOOK FROM THIS LIST AND WE’LL SEND ALONG A FREE COPY of The Problem of Poverty by Abraham Kuyper (as edited by James W. Skillen // Center for Public Justice.)

The Dutch Statesman and theologian gave this remarkable presentation more than 130 years ago and it was first published in English in 1950 as Christianity and the Class Struggle. We’ll send you a free copy of this edited edition of this historic volume with any purchase from this BookNotes. It is relevant today, maybe now more than ever. 

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The other day on a social media page a guy belittled me ferociously, saying I shouldn’t call myself an orthodox Christian. He reads my book reviews, he said, and knows I’m woke.

Like that’s a bad thing, caring about racism and structural injustices built in the very architecture of our society. (Here’s a solid Christian reflection from the Christian Scholars Review on the history of the W-word and how odd it is that being anti-woke has become a thing.)

I tried to shrug it off, thinking it’s just the goofy worldview of a mean-spirited guy.

But he is right.

We here at Hearts & Minds have always tried to get people reading about social injustices. We’ve been harassed by the KKK. I believe what the Bible teaches about welcoming immigrants. I’m trying to understand what it means to be responsibly white in this culture in these days. I can think of worse things to be called.

As a young person trying to be serious about following Jesus I heard bits and pieces of a socially engaged faith. I read some moving meditations by Malcolm Boyd that struck me; somehow my parents came to hear of Koinonia Farms and we had record album recordings of sermons of the “Cottonpatch” preacher, Clarence Jordan. As an older teen I started reading Martin Luther King. I followed the Berrigan brothers and other anti-war Christians. I eventually had my evangelical faith deepened by hearing powerhouse Black communicators like Tom Skinner and eventually met John Perkins (who even contributed a chapter to my own little book, Serious Dreams so many years later.)  We white people didn’t call it “woke” back then (it was a term used in Black circles) but Anabaptists like Ron Sider and black leaders from various traditions partially shaped my young adult years. (That is one reason why I celebrated here at BookNotes the brand new book Making It Plain: Why We Need Anabaptism and the Black Church by Drew G. I. Hart. As Latasha Morrison, author of the great books on racial reconciliation Be the Bridge and Brown Faces, Whites Spaces, put it, Hart “equips us to live the gospel with courage and clarity.”

Of course there is more to the Christian faith than standing up for social righteousness and public justice and working out a coherent cultural theology. Obviously.

Just a few days ago I preached at my own church about the renewal of the Christian mind, savoring a quote from Greg Jao’s little booklet Your Mind Matters which every college student should have. [You can watch a video of my preaching at my own Facebook page if you want.]

As you have noticed we often review here books about our interior lives, recommending books about prayer, spiritual disciplines and how to practice the presence of God. We’ve done book lists on creativity and the arts, on coping with loss and facing hard times, on enjoying sports and reading poetry. We enjoy thinking about our various vocations and callings and we often try to encourage reading in these areas. Healthy Christian living before God includes all areas of life and we can serve God in all we do, from recreation to work. From our immediate family life to caring for our siblings at church.

But, certainly, there are overarching themes in the Bible and care for the hurting, the needy, the poor and oppressed, is central. You can’t not see it if you look in almost any book of the Bible. Jesus makes it part of his core teaching and the early church, up against a perverse and brutal empire, took stands about human dignity that literally changed the world. Before it was used as a term of derision, I’d say they were woke.

(There are so many sub-themes related to public justice and social concern about which we should learn — think of immigrants or the elderly, the prisoners, the unborn; think of refugees and the victims of war, how gay and trans people are harassed and sometimes brutalized, the enslaved and trafficked; think of creation-care or racial reconciliation or local food insecurity or the budget cuts which will harm the sick and those in special education — all topics the Bible addresses. We’ve got books on all of this, and more, of course.)

For now, though, this starter list of more than 15 books is broad and mostly general. And urgent. Reading some of this will not only inform you, it will remind you of some of what you need to do in these serious times. Please pick up a few now — maybe convince a friend to join you. Even if they call you woke.

BUT FIRST, THIS. HMMM.

Below are a good handful of books about social justice, about fighting poverty, about serving the poor, and about the Biblical basis of public action for the common good. But first, I’m excited to tell you about a provocative new read, a brand new collection of essays on faith and socialist economics and blue-collar values as a down-to-earth, frank alternative to the Christian right. I’m not sure what I think, but we’ll start with this one. I like this author and I enjoyed this book, even if I’m not sure he’s fully correct.

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

Okay, here is an announcement about a brand new title that is provocative and fabulous (if maddening at times.) I have long said that Christians, as followers of Jesus informed by the Bible, will look rather conservative on some issues and rather liberal on others. I’ve also said, as a matter of principle, that we ought not overly identify with any worldly ideology. You know the line from Colossians 2:8 where St. Paul says we dare not be taken captive by ideologies that are not of Christ. Romans 12:2 states clearly that we dare not be conformed to the ways of the world. (I preached about that last Sunday in our worship service at church — it’s on my Facebook page if anybody wants to hear me on that.)

So I’m squeamish about any book that would say we should be loyalists to any regime (which is not how Christman puts it, clearly.) David Koyzis has wisely gone to great length to expose the captive Christian mind when we think the faith is to be shaped by ideologies of the right or left; his Political Visions & Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies is a bit heady but a book we really ought to work through this exact matter. Ron Sider’s Just Politics: A Guide for Christian Engagement is impeccable on this score as well.

And then comes this punchy, down-to-Earth, mid-Westerner with blue-collar / union sensibilities and is unashamedly saying that Christians should take up the politics of the far left. Or at least some of the left.  In some pretty compelling Bible reflections he tells of how following the Judean, peasant Rabbi Jesus and His strong teaching about materialism and helping the poor, necessarily leads to a strong critique of capitalism. And militarism. He doesn’t do heavy Biblical scholarship (like, say, Romans Disarmed: Doing Justice / Resisting Empire by Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat) but he is clearly guided by the gospel. Anybody honestly reading the Bible with half an eye open would certainly understand why a simple reading of the sacred text could lead us to renounce Mammon and Mars. It seems that Christman is less loyal to an orthodox Marxian view of society than he is to a fundamentally Christian opposition to social machinery that hurts the little guy. Greedy big business and hawkish militarists, for instance. Frankly, it’s hard to argue with that.

Christman was raised in a Bible-believing Christian home and went to a very solid Christian college. He is known in literary circles and is renowned for his two collections of pocket sized essays, Midwest Futures and How to Be Normal, both published by Belt Press. His thoughtful charm as a writer is widely regarded. He knows his way around blue-collar, common-person culture in the rust belted mid-West and he (like a certain Lord he loves) hangs around with what some might consider the unsavory. (He teaches in prison and edited the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing.) You may have seen him in the lovely pages of Plough, the handsome journal put out by the Bruderhof. As a University of Michigan writing prof, he knows how to turn a phrase and, more, knows how to craft an argument.

Is he right in this argument? (Or should I say, is he correct? He certainly isn’t Right. Ha.) Is the Sermon on the Mount really a “rousing call to political solidarity”? The book is witty and sharp, he is intelligent and very well-informed, citing obscure social critics and historic events. Why Christians Should Be Leftists is a great pleasure to read (unless it drives your blood pressure up too high.) If you can at least entertain his remarks, you will find a fine writer offering lines that are a pleasure to behold and often persuasive, mind-boggling critiques of the status quo, pointing at least to the contours of what we might call a biblically-shaped politics. As preacher and writer Debbie Blue notes, Christman writes “sometimes with great gentleness and reason, sometimes with passion and irascible wit.” There is no doubt that he is on to something.

He does know a bit about the far left in America — anybody who has sit through arcane planning meetings with endless arguments between various streams of Marxists or Trotskyites as I have will recognize his pokes and jokes (often in must-read footnotes.) And he knows his Bible. And he knows what has happened as we’ve failed to imagine a Christ-like political program, wrapping torture and gross pollution and corporate privelege in religious lingo. At times he makes Bernie sound quaint.

I think many of our BookNotes readers will be charmed by his storytelling and eloquent observations. He doesn’t strike me as overly certain or ideological (indeed, as a good Marxist he spends some time analyzing ideology as such.) He’s no Ivy League elite, but hails, again, from the mid-West. A few will think he’s off his rocker but a fair read should help you realize how we need a radical alternative to tweedle-dee and tweedle dum on the public stage. (One chapter is called “Why the Democrats Are Not Enough” and he was not a particular fan of Obama.) He believes we live in a moral universe and that power is dangerous. He believes that Jesus might show up and shape us in profound ways, but who knows? Can we do this?

I’ll leave it to you, gentle reader, to determine if he has been hard enough on the awful injustices of the Lenins and Stalins of the world; he obviously doesn’t hold them up as admirable or virtuous. Is he cavalier about the real (or imagined) damage some far leftists have done? You can decide. Understanding the current conversations on the serious left will be insightful for all of us and maybe some of his generative prose will strike home. I really liked this, despite a few misgivings, and loved reading almost every page. I’d love to get a beer with him

MORE BOOKS ON SOCIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PUBLIC JUSTICE — ALL 20% OFF. Click the order tab at the bottom of BookNotes. Thanks.

AND A REMINDER TO PRE-ORDER The Soulwork of Justice by Wes Granberg-Michaelson, coming in late September.  See below.

What If Jesus Was Serious About Justice:  A Visual Guide to the Good News of God’s Judgment and Mercy Skye Jethani (Baker) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Like the others in this series about which we’ve raved, this has color cartoons, succinct text, great insights, and is rather informed by the Kingdom vision in his previous one What If Jesus Was Serious About Heaven in which he popularizes the creation-regained worldview of N.T. Wright, insisting that God is restoring all areas of life into a (re)new(ed) creation. Anyway, this is a great little book to revive our care about justice. It is short and creatively illustrated enough that you could give it to a teen and it is meaty and thoughtful enough that any adult reader will be stimulated afresh with solid Biblical teaching. I really do recommend it, one of the very best for a short introduction.

What Does Justice Look Like and Why Does God Care About It? Judith & Colin McCartney (Herald Press) $12.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $10.39

This may be the best small book to start off a study on this topic. It is almost too brief, although that may be its strength. It is part of a wonderful, robust, thoughtful little batch off books called “The Jesus Way: Small Books of Racial Faith” and we commend them all. This really does look at justice through the lens of Scripture and the life of Jesus. Both authors are good writers with years of urban ministry work under their belts. Very nicely done.

What Does Justice Look Like and Why Does God Care about It? was hard to stop reading. This work of life and biblical reflection provides a wonderful introduction to the way of Jesus in a broken world. May it be read by many who are seeking God’s shalom! — Mark R. Gornik, director of City Seminary of New York, author of Sharing the Crust: A Communion of Saints in a Baltimore Neighborhood

Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing Emmanuel Katongole & Chris Rice (IVP) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

It is hard to pick one central book that offers a profound and deep foundation for Biblically-shaped concerns about peace and justice. This is one of the very best. It is not too hard but is solid and full of insight. It is provocative without being wild or weird. It is written by a black African Catholic scholar and a white evangelical who had been transformed at John Perkins’s Voice of Calvary in Mississippi. It was the first book in a wonderful series commissioned by Duke Divinity School’s Center for Reconciliation. In each of a handful of books they invited a scholar and a practitioner, so to speak, to write together and this one just sings, a delightful, powerful read, an excellent introduction to notions of reconciliation and how that is the broader vision that fires our work for justice.

Practical Justice: Living Off-Center in a Self-Centered World Kevin Blue (IVP) $15.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.00

We only have a few of these great, little books left, but it has been a favorite over the years. One of the stand-out titles in what was once called the “likewise” line of IVP (You know, “go and do likewise”) That series helped ordinary people deepen their awareness of the lives of the poor, grow in empathy and develop skills to respond in Christlike ways as Good Samaritans. Sure, many of us have good intentions, but this book says we “get stuck in the rut of everyday or overwhelmed by the hopelessness of the problems we see around us.” We may be confused, even, about how to serve others without being patronizing. This book promises to be a guide to living out our convictions.

One reviewer says it is written “from the vantage points of the streets, from toughs (and the vulnerable) hanging with each other, and from the poverty and powerlessness of the homeless.” This is true — Blue has spent years in the heart of Los Angeles and was a leader of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church. Here, he invites us to see life from the underside, and to learn what to do. What can you do? This book will inspire you. While supplies last.

The Scandal of Redemption: When God Liberates the Poor, Saves Sinners, and Heals Nations Oscar Romero (Plough Publishing) $12.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $9.60

I hope you have heard of the gentle but powerful prophetic voice from El Salvador, gunned down by a death square shooter trained by the US in the notorious School for the Americas at Fort Benning, GA. Romero was a spiritual man, a friend of Henri Nouwen’s and as a quiet priest did not want to get involved in the controversies in his Catholic diocese even as a civil war raged around him. Yet, as peasants were tortured for wanting free speech, as parishioners were murdered by US back death squads, as the surreal violence plagued his own people, he agreed to serve as Archbishop in San Salvador and increasingly denounced the forces of repression and the US-backed military dictatorship. He was martyred and then canonized. This is my favorite little collection of powerful talks, sermons, speeches, selections from his diaries, and more.

This is part of a series of “backpack classics” edited and beautifully designed by friends at Plough Publishing. See also The Inconvenient Gospel: A Southern Prophet Tackles War, Wealth, Race, and Religion by Clarence Jordan or The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus by Dorothy Day or Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known by God by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Others include collections by Simone Weil, Amy Carmichael, Stanley Hauerwas, and Eberhard Arnold. We’ve got them all.

Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times Soong-Chan Rah (IVP) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

I so admire this powerful speaker and sharp scholar, a prof at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. He has written wisely about race and ethnicity issues and is a wise voice for a relevant, engaging faith for these times.

This 2015 book is excellent for a couple of reasons. First, it recovers (as many newer books have in recent years) the Biblical practice of lament. Whether it is your own pain and hurt or your heart breaking of social injustice and church complicity with cultural corruption, lament is a faithful way to cry out. “The American church avoids lament. But,” he continues, “lament is a (missing) essential component of Christian faith.” So it is good to get a handle on lament, including lament as a public protest.

Secondly, the reason the book is so useful is that it is a lively, relevant, engaging study of the book of Lamentations. I won’t say more, but the book is rooted in a serious reflection on the tragedies of that heavy part of Scripture.

Thirdly, I would say that a strength of this book is how Rah relates the theology of lament taken from the Biblical text and relates it or applies it to today. This is a great asset for us, a Biblical scholar who cares deeply about the world we live in, and who wants to join us in solidarity with our own pains and anguishes.

Repentance and shame, not triumphalism; compassion and justice, not consumerism; hope in a sovereign and faithful God, not despair — these are what that ancient text and Prophetic Lament calls us to embrace. — M. Daniel Carroll, R. Professor of Biblical Studies, Wheaton College. The Bible and Borders

Join the Resistance: Step Into the Good Work of Kingdom Justice Michelle Ferrigno Warren (IVP) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

What a book. I mean, what a book! This is the next level up, maybe, but not lengthy or heady. I sort of wish it didn’t use the “resistance” lingo in the title and on the cover since that is seen by many as specifically being against the policies of the current President, and this book, rather, is about resisting the principalities and powers and the systemic harm that is prevalent in this fallen world. Not a partisan screed by any means, it is about an awakening that has been happening across our society to learn about and act against forces that erode dignity and enshrine injustice. This we must resist and she affirms church folks getting into the streets deepening faith-inspired activism.

Michelle Ferrigno Warren is the president and CEO of Virago Strategies, a consulting group the “provider strategy direction and project management of civic engagement campaigns alongside communities affected by racial and economic injustice.” She has worked with the homeless and has helped many non-fits and social service ministries. Her earlier book is fantastic, called The Power of Proximity.

This book is both theologically rich and uplifting and it is chock-full of really good insights, ideas, next steps, and a guide for taking up God’s work of justice in the world. It’s got great stories and very inspiring stuff. It has been promoted by the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) and Missio Alliance. Don’t miss it.

A Christian Justice for the Common Good Tex Sample (Abingdon Press) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

Tex Sample has been known by many in mainline denominational circles for decades — he is a blue collar scholar (by which I mean he comes from blue-collar, rural Texas roots himself and is a scholar of oral cultures, old-school country music ways, and rural church life.) His wit and grit is well known and here he offers “a distinctively Christian understanding of justice” which “brings the world of the gospel to bear on everyday struggles for the common good.”

Granted famous progressive United Methodist thinkers endorse his little book — Southern, womanist scholar Emilie Towns, William McClain (Emeritus professor of preaching at Wesleyan Theological Seminary in DC) and Biblical scholar Douglas Meeks of Vanderbilt, for instance) — he remains an down-home storyteller and honest, challenging voice for all Christians.

God has placed on the heart of Tex Sample a lively, passionate commitment of justice for hard-working, blue-collar poor people. This book is the fruit of Tex’s many years of community and church organizing for justice for the common good. Tex helps us think like Christians about what God expects of us… — Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School, The Church We Carry

The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power D. L. Mayfield (IVP) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

First, this woman is a powerful writer. She has done a lot of public pieces in both mainstream and Christian periodicals and she wrote a fabulous, honest, raw, memoir (Assimilate or Go Home: Notes of a Failed Missionary.) This book isn’t recent, and she has done a more recent volume, a pithy, fabulous biography of Dorothy Day called Unruly Saint. You can tell something about an author who discovers Dorothy.

This incredible book is now out of print and we only have a few left. I can guess why it went out of print — booksellers and book buyers didn’t quite know what to make of it. It isn’t a manual on justice activism and it isn’t a personal memoir about her journeys in social action, even though there are so many keen insights and so many powerful stories, it’s a good, enjoyable read. It is, in a sense, a reflection on American exceptionalism, the myths we grew up believing, the question about our own sense of safety and control. Her ruminations of affluence are so compelling and convicting. Her pieces on autonomy are very important and need to be considered.

As World Relief leader Jenny Yang (who co-wrote Welcoming the Stranger)  put it,

This book doesn’t just startle us out of our misaligned pursuit of the American dream but also points us to a better way of how we can love God and love our neighbors in tangible ways.

The late Ron Sider, who I admired greatly, insisted that we needed to understand the fundamental critique this book offers and seriously called us to repent, saying the book was a “must-read.” Indigenous Christian author and leader Randy Woodley says he wished that every American would read this (“no matter how much they believe themselves to be separated themselves from the national religion of Americanism”) and then said, “This may be the most important book you read for some time.”

Working for justice in American culture, especially now, means being discerning about the basic “doctrines” (if you will) of the ideology of Americanism. Contrasting this American dream with visions of the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus should set your heart ablaze. We have a few left.

The Justice Calling: Where Passion Meets Perseverance Bethany Hanks Hong & Kristen Deede Johnson (Brazos Press) $20.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

Those that follow us know that we have said that this is one of the great books in this field, offering a balanced wisdom, an astute set of insights about the human condition, and that it offers not only a Biblically-informed view of public life and the call to justice, but pretty amazing clues to how to endure in this up-hill-battle sort of work. Sure, we need passion, but, as the subtitle so excellently puts it, we need to explore “where passion meets perseverance.”

These two women have PhDs and are experienced in teaching and motivating others to dig in for the long haul (and both have served on staff or on the board of CPJ (the Center for Public Justice) which might remind you that this is no leftist screed but a well developed argument. As Andy Crouch puts it, “This is a deep, wide, wise contribution to a truly comprehensive Christian understanding of justice.”

Rave reviews are from the globally engaged Lynne Hybels, BFW director Eugene Cho, the remarkably black theologian and Bible scholar Brian Bantum, and IJM’s Gary Haugen. (He hasn’t gotten the Nobel Peace Prize yet? What are they waiting for?)

Haugen says:

There is so much joy to be found as we follow God into the work of justice, so much strength to be gained in the Scriptures given to us. The Justice Calling takes us deep into all these gifts. As we face the giants of injustice in the season ahead, this is a book I’d urge every follower of Jesus to dig into and carry close at hand.

Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World Michael Rhodes (IVP Academic) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

There is no doubt — and we must keep saying this even if hotheads call us “woke” — that sensitivity to the oppression of the poor and the marginalization of the outcasts is a core Christian virtue. Empathy and compassion and zeal for justice and all manner of public righteousness are beautiful signs of Godly maturity (at least if one is following the God of the Bible, incarnate in the Person of Jesus, who said the greatest commandment of loving God has a direct corollary in loving others.) You know all this, and once we see the willingness to seek justice as deeply related to our Christ-likeness, we will realize our discipleship in spiritual formation must have a justice-seeking side. It is not a calling for a few nor incidental. It is important for all those who are called by the God of the Bible and are followers of Jesus the Christ.

This book explores all that better than anything we know of, linking the remarkable and complex teaching about justice within the arc of the Biblical story to the deepening of our capacity to imagine ourselves within that story. That is, it is a Biblically-based study of justice applied to our real discipleship, insisting that church folks take up this aspect of our Christian growth with as much energy and detail as we do when we teach people, say, how to pray or worship. These are all my words, ways I’d describe why this book is so vital, and I think I’m saying it fairly.

Michael Rhodes is no left-wing firebrand; he lectures on the Old Testament at Carey Baptist College (and helped Brian Fikkert & Robby Holt do a very practical book on work and money, making and saving and giving, called Practicing the King’s Economy.)

Blurbs on the back of this magisterial work include raves from the Pauline scholar John Barclay, Malcolm Foley, pastor of Mosaic Waco (and director of Black Church studies at Truett Seminary), M. Daniel Carroll R., the Latino Old Testament prof at Wheaton, and the wonderfully brilliant Dr. Carmen Imes. She notes that Rhodes “illuminates passages across the Old and New Testaments to show how the call to justice is central to God’s vision for the community of faith.”

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (Moody Press) $16.99 //OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

I am mostly glad to report that I believe this is one of the best selling books on this topic in the last decade or so. Maybe it’s not as influential the classic Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider (who had heartily endorsed this book, by the way) but this great volume has inspired many to be sure they are being wise and thoughtful and, well, truly helpful when serving the poor in their food banks or church pantries (or in their donations to well-intended relief agencies.) With a forward by John Perkins and the globally-aware David Platt, this fine handbook covers a lot of ground, theologically and culturally and in terms of what kinds of economic assistance really helps alleviate poverty. It wisely warns us about doing development right right and avoiding what some called “toxic charity.”

I am glad that two scholars with third world development expertise from Calvin University, Tracy Kuperus & Roland Hoksbergen, published a small book called When Helping Heals which offers a bit of a corrective to the fears of “doing it wrong” or building dependency. They show the better news of ways in which assistance really can help.

A team of good folks from the Chalmers Center (at Covenant College) did a brilliant follow-up to When Helping Hurts, by the way, insisting that church-based charitable programs and job-training sites and such dare not suggest to needy clients that we just want them to make more money and become a better consumer in the American way of life. Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream by Brian Fikkert and the great Kelly Kapic is a one-of-a-kind worldview book that is written for those doing anti-poverty ministry so we don’t implicitly imply the wrong values and visions for what a truly flourishing life is about. Becoming Whole is about inviting people, even as we help them through the injustices they face, into the Kingdom of God. Right on!

But don’t miss When Helping Hurts.

The End of Hunger: Renewed Hope for Feeding the World edited by Jenny Eaton Dyer & Kathleen Falsani (IVP) $17.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

We raved about this when it first came out and, not surprisingly, we didn’t sell many. I know our good customers care about the horror of world hunger but I know that studying up on it is often more than many of us can bear. Or we give to some global agency and feel like we don’t have to know much more than what their often very informative PR pieces tell us. I get that we don’t all have to read a lot in this fascinating and complex field of global development.

Still, with the Republican move to cut off nearly all US foreign aid and the disastrous effect that has had over the last half a year, we simply have to bone up on the facts. Stuff about the problem and stuff about possible solutions. Stories of what works and how seemingly intractable problems are being solved.

I’ve read a lot on global poverty, third world development, international trade and aid and the like. (Not to mention splendid books on the wholistic, integral nature of Christian mission — like the fabulous work by Al Tizon called Whole and Reconciled: Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World, just for instance.) If I were to pick one or two books on this topic of fighting hunger, I think The End of Hunger would be one of them.

This inspiring book covers a lot of ground, is rooted in Biblical compassion and justice, and shows what works. It is written by activists, politicians, scientists, pastors, theologians, artists, and others with particular passion and expertise. It really is a great read and I highly recommend it. Published in 2019, it isn’t weighing in on the evils of the Trump budget cuts. But it will give you fabulous insights about why that policy of ruining USAID (etc.) is so terrible, and it will offer wisdom about what to promote and how to talk about it as we try to restore the agencies doing good work. Now more than ever. Lives are literally at stake.

Faith and the Fragility of Justice: Responses to Gender-Based Violence in South Africa Meredith Whitnah (Rutgers University Press) $34.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $27.96

This is a recent, extraordinary work by a scholar whose family we have known for decades. Ms Whitnah’s father and brother are Episcopal priests and her mother was a deal comrade-in-arms when we were campus evangelists in the 1970s. What a solid and interesting family, serving God in many ways and places. Dr. Whitnah was until recently a professor of sociology at Westbound College in California.

This academic book is a careful study of gender-based violence in South Africa, yes, and for the ugly facts on the ground, this sort of glimpse is riveting and important. (I think of other important, popular-level books such as the upbeat Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Custis James and the sobering Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women by our UK friend Elaine Storkey.) We must be aware of all of this and a good book or two will be informative and even transformative.

It is also important to look at the role of faith-based organizations and how they did (or didn’t) work against injustices against women. South Africa, as you may know, is especially known for gender-violence and there have been various sorts of responses, even within religious organizations (even within justice-seeking religious organizations.) Whitnah studies them all, some who reinvent themselves as needs and social situations change, some who do not.

As one reviewer notes, “theologies are not equal in their capacity to address injustice” and notes that “Whitnah’s sharply analytical book reveals how theological frameworks that focus on racial justice vary in their convictions of gender justice.”

Wow. The writing is good, here, the insights perceptive, the story nuanced and important for all of us who wonder how faith can shape the common good.

We are glad that many organizations in South Africa so many decades ago struggled against great odds to resist apartheid. But in what way did they reinforce other systems  of oppression?  Can theologies that know how to resist racism also have the capacity to resist gender violence? A detailed, local study with nearly universal application. Congratulations to Meredith Whitnah and this one-of-a-kind resource.

Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza edited by Bruce N. Fish & J. Ross Wagner (Cascade Books) $39.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $31.20

I know there are some who will despise this book, or some of it, but, yet, it is my strong conviction that everyone should read this kind of work. Close to the ground, deeply engaged, vitally theological with an assumption wanting to hear the voices of the most poor and most oppressed, it is a strong look at those still alive after the near genocide of the peoples of the Gaza Strip. It reflects on why the American church (particularly, but not only, evangelicals) are so disinterested in the plight of the Palestinians. This brand new release is in league with other recent Palestinian theologies of liberation — see, for instance, the recent Eerdmans title by Munther Isaac, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza. Rev. Isaac is well known as a Palestinian theologian and pastor (of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem as well as the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour.) We have talked about this disturbing, new, prophetic book before, noting that it has important endorsements from Mae Elise Canon (executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace) and Nicholas Wolterstorff and Gary Burge and Preston Sprinkle and more.

Being Christian After the Desolation of Gaza is a collected volume and it includes everything from luminous mediations to heavy theological pieces, from evaluations of the militarism of Israel to a detailed study of the history of Hamas. Wheaton College professor Gary Burge has a chapter called “Bombing in the name of the Gospel” which brings to focus his expertise on dispensational and other Zionist Christians. David Crump has a very important chapter on prisoner abuse. (Just this week a report has been released about the remarkable spike in the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails who have been tortured, killed and starved.) A few of the pieces look very interesting  — there is one about Palestinian citizens of Israel, another about the “political perils of Biblical archaeology in the Holy Land” and another important one on wrong-headed views of ends times scenarios popular among pro-Israel Christians.Hearts & Minds friend Benjamin Norquist has a fascinating chapter analyzing the coverage of Christianity Today. So they cover a lot of ground

There is a Jewish scholar here, Arab voices, Christians of various stripes and communities. (I love seeing a Mennonite and a Calvinist and a Catholic in the same book.) I’m glad to see Ruth Padilla DeBorst here on the Biblical call to do justice. Mercy Aiken is a fine writer and her piece is hopeful, telling about Jewish/Muslim/Christian reconciliation groups.  With almost 375 pages, there is a lot more.

Bruce N. Fisk is Senior Research Fellow with the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East, and former Professor of New Testament at Westmont College. He has led study programs in Israel/Palestine and is the author of Ascent to Jerusalem: Pilgrimage, Politics and Peacemaking in the Holy Land (2025). J. Ross Wagner is Associate Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School with a research focus on Paul’s letters, the Septuagint, and the theological exegesis of Scripture. An Anglican priest, he has taught courses in Israel/Palestine for undergraduates, divinity students, and pastors.

Please read these endorsements:

Palestinian Christians look to the West and cry, ‘Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?’ This collection of eye-opening, heart-rending, meticulously documented essays challenges us to look past our comfortable ideologies about the modern state of Israel and our stereotypes about the Arab ‘other’ and to see the human cost of a modern nation’s quest for security and control, and the suffering that we casually accept as justified. — David A. deSilva, Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek, Ashland Theological Seminary, author of Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture 

With great urgency, this book demands that we Christians examine our conscience and raise our voice against the continued carnage and destruction in Gaza. Whether we agree or disagree with the book’s diverse set of contributors, we can surely affirm with them that each life, Jewish or Palestinian, is of equal value, and that condemning the policies and actions of Israel can and should be accompanied by commitment to the wellbeing of the Jewish people. — Miroslav Volf, Professor, Yale Divinity School, author Exclusion and Embrace, Revised and Updated: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation

The Gospel of Peace in a Violent World: Christian Nonviolence for Communal Flourishing edited by Shawn Graves & Marlena Graves (IVP Academic) $40.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $32.00

I have commended this big book before so I will be brief. It is a marvelously thoughtful, provocative, interesting, and wide-ranging anthology showing how not only a firm commitment to public justice but a desire for shalom and an ordered sort of flourishing can shape the imaginations and projects of various Christian activists working for well-being across many different areas, or hotspots. The contributors are of various races and ethnicities, ages and Christian denominations. One cannot dismiss this perspective without grappling with the extraordinary voices and chapters, both the early broad theological pieces and the focused, specific witnesses in the second half.

In other words, The Gospel of Peace asks, what does peacemaking, even nonviolent action, have to do with disability rights or immigration or the dignity of women? Can peacemakers really help with sustainability and creation-care? Does Biblical nonviolence have anything to say to those resisting human trafficking? What about our food systems? What about terrorists? From global conflicts to racial justice issues here, these saints are pouring their lives out in the hope of the gospel, and these essays give meaty documentation of their good trouble and righteous witness.

These pieces are thoughtful and rich, informed by good hope and lots of savvy. And, oh, how I appreciate Marlena Graves her husband who put this together.

Almost the first half of the book offers really good work on Biblical content, various theologies and models of peacemaking, on MLK and other ways to envision nonviolence. Can we learn from others who have worked on this sort of social ethic before us? The second half applies this evangelical, Spirited vision of transforming reconciliation to various issues. I don’t want to call it a handbook as it isn’t that simple; these are not simplistic sermons or a formulaic manual. But it is a thick resource that you will consult for years. Kudos to the editors, the contributors, and the publisher. This energetic work is a modern classic.

PRE-ORDER THIS ONE, COMING LATE SEPTEMBER — JOIN OUR WAITING LIST.

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

TO BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 24, 2025.

Whether one is in ministry or politics or — more likely for most of us — just ordinary people who want to love God and others, be faithful citizens and have some concerns for the nature of our civic lives, we all surely sense that being super-involved in political action and public protest and community service can be demanding. People can become consumed, get burned out, even grow bitter when they see how the sausage is made. Who hasn’t heard that phrase about when fighting an enemy we don’t want to become like that enemy. Working for a better world and as an agent of justice and peace takes a certain level of deeper spirituality. We need the virtues of a saint to do this work.

(And with brutal, masked ICE agents detaining people without due process, with the President lying about stuff every day, with decades of work creating safety nets at home and abroad being ripped apart by Congress, we have much to work on, and much rage to contain. At least I do, every single day. Heaven help us.)

Wes Granberg-Michaelson knows all about this. Before he was a global denominational worker and ecumenical leader he worked for a US Senator, a rare Republican trying to stop the carnage in VietNam. We then became a co-editor for Sojourners magazine in the 1980s. Even now he occasionally travels the globe connecting with colleagues from two-thirds world churches and hearing various voices on all kinds of issues. He feels deeply the weight of the world (having seen up close some of the horrible things most of us only read about.) How does he stay strong, clear-headed, gracious?

Wes has done some very good books about the changing landscape for conventional churches and his last book, Without Oars, was about spiritual pilgrimage, letting go of certainty and the control we think we have when we focus only on our key doctrines and, instead, practicing ways to actually experience the God we worship. His writing over the years in some ways has led up to this — he has written about creation care, about congregational life, he has written about ecumenical faith and he has written about spirituality. He read Merton –think “contemplation in a world of action” — as a young activist and he knew Henri Nouwen (another contemplative with a great social concern) and has been long-time friends with Franciscan mystic Richard Rohr. His knowledge of a contemplative way of slower living is profound and admirable.

(Currently, Wes and his wife are currently pastoring together a small Lutheran church.)

In Soulwork of Justice he brings us just what the doctor ordered: four movements towards an integrated contemplative lifestyle that finds the quiet force of spirituality harnessed towards serving for the common good. He explores contemplative practices that are not merely interior and concerned with one’s own soul. And activist practices that are rooted in the grace and love of God in Christ. Hooray.

Order a few Soulwork for Justice now. It’s a book you very well may need and we cannot wait to send them out. (If you order now, and safely enter credit card info at our secure website, we won’t run your card until the day we send the books. Naturally, we’ll enclose the cc receipt or the bill, if you’d rather, in the package.)

In a time of mass chaos, deep overwhelm, exhaustion, and burn out, I can’t imagine a more critical book! This is an essential resource for church small groups. — Christy Berghoef, author, Rooted: A Spiritual Memoir of Homecoming

Wes is a contemplative activist. I have seen him keep regular journals about his inner life and outward action for the past 50 years. This book reflects grounded wisdom needed to sustain our witness and work for justice. — Jim Wallis, Chair of Faith and Justice, Georgetown’s School of Public Policy; Inaugural Director, Center on Faith and Justice, Georgetown University, author, Christ in Crisis: Reclaiming Jesus in a Time of Fear, Hate, and Violence

AND REMEMBER:

WE WILL SEND A FREE BOOK (The Problem of Poverty by Abraham Kuyper) WITH AN ORDER OF ANY BOOK ON THIS LIST.

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BookNotes

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

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

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

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

ALL BOOKS MENTIONED ARE 20% OFF.

Scroll to the bottom of BookNotes and use the link to the handy and secure order form.

We appreciate your support. Believe me…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer puts it,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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BookNotes

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A few weeks ago at BookNotes I extolled books on rest, a sabbath way of life, evenhighlighting the new book A Theology of Play: Learning to Enjoy Life as God Intended (Kregel Academic), a careful Bible-based affirmation (by a central PA author from Lancaster Bible College!) of what another author, Jaco J. Hamman, calls A Play-Full Life: Slowing Down and Seeking Peace (Pilgrim Press.) If the first is a conservative evangelical scholar and long-time pastor, the second author was a professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Western Theological Seminary, writing on the UCC-related Pilgrim Press. Like we often say, we’ve got a wide wing-span here at Hearts & Minds and curate titles from across the theological and literary spectrum that we think you’ll find helpful. Anyway, that list invited us to An Unhurried Life as per Alan Fadling and, the day that BookNotes list went out, we received the brand new The Sacred Art of Slowing Down by A.C. Seiple, just published by Tyndale. If you want some “relief from rushed living” (as Seiple puts it) these books will be your allies.

That list was followed, then, by two posts on creativity and the arts, guides to leading an aesthetically rich life. I gave a nod to the late Calvin Seerveld (who I have written about often) and his extraordinary books. If you are a book lover, you have got to own a Seerveld or two. More on that soon — watch for our latest “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast which has a special guest on to talk about Cal’s important work. (You can find our bi-weekly podcast on YouTube (to watch) or to listen to at Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.)

After that last column about enjoying (and benefitting from) the arts and the lovely spiritual call to open up our own creative juices, I thought it seemed right to offer some books at a theme I revisit from time to time — finding God in the ordinary, in the great outdoors, learning to appreciating creation, and, indeed, practicing the presence of God in our own encounters in this sensual, material world. I love that line by C.S Lewis about how God sure must love matter — He made a lot of it!

To wit: this little list of some fun books to help you appreciate creation yet this summer. Read them with your rucksack or with your hiking boots on, or, just as good, read them vicariously. That’s a thing. A very good thing. Read on.

ALL BOOKS MENTIONED ARE 20% OFF.

Click at the “order” link at the end of the column. Tell us what you want, how you want it shipped, how you want to pay (credit card digits entered safely or we can enclose an invoice with the package if you want) and we’ll take it from there.

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

This small book packs a wallop as I sometimes say. It is really interesting, captivating, even, and thoroughly Biblical. For those who like Biblical study (and that should be all of us, I might add) this hues right to the Biblical line. But — and this is part of what makes this so great — not all of us realize just how much nature writing and popular science and ecological stuff is in the Holy Book. Over and over, Lewis brings us into the great outdoors with incredible stories, down-to-Earth, from the fairly ordinary stuff of enjoying our backyards to some mighty powerful wilderness experiences. Lewis is a born storyteller, it seems, and this combo of great Bible eyes to see creation in light of Bible truths and how the Bible itself points to the creation, is fabulously enriched by his good examples.

Many of the reviewers note that he has the heart of a poet. Alistair Begg calls it “a work of poetic theology as beautiful as it is faithful.”

Lewis, we discover, hikes, works, and writes on the south coast of Ireland. His good words will help you slow down and “interpret the gift of God’s world through the gift of God’s word.”

Eyes to See: Recognizing God’s Common Grace in an Unsettled World Tim Muehlhoff (IVP) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I wanted to highlight this near the top of our little list because it is foundational. Several years ago I did a big list of books which help us find and celebrate the hand of God in the ordinariness of life. We have a whole section in our store called “the spirituality of the ordinary.” There are so many good ones and while it ought to be a no-brainer that we intuitively find God everywhere, for most of us, it takes some consideration, some spiritual attention, a shift of worldview, even. This book most likely wasn’t on that list (you can find it archived at BookNotes) as I don’t think it had come out yet. In any event, it’s a great one, wonderfully written, full of ideas on how to recognize God’s “common grace in an unsettled world.”

Muehlhoff is a professor of communications at Biola University and has written any number of books about communication, about relationships, about conflict and more. Because he is a specialist in that area I was a little surprised, at first, to see him in this gene, but, man, is it good. So good.

Whether we are in great pain crying out or in great joy (crying out) we wonder where is God in all this? While Eyes to See might be a good book for apologetics, even — trying to give an account of the astonishment and joy and pain and feelings of awe we all experience, it is not just an argument that our human experience points us to the majesty of God. Although Muehlhoff makes it clear that it does. It’s hard to live in this world of wonder and not get some glimpse of transcendence.

But this is more than a case for God’s presence. It is a handbook for encountering God, looking in all the unexpected places, seeing how God works in all manner of ways.

I love this insight — I really do think it will prove helpful for you — that God is around, showing up in ordinary ways (through ordinary jobs, for instance; he has a chapter about science and he has a chapter about art.) It opens up our sense of how we describe God’s presence and action (in other words, not just in answers to prayers or miraculous healings or breathtaking vistas.)

God cares for this troubled world and “give you the eyes to see.” Three cheers for this thoughtful, important book.

As Rich Mouw puts it:

“Muehlhoff not only adds significant insights to common grace theology but he also brings it into new territory, focusing on the reach of God’s healing power into communities of grieving, abused, and oppressed human beings.”

A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary Macrina Wiederkehr (HarperOne) $12.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $10.39

Sister Macrina Wiederkehr is a well known author and experienced spiritual director, a member of St. Scholastica Monastery (in Fort Smith, Arkansas.) She has written spiritual classics (like The Song of the Seed) and some lovely resources on the practice of lectio divina. If you are familiar with ecumenical circles of the contemplative movement embracing silence and deep spiritual formation, I bet you know her name. Maybe you’ve seen her books.

This is a simple classic, a modern Catholic title that literally “helps you see the sacred in everyday life” It is poetically rich, written with a grace and depth that is mature and profound.

And it is lovely, the perfect book to remind us all of the act of devotion and the habit of finding God in the seemingly secular. Listen as she writes…

“I see the first rays of sunlight shimmering through a silver maple tree. And then in a twinkling I’m certain. I am standing before a tree full of angels dazzling me with their glorious presence.”

Is this metaphor? Analogy? Poetic hyperbole? Did she really see real angels? You’ll have to read it to learn more, but this is, as one Abbot said,  a book where “she want us to gather up the crumbs, the little things in our lives, and realize they have the makings of a banquet.”

Rooted in Wonder: Nurturing Your Family’s Faith Through God’s Creation Eryn Lynum (Kregel) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Eryn Lynum lives in the Rocky Mountains and has been featured in a number of classic evangelical podcasts, radio shows, having worked with Proverbs 31 Ministries and MOPS International. Yet, here, she seems less attuned to conventional evangelical pieties and is a bit wilder, almost fierce, delighting in the great outdoors. She is a certified naturalist (besides a Bible instructor and mom of four.) She knows her flora and fauna, and she looks at land and sky through the lens of the Bible, showing connections between God and creation. This is awesome!

I like what ecologist Matthew Sleeth says when he notes her “joy and practical know-how.” And she has learned a lot, sharing here how she has surrounded her kids with nature, and in so doing invites us all to a similar journey.

Sy Garte PhD, who was at our Jubilee conference last winter, a United Methodist biologist who tells his story in The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith and has a brand new book, Beyond Evolution: How New Discoveries in the Science of Life Point to God The Work of His Hands) writes of Rooted in Wonder saying this:

A beautifully written powerful treatment of the natural world as God’s revelation to His people. It weaves theological insights with practical advice on how to instill a love for the natural world in kids of all ages.

Adventuring Together: How to Create Connections and Make Lasting Memories with Your Kids Greta Eskridge (Thomas Nelson) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I like these kinds of recent books that combine a robust vision of the great outdoors with the classic parenting genre. The back cover here says “Create. Connect. Imagine. Adventure.” If you are a parent, I hope that excites you.

Okay, maybe you and your family aren’t going to take off for a globe-spanning adventure. Granted. Still, Greta Eskridge and this fun little book help us find ways to compete with the lure of technology and “inspiration for pushing yourself and your kids beyond your comfort zone to serve and enjoy each other well.” Not bad, eh?

Part of her plan is about cultivating relationships, fostering conversation, so that kids feel confident to have what we might call an adventurous spirit. (Which makes me think of the parents of the guys in Switchfoot, Mark and Jan Foreman, and their lively book, Never Say No: Raising Big-Picture Kids, but I digress.) While some kids are dangerously overdoing that bit, I know, most, I’m afraid, are seduced by their video games and smartphones, and need to learn how to play. And be engaged in the real big world.

Eskridge promises, “There will be joy. There will be wonder. There will be campfires, books, and beauty. Come on in!”

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World Robin Wall Kimmerer (Scribner) $20.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

This is a trim, small sized hardback, thin and lovely, full of the same sort of wisdom and insight that is jam packed into the dense, wonderful best-seller Braiding Sweetgrass. That book offered a broad vision of great detail, integrating Kimmerer’s indigenous intuition about the Creator’s world with her work as a botanist.

If that amazing volume captivated you as it has millions you will surely want to see this latest installment from Kimmerer and her latest realizations as an indigenous scientist, that the creation is replete with interconnectedness and that that might yield — ought to yield — gratitude and generosity on our part in response. These lessons from the natural world ask us, finally, what we most value. Do we have the eyes to see reciprocity and community? In things like this fascinating little plant?

If Sister Wiederkehr sees angels in the trees, Kimmerer similarly draws angelic lessons from her more focused botany-oriented vision. But they both are led to this great truth of God’s common grace: we are in this together and things are inter-connected. The handsome pen and ink drawings make this little book a treasure and a lovely little gift, too.

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

I know I say this a bunch, but this really is one of the best books I’ve read all year. And I have to explain just a thing or two — I hope your still reading! — to be clear about what it is and why it is so very, very interesting.

First, it is not primarily a screed about climate change. It is not about forest fires and, even with the powerful introduction by Rebecca Solnit, it is not about the politics of our burning age. Lopez was a naturalist and travel writer and as a lover of the natural world he obviously cares about our foolhardy views of progress and our disconnect with the deepest sort of ecological stewardship, but it is not mostly about that. It’s about wolves and trips to Antarctica and encounters with beasts in Africa and friendships with the Native peoples (Navajos in Arizona and Yupic tribes in Alaska) and about his boldness in facing the elements, in Australia backcountry or under Northern Lights.

Secondly, calling these essays might dissuade some who feel like that is too intellectual or polemical a style for their tastes. Fear not! These journalistic accounts —- all published in various literary, travel, scientific, or other obscure periodicals or journals — are not dry essays but are loaded with story, with his love of places, with his respect for friends, with the color of plants and sky, the smell of the air, the feel of the land. Whether he is writing a tribute to a great researcher who hung out with Alaskan Natives as he studied wolves, learning from them, or extolling some of the most brave explorers around the Cabo de Hornos —or of the huge albatrosses he saw there —   his stories are more like memoir, his remembrances of that which he loves.

Lopez won the National Book Award years ago for Arctic Dreams. He was known for a groundbreaking work on wolves (in the late 1970s) and many other books of reportage from the front lines of ecological studies, animal science, and adventurous travel.

As booksellers we knew of his important work but I never picked up one of his volumes until Eugene Petersons suggested him. Lopez was mesmerizing, a good, even colorful writer, elegant and intelligent, willing to talk about hard stuff, funny stuff, and, on occasion, even prayer. This collection is superb.

The Traveler’s Path: Finding Spiritual Growth and Inspiration Through Travel Douglas J. Brouwer (Reformed Journal Books) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

I gave a shout out to this before it came out, inviting folks to pre-order it. It’s on an indie press full of great writers, this book is itself an adventure, telling great tales of this PC(USA) pastor and his world-wide travels.

I don’t know exactly what drives folks to read travel literature but it is a rare bookstore that doesn’t have a travel section. From books about various places to the theology of travel, from taking spiritual pilgrimages to the joys of backcountry adventure, we’ve got plenty. This one is nearly archetypal: each chapter is a warm, lovely, report of a certain place Brouwer has visited. And it’s very nicely crafted; Brouwer is a very fine writer.

But he’s a preacher, remember, so there’s some theologizing and spiritual formation tips and insights about the reason for it all. Surely one of the big takeaways — besides the joy of learning about different places — is to have an open heart. We can, as one travel agent on the back cover put it, “walk in the footsteps of the divine, and see with open hearts wherever we are called.”

(And, by the way, Brouwer’s trips are not all just for leisure. There are dramatic mission trips and moves to new places due to job relocations, yes, even pilgrimages. Not all are the proverbial big vacation.The first time I highlighted this I noted that there is a moving chapter about the incarcerated — those who cannot travel.)

Might we grow a bit by moving out of our comfort zones? No doubt. For those of us too busy or broke to travel much, this book is a chase price of a global ticket abroad. Enjoy!

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

I raved about this writer each time she did a new book — one was about genealogies and another was about tracing practices of death and dying around the world —and this one is equally captivating, enjoyable, inspiring.

The first chapter is about the Marching Bears geographical space in Iowa, her home state. I was hooked.

The chapter titles each start with one word title — dirt, air, stone, caves, trees, etc.

They are about places in the United States that might be considered natural wonders, from mysterious mounds along the Ancient Ohio Trail to the majestic Redwood National and State Parks in California to the Dunbar Cave in Tennessee. I loved the astronomy lesson of the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico  and the incredible Sandhill Crane Migration in Nebraska (made famous by the spectacular Tom Hank’s narrated show The Americas.)

For those of us who haven’t travelled that much in the US this is grand reporting, a nicely spiritual view of traveling this “spiritual geography.”

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

There have been a number of beloved books of late about the role of trees in our lives, how they grow and relate. (I trust you know the important work of Peter Wohlleben, such as his justly famous The Hidden Life of Trees.) We have a number of titles like this. This recent one is remarkable; I’m only part way through but it is captivating.

Norcross and Rampy run “The Center for Spirituality in Nature” and one of the big proponents of their work and this book is the great Presbyterian mystic, Belden Lane. (I hope you know his serious Oxford University Press titles, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes or his Backpacking with the Saints, or his curious one focused on his relationship with a tree, The Great Conversation: Nature and the Care of the Soul.) He says this book “speaks the language of trees.”

Maybe you know the lovely Quaker singer-songwriter (and author) Carrie Newcomer. She writes about Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees:

A beautiful meditation on the wisdom found in the natural world and the transformative power of being in relationship with trees. Norcross and Rampy are exceptional teachers and knowledgeable guides, graciously leading the reader down tree-lined wooded paths where they share scientific knowledge, insightful personal experience, compelling metaphors, and spiritual insights. — Carrie Newcomer, Emmy-winning performer, songwriter, and recording artist of the albums A Great Wild Mercy and The Beautiful Not Yet

This Is God’s Table: Finding Church Beyond the Walls Anna Woofenden (Herald Press) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

This is one that I raved about when it first came out maybe five years ago, now. It’s a delight to read, a bit provocative, and a great story very well told. And maybe it might be just the right blend of entertaining story and serious missional theology and nature loving wisdom to capture your attention this summer.

Here’s the gist: Anna more or less (it’s frustrating to use overused words) creates a faith community experiencing some sort of fresher experience of the Body of Christ in the middle of an urban garden. With some foodie vibe, the urban passion of Sara Miles (who wrote a great forward) she finds God on the streets, among strangers who become friends, all around this loving endeavor of growing food.

This really is God’s table and if you are feeling like you might want to give up on church, read about this barren lot and see what happens when it is approached with something like sacramental care. See what sort of temptation comes out of this imaginative journey “embracing abundance” As Carol Howard Merritt wrote, it is “a beautiful glimpse into the hard and generous work of growing a church, a garden, and a community.”

By the way, Ann Woofenden, has been a leader in the faith and food movement (and had a podcast called Food and Faith.) Last year she and a former Pittsburgh guy, Derek Weston, worked together to release Just Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection and Celebration. Hooray.

When Anna Woofenden felt God’s prompting to plant a church, she didn’t necessarily expect actual planting to be involved. But down on her knees, with hands in the dirt, she faithfully tended both crops and congregation. This Is God’s Table shares the story not just of the Garden Church, but of a community strengthened together through its hunger. — Kendall Vanderclice, We Will Feast

Kitchens of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories of Resilience and Recipes from Home Linda S. Svitak and Christin Jane Eaton, with Lee Svitak Dean; Photography by Tom Wallace (University of Minnesota Press) $29.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.96

Speaking of foodies and urban gardeners (and enjoying the stuff of Earth) how about a new cookbook to celebrate the goodness of the Earth, the bounty of creation? (And, yes, that it is international in scope reminds us not only of the joyful tastes and textures of God’s diverse world and the real variety of food cultures there are, but also of the sorrows and crisis of the summer of 2025 with the daily inappropriate captures and scary disappearances, right here in America.) So, yes. This one is beautiful but I name it with an undercurrent of sadness.

The spices and leaves and nice pictures on the back cover invite us inside, where there are vivid photos and great stories of food from around the world.

As it says in the colorful inside flyleaf, “Immigrants carry more than hope as they cross oceans and traverse continents to come to the United States. They hold tightly to stories and recipes, remembrances of what they left behind. Kitchen of Hope brings together there memories from contributors who hail from more than thirty countries, offering a glimpse of their kitchen and insight into their lives.

They continue:

This book is a celebration of people and cuisines from around the world, infused with the aromas of epazote and cardamom, the tang of fish sauce, the heat of chile peppers, and the bite of mustard greens.

Some of the immigrants who tell their stories here come to the US fleeing war and violence while others seek education and opportunity. Some have called the US home for years, if not decades.

These recipes and food photos reflect the connections and values of characteristics of the contributors. There are over fifty recipes “from curry, mole, biryani, and borscht, to pita, pho, sabusas, pupas, and so much more.” Welcome to the Kitchens of Hope table.

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BookNotes

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I’ll bet you are like me and have recently gotten automatic “away messages” from someone who you were hoping to correspond with. I’ll admit I’m disappointed when I get a bunch of that reply from our BookNotes newsletters mailing. Of course, I’m glad our friends and customers are away for a bit — many getting much needed rest, some on fun vacations, others on urgent mission trips or service projects. In any case, hooray for that!

But I do hope folks swing back, circle back, come back, return, revisit, track down, or otherwise find those unread BookNotes. So many good books are described and I just know you need ‘em. Or at least need to know about ‘em. Some titles might be calling your name, so do check out those older missives, all archived at the BookNotes tab at our Hearts & Minds website.

The last two BookNotes were unintentionally of a theme, or so it seemed to some who wrote to us upon reading them.

Two weeks ago we did that BookNotes about rest and play, leisure and recreation, with books about sports and camping and more. It was supposed to be fun, even delightful, but there was some pathos around the edges of my writing: one book was about the idol of productivity. One about resistance to racism (by way of taking up naps!)  I commented on the subversive nature of rest, how we need to say “no” to the fast-paced, reductionistic worldview that squeezes out delight. Kate Rademacher’s book Reclaiming Rest: The Promise of Sabbath, Solitude, and Stillness in a Restless World is, indeed, a “refreshing invitation” but it also strikes me as urgent, even prophetic. Along with others I usually mention — Allender, Wirzba, Buechanan, Brueggemann, Heschel, Swoboda — I think it is really, really good.

This week I’ve been blown away — I don’t use that phrase very often — by the captivating, moving, deeply wise, and remarkable new The Sabbath Way: Making Room In Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight by Travis West. The forward by Winn Collier (of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination) is beautifully rendered and made me want to read it again. I thought we didn’t need yet another book on the sabbath, but, wow. I highlighted West’s book in that previous BookNotes, but it was so new I hadn’t touched it yet. Now I can say it was one of the best books on the list, capturing so much about the good of restfulness, of God-centered playfulness, of embracing an expansive view of sabbath-keeping, even in some serious health and family struggles.

I don’t know about you but I desperately need these invitations to restfulness, to play, to Sabbath. The books really help arouse my taste for the good life. You?

The post that followed that —circle back, swing back, etc. etc., if you missed it — was one on the arts. I sang the praises of a fabulous regional arts group named Poiema Visual Arts who invited us to sell books at their great biennial gathering. That inspired me to name a few favorite books on the arts — naturally I gave a shout out to my friend the late Calvin Seerveld — and  featured a sale on his sequel to Rainbows for the Fallen World, Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves.

And then two by the always inspiring Terry Glaspey (the fabulous Discovering God Through the Arts: How We Can Grow Closer to God by Appreciating Beauty & Creativity and the magnificent 75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know: The Fascinating Stories Behind Great Works of Art, Literature, Music and Film.) I also told of three by one of the Poiema speakers, J. Scott McElroy. I hope you saw our feature of his three: Finding Divine Inspiration: Working with the Holy Spirit in Your Creativity, Creative Church Handbook: Releasing the Power of the Arts in Your Congregation, and his brand new How to Care: Crisis/Trauma/Mental Health Ministry with the Arts. In that one he shows how we can be Compassionate, Artistic, in our Response and Engagement. (C.A.R.E. — get it? What a great resource this is for anyone interested in the God’s gift of the arts but also in the current awareness — not a minute too soon — about mental health issues, trauma, and whole-person ministry in these troubled times. Spread the word about these, please.

(It was in that BookNotes that we celebrated two forthcoming books by Makoto Fujimura and invited you to pre-order them from us now. Check that out — it’s pretty impressive news.)

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So all that invitation to swing back and revisit and track down those good posts inspired me to add some more to this topic of creativity and the like. There are so many great books about this movement into goodness and beauty, fun titles that will bring delightful hours reading. And what a blessing to be reminded to find a sense of curiosity and savor joy in these dog days of summer. Some are old, some are new. Enjoy.

ALL BOOKS MENTIONED ARE 20% OFF.

As always, scroll to the bottom of this newsletter and click on the link to our secure order form at our Hearts & Minds website. Tell us what you want and how you’re going to pay — entering cc digits works, but we also invite you to just ask us to send a bill, and we can enclose an invoice in the package — and we’ll do the rest. Thanks for your support.

The Sound of Life’s Unspeakable Beauty Martin Schleske (Eerdmans) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

I’ve mentioned this often, a very handsome hardback with solid paper and artful photography, and I never fail to enjoy recommending it. It is all a book should be. Translated from the German by classical strings performer Janet Gesme (and with a lovely forward by Makoto Fujimura) this book is about so much, but, to summarize, it is about the work of a luthier, who seeks out the natural beauty in just the right sort of wood from which to craft his world-class instruments. There is, Schleske reminds us, an unspeakable beauty at the heart of things

Marilyn McEntyre notes that she was reminded that “when people live into their callings deeply and faithfully, they become beacons.” So there is also that — Schleske’s violin making itself is a worthy study, as his knowledge of trees and music becomes, as Marilyn puts, “heart opening parables.”

Philip Yancey — quite the amazing reader and writer — says this “tapestry of beauty and spiritual wisdom” is notable. He says, “Rarely have I read such a fresh and stimulating work.”

He Saw That It Was Good: Reimagining Your Creative Life to Repair a Broken World Sho Baraka (Waterbrook) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

Again, we have highlighted this before, often holding it up at events, sharing our good appreciation for hip hop artist and speaker and leader Sho Baraka. We are grateful for his inspiring call to take up callings as creatives, to help bring truth and beauty into the world.

As he puts it, “No matter your calling or vocation, you can help shape a better world around you through your own creativity.”

I said last time that the Poiema Visual Arts conference had a bit of a theme about how art can help bring solace and joy, and, in fact, the process of engaging with artful, creative processes, can bring real healing, even to those who have deep trauma’s embedded in their stories. As a self-aware black Christian leader, Sho knows this… he gets that Christian discipleship points us towards stewarding our gifts for the sake of both beauty and justice. He looks at art and history, at Scripture and the true narrative of God’s work in the world.

This offers a fresh reminder of the implications of the gospel and a fabulous invitation for all of us to reject “toxic stories and incomplete theology” and to forge new ways to honor God’s call to joy and creativity. What a great book.

Just Making: A Guide for Compassionate Creatives Mitali Perkins (Broadleaf) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

When somebody emailed earlier today to ask if we’d heard of this one, I realized I really ought to highlight again. We are long fans of this fine writer of young adult stories (and, more recently, children’s picture books.) We were thrilled to realize her deep and enduring faith has guided her in her own vocation as writer (and we loved how she has inspired many adults to take seriously the art of children’s books, for instance, in her Broadleaf title called Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children’s Novels to Refresh Our Tired Souls and, again, in her contribution in the fabulous anthology called Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to Choosing the Best Books for Children, edited by the late Leslie Bustard, published by Square Halo Books.

Alongside her own generative prose, Mitali Perkins shares her interviews (in several wonderful sidebars) many other artists who strive to weave justice into their art work or craft. Some are activistic and outspoken, others wanting to remain artistic with their sense of allusive imaginativity. In any case, she ties these various stories of real artists or creative workers together exploring how the arts and our creative efforts can be done justly.

Is there a relationship between (as fellow-Newbery Award-winning YA novelist Gary Schmidt puts it on the back cover) “the making of art and the performance of justice”? Schmidt continues, “Mitali Perkins foregrounds questions that any serious creative has to grapple with.”

Yet, as she identifies the right questions to ask, and interviews others about these urgent issues, she clarifies for all of us not just the character of the creative life, but of any life well-lived. This is a book filled with joy and hope and goodness, written with ample humility and some good stories of her own. It’s a real companion for writers and artists and thinkers, and anyone who cares about beauty and goodness in this complicated world.

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

As I have said before, Carey Wallace is a splendidly thoughtful mainstream novelist whose work has garnered great acclaim in the niche of literary fiction. She has done some artful children’s books as well — one about saints and another retelling Psalms, each paired with exquisite illustrations. She is a fine writer and as the punk rock singer Pattie Smith exclaims on the front cover “This book articulates… the beautiful complexity of what drives us to create and what we encounter when we do.”

This is, indeed, about the “mysterious encounter” and, working out of an integrated Christian worldview, she naturally thinks it is God who is at the heart of the creative endeavor.

And yet, she writes this book trying to figure it all out, sharing her deep studies in thinkers from around the globe, across the span of centuries, naming various aspects of the creative process. She explores gratitude and devotion, craft and what we might call “everyday inspiration.”

Have you ever just felt moved to sing? Do you even add a new touch to an old recipe? Where does that impulse come from?  Without gushy piety or cheap Bible citations, she dives deep, graciously engaging all sorts of creatives across time and genre, trying to offer some glimpse of a taxonomy of beauty, and thereby help us all. From practices such as embracing silence and working in collaboration and even taking time to rest, she “helps readers of all walks of life welcome more inspiration into their art and into their lives.”

As Joe Hoover, the Jesuit poetry editor of America put it, Carey “offers surprising ways for contemporary art-makers to fashion their lives devoted to their craft…. Her prose is as inspired as her subject.” He is not alone in raving: Wayne Adams, a multimedia artist and former board chair of CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) writes:

“As an artist and creator, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book my whole life.”

An Axe for the Frozen Sea: Conversations with Poets About What Matters Most Ben Palpate (Rabbit Room Press) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

I’ve been wanting to shout about this book for quite a while but it never seemed to fit the theme, and I didn’t want it to get lost in one of my routine omnibus collections of various new titles, as much as I love those random BookNotes lists. It sure fits here — the delight of creativity, the ways the arts matter, the way good conversation itself is a common grace and Godly gift. This is a book to savor by a sharp (and often witty) writer, a good thinker, and an honest man. He has written about writing and about his own interior life, his pain and struggle;  see, for instance, the moving Letters from the Mountain, also published by Rabbit Room. We love it.

An Axe… draws from that image by Kafka about what a good book can do. I’ve used that line; I’ve felt that line.

But yet, as intense as some of the poets he interviews here can be, the book is at times utterly charming. They are, as Li-Young Lee put it in her rave review, “stouthearted conversationalists.” She says that “Palpate brings out the best in them.” What a delight — whether you know anything about poetry or not. And certainly whether you know these poets or not. View this as eavesdropping on good folks chatting about life — from grief and illness to family life to the writing craft and the role of literature in faith formation.

The artists are diverse culturally and theologically, although all are, I gather, knowingly Christian. You will find one-on-one conversations with Scott Cairns and Maurice Manning and Luci Shaw. What fun that he has Malcolm Guite and Jane Murray Walker (you will feel like you know her if you read her lovely memoir from Slant Books, Leaping from the Burning Train: A Poet’s Journey of Faith.) Palpant tells of how and where he met them, writing nicely as if each is a stand alone piece in a great magazine. The writing is good, his take-aways are astute, and his description of the poetry of each is fabulously interesting.

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

Do you recall us sharing about this, several times before? I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but this “graphic novel” illustrated study of the friendship of Lewis & Tolkien as they collaborated in art-making is not only fabulous for the splendid illustrations — I hope you know Hendrix from his others books, not least of which is the amazing one about Bonhoeffer (The Faithful Spy,) This one is as good as his others, detailed and playful, great for anyone interested in this fairly recent comic book style elevated to an art form. It is a visual blast, a joy, worth every penny.

And there is more. The Mythmakers is not just a charming youth-oriented look at these two Inklings, but it actually explores their aesthetic, their vision of the role of myth, their pressing back against the scientism and idols of modernity. It isn’t that heavy, but yet this really does show that their storytelling efforts was a strategy to redirect the increasingly stunted imagination of mid-20th century Western culture. What a fun way into a matter of life and death — not unlike their beloved epic adventures in Middle Earth and Narnia. Further up and further in? Get The Mythmakers.

Clay in the Potter’s Hands Diana Pavlac Glyer (Square Halo Books) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Speaking of the classic Oxford mythmakers, Diana Pavlac has written or edited several important books about their artful collaboration. Her Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings is highly regarded (and mentioned by Hendrix, in fact.) Besides being a tireless scholar of the Inklings, Ms Gyler is a potter and in this new book (a revision of a previous project) she offers the best theology of ceramics we’ve yet seen. Here is some of what I said about this inspiring book in a March BookNotes:

Of course she does the obvious— the Bible uses images of God being like a potter and we humans being like clay. But she does a bit more than the expected, and — along with very moving black and white pictures by expert photographer Quay San — offers insights from the studio. There’s a cool glossary in the back, even, explaining words unique to this artisan’s craft — wedging and warping and trimming and underglaze and vitrification. You’ll smile learning about clay and torque and you’ll be inspired to deepen your own appreciation for your own creativity; as with many other art-themed books, they are profound in recalling our own call to steward our own creative gifts.  What does it mean to be redemptive in our use of God’s good Earth? What can we learn from artists — and particularly, potters and their wheels— that might inspire our own lives in the world? Kudos to Square Halo Books for once again creating a wonderful book slightly oversized, with lovely touches and moving photos. Thanks to Diana Pavlac Glyer; this is a book many of us have longed for for years. Hooray.

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

If I’m helping you review some of the best books I’ve highlighted at BookNotes this season, this is one that truly is one of the very best books I’ve read all year. I did not mention it in that last post about the arts event even though we did sell several at the Poiema gathering. I mentioned it from up front in a book announcement and told about it briefly in a workshop I did and so, here, again, I give this sincere shout-out: Makers By Nature is a truly lovely gift, a book to hold and to treasure, to behold. Herman’s art is scattered nicely throughout and the book is wonderfully designed. You’ll love owning it.

Here’s the gist: Herman shares in epistolary fashion wondrous lines of caring insights and tender encouragement (and sometimes exquisitely hard questions) to folks he knows. Whether these letters are real is beside the point: the format allows him to write as a friend, a colleague, a teacher,  an art critic, but mostly as one who cares. While not a novel, it really is engaging as one comes to care about the people Bruce cares about, and we track with his pleasant insights and personal side-notes. These letters are often profound and often just lovely. They are indeed about “faith, hope, and art.”

The foreword is by master wordsmith Malcolm Guite, the great UK poet and priest. It’s perfect.

Get Makers By Nature, read it and then, if you can, give it away to a loved one. Whether they are taken up in the “holy terror” of painting and making art or not, they will be inspired by his call to love, to care, to share.

Seeing the Gospel: An Interpretive Guide to Orthodox Icons Eve Tibbs (Baker Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Where to begin? I cannot now do a long review of the sort that this beautiful book deserves but I can say this: we have a dozen or more such books on iconography, some by Orthodox theologians, some by spiritual directors, some by those who write icons. (They are “written” not drawn or painted.) This is certainly one of the best we’ve seen, and certainly the best in years. We are excited, to say the least.

Also, we might note that since most of our readership (and customers here at the shop) are not Orthodox (although some are) many may need not only a guide to iconography and the spiritual use of these traditioned portraits but also of the Greek and Russian Orthodox theological and spiritual traditions that have inspired them. Eve Tibbs (with a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary) has for many years been a “seasoned expositor of Orthodoxy for non-Orthodox Christians” (as James Payton, author of Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition puts it.)

I’ve not studied this brand new release very carefully — and, believe me, I’m no expert on these things — but I can tell that it is winsomely presented and wise and helpful and lovely. It is lavishly illustrated. Hans Boersma (of Nashotah House) compliments the publisher’s commitment to the beauty and truth that shapes us through the veneration of icons. He tells how this book “combines spiritual insight with academic knowledge and mediative prose.” Three cheers for that, eh?

Fr. John Chryssavgis (executive director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institutes) says, “Tibbs offers exceptional insight into the extraordinary world of icons.” I love what he says next: “The reader is invited to participate in a generous banquet of aesthetic beauty accompanied by a treasure house of spiritual commentary.”

“The reader is invited to participate in a generous banquet of aesthetic beauty accompanied by a treasure house of spiritual commentary.”

By the way (and this will be important for some readers, as it surely was to me) — there is a fabulous foreword by the ecumenically minded neo-Calvinist, Richard J. Mouw. He tells a story of Alexander Schmemann and that’s a great way to introduce this feast of a book. Thanks, Richard.

Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith Russ Ramsey (Zondervan Reflective) $29.99 //  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Although this book came out in 2022 many are still discovering it and we are delighted to have promoted it at the Poiema conference a week or so ago in York. Their leadership team has been leading online discussions about it, in fact, so they, too, would assure you that this does indeed help us learn to ”love art through the eyes of faith.” (Or, maybe, deepen our faith through the eyes of artists.) Each chapter tells an intriguing story about the faith (or lack of faith) surrounding a certain artists — from Edward Hopper to Lilias Trotter, from Michelangelo to Vermeer and Van Gogh. There are great chapters and each is loaded with intriguing detail and human color and spiritual wisdom. You can’t go wrong.

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

If Rembrandt Is In the Wind is intriguing, informative, inspiring, then Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart brings more of the same, but this time, with a bit of a focus the humanness of the painters; yes, their faith and doubt, but also their fears and quirks, their sadness and struggle. Art really can teach us about”the struggle of being alive” and lead us to glorious wonder even amidst the brokenness. I’ve tried not being proud in saying I have a blurb on this — so do others more qualified than me — but I really am a fan of this remarkable book. His insight about what we might learn about desire from the Mona Lisa and his piece on the Hudson River School are both brilliant. I loved the chapter on, surprisingly, Norman Rockwell.  Geesh, I loved how he linked pop artists Jimmy Abegg with Edgar Degas (“and learning to see as the world grows dim.”) His bit on Jeremiah is spot on.

And ya got to love an appendix called “I Don’t Like Donatello, and You Can Too.” So there.

Rembrandt is in the Wind and Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart — get them both! Kudos.

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

Okay, speaking of famous painters, or, more accurately, of reading about famous painters, I have to just shout out two books I’ve really liked lately. No time to review them in detail, but just a quick shout out. These aren’t what I’m most recommending as a bookseller, but what I have adored as I work though my own stack of late night reads. Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How To See by Bianca Bosker (which I did mention back around Christmas, I think) is one of my favorite books in recent years — I so enjoyed it. It’s a big hardback (which we still stock; $29.00 // $23.20) but is now also out in a less expensive paperback.

She is an investigative journalist type, without boundless curiosity and moxey, wanting to infiltrate the high-end art world of New York City and ends up working at a gallery, becoming an art buyer and seller in the scene, for a while serves as an assistant to an important painter, dabbles in admittedly weird somewhat-erotic performance art, and finds a home as a quiet docent at the Guggenheim. It is vulgar and funny and brilliant. What is art, she wants to know, and who better to ask than those in the insular world of seemingly pretentious modern art.

“Perhaps the most exuberantly brilliant book about art for decades . . . Sharp, shocking and very funny, Bosker’s account will alter the way you see the world.” — The Spectator

Last Light: How Six Great Artists Made Old Age a Time of Triumph Richard Lacayo (Simon & Schuster) $35.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

I was very deeply moved by the detailed study of the ways in which six important artists changed as they aged. I suppose I was interested in learning a bit about a handful of artists — I knew little to nothing about any of them, really — but, truth be told, now in my seventh decade, I am wondering about aging. My wife and I joke, often, about referring to those younger than we are as young, some of whom are not very young at all. So I thought this might be a way to explore my own vocation as an old guy.

The introductory chapter tells of the ways in which aging has been seen by art critics and philosophers who have studied the changing landscapes (uh, sometimes quite literally) of elderly artists. Last Light: How Six Great Artists Made Old Age a Time of Triumph by Richard Lacayo is a very handsomely made book and the heft appealed to me. And, really, who knew? Lacayo looks in great depth at Titian, Goya, Monet, Matisse, Edward Hopper, and the sculptress Louise Nevelson (who died in 1988.) I learned so much and was impressed with the knowledge of the author and, more, was at least a little inspired to reconsider my own stage in my career.

As the publisher notes:

Ordinarily, we think of young artists as the bomb throwers. Monet and Renoir were still in their twenties when they embarked on what would soon be called Impressionism, as were Picasso and Braque when they ventured into Cubism. But your sixties and the decades that follow can be no less liberating if they too bring the confidence to attempt new things. Young artists may experiment because they have nothing to lose; older ones because they have nothing to fear. With their legacies secure, they’re free to reinvent themselves…sometimes with revolutionary results.

Thanks for reading our rambling reviews. We hope you enjoy them and hope you will support our efforts as unique booksellers.  Click below (or call) sending us an order today.

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Last week we did one of our off-site book displays among some new friends, and we are so grateful to have been so well-received by a hospitable group of… wait for it… artists! Christian artists!  (What joy and talent and allusive richness we saw.) Organized by our new friends at Poiema Visual Arts, the event was low-key and lovely, thoughtful without being overly academic, filled with times of contemporary worship and prayer and fun fellowship. Plus we sold a good number of books, so we were glad to be of service.  

The Poiema Visual Arts event (held here in York, PA) was both similar to and yet distinct from some other faith-based arts events we’ve served. The old CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) events were spectacular with makers and philosophers, world-class theologians and cultural analysts presenting conversations on aesthetics and art history and the like. Folks there would naturally know our friend Calvin Seerveld (Rainbows for the Fallen World and Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves are books we cherish and take most places we go) and Jeremy Begbie, (say, Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World, or Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts: Bearing Witness to the Triune God, for instance.) We’re sad that that association has disbanded but we carry all the books in the seemingly related “Studies in Theology and the Arts” series by IVP Academic. We had them all at Poiema and they were noticed. I was maybe a little surprised by I even sold a copy of an expensive book we raved about at BookNotes a couple of. years ago, that had resonance with the CIVA audience: The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective edited by Roger Henderson & Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker. Three cheers for that!

                      All of these titles in the great IVP Academic arts series are stellar but I suppose if I had to highlight a few I’d note the newest, A Prophet in the Darkness: Exploring Theology in the Art of Georges Rouault by Wesley Vander Lugt, The Art of New Creation: Trajectories in Theology and the Arts edited by Jeremy Begbie, Placemaking and the Arts: Cultivating the Christian Life by Jennifer Allen Craft (a personal favorite) and, of course, The Faithful Artist: A Vision for Evangelicalism and the Arts by Cameron Anderson, which should be read carefully by any Christian of any sort working in the arts.

Our pals at Square Halo run a very cool event in Lancaster each Spring (save the date for next year, March 6-7 2026) which has a more Rabbity Room vibe, maybe, with discussions about the aesthetics of Tolkien and Lewis and the role of liturgical prayer and the sorts of books published by our favorite small publisher, Square Halo Books. We had at the Poiema event It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God edited expertly and designed colorfully by Ned Bustard — one of my all-time favorite books! — and Why We Create, edited by the thoughtful folks at the Anselm Society, the lovely little volume Naming the Animals: An Invitation to Creativity by Stephen Roach and, naturally, Lifting the Veil: Imagination and the Kingdom of God by the exquisite poet Malcolm Guite. Folks at Poiema noticed. Hooray.

Back when the extraordinary modern artist Mako Fujimura was starting out we sold books at his remarkable Manhattan event, IAM (a nod to his International Arts Movement.) Naturally we had Mako’s main books at the Poiema gig and we sold several. That included the new edition hardback of Refractions and the must-read Culture Care and Silence and Beauty, his wonderful study of Endo’s famous Japanese historical novel Silence. Fujimura’s important Art and Faith: A Theology of Making from Yale University Press was displayed and it gave us the opportunity to invite pre-orders of two forthcoming books by Mako, one coming this fall from Yale University Press, the next, co-authored with his wife, due next Spring.

You, too, can PRE-ORDER now. (We won’t run your credit card, if you leave us digits, until we actually send the book. Let us know how we can help get these to you.)

Art Is: A Journey Into the Light Makoto Fujimura (Yale University Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE 20% OFF = $24.00 This will release October 21, 2025

As the publisher notes:

“Bringing together the author’s written reflections and his paintings, drawings, and photographs, Art Is invites us to see the world in prismatic and diverse lights, helping us navigate the fractured, divisive times we live in.”

Beauty and Justice: Creating a Life of Abundance and Courage Haejin Fujimura and Makoto Fujimura (Brazos Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 20% OFF = $19.99 I know it is pretty far out but wanted you to know about this extraordinary project of Mako and his wife (who is a practicing attorney) Haejin. This will release in early April 2026.

Brazos explains:

“In Beauty and Justice, justice advocate Haejin Fujimura and internationally renowned artist Makoto Fujimura explore how beauty and justice are two sides of the same gospel calling. Through stories from their global work in the arts, advocacy, and cultural renewal, they invite readers to discover how beauty sustains justice work and prevents burnout, understand why justice without beauty can become harsh and ineffective, and embrace practices for cultivating a “generative life” of courageous service.”

BOOKS SOLD AT POIEMA

We had well over 100 different books on creativity, the arts, the calling of artists, and such at Poiema and so appreciated their support of our work. Something at Poiema captured us unlike these other good events at the intersection of faith, creativity, aesthetics, and the visual arts. It was really sweet and everyone was exceedingly kind and happy. A lot of the participants were informal artists, not full time or terribly professional and the talent and joy and struggle was palpable. Everyone encouraged each other with a creative sort of blessedness. The snacks and gifts kept coming. They talked about Vincent Van Gogh and they talked about prophetic art and they talked about serving the homeless. The balance of experiences, collaborations in art-making, outdoors and indoors, along with more traditional teacherly workshops was tremendous. Kudos to all who made it happen.

The theme this year (they host the event bi-annually) mostly revolved around our deep brokenness as humans and how we can find healing in the arts and by engaging in what some call art therapy. They had workshops on trauma, several good presentations on art therapy, and there was an awareness of the need for God’s healing mercy for those who have been abused or hurt (sometimes by the institutional church or other people of faith.) There was one keynote talk about a woman who has done collaborative art projects all over the country (with vets facing PTSD, with homeless folks, among prisoners, and survivors of domestic violence.)

One of the keynotes and workshops was by our old pal Scott McElroy whose new book — years in the making — called How to Care, is chock-full of ideas for anyone (practicing artist or church or ministry leader) wanting to use the arts as an avenue of building empathy and care for the emotionally distressed. Call it “trauma-informed arts ministry.” We were so very impressed with Scott’s brand new book that we bought extra to share with you here, now. You won’t believe how much good content is in it. I highly recommend it. We have it at an extra discount, this week only.

We want to offer Scott’s three books (and three others) at 30% OFF for ONE WEEK ONLY.

After that the price reverts to our more typical BookNotes 20% off. Okay?

ORDER BY AUGUST 7th to get the extra discount.

30% OFF  – while supplies last.

How to Care: Compassionate Artistic Response & Engagement — Crisis/Trauma/Mental Health Ministry with the Arts J. Scott McElroy with Jen Alward (New Renaissance Resources) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 30% OFF = $17.49 one week only or while supplies last

I could go on and on about this new volume but I will be brief; it deserves a better treatment and I will write more later, I’m sure. For now you should know three simple things: Scott has been deeply involved in the movement of faith-based artistic work for decades. (See his two very useful titles below, also at 30% off this week.)

Besides being a guy who knows his way around the hefty conversations about aesthetics and inspiration, redemptive art and the hard work of craft and skill and output, he also knows his way around the language of trauma. He knows well the Biblical teaching about love of neighbor and has translated that call to serve the hurting into the post-Covid world of dis-ease, mental health issues, awareness of trauma, and the various ways humans have hurt each other in this fallen world. He knows our faith communities are to shine gospel-centered love on the world and yet we are often unaware about how to do this.

Besides not always being real good at creating safe spaces for the wounded, we are even more at a loss when it comes to treating (so to speak) these deep wounds by using artful modalities. In other words, we often don’t know how to help the hurting and we’re even less aware of how to use the arts to bring blessing to those with mental health challenges, living, as some do, on the edge of despair.

Those two things — that he knows a Christian approach to the arts and he understands the nature of trauma-informed care — should be enough to alert you to the immense value of this rare book. You should get it, and get another for your pastor or ministry leadership team. But thirdly, you should know this: How to Care is really built on that acronym in the title — it invites us to a compassionate, artistic, response and engagement. He unpacks each of these making the book not only a thrilling read but a literal handbook, a manual, a resource just loaded with ideas, suggestions, lesson plans, ideas, proposals, exercises. If you want something that is transferable, applicable, practical, you need this tool-kit of a book. Whether you are an artist or not, a counselor or not, this handbook for ministry with the arts will be exceedingly stimulating and useful. There is nothing like it in print.

Scott’s co-author, Jen Alway, by the way, has an LP, ATRL-BC from Notre Dame and is both an artist and art therapist practicing in Wisconsin. Very impressive.

Creative Church Handbook: Releasing the Power of the Arts in Your Congregation J. Scott McElroy (IVP) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 30% OFF = $19.59  one week only or while supplies last

Again, Scott’s great genius in his work and writing is his penchant for the practical. This is a high compliment given his advanced degrees in the arts and his decades-long work in enhancing the church by way of inviting a relationship with artists. Scott has encouraged artists — he fit right in among central PA’s Poem, which exists to encourage artists — even as he encourages church leaders to be ever-open to the Spirit’s leading to go deeper into arts ministry. This 2015 book is a veritable treasure trove of ideas and activities, a must-have handbook for any congregation with even the slightest interest in “releasing the power of the arts in your congregation.” Believe me, again, when I say there is nothing like it in print.

This wonderful resource reminds us that there are creatives in our midst who are longing to be of service to the church and while the church too often seems stuck in the past or unwilling to hear or look at work created by contemporary artists, many really are wanting to risk taking steps into this whole arena. I know personally of pastors who have said they just don’t know how to to start, what to do, how to minister to local artists or invite congregational artists to play a bigger role in local worship and ministry. This book can help.

There are lots of rave reviews stating how practical and useful this desk reference is. Manuel Luz (whose book Imagine That: Discovering Your Unique Role as a Christian Artist we had on display at the Poiema event) says:  it is “essential and compressive and inspiring. “If you are an artist of faith, or lead artists of faith, you absolutely need to get this book.” Or listen to Jason Leith (of SacredStreets.org, who was also at the Poiema event) when he says

“Whether you are a seasoned arts pastor or just investigating how the arts might benefit your church, this book’s gathered wisdom and curated advice will serve you greatly.”

Finding Divine Inspiration: Working with the Holy Spirit in Your Creativity J. Scott McElroy (Destiny Image) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 30% OFF = $13.99  one week only or while supplies last

We’ve highlighted this book in many of our best BookNotes lists about faith and the arts and, again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but Scott has both the visionary theology to undergird his thinking about a Christian perspective in the arts, but also he has tons of practical common sense, bringing his transferable concepts to the printed page with gusto. That is, this book is rooted in a fine aesthetic of Kingdom vision for the arts but also is down-to-Earth practical. It isn’t quite the handbook of ideas and a desk-reference like his other two, but, as his first one (2008) he offers his ideas about how creative types can “collaborate with God.”

I put it something like this: there are two extremes that too many fall into when talking about our creative endeavors. Some act like God is just an unhindered pipeline for any painting, song, poem, or dance they happen to come up with, regardless of their own talent, perspective, work, or actual openness to the things of God. That’s just dumb. On the other hand, there are many of us who talk about inspiration the way secularists do, as if it just means some vague sense of being excited about whatever we cook up.

Finding Divine Inspiration is a responsible, theologically sound, and creative invitation to really view inspiration in terms of what God through the active Holy Spirit might be doing in and among us as we create and make and design and work. Can we talk about inspiration in a way that is Holy Spirited and theologically sound without being goofy and irresponsible. Yes, yes indeed.

McElroy is a remarkable thinker and artist himself, and both attends a Vineyard Church (making him mildly charismatic and in tune with things of the Spirit) and well aware of the broader, more ecumenical tradition of a theology of the arts. I love that he cites rock critic and poet Steve Turner (Imagine and Popcultured) and the great writer Madeleine L’Engle (whose Walking on Water continues to inspire Christians in the creative arts.)

To help explore how to listen to the voice and prompting of the Spirit in our art work (and, by extension, actually any creative endeavor) Scott wisely interviewed a host of practicing Christian artists, from painter Thomas Blackshear to rock star Dan Haseltine to winsome, award-winning author Walter Wangerin and more.

If you haven’t read deeply in this genre and topic, this is a fine place to start. If you have read some of the classics, this is a good reminder of at least one major truth: we can be inspired by God. Yay.

Discovering God Through the Arts: How We Can Grow Closer to God By Appreciating Beauty & Creativity Terry Glaspey (Moody Press) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 30% OFF = $11.89 one week only or while supplies last

In a workshop I did at Poem, I read a portion of this where Terry writes movingly about encountering a painting that led him, rather unexpectedly, to pray. This is merely the intro but is in a very powerful introduction written not really for artists or workers in the creative fields of the Lord but rather for ordinary folks who want to be formed to deepen their discipleship and wonder how viewing paintings and engaging other art forms might help.

That is, Discovering God Through the Arts is not just another good book on a Christian perspective on the arts or on normative aspects of Christian art-making but is a guide to Christian growth.

To put it simply, Terry here shows how the arts can assist us in prayer and contemplation. Of course it can enhance our sense of wonder, deepening our awe, which is no small thing. In a fascinating chapter he shows how viewing good art can help us regulate our emotions and mature in what another author calls “emotionally healthy spirituality.” He has a great chapter on how the arts can deepen our compassion and empathy and a very good chapter on justice. Our faith can be enriched by art. This shows how.

He asks on the back cover:

“What if the arts were meant to play a more prominent role in the Christian life? What if God cares as much about art as he does about words? About the heart and the eye and the hand as much as the brain?”

75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know: The Fascinating Stories Behind Great Words of Art, Literature, Music, and Film Terry Glaspey (Moody Press) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 30% OFF = $17.49 one week only or while supplies last

Let me say humbly that this book could be twice the price and it would still be well worth it. That this hefty paperback with good paper and full color reproductions is as inexpensive as it is makes it one of the great bargains in the publishing world these days. And it is, indeed, worth every penny.

I have a blurb on the inside and raved about it since its first edition (with a different publisher) years ago. We agree with author A.J. Swoboda who says it is “simply magical.” It is a treasure chest full of inspiring information and art of the finest calibre, explained and highlighted.

There is a reason 75 Masterpieces won a Christianity Today Book Award and was the coveted Gold Medallion winner for the ECPA — it really is an amazing piece of work.

It’s easy to explain: Glaspey gives the background of his pick of the best art pieces ever — including novels, paintings, classical music, pop music, sculptures, architecture, and film. He knows much about literature and pop/rock music and he is a man of deep prayer and Bible study. (And in his time in the religious publishing world he introduced several pretty important new authors who owe him for seeing their talent early on.) Terry is an amazing person and this collection rings true, very true.

Many will appreciate learning about the backstories of these great pieces of art — especially if you’re fond of the two great books by Russ Ramsey, Rembrandt Is in the Wind and Van Gogh Had a Broken Heart — and will be thrilled to hear about the faith-orientation of some of the artists. Many were orthodox Christians, others maybe not, but who were, in one way or another, speaking into a world in search of meaning and beauty. His passion for art history and contemporary relevance is wonderful and his balance is wise and good. Agree or not about his particular 75, you will be blessed to see how, as one reviewer put it, “God’s goodness is woven throughout each unique story.”

Why not buy a few now while we have them on sale to give as gifts (Christmas maybe?) to art aficionados that you know. Or maybe those who are not yet art lovers?

Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves: Alternative Steps in Understanding Art Calvin Seerveld (Piquant) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE 30% OFF = $13.99 one week only or while supplies last

I’ve often mentioned Rainbows for the Fallen World, the true classic, cited often, by the great aesthetic theorist and Bible scholar Calvin Seerveld, of Toronto, Canada. This is one first published in the UK and we are thrilled to have a bunch. Featuring a cover by Cal’s friend Henk Krijger, this is a collection of lectures, talks, keynotes addresses, and seminal essays by Seerveld, making it, in some ways, an even better view of Seerveld’s theories about the arts than Rainbows. I adore this book, have cited it often in workshops I’ve done, and can’t believe the high price used copies go for in some places. In any case, we have it at a lower-than-usual price and our 30% off special and we couldn’t be happier.

This is made with glossy paper so there could be full-color art reproductions, mostly modern and somewhat unknown works, although you’ll find some classics in here, too

It will be a joy for you to own this rare volume and with Seerveld’s colorful (if a touch eccentric) prose, you’ll have a blast with it. Believe me, it is unforgettable.

There are lectures on whether art is a “necessity of luxury” And a good art historical piece on trends in postmodern art (and radically Christian alternatives.) The chapter “Redemptive Artistry in Contemporary Culture” is amazing, and “Redemptive Art and the Problem of Propaganda” is vintage Seerveld. I learned the phrase “God’s glossolalia” from the study of Psalm 19 in Rainbows but he resists it in an Appendix called “Creational Revelation.” With the notes and index it’s just over 200 pages.

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We try to put out our store newsletter, BookNotes, every week or so. I say “or so” because week-ish isn’t a word, but you get my drift. We like to keep reviewing important books for you, or at least announce them. And invite pre-orders. And make lists about a topic. Or celebrate brand new releases, fiction and non-fiction. I could do one almost every day if I didn’t have a store to run. And if I didn’t get the occasional writer’s block; it’s a thing.

We missed this past week entirely although folks are still ordering from that last list of novels and we’re grateful since the bills keep coming in. I bet some of those books might end up at the beach or mountainside, which makes us smile.

While out of town selling books last week with our friends in the CCO at their campus ministry training event in Western Pennsylvania, we heard one guest speaker tell of being fired from her job while on a work-related trip overseas; it was shocking and tacky and, frankly, stupid, as her position is badly needed and she is well-loved. She was angry, of course, but God seemed to speak to her, she said, in part through reading a book she had bought from us, the lovely Birds in the Sky, Fish in the Sea: Attending to Creation with Delight and Wonder by writer and outdoorsman Matthew Dickerson and woodcut artist extraordinary, Matthew Clark (Square Halo Books; $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79.) The Lord seemed to give her a few Biblical texts about being still. Maybe not exactly “don’t worry” but something better: wake up, pay attention, take delight in the wonder of God’s good world and trust the Creator’s sovereign care. Be still and know.

Another person (who had not heard the first talk) later said something similar: take delight, praise God in the ordinary, be aware of the glories around us. You can know God through delight. Oh my.

I thought of the mysterious, allusive 2003 song “Don’t Forget About Delight” by Bruce Cockburn.

On Sunday at my own church a former Presbyterian camp director gave a fabulous sermon about play, recreation, exploration, allowing the Holy Spirit to enliven our imaginations, especially in the great outdoors. I wondered if I was getting a Divine hint.

This is more than taking time for quietude and even something more than reclaiming rest, although I think that’s a good start. I write a lot about a Christian view of work, here, and invite us to think about Christian discipleship in ways that help create a better common good. In these harsh days where policies are hurting the poor and vulnerable, there is much good to be done. We simply must be active in serving our needy neighbors and showing up in ways that can help reform the direction of our culture. Faith without works, the brother of Jesus said, is dead. It’s urgent.

But yet, can’t we play in the Kingdom? Made in God’s image we at least can be (must be?) creative, no? Like God, we speak and make; we play and work and create and rest. With Walt Brueggemann (in Sabbath as Resistance) we recall that keeping sabbath means saying no to the ethos of the world’s economics and the idols of never-ending productivity.

So here’s a good summertime list, random items that just seemed about right — titles that are (mostly) fun reads to help us live into this aspect of life that includes rest, but more: playfulness, leisure, recreation.  Much more could be said, and other titles could be offered. We’ve got big sections on sports and art, for instance; we’ve got Christian studies of entertainment, even books about thinking well about video games. There are a number of books about joy, including books about awe and wonder. Here are a couple to get you going — resting, playing, delighting, enjoying. If the trees can clap their hands, as the Psalmist puts it, surely we can let loose a little, too, eh?

I feel a need to offer this disclaimer, if you will. Some of us have got to work extra hours just to make ends meet. It represents a certain privilege to talk about the difficulties and dysfunctions of a workaholic, ambitious culture, and while many BookNotes readers need to be reminded of the freedom to rest, the goodness of play, some of us battle terrible chronic pain or carry huge social worries; some of us do not have the economic means to take vacations or buy expensive recreational gear. We get that, believe me. Still, a good book about playfulness and a reminder of the Godly call to rest and joy can be helpful for all of us, no matter our life’s station. We really believe God offers rainbows for a fallen world. If this seems a bit bougie, we hear you.

Sabbath Dan Allender (Thomas Nelson) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This is a great book, a key title for anyone reading about sabbath rest and I’ll tell you why I led off this list with this one. It is part of a tremendous series that we promoted when it first came out. Curated and edited by the late, great Phyllis Tickle, this “Ancient Practices” set of books offers each individual one about a particular spiritual practice shared by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The series includes lovely books on tithing, going on pilgrimage, fixed hour prayer, keeping the liturgical calendar, and the like. The first in the series (which I very much liked) was by Brian McLaren and is called Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices.

Allender’s Sabbath is simple to explain. Here’s the thing: unlike any other book on sabbath practices (and there are many good ones) Allender links the practice less to strict and legalistic rules about rest and more to the notion of recreation. Re-creation. Although not exactly a full theology of play, it comes close and invites us to enjoy the goodness of creation, to be replenished in body and spirit in part through the healing power of recreation and celebration. As we weekly live into and embody some glimpse of the hope of heaven — which is to say, new creation! — we (with others) take time to delight. Sabbath can be rejuvenating because that’s the nature of real playfulness. This is a fabulous read, challenging for curmudgeons or workaholics or pietists. Enjoy!

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

This book is so new we don’t even have it in yet — my bad; did I say I was away for a week working off-site? Still, we are on the edges of our seats for this one, eager to see it when it arrives later this week, we hope. Dr. West is an upbeat and beloved Old Testament prof (and the author of a texbook on Biblical Hebrew) at Western Seminary (with a degree from the world-famous Vrije University of Amsterdam.) His colleague Winn Collier, of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination (and author of the amazing authorized biography of Eugene, A Burning in My Bones that I hope you’ve read.) penned a splendid forward. Winn is a wonderful, imaginative spiritual leader, a good creative thinker and writer and his endorsement means a lot. It has only been out a couple of weeks and it’s already getting a lot of buzz. Hooray.

Here are just a few of the rave reviews that have poured in. Please, don’t miss these lovely blurbs — you’ll enjoy their wisdom:

I hardly have words for this stunning invitation to reimagine, to reorient, to redeem the time we view with such scarcity, and to be restored and refreshed to our depths. I’ll never again view Sabbath as something to do but see it now as an invitation to a new way of being in the world, a new way of inhabiting God’s vision for wholeness in all creation and people. — Chuck DeGroat, professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality; executive director of the clinical mental health counseling program at Western Theological Seminary; author of Healing What’s Within

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 M. Kapic, author of You’re Only Human and You Were Never Meant to Do It All

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 B. Powery, PhD, Dean of the School of Arts, Culture, and Society; professor of biblical studies at Messiah University

Travis West’s years of study and practical thought on the subject of shalom come together in The Sabbath Way to create a readable, practical, and beautiful message that we all need now. Phrases in the book such as “Shalom is the wholeness found on the other side of justice” resonated with me, and I will repeat them often in the coming years. In short, your life will be better if you take The Sabbath Way to heart! — Randy Woodley, speaker, activist, and author of Shalom and the Community of Creation, Becoming Rooted, and Journey to Eloheh

An Unhurried Life: Following Jesus’ Rhythms of Work and Rest Alan Fadling (IVP) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

I suppose I don’t need to overstate this important book but it was hugely significant when it first came out. It was pirated by Amazon (it was in the news) so they pulled it, reissued it hardcover (harder to be copied by the print pirates Amazon was colluding with) and it continued to be popular in the expanded and revised edition. It’s now out in paperback again, revised and splendid. Falling is an amazing person, admired by those who know him, and invites us to common sense but counter-cultural practices of something beyond balance. The “rhythms of work and rest” are explored and he advises us to live embrace a more unhurried life, a restful demeanor, formation that allows us to recover from what he calls being “a speed addict.”

Of course the great and dynamic John Mark Comer popularized the line by Dallas Willard in his rightfully popular book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry but that good book surely stands alongside this little classic.

Want to truly know others, to be in relationships that matter? To have time to focus on things that matter most? Do you want to slow down in a way that can pave the way for a life of attention to beauty and even play? This is an amazing, reasonable read.

The Radical Pursuit of Rest: Escaping the Productivity Trap John Kessler (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Drawing a bit on the classic An Unhurried Life by Alan Fadling, John Koessler playfully goes after our jugular — the idol of productivity, efficiency, speed, finding our worth in what we do. The subtitle here is very important and this is radical stuff, even if playfully written. In keeping with our theme in this BookNotes, I’ll note that we can’t really give ourselves over to rest, let alone play, without surrendering our respected idols that align us with excessive productivity. Busyness and accomplishment and self-worth is central to the identities of most of us — Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters is a must-read study of what too often drives us —so this isn’t easy, I know. Believe me, I know.

But taking up this radical view — admitting our need for rest — and thereby “escaping the productive trap” is one of the answers.

Listen to this gorgeous paragraph from the talented and lovely writer Jen Pollock Michel, whose excellent first book is about ambition and is called Teach Us To Want. She, too, knows something profound about all this. Ms Michel writes:

Here is the extravagant promise of John Koessler’s wise, pastoral book: none of us needs to work harder at rest. Rather, rest is laid at the table of grace, which God himself has prepared. In this way, it is rescue for the weary and hope for the heavy-laden. When we realize that God hasn’t invited us to share his busyness but enter his rest, we reclaim the holy leisure of worship. That’s an invitation I can’t seem to resist, and I’m thankful Koessler has made it so clearly and compellingly.

Reclaiming Rest: The Promise of Sabbath, Solitude, and Stillness in a Restless World Kate H. Rademacher (Broadleaf) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

There are plenty of other books on rest and we’re happy to list a few here. This one is special, allusive, very well written, and surprisingly comprehensive — it looks at activism and silence, sabbath rejoicing and solitude. It is refreshing and upbeat, yet contemplative and invites us to sacred spaces to resist the motion and noise of our busy culture. This has lots of practical ideas about incorporating true rest into our daily routines as well as weekly sabbath stuff.

Listen to the ever-wise and always-eloquent Barbara Brown Taylor:

If you do not recognize yourself in the first few pages of this compelling, sage, and down-to-earth book, trust me: Rademacher is going to call your name before she is through. I cannot think of another book that makes a better case for wedding faithful activism to equally faithful rest. — Barbara Brown Taylor, author of An Altar in the World and Learning to Walk in the Dark

Other thoughtful folks offer rave reviews, including the great Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Real Michael Curry, Patricia Raybon (My First White Friend) A.J. Swoboda, Brian McLaren, Kathy Izard, who wrote The Hundred Story Home.

Lauren Winner writes:

Here, we have prose that snaps, practical suggestions coupled with deep wisdom, spirituality connected to politics, and, finally, not just an invitation to a single practice called Sabbath-keeping, but rather an invitation to a more faithful way of life.

Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight Norman Wirzba (Brazos Press) $24.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.20

As we’ve often noted we have a lot of books on sabbath-keeping and restful practices. From lovely guidance like The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan to the classic by Marva Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly to the even older classic, Sabbath by Abraham Heschel (and don’t even get my started by the brilliant Sabbath As Resistance by the late Walter Brueggemann) as well as the aforementioned one by Dan Allender, there are plenty. (And, while we’re on it, don’t miss my favorite, Subversive Sabbath by A. J. Swaboda.) I wanted to list this one by agronomist and theologian Norman Wirzba for two reasons. It is less about taking one day a week off and more about embodying a lifestyle of sabbath principles. And he has an astute chapter on the loss of delight in our secularizing, modern culture and how to regain a Godly sense of wonder and delight. It seemed right to mention it here. (And how about that cover, eh?)

For what it’s worth, the second half gets serious in calling us to a lifestyle that shows forth these lively, delightful, restful, and counter-cultural principles in several areas of life. He has a chapter on education, another on home, another on economics. Of course he has an urgent chapter on environmentalism and a wise bit on “Sabbath Worship.” Okay it seems like a lot, challenging us to live with joy amidst pain and suffering and to recover from our lost ways. For many of us, I suspect, this might be transformative and energizing. Can we play our way into this visionary new creation realities? Come on! This could be fun. As Jamie Smith puts in on the back cover, “Living the Sabbath is a cup of cold water for thirsty souls — a cup of rest and delight offered to those of us exhausted and burdened by the frenetic pace of even our ‘Christian’ busy-ness.

In a way that is consistent with Biblical teaching, by the way, I think almost every personal self-help / personal growth book should have a broader, cultural and systemic aspect — we learn new ways of living within a social context, of course, the root of some of our craziness. And, similarly, any big-picture architectonic critique of the structures around us need to be taken up in our own real-world, daily lives. Living the Sabbath brings to this list a broad critique of our late, modern, capitalistic setting within the dominant culture. But, yet, again, it’s a book about living well, day by day, with Godly delight, in our own local places. Yay.

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto Tricia Hersey (Little Brown Spark) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

Okay, maybe it is a tad incongruous to offer “a manifesto” along these lovely guides to a more restful life, but I’m telling you, lots of people I respect swear by this. She calls herself the “Nap Bishop” and says she has a “nap ministry.” I’m not sure the book is exactly oriented around a Christian worldview, but she is on to something. Hersey is serious about this call to undo some of the patterns of exploitation and racism that plague our society. Who knew that taking a nap could be a (counter-intuitive) form of nay-saying to the idols of the age? That our rest might disrupt white supremacy? (And if this really baffles you, check out one I highlighted a month ago — The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money Is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward by Malcolm Foley, a Black historian and pastor.)

Allow me to quote from the publisher’s pitch about Tricia Hersey’s manifesto:

“Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afro-futurism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.”

The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction Justin Whitmel Earley (IVP) $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19

This has been a best-seller for us for five years now, and we can’t stop telling folks about how helpful it has been for so many — especially (but not only) younger folks, Gen Xers and Millennials, and Gen Z etc. It started on line when Earley came to realize he was exhausted and drinking way too much so he created an online graphic and set of tools to help himself take up better habits, especially around issues of the use of his screens, his busyness, matters of rest and quiet. He’s a fancy lawyer and admittedly a bit driven; he’s a self-aware speaker and writer — we’ve been with him on more than one occasion — and an energetic family man. He’s a good, good guy (whose latest book is about the joys of friendship as an antidote to chronic loneliness.) We respect him and highly recommend this major release.

The Common Rule has some good theology, some spiritual guidance, and lots of stories and practical tools, charts, guidelines. There are habits that can be formed by certain practices — stuff we should do daily, weekly, monthly. There are things to avoid, guidelines for accountability, and ways to find some sort of sanity in our frenetic culture. As spiritual writer (and former high-powered global businessman) Ken Shigematsu notes, it is a lifeline.

And it is beautiful and practical, inviting, even. Whether you are overwhelmed and and on the edge of burn out or whether you just want to move towards a deeper more reasonable sort of lifestyle, this guidebook is a must-read. Buy a couple — you’ll want to give some away to folks you know. The Common Rule is compelling and a delight, even if it may stretch you a bit, even if you have an allergy to rigid guidebooks and texts that are described as tools. Trust me, this one is worth reading.

A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for The Goodness of Limits Ashley Hales (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I know a number of the books on this list allude to the notions that in our creatureliness state — made in God’s image but finite, in a real-world of createdness — we have limits. We can’t do it all since we are “only human” as Kelly Kapic puts it in his major work on the subject called You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (Brazos Press; $23.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.19) or his new devotional You Were Never Meant to Do It All: A 40-Day Devotional on the Goodness of Being Human (Brazos Press; $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99.) Yep, Kelly’s theological work is excellent. But, man, Ashely Hales said it earlier and with such luscious graceful eloquence that one simply must read her 2021 book more than once.

I admire Ashley Hales for her writing skills, her style, her insight. I loved her Finding Holy in the Suburbs that explores a sense of place for those in the cul-de-sac. She has an amazing chapter in an anthology about racism and a new Bible study called A Fruitful Life. But this — A Spacious Life — is an extraordinary read. It is infused with cultural savvy and sociological wisdom, sure, but it is mostly a deeper spiritual read, a book that will draw you to God, to yourself, and to others, in the love that we so badly need. This is more about respite or solace but a reformation of our values and our attitudes about happiness and fulfillment. It will help us give up the endless desire to prefer more and harder and free us from being depleted and dissatisfied.

I’m not there yet, but I resonate with her diagnosis and her proclamation of this notion of a spacious life. I like the sound of it, don’t you? This is about flourishing and is, as Tish Harrison Warren says of it, “a theologically rich and pastoral invitation to slow down is a needed tonic in our culture of ambition and excess.” Breath deep. Be spacious.

The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn’t Have to Be Such Hard Work Leonard Sweet (Tyndale Momentum) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

I’ve talked often about my friend Leonard Sweet, a vibrant and playful Christian leader. He reads more than almost anyone, can pray up a storm, and can preach a witty sermon that could bring an outbreak of genuine renewal. His grandmother was a Free Methodist revival preacher, after all… And he is a post-modern-ish semiotician.

Len is a blast to read, with wit and charm and insight galore. Some of his books are fairly big-picture cultural studies, futurist that he is. Others are just creative and interesting reminders of core Christian teaching. He is a man who follows Jesus and calls us all to whole-life, culturally-engaged serious but joyful discipleship.

The Well-Played Life is one of his less demanding books, at least intellectually. But it packs a prophetic wallop as he explores our fascination with earning our way (the opposite of grace, eh?) and an over-serious view of work. (I will never forget him saying we don’t “work” a violin, we “play” it, and similarly we might be advised to stop talking about “working” at our relationships.) Remember that famous line from Eric Liddell (popularized in the Academy Award-winning film, “Chariots of Fire”) about feeling God’s pleasure when he ran? That’s it! Anyway, The Well-Played Life is a winner. Check it out.

A Theology of Play: Learning to Enjoy Life as God Intended Kevin Gushiken (Kregel Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I’ll admit, this one slipped by me — working too hard or fooling around too much I can’t say — and I just discovered it. I’m thrilled by the plainspoken title and glad to have a fresh take on this subject; the best books on the subject are out of print or hard to get. (We still stock a re-printed edition of Robert K. Johnston’s classic The Christian at Play.) Gushiken’s got a PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and I’m eager to know more about him. One of the rave blurbs on the back is from a pastor of a large church in Uganda, who notes that in some African cultures playfulness is considered to be un-serious, so therefore a playful leader would be disrespected. Sounds not terribly uncommon in some circles here, too, eh?

I like the books on leadership written by Angie Ward of Denver Seminary. Listen to her report on how this book, A Theology of Play, is helpful:

As a lifelong Christian and a perfectionist with a loud internal critic, this book is exactly the challenge and permission I needed to let myself learn how to play, and to play more. Play is not only for children, and it’s not a sign of immaturity; as Kevin Gushiken points out, it’s a mindset that is essential to our faith and growth as followers of Christ at any age. I especially needed the chapters on ‘Playing in My Identity’ and ‘Playing at Work’ to lighten up aspects of my life that I often take far too seriously. Thanks to Kevin for moving us toward the freedom and pleasure that God intended for our lives through this much-needed book! — Angie Ward, Director of the Doctor of Ministry, Denver Seminary, author of I Am a Leader, Uncharted Leadership, and Church and Parachurch.

The God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality Brian Edgard (Cascade Publishing) $23.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.40

I admit I have not read this… the cover seems too dark (although I like it if you study it) and I don’t know much about the author. But here’s the thing: a good friend of mine who does workshops on this very topic and who reads widely in their field has given it a big thumbs up. He recommends it and it’s been on my stack…. Some of you might want it, I bet.

Here is what the publisher says about it; read this carefully to see if it is for you. It sounds enjoyable enough, but in its call to create an ethic of play, it engages everybody from Aquinas to Bonhoeffer. Allrightee then.

Many people would be surprised to hear that a playful attitude towards God and the world lies at the heart of Christian faith. Traditionally Christians have focused on the serious responsibilities of service, sacrifice, and commitment. But the prophets say that the future kingdom is full of people laughing and playing, which has implications for Christians who are called to live out the future kingdom in the present. Play is not trivial or secondary to work and service–only a playful way of living does justice to the seriousness of life! Play is the essential and ultimate form of relationship with God, which is why Jesus told people to learn from children. Indeed, a playful attitude is an important part of all significant relationships. This book explores grace, faith, love, worship, redemption, and the kingdom from the perspective of a playful attitude. It describes how to create a “play ethic” to match the “work ethic” and discusses play as a virtue, Aquinas’s warning against the sin of not playing enough, and Bonhoeffer’s claim that in a world of pain it is only the Christian who can truly play.

The late, great Christine Pohl of Asbury (and author of the best serious study of hospitality, Making Room: Removing Hospitality as a Christian Tradition and the best serious exploration of community, Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us) wrote this about The God Who Plays:

Who would expect a theologically robust and illuminating argument for play as central to Christian life and theology? Brian Edgar provides this and more — an original, nuanced, and engaging book that challenges our assumptions and invites us to delight in, and to take seriously, the playful dimensions of spirituality, discipleship, relationships, and God’s kingdom. — Christine D. Pohl, professor, Asbury Theological Seminary

Leisure and Spirituality: Biblical, Historical, and Contemporary Perspectives Paul Heintzman (Baker Academic) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I did a major review of this when it first came out in 2015 — you can search back through BookNotes if you’d like — but I’ll just give it another quick shout out here, now. And our price is ten bucks lower than the going price now, so this is a fun bargain!

It is weighty (325 pages counting the endnotes and bibliography.) It is thorough. And it is, for some of us, indispensable. A major release in the important “Engaging Culture” series from Baker Academic, it is the only book that seriously tackles from a thoughtful, nuanced, evangelical perspective, the whole area of leisure studies. Heintzman taught this subsection of sociology at the University of Ottawa and has had extensive experience as a recreational practitioner. His love for the outdoors and wilderness experiences is palpable but this big volume offers a theoretical foundation for not only outdoors education, camping and the like but the whole broader terrain of leisure and recreation.

Robert Banks — who has given his life to thinking well about faith in the marketplace and work-world — says to read it “in a leisurely way” which he suggests is a more spiritually-attentive way. Glenn Van Andel, a colleague and leader in this very movement (from Calvin University in Grand Rapids) says the book is “a wonderful gift that will transform our perspective on common elements of our daily lives: work, rest, and play.”

Leisure and Spirituality is “a wonderful gift that will transform our perspective on common elements of our daily lives: work, rest, and play.” — Glenn Van Andel

I said it is the only book of its kind. That’s not exactly accurate as Dr. Heintzman helped edit two other spectacular volumes that bring together some academic papers and other reflections on leisure studies, recreation, play, sports, and the like, both published by that rather rare Dordt College Press. They are Christianity and Leisure: Issues in a Pluralistic Society and Christianity & Leisure II: Issues for the Twenty-first Century (both in stock here, naturally.) I highly recommend those for those with serious interest however it has stuff as diverse as leisure theory, empirical research, studies about the theology of sports and coaching, philosophical studies of the aesthetics of play, explorations about faith-based perspectives on health and wellness, and testimony from those who are practitioners in the fields of recreational services.

Until the Streetlights Come on: How a Return to Play Brightens Our Present and Prepares Kids for an Uncertain Future Ginny Yurich (Baker) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

We’ve celebrated this before, glad to have an inspirational faith-based book about this increasingly discussed topic. And it is a good one — “rousing and replete with research” as one happy reader wrote. Everybody seems to know that kids need outdoor time and unstructured play. (Although not everyone is doing much about our lifestyles, our disconnection, our addiction to screens and the like.) This book can help.

Here is what the publisher writes:

The average American now spends just four to seven minutes outside each day, while we spend four to seven hours using devices with screens. Our physical, mental, emotional, and relational health has suffered–and so has that of our children.

But there is a solution: get outside!

A homeschooling mother of five and the founder of the global 1000 Hours Outside movement, Ginny Yurich explains how we got to this point — and how to get back to a healthier, more engaging relationship with the world outside. With a mom’s heart and an educator’s eye, Ginny shows you the importance of unstructured play for children, what boredom actually contributes to our brains, the value of sunlight and social play, the role of play in lifelong learning, how to make time outside more attractive than screen time to your child and much more.

If you want your kids to grow up curious, resilient, and with a sense of adventure and community, it’s essential to make outside play a priority. This book shows you why and how.

Overplayed: A Parent’s Guide to Sanity in the World of Youth Sports David King & Margot Starbuck (Herald Press) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

Again, this is an older one that we raved about when it came out almost a decade ago. King is the director of athletics at Eastern Mennonite University (and has coached sports and the elementary, middle and high school levels.) Margot is everybody’s favorite (or ought to be) hippy-chick wild writer woman. Her consulting work with writers is stunningly useful and she’s a joyful, thoughtful, Christian leader. They combined here to explore some good news for parents who are overwhelmed by the demands of competitive youth sports.

As the back cover asks — do you remember pickup games in the backyard? Oh, how times have changed.

This wise book offers insights that will help guide parents towards practical ways to set boundaries and help kids gain fuller identities (as beloved children of God) both on and off the field, whether they win or lose games. Others have written about this and this is by far the best thing we’ve seen. Needed now more than ever.

There is Biblical insight here, yes, but also developmental stuff and ways to help regain a sane and life-giving schedule for kids and teens (and parents.) There are discussion questions for families and lots of stories — whether you are a parent or care-giver, coach, trophy winner or the kid who got cut from the team, there really is lots of good info here.

Rachel Gerber, who has been the national minister for youth and young adults for the Mennonite Church USA, says:

Practical and inspirational, Overplayed reminds and reorients us as parents and caregivers to what truly matters: not our children’s scholarships, trophies, or records but the fact that they are God’s beloved children.

A Year of Playing Catch: What a Simple Daily Experiment Taught Me about Life Ethan D. Bryan (Zondervan) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I have written about this often — even though I admit I’ve never had a catch with Ethan — and find the book to be one of the most memorable, enjoyable, insightful, playful, books I’ve read. I mean that — in its own way, in this rather unique genre, it is a true stand-out. Ethan wrote an earlier book about going to his beloved KC Royals stadium every day for a whole season (they were not doing well in those years) with some sort of spiritual lesson or lively insight gleaned from each game. Eventually he took his playful energy and writerly observations into his own personal life and started playing catch every single day and wrote this charming book about that.

It has become a bit of a movement — there are stories galore (google him) and stories from ESPN and other such sources that tell about playing catch to raise money for good causes or playing catch in honor of a deceased sports fan, or playing catch to heal broken relationships. I’m glad some have read the book and are doing the work. Or should I say playing the play.

A Year of Playing Catch follows Ethan all over where he plays with ordinary folks (and a few stars, on and off the field.) The scene when he has a catch at the famous “Field of Dreams” site is unforgettable. The drama builds as he might play with super-star celebrities and maybe the White House. Or not. It doesn’t matter— he’s a lovely servant of God touching the lives of common folks all over. This book is a testament of the power of play, the joy of following your dreams (or at least following your nose as you figure what shape your dreams will take) and caring well for others as you re-create. What fun. Highly recommended for baseball fans, of course, but, really, for every and anyone.

Speaking of having fun, by the way, Ethan D. Bryan of Missouri is the author of the self-published novel I wrote about in the last BookNotes, The Life-Saving Adventure of Gracelyn Gordon and Her Dog. There’s a little baseball in that fictional travelogue, too. What a great time I had reading that. You will, too.

Walk Ride Paddle: A Life Outside Tim Kaine (Harper Horizon) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Okay admittedly, this is not just a book about the author’s 1,228-mile journey hiking, cycling and canoeing across Virginia’s natural landscape. It is, indeed, an outdoorsy journal — in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s review she says “Move over, Thoreau, and make way for Walk, Ride, Paddle. In fact, great contemporary mystery writer David Baldacci says Kaine is “channeling his inner Bill Bryson” which is just about right. Another review notes how Kaine takes us along as he “hikes the Appalachian Trail, cycles through the Blue Ridge Mountains, and canoes Virginia’s lightly James River.” What fun.

But it is more. I suppose you know that Kaine is a Democratic office holder who obviously loves his state and sets out here not only to find recreational solace but to meet people across the political divides. It isn’t mostly about civil society and public conversations, but it is “a love letter to the commonwealth” he has served for over twenty-five years. Written as he was turning 60, Cain is taking account of his own life. As Hillary put it, it is “filled with reflections on everything from his strong religious faith to his dislike of wolf spiders to Covid’s impact on his health to our nation’s dysfunctional politics.

There are lots of enjoyable outdoor memoirs and travelogues, many that help us see the beauty of the terrain. This one is a really enjoyable one, exploring our bonds as people, making it what Adriana Triginai (The Good Left Undone) calls “a field guide for the soul.” Nice — a perfect summer read.

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

This is an author I enjoy — I liked her faith-based exploration of genealogy called The Soul of the Family Tree and couldn’t put down her Near the Exit, an award-winning study and travelogue through the customs and ritual surrounding death the world over. What fascinating reads. This recent one is equally ambitious, but a tad less dramatic, making it, well, also captivating in its own fun way. During COVID, the globetrotting Erickson and her husband took off in their small camper. I love a good road trip and for those of us who don’t have the time or money to travel, it’s fun to ride along. Especially when the author is so curious, mindful, even.

As the publisher puts it, “Whether you are exploring national parks or visiting holy sites, this book makes for the perfect spiritual companion and guide.” There are additional resources for group conversations — it would make a great book club selection — including videos from the author (and even a Spotify playlist.) Every Step Is Home is a lovely, fun read whether you are a nomad or pilgrim or stay at home reader.

Sacred Playgrounds: Christian Summer Camp in Theological Perspective Jacob Sorenson (Cascade Books) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I mentioned in my intro that a guest pastor friend preached about “sacred playgrounds” in our church last week. No doubt she was drawing on this one-of-a-kind theologian, storyteller, researcher, and upbeat writer about the ways in which summer camping can be a venue for not only religious formation and spiritual dedication but actually theological exploration. Perhaps without naming it as such campers, counselors, and staff engage in theological playfulness, exploring with creativity and imagination the interface of spirituality and the great outdoors. Sorenson is not unaware of the myriad philosophical and theological questions at play here — centering experiential education and embodied spiritual formation is increasingly being studied — but the book is a good read. I’m guessing it was a dissertation at some point and we can rejoice. There is nothing like it that I know of in print.

The Art of Being a Creature: Meditations on Humus and Humility Ragan Sutterfield (Cascade) $25.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

I’ve reviewed this before so won’t go on and on, but I could. I love this book! Sutterfield is an Episcopalian farmer and has written wisely on Earth and limits and his own body images and caring for creation (and has the best intro to the life and work of Wendell Berry out there – Wendell Berry and the Given Life, a great, great read.) I raved about this because, well, it is about the truth of things: we are creatures, Earthlings, made of humus, after all. This is profoundly Biblical and it is so, as she says, that “from AI to the Anthropocene, technological power has pushed human life to the limits.” Can caring for soil — gardening, farming, eating well — make a difference?

If you liked Jeff Chu’s Good Soil, you’d like the stuff Sutterfield writes about a theology of compost. His style is lively essay, filled with serious reflections (about kenosis) and playful ruminations. There’s some natural history and science and some lovely stuff about being fully human.

Bible scholar Sylvia Keesmaat and farmer writes that Sutterfield “has created an allusive and poetic symphony of gratitude, awe, and solidarity with and for the soil.” She continues, “the book invites us to join the dance of all of creation… so we might become more deeply rooted in the life of the Creator.”

It seems a fine title to end our little list about rest, recreation, play — a book about mud and beauty. About God and us beloved creatures. Yes, yes, yes. Enjoy and be transformed.

A FINAL QUICK NOTE ABOUT PRE-ORDERING THIS FORTHCOMING FABULOUS TITLE:

A final quick note: for some of us — I hardly need to say it — reading is a pastime not only for spiritual formation and life-long learning but for relatively inexpensive, lasting, entertainment. We thank God for the rest and rejuvenation we can find while lost in a good book. So I wanted to just remind you that I invited you (in a BookNotes a few weeks ago) to PRE-ORDER one of my favorite books on the topic of reading and the glad practices of reading widely. It’s coming early, next month, so don’t forget to order World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading by Jeff Crosby (Paraclete Press; $18.99 // OUR PRE-ORDER SALE PRICE = $15.19.) What a delight this book will be. I’ve read an early manuscript and I am thrilled to get to sell it soon. Hooray.

Scroll to the tab marked “ORDER” below and tell us what you want. We’ll take it from there.

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I am not going to extol the value of reading literature or tell why novels are important to our mental, emotional, and spiritual health. I’ve written plenty about reading (and recommended in the last BookNotes that you pre-order Jeff Crosby’s forthcoming book The World of Wonder: The Spirituality of Reading) and while many of our BookNotes readers may appreciate my emphasis on non-fiction here at BookNotes, I know many are eager to hear some good suggestions for Summer fiction.

(If you’re super-duper interested, I created for a clergy retreat I led a while back a list of 50 novels that I appreciate and you can check that big list HERE.)

I’m going to tell you now about 10 recent novels — it seems like a good round number — but I have to say that the first two are indie authors, self-published, no less, which are the most moving stories I’ve read in ages. And, believe me, I’ve read some good ones, most recently a heady 650-page postmodern (I use the term loosely) Irish novel called The Bee Sting and an edgy cool older one called The Dylanist.  And you know Beth read right away devoured the new Fredrik Backman, My Friends.

But these first two that you may not even have heard of are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, easy reads and I hope you give them a try. Support indie writers and a small-town bookstore in one fell swoop — order them today.

All books mentioned here at BookNotes are 20% off.

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

Okay, forget about the uninspiring cover. Please. Here is what I wish I could do. I want to tell you about almost every single chapter of this fast-paced, easy to read, utterly charming story written by a good customer and dear friend, a book as earnest and lovely as is the author himself. But I can’t, because I do not want to give away the surprises that await in almost every chapter and, well, because there are a lot of them. There are 40 pretty short chapters and you’ll finish this in a few days or so, I bet; maybe a week. It is hard to put down, believe me.

Here’s the gist: Gracelyn Gordon is an artist living in Missouri. That’s the first thing to know; Ethan has crafted an endearing story about the work of a painter and I think I haven’t read anything so nice about the demanding work of an artist — working for commissions, doing photos and sketches to inspire future paintings, the deeply emotional work of choosing colors and actually making art, the driving passions of one called to this vocation, the overall joy but yet the mundane practicality of contracts and museums and visiting stores to buy brushes and canvases. There isn’t too much about that, and it doesn’t show the darker, painful side that surely plagues the work, but there is enough here about the life of a single, small-town, female painter to bring smiles to readers who are (or who know) working artists. I so enjoyed that part of it.

And here’s the next part: Gracelyn’s mother died when she was very young so she was raised by her upbeat, creative, wonderful father. They had a great relationship. There are lots of fun flashbacks and I think even if your dad was not as generous or outrageously creative as Gracelyn’s dad, it will pull some heart strings. I shed some tears with this one, and I’m glad I got to experience this good relationship between a school teacher dad and his young adult daughter. We need these kinds of models, I think, and even if most of us don’t have Bob Goff-like parents full of whimsy and adventure and faith and kindness, seeing this unfold in the novel is wholesome and good and beautiful. Whew.

But here’s the real situation: as the book begins you realize that Gracelyn’s father has died and he has spent the last year of his life leaving a whole bunch of clues around the country for a cross-country scavenger hunt. He has no idea if she should even pursue this crazy dare, but when she gets to the first place — the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, Texas (her dad and mom met at Baylor University, there — and is befriended by the owner she calls Mrs. Pepper, she realizes that her father has invested in relationships with these people all over the country, each waiting to greet her if and when she ever shows up. And, as you’ll find, almost everybody is all in.

She gets one thing wrong (a misunderstood clue having to do with the book her English-teacher dad loved to teach, To Kill a Mockingbird and something to do with Atticus Finch) but daunting as some of the trips are, she travels around the country meeting people along the way, some whom become life-long friends. What a great plot device for a story, eh?

I can’t tell you more of where this adventure takes our valiant adventurer as that would spoil the  fun of surprise. She has a girl-pal that goes with her on a few of the escapades, modeling, again, the goodness of real friendship. It was not only enjoyable but inspiring, truly. And there are plenty of shenanigans with her dog, Fagan.

There is an afterword by Ethan saying a bit about how he came to write this tale. He didn’t say what a baseball fan he is (you may know, at least, his Zondervan title A Year of Playing Catch which we’ve touted here) but it made sense that one of the clues her father left took her to a famous baseball stadium. Gracelyn’s inspiration from a little boy with “lucky socks” is just so fun and inspiring I wanted to cheer. Her meeting folks along the way (including stuff tied in to books and music and scenes that will make you clap your hands and wipe away tears of joy) is part of the endearing style of this lovely read.  The Life Saving Adventure isn’t quite an epic journey on par with that taken by Bilbo Baggins, but the brave little Hobbit and their journey does come up. You’re going to love this.

Just for fun, Ethan has enclosed as a book-marker (for a limited handful) a bonus gift of a baseball card (of players from his beloved Kansas City Royals.) That’s cool, is it not?  Ethan’s prose and the story his writing invites us into is inspiring, wise, gracious, kind, good. You will want to be a more gloriously adventuresome person having read this book, even if you never travel (and even if you don’t have the exceedingly good fortune at (almost) every turn that Gracelyn has. You, too, will want to see God’s hand in things, you’ll want to sing and trust and hope. Carpe Diem and all that. You will believe that love wins, that art matters. This book brings it. Enjoy.

I don’t say this often, and I suspect it may never happen, but I want a sequel. The book ends in a lovely, upbeat, rom-com sort of way but I still want to know what happens with a few of the characters. I want to know more about Gracelyne’s developing art and her life. And I want more adventures. The sign of a good book, eh?

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

If the easy-flowing and upbeat prose of my friend Ethan’s poignant story of Gracelyn (above) was the most enjoyable sweet story I’ve read all year, I want to suggest that this indie novel — the author’s first fictional release — is right up there as well. It is equally passionate about the arts and tells a very compelling story, set, however, mostly, in one specific place. If the previous one is necessarily about travel and adventure, The Ballad of the Lost Dogs is, in fact, set mostly in one neighborhood in one run-down but then gentrified section of East Nashville. I think a number of the streets and coffee shops and churches may be real and, as one reviewer noted, it “truly captures the core of the magic of East Nashville.”  That’s from Chuck Beard of East Side Storytelling, an outfit that specializes in helping people tell their stories. That’s a huge endorsement and when he says “I can’t recommend this book enough!” I know what he means. I adored this work and have been waiting for a while to tell you.  It is not soapy like the popular Nashville TV show a while back, but it’s got some of that vibe, a story about making acoustic music in Tennessee.

The backstory: John J. Thompson fell in love with the best (dare I say the most edgy and creative) sorts of contemporary Christian music in the 1980s as a young teen and he’s been at it ever since. He worked at the legendary, artful — some might say radical — Cornerstone Festival outside of Chicago. (Rez Band’s Glenn & Wendi Kaiser make a cameo appearance in one scene in the novel) and formed a band (The Wayside.) He ran TrueTunes and knows his way around all kinds of music. He wrote a fabulous book ten years ago about resisting mass-marketed stuff — with chapters on beer-making and coffee and record shops and finding a creative, localist faith called Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate: Crafting a Handmade Faith in a Mass-Market World. (Which we still stock at our very analog shop here in Dallastown.) He teaches at Lipscomb, now, and, yes, for those in the know, the book is somewhat of a nod to his friends in the alt-rock band The Lost Dogs. And, yes, The Ballad of the Lost Dogs of East Nashville is about the power of making real music.

(A fun aside: who has a fictional character in a novel write a fictional song, and then has that song recorded, for real, by guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy?)

The story revolves around Jerry, a recovering alcoholic, wounded deeply by awful experiences in the Vietnam war who works as a tour bus driver where he meets country singers who hate country music and CCM bands who live like heathens. And yet, he meets genuine artists and as he drives bands around he is encouraged to pick up his long forgotten guitar. He plays along with great albums (mostly of the 70s era) from John Prine to Johnny Cash to Ry Cooder. He revives an old lullaby he wrote for his long-lost daughter (now an adult) and plays his guitar almost as a prayer. He’s talented and getting good but nobody knows; he never plays for anyone.

East Nashville was a fairly rough part of town, or so the story tells us, and many of Jerry’s neighbors were black. He grows in his appreciation for R&B and soul and exchanges records with an older black neighbor — they borrow each other’s LPs and they learn from each other; the scene unlocked something in me and I bawled my eyes out reading this lovely little episode. Jerry shows up for his neighbors after the awful 1998 tornados and new friendships are forged.

There is a scene about the economics of gentrification — from the point of view of a working class black man — that explains the injustices of these evolutions in neighborhoods becoming trendy as well as any nonfiction expose. While the artful telling of this plot about Jerry and his love of music is the main thing, the subtext is the changing neighborhood, the longing for authentic multi-ethnic friendships, even the value of intergenerational relationships. Man, there is a lot that comes upon in this allusive, lovely fiction — not as “points” or “topics” or “messages” but just woven nicely into the story. In ways that good stories can, we learn a lot about the multi-cultural neighborhood of changing East Nashville. Which could be almost anywhere in these United States, it seems, where rich and poorer and folks of different faiths and places by necessity come together. Or don’t.

Church looms large in the background of this story, although it isn’t written in a way that seems to be “about” religion or evangelical faith; indeed it may be especially for the exevangelical or “spiritual but not religious” crowd. Yet, as Jerry visits the church of his record-loving Black friend, he connects with an amazing singer — as shy about singing in public as Jerry is about playing in public.

I can’t say all that happens but early on we realize that something significant — really wonderfully magical and big — has happened the night before and a music journalist is trying to interview this band of brothers that have been playing music together on the sly. The back stories of each colorful character unfold and each person — a Mexican-American who plays a mean accordion, a well-dressed African American bus driver (despite his engineering degree he couldn’t get a job in the mid-twentieth century American South) who sings Bill Withers and Al Green and some young white kids with amazing chops, and a spoken word poet named Nadia — has a story to tell about their lives and how they ended up on the streets of East Nashville.

Thompson gets the music stuff right, it seems to me. The occasional lingo about amps and instruments and the description of the needle going down on LPs (and the tons of musicians and records that are name-dropped) is fabulous. I have no idea why, but I was choked up in a brilliant paragraph about the accordion, as the gentleman played it like a prayer for his extended family.

There are some QR codes in the back of this well-designed book which include playlists — tunes from Solomon Burke to Katrina and the Waves, from The Staple Singers to Merle Haggard, from Tom Petty to Los Lobos to Marvin Gaye to Billy Preston and two from Van Morrison alongside bunches more. The unintended band that developed so magically in The Ballad of the Lost Dogs becomes known as Lost Perros. Look up their playlist on Spotify. You’ll really want to read the book, then.

Kudos to John J. Thompson for crafting such a fascinating and large story, set in one neighborhood but which fans out in time and place, asking about the spiritual impact of art, the power of music, the joy and healing in music-making together. And — no spoilers here, really — exploring the question about whether a good thing can last; can a true thing get too big, too fast? Can success compromise even our best intentions at earnest companionship?

For a while we have a few autographed copies.

John J. Thompson’s Ballad of the Lost Dogs of East Nashville is the rock-n-roll fable we all need right now. We need to remember that our neighbors have a wealth of knowledge, and stories that bind us together. While experiencing this book, I wanted to be in that garage, listening to friends from all walks make music. I found pieces of myself in several of the characters. It became real. I went “in”, and wanted to stay. What more do you want from a novel? — Andy Zipf, graphic designer

 

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I hope you don’t mind, but to save your eyes (and so you can get to ordering and reading these fabulous stories) I’m not going to say much about these. We haven’t read them all. I wanted to keep it at just 8 more for this total of 10, so here are a handful. All are 20% off. Enjoy.

James: A Novel Percival Everett (Doubleday) $28.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

I’ve mentioned this before and I hope you know of it — it won the Pulitzer Prize this year. It has been called “majestic” and “genius” and “a provocative, enlightening, work of literary art.” It — as Ron Charles put it in the Washington Post — both “honors and interrogates Huck Finn, along with the nation that honors it.”

James is a re-telling of the story of Huck Finn from the point of view of Jim from the famous Mark Twain tale, and it is not only thrilling and what the Times  reviewers called “soulful” but an entertaining and ambitious work. Wow.

This Is Happiness: A Novel Niall Williams (Bloomsbury) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

This is not new but came out recently in paperback — it was on many best-of lists and won countless accolades, not least was Beth’s claim that it was one of her favorite books of the last decade. Not a few customers (and my own pastor) have insisted that I mention it. Niall Williams is an esteemed Irish novelist (who lies in County Clare) and he is elegant and exceptional. His artful sentences are worth savoring.

This Is Happiness is set in a small town in Ireland — it opens with rain — and continues to be rural in tone. It is said to be about “the loves of our lives and the joys of reminiscing” but that is only the broadest theme; it is about place, for sure.  One reviewer called this artful bit of storytelling “a breathtaking tale” which another said is “comic and poignant in equal measure.” The New York Times captures it well saying it is “a big-hearted story, an intimate study of a small place on the brink of change.”

The Collector of Burned Books: A Novel Roseanna M. White (Tyndale) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Evangelical Christian fiction is known for doing inspiring historical fiction and this new one is set in Paris 1940; as you might guess the book’s broadest theme is about the Nazi Party burning books in Germany. As you may know, German writers who were exiled for their opinions (or because they were Jewish) made their way to Paris. I do not know if this is even true, but these exiled writers opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and gathered every book on the banned list.

One of the main characters in this well-written story is Corinne Bastien, who has been reading those books and making that library a second home. And, it is about Christian Bauer, a German literature professor sent by Goebbels to France “to handle the ‘relocation’ of France’s libraries. Readers will be surprised to find what this professor conscripted into service does to try to protest whoever and whatever he can.

One reviewer said that Roseanne White is a “brilliant storyteller.” This includes discussion questions, making it good for book clubs.

An American Immigrant: A Novel Johanna Rojas Vann (Waterbrook) $17.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

This is not brand new, but it seems like this is a fine moment to highlight this solid bit of evangelical storytelling. Rojas Vann is a Christ-Award winning fiction writer (and a second generation woman from Columbia.) We are glad to see the Christian fiction industry promoting books by women of color, set in the context of Latina culture. This book is about heritage, identity, and sacrifice, an epic story of generations. The main character, Melanie Carvajal, is a Miami journalist. We are told the author was inspired by real-life events… One reviewer says “this story will have people talking.”

Here are a few of the many lovely endorsements:

A beautiful homage to a mother’s bravery and the grace and grit that is our inheritance. An American Immigrant is a clarion call to water our roots and refuse to allow those we love to be lost in translation.  — Alicia Menendez, MSNBC anchor and creator of Latina to Latina podcast

In a yearning and humbling journey to the place of her mother’s birth, a fictional Miami journalist discovers her innermost worth by yielding to family truth, creative courage, and cultural clarity — which she needs to give both her heart and the hard world her authentic best. An enchanting, brave, and uplifting story of discovery, family love, and determined hope. — Patricia Raybon, Christy Award–winning author of the Annalee Spain Mystery series and My First White Friend: Confessions on Race, Love, and Forgiveness

Johanna Rojas Vann takes readers on a journey that brings about knowledge, empathy, relatability, connection, and empowerment. The food and culture made me want to dig up recipes and follow in Melanie’s shoes in An American Immigrant and celebrate the blessings God brings us. Readers don’t want to miss this uplifting story! —Toni Shiloh, Christy Award–winning author

Flight of the Wild Swan Melissa Pritchard (Bellevue Literary Press) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

Speaking of historical fiction, this came out a year ago in hardcover and we sold a few. It is now out in paperback. It is simply remarkable, and has gotten extraordinary acclaim, and is “a fascinating immersion in the 19th century world of drawing rooms and battlefields, crinolines and leeches.” Yes, it is a fictional account of Florence Nightingale. It has been called magnificent and moving and “a tour de force.”

With blurbs by the likes of esteemed and beloved poet (and memoirist) Joy Harjo — she refers not only to the author’s “exquiste ear for tone and detail in story” but “her gift of mystic perception” — Flight of the Wild Swan has been nominated for major awards and gleaned notable recommendations. It is one of these very well-done, captivating novels called “lush and lyrical” and yet offering a serious study of Victorian era expectations and Nightingale’s Christian faith as she pioneered notions of skilled and compassionate nursing care.

Flight of the Wild Swan offers a fascinating immersion in the 19th-century world of drawing rooms and battlefields, crinolines and leeches. Just as vividly, Pritchard’s tour de force evokes nursing and medicine today, when Florence Nightingale’s pioneering contributions are still felt and in which women still struggle for equality. An enchanting, inspiring, and utterly relevant novel.” —Suzanne Koven, MD, author of Letter to a Young Female Physician

Forty Acres Deep Michael Perry (Sneezy Cow Publishing) $12.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $10.36

I have promoted this before so I will be brief. Michael Perry is an essayist, memoirist, funny fiction writer (see the hilarious Jesus Cow) and an all around smart, rural, farmer guy. He writes beautifully about so much — often the day to day experiences of his Minnesota rural community.

This is a short novella, moving, wonderfully rendered, magical in many ways. I read a part in a workshop I did once for folks in rural communities and thought it might bring insight to the complications of modern-day small farmers. This is vivid and what the Wall Street Journal (of all places) called “beautiful and immediate and elegant.”  It’s a very compelling read.

The plot begins when a northern farmer named Harold awakes with his wife having died in her sleep. There is a terrible snowstorm and roofs are composing. The wintery beauty is stark and his next days are haunting — mundane stuff about the snow and the property and the truck, and some almost funny scenes like his visit to a newfangled coffee shop in town. Perry says it is “seamed with grim humor and earthy revelations” and you will have to read it for yourself to wonder if this story is fundamentally unforgiving or if there are images and impulses to hope.

In any case, there are farmers who are taking their own lives these days — that is how bad it is, and as we know, with the Trump budget just passed, many small farmers and those in rural landscapes are going to have some support and services stripped. Maybe this glimpse into the hard life of Harold may be helpful. It’s a gripping read… small sized and not much over 100 pages.

The Life of Herod the Great Zora Neale Hurston (Amistead) $28.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

When I heard, maybe nearer the end of last year, that there was a newly found (unfinished) manuscript by the great black writer Zora Neale Hurston (author of the must-read American classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God) and it was about Herod the Great, no less, I could hardly believe it. Some have said this was to be part of, or maybe a sequel to, her 1950s classic Moses, Man of the Mountain.

How did just a never-released manuscript come to be issued in what is surely one of the most remarkable literary events of the decade? That, I suppose, is another story.

I have not read this yet, and have intentionally avoided reviews. It does have a strange twist: Herod, surely one of the most notorious characters in the Bible, is, in Hurston’s bold retelling, “not the wicked ruler of the New Testament who is charged with the ‘slaughter of the innocents,’ but a forerunner of Christ —a beloved king who enriched Jewish culture and brought prosperity and peace to Judea.” Of course he was friends with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, so this is going to be a dramatic and exciting read. But, really?

What is going on here? I have no idea.

One contemporary black writer, Tayari Jones, says it is a “treasure for the whole world”,  writing “The Life of Herod the Great—like Hurston herself—is a masterpiece, a miracle, and a marvel.”

The book concludes with several letters by Zora Neale Hurston herself, with comment by expert in the life and work of Hurston Deborah Plant, who founded and chaired the Department of Africana Studies at the University of South Florida.

Dream Count: A Novel Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

I suppose you know of the very esteemed work of Ngozi Adichie whose book Americanah was considered as one of the top 100 Best Books of the Twenty-First Century in one big New York Times list.  That was considered dazzling, funny, defiant, wise, brilliant, masterful, cerebral, gorgeous, rare, “witheringly trenchant and hugely empathic.” So this, the long awaited next novel by this remarkable young writer, is now, after a dozen years, is finally here.

The reviews have been celebratory and animated. The Wall Street Journal said it was “tender and wistful” and –Shahidha Bari, in the Financial Times, says it is “moral and furious.”   The plot involves a Nigerian travel writer living in the US and several of her friends (including a fancy lawyer who faces a betrayal and a financier back in Nigeria.) The book is said to be about the choices we make as well as those made for us. I believe you will discover some heartfelt stuff about mothers and daughters.

I adored her small nonfiction book We Should All Be Feminists and the small follow-up that Adichie wrote, Dear Ijeawele, also about the roles and freedom for women. Her latest nonfiction is a reflective essay about grief about losing her Nigerian father.

Dream Count feels like a homecoming. The Nigerian author’s first work of longform fiction in over a decade reminds us of the sharp wisdom and sturdy empathy that have made her one of the most celebrated voices in fiction . . . . Dream Count succeeds because every page is suffused with empathy, and because Adichie’s voice is as forthright and clarifying as ever. Reading about each woman, we begin to forget that we’re separate from these characters or that their lives belong to fiction. — Helen Wieffering, Associated Press

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This was going to be a simple invitation to PRE-ORDER a few forthcoming titles that we thought you’d want to know about. One that has an August release date just showed up so while it’s listed on this pre-order BookNotes, it’s now available. How ‘bout that?

(And of course, he says, sotto voce, you can pre-order anything, anytime. Just let us know how we can get what you need. Right?)

In the chance that you are ordering more than one not-yet-released title, it would be helpful, gentle readers and good customers, to tell us if you want us to send each as they release or hold one up until the others arrive; consolidating them into one shipment is a bit more stewardly (resource wise) and cheaper for you. But we can send them out each the day they arrive if you’d like. With these four, I’m sure we’ll have them all a bit early. Hooray.

I hope you have a few lazy hours this summer, some time to get caught up on some long-awaited reading — don’t we all have one or two big stacks we’ve been wanting to get to? We are sure that some on this list are worth bumping up to near the top of that pile. Believe me when I say we’re looking out for you, helping you narrow down the reading options that call to us. You may want to listen to these — some are calling your name, I bet.

You know and I know I sometimes can be a bit enthusiastic in promoting certain books. You may smile and say — oh yeah, another book that Byron says is the best he’s read this year or his favorite read of the season. I know. As the Bear says, I’m working on it. But we’ve got a zillion books here that are fine, useful, swell. I wish I could tell you about some and there are many that are merely ho-hum and don’t need extra promo. For you, dear readers of BookNotes, I want to curate the best of the best, books that really are our favs. I’m not going to waste your time singing out that this book is really mediocre that that one is okay. Why bother? So, yes, these all get my many superlatives and I’m proud of it. I do it for you. I don’t say this sort of glad stuff about all of the books we’ve got, but these? These deserve your attention. You can thank me later.

ALL ARE 20% OFF. Happy summer reading.

(We hope you recall that we do an every-other-week podcast called “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” which you can watch on YouTube or listen to by visiting Apple Podcasts or Spotify. The episode that dropped on July 3rd described three books reflecting on this season of flags and fireworks. I explained about Remaking the World by Andrew Walker, a handsome hardback about the huge trends kicked off in the 18th century in that momentous year of 1776. Then I explained the value of history prof John Fea’s important book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?  I ended the half-hour conversation with a shout-out to How to Be a Patriotic Christian: Love of Country as Love of Neighbor by the wise and gracious Richard Mouw. Thanks to good pal Sam Levy and the CCO for hosting our bookish conversation.These are 20% off as well.)

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

Hooray — this is now here, a month early! And there are woodcuts. What a nicely created paperback this is. The title alludes to A River Runs Through It.

I gave a quick shout out about this then-forthcoming title a month ago, reminding readers that Carty’s lovely, inspiring, funny, touching, informative and very helpful The Pastor’s Bookshelf was one of my favorite reads in years, expressing in clear and enjoyable prose why books matter for ministry leaders; whether one is a preacher or pastor, I concluded, didn’t really matter — that book would inspire anyone to realize how reading novels, poetry, science, memoir, history, comedies, and all manner of fiction and nonfiction can help us navigate our Christian duties to live well in the church and world.

I think you will love this one even more. It may seem an even bigger stretch suggesting this one to a wide BookNote audience (who are, admittedly, mostly not preachers) but I want to say that this book about homiletics — the science and art of writing and preaching sermons — is for all of us. How can I convince you of this other than to tell you how very much I enjoyed reading it.

First, Carty offers such a heart-touching (and at times heart-breaking) glimpse into his own rough and rowdy life that Some of the Words… is a winner for anyone that enjoys memoirs. Man, he can tell a story and oh how he so wisely, so caringly, so tenderly relates his life stories to his instructional stuff about how to write sermons. In a section about revising one’s first draft of a sermon he then enters — in the typeface of an old typewriter — some extra stuff he might have said in the previous section about his life story. Some lines are crossed out, which was clever — you saw, actually, some stuff he apparantly wanted you to know, but, since it had that line struck through it, you realized he didn’t want to include it (in the previous narrative.) My mouth dropped open with this postmodern trick of showing the re-write after the fact.  That’s a hard call that every writer and most preachers know well: what words are most important, which are supportive, and which need to go. Yup.

Karen Swallow Prior (who has written a lovely pair of books on reading herself) says Some of the Words Are Theirs is “stunning” and that “it will inspired you to not only write better but to live more deeply, too. It took my breath away.” Exactly.

This is a book on writing sermons unlike any I’ve ever read. (Please forgive my nerdiness, but I’ve read a lot.) It is not only insightful and helpful, but deeply, deeply moving, without being sensational or sentimental. Like his sermons, he builds stories, often starting with a ironic tip (he calls this hook the Coldplay piece — a nod to the “I hate Coldplay” line from pop culture essayist Chuck Klosterman) and yet is restrained, gentle, honorable. The way his own story that unfolds in each chapter informs what he says or circles back or hints towards the teacherly comments about wise sermon prep is just ingenious. Anyone who likes the intricacies of well-crafted chapters will take delight in reading this (even if you never plan to preach or be a public speaker or develop a lesson. It’s that good…) I predict you will wish it was not finished when you turn the last page. You might just start over and read it all again, for fun and profit.

From allowing the Holy Spirit to guide one towards a sense of gravitational pull towards a certain text or phrase within a lectionary selection to finding what day of the week to write the sermon (he nearly burned out from thinking he could squeeze it in here and there, in bits and pieces, the way I do BookNotes.) He tells of his habits of creating some sort of sacred space for the hard work of writing the first draft, the arrangement of his desk, his favorite mug (and pulling the shades, at the advice of Annie Dillard, who knows something about distractions.)

As a seat-of-the pants writer I was seriously struck by how much of the book was about revision. (Not to mention punctuation and the use of italics. What a blast; seriously!) I think of the drafts after drafts that my novelist friends have done and the significant revisions most nonfiction writers have to do; his lyrical explanation of this work becomes nearly sacramental with this stories and attentiveness to text and cadence.

His simple reminders about knowing well the place and people to whom one is preaching or speaking were so interesting to me; again his care was really moving for me — I don’t even know why. He shows how a first draft of one sermons mentioned “my daughter, Amy” but then realized that everybody in the place knows well that his daughter’s name is Amy and deleted the “my daughter” line as a way to honor that intimacy. Man, this book is loaded with these little tips and were sometimes, mundane as they were, literally moved me to tears.

Yep, you heard that right; I’m not ashamed: this is the only homiletics text that made me bawl. And it made me get up from my outside chair and find my wife and read pages right out loud.  We had talked to each other much of the day about favorite current reads — she was blown away by the latest novel by Niall Williams, This is Happiness and I can’t stop thinking about a memoir about consumerism and hoarding, American Bulk: Essays on Excess by the spunky, surprising, and troubled Emily Mister.) I just had to enter Austin Carty’s gem to the mix and Beth listened and nodded. How romantic, reading a homiletics book out loud to my beloved. I owe ya, Austin!

Seriously, his kind and smart words mean very much to me and I am grateful for his candor, about his ministry, his care for his people, and about his own life — yes, he talks about being a child model, his beloved (religious) father’s alcoholism, and his stint on Survivor. (It was Season 12 if you want to know, the one called Panama: Exile Island. He says he is now quite happy to be a mostly unknown, small town pastor — “unglamorous” he calls it — even.) Anyway, Some of the Words is not what I thought it would be and I can’t stop thinking about how he narrates his story in plain and elegant ways, the sorrow and the grace, realizing it is God who is the final author.

One could hardly find a more honest presentation of the extent to which our sermons emerge from the tragic, grace-filled fabric of the preacher’s own life. — Thomas Long, Candler School of Theology, Proclaiming the Parables: Preaching and Teaching the Kingdom of God

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

RELEASE DATE August 8, 2025 we expect it in a week or so

Oh my, this compact sized hardback — think of that lovely first edition of that little Parker Palmer book, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation —is a delight to behold, a treasure to hold, a fabulous, fabulous read. I say this from time to time, I’ll admit, on some topics: do we really need another book reflecting on this topic of vocation and call, on discerning God’s ways our lives should go, on work and passion and such? And, yes, yes, yes: this is much needed. And even for those of us in the “faith and work” conversation, who work in campus ministry or with y young adults helping them discern their sense of calling and such, those who know the standard titles, again, yes, this is a must. You will love it if you like this sort of topic and you need it if you don’t. I like how novelist and songwriter Andrew Peterson says she writes with “wisdom and clarity.” Indeed.

“With her usual wisdom and clarity, Prior dives deep into something that we all wrestle with: our place in the world and the work we’ve been given to do. I heartily commend this book.” — Andrew Peterson, singer, songwriter, and author of The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and The Kingdom and Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making

I could frame my recommendation of this book by talking about this broader conversation, as I have sometimes, in the story of the movement of people increasingly naming the disconnect for many between Sunday faith and Monday work, between liturgy and life, worship and work. I could tell our how we arrangement our store to highlight books for Christian workers in nursing and the arts, in education and the sciences; we have large sections on faith-based politics and engineering, psychology and business. All of this – our store and the broader faith and work movement with it’s many centers and institutes all over — presumes some working knowledge of God’s call to serve Christ’s Kingdom in all of life, including the high calling into vocations in careers and marketplaces. As Jim Mullins and Michael Goheen put it, we are all called to play are role in God’s “symphony of mission.”

But what is the difference between the theological / spiritual terms vocation and call? What is the difference between vocation and work? Are we always paid to do what we’re most passionate about? And what should lead us, passion or skill? The need for money or the need for meaning?

Yep, once one reads The Call by Os Guinness or books by Gordon Smith or Steve Garber or high-water marks like Every Good Endeavor by Katherine Alsdorf Leary and Tim Keller or the lovely work by Dan Doriani or, say, the great Tom Nelson, for many of us, our appetites are whetted and we want to dig deeper, read more, reflect in fresh ways. Karen Prior will help you, inspire you, offer a tremendous new angle.

And, frankly, if you’ve read some of this stuff — maybe even you use the one-of-kind resource Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy or have lead people thought the small group Bible study, Go Forth: God’s Purpose for Your Work by Lauren Gill & Missy Wallace  — you may wonder, again, how to say it well, how to slice the differences between vocation and calling, between work and career. These are vital questions and all of us need some guidance.

Karen Swallow Prior doesn’t worry too much about getting the terms just precisely so, but yet she has chapters on each. They are so good. She draws on great, classic stuff — from Dorothy Sayers to Ben Witherington, Os Guiness to Madeline L’Engle — but much of the book is laden with stories, student’s she’s guided, friends she knows, her own journey through much of this. (And, as you might guess, she offers some excellent poems that wonderfully clarify and set us to thinking. Kudos, there, Karen!) I couldn’t put it down and could hardly stop smiling. We all need this kind of clear and inspiring writing and — again — it is ideal for those who are new to all of this and very important for those of us who have started using some of this lingo, framed by this big vision of serving God in all sides of life, each square inch, all our various callings and opportunities.

Let’s face it, we are children and siblings, neighbors and consumers, citizens and friends, church members and most have professional associations or jobs. None of just one call, and that one overacting call — “follow me” from Jesus Himself — is necessary lived out in various times and places and contexts. We have vocations that are other than our jobs.

I adore Karen as a writer and have admired her own story. She reveals more of herself in this little book than in her major work on reading for virtue or the one about the evangelical imagination, a fabulous read about the evangelical history that lead to culture wars and a host of troubling stuff. You Have a Calling is not only her most personal book, it is also, I think her most beautiful. It is a sheer joy.

One of the things You Have a Calling brings to the table conversations about these topics is her unique contributions about the “transcendentals” — namely, the classic virtues of truth, goodness, and beauty. With succinct but lovely chapters on each, consider this your primer (or refresh course) on the need for character formation, for Christ-likeness described in this particular way. (I am aware, as is she, that not all Christians use the lingo of the true, the good, and the beautiful, and some might even resist the pagan, Greek paternity of those ways of putting things.) Still, I adored this second half of the book and will re-read it soon, I am sure. It is so nicely done, so clarifying, and so challenging, really — living our our callings in ways that our vocations bear witness to these Kingdom attributes or values, creating an ethos of such wholeness and goodness in the world. You Have a Calling is a handsome little book that is wise beyond measure, helpful more than you may know, and a great, enjoyable read.

We love that Karen is a research fellow at our beloved Comment magazine. And we’re so grateful she contributes as a Fellow at the Trinity Forum. That she and I got to be on a panel together at Jubilee Professional last winter make my heart sing, not to mention being in front of a crowd (with Anne Bogel) at a special session at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing. What an honor! But this book — this is what makes me really smile. You too, I bet! Order it now and we’ll send it as soon as it arrives.

Karen Swallow Prior has gifted us a masterful exploration of what it truly means to be called. In You Have a Calling, she expertly weaves together theology, literature, and cultural wisdom, illuminating how our life’s purpose is found not merely in what we do but profoundly in who we are becoming. Prior invites readers to embrace callings that transcend occupation, anchoring life’s meaning firmly in the pursuit of the true, the good, and the beautiful. Richly nuanced, deeply reflective, and eloquently written, this book challenges contemporary misconceptions of vocation and reminds us that the highest calling is to live authentically before God, wherever we find ourselves. A profoundly refreshing read that every Christian– and especially young adults navigating life’s big questions — ought to pick up and savor. — Anthony B. Bradley, distinguished research fellow, The Acton Institute; research professor, Kuyper College, author of Black Scholars in White Space: New Vistas in African American Studies from the Christian Academy

Making It Plain: Why We Need Anabaptism and the Black Church Drew G.I. Hart (Herald Press) $21.99 // PREORDER OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59  RELEASE DATE September 2, 2025

I wish I had been able to acquire an early version of this — I’ve got all the others on this list — but for whatever reason, I’ve not yet seen this. But I want to announce it here to invite you to pre-order it for a handful of reasons. I’m really excited about this one and I think all of our thoughtful BookNotes readers will want to know about it. If you have followed us here, you know that I will say that, regardless of your own theological tradition or convictions, there are some things going on in this book that will be edifying for all of us. It’s a little on the rare side and will be (how do I say this nicely) a bit of an outlier on the big bestseller lists. Anabaptists and the Black church?

I know many of us feel somewhat estranged from the word evangelical these days, the word handled by so many grimy hands these days, co-opted by those who care little about Jesus or a Biblical worldview. Be that as it may, it is clear that even for those of us who still appreciate the phrase, the broader Christian stream (to borrow Richard Foster’s image from the wonderful Streams of Living Water) has included important, diverse tributaries from medieval mystics and contemplatives to high church liturgical folks, from Kuyperian neo-Calvinists to old-school holiness folks, to Azusa Street Pentecostals and 20th century charismatics. This big Body of Christ needs the best of many tributaries. Two that are often missed in these ecumenical lists are — yep, you know — the Black church tradition (itself pretty diverse) and the historic movement of Anabaptists (known to most as the Mennonite and Brethren traditions, although we might mention Hutterites and Quakers and others in the radical reformation tradition.)

And so here we have a major scholar — his PhD from a Lutheran Seminary — professor at an evangelical university, and church-based social activist who is both Black and Brethren. Rev. Dr. Drew Hart, an old friend, is a man I’ve admire since I first met him and whose two previous books we’ve raved about often. We take his two important paperbacks The Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism and Who Will Be A Witness? Igniting Activism for God’s Justice, Love, and Deliverance  almost every where we go, not only because know and trust the author, but because, as we’ve often said, he gets so much about what needs to be said these days. He’s Biblically solid and fiesty and helpful. I am sure here in this forthcoming one he will position the Anabaptist and Black church traditions as counter to the mainstream Constantinian view of civil religion.

(For what it’s worth, we’re looking forward to another September release which can tell you about later — it’s a collection of essays from various Fellows from the Timothy Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics and is to be called The Gospel After Christendom edited by Collin Hansen and others, published by Zondervan. It will be a fine supplement to Hart’s important, radical, Anabaptist manifesto.

So many astute thinkers (and most of us, if we pause to think about it) realize Christendom has been a big mix-up and whether you’ve read Hauerwas or not, or resonate with the Keller Center (above), you know that the church dare not be co-opted by the culture, as it in so many ways has been. We have much to learn about this resistance from young black activists, and Drew Hart is one of our best.That he has this Anabaptist posture is just fabulous, maybe the eccentric, plain, but countercultural mix we need the most these days.

This book is slated for a late summer release but we hope it will arrive early. We can’t wait. We hope many will pre-order it and give it a read alongside your own tradition and church style.

The title really is something, isn’t it? Many know the Anabaptist as those committed to a non-materialistic simple lifestyle (and, when talking about the Old Order Mennonites or the Amish, are actually called The Plain People, although their gorgeous quilts are anything but plain.) Hart’s allusion there is fascinating, as if our simple convictions about love and service might be a clue to how to counter the razzle-dazzle prosperity teaching and MAGA idolatry of the nation-state. What does it mean to be plainly committed to Jesus, loyal to His simple (if not easy) ways?

And yet, Hart is mostly know as an anti-racist and shalom activist, a speaker and trainer of those involved in multi-ethnic and multi-denominational solidarity with the poor and oppressed. His anti-colonial Kingdom values and strategies for allowing beloved community to break into real history draw from the dramatic civil rights struggle (just think of King and the Birmingham Bus Boycott, say) and more recent Black scholars from James Cone to Katie Cannon to Kelly Brown Douglas. He’s a lovely guy and a great communicator. I’m eager for this book.

I love that Otis Moss — a vibrant UCC pastor in Chicago, and author of Blue Note Preaching and the wonderful 2023 release, Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times wrote the foreword to this forthcoming volume.  Let’s go.

The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Orbis Press) $26.00 // PREORDER OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80 RELEASE DATE September 24, 2025

This is another book written by a long friend and a man I admire very, very much. As I’ve explained before, I began to follow Wes in the mid-1970s when he was on staff with the respected Republican Senator Mark Hatfield. Hatfield meant the world to me — a thoughtful elected official who desired to allow the ways of Jesus to shape his understanding of life, his policy views, as well his character and temperament as he served in the halls of Congress. As a proud and storied Senator for the GOP he was an early opponent of the Viet Nam war. He voted to serve the poor and had a profound understanding of how we were, in the words he used then, stewards of creation and how we needed a wise and restrained energy policy. For Hatfield the economy was not god and the god of Mars ought not lead our foreign policy. There hasn’t been anybody like him since (although maybe the ordained Presbyterian elder, Chris Coons, comes close. He talks about his faith as easily as he talks about public justice.)

Did Hatfield teach young Wes Michaelson, son of conservative evangelicals, about the integration of faith and justice work, about faithful public policy? Maybe. Wes would say so, I’m sure. On the other hand, it may be that the passionate young evangelical may have rubbed off on the elder Senator. In any case, Wes ended up meeting Jim Wallis and the edgy rag, The Post America, moved to DC and became the important prophetic voice, Sojourners. Wes and his wife were editors there and leaders in thei- emerging community houses in a rough part of urban DC. Their earliest books were about creation care and social holiness; they were very good.

Wes’s story is one that follows a long and winding road and he has written several very good books about it all; his insights about the multi-ethnic, global church, vision casting and problem-solving in the local congregation, one about the trends facing the Western church and how to step up faithfully to the issues of the day. After retiring from his work with the World Council of Churches and as the General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America and letting go of some of his leadership in global trans-denominational alliances (does anybody have more friends in more denominations and church groups around the globe than Wes?) he wrote one of beautiful books of recent spirituality — Without Oars: Casting Off Into a Life of Pilgrimage (released by Broadleaf.) It’s a great read and is arranged around the story of pilgrimage (the Camino, for instance) and the ways in which a faith less tethered to certitude and stable truths might be nurtured by visions of pilgrimage, of setting out like the ancient monks of Ireland. Growth, change, deepening faith, risk-taking, gently evolving theology, knowing in the heart (not only the mind)  and being known (by God and others) — all of these themes are beautifully explored in this 2020 release, Without Oars.  Diana Butler Bass wrote a beautiful forward to that one and it captured very much for many of us in these perplexing days.

And now, we are proud to announce the forthcoming one, his masterpiece, The Soulwork of Justice. Can you see how his full life led to this very moment, the release of a book that is both about spirituality and public justice? It is, as his pal Richard Rohr might say, about the journey inward and the journey outward. It is suitable that it is being published by the legendary Catholic publisher known for publishing the classics of early liberation theology. Wes remains Reformed (and he and his wife are serving a small Lutheran church at the moment) but there is something right about being on the storied publisher who brought us Gustavo Gutierrez and Oscar Romero and James Cone and Alan Boesak.

From his friendships with some of the best faith-based social activist and leaders public renewal, and his keen observations and discernment, Wes had drawn four key “movements” that shape a life of sustainable faith and flourishing for the common good. The book is build around these four features.

I am sure I’ll write more about it as the release date draws nearer — I’m working on my advanced manuscript this week! — but for now, here is what the publisher tells us about this anticipated Fall release:

Former politico, long-time activist, and faith leader Wes Granberg-Michaelson looks at a life in activism. advocacy, and ministry to reveal four key discernible movements of a lifelong soul journey to God’s justice. He’s also witnessed these elements consistently in the lives of others devoted to both soul-care and justice. Now he offers these four key movements for anyone at any age wanting to step into the entwined lineage of justice and soul work. While all experience it, few justice leaders talk about in the often exhausting effort of their work, and how critical soulwork — spiritual formation — is for sustaining a life of outward social witness.

Culled from the wisdom of decades of leadership experience in global ecumenical initiatives, religious organizations, and social justice movements, this book combines tenacity of vision with the groundedness of soul that has sustained Granberg-Michaelson even as it offers support to others engaged in the work for a lifetime and beyond.

With shades of Thomas Merton, I’d say, Wes writes:

“Your inner life will require an ongoing exploration as rigorous as your excavation of the external, global structures of oppression and social sin. If your inward and outward journey becomes interwoven, your life and witness will have opportunity to flourish. If they are alienated from one another, and your inward journey is neglected, your outward journey, regardless of the intensity of your commitment, eventually will start to disintegrate, with self-inflicted wounds likely to injure others and undermine the causes to which you committed your life.”

 

World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading Jeff Crosby (Paraclete Press) $18.99 // PREORDER OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19 RELEASE DATE  October 21, 2025

You are going to love this. This — I hope you trust me on this — is a book you need. It will inspire and bless you and you will smile each time you open a page. You will sigh as I did, I’m sure, as you finish the book. This is a book you are going to want to share with other book worms and a book to give to those who maybe don’t read as much as they might. Of all the many great books on the reading life, this one is the best I’ve ever read.

Let me say that again, please: Of all the many great books on the reading life, this one is the best I’ve ever read.

World of Wonders is, simply put, a wonder.

Jeff has worked in nearly every capacity in the book and publisher world. He came to Christian faith, in fact, through a friendship with some indie Christian bookstore owners and he learned to read widely as a youth and yong adult.  He has run stores, run distributors, been the head of one of my favorite publishers, been an informal editor and agent, and now is the director of the ECPA (the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) where he is working to help faith-based publishers mature and promote good books to a needy world, a world longing for beauty and goodness and truth. I could say much about how Jeff has inspired us here (and been specifically helpful in many ways.)

His first book was with Broadleaf, the wonderful, wonderful Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts. I’ve mentioned it often and want to press it into the hands of anyone who likes lovely stories and challenging insights and pages full of inspiration about learning the quiet language of the God.

I read this forthcoming volume in manuscript form months ago and we are soon to see the release (finally!) of this book that I’ve been itching to tell you about. This “spirituality of reading” means so much to me that I will do another review once it does out, describing more of it good chapters and its many wonders  Let me just tease you now, inviting you to pre-order now. It will release early, I’m sure, and you are going to want to get this as soon as you are able.

Karen Marsh is so right that this book actually invites us into the deeper (and enjoyable) reading life. She puts it exactly right — and I bet she speaks for some reading this now:

Jeff Crosby invites me to step away from my fragmented life of screens, information, images and opinion, and he returns me to earlier days when I dwelled in books, when I lost track of time, when the now-rare experience of “presence” was as natural as reading.  Where researchers fail to spark a change in my habits (despite their evidence of my changing brain and shrinking capacity for attention), World of Wonders speaks to my soul through literary quotes, intriguing books lists, practical strategies, and stories of people who call me back to what I once knew – that to read deeply is to inhabit the world more fully and to encounter the God who is there. — Karen Wright Marsh, author of Wake Up To Wonder and Vintage Saints and Sinners, and executive director of Theological Horizons.

One of the lovely things about Jeff is how he so graciously and generously supports others and reaches out in friendship to authors, musicians, artists, and others he appreciates. He loves the good writing of Chris de Vinck — am essayist, storyteller, memoirist, columnist known in the mainstream world of secular letters, even as he is a devout Catholic Christian. de Vinck was good friends with Henri Nouwen and he is friends with Jeff.

The wondrous de Vinck writes a blurb about World of Wonders and it is combines sane practical — educators need this! — but is ablaze with an lovely phrase that is as good as it gets. De Vinck says the book si about “the mesmerizing holiness of reading.”

Having been an English teacher and language arts administrator on both high school and college levels during my 40-year career in education, it is easy for me to say that our national education community would greatly benefit from Jeff Crosby’s refined celebration about the mesmerizing holiness of reading. I highly recommend World of Wonders! — Christopher de Vinck, columnist for The Dallas Morning News, author of Things That Matter Most

One of the great booksellers (and readers!) in America is Warren Farhar of Eighth Day Books in Wichita, Kansas. It is perfect that Warren weighs in with these splendid words about this splendid book.

Jeff Crosby appropriately begins his exploration of reading with a quotation from C. S. Lewis’s brilliant Experiment in Criticism, which, with the perceptive precision typical of Lewis, perfectly describes why we read: “We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own.” World of Wonders is intended to help us do just that. Despite his immersion in every aspect of book reading and publishing, Jeff is an unintimidating, disarmingly gentle and humble guide for readers of every level of proficiency and every type of reading intention, whether it’s for sheer entertainment or deepest spiritual discipline. And don’t miss the dozen reading lists, reflecting decades of experience of a veteran reader and publisher. Pure gold. — Warren Farha, founder and owner, Eighth Day Books, Wichita, Kansas

Warren is right about this — World of Wonders  (yes, Jeff knows the Bruce Cockburn song and album by that names!)  — is not intimidating or too heady. I love Deep Reading and Alan Jacobs and Karen Swallow Prior’s guidance about reading for virtue and the visionary Reading for the Common Good by Christopher Smith, but all of these favs have, more than others, a certain tone or demeanor that might be off-putting to young readers or those who struggle with the printed page.  Jeff understands ordinary people and is humble, gracious, fun. His book lists are his own and you’ll enjoy them. I’ll say more later, but, for now, here’s what I’m told might appear on the back cover:

Most book lovers love that genre of writing — books about books. They are beloved and often influential. World of Wonders is one that is unlike any other in this field, a truly lovely, easy-to-read, utterly delightful, deeply spiritual book that indeed makes you want to read more. It helps you realize God’s presence as you turn the pages, and guides you to encounter the world of wonder that is discovered in an open-hearted reading life. No stuffy tome for only the erudite experts, this is a book for you, me, your neighbors, friends, and even those who may not (yet) love to read. This book is a gift. Read and share.  — Byron Borger, Hearts & Minds, Dallastown, Pennsylvania

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