Thank you to all who read PART ONE and PART TWO of our favorite books and good reads of 2023. Even as I shared a bunch, I keep thinking of other books I’ve read, happy Sunday afternoons and too many late nights, devouring the latest. Oh, I read a lot that I don’t truly love (an occupational hazard) and I can get worked up about stuff I find wrong-headed. Don’t get me started.

I love well-written, moving books (who doesn’t) and our tastes have evolved, I guess, over the years. I am not a scholar or academic but I do like to learn and have a curiosity about what might be good books, that sound intriguing, so I try a few fairly serious ones most years. (And if they are too dry or too heavy, I send ‘em back. Life’s too short to waste time on stuff I don’t enjoy at least a little…)

Here are twenty-four fairly academic books that I read (mostly; I’m not telling how many I finished and which I skipped a chapter or two and which ones I’m in the middle of, kinda. Ha.) These are really fine books, though, and while maybe not “the best” scholarly works, they are books that I value and we recommend. We want to honor the and their authors here as among my (serious) favorites of 2023. Congrats.

[Perhaps you noticed last week but a few from the previous list were pretty rigorous, too; I’m thinking of Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World by Jeremy Begbie (on Baker Academic) and The Cult of Creativity (Oxford) by Samuel Franklin and, frankly, the Secular Mysticisms one by Andrew Root (also Baker Academic.) But I’ve already named those.]

As always, we’d appreciate it if you send some orders our way. Use the “order” link at the bottom of this column. They are all 20% off which in some cases may be the best deal around. Thank you very much. Read on!

More Than Things: A Personalist Ethics for a Throwaway Culture Paul Louis Metzger (IVP Academic) $48.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $38.40

One the great, serious books of the year, so very important, and, frankly, theological and philosophical as it may be, it is very readable, intriguingly so. One of the great highlights of 2023 — for me personally and for our store’s reputation, such as it is — was doing a webinar with Dr. Metzger and coming to count him as a friend and ally. This is a great book, inviting us to think through the implications in our personal lives and in our public discipleship, even as we advocate for reforms in the public square, of treating people as persons. This model of “personalism” is exceptional and is explored consistently here showing how it plays out in many sides of life and on different topics, from war and racism to medical ethics and space explorations and so much more. Highly recommended.

Creation and Christian Ethics: Understanding God’s Designs for Humanity and the World Dennis P.  Hollinger (Baker Academic) $29.99 OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This rigorous book arrived late in the year and we want to honor it as a 2023 title, although I’ve just started it here in the new year. Dr. Hollinger is an old acquaintance who has invited me to speak at his campus (when he was Dean of the Chapel at Messiah College) and who has visited our store. We’ve admired his other good books, included a captivation ethics title melding the strengths of virtue ethics and “law” ethics, adding what he called at the time “worldview” ethics. He’s a broad and sharp thinker, prominent for leading several exceptional evangelical institutions, and I am always glad whenever he releases a new work.

Creation and Christian Ethics does just what is needed these days, affirming the doctrine of created reality, asking what the Biblical teaching about the robust and revelatory creation has to do to forming a wise and livable Kingdom ethics.

I am grateful for this as he gets a bit more detailed than the excellent generic approach offer, often, by neo-Calvinists in the tradition of Abraham Kuyper, say, and the rather speculative and strict stylings of those committed to natural law.

There are very impressive endorsements on the back cover from Vincent Bacote, Richard Mouw, Kelly Kapic, Autumn Alcott Ridenour. Scott Rae of Talbot School of Theology (at Biola) says it is a “first-rate work… important”

The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country Elizabeth Currid-Halkett (Basic Books) $32.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

I almost listed this in the last post as I appreciated (and enjoyed) it so. It offers rigorous discussions of qualitative and quantitative sociology research but, actually, it doesn’t read like a scholarly text. She is animated, shares her own opinions as she travels the country (and, during the worst of Covid, engages in dozens of Zoom calls) learning to hear and respect people from small towns all across the country. Word of mouth spread and she had plenty of folks eager to chat and she did this gathering of oral histories and honest opinions with great gusto. The book reads almost like a virtual travelogue with lots of excerpts of lots of interviews and her candid take on the views and styles of her rural interlocutors.

And you know what? She ends up having more in common with many heartland folks in flyover country that she ever realizes. She talks economics and racism, religion (and more religion), asking about people’s convictions and concerns, visions and values, faith and frustrations all across these fruited planes. She knows her stuff— social and cultural capitol, meritocracy biases, college aspirations among the working class, the new geography of jobs, etc. etc.  Currid-Halkett is a professor of public policy with a speciality in urban and regions planing (at the University of Southern California), has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and holds a chair of modern culture at the Library of Congress. Elite reputation that she may have, she offers this urgent appeal for Americans to connect across a rural-urban divide that, she shows, “is’t so wide after all.” I loved this book and all it’s hopeful detail.

Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth Jennifer Banks (Norton) $27.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.36

I ordered this because it seemed really rich and I was impressed with the notion — there is a lot written about mortality but not so much about the philopshy of being born. (Ahh, a popular level quasi theological work simply called Birth: The Mystery of Being Born by James Howell did a very nice job in 2020 in their helpful, wise, “Pastoring for Life” series.) I seemed like a winner.

Then a very sharp customer ordered it and then a second person inquired, wondering if we heard of it. It apparantly was reviewed someplace pretty reputable the if two calls in one week on a fairly obscure philosophical treatise means anything, I realized I had called it right. Natality is remarkable, rare, maybe, but important. Hooray.  Little did I know that she was a person of faith and that writers that are important to me would grace the back cover. Check this out:

In this resplendent tapestry, each chapter a riveting discovery, Jennifer Banks witnesses the hidden gestations within the wombs of literary history. Natality is not just about giving birth. Natality is at the heart of culture care, of all generative making, and it opens paths uncharted.–Makoto Fujimura, artist, author of Art and Faith: A Theology of Making

Natality is a quietly disruptive book. At a time when public discussion of motherhood and childbirth too quickly devolves into political talking points, Jennifer Banks unearths voices from the past that challenge us to consider the profound and inscrutable nature of birth. Natality reminds us that there has never been a singular conversation around childbirth, but by tending to the mystery, beauty, and contradictions of birth, we contemplate humanity itself.–Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne

By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners Margaret A. Burnham (Norton) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

It may be that, officially, this is considered (not unlike other on this list) a trade book and not a scholarly text. But, still, I list it here because it is excellent, exhaustive, history and exceptionally rigorous writing about important details of our nation’s past (particularly 1920 – 1960) and, yes, how that lingers into todays social and political landscape. It isn’t so academic to be difficult, but it is a hard read, unpleasant, ugly. Yet, it is one of the great books of the year, important and demanding, in so many ways. I very highly recommend it…

By Hands Now Known official released near the end of 2022 and earned great accolades on the “best of” lists of 2022. I started it in 2023, so I’m naming it here. By the way, it was a Finalist for the prestigious 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History.

Saving the Protestant Ethic: Creative Class Evangelicalism and the Crisis of Work Andrew Lynn (Oxford University Press) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

I am sure you know that one of our passions — not shared by all our readers, but we keep trying to share the good news — is how embracing God’s Kingdom message necessarily calls us to vocations in the world. We are missional people living out the Lordship of Christ in all areas of life, including (maybe especially including for most of us) our work lives. We simply must see the need for thinking Christianly about the philosophy of and the practices that flow from, a uniquely Christian approach to our particular careers and jobs. At it’s best, this is the conversation emerging from what we can call a movement — the “faith and work” conversation or the movement to related Sunday worship and Monday work, however you want to describe this call to marketplaces, shop floors, schoolrooms, farming fields, medical clinics, or the sacred spaces of home and childcare. You get the point.

There have been many inspiring books about all of this and now Oxford University Press has brought us a goldmine of insight, a scholarly overview of this movement and the pros and cons of the way it has been advanced. Andrew Lynn is a Postdoc Fellow at the famous Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia where his work spans organizational theory, religious studies, and the history of ideas surrounding ethics and economics. This book “captures the in-group tensions and creative adaptation” among American evangelicals as they “navigate changing class and political dynamics that shape American society.”  It has been heralded as an “extraordinary descriptive project’, “masterful”, and “impressive.”

Decades ago Oxford published a bit of a manifesto studying the early days of the faith in the marketplace movement written by David W. Miller, now Director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative. Miller has reviewed this book and offers much insight about it.

He writes:

“The faith at work movement is an ongoing and evolving social movement, not a flash in the pan or a passing fad. Andrew Lynn brings us a strong contribution to the growing number of scholarly studies of the surprisingly diverse nature of the faith at work movement. Lynn’s provocatively titled Saving the Protestant Ethic focuses on and brings us fresh insights into the conservative evangelical Protestant wing of the movement, whose search for meaning and purpose drives their economic activity.”

Self Made: Creating Our Identities From Da Vinci to the Kardashians Tara Isabella Burton (Public Affairs) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

A few years back Tara Burton caused a bit of a buzz as many thoughtful Christian pundits we citing her amazing book, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World. She has a PhD from Oxford and has written for forums as unique as American Internet and National Geographic. Her new one is stunningly researched, deep, thoughtful, offering a

Here is how the publisher describes this study of identity formation:

As the forces of social media and capitalism collide, and individualism becomes more important than ever across a wide array of industries, “branding ourselves” or actively defining our selves for others has become the norm. Yet, this phenomenon is not new. In Self-Made, Tara Isabella Burton shows us how we arrived at this moment of fervent personal branding. Through a series of chronological biographical essays on famous (and infamous) “self-creators” in the modern Western world, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment to modern capitalism and finally to our present moment of mass media, Burton examines the theories and forces behind our never-ending need to curate ourselves.

Wow, this is a very important idea and she is an energetic, interesting author. You should consider this.

A Body of Praise: Understanding the Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship  W. David O. Taylor (Baker Academic) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

This is the sort of academic book that should have a wide readership, certainly in seminaries and in places preparing pastors, preachers, and worship leaders. And, you would think, also in well educated churches. If you are a pastor, choir member, worship leader, liturgist, or maybe you teach Sunday school and teach children and youth about worship, this sort of robust creational theology will stretch your mind and enrich your worldview. That is, it will help you imagine a world the way God sees it, including our bodies. God must love matter, C.S. Lewis once quipped, He sure made a lot of it. Indeed.

So, then, given that, what is the role of the physicality of worship? Artists and those advocating for a more aesthetically pleasing and artfully enriching worship space have helped us all embrace some attention to the colors and banners and vestments and arrangement of chairs and maybe flowers in our spaces. But what about our very bodies that inhabit those spaces? What about the very presence, embodied (I’d say in literal space or through for-real, virtual / on-line participation) of our bodies, our various, frail and fragile, strong and sexy, large and small, from various tribes and people groups?  We are all made in the image of God which certainly involves our creaturely selves, and, of course, our senses.

This excellent book is not just about using more color for the eyes or incense for the aroma or hip surround-sound for our ears (although, heavens, if some churches don’t invest in better microphones and basic sound enhancement, I don’t know what they are thinking. Geesh.) This good book goes beyond the obvious and asks deep questions about the human body, why it has not been considered much in worship studies, and how God’s own design for our embodiment might influence how we think about and construe and practice regular corporate worship. And, yes, Taylor more than once attends to the questions about those with disabilities or handicapping conditions. His footnotes are fascinating and offer a whole new curriculum for further generative study. The book is pretty ecumenical and wil be helpful for almost anyone willing to work through this thoughtful text. It is one of the most surprising and best books of 2023.

Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture Christopher Watkin (Zondervan Academic) $49.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $39.99

As you might guess, I was very excited to read this; Keller’s endorsement meant something and the vision of using the Scriptures wisely as a worldview shaping, formative text which would set us towards culture (with a critical edge) seemed ideal for the transforming vision we need for living in the “city of God even as we are living within the city of man” (as Augustine put it.) William Edgar, a top cultural apologetics thinker (and jazz musician) declares that this book is a feast.  Bruce Ashford says it is “effervescently brilliant.”

I am not as taken with it as these esteemed thinkers have been but it surely is a very important book.

Christopher Watkin’s expert, timely compendium of Christian Scripture’s subversive engagement of dominating themes of our modern age brings welcome healing to our world. — Esther Lightcap Meek, author Longing to Know and Doorway to Artistry

Theology and Technology: Essays in Christian Analysis edited by Carl Mitcham, Jim Grove, Levi Checketts (Wipf & Stock) $26.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

In the Spring and into the Summer of 2023 it seemed like discussions about artificial intelligence and ChatGPT and the like look the nation by storm. Trying to bring some perspective to the often alarmist debates I did a special, long BookNotes column (June 11, 2023 if your searching for it) about technology, digital culture, and a few books addressing the pros and cons of AI. In that listing I was reminded of this weighty volume on our shelves and I was delighted to mention it. This is actually the first volume of a two volume set, a collection of essays inspired by and in conversation with a seminal piece from forty years ago. I’ll let the publisher explain it:

“The first volume offers five general attitudes toward technology based off of H. Richard Niebuhr’s five ideal types in Christ and Culture. The second volume includes biblical, historical, and modern theological engagements with the place of technology in the Christian life. This ecumenical collection ranges from authors who enthusiastically support technological development to those cynical of technique and engages the Christian tradition from the church fathers to recent theologians like Bernard Lonergan and Jacques Ellul. Taken together, these essays, some reproductions of earlier work and others original for this project, provide any student of theology a fitting entree into considering the place of technology in the realm of the sacred.”

We were especially glad to see an important essay, as important now as when it was written decades ago, by Egbert Schuurman, who taught engineering and reformational philosphy at several universities in The Netherlands. He served in the Senate, as well.

The Minor Prophets: A Theological Introduction Craig Bartholomew & Heath A. Thomas (IVP Academic) $45.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $36.00

I have read (or skimmed) many volumes, long and short, easy and difficult, on the so-called minor profits, the twelve, with Hebrew names like Amos and Joel and Hosea and Nahum. The more I read the more I am convinced these are major voices for our times. The writers of this commentary certainly agree and the tone of this — which is rigorously thoughtful and very well informed (Bartholomew is one of the best Bible guys writing and you should know his work.) As it says on the back cover — and this really is central! — “the good news from the minor prophets is that even in dire times, God speaks.” It will take someone with insight into hermeneutical questions and cultural awareness to help us hear God’s voice in these odd texts, and Bartholomew * Heath are up for the last. Both are connected to the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge (although Thomas is President at Oklahoma Baptist University.)

This may be a primer but at over 380 pages, it is detailed enough. It’s historical-redemptive, biblical-theological orientation and framework makes this more than a customary survey. It offers, as one put it, “unblinking honesty and uncompromising hope.” Highly recommended for anyone who reads the Bible seriously.

Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology G.K. Beale (Baker Academic) $49.99

Holy smokes, this hefty, well-bound, scholarly book certain deserves another shout-out in addition to our first announcement of it when it released in April, ’23. It is, I’ll admit, a sequel to the highly regarded A New Testament Biblical Theology and it fleshes out nineteen “significant theological realities and benefits of the believer’s union with the resurrected Christ.” I do not think you have to read the first one, however, as this really is a summarizing, practical application of the historical-redemptive, Biblical theological approach to doing New Testament work. It is, though, sturdy, heavy, academic, what Richard Gaffin at Westminster Theological Seminary says is the “mature culmination” of much of Beale’s “decades-long biblical theological work.” Impressive? It sure is, if you are trained in this sort of thing. Some will find it a slow slog but for those with the eyes to see, it is surely nothing short of brilliant.

As Robert Yarbrough of Covenant Theological Seminary says, “I am not aware of another book that demonstrates so sweepingly the relevance of Christ’s resurrection and ascension to believer’s union with him in its rich benefits and inexhaustible glories.”

Okay then. Strap in. We are united with Christ (and participate in His work) and are incorporated into His resurrection (within the body of others who are likewise blessed.) We are living now in a being-renewed creation, holy as it is. This heavy theological hope is punctuated with “application” sections, a nice touch for what some call this prolific author’s magnum opus.

Baptist Political Theology edited by Thomas Kidd, Paul D. Miller & Andrew Walker (B+H Academic) $59.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $47.99

I am not a Baptist and, knowing what we know about the SBC these days, I was not particularly interested in this big collected volume. And then I saw the table of contents and realized who all was in it. My goodness, for anyone interested in responsible, evangelical social ethics and Christian political theory, this is a resource that is not to be missed.

It is a handsome, thick volume— almost 775 pages! — it includes masterful contemporary scholars highlighting various topics such as “Baptists and the Civil War” (by Gregory Wills), “Religious Liberty” (by Albert Mohler) “Just War and Baptist Political Theology” (by Paul Miller) and “The African American Baptist Tradition” by Kenneth Reid. Nathan Finn does one called “The Christian Right: From Reagan to Trump.”

There are historical studies on Baptists and slavery and such and there are more contemporary studies of contemporary issues like environmentalism and bioethics and gender.

And then there are very insightful pieces on various individuals — a few historical ones are on names like Roger Williams and John Leland and Isaac Backus. There is a good piece on progressive Baptists focusing on Walter Rauschenbush and others; there is one on the “political theology of Martin Luther King, Jr” by Daniel Lee Hill, and one on the late 20th century giant, Carl Henry. This is a very sharp anthology and, to be honest, one that ought to be used to shape the public witness of conservative evangelicals.

The Kingdom of Children: A Liberation Theology R.L. Stollar (Eerdmans) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I highlighted this at BookNotes when it first came out this fall — little did I know then just how fascinating it would be and how important this project is. I am not sure I agree with all the methodology or conclusions, even, but that is all right. Few have written so provocatively about a theology of childhood and we really need to be inspired by this sort of conversation. Agree or not, this kind of theological orientation isn’t just arcane stuff for academics, but should undergird and shape how we think about parenting, families, and, of course, the church — from worship practices to Christian education, mission and (obviously) creating safe spaces for the kids among us.

Gender as Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social Worlds Fillipe do Vale (Baker Academic) $34.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $27.99

I have only started this — it landed in our store in early December — so I can’t say much. But the foreword by Beth Felker Jones was simply one of the most generous and compelling introductions to a book I’ve seen in a long time. It made me want to dive in and honor the author as Jones so highly recommends. Others, too, trust the integrity and scholarship of this evangelical professor.

It claims to be a fresh and holistic approach to understanding gender (and I’ll admit I don’t even know what that means, a holistic approach.) It does says that it attempts to break current deadlocks within gender theory and theology” by drawing on questions about gender framed by the more foundational theology of the nature of human love.  Which, of course, is grounded in the love of the Triune God.

Here is what Amy Peeler says:

A breath of fresh air that has the marks of a rush of the Spirit, do Vale’s work clears the confusion, fear, and acrimony that has clouded around the concept of gender. Gender as Love provides erudite guidance through the theory and, even more, rich exegetical and theological resources for living justly in response to God’s undeserved gifts, including the gift of gender. The joining of confidence in Christ with an epistemic humility that results in godly patience makes this author and this work a timely gift and a necessary read. — Amy Peeler, Wheaton College, author of Woman and the Gender of God

If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution Vincent Bevins (Public Affairs) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

This is not exactly a scholarly work but I list it here because the reporting and coverage — vibrant and first-person account that it is — is grounded in such a remarkable knowledge of history and recent anti-fascists movements, that my head was swimming just reading about how very much this journalist and writer knows. Those who know his hefty, riveting, expose of the brutality of repression in Indonesia, The Jakarta Method, (where, with US approval, maybe a million people were murdered) will know he is one heck of a reporter. His background study is exceptional and his brave, on the ground connections, are amazing.

This book tells a fascinating story and suggests a fascinating thesis: there were, in about a decades time, uprisings all over the world — remember Arab Spring? He documents the groups that met and the comrades that risked arrest, torture, or worse, over and over, to claim public spaces in repressive regimes. He mets up with the hackers and punks and trade unionists and students and old revolutionaries, some who ended up martyred, and he listened well. (Do you remember the story about the US State Department under George W. Bush training movements across the world to use digital tools? Andrew Sullivan wrote a famous piece in The Atlantic, “The Revolution Will Be Twittered.”  From Iran to Turkey to Ukraine, Brazil to Hong Kong to Chile, there were performative protests, marches, actual revolutionary efforts to dislodge power, and some reformists efforts to get activists elected. All failed. All. Failed.

What happened? Bevins, writing from South America, watched years worth of on-going protests among street leaders in the cities of Brazil, and wondered how word traveled (through which social media channels and which underground papers) from nation to nation, across continents, from South America to North Africa to the Far East (and, for a bit, even to New York City for “Occupy Wall Street.”) How did these seemingly disparate movements (some drawing on high level Marxist and Leninist discourse, others inspired by Western democratic ideals, others inspired by churches or religious organizations) work together and connect (or did they)? What compromises were forced upon them by the powers that were? What sort of plans did they have?

If We Burn is, in the words of Greg Grandid (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The End of the Myth) says “this is a wondrous work of mystery writing, an effort to solve the riddle: why has a decade of large-scale rolling revolts produced no revolution, no significant structural reform?” He continues:

“I can’t think of any journalist other than Bevins who would dare to ask such a question, or be capable of weaving together seemingly discrete global events into a stunning history of the now.”

Bulwarks of Unbelief: Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age Jospeh Minich (Lexham Academic) $32.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

Many of our customers a few years ago were taken with the big, fat volume The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (and then the more accessible, abridged version, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution) by the often cranky, if brilliant, theologian and cultural critic. Agree or not with the details or normative proposals, his study of historical and philosophical shifts towards “expressive individualism” is important.

This recent 2023 volume by Jospeh Minich carries a vital foreword by Professor Trueman in which he draws the connections. Trueman’s first sentence cites Charles Taylor and moves to explain the importance of Minich’s methodology (which draws on the tradition of phenomenology.) As Trueman promises, “this is neither a lament nor simply a descriptive analysis of where we are today. Dr Minich also presses forward to positive constructive.”

Does that make this more than a resource for those wanting to understand the below the surface zeitgeist of our secularizing culture? Is it apologetics of a particularly deep sort?  In the first pages of Minich’s introduction he tells a story of Herman Bavinck how little he address atheism in his massive  early 20th century dogmatics. He follows that up with the fictional character of a John Updike story who, in 1910, “felt the last particle of faith leave him.” And I was hooked.

I don’t mean to sound overly heady (as I have not read Charles Taylor’s magnum opus) but Michael Horton promises that “if you found Charles Taylor’s analysis persuasive I think you’l find Minich’s even more so.” Wow.

Nothing Gained is Eternal: A Theology of Tradition Anne M. Carpenter (Fortress) $34.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $27.20

I have a young Roman Catholic friend (who happens also to know quite a bit about the insight of Bernard Lonergan) who sometimes tells me the very best theological stuff coming out in his thoughtful circles. Ann Carpenter is, apparantly, quite the rising rock star in theological circles and this book — “a theology of tradition” — is heady, rigorous, above by own pay grade, but, apparently, very significant. Her work has been called inventive and ambitious, an argument “poised to usher in a new wave of theological reflection on tradition.”

If this is systematic theology, it is analyzing questions about tradition versus liberation, I guess, united those things that ought not be seen as oppositional, building bridges within, at least, various Roman Catholic camps. Andrew Prevot of Boston College says it is “a provocative work of conceptual synthesis and prophetic insight.”  Jennifer Newsome Martin (of Notre Dame) calls it “at once a celebration, a chastening, and an expansion of conventional formulations of religious tradition.” This is about history, about action, and, I gather, about memory. Whew.

People of the Screen: How Evangelicals Created the Digital Bible and How It Shapes Their Reading of Scripture John Dyer (Oxford University Press) $29.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.96

I really, really liked John Dyer’s little introduction to thinking Christianly about contemporary technology, a title published by Kregel, now updated, called From the Garden to the City: The Place of Technology in the Story of God) and when I realized it was this same author doing academic research on the influence and even impact of reading the Bible digitally, I was all ears. As a programmer himself, and as his first book shows, Dyer is interested in a wholesome, Biblical perspective of the benefits and perils of digital culture. But in this book he is asking more pointedly a question about dignity technology for Bible readers.

I often find it odd when somebody pulls out a phone to read a Biblical text, especially in worship. I’ve got my reasons. But this is more about the subliminal aesthetics of not holding a physical, enduring book, but the bigger question of our perceptions of the Bible in a digital society.

The history of all this is longer than you know, I bet, and if you are interested at all in Bible software you’ll find this intriguing.  You’ll be delighted at the lovely prose in this wise bit of reporting and evaluation and, more, you will find it compelling. This is a topic that is nearly ubiquitous and few are writing about it. This book is a must.

The Digital Public Square: Christian Ethics in a Technological Society edited by Jason Thacker (B&H Academic) $34.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $27.99

Speaking of digital culture, I have highlighted this before at BookNotes, too, and find it to be a one-of-a-kind resource at this point where people of thoughtful evangelical faith weigh in on the proper questions about justice in the public arena as we think about questions of digital life together. That is, there are essays here about legal theory, copyright stuff, hate speech, freedom of (online) speech, questions of censorship and sexual ethics and conspiracy theories. As it says on the back cover, “Top contributors, including David French, Patrica Shaw, and many others, cast a distinctly Christian vision of a digital public theology to promote the common good throughout society.

You’ll find Bonnie Kristian here, Keith Plummer, Jason Thacker, of course. Blurbs on the back are from Matthew Kaemingk, Dru Johnson, Ben Sasse, and Russell Moore.

The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation Daneil G. Hummel (Eerdmans) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

With a foreword by award winning historian Mark Noll this book (weighing in at over 350 pages) is a thick, careful, wide-ranging study of the unique (and mostly American) theology of dispensationalism, that, naturally, gives rise to speculations about the rapture, the end times, the role of Israel, and those supposedly “left behind.” As most BookNotes readers know, this is a contentious and — in the grand scheme of church history — oddball view that, despite the millions of copies of The Late Great Planet Earth and the “Left Behind” franchise, is not fully Biblical or theologically sound. (And yet, a book about being “rapture ready” was a best seller this fall.)

The Rise and Fall… literally explores where this notion came from, its prominence in certain evangelical circles, and how the question about it all “shaped a nation” from pop culture to politics. Yep — who knew that in-house Christian theological divisions influenced our culture and set the stage for, well, all sorts of civic mayhem.

Daniel Hummel is one smart cookie and his work is nearly magisterial; it is without a doubt the most interesting, broad, and vital stuff I’ve read on this well-worn topic.  With rave reviews on the back from John Fea and Molly Worthen and others, it is surely one of the most discussed religious books of 2023. Very impressive.

Don’t believe me? Listen to Richard:

What do you say about a historical study that reads like a whodunit? Dan Hummel’s book is a page turner, shedding light on details that I already knew from dispensationalist pop culture, filling in the gaps through patient analysis and good storytelling. Historians will love his patient analysis; it’s the storytelling that hooked me. At the end of each chapter, I had to know what came next. Not only is The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism a superb academic study; Hummel’s analysis of the gap left by the decline of dispensationalism helps us understand the ideological crisis of the so-called evangelical church today. — J. Richard Middleton, professor of biblical worldview and exegesis, Northeastern Seminary, author of New Heaven and New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology

The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World Volumes I and II Iain McGilchrist (Perspective Press) $95.99 –  no discount on this item

Okay, now I’m just showing off. I haven’t even opened these two volumes from their shrink-wrapping, so can’t speak to their contents or writing style or, well, much of anything other than to say that Iain McGilchrist is a lively, exceptionally innovative, and astute writer (who maybe needs an editor — I don’t know.) Each one of these volumes looks to be nearly 800 pages, and together they have to be among the most exceptional academic releases of the decade. Released in paperback earlier in 2023 only in the UK, some folks who love his work were immediately interested or so we heard. You may know his previous major book — intriguing as it is captivating — The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Yale University Press.) It is a big, serious book we’ve often stocked, now out in a second edition.

Living, I’ve heard, on the Isle of Skye off the coast of Scotland, Dr. McGilchrist describes himself as a psychiatrist, neuroscience research, philosopher, and literary scholar. He is a true polymath and is also erudite and intellectually ambitious — and has been called “the William James of our time.” This two-volume set is said to be seminal, game-changing, unsurpassed, without parallel, a truly magnificent achievement. It is about learning from reality, moving toward relationally, reciprocity, harmony, maybe, writ large. Volume one is subtitled “The Ways to Truth” and Volume two is titled “What Then Is True?” We can be sure that he critiques and provides an alternative to the reductionism of scientific materialism, working in not only his expertise of neurological research but in terms of story, narrative, and the visionary search for meaning.

Varieties of Christian Universalism: Exploring Four Views edited by David Condon (Baker Academic) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Don’t hate me for showing this. You know, one of the longest reviews I ever wrote — a four-part BookNotes and then a video clip — was my ruminations about the 2011 hubbub around the Love Wins book of Rob Bell, who himself wasn’t then fully adamant about a Christ-bought universalism, but wrote nicely about it. I framed the topic, explored the Biblical teaching about the renewal of all things, explained some of the unfair accusations hurled at Bell, and mostly came out saying folks should read the lively little book and make up their own darn minds.

Older work from the likes of the generous Edward Fudge influenced the thoughtfully tentative hopes of evangelical leader John Stott (about not universalism as such, but about how some may be annihilated, as per the Hebrew worldview, rather than living in eternal agony.) Since then books on the topics of heaven and hell, salvation and judgement, have continued to come out, with clever titles like Razing Hell and, then, of couse, the brilliant Orthodox thinker, David Bentley Hart, released in 2019, That All Shall Be Saved.

This new book offers four different theologies of Christian Universalism, and while it is enough to make your head swim at times, these point/counter-point volumes are excellent ways to get up to speed on the lay of the land and the nuances within contending views. All four of these favor a universalism of sorts, but each have their theological and Biblical reasons for making the particular kind of case that they do.

The four views are (hold on to your hat, this gets deep):  patristic, evangelical, post-Barthian, and existential. You may be surprised by the thoughtful hope these theologians offer.

I love some of the gracious recommendations for it, in this case, one from a Pentecostal scholar and one from an Orthodox theologian:

This book introduces four strong sets of arguments by thinkers who have been exploring these matters substantively over extended periods of time. Come ready to engage with the warrants and justifications for these various universalist options, and if you do, you might become a better theologian, if not a better Christian, even if you remained unconvinced about becoming a universalist in any of the ways invited to in these pages. — Amos Yong, Fuller Theological Seminary, author, Mission After Pentecost: The Witness of the Spirit from Genesis to Revelation

Caricatures and misrepresentations often fuel theological debates, especially on controversial themes such as Christian universalism. These essays offer clarity on the variety of universalist theologies in response to the perennial question of Christian universalism, at a time when this debate is again having a moment and in a way that does not offer a definitive conclusion but provides the conditions for a real conversation. — Aristotle Papanikolaou, Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Fordham University

Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division Richard Lints (Lexham Press) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Perhaps it is right to end this big list of some of my favorite serious reads this year with this one, that I am reading slowly and still savoring. It is a rigorous work by a serious scholar, but it is by no means a dry, academic tome. This is a plea from the heart and a wise contribution to many such books calling on us to work towards some sort of unity within the broken body of Christ. In this age of division, how can we bear witness to the grace and love that is to characterize the church? How can we think about the goodness (and limits to) diversity?  Is there are connection between “denominations and democracy”?

Curiously, Lints — serving as a consulting theologian with the Redeemer City to City efforts — exposes problems with what he calls “the inclusion narrative of democracy” and shows a better away forward for fostering unity in the midst of extreme diversity. This has great implications that can help fund our advocacy for a  genuinely pluralistic society; at the end of the day, it seems, this book is less about ecumenical unity within the church, but how our vision of being included by the gospel might spill over to provide a more enduring framework for our American civic culture, mired with disunity that it is.

I like the evaluation of Anthony Bradley, an African American scholar (and former professor of the late Kings College in NYC) who says of it:

Uncommon Unity is the beginning of the imagination needed to carry the application of God’s redemptive mission deep into the twenty-first century.

“The beginning of the imagination.” That’s a good line, maybe applying to many books, maybe a way to think about why we read nearly any books. May we all be willing to use these great gifts of books, even those that are more demanding of our time, attention and pocketbooks, to savor, to learn, to have our attitudes (and our imaginations) awakened and refined, for the sake of the world.

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PART TWO: BEST BOOKS & FAVORITE READS OF 2023

We hope you saw the first part of our listing of the Hearts & Minds 2023 awards, such as they are, telling of my favs from 2023. You can, in fact, read all of our old BookNotes posts since they are archived at our website, near the order form page. You can see the last one (PART ONE) right here.

I am hoping to post a PART THREE soon, which will name some eccentric stuff, some top scholarly books a read, and maybe a novel or two. Please keep an eye open for that. As always, we are grateful.  Stay warm and safe out there.

All books mentioned are 20% off and can be ordered by scrolling to the bottom and clicking the “order” button, which takes you to our secure order form page. Just tell us what you want and we’ll do the rest. 

BEST BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS

Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice Jessica Hooten Wilson (Brazos Press) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

When I go out and do talks about books or meet with Zoom groups to cheer-lead for reading circles, I often cite other authors, more eloquent than I, who make a case for reading deeply, widely, seriously. Like the truest sports fans who love reading good sports writers or the foodies who not only experiment with their cuisine but love reading about it, so many readers love books about books. We’ve got a section like that in our store and many are near and dear to our hearts.

This 2023 is a gem, a treasure, a wise guidebook to knowing what we mean when we invite people to read widely and how to go about doing that. Hooten Wilson is a great teacher, a fine writer, and here she not only shows how reading should be a spiritual practice which can lead to notable transformation, but gives vivid case studies. She explores how key Christian thinkers of the past read and engaged the printed page, showing us how to read like Augustine or Julian of Norwich or Frederick Douglas or Dorothy Sayers. Her piece on Flannery O’Connor was perhaps penned as she was working on O’Connor’s unfinished novel Why Do The Heathen Rage that just came out a week or so ago (kicking off 2024 to a grand literary start!) This is fabulous, inspiring, winsome and learned all at once, wrapped up into an award winning best book of 2023.

Nourishing Narratives: The Power of Story to Shape Our Faith Jennifer L. Holberg (IVP Academic) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00   

Humans are story-shaped creatures, the back cover tells us, boldly. And we know it, don’t we? We “make sense of our world, pattern our lives, and reflect on what is ultimately significant through language and the words that compose our stories.”

The Bible, Professor Holberg is quick to remind us, is also a book of story; even the legal commandments, the ethical teachings, the theology and doxology, happen in the context of a grand meta-narrative, the unfolding drama from Genesis to Revelation. Might our story and God’s story intermesh? Can stories — you know, novels and short stories, classics and modern ones, poems and pop songs, movies and TV shows — can stories help bridge our story and God’s story? Can narratives be nourishing and help us make sense of our life and our faith?

You know the answer. This is the most lovely, interesting, upbeat, tender, thoughtful book about all this stuff that I have ever read. Holberg teaches literature at Calvin University and is a co-director of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing (I hope you are coming to their 2024 Festival this Spring!) She knows a bit about the reading life, about the power of books, about how to “understand how stories nourish our faith (and) to discover how our stories are part of God’s great story.” I hope you saw my earlier BookNotes review where I hinted that it was one of my favorite books of the year; it was suh a lovely, inspiring read. Months later I agree, now more than ever. Hooray.

Not only is Jennifer Holberg a clear, compelling, and beautiful writer, but her words in Nourishing Narratives are also filled with truth and goodness. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that made my heart sing along as this one did. Nourishing Narratives will open your eyes, grow your faith, and feed your soul. — Karen Swallow Prior, author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis

Funny and approachable, erudite and smart, this book is not merely a celebration of literature–it is an invitation to learn how to read as if our faith lives depend on it. Jennifer Holberg shows us why we love stories and, more importantly, why we need them. –James K. A. Smith, editor in chief of Image journal, author of You Are What You Love and How to Inhabit Time

THE MOST CREATIVE APPROACH TO SOCIAL ETHICS (AND MUCH MORE)

We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other in Worlds That Demand Our Silence David Dark (Broadleaf Books) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

David Dark is always my teacher and I learn something about the world, about the meaning of integrity, about faith and politics and art and life, with nearly every tweet or social media post or printed page he does. That’s a lot of learning going down and if you are still moved by the primal cry of, say, David Byrne —“my God, what have I done?” — and want to be done with “same as it ever was” — then this book, believe me, this book is for you.

And if you don’t get that, that’s okay. Because David is patient and kind and wants to invite into his orbit of conversation all sorts of people, all sorts of readers. I do not think I know anyone who so earnestly endeavors to be good news in a hurting world, also by being gracious, if forthright, always. And when he blows it, he admits as much. He knows that our modern technologies sometimes facilitate us harming others and he is attentive to that; he’s learned some stuff and shares it here. Following how he calls out political leaders and the preachers that seem to cover for them in his home state (again, on social media) is an instruction.

This recent book carries that project on; it emerges from his heart and gives shape to the shape of his work. He is, as I tried to say in an earlier review, not only wanting to resist idols and fake news and the temptations of power but he wants to build connection and community. This book shows how, in very creative prose, in wild stories, in a few allusions that might seem weird — especially that “White Supremacist Antichrist Poltergeist” bit and the subsequent robot soft exorcism thing, but hang in there, it makes sense eventually. You will appreciate this stuff about “courage, conscience, and deferential fear” and how to manage our feelings, even in these polarized times. You’ve got to read the chapter “Beyondism.”

This book is brave, some have said, and it is: David tells his own story of complicity and his own story of breaking free from his own sense of safety, moving towards beloved community. He is from the South, raised in a Bible believing home, and grew to love rock and roll, movies and films, performances and protests. From sci-fi to Fred Rogers, he illuminates his tales with wisdom and goodness. He is not messing around, except when he maybe is. (A note near the end speaks of the “healing game of infinite play.”)

I said some things about We Become What We Normalize in BookNotes when it first came out and only said a bit of what I wanted; there is just so much. I have read it twice and am still left needing to consider more. I invite you to know that I am awarding it an obvious Best Book of 2023 award and, small time bookstore that we are, I hope it inspires somebody to give him a try. He’s bold and allusive, edgy and playful, serious and spiritual, without any of it being predictable or normal. I compliment David to say I don’t think I know a writer out there doing what he does. Skip Kafka or Vonnegut or whoever else you turn to for edgy inspiration. David is the real deal, a prophet of sorts, Biblically literate and a follower of the Way, a Tennessee Bono-like leader, getting things done. There is no shame in all of this; there is humanness and joy. He offers, as put in a remarkable back cover blurb by the remarkable Hanif Abdurraquib (They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us) “a light flickering in the midst of darkness.”

THREE FAVORITE BOOKS ON WORK

Every year we look for a favorite read or two in this exceedingly important field, and while there is always a good one or two in recent years, this year we offer a special Hearts & Minds award of appreciation to the Denver Institute for Faith & Work. Members of their team have created three titles this year, each which seem, to me, to be “just what the doctor ordered.” These three each deserve a whole lot of attention. Hooray.

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

I was glad to highlight this when it first came out and while I don’t think I’ve ever met Jeff, I feel like we are so simpatico that we are comrades of some sort. (I know, a dumb thing for a bookstore owner to say to an esteemed writer.) I had waited for this when it was a work-in-progress and happily announced it when it first released a month or so ago. It may be one of the very best introductory books on this field for one who wants a mid-level, exceedingly thoughtful resource. But not only does it offer a vivid and solid vision of the importance of our vocation and callings into the world worlds, but it, as Chris Horst (of HOPE International) puts it, “In Working from the Inside Out, Jeff Haanen takes on what takes us on.” Exactly. Very highly recommended.

Read Katherine Leary Alsdorf’s astute description and know why we want to honor it as one of the very best books this year.

I can’t wait to give this book to some important people in my life! As the title suggests, Jeff Haanen’s most valuable contribution is his focus on our inner spiritual life and the promise that a life attuned to the hope, love, and grace of the gospel changes us. Work is a crucible; it forms and shapes us–for better or for worse. Jeff’s five guiding principles (seek deep spiritual health, think theologically, embrace relationships, create good work, and serve others), developed and tested during his decade with Denver Institute for Faith & Work, offer a way toward work forming us ‘for better.’ — Katherine Leary Alsdorf, founding director of Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s Center for Faith and Work

Women, Work, and Calling: Step Into Your Place in God’s World Joanna Meyer (IVP) $15.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $12.00

Of course women should read any number of the classics in the field — the premier title is co-authored by Katherine Leary Aldsorf (Every Good Endeavor with Tim Keller) and we always recommend it. But for someone wanting a fairly simple, uniquely Christian study of work and calling specifically for women this is simply the best thing out there. We’ve long appreciated Katelyn Beaty’s 2017 title, A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World which is necessarily broad. Meyer’s is more focused, direct, updated, and since it emerges from her work at the Denver Institute it is exceptional — savvy about careers as well as the contemporary cultural  moment. It is short and powerful and is a very important contribution for the movement of integrating faith and work. One chapter is called “A Gospel as Big as the World” and another says, “God Grows Your Soul Through Work.”  Some will appreciate her playful “Don’t Lean In, Lean Hard.” You’ve got to read this, or give it to a woman you know.

In this much-needed book, Joanna Meyer explores internal and external challenges that Christian women face in the workplace. In short and accessible chapters appropriate for individuals or groups, Meyer draws on Scripture, social science research, and the voices of Christian leaders to provide guidance for navigating these challenges. I highly recommend this book for women at every career stage, from the college student to the seasoned professional, and everyone in between. — Denise Daniels, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Wheaton College, author, Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work

Faithful Work: In the Daily Grind with God and for Others Ross Chapman & Ryan Tafilowski (IVP) $15.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $12.00

Only once did a Christian scholar enter our store and demean us for not being academic enough. Often, many think we recommend things that are a wee bit too challenging, too hefty, too complex. We know different sorts of books are designed for different sorts of readers and for those wanting or needing a very short, really basic, nicely simple, altogether lovely book about the huge amount of time we spend in the work world, then this is the one to read. We are really proud to have such excellent, brief, basic books and want to honor this one, for sure. Chapman and Tafliowski show how “work is a way to love God, serve our neighbors, and demonstrate the gospel.” With this broad understanding of God’s work in the world, they say, “we engage our daily work as part of how God makes all things new.” Exactly.

Hooray for this and congrats to Rod Chapman as the new CEO of the Denver Institute for Faith and Work. He holds a DMin in faith, work, economics, and vocation from Fuller so knows what he’s doing. Ryan Tafilowski is a theology prof at Denver Seminary, a pastor, and holds a PhD in systematics from the University of Edinburgh. For a while he was the “theologian in residence” at the Denver Institute. This may be short and sweet but it is not shallow or superficial. Excellently done, award winning, I’d say. Yay.

THREE ONE-OF-A-KIND SMALL BOOKS ON THE CHURCH YEAR

Advent: The Season of Hope Tish Harrison Warren (IVP) $20.00 – OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00   

Christmas: The Season of Life and Light Emily Hunter McGowin (IVP) $20.00 – OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

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

I have written about all of these three marvelous books previously, and they are preceded by the others so far released in the great “Fullness of Time” series curated and edited by Esau McCauley. The first two were Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal and Pentecost:A Day of Power for All People, both which were quite good. These three, though, were so very excellent, they made their way onto our Best Books of 2023 list. I’d say something Latin if I could: these are extraordinary, rich, readable and short. Thanks be to God for all three of these fabulous books. Highly recommended.

Whether you are an aficionado of liturgical studies or are more traditionally free or low-church or even if you aren’t sure what Advent is all about (let alone the religious significance of the twelve days of Christmas or Epiphany, whatever that is) I invite you to order these. We believe they are deserving of much attention and offer thanks to the authors and to Dr. McCauley for his expert guidance in the project. Will more come later in 2024?

BEST FAMILY DEVOTIONAL THAT ATTENDS TO THE CHURCH CALENDAR

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

This is hands-down our favorite family devotional that we’ve seen this year, mostly because it is oriented around the church year. I do not know if the author is Anglican or has found another sort of intentionally liturgical worshipping community, but she surely gets it. The book is fresh and fun, utterly Christ-centered, and illustrated handsomely with just the right touch of class. Harvest House is a pop level evangelical press who occasionally does extraordinary books and this is one of great surprises of the year.

Danielle is a thoughtful teacher whose invitational spirit will help you learn and grow alongside your family as you journey through the liturgical year. This deeply rooted offering is informational yet accessible, historical yet approachable. The spiritual rhythms, routines, and rituals in this artful collection are sure to resource families for years to come. — Kayla Craig, author of To Light Their Way and creator of the Liturgies for Parents podcast

More than any resource I know, Sacred Seasons makes following the Christian calendar approachable and enjoyable. This book is meticulously researched and theologically robust–it will be an enormous blessing to anyone who wants to enter more deeply into the rhythms of grace God has given his church. — Matthew Lee Anderson, author, Called Into Questions and founder of Mere Orthodoxy

FAVORITE 2023 MARRIAGE BOOK

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

I don’t recall what I was even thinking when I started this crazy book. I knew the author was a clean comedian, working in the mainstream of comedy clubs and such, a person of some kind of faith, and that he sells his marriage book at his stand-up gigs. That itself is, if not exactly hilarious, kind of funny. I was game.

And I was utterly captivated, sometimes almost like a train wreck that you just can’t stop watching. Nickerson tells (in pretty funny writing that sometimes is really funny) of fights they’ve had, how old baggage can haunt you, how to solve problems, stuff about money, and a bit about sex. Yep, he goes there, in a cringy/funny sort of way. And did I mention fights? These guys fight about everything.

And he’s friends with Taylor Tomlinson who wrote a fabulously great foreword; it doesn’t sound like she was bribed on anything, although she admits she didn’t read the part on sex; she just didn’t want to hear about that from him, sort of a second dad in the comedy biz.

And you know what? This is one of the most honest, realistic, practical, fun, and hopeful marriage books I’ve read, maybe ever. He mouths off about all kinds of stuff — he’s a stand up comedian, after all, an introvert, no less, too — and then his wife Melissa chimes in with rebuttals or sidebars or postscripts. Like their marriage, this is a pretty collaborative process and they obviously like each other and respect each other a lot. And they love their kids fiercely, even if they make fun of them a lot. It’s that kind of family.

As the back cover says, “Marriage isn’t always funny. But that doesn’t mean you can’t laugh about it.”

“Marriage isn’t always funny. But that doesn’t mean you can’t laugh about it.”

There are two valuable aspects of this that I loved but that you should know about: first, they insist that no marriage book can do it all, that every relationship is unique and there are no easy answers to a happy marriage, let alone simplistic formulas. I think he’s a bit hard on all the other books out there, as many are truly great, but he’s got a huge point, right? They implied this in the subtitle, so there are no grand one-size-fits-all plans.

Secondly, they have been through some pretty hefty evangelical stuff in a church that made national news for being dysfunctional and toxic. They had already left that place by the time it imploded, but they have that background. They know their Bible and doctrine and they love Jesus, but, well, it just isn’t as central to the book as some might wish. They haven’t exactly “deconstructed” but it comes out in a section where they, as always, invite people to lighten up a bit and laugh about, say, the goofy stuff you do when your trying to herd fighting cats into a car to get to church on time looking all happy and sanctified. Ha.

As the back cover promises, “this book will help your marriage if by no other means than looking at Dustin’s dysfunctional marriage and feeling better about your own.” That’s one award winning bit of promo copy if you ask me. One of the best of the year.

BEST 2023 BOOK OFFERING INSIGHTS ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY

I already named Saying It Loud: 1966–The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement by Mark Whitaker as one of my favorite books of the year in our previous first part of this Best Books post. That obviously could be placed in this category, too.

Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West Andrew Wilson (Crossway) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

I would give this book more than one award if I could — everything now and then this publisher just makes exquisite volumes, with nice endpapers, quality paper, a good heft, and a textured, neat cover. As soon as this arrived I took delight, knowing that much was special. Then seeing the remarkable endorsements on the back from folks like Alan Jacobs and Karen Swallow Prior and Mark Noll — who calls it a “triumph” — made me pay attention.

Also (let’s be honest) when a publisher who tends to tilt rightward on many social issues and is known for non-compromising commitments to their rigorous theological angle does a book on American history, I sort of assume it might play somewhat into the hands of nationalists and those who make American history an example of exceptionalism of a civic religious sort. I loved the look of the book and was curious why Jacobs and Noll and Prior and the discriminating colonial scholar Thomas Kidd (who said it was a “tour de force”) would rave so.

I was pleasantly surprised that the thesis alluded to in the subtitle is exactly what this book is about. Wilson colorfully examines things that happened in a single year in the late eighteenth century that “changed the trajectory of the Western world.” Arising from 1776, he shows, we have things like globalization, the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution, the dawn of romanticism and the rise of post-Christianity. Yes, he draws on key documents and historical figures, but it is lively and easy to follow. I think it deserves being on our list of Best Books.

And it deserves some award for this, too: Wilson uses an acronym to help us follow the plot. He says that these political, philosophical, economics, and industrial changes “shaped the modern West into a WEIRDER society: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic.” What a hoot — who knew that’s where our weirdness comes from? You’ve got to read this amazing volume. More than 350 pages including the voluminous notes.

A FAVORITE COLLECTION OF OP-ED ESSAYS

Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticisms, and Minding Other People’s Business Roxane Gay (Harper) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I love reading short form essays, articles, columns, op-ed pieces. Among my all time favorite reads are two marvelous, vital collections of essays by Barbara Kingsolver and two lovely, wise, moving collections by Ann Patchett. I adored (a year ago) Thin Places: Essays from In Between by Jordan Eisner and although it came out a year ago, one of my most moving reading experiences this year was taking up Terry Tempest Williams’ essay collection, Erosion: Essays of Undoing.

Anyway, much of this is one more directly political and whether I agree with her or not isn’t the point. A book like this collects provocative, blazing pieces and that, as Slate called her book Bad Feminist, “arresting and sensitive.” Her book Hunger was one of the most moving books I’ve ever read — her questions about black bodies and about being fat will stay with me forever — and I like that the New York Times Book Review has called her writing “luminous intellectually rigorous, and deeply moving.”

She works hard at her craft of writing and her op-ed work is important. Her longer pieces — a few celebrity stories, and some from her “Dear Abby” type advice column make for entertaining reading. Naturally, many will not agree with her fully, or rarely, for that matter. Still, this is a handsomely bound collection of a decade of her work and I was really pleased to have it. She is a vital force, a voice for the outcasts, and she is worth honoring.

FAVORITE MEMOIRS

Oh my. This is my favorite genre, often, and what I’m often reading at bedtime. Some are so well written, the lives they narrate so interesting, that I’m transported, perhaps even more than reading mere fiction. I’ve read a lot and reviewed a few. Here are my highlights, personal favs, each for different reasons. Maybe these aren’t all for everyone, but I liked them. A lot.

All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Beth Moore (Tyndale) $27.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

This was perhaps my biggest surprise of the year, realizing quickly just how very much I loved this book and how very much I came to admire this iconic Southern Baptist women’s Bible teacher who became disillusioned with their sexism and cruelty. This is one heck of a page-turning story, well told, earnest, important. She’s a good writer, really! You will learn some things about her life and marriage and family and some of it will grab you in a way from which you may never recover. Surely one of the best books of the year.

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

We were glad to see how much press this book got, his fairly straight-forward story was so well told and illustrative of so much that it ended up on some major newspapers and mags Best Books of 2023 lists. It chronicles his journey from rural, poor, Jim Crow Alabama (and his role in a Pentecostal church) to becoming a PhD candidate in Scotland, landing a job as New Testament prof at Wheaton College. The details of his own family and their story is insightful and, as much black writing as there is these days (happily so) this stands out. Publisher’s Weekly is right to say it is written with “uncompromising honesty and deep introspection.” Kudos.

I love this comment about it:

Esau McCaulley’s riveting memoir holds together tensions that many of us pry apart: systemic injustice and personal responsibility, accountability and forgiveness, honesty and sympathy. This book is prophetic without being preachy, and heartwarming without being cloying. . . . A triumph of storytelling. — Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

 

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

I have been waiting for another moving, thoughtful, hilarious book by this intelligent, entertaining, respected prose writer since we devoured The Largest Man On Earth and Congratulations, Who are You Again?, two of my all time favorite reads. Little did I know that in subsequent years his wife had an affair and he wrote about it all, in gruesomely honest detail, including his (understandable) unChristian hatred for the guy, an uninspiring neighbor. In my review of this earlier in the year I mentioned how funny this was, how I ripped through it, breathless, hoping against hope for some kind of happy ending. I won’t spoil it all, but it is one of the best books I read all year.

I almost wanted to name this at the start of the last post where I had those ultimate top two favorite books, but I really wanted it to be here among the memoirs. Still, it really is a Best Book of the Year, if you can take it… and it is funny, in a tragic sort of way. Kudos to all involved and hats off to the gang that helped him through.

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

I hope you recall my long review of this last summer — the short version is that Tyson (a hip, Gen X singer-songwriter) spends a long and harrowing forty days hiking an ancient trail carrying the ashes of his beloved mother who died too young. He dodges all kinds of bullets, meets hoboes, connects with old friends, and does the whole hiking memoir thing with a casual meandering tone that ends up winning. So good — on of my favs of the year, for sure.

Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City: A Memoir Jane Wong (Tin House Books) $27.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.36

If you know Jane Wong for her highly regarded poetry you will want to know about her life growing up in a New Jersey Chinese restaurant (she says such kids are called “restaurant babies) and her girlhood, ongoing studies, love lives, cross-cultural experiences, intense struggles; it not a linear autobiography and at times seems nearly random. But I couldn’t stop reading. Some of the book is nearly light-hearted (and you’ll love her colorful mother) but some of it is heavy, too. I appreciated her rage, especially about fetishizing sexual violence against Asian-Ameircan women.

Ms Wong loves her metaphors and it became fun catching some that make no sense whatsoever. She’s a poet, I kept saying to myself. But, man…

Kirkus Review says it is:

A generous, steaming stew of a book loaded with personality and originality and sprinkled with the fiery chili of rage.

It was a favorite read this year for me, and, anyway –any book that can inspire that kind of a line deserves an award, right?

Leaping from the Burning Train: A Poet’s Journey of Faith Jeanne Murray Walker (Slant Books) $20.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

This, too, was not only one of the best memoirs I read this year but a book that I so enjoyed that I’ve promoted it to folks who may not be directly interested in how a poet came to emerge with faith intact from a strict, conservative, fundamentalist upbringing. It’s just a great read on its own term, a splendid memoir, narrating a fascinating life.

Unlike some deconstruction narratives these days, this one is — for starters — really wonderfully written. Walker is a thoughtful, faithful, lover of literature and it shows in clear, clean, writing that is full of images and metaphors and ideas, but never grows obscure. She has seen some forms of faith that are not fully healthy and are certainly not intellectually viable, but this is not a horrible story of toxic faith and religious harm. It is just the story of coming to terms with how we all make sense of things and how she moved away from the literalism of her funky little Christian school and revivalistic faith and her frugal, frugal parents.

She can name the moment it became clear — through the study of literature and poetry — that we interpret stuff. Indeed, there are different readings (some more plausible than others, perhaps) and insight is always contingent, understood within the skin of the interpreter. Ahh, that seemingly secular learning helped her understand that we “seek through a glass dimly” and need a more flexible and humble faith, makes for a wonderful plot switch. And yet, she can’t shake her faith. Her ups and downs are chronicled here so wonderfully I am sure I’m going to read this one again. Beautifully done; very highly recommended.

The Women They Wanted: Shattering the Illusion of the Good Christian Wife Shannon Harris (Broadleaf Books) $27.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

I want to name this because it was a really important glimpse into a toxic faith community that was, not long ago, respected by many, including people I once knew. For those who want a hard, painful, anguishing expose of really stupid stuff going on in a nationally known church movement with celebrity pastors, this is the one. It was infuriating how evangelicals could become so strict, and so wrong about gender roles. Married, finally, to Joshua Harris (famously the young author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye) who was groomed to replace the needlessly arrogant C.J. Mahany at the Sovereign Grace movements mothership in Gaithersburg, this tells Ms Harris’s story as am earnest woman in a misogynist subculture. We learn about their rigid views — more harsh perhaps than some of us realized — and their admixture of charismatic renewal and hyper-calvinism. We learn about their Bible studies and mentoring groups and less than adequate relationships, even as the church leaders seemed to think they were doing it all so well. Spoiler alert: it took some time for the toll to be taken but it was a deadly mix and it ruined their marriage.

Mr. Harris has come to renounce all of that (perhaps leaving the faith altogether) and in The Women They Wanted she offers her candid howl of grief for all those lost years. She understandably struggles with what sort of faith might rise from these ashes, and my heart went out to her, even as I kept wondering why she put up with such oddball stuff.  When church leaders made her disinvite her oldest best friends from being in her wedding, she should have bolted right then and there — but you can imagine how one somewhat new to the faith and new to the church and being raised up as a celebrity pastor’s stellar wife, she played along, despite this huge red flag. The way other conservative evangelicals overlooked this toxic stuff and the way the church failed to show adequate grace and insight is horrifying, making this book, if not a literary masterpiece, certainly an important report from the scene.

And that cover! We should talk about that…   

A Living Remedy: A Memoir Nicole Chung (Ecco) $29.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

You may know of her previous memoir, much about being an Asian American child adopted into a kindly white family in a largely white region in rural Oregon. There are, as they say, troubling truths. Yet she loves her extended family and, as a writer of remarkable talent, she explores the story of her fathers illness and death, the bereavement of her mother, and, through it all, the horrible situation created in part by our inadequate health care systems.

I had underlined a passage that I later noticed another reviewer had cited: Her father’s death, she says, felt like “a kind of negligent homicide, facilitated and sped by the state’s failure to fulfill its most basic responsibilities to him and others like him.” I’ve been thinking about this narrative, it’s great love and it’s portrayal of family life amidst great sorrow.

Shattered: A Son Picks Up the Pieces of His Father’s Rage Arthur Boers (Eerdmans) $22.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

When an amazing, highly regarded literary figure like Andre Dubus writes a stunningly great introduction, as he has here, one wonders how good a book can be to garner that kind of praise.  Well, as I tried to express in a long review last spring, Arthur Boers tells in glowing prose and extraordinary insight the nature of a life lived in a strict, Reformed, immigrant subculture with a violent father. His father worked in glass manufacturing so the “shattered” language of the title is luminous and serves any number of meanings. It is a rich book, one I will never forget.

Several reviews have noted that Arthur has not only emerged in his faith in somewhat different styles and perspectives, but has wisely offered balanced and healthy leadership in the various spaces he has served. He was raised in a Dutch Canadian, conservative Calvinist community with their particular continental worldview and found a lively faith in a nondenominational group in his public school, until he found a home in an Anabaptist faith. He was active as a Mennonite where he developed friendships (that bore fruit in several important books) with the likes of Presbyterian Eugene Peterson and Roman Catholic philosopher and cultural critic Albert Borgman. Although it isn’t the concern of the book — it is a memoir of growing up and finding some degree of healing from his father’s rage — he is now a Canadian Anglican, with a ministry in spiritual direction. It ends beautifully describing this sort of contemplative vision and a restful attention to the natural world. It is a breathtaking book, hard and wondrous, a true award winner, a notable book of 2023.

The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening Ari Shapiro (HarperOne) $28.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

Ha — this was such a blast I couldn’t wait to announce my decision to name it as a vivid favorite this year. I reviewed it at BookNotes and you can search for those comments if you want more, but, believe me, this was a really fun read, lovely, even, and a very inspiring story of the famous NPR voice. What a kid he was, one of the only Jews in his Fargo, North Dakata school.

The journey to and of a “life spent listening” is fabulous, making the book so interesting, pleasurable and insightful. It was a great read.

Some may not know of Ari’s role in the peacemaking efforts of the rowdy, diverse band called Pink Martinis, but he is part of that singing group, and that, too makes for some fun stories of them singing Israeli folk songs to Arab Muslims or pushing other ethnic tunes in places where it might be considered dangerous to do so. As is often the case, good art wins the day, and this book — mostly about learning the craft of being a globally known reporter — is a testimony to the art and craft of being a good human being.

Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick Lyndsey Medford (Broadleaf Books) $25.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

Almost every year I find myself wiping away tears and taking notes while reading a book about chronic illness, whether it was the must-read reflection about having Lyme disease (by reporter and scholar Ross Douthart) or the beautiful story told so eloquently in The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke (an editor at the Yale Review.) I believe that this year, the book that stood out in this sometimes painful reading genre is My Body and Other Crumbling Empires. Some of it was simply captivating for the unfolding narrative and other pages were the sort where you have to put the book now to to think, to ponder, to take it in. She is a heck of a writer and is doing something pretty audacious. She is working on everything from theodicy to liberation theology to the nature of feminist embodiment ideals for our Christian living, to a more systematic understanding of the principalities and powers that make the whole world sick. In her hands, this story of being ill, seriously so, causes her to rethink everything.

The publisher explains it nicely: “My Body and Other Crumbling Empires points out the beauty and ubiquity of our limitations; the importance of accessibility, broadly construed; the interconnected nature of individual and public health; and the badly needed wisdom we have gained from living with our particular bodies.”

Friends — agree fully or not, resonate at first or not, this is what books can do. Wow. Wow. And I love that great art on the book jacket. Again, wow.

I’m inspired by Lyndsey Medford’s deft mix of gentleness and fire. She speaks the truth we crave and manages to do so with the voice of a trusted friend. — Shannan Martin, author,The Ministry of Ordinary Places and Start with Hello

BEST BIOGRAPHIES

King: A Life Jonathan Eig (Farrar Straus Giroux) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

At about 650 pages and obviously thick, I wanted to give this some heavy award; heck, I will admit I have not even finished it yet. But there is no doubt that this is a book that is simply definitive, enduring, perhaps never to be surpassed. There have been plenty of good biographies of Dr. King and I have read several. There is plenty for those who want to know more. When I first heard that this was the first major biography in decades, perhaps to better the classic ones — like David Garrow’s say — I sputtered a bit. Do we really need yet another biography?

Ahh, but here is what makes Jonathan Eig’s so incredibly important. It is the first major work that was done on Dr. King since the FBI released formerly declassified files. This archival stuff obviously offered fresh information, and now, in King, we have a book that is an immediate classic, the release of which is a true literary event.

Blurbs rave on the back in a mighty choir of testimony— Peniel Joseph David Garrow, Lerone Martin, Ken Burns. This is one for the ages. It is not only the first major biography of King in a generation, it is one of the most important books of the decade.

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

Well, Walter Brueggemann is not as famous or influential as MLK but, you know, in his own way, he has left a mark perhaps unlike any Biblical scholar in the last 50 years. In the religious landscape of mainline denominational folks he is a household name; among thoughtful Catholic and evangelical scholars and activists, he is revered. He is an icon among the progressive, social action faith movements, like Sojourners, say, where he often publishes. In the guild of academic Biblical studies he has (if not single-handedly, almost) causes a shift in the patterns of thinking that pervade critical Biblical scholarship. To this day, his many books — including a brand new collection of marvelous blog posts expertly edited by Kanagy —keep coming and his Biblical comment, prayers, and social observation is legendary.

This is the first, and perhaps landmark biography of the Bible scholar and seminary teacher and mentor to many who coined the phrase “prophetic imagination.” It emerged as the central Pennsylvania Mennonite pastor Kanagy got to know Brueggemann over weekly Zoom calls. As Walter’s stories unfolded, as Kanagay pressed him to tell more, the two of the realized they had a book. It is a wonderful biography, a notable tribute, a great tool to help us understand how Brueggemann understands the Bible, God, the vocation of Christian fidelity, and what it means to speak truth to power in these days. It will help us all (in the words of Duke professor Ellen Davis) “make sense of our experience of what is still possible with God…”

Beth and I have crossed paths with Brueggemann several times over the years, selling books at events, and he has always been alert to the Scriptures, attentive to those in the room, and very kind to us. How did he become who he is? How does he combine the pastoral and the prophetic? This book gives a clue. If you don’t own it yet, you should. Congrats to Kanagy and thank you to Dr. Brueggemann.

Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography Holly Ordway (Word on Fire Academic) $34.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $27.96

Well. If this wasn’t on the major book lists, something is fishy because, by all measures and reports from those who know, this is a major work, done with an exquisite style, by an extraordinary woman who is known for being an expert in apologetics and in literature. Obvious, if these nearly 550 pages show anything it is that she is up to the task, offering a diligent (but not tedious) study of the great writer’s life and the way in which his Catholic faith shaped his life, his writing, his work, and, of course, his friendships.

There are forty chapters (and a number of appendices) that will delight any true fan of Lord of the Rings and there is enough in here to illustrate how JRR’s had such an influence upon his pal and writing buddy, C.S. Lewis. Of course we could fill pages naming important words about Tolkien and his Inklings. (Forgive me if I just name-check a few: I suppose most know Tom Shippey’s highly regarded J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century but please don’t miss Joseph Loconte’s  A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918. A few years ago mainstream critics raved about by Philip and Carol Zaleski’s The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams and of course many BookNotes fans know Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings by the impressive Diana Pavlac Glyer.) But this, this, this gives the great JRR his due, and explores his faith in ways that no other book has done. It is not common to get to say that about a topic, and this, indeed, is pioneering.

Tolkien’s Faith is the first systematic, book-length exploration of the influence and importance of the Christian faith in Tolkien’s life. It should establish that his Catholicism, as a fundamental and pervasive presence in his life, works, and concerns, was at least as significant as were his professional pursuits and war experience, and that recognizing and exploring this influence in detail is at least as illuminating. — Carl F. Hostetter, editor, The Nature of Middle-Earth

Ordway’s detailed yet accessible book will soon become an essential compass for anyone who has the desire and courage to deepen their relationship with the author of The Lord of the Rings. Instead of excluding or exploiting his religious commitments, this biography, journeying to the foundations of his humanity, neither censors Tolkien’s faith nor idealizes it. — Giuseppe Pezzini,  Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford; editor, Journal of Inkling Studies

Holly Ordway is the Cardinal Francis George Professor of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is an editor for the Journal of Inklings Studies. Her book Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages received the 2022 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies.

Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation Colin Hansen (Zondervan Academic) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Although it came out before Keller died this past May, there was an urgency about reading it as many knew his time was nearly up. Even the secular, mainstream media covered his passing, indicating he was an important figure in culture, representing (as most BookNotes readers would know, even if not all agree with his orientation) an enlightened sort of gracious kind of evangelicalism, taking a winsome but intellectually serious faith into the public squares, making a case for faith lived in the marketplace. He appealed to those with justice sensibilities (even if he didn’t go far enough for some) and he appealed to those with a need for clarity about Reformed doctrine and theological details, which he had in spades. He was cultural astute, philosophical wise, quoted Tolkien and befriended abstract artist Mako Fujimura. I will never forget being at Redeemer in Manhattan when he hosted and dialogued with the great civil rights attorney Bryan Stevens. How did a guy who loved his theology and doctrine end up working it out in the midst of one of the great urban centers in the world, starting up a highly regard “Center for Faith and Work”?

This book explains it all. It explores his faith and formation, the books he read, the scholars he esteemed, his work in seminary and his early church ministry. As he sensed a call to Manhattan, the plot thickens and Hansen expertly explores the details of how Tim and his wife studied and learned and preached and prayed their way into helping launch a globally respected church in one of the most secular regions of North America.

Agree or not with Keller on any number of theological or strategic topics, this intellectual biography is admirable as it shows what happens when one family ordinary Pennsylvania Lutheran kid decisively responds to the gospel in college and dedicates himself to Kingdom service. It is interesting, instructive, commendable.

BEST BOOKS ON CREATIVITY and the AESTHETIC

Why We Create edited by Brian Brown & Jane Clark Scharl (Square Halo Books) $16.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

This book is small — a smallish compact size — and yet is so thoughtfully done that it absolutely takes its stand next to much larger, verbose, and costly volumes. It is lovingly produced by the Anselm Society and (as I said in a rave review earlier this year at BookNotes) it includes writers, visual artists, theologians, and thinkers who offer life-giving insight about the creative life. Why do we create? And what is involved in the creative process? Listen to the likes of Marilyn McEntyre and Leslie Bustard ruminate on that, framed by foundational theological stuff (in the section “God creates”) by Hans Boersma, Peter Leithart, Jane Scharl and Paul Buckley. Some of these authors have crafted their own good books (Grace Olmstead, for instance) or are themselves artists (Matthew Clark, for instance.) The heavyweight critic Anthony Esolen offers a moving Epilogue.

In 2021 Square Halo produced a similarly sized, lovely and wise little volume called Naming the Animals: An Invitation to Creativity. I loved that one by Stephen Roach. This is a bit more sophisticated in tone and is a brilliant follow up. Kudos one and all.

The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History Samuel W. Franklin (Chicago University Press) $26.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

I have pondered this book long and often and recall the electric sort of joy of discovery while reading it, nearly unsurprised this year, reading something that I literally knew nothing about, and taking it in, page by splendid page. Who knew this stuff about the history of the notion of creativity, and where it came from? It is, or so Franklin argues, as the subtitle puts it, “a surprisingly recent” history. Kudos to this very good writer for offering this survey of something that has oddly not been studied that carefully.

You will have to read it yourself but (as one reviewer explained) “after World War II a fascinating ensemble of psychologists, advertising executives, and other assorted gurus attempted to explain and quantify human ingenuity.” But why? Was there something that might even be called sinister afoot? The ideas and practices, programs and technologies became, surely, what we might call an ideology, and it is playing out all over today, from the design world to high tech, from self-help messiahs to bohemian hipsters creating the latest aperitif. I’m riffing in a way that he does not, restrained scholar that he is, but I really appreciate this cultural historian (from Holland!) A bit heady, but, man, this provided one of the best serious reading experiences I had this year. Hooray.

BEST BOOKS ON CHURCH LIFE

The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticism: Why Spirituality without God Fail to Transform Us Andrew Root (Baker Academic) $28.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

I hope that you know the mighty, five volume “Ministry in a Secular Age” series produced over the last few years by Luther Seminary prof Andrew Root. Much has been written about them all and this capstone is not only the final release in this series but in many ways the best. It offers some good summary of the whole project and, as do the others, interacts with some of the most important philosophers of culture writing today. He is creative and upbeat even when he is rigorous in explaining philosophical notions. It is — hooray! — an insightful blend of theology, philosophy, cultural studies, Biblical reflection, and a bit of practical application for the ordinary, local congregation.

As Angela Reed of Truett Seminary notes, he is “a gifted practical theologian” and he “invites us to wrestle with the nature of historical and contemporary mystics in the Western world..”  I’m not sure if it is immediately clear why a Theo-philosophical critique of contemporary (godless) mysticisms is “practical” but if you hang in there with him, it will become evident. Can we reclaim our classic convictions about the cross offering the only path for the transformation of the self? Can we reject a secularizing sort of mysticism that is stripped of transcendent power and Christian discipleship? Can we learn to center the practices of confession and discover authentic grace and gratitude and surrender?

Reed calls all of this the work of a “practical theologian” because, simply put, Root is asking how to do ministry in a world such as ours and, frankly, how to do ministry with those who say they are “spiritual but not religious.” That alone deserves a Book of the Year award. Cheers!

: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation Andrew Root & Blair D. Bertrand (Brazos Press) $21.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

I am a bit reluctant to celebrate this honorable book because I don’t want you to skip the magisterial volumes of the “Ministry in a Secular Age” series, and certainly not the above-mentioned The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticism. This little book does not replace that big one.

But yet, it is wise that this When Church Stops Working released this year as it is exactly the sort of book of which there are so many — a practical guidebook to stimulate busy church leaders with actionable ideas for congregational renewal and health — but it is informed by the serious cultural analysis developed in the five big books that preceded it.

I hear that the backstory is something like this: Blaire Bertrand (himself with a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary) has done church consulting in all sorts of places (including Malawi, Africa) and knows a thing or two about integrating a thoughtful framework with practical stuff ordinary church leaders can try. He seems to have approached the heady Dr. Root and said, in so many words, “let’s do this!” So, here, they show how the habits of “watching and listening for God” can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today. The solution (if we’ve been paying attention to Roots magisterial project) isn’t “more money, people, programs, innovation or busyness.” It “rejects pithy slogans and slick approaches” of course, but approaches the crisis of church decline is (first) a better diagnosis and secondly, as Mandy Smith puts it in her back cover blurb, “a helpful, human way forward.”

I think it may be that some of what Root and Bertrand rail against as gimmicks or formulas aren’t as bad as all that; is every innovation driven by the spirit of the age? But for those drawn to that sort of quick fix, this call to return to God, first, could be life changing. It’s the best practical book of church health stuff I’ve seen all year. And it’s fun, too — maybe you saw the neat excerpt that appeared in the latest edition of Comment magazine. Wow.

Pivot: The Priorities, Practices, and Powers That Can Transform Your Church Into a Tov Culture Scot McKnight & Laura Barring (Tyndale) $22.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

A year or more ago the great book A Church Called Tov came out, exploring that Hebrew word (for a rich and healthy sort of “goodness” and more) and how the local congregation should exhibit this kind of safe, flourishing, gracious, good kind of culture. It was excellent, thoughtful enough, and practical, or at least a bit. It documented the problem with bullying and abuse in churches and offers the “tov” image as a motivating Northstar by which to guide efforts at renewal. There was already in the works a sequel, a guidebook for living it out, for transforming the sub-culture, offering a glimpse of a better environment and a more wholesome “good” tov ecology in one’s church or ministry organization.

The cover design of Pivot shows a great play on words — it is a fabulous sequel, invigorating and provocative, even as it is realistic and sober. Throughout it is practical and do-able, complete with “tov tools” and assessment guides. with God’s help, you can do this! We must build a culture that would be able to spot red flags and cultivate goodness.

Pivot is a prophetic invitation to move. Move towards healing, move toward the light, move toward being the change that is so needed right now. This is exactly what I pray for — the wisdom and clarity to move toward wholeness together. — Danielle Strickland, author, Better Together

Earth Filled with Heaven: Finding Life in Liturgy, Sacraments, and Other Ancient Practices of the Church Aaron Damiani (Moody Press) $14.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

It is a happy, cool day when the publisher world’s standard habits are upended just a bit and we honor this book (and their publisher) for this 2023 surprise. As I said when I first reviewed it at BookNots, Aaron Damiani is an urban Anglican priest (and first came to our attention when he wrote a book about Lent called The Good of Giving Up written for those without liturgical or sacramental leanings.) As a former fundamentalist, he has discovered the depth and beautify of Anglican worship and a sacramental worldview, as Alexander Schmemann might put it. Earth Filled With Heaven is a book about liturgy and other sorts of ancient practices as exercises within more liturgical congregations and traditions.

I am not a high church guy and don’t worship at a particularly formal liturgical church (although we are traditionally mainline Presbyterian.) So I’m not saying this was a favorite because it convinced me to start attending an Episcopalian or Anglo-Catholic service, but because this focus on the sacramental Jesus and the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and baptism and the church calendar was edifying and helpful.

As it says on the back, “while secular life erodes our humanity, practicing the sacramental life shows us how to recover it. Enter and experience an enchanted Earth Filled with Heaven.” I dig that. This is a handsomely done book — with some colored ink — and we want to celebrate the spiritual rhythms and ancient church orientation it promotes. Perfect for newbies or for old time liturgists who need a fresh reminder of what this style of worship and faith-formation can be. Lovely, healthy stuff.

The Weary Leader’s Guide to Burnout Sean Nemecek (Zondervan) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Every year there are, increasingly, even, new books on resilience for clergy, for healthy patterns of work, for renewal. Just this week a pastor noted to me that few of their flock had any idea the weight they carry, the human toil of serving the church. We have any number of good books refocusing pastors on the point of all this, and how to do it well. (Think of Justin Writebol’s recent Lexham title, Pastor, Jesus Is Enough: Hope for the Weary, the Burned Out, and the Broken or last year’s award winning The Resilient Pastor by Glenn Packiam, or an older gem, The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine, or a personal favorite by the wise, honest, Mandy Smith called The Vulnerable Pastor.)

The Weary Leader’s Guide to Burnout, though, stands as one of the best such books I read this year. Therapist Chuck DeGroat calls it “exceptional” and other rave reviews remind me that I’ve got to name this as one of our Best of the Year titles. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t benefit from it. Maybe you should order more than one.

The Weary Leader’s Guide to Burnout is essential reading not only for those who are experiencing exhaustion but for all who have been called to ministry leadership. Nemecek writes with the practical and compassionate wisdom of lived experience, offering theological and psychological insights, compelling stories, and spiritual practices that help us cooperate with the Holy Spirit for transformation and freedom…. Sean holds up mirrors so we can see our compulsions and captivities, and with that healed vision, see more clearly the invitations from Jesus to rest in his love and yield to his grace. — Sharon Garlough Brown, spiritual director, author of the Sensible Shoes and Shades of Light series

BEST BOOKS ON PERSONAL GROWTH & PSYCHOLOGY, ETC.

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen David Brooks (Random House) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I know a few people don’t quite trust David Brooks — he used to be much more right-wing than he is now, and he can be a bit sophisticated at times. But I really respect him and have read all of his books; when I highlighted this when it first came out I think I resisted how much I loved his splendid sociology of younger rich folks who have bohemian values even if they are bourgeois. “Bobos”, he called them. Genius!

This is brilliant and, frankly, a very good bit of reflection on any number of things needed in our culture these days. From the loneliness epidemic to the overt alienation people feel from their churches or other institutions these days, from the political and social polarization to a generation of young adults who have not been given standard tools of personal or civic etiquette, we all need to know a bit about being known. And more how to make others feel known.

This is a deeply Christian book even though I am sure it isn’t pitched like that. But if the gospel of God’s grace is the truest truth, then we can look at the glorious ruins we all are — that is, ourselves and our loved ones, our neighbors and even those we despise — as made in God’s image and deserving of care. How do we really care? And show that we care?

Mr. Brooks is a pundit, a sociologist, a trend-observer, a politico and very good writer of columns from places like The New York Times and his perch on PBS. That he developed a friendship with several thoughtful evangelicals (not least, with the late Timothy Keller) in recent years seems to show, informing his concerns about “knowing” and “caring” with this mostly implicit gospel grace. Brooks is famously curious, wants to know what makes the world tick, and wants to listen to others. The fruit of that in these recent years is this exceptional, profound book, inviting us to better conversations, forming communities of care, learning to even bear the burdens of others when we can.

This is surely one of the great books of 2023.

The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope Curt Thompson (Zondervan) $27.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

As I said when I first reviewed this at BookNotes, I am a Curt Thompson champion, a fan, a cheerleader for his good books. His previous three are among the most recommended books whenever conversations move in the direction of this sort of psychological advice. But I admitted that when I heard that The Deepest Place was more directly about suffering and resilience (about which so much has been written lately) I was almost (almost) worried. What new could Curt bring to this well-worn topic? Do we need yet another book on this topic?

Man, was I wrong. The Deepest Place touched me at my deepest places and his call to the formation of hope was some of the best stuff I’ve read on that, ever. He has laid out his profound framework (using the Bible and neurology) in his previous masterpieces and now this stands alongside those as must reads. It is one of the best books I read this year and is happily here on our list of favs. It is, trust me, very helpful.

With his formidable intellect and compassionate heart, Curt Thompson draws from Scripture, neurobiology, and inspiring stories to help people advance on the path from suffering to hope and redemption. This is a spiritual formation tour de force for anyone ready to look life’s inescapable pain in the eye and make something better of it. A must-read. — Ian Morgan Cron, author, The Story of You

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

When I first announced this, I highlighted how very much I liked Opelt’s previous work, a really good book on various ways that various cultures have developed mourning practices. It was a fabulous read, a wise and helpful book, evolving from her own experience of loss when her beloved sister, author Rachel Held Evans, died so suddenly.

This book is equally well written, delightfully honest, at times real and raw, about being honest with oneself and honest before God about less than pleasant feelings or attitudes. This is not quite a memoir although she shares very nice writing about her own interior life, and it isn’t exactly a book of psychological self help. I like this blend of genres, this sharing of her journey, that doesn’t feel formulaic or simplistic. I am not alone, either, in appreciation. Others we respect have said very impressive things, assuring me I’m not wrong to name this as one of our favorite books of 2023.

Holy Unhappiness is the gospel for our pain and difficulty. I can’t commend the tenderhearted approach that Amanda embodies here enough. A balm for the soul. And hope for our scars. What a glorious read. — A.J. Swoboda, professor of Bible, theology, and World Christianity, Bushnell University, author of After Doubt.

Amanda’s lovely blend of reflection and memoir flows from a heart acquainted with grief and unsatisfied with the cheap remedies our churches and culture too often prescribe. This is a work of immense honesty and prophetic clarity. — Chuck DeGroat, Professor of Pastoral Care and Christian Spirituality, Western Theological Seminary, author, Wholeheartedness: Busyness, Exhaustion, and Healing the Divided Self

A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ John Andrew Bryant (Lexham Press) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

There are a number of faith-based books about mental illness, various sort of memoirs and evaluations, about those suffering with various concerns, from depression to bipolar disorder. This is one that is so very good in part because it is both exceptionally well written — Bryant really is a creative writer, and Wes Hill has described it as harrowingly frank — and because of how it so naturally integrates a faith in the gospel of Christ and the realities of his own traumas and disappointments. This story is candid about his illness and foibles (and how that feels to him) and it is honest about the broader social context and his life’s situation (he was not accepted into a ministerial program he had hoped for.) This young writer has much to offer and we are grateful for the handsome, thoughtful book.

The useful forward is by Kathryn Greene-McCreight, an Episcopal priest whose own Darkness is My Only Companion is a contemporary classic.

BEST BOOK FOR ROCK AND ROLL LOVIN’ BABY BOOMERS

Bridge and Tunnel Boys: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and the Metropolitan Sound of the American Century Jim Cullen (Rutgers University Press) $31.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $25.56

Okay, I’m just going to say it: nothing beats Bono’s book of last year, his stirring memoir, Surrender, which made me weep with joy. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I adored the big fat memoir that came out last year by Rolling Stone magazine founder, Jan Wenner’s Like a Rolling Stone. I like books about pop culture and rock music and the like. I just wasn’t sure if any that I read this year was award-worthy.

And then I read this —  thanks to Springsteen fanatic, historian John Fea, who had ordered one from us. I really loved early Billy Joel, especially, and wondered how this author (who I had previously read on Springsteen) compared and contrasted and related the two. And what does “bridge and tunnel” mean, anyway?

Cullen is not your typical rock biographer or fanboy but is an esteemed historian, so when a reviewer says this is “thoughtful and probing” he means it is not just for fans, but it is “a work that evokes a broader sense of the time and place in which the music was made, and how that music continues to influence the wider culture.” (Fred Schruers.) The great Tom Perrota loves it and notes that it is both entertaining and provocative, and should “appeal to anyone interested in pop music and its relationship to the historical currents that influence its creation.” Love it!

THE BEST BOOK OF 2023 ABOUT COLLEGE LIFE

Learning to Love: Christian Higher Education as Pilgrimage Alex Sosler (Falls City Press) $18.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I know, I know, not every Best Books of the Year lists have a category specifically for young adults about their journey through college, let alone from a distinctively Christian perspective. But you know part of the origin story of Hearts & Minds — we used to work for the CCO in Western Pennsylvania helping college students get a vision for their lives where their learning in college was somehow related to their alliance to God’s Kingdom, so that they could discern visions of vocation, someday serving their neighbors and making a difference as butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, as the saying goes. Eventually CCO adopted a slogan that still animates their Jubilee conference (that Beth and I still serve with a large book display) saying that they express the gospel in ways that “transform college students to transform the world.” That’s audacious, eh? It’s the DNA in our bones, too offering books that might transform readers so they might transform the world.

And so, we are always on the lookout for books for college age students, for CCO workers (and other parachurch ministries like IVCF, DiscipleMakers, Cru, and the like) and congregations near churches that they can easily use with their students to help them understand that they must think Christianly about their learning and see their experiences within institutions of higher learning as deeply related to their own spiritual formation. We need books like this since (let’s be honest) not many churches tell their youth that or mentor collegiates in this vision.

I guess I should admit I helped a tiny bit with some minor editing with this remarkable volume; I did so because I believed in it even in early manuscript form. I love the author and I love this book. It does a simple thing or two with such verve and insight (and breadth of learning) that any college student would benefit from picking it up. And it is pleasurable reading, fun, even.

The things it does are simple enough, but I must say something that will qualify it just a bit; here goes: the book is designed to help first year college students who are attending a church-related or Christian college to see their moving through their college experiences as a pilgrimage. Sosler (who is a professor at Montreat College in Black Mountain, NC) guides kids through this idea of pilgrimage, a journey, a process, a movement of being formed to want the right stuff. Drawing on Augustine (and, more hip, Jamies Smith’s You Are What You Love) he shows how amidst all the classes and extracurricular activities, friends, and mentors one finds in the college years, it is best seen as a journey towards redeemed desire. Oh man, this is revolutionary, and very, very cool.

Here’s the switcheroo that I want to make: it is written for use in Christian colleges but it is so good that I want to say that with the explanation and caveat needed, any student could appreciate it, whether they are at an small, private, liberal arts college or a major, pluralistic university. With the easy-to-read talk about virtue and character formation, pilgrimage and deep ways to know things, I think even a secularized professor would agree: students that search for meaning in their learning, framing it all with the call to love, will surely be better learners and happier students. Want your student to “get” a reason for being in college: give them this fine introduction to some stuff I would bet they have never heard before.

And, by the way, college profs? Any of you out there reading along? Check out Learning to Love to see if your teaching and demeanor are consistent with this high calling of the role of education as mentoring students into a life of care and calling.

Citing everybody from Wendell Berry to Steve Garber, from Parker Palmer to Jamie Smith, from Esther Lightcap Meek to varied saints and mystics from long ago, Sosler makes the text interesting, and, insofar as he exposes wrong ideas and values and style of learning, he is offering something radical. In the very best way. Extra credit, too, for the fabulous questions at the end of each chapter inviting students to ponder the personal implications of all this talk about learning to love. Even if they just grapple with some of those, the investment will be worth it. This author deserves a medal and this book deserves lots of attention. Three cheers!

BEST 2023 BOOK ON THE LIBERAL ARTS

The Liberating Arts: Why We Need Liberal Arts Education edited by Jeffrey Bilbo, Jessica Hooten Wilson & David Henreckson (Plough Publishing House) $19.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.96

I have rambled on about this at BookNotes and before live audiences this past year and it is a book that, admittedly, is not of immediate interest to everyone; it is about college and learning and the power of the liberal arts. Granted. But my guess is that if you are reading this you know somebody connected to higher education and may, yourself, have great opinions about being a life-long learner. You read fiction and poetry and — if you are a typical BookNotes fan — lots of nonfiction, religious and otherwise. Welcome to the world of ongoing education. We read, we learn, we grow. You will love this book.

Plough is a tremendous, thoughtful, delightful publishing house that does classy little books on all sorts of topics. (I hope you know their excellent, stimulating, journal that comes out weekly online and in a quarterly glorious print journal.) Here they bring together more than a dozen fabulous writers weighing in on why we should love to learn, what the liberal arts have historically been about, why many in higher education have drifted from this classic perspective. Does our consumeristic, secularizing culture effect how we think about learning? What can be done? Listen in to really smart, faithful, authors and join this urgent conversation. For many of us, this surely is a great read for 2023 and beyond. Hooray. Contributors include Anne Sander, Steve Prince, Lydia Dugdale, Noah Toly, David Hsu, John Mark Reynolds and many more.

FAVORITE BOOKS ON DAILY DISCIPLESHIP

Centering Jesus: How the Lamb of God Transforms Our Communities, Ethics, & Spiritual Lives Derek Vreeland (NavPress) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I have tried to promote this before and it seems at once nearly self-evident that this is what the gospel entails — focusing on Jesus — but yet in these days (like most eras, I guess) we need to be reminded. Too quickly our worldviews are synthetic, a mix of this and that, maybe a bit of Bible and a bit of American self help, or a bit of Jesus and a bit of Trump, or a commitment to faith but, well, milquetoast respectability (let’s not get too carried away.) Look, if Jesus is Lord, he is, well, Lord. This book explores this. That he reminds us that the Bible refers to Jesus as the “lamb of God” suggests something pretty counter-cultural, nonviolent, even?

Vreeland reminds us that “when we lose our focus on Jesus, the church’s credibility suffers.” We can agree on that much, can’t we? That Jesus teaches us to love relentlessly, too, we can agree on that, right? So how might knowing Jesus — at the center of our lives— as the Lamb, ushering in an upside down Kingdom, help us be more faithful and glad in our daily discipleship? I like how he offers some pretty radical and grand ideas, but brings it down to key areas of our ordinary lives, our morals, ethics, our common life together in the church, and the like. This is a book about spiritual formation, about the “inside out” formation of character and virtue, and how this shakes down. As Tony Evans has been known to say, Jesus, when He returns, won’t be riding a donkey or an elephant and that is the serious last chapter of this fabulous book. Give it a try; there are good discussion questions, making it a perfect sort of thing we need, centering Jesus. I’ll award that, for sure!

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

Am I allowed to nominate for a Hearts & Minds Best Book award a volume in which I have a chapter? I almost forgot that little “conflict of interest” thing until I started paging through it (once again) to see what I might highlight to illustrate why it deserves a truly honorable mention. Okay, so what? There you have it: I’ve got a piece in here and I don’t know if it is award winning, but it’s pretty darn good, about the details of running a retail operation, thinking Christianly and behaving normatively in the nitty-gritty of selling stuff.

You see, that is what makes this book so very deserving of a “Best Book” award — every chapter is down and dirty, real, honest, and, often, a load of fun. The book is as eccentric as they come, offering God-drenched chapters on what it looks like to honor the Lordship of Christ, giving God the glory, in the little details of life. From work to play, hobbies to research, happy stuff and tragic stuff, each author shares how they glorify God as ordinary saints in God’s good but broken world. I am confident when I say that there is nothing like it. At all. Square Halo Books deserves an award just for coming up with the idea of this. They deserve another for pulling it off so well.

In my earlier reviews I explained that there are a few famous people here, a few friends, and a lot of ordinary people who you’ve never heard of. And they pen excellent pieces about Christian perspectives on, and Godly motivation for, everything from raising chickens to roller skating, drawing comics to collection serious art, from lovemaking to knitting, we discover here something not only about giving God glory in all things, but we discover something here about the sanctified notion of being fully human. Who wouldn’t want to be glad to read about the joy one takes in karaoke, home repairs, or picking the best briefcase? How about Malcolm Guite writing about his pipes? And who won’t be inspired by. Reading about those who find the capacity to honor God while coping with mental health issues or reflecting on the hardships of grand parenting, or living through chronic pain?

In a way, this book is a tribute to much of what Ned and the late Leslie Bustard and their colleagues (A.D. Bauer and Diana DiPasquale, who both have excellent chapters here) have been doing for twenty-five years, managing this niche, little publisher in Lancaster, PA, raising up the goodness of art and creativity done by “ordinary saints.” Kudos to them, and thank God for this fascinating, exceptional volume.

And, if I may, I think this is one of the coolest book-covers I’ve seen in a while. Yes!

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

I have written about this extensively, and joyfully, because, well, one can’t write about this hoot of a book by this creatively fun guy, without having a blast. But I’m going to try to be sober and serious and succint.

I enjoyed this book immensely, read it twice, enjoyed it even more the second time, learned a lot and took great encouragement from what I got. It is worth your time, too. Justin is a good guide, a friend to many, a coach, podcaster, thought leader (and great singer-songwriter.) He may cite Thomas Merton and Parker Palmer but he also names some rock and roll lines, too.

Here’s what you should know about why I think Sacred Strides is a big cut above the average book on Christian book on living with God day by day. First, it is beyond upbeat, it is energetic, at times electric. He tells stories, makes you laugh, and sometimes may draw tears. Heck, he may draw blood. It’s a punchy, powerful book, direct, but gracious. Did I say he’s a great storyteller?

Besides the energy and its well-written tone — he has worked on his craft as writer over the years and each book keeps getting better — there is the faithful, wise insight, which, again, is not commonplace.

You know we appreciate the many books about rest, about sabbath, about rhythms of life, rules of life, silence and solitude and mindfulness and the like. I’ll be honest: I’ve read more than enough of these and maybe you have, too. I also have read (and celebrated — please see above) many about the Biblical call to work, the big picture of a vision of the Kingdom coming that relates to all of life. So, yes, we need to continually remind people of our holy calling to take up our jobs for love’s sake, as unto the Lord.  But, you know what? Often these two kinds of books are at odds — those saying to do something, those saying to stop doing stuff; those that highlight the good we’re to be about, those that say our identity is not what we do, but that we should just be. Some try to resolve this dichotomy and talk about balance, but it never seems quite right.

Justin, in a stroke of genius, has figured out how to talk about these aspects of our creatureliness and the image he offers is the sacred stride with the needed posture to live it out well. This, friends, leads to an awareness of our belovedness and a whole lot of sanity.

“A full life in God,” he says, “is found and practices in work and rest.” And somehow, we do them together, not one, for a while and then the other for a bit. You’ll have to read this profound book to see how he explains this striding business, but it’s good. Very good. It is not only brilliant, but fun. Sacred Strides is one of the best books of the year for this sort of basic Christian living writing and, believe me, we need this more than you may even know. Buy a couple and give ’em out and see who else says it was one of their favorite reads of the year!

BEST POLITICAL BOOK THAT MOST SURPRISED ME

The Right: The Hundred Year War for American Conservatives Matthew Continetti (Basic Books) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I could write pages about how much I learned from this excellent historical overview and why I think it is important, regardless of your political leanings. I’ve read a lot trying to figure out how the conservative movement imploded (and how some with conservative principles stood against the Republican Party to resist the very not-conservative Donald Trump.) Continetti is a bona fide conservative, even married into a family of a very respected journalist and thinker on the right. He knows his stuff.

I had little clear idea about the heritage of the right in American history (from one hundred years ago) and this upbeat telling of the tale of the development of varying political philosophies ends up being a page turner. When he gets to the McCarthy years, and the John Birchers and eventually Nixon, and on through Reagan and such, I couldn’t stop reading. Agree or not with his fair-minded in-house critique of his own tribe, The Right is a masterpiece and Continetti is a very, very good writer. This book deserves to be considered as one of the great books of political thinking in our time.

BEST BOOK ABOUT THE POLITICS OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALS

The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Tim Alberta (Harper) $35.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

This is a big book, reported with exquisite detail, by an author I immediately liked. I had not read his previous American Carnage about the rise and campaign and election of then President Donald Trump. As Alberta tells in the first chapter of this new one — that released mid December, so I’m not even finished with its almost 500 pages yet —he did a press interview for that book on CBN (the Christian Broadcasting Network.) He is himself an evangelical, his father a Gordon-Conwell grad and a respectable, good guy, but he worried what his dad would think with him being so candid about his disapproval of the President’s ethics.

Tim soon found out that his father had died unexpectedly while he was on the air, and within a day Tim was back in Michigan, mourning with his tight-knit, Christian family, at their home church. During the viewing, literally, by the casket, several people wanted to argue with Tim about his political views; he got nasty notes at the viewing, and it got ugly during the funeral. He couldn’t believe how ideological captured these church people were, and he decided to use his training as a political news investigator to explore how it came to be that so many white evangelicals got mixed up in all this despicable stuff. So began years of research and travel, and this excellent, important book.

Although very well known in the mainstream world of political reporting, Tim Alberta has maintained his faith and here he is writing about the religious landscape telling stories and exploring episodes and documenting his passionate insights. It is, in many ways (as the new York times Book Review said about his previous work) a degrading story. It is one we need to continue to follow and of the plethora of books on this very topic, this one is simply essential. Five stars!

H&M AWARD FOR UP-TO-DATE RELIGIOUS REPORTING

Taken By Surprise: The Asbury Revival of 2023 Mark R. Elliott (Seedbed) $18.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.16

Dr. Eilliott is a retired history prof who knows a bit about the history of revivals and God’s renewing movements. Seedbed is an evangelical publisher that has arisen over the years in Asbury, emerging from the good Methodist seminary there and, of course, the college. The town — a very small place, with most of the population affiliated with the college and seminary — is the place which drew international attention last winter when a group of students felt led to stay in the chapel, which became one of the longest ongoing times of worship and praise and confession and renewal certainly in the last 100. Years. Hughes Auditorium became an extraordinary holy space and people flocked from all over the country and students had to figure how to manage the guests, seekers, and fellow worshippers. The inundation of thousands of pilgrims soon turned to tens of thousands. And the kids were alright.

This moving book documents the first sixteen days of round-the-clock, continuous worship and confession and the palpable sense of the nearness of God. The reality of the outpouring of God’s Spirit last February in this very unique way is undeniable and most inexplicable. This book tells the story and it deserve some very special attention; naturally, there are things I’d have wished were addressed but not every book can do everything. As Peter Greig (of 24-7 Prayer International) notes that Taken By Surprise offers “the facts and the essential DNA” of the outpouring. Kudos to Seedbed for releasing this less than a year after the event and doing such a nice job.

THREE FAVORITE BOOKS THAT DEFY SIMPLE CATEGORIZATION

Singing the Psalms with My Son: Praying and Parenting for a Healed Planet T. Wilson Dickinson (Cascade) $23.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $18.40

Oh my, this is a beautiful book, tender, honest, humble, and at times kind of funny. Dickinson “weaves meditations on individual Psalms with reflections on life as a parent.”  And therein lies the rub. I bet a number of publishers loved this author’s writing chops and I’m sure many appreciated his profound religious faith. And who doesn’t know that books about eco-theology and a faith response to the climate crisis aren’t timely enough to maybe sell a few? But this? Bible reflections and memoir, parenting and pollution, Psalms and prayer? This is a reader’s delight, a lovely account of life as it is lived — multi-dimensionally, down-to-Earth, messy and playful and real.

As it says on the back,

“We accompany Dickinson and his son as they find the sacred and revolutionary possibility of ordinary activities — like reading children’s books, playing in the backyard, and celebrating holidays. Coupled with guidance for personal and communal use, these meditations invite us to harness the power of parental love and childish wonder to work for a hopeful future.”

I guess you can see why, quirky bookseller that I am, I had to name this as one of our favorite books of last year. Hooray and hooray again!

In Thought, Word, and Seed: Reckonings from a Midwest Farm Tiffany Eberle Kriner (Eerdmans) $19.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

We’ve raved about this in a previous BookNotes so if you were betting on whether this would turn up in this big Best Books list, you win. How could we not list it — it was so luminously rich, so lovely, so well-written and thoughtfully conceived that I had to keep reading. The question is, do we put it under memoir, under agriculture and farming, or in our literary criticism section.

I suppose it is a memoir, the story of a college lit prof and her husband buying some land and learning to care for it, but since it offers exegesis of poetry and glimmers of politics and insights about land use, it isn’t a typical sharing of ones interior life and times. It isn’t Wendell Berry, exactly, and offers not only beautiful nature writing, although you could be forgiven for thinking of Aldo Leopald or Annie Dillard. It is a nicely crafted collection of essays that are intertwined — so maybe it goes with essays.

Theology prof Beth Felker Jones hints at the diverse genres operative here:

Kriner is fearless in her exploration of the difficulty of place and land in a peripatetic and racially scared America. Here are shades of Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, and Julian of Norwich, but In Thought, Word, and Seed, has, first, a voice all it’s own. Luminous. Audacious. Holy.

Lost & Found: Reflections on Grief, Gratitude, and Happiness Kathryn Schulz (Random House) $19.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $15.20

While one review declared that the writing in this book is “sublime and compassionate”, Oprah Daily said it “exemplifies the best of what memoir can do.” However, it isn’t a straight memoir, although that is the genre, I guess. As Schulz carefully narrates the story of her grief over the death of her (colorful, beloved) father, and tells the story of her falling in love with the woman who became her partner, she goes for pages —pages and pages — explaining the science and myths about losing things, about the facts and stories about finding things. How curious, and what fun! She writes beautifully about the various sorts of human experiences that make up happiness (and how that figures in to losing and finding things.)  This stuff is captivating, elegant, interesting, and rings true in all the ways that matter most. She writes about her simultaneous experiences of wild joy and terrible grief. Yep, it’s all here.

Again, there is social history and excursions that flow naturally from her narrative into science experiments and literary studies. As a professional writer (for The New Yorker) she knows her way around good prose and, indeed, won a Pulitzer Prize for a previous book. So I recommend this to anyone who just loves endearing writing — not sentimental, even if about love lost and found —and who will glory in her finely tuned and often complex sentences. As it says on the back cover it is a memoir, but also “part guidebook to sustaining wonder and gratitude even in the face of loss and grief.”

She makes it clear in unpretentious and plainspoken ways that she is not a believer. (Her family was Jewish, many killed in the holocaust, and that itself is part of the plot.) Yet she speaks of religion and certainly the quest for spiritual truths throughout in a way that often made me nod. And when she falls in love with a person “whose first and most abiding relationship in life is with Jesus” (which she wouldn’t have supposed “in my wildest imagination”) she takes it in stride, despite their very different cosmologies.

Do you believe in love at first sight? What does that even mean? Do you enjoy those who tackled such questions bit by bit, interviewing gorgeously honest writing and fascinating social science, leveling with fabulous storytelling? This book is a gem. It came out first in 2022 (and won the National Book Award) but we got it when the paperback came out in 2023, so I am naming it as a personal fav here, now, a luminous set of essays on disappearance and discovery.

BEST BOOK I DIDN’T READ

Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair Christian Wiman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) $30.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

I’m not going to lie: we had a good handful of these in the shop but we had more pre-orders than we expected and our small batch was gone the day it arrived. I swear, I didn’t even open the cover. It released officially in early December and the publisher (and every other store in America, I gather) has been out of stock ever since.  We will get more within the week, we are told.  So, nope, I’ve not even touched the thing.

But we’ve long admired Wiman as poet and thinker, memoirist and writer. And all that we’ve read about this impressive new book has led us to believe it is truly one of the great contributions to the literary world published this year. From the interviews and reviews, the endorsements and media conversations, I’m confident that this is important. I’m sure it is excellently crafted and very well-written. I don’t know if I’ll love it, so I’m not listing it as a personal favorite (although I assume it will be.) But I can say this: it is a major release by a leading public intellectual who has spoken clear-headed Christian truth in one way or another. With blurbs on the back from the likes of Marilyn Robinson, you don’t need my hoopla to convince you, now do you? Amazing! I think…

Besides the clever line in the New York Times “editor’s choice” rave, saying Wiman could “charm an atheist out of a tree”, hear this, from The New Yorker:

Wiman is among the most distinguished Christian writers of his generation . . . Now he hopes that his experimental book — part poetry anthology, part memoir, part theological treatise — can help others live . . . The rewards for readers are immense and renewable. Word by word, Wiman resuscitates ancient ideas, from being to spirit, leaving our faces pressed hopefully against the here-and-now window of the poem.

BEST BOOKS ABOUT JUSTICE

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

There are bunches of shorter, simpler, books about social justice in our faith tradition and for those just starting out something like What Does Justice Look Like and Why Does God Care About It by Judith & Colin McCartney (Herald Press) or Gary Haugen’s IVP classic, Good News about Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World, would work well. For a nearly magisterial, large, careful, detailed, comprehensive study, this Biblically-based overview simply cannot be beat. I do not think I have ever seen anything like it.

There has been some pretty dumb push-back in recent years against talk of social justice by Christian people who ought to know better and this study of what the Bible says and means by justice and what that Biblical theme has to do with racism, poverty, political liberty, human rights and such is illuminated beautifully. Rhodes is a Bible scholar and argues that “the Bible offers a vision of justice-oriented discipleship that is critical for the formation of God’s people.” Since justice is central to the Bible and central to the teachings of Jesus it, obviously, not only stands at the heart of Scripture, but in the very heart of God. This book is absolutely extraordinary in its evangelical heart and its undeniable Scriptural clarity.

Do you recall Part One of this Best of 2023 list in which I lauded the recent book by Steven Bouma-Prediger and his Creation Care Discipleship, which shows that care for creation is part and parcel to normal, faithful discipleship? This is like that, although even more rigorous: Rhodes offers this “clarion call” to embody God’s justice in the ordinary things of our daily discipleship. This is a book about formation, indeed, but it needs to make the persuasive case that justice is part of a Biblical world and life view and that working for justice is required by those who hear God’s Word in the Bible. Excellent.

Real World Faith Walter Brueggemann (Fortress Press) $24.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.96

Many a year we have named a Brueggemann book in our annual summary of our favorite reads. There have been a number of Biblical study books released by (and about) Brueggey this year — not to mention his two splendid, little books of prayers (Acting in the Wake: Prayers for Justice and Following Into Risky Obedience: Prayers Along the Journey) so I was stumped to pick a favorite for 2023. Re-visiting them and was struck again and again by the pieces in this collection.  Although it may seem a bit incongruous, Brueggemann has been blogging, and Real World Faith is the first collection of some of his greatest hits on social media these past years.

And what a book it is. It includes lots of short sermons, Biblical studies, cultural explorations, words of rage about the dysfunctions of the economy and expressing horror at the attack upon our very American fabric.

There are three major groupings of pieces here, the first part on the nature of the church and its mission; naturally this is, in his view, deeply related to our work for our neighbor and seeking the shalom of the city in which we live.  The second unit is entitled “Social Pain and Possibility!” (Note that rare exclamation point.) He moves on to another half a dozen essays about “civic membership, responsibility, and failure.”  The next unit are reflections on war and peace. He does some Biblical work in all of these (how can he not) and examines our typical views with how he might think God thinks about all of this.

The final handful of pieces are more occasional, about personal stuff — his cat (and Buber!) — and these are quite beautiful; even in a splendid essay about baseball and sports writing he insinuates much about a good and beautiful Christian understanding.  The last piece “Undeserving in Michigan” is nearly worth the price of the book. His view of a Biblically liberating faith simply is not constrained by the ethos of the empire and this book offers the implications of his prophetic imagination as nicely as any.

By the way, one of the first new books of 2024 is the brand new collection of short Brueggemann blog pieces. It’s remarkable, called The Emancipation of God: Postmarks on Cultural Prophecy, edited by Conrad Kanagy (Fortress; $28.00 – OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40.) Just saying…

Poverty By America Matthew Desmond (Crown) $28.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.40

Who among BookNotes readers hasn’t at least heard of Desmond’s masterpiece from several years ago, Evicted, which won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, a National Crisis Circle Award, a Carnegie Medal and more. Its study of homelessness in Minneapolis offering riveting reporting and astute analysis. What a book that was.

This is the long awaited follow-up where Mr. Desmond (a sociology professor at Princeton University) turns his study to the broader question of poverty in America. That he calls the book “by America” is more than an allusive bit of wordsmithing, although he is a good writer. He is making an argument here about systems and structures and policies and the causes of poverty. Like the Bible (see above) he knows that the problem of poor folks isn’t merely that they don’t work hard enough and that often public policy can deepen economic anxiety among the most vulnerable.

This serious book asks what kind of problem poverty is and documents the meaning of it all as well as nearly anything I’ve read lately. There are shades of the concerns of some of our most urgent writers on these themes — from Jonathan Kozol and Ron Sider and the prophet Amos — but he draws most on his academic work and the sociological thinkers who have done the research on the underclass and the working poor and those who have crunched the data. He obviously draws on William Julias Wilson and cites Richard Rothstein and even The Rev. William Barber but mostly the footnotes reveal a hefty plethora of scholars and researchers. And then, yes, almost surprisingly in this data heavy text, there is a beautiful citation from Walter Brueggemann. Like I said, what a book!

A VERY SPECIAL AWARD FOR VERY FAVORITE POETRY VOLUME

The Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living: Selected Poems by Leslie Anne Bustard Leslie Bustard (Square Halo Books) $12.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $10.39

It isn’t every day that a small town bookseller has a customer and friend who ends up slowly realizing she is a poet and slowly getting published here and there, writing in classy online magazines and ending up on podcasts and doing readings, eventually gaining acclaim from serious artists and world renowned poets (like Malcolm Guite.) Such were the later years of our friend Leslie Bustard and I am fighting back tears as I type, recalling that when I first highlighted this book last winter she was still walking on the Earth. She is alive, now, more than ever (“awakened on Mercy’s shores”) but is gone from us. I am glad that Square Halo Books published this expertly curated collection of some of her best work. Had she not died, I am sure I would be celebrating this book here, anyway. Now I simply must pay tribute. Many writerly folks have endorsed this book, complimenting her good, creative work (and there are several different sorts of poems here, too, making it a real delight.) The wonderful Hannah Anderson did the preface. Kudos.

(The above mentioned little 2023 poetry volume will be enhanced and expanded and re-released as a fuller collection of her work, releasing, we hear, in late February, 2024. It has been edited by Thea Rosenburg, will be soon published by Square Halo Books, and is to be called Tiny Thoughts That I’ve Been Thinking: Selected Writings of Leslie Anne Bustard. $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99. We, of course, are taking pre-orders now. It will be on our list of Best Books of 2024, I promise.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MY TOP TWO FAVORITE NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MY FAVORITE BOOK ON SPIRITUAL FORMATION

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

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

HONORABLE MENTIONS in spiritual formation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEST BOOK OF POPULAR THEOLOGY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HONORABLE MENTION in popular theology

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

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

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

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

BEST BOOK OF CULTURAL ANALYSIS

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

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

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

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

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS in cultural analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEST BOOKS ON CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS

I will list three tremendous books that I have reviewed at BookNotes, each very special, and I will summarize by categorizing them as somewhat more basic, mid-level serious, and pretty rigorously academic. Something for everyone, and each is exceptional.

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

This is nothing short of stunning, a fabulous read, a lively study, and a great introduction on thinking Christianly about the arts and aesthetics evans it is an “instructive, engaging, and delightful” guidebook. There are full color reproductions and just so much great information, offered as a service to the Lord by serving her readers so well. There are few other books that might be compared to this — I’m thinking of the marvelous work by Terry Glaspey, say — but this comes with an artist’s eye and an art historian’s scholarly insight. Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt, who teaches at Covenant College, has a PhD from Washington University in St Louis and has come to be beloved in many circles which some of our best customers know well — the Lancaster Square Halo conference, the Calvin Festival Faith & Writing event, CCO’s Jubilee in Pittsburgh this February, maybe the Rabbit Room gang. In any case, this book is truly fabulous whether our tribe knows her or not, and it is only going to become better known as her reputation spreads.

I think, as one reviewer put it, Weichbrodt’s offer of “useful interpretive tools” is a real benefit of this book and you might want it if you long for “frameworks for faithful and generative engagement” with a real range of art both old and new. Scholar of modern art Daneil Siedell says it is “a remarkable text that will play a crucial role in helping to initiate countless curious but often confused seekers into the practice of looking at art.” Let us hope.

Bruce Herman says it is “an erudite and. yet wonderfully hospitable invitation” and I am sure many will enjoy it very, very much. One of the best books of 2023, for sure.

BEST BOOK ON CREATION CARE

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

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

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

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

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

HONORABLE MENTIONS about creation care

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FAVORITE 2023 BOOKS ABOUT FOOD & COOKBOOKS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEST BOOKS OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEST BOOK TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE PALESTINIAN CRISIS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPECIAL AWARD OF HONOR – BEST OF SHOW

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

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

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

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

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

PART TWO OF OUR FAVORITE READS OF 2023 WILL APPEAR SOON. There will be some really fun books, some serious stuff, a few scholarly ones, and a bunch of our best delights. Please stay tuned…

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TO PLACE AN ORDER 

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

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

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

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

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

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

BookNotes

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DISCOUNT

20% OFF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Buy the book now if you can, at our 20% off sale price.

We will send it right out, with pleasure. But don’t miss the webinar next week. Register today.

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

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

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

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

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

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TO PLACE AN ORDER 

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

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

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

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

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

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

BookNotes

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

FREE BOOK OFFER, THIS WEEK ONLY

(UNTIL JANUARY 7, 2024.)

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

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

Offer expires January 7, 2024.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This new collection says on the back cover:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As it says on the back,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

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• United States Postal Service has the option called “Media Mail” which is cheapest but can be a little slower. For one typical book, usually, it’s $4.12; 2 lbs would be $4.87. This is the cheapest method available and seems not to be too delayed.
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As we move from the nearly somber, yearning season of waiting — longing to get out of the “bleak mid-winter” even as we know we aren’t truly out, yet — and into the festive 12 days of Christmas (leading then into what Fleming Rutledge in her must-read little book Epiphany calls “the season of glory”) we are eager to celebrate some forthcoming titles that will be released soon in the month of January.  See what I did there?  I’m causing you to wait with eager expectation, hoping to bring even some joy here, now, along the way as we anticipate what’s just around the bend.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This tremendous 2024 release just arrived. Hooray!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is what Brazos say about it — get this!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The publisher has given us this much, for starters:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

TO PLACE AN ORDER 

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

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

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

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

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

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

BookNotes

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DISCOUNT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But first, the one that came today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

TO PLACE AN ORDER 

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

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

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

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

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

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

BookNotes

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A bit later she explains,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But what is the truth,

And what are the legends?
Who is this giftgiver,

And why all the presents?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+++

TO PLACE AN ORDER 

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

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

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

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

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

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

BookNotes

SPECIAL
DISCOUNT

20% OFF

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

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

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

TWELVE BRAND NEW ONES — all 20% off

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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