In keeping with Hermeneia’s commitment to provide “critical and historical commentary on the Bible,” Pervo delves deeply into rhetorical and textual analysis in this thorough, scholarly commentary on Acts. With much understanding and even with humor, Pervo helpfully explores the intersection of the early Christian movement with its Greco-Roman literary and cultural context, yielding insights that will reward patient reading.
All for God’s Glory: Redeeming Church Scutwork, by Louis B. Weeks. Alban, 2008. Pb., 170 pp. $18.
Here is a book for every pastor who has ever lamented, “I love preaching and teaching and pastoral care — but I have to spend so much time with administration!” Lifting up examples of excellent pastoral and ecclesial practices, Weeks reminds his readers that the ordinary, mundane life of church administration can also be a means of grace.
Be Not Anxious: Pastoral Care of Disquieted Souls, by Allan Hugh Cole Jr. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 236 pp. $20.
In the midst of a culture awash in anxiousness, Cole offers a well-informed understanding of anxiety in biblical, theological, and psychological terms. He ultimately roots care for anxious persons deeply within the worshiping, praying, caring life of congregations, seeking to reframe anxious personal narratives within the larger narrative of God’s story.
Being Well When We’re Ill: Wholeness and Hope in Spite of Infirmity, by Marva J. Dawn. Augsburg, 2008. Pb., 288 pp. $14.99.
Not feeling well, nor necessarily doing well, but being well is the focus of Dawn’s work here as she plumbs the depths of her own physical struggles in conversation with Scripture — particularly the Psalms. Dawn maintains that such being runs counter to much of our emphasis on doing, but holds out hope for the wholeness that God gives. Being well in this way can also be a means of grace for fellow sufferers.
Best Advice: Wisdom on Ministry from 30 Leading Pastors and Preachers, edited by William J. Carl III. WJKP, 2009. Pb., 192 pp. $19.95.
Seminary students, new pastors, retiring pastors, mid-career pastors, presbytery staff — it’s hard to imagine anyone not benefiting from this sagacious collection of counsel from an eclectic gathering of pastors and preachers. Imagine each chapter as a conversation with a seasoned friend who prayerfully seeks God’s richest blessings for you and your ministry.
Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement, by Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J. Walsh. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 377 pp. $24.
Socioeconomic, Ecological, Postmodern: the multifaceted face of “homelessness” is carefully explored by the authors as they survey points of intersection between the biblical narrative and these varied displacements of our time. The plight of the poor, the plight of planet earth, and the plight of “migrating” postmoderns are drawn together within the story of the God who seeks to make a home for all wandering folk.
Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus, by Ched Myers. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Orbis, 2008. Pb, 560 pp. $28.
Twenty years after its original publication, Myers’ “socio-literary” commentary on Mark continues to challenge the church to envision and enact the implications of Jesus’ proclamation of the radical reign of God within the world of politics and culture. A new introduction by Sam Wells highlights the impact of Myers’ work in the lives and ministries of dozens of scholars and church leaders.
Changing the Conversation: A Third Way for Congregations, by Anthony B. Robinson. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 272 pp. $18.
Between the dichotomies of liberal/ conservative, red/blue, traditional/contemporary, left/right, Robinson offers a useful resource for church leaders who desire to reframe the conversations that shape the church’s ministry. He proposes ten thoughtful conversations (including, How shall we respond to the changes and issues of our time? What is leadership? What does the Lord require of us? What role are we to play in public conversation?) that seek to deepen and clarify discourse among pastors and lay leaders as they reflect together on vital matters of identity and mission.
Christian Prayer for Today, by Martha L. Moore-Keish. WJKP, 2009. Pb., 104 pp. $14.95.
Moore-Keish offers a marvelous source for individuals or groups who want to explore the significance of Christian prayer. Who is the God to whom we pray? Who are we who pray? What does prayer do? How shall we pray? These and many other questions are helpfully explored with wisdom and care, and with Calvin’s encouragement to engage in prayer as “the chief exercise of faith.”
The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin: The Riverside Years. Volume 1 (1977-1982), Volume 2 (1983-1987). WJKP, 2008. Hb., 1,264 pp. $79.95 (or $49.95 for each volume).
Passionate, erudite, compelling, witty, provocative: Coffin’s sermons reflect his pastoral, prophetic stance as he brought the witness of Scripture to bear on a host of issues in the church, the community, and the world. In their original setting, these sermons certainly were a means of transformative grace for Riverside Church; their collection here will enrich the church as they shape the faith and witness of those who continue to read them now.
The Decades of Life: A Guide to Human Development, by Donald Capps. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 240 pp. $24.95.
Poetry, Scripture, theology, case studies, and even typical birthday card greetings punctuate Capps’ helpful rereading of the work of Erik Erikson, whose developmental model of life-stages offers a useful framework for understanding the challenges and opportunities that typically present themselves to caregivers in the church, and elsewhere. This is a great resource for anyone who seeks to minister among folk of diverse ages.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Barcelona, Berlin, New York, 1928-1931. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 10. English edition edited by Clifford J. Green. Fortress, 2008. Hb., 790 pp. $60.
This volume in the Bonhoeffer Works series explores Bonhoeffer’s years as pastor in Barcelona, his graduate work in Berlin, and his tenure at Union Seminary in New York, including the influence of his involvement in the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Bonhoeffer’s letters, lectures, essays, and sermons provide fascinating and invaluable insight into these very formative years in Bonhoeffer’s theology; Green’s introduction is very helpful for understanding the influence of Bonhoeffer’s professors and colleagues — and especially his friendship with Jean Lasserre.
The Discipleship Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version including Apocrypha, edited by Bruce C. Birch, Brian K. Blount, Thomas G. Long, Gail R. O’Day, and W. Sibley Towner. WJKP, 2008. Hb., 2,230 pp. $39.95.
Amidst a plethora of study Bibles whose footnotes help the reader better understand the ancient context of the text, and devotional Bibles whose notes help the reader make connections between the Bible and the life of faith, The Discipleship Study Bible seeks to bring both together in one volume. It accomplishes its goal remarkably well, drawing together enough contextual information to make basic sense of the text, and enough insight into the contemporary life of faith to provide helpful guidance, challenge, and encouragement.
Faith as a Way of Life: A Vision for Pastoral Leadership, by Christian Scharen. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 151 pp. $15.
Writing with pastoral concern for the fragmented, highly-individualized lives that so many are leading in our culture, Scharen articulates a vision of pastoral leadership that bears witness to God’s presence and work as faith serves to integrate the whole of human life. He helpfully explores the implications of such integrative work as faith informs and shapes family life, work, civic involvement, and leisure time.
Faithful Disagreement: Wrestling with Scripture in the Midst of Church Conflict, by Frances Taylor Gench. WJKP, 2009. Pb., 149 pp. $16.95.
Arising from her experience with the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, Gench makes a compelling case for the urgent discipline of reading Scripture in the company of those with whom we disagree. Through close readings of several Biblical texts, Gench notes that such engagement in the midst of disagreement reflects the practice of the church in the New Testament. Each chapter ends with discussion questions, making this book an ideal resource for Sunday School classes or study groups.
God Seekers: Twenty Centuries of Christian Spiritualities, by Richard H. Schmidt. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 366 pp. $22.
From Irenaeus to Rosemary Radford Ruether, with stops along the way for Patrick, Julian of Norwich, John Calvin, Thérèse of Lisieux and many more, Schmidt offers part history, part analysis, and part spiritual reader. The selections from each voice are brief, but offer a useful foretaste of the wide variety of ways that these women and men have responded to God.
God’s Tapestry: Reading the Bible in a World of Religious Diversity, by W. Eugene March. WJKP, 130 pp. $16.95.
March offers a helpful work for those who find themselves seeking theological clarity about how to live with and relate to neighbors in communities where religious diversity is reality. Drawing deeply on Scripture, he encourages his readers to know and love their neighbors as fellow “threads” who together are woven into the tapestry that God’s creative power brings together (109).
Imagination and the Journey of Faith, by Sandra M. Levy. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 184 pp. $18.
Lamenting what she perceives to be a postmodern time in which imagination has been depleted, Levy exhorts her readers to draw on imagination as our “human capacity to receive and respond to God’s revelation in our everyday lives” (3). Writing as both a clinical psychologist and an Episcopal priest, she draws on Scripture, literature, art, and more to encourage a wide variety of imaginative practices in church and home to enrich our experience of God’s presence and work.
In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful Resistance, edited by Richard A. Horsley. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 207 pp. $24.95.
How did Israel and the church understand themselves in relationship to the empires of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome? This collection of essays probes those relationships as the authors explore what it meant, and means, for God’s people to transfer their ultimate allegiance from earthly empires to God.
Insights: Karl Barth’s Reflections on the Life of Faith, by Karl Barth. WJKP, 2009. Pb., 136 pp. $14.95.
In the introduction to this volume, Eberhard Busch notes Barth’s appreciation for those moments of insight which “do not pass by empty, but are filled — seriously, cheerfully, comfortingly, reflectively — with the countenance of God and of our fellow creatures” (viii). Collected herein are such insights from a wide range of Barth’s writing: sermons, Church Dogmatics, and letters. Readers will certainly find their own eyes opened appreciatively to such insightful moments through these brief readings.
Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction: Christianity and the Battle for the Soul of a Nation, by Rodney Clapp. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 80 pp. $16.95.
Through the lens of Johnny Cash — both his life and his music — Clapp discerns contradictions that lie at the heart of American life and history: lonesomeness and community, holiness and hedonism, tradition and progress, guilt and innocence, and more. While certainly of interest to fans of Cash’s music, this work will also be useful for those who share both concern and hope for the wellbeing of America.
Keep the Call: Leading the Congregation Without Losing Your Soul, by Jill Y. Crainshaw. Abingdon, 2007. Pb., 144 pp. $12.
Crainshaw explores three central manifestations of ministry: proclamation, formation, and transformation. Within the intersection of these dimensions, she names multiple ways for both congregations and leaders to be faithfully alert for God’s voice, and for God’s Story, as God works through the ordinary and extraordinary happenings of church life and ministry.
My Father Said Yes: A White Pastor in Little Rock School Integration, by Dunbar H. Ogden. Vanderbilt, 2008. Hb., 192 pp. $24.95.
While the story of the racial integration of American schools tells of a movement that swept across the nation, one sees here that it is also a story of the particular actions of particular persons whose courage and suffering for their convictions exemplifies costly grace. Ogden lovingly and movingly tells the story of his father, the Rev. Dunbar Ogden, whose unlikely partnership with Daisy Bates (co-owner of Little Rock’s black newspaper) helped shape the events that led to the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School. The story is richly illustrated with photos and newspaper accounts of these landmark events.
Original Sin: A Cultural History, by Alan Jacobs. HarperOne, 2008. Hb., 304 pp. $24.95.
While not all subscribe to the notion of original sin, Jacobs makes the case that the notion of original sin has had an enormous impact in the shaping of western culture. Augustine, Harry Potter, Rebecca West, Reinhold Niebuhr, Hellboy — these and many other figures of history, literature, and cinema fall under Jacobs’ careful scrutiny as he explores the unfolding understanding of human sinfulness and its implications for the shaping of politics, arts, economics, and more.
The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life, by M. Craig Barnes. Eerdmans, 2009. Pb., 146 pp. $18.
Barnes draws on T. S. Eliot, who once noted that major poets “provide enduring expressions of the deep truth of life. Minor poets have the more modest goal of inculcating that truth to particular people in particular places” (24). Pastors function as “minor poets” in this way as they discern the texts and subtexts of Scripture and human life as they intersect — poetically, and unpoetically — in congregational life. A good book for pastors to read and discuss together.
The Peoples’ Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, edited by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Wilda C. Gafney, Leticia A. Guardiola-Sáenz, George Tinker and Frank Yamada. Fortress, 2009. Hb., 1786 pp. $35.
Recognizing the role that culture plays in shaping Biblical texts and in shaping readers of those texts, The Peoples’ Bible brings this cultural intersection to the forefront through text notes and introductory essays. A diverse array of contributors reminds us that every reader of the Bible reads from a particular cultural perspective; perhaps the awareness raised through the multiple perspectives offered here will make for better readers, and more faithful and loving interpreters.
Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III, by Christopher J. Preston. Trinity University Press, 2009. Hb., 251 pp. $25.95.
Holmes Rolston has lived a fascinating journey: from childhood in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to service as a Presbyterian minister to a life of teaching, where he has become known as the “father of environmental ethics.” He was 2003 recipient of the Templeton Prize. Preston chronicles this journey with passion, carefully elucidating both the thought of Rolston and the circumstances in which Rolston’s faith and science have grown. Readers interested in the intersection of faith and science, of theology and biology, will benefit.
Seeking the Identity of Jesus: A Pilgrimage, edited by Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Richard B. Hays. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 360 pp. $28.
Recent portrayals of Jesus in church, academy, and culture reveal widespread disagreement and misunderstanding of just who Jesus is: personal savior, guarantor of life after death, affirmer of family values, wandering sage, mysterious guru, and others. Gathered herein are a host of thoughtful essays from theologians, biblical scholars, and church historians arising from “The Identity of Jesus Project” of the Center of Theological Inquiry, which seek to offer a deeper understanding of Jesus.
A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards, by George M. Marsden. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 160 pp. $15.
Widely recognized as the leading authority on Jonathan Edwards in our time, Marsden here puts forth a new work on this American colonial pastor, preacher, and theologian. Much briefer than his 2003 Jonathan Edwards: A Life, this work offers new insights even as it provides a helpful and accessible overview of Edwards’ life and work.
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N. T. Wright. HarperOne, 2008. Hb., 347 pp. $24.95.
Wright dismantles common escapist misunderstandings about the resurrection, and offers in their place a reconstruction of the implications of hope for ministry in our time. Deeply conversant with the Biblical narrative, Wright’s work will challenge anyone who believes that thinking about heaven means that we can forget earth; rather, hope for New Creation invigorates the church’s earthly ministry with implications for justice, beauty, and evangelism.
Sustainable Youth Ministry: Why Most Youth Ministry Doesn’t Last and What Your Church Can Do About It, by Mark DeVries. IVP, 2008. Pb., 225 pp. $16.
Here is a great book for anyone who works with youth in the church — or for anyone who cares about the plight of youth ministry in our time. DeVries draws on his experience as both a youth ministry professional and a consultant to formulate a diagnosis of unhealthy trends of burnout and untenable ministry models; what follows is a healthier model for youth workers and congregations — and ultimately for the youth entrusted to the church. Discussion questions make this a great book for committee or team reading.
Torture Is a Moral Issue: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and People of Conscience Speak Out, edited by George Hunsinger. Eerdmans, 2008. Pb., 294 pp. $26.
The essays gathered here provide a searching, searing inquiry into the nature of torture, and why it must be rejected outright. The testimonies of both victims and perpetrators of torture offer a wrenching prelude to helpful essays and sermons crying out for an end to this immoral, evil practice.
The Way of Peace: Christian Life in the Face of Discord, by James M. Childs, Jr. Fortress, 2008. Pb., 160 pp. $19.
From an acute awareness of the absence of peace to a call to live justly as a way to peace, Childs proposes an enriching account of Biblical notions of peace, and of the church’s call to live as peacemakers. Along the way, he draws on church tradition, classical and contemporary literature, and more as he ponders the complexities of peace in a broken and violent world.
Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation, by Carol Howard Merritt. Alban, 2007. Pb., 178 pp. $17.
Across the landscape of the church, folk lament the absence of younger adults in congregations; many of those same folk are often fearful of what the church must become in order to make a place for this “missing generation.” Merritt offers a compelling read of the realities of young adult life in our time, and encourages congregations to draw this “nomadic” generation into sustaining intergenerational relationships and ministry. This is a marvelous book for church leaders to read and discuss together — especially with members of this missing generation!
The Word Leaps the Gap: Essays on Scripture and Theology in Honor of Richard B. Hays, edited by J. Ross Wagner, C. Kavin Rowe, and A. Katherine Grieb. Eerdmans, 2008. Hb., 732 pp. $70.
This substantive Festschrift provides both appreciation for and continuing conversation with the work of New Testament scholar and teacher Richard Hays. Ellen F. Davis, James D. G. Dunn, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Stanley Hauerwas, E. P. Sanders, Allen Verhey, and N. T. Wright are but a few of the thirty-three contributors who offer essays of great usefulness for the ongoing work of the church in its study of scripture and theology.
To Do Justice: A Guide for Progressive Christians, edited by Rebecca Todd Peters & Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 188 pp. $19.95.
Immigration, affordable housing, public education, illegal drug trade, climate change, taxation, financial security, war and militarism — what to do with so many cultural challenges? This collection of essays offers sage counsel and practical advice for ways to move forward for the wellbeing for all persons — particularly the most vulnerable among us.
Randy Harris is pastor of Highland Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., and book editor for The Presbyterian Outlook.
