What Christian books are believers reading and discussing? Publishers list their top sellers for fall 2006, both new books and continuing bestsellers.
ALBAN INSTITUTE
A Generous Presence: Spiritual Leadership and the Art of Coaching by Rochelle Melander. Pastor and life coach Rochelle Melander brings her two callings together in with this book. A Generous Presence is not a “how to be a coach” manual; rather, it brings the lessons and insights of the coaching world to ministers and other spiritual leaders in a way that is relevant for their work. By practicing the coaching tools Rochelle Melander offers, spiritual leaders will be better equipped to guide those they work with toward accepting the past, creating a life vision, and setting goals for the future. Integrating simplicity, wisdom, and practicality, the book opens us to a way of life and ministry that emphasizes discovering truth, seeking possibility, and steeping life in the spiritual and practical.
With All Thy Mind: Worship that Honors the Way God Made Us by Robert P. Glick. There’s good reason why some worship experiences resonate and some fall flat. It has to do with how God made us–how our minds are wired. Robert P. Glick makes a compelling case for worship that engages all of our senses. He draws on Christian tradition, scientific research, personal observation, and examples from literature, history, and the arts, to make the case for “well tempered” worship that appeals to people of diverse temperaments and backgrounds. Recalling the biblical and early church’s witness regarding worship and denominational worship traditions, he examines the place of words, songs, sacraments, and symbols in worship–in light of what we now know about the complexities of the human mind.
From Nomads to Pilgrims: Stories from Practicing Congregations by Diana Butler Bass. This book tells the extended stories of a dozen congregations that have been on a pilgrimage to vitality–retrieving and reworking Christian practice, tradition, and narrative. The book reads as a series of first-hand dispatches from pastors on the road to an emerging style of congregational vitality, one centered on the creative and intentional re-appropriation of traditional Christian practices such as hospitality, discernment, contemplative prayer, and testimony.
When a Congregation is Betrayed: Responding to Clergy Misconduct. Edited by Beth Ann Gaede. Other books have been written about clergy misconduct and its effects on congregations. Until now, however, there hasn’t been a book for the congregational leaders who must deal with the fallout of prior clergy misconduct. This collection is for the “after-pastors”–interim or settled pastors who deal with the aftermath of the misconduct of their predecessors. And it’s for lay leaders who may themselves have witnessed or been victimized by their pastor. Both groups of leaders need guidance about how to assess and effectively respond to the misconduct, how to care for the victim/survivor, and how to carry out the mission and ministry to which the congregation has been called.
AUGSBURG/FORTRESS
The People’s Work: A Social History of the Liturgy by Frank C. Senn. This book documents the full history of ordinary Christians’ liturgical expression. Distinguished liturgical historian and theologian Frank Senn ventures behind the liturgical screen, behind the texts, and behind the rubrics to reconstruct the structures of everyday religious expression in Christian history. Senn takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into the dynamic of God’s people at worship. Senn draws on social sciences and cultural anthropology as he moves liturgical studies into the camp long inhabited by biblical studies.
Great Couples of the Bible by Herbert Haag, Dorothee Soelle, Helen Schungel-Straumann, Christoph Wentzel, Katharina Elliger, Marianne Grohmann. Translated by Brian McNeil. The book of God is also a book of people. Love and lust, devotion and betrayal, sex, sin, jealousy, and grief — the stories of biblical couples disclose a full panorama of human emotions and actions. These stories of love, marriage, sex, and death, historically fascinating and yet also wellsprings of great artistic traditions and religious meaning, are here presented in an informative and engaging format with more than 200 full-color illustrations from classic, chiefly Western art, sources.
The Word That Redescribes the World by Walter Brueggemann; edited by Patrick D. Miller. In the last several years, Walter Brueggemann’s writings have directly addressed the situation of Christian communities in today’s globalized context, with its consumerist lifestyles, vast inequalities, and near-imperial exercises of power. His insights, forged in rugged encounters with the texts of the Old Testament, are sharp, painful, and indispensable. In the people Israel, Brueggemann finds a model of an alternative community anchored in YHWH, ever exploring new possibilities, and prophetically bent against empire.
Christians and a Land Called Holy by Charles P. Lutz and Robert O. Smith. Fair-minded and sympathetic to Jewish, Muslim, and Christian concerns, Lutz and Smith provide a clear account of the Israeli-Palestinian situation and a compelling plea for Christian involvement in the area. Carefully sorting out the tangled historical and religious roots of the problems, they reveal the strong forces at work in the conflict and lay out the driving biblical notions of election and covenant, the historical causes of the bitter and divisive clashes of the last 50 years, the complex demographic and political issues today, how Palestinians (particularly Christians) have been affected by the turmoil, and how, finally, Christians must engage the future of justice and peace. Includes maps and twelve black and white photos.
Ave Maria Press
Let in the Light: Facing the Hard Stuff with Hope by Patricia Livingston. Life has a way of being harder, and seeming darker, than expected. But light is central to both our physical and spiritual existence. The author helps readers reframe their responses to difficulty and darkness in positive ways, blending thoughtful insights with practical suggestions. Livingston encourages readers to embrace life’s imperfection, and shares poignant stories of family and friends, joy and heartbreak. She invites readers to open their hearts and minds to the light of kindness, laughter, mercy, and gratitude.
Take Five: One Hundred Meditations to De-Stress Your Days by Joseph M. Champlin. Pairing anecdotes from everyday life with a spiritual suggestion and scriptural thought, Take Five offers readers 100 spiritual reflections. Originally written as local radio spots in Syracuse, New York, these brief meditations invite readers to focus on the seemingly little things in life that often take on great significance in the quest for inner peace. Take Five, a sequel to Slow Down, is Father Joseph Champlin’s second book of five-minute meditations.
Mother Teresa’s Prescription: Finding Happiness and Peace in Service by Paul A. Wright, M.D. In this story of transformation, the author shares the story of his dramatic shift in values and lifestyle after seeking guidance from Mother Teresa, the person he considered the expert on living the Christian life. Mother Teresa told Wright that Jesus calls us all to lives of service, and here he shares her prescription for finding inner peace and happiness and 10 spiritual attitudes that accompany such a life.
Finding Your Way through Divorce by Kathy Brewer Gorham. Blending theory, stories, and spiritual components with tools for recovery, Kathy Brewer Gorham takes a Christian perspective in Finding Your Way through Divorce to guide readers through the myriad emotions and difficulties that surround any divorce. Written from both personal experience and research, Gorham uses an honest, yet gentle approach to minister to those facing the highs and lows of ending a marriage. Encouraging divorced persons to deepen their faith in God as a path to recovery, each chapter focuses on a different emotion experienced in the divorce process.
Bethany House
Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us by David Gibbs with Bob DeMoss. Gibbs, lead attorney for Terri Schiavo, explains how Terri’s death changed his life, why it should never have happened, and why value of life issues are critical for Christians to understand.
Between Heaven and Ground Zero by Leslie Haskin. A 9/11 survivor tells of her escape from the Twin Towers and her transformation from a career-focused life to a God-focused life.
No More Christian Nice Guy: When Being Nice–Instead of Good–Hurts Men, Women and Children by Paul Coughlin. “Recovering nice guy” Paul Coughlin points the way for all men who yearn to live a life of boldness and conviction like Jesus. Using humorous and poignant examples from his own life and other stories, Coughlin shows how he learned to say no to the “nice guy syndrome,” and embrace the biblical model of manhood.
Seeing in the Dark: Getting the Facts on Depression and Finding Hope Again by Gary Kinnaman and Richard Jacobs, M.D. This book, written by a doctor and a pastor who has suffered from depression, addresses common misconceptions, physiological aspects, and the soul dimension of depression.
Grace for Tough Times by Mary Nelson. The author offers hope to those feeling the heat from the tests of life’s furnace of suffering. She shows how redemptive suffering can lead to a deeper walk with Christ.
Cowley
Take God to Work by Gary L. Moreau. Drawing from his career as a corporate officer, with a solid biblical perspective, Moreau gives solutions to job stress, isolation, overload, injustice, disappointment, prejudice, uncertainty–and great advice on recognition, teamwork, and success–within a Christian perspective.
Wild and Robust: The Adventure of Christian Humanism by William McNamara. Wild and Robust explicates the principles of Christian Humanism developed by McNamara throughout his long career. Rather than constricting the broad range of humanism, the qualifying word “Christian” enlivens, enriches, and extends the concept to the horizons of the universe and the pinnacle of human striving. McNamara’s vigorous presentation will inform Christian and non-Christian seekers alike with his powerful and loving insights.
Are You Running With Me, Jesus? 40th Anniversary Edition by Malcolm Boyd. In the middle of the turbulent 1960s Malcolm Boyd’s Are You Running With Me, Jesus? broke the mold from which devotional texts had previously been made. Boyd’s prayers engaged traditional Christian themes with a decidedly contemporary voice–honest, direct, insightful–while at the same time taking on issues of everyday concern: personal freedom, racial justice, sexuality. This landmark book has influenced generations of Christians and seekers. The fortieth anniversary edition promises to celebrate its impact and make it available to further generations.
Hell’s Abyss, Heaven’s Grace: War and Christian Spirituality by Lawrence D. Hart. In a stirring call to non-violent resistance, Episcopal priest Larry Hart confronts the compromises Christians around the world have made with their nations’ uses of violence. Critiquing Just War theory and what he sees as the United States’ national history of war and exploitation, Hart voices the need for personal and social transformation to live in keeping with the Gospel.
Eerdmans
Eat This Book by Eugene H. Peterson. The second part of Peterson’s momentous five-volume work on spiritual theology, Eat This Book challenges readers to engage the Scriptures on their own terms, as God’s revelation, and to live them as they read them. Page after page, he draws readers into a fascinating conversation on the nature of language, the ancient practice of lectio divina, and the role of Scripture translations. Eat This Book also includes the “inside story” behind Peterson’s own popular Bible translation, The Message.
The Sense of the Call by Marva J. Dawn. In Keeping the Sabbath Wholly Marva Dawn introduced the vital Sabbath aspects of resting, ceasing, feasting, and embracing. In The Sense of the Call, she expands these into a way of life for serving God and the Kingdom every single day of the week. Both frank and compassionate, The Sense of the Call will guide Christian servants into a more restful, joy-full life of trust in God.
Giving to God by Mark Allan Powell. Filled with good news for followers of Jesus, Mark Allan Powell’s Giving to God shows Christians the way to a better life and a better relationship with their money — and with God. Faithful use of our time, talents, and money starts with a deep, satisfying relationship with the God to whom we belong. We can then learn, says Powell, to give gladly and generously out of our heartfelt connection with God. Informative, concise, and eminently practical (including discussion questions), Giving to God provides resources for best using the treasures, material and otherwise, God gives.
A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins. The author takes readers on an entertaining and enlightening journey through the key stages of Christian development, covering the people, the events, the movements, and the controversies of the church. Tomkins deals with the well known (Augustine, Martin Luther), the unique (Simeon Stylites, the people’s crusade, the Muggletonians), and the recent (Karl Barth, John Paul II, the Toronto blessing). His penetrating, energetic Short History of Christianity is sure to delight and inform a broad range of readers.
Jossey-Bass
The Lost Apostle by Rena Pederson. The author investigates a little known subject in early Christian history–the life and times of the female apostle Junia. Junia was an early convert and leading missionary whose story was “lost” when her name was masculinized to Junias in later centuries. The Lost Apostle unfolds like a well-written detective story, presenting Pederson’s search for insight and information about a woman some say was the first female apostle.
Off-Road Disciplines by Earl Creps. This book asserts that on-road practices of prayer and Bible reading should be bolstered by the other kinds of encounters with God that occur unexpectedly–complete with the bumps and bruises that happen when you go “off-road.” Becoming an off-road leader requires the cultivation of certain spiritual disciplines that allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to arrange the interior life. Earl Creps explores twelve central spiritual disciplines–six personal and six organizational–that Christian leaders of all ages and denominations need if they are to change themselves and their churches to reach out to the culture around them.
Joy in Divine Wisdom by Marva Dawn. The author introduces readers to different and intriguing ways of discerning reality and making choices. She asks readers to look outside themselves, their own cultures, and their own brands of Christianity to new ways of listening for the voice of God. As an international speaker and teacher, she has encountered much wisdom both in Christian tradition and in the many places and people she has visited around the world. In showing us these refreshing new insights about discernment, she also gives us a deeper understanding of grace, community, honesty, humility, wholeness, forgiveness, trust, suffering, and faith.
In the Midst of Chaos by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore. This book demonstrates to readers how to integrate and strengthen the practice of faith in the everyday (and often mundane) experience of raising children. In the Midst of Chaos reveals what it takes to find the spiritual wisdom in the messy, familial ways of living. By rethinking parenting as an invitation to discover God in the middle of our busy and overstuffed lives, it relieves parents of the burden of being the all-knowing authority figures who impart spiritual knowledge to children. Finding spirituality in family activities such as reading bedtime stories, dividing household chores, and playing games can empower parents to notice what they are already doing as potentially valuable and to practice it more consciously as part of their own faith journey.
Judson Press
African American Church Management Handbook by Floyd H. Flake. Elaine McCollins Flake and Edwin C. Reed. Floyd Flake, pastor; Elaine Flake, co-pastor and author; and Edwin Reed, church chief financial officer, offer a design based on key needs in the black church and their experience at one of the nation’s most respected and largest black churches, Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in New York. This unique, detailed, and thorough resource for black churches of any denomination covers virtually all aspects of church management from the theoretical and theological to the practical “nuts and bolts” of church administration. The authors include a special section offering principles for economic development, an area in which Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral has experienced an extraordinary ministry.
Church Growth From an African American Perspective by Donald Hilliard Jr. Renowned for preaching, and the growth of his church, Cathedral International, from 125 members to over 7,000 members, Bishop Donald Hilliard shows church leaders how to grow spiritually healthy congregations. He begins by defining the mega-church phenomenon, and alerts leaders to the need to be aware of healthy vs. unhealthy church growth. He discusses the importance of beginning with the right foundation, including vision, the centrality of Christ, biblical preaching, sound doctrine, being people-oriented rather than program-oriented, tithing, and Christian education. Completing the resource is a list of ideas for programs and activities based on his experience.
Left Behind? The Facts Behind the Fiction by LeAnn Snow Flesher. “Flesher presents a careful, well-informed comment on dispensationalism in general and ‘left behind’ eschatology in particular.” — Walter Brueggemann. Although the books in the Left Behind series are fictional, they are based on–and promote–a particular understanding of end times events that flow from the authors’ theological context and approach to biblical interpretation. Here, Flesher describes and challenges the theological framework, interpretative practices, socio-political ideologies, and the end times scenario that, while prominent in the Left Behind series, are not shared by most biblical scholars.
Speak Until Justice Wakes: Prophetic Reflections from J. Alfred Smith Sr. by J. Alfred Smith Sr. From one of the most respected statesmen in the African American church comes an inspirational resource that communicates what it means to speak truth to power. As an influential leader in the contemporary church, for decades J. Alfred Smith Sr. has demonstrated for “all who have ears to hear” what it means to speak prophetically in the biblical tradition. Rooted firmly in messages from both the Old and New Testaments, his compelling book will inform preachers and teachers who aspire to proclaim peace and justice in their ministries.
Westminster John Knox Press
Presbyterians Being Reformed: Reflections on What the Church Needs Today. Robert H. Bullock Jr., editor, and Essay by Clifton Kirkpatrick. Beginning with the motto “The Church Reformed and Always Being Reformed,” thirteen Presbyterian leaders and representatives of a number of different groups across the theological spectrum offer their reflections on the current state of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and what the denomination needs today. Ideal for individual as well as group study, the book includes discussion and reflection questions at the end of the chapters.
Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church by Jack Rogers. In this sure-to-be controversial book, former seminary professor and church official Jack Rogers argues unequivocally for the ordination of gays and lesbians and for the extension of full and equal rights in society to all people who are homosexual. Christianity, he observes, has moved through history in the direction of ever-greater openness and inclusiveness. Today’s church is led by many of those who were once cast out: people of color, women, and divorced and remarried people. The author sees as inevitable that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people will one day walk in the same steps as other Christian leaders.
The Presbyterian Handbook. Prepared in a style similar to The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks, The Presbyterian Handbook provides historical and theological information about Presbyterian beliefs alongside fun-filled facts and practical tips on being a churchgoing follower of Jesus Christ. Complete with illustrations and maps, the book presents a combination of vast truths, complex details, and bits of humor about Presbyterian understanding of the Christian life. This resource is perfect for Presbyterian youth, adults, students, families, and all those interested in learning about life in the church.
Theology for Liberal Presbyterians and Other Endangered Species by Douglas F. Ottati. In this book, theologian Doug Ottati argues that liberal Presbyterians and other liberal Protestants still have much to contribute to the contemporary world. Offering an alternative to evangelical and conservative thought, which he believes now pervades the larger culture, Ottati presents what he sees as the foundations of liberal theological thought. Writing out of the Reformed tradition and a theology of grace, he addresses current issues such as evangelism, the ordination of homosexuals, and the war on terrorism. Most important, the book is a call to liberal Presbyterians and other liberal Protestants to restate, rethink, and revise traditional theologies and beliefs in the face of contemporary knowledge and realities.
