Absolution: A Novel
Alice McDermott
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 336 pages
Published October 31, 2023
Absolution is classic Alice McDermott: a rich portrait of marriage between pre-Vatican II Catholics, not yet touched by the women’s movement. But her setting – Americans in 1960s Saigon – allows her to accomplish something new. Her protagonist, Trish, lives firmly in the present, writing a series of letters that recall the ways she and other wives sought to “do good” while their husbands orchestrated the war. McDermott never patronizes; she honors the traditional values of the time and the women’s genuine desire to help Vietnamese children. But Trish looks back through a modern lens and a certain ambivalence about their actions. McDermott asks the big questions about what we owe each other and how to use our privilege while avoiding White saviorism. And she achieves this through a page-turner that just may be her finest work to date.
Dust to Dust: A Ludington – van der Berg Mystery
MM Lindvall
Level Best Books
Publishes Summer 2024
NYC pastor Seth Ludington and his secretary Harriet van der Berg are back with another whodunnit. The final volume of this trilogy offers a classic mystery set against the timely backdrop of hate crimes against a nearby synagogue. The father-daughter writing team known as MM Lindvall includes a retired Presbyterian minister, so the sleuthing occurs in between a home communion visit. These anecdotes ring true and are occasionally accompanied by a brief theological excursus on baptism or the incongruity (or not) of storing communion plates and Torah scrolls side by side. Outlook readers will appreciate the many nods to congregational life, while mystery lovers will simply appreciate a good story.
Saving Delicia: A Story about Small Seeds and Big Dreams
Laura Gehl, illustrated
by Patricia Metola
Flyway Books, early elementary
Published April 9, 2024
The author of Grandpa’s Window returns with a charming children’s story that their grown-ups will love to read aloud. Saving Delicia emphasizes the power of intergenerational community, as a young girl is inspired by her friendship with an older adult. Kari and her friends are empowered to start a seed bank and play an important role in protecting creation’s biodiversity.
How Ableism Fuels Racism: Dismantling the Hierarchy of Bodies in the Church
Lamar Hardwick
Brazos Press, 192 pages
Published February 20, 2024
Race, disability and the church intersect in this important new work by a Black autistic pastor. Hardwick calls out the unspoken ways Christianity’s rituals and traditions present a “normal” body as the default experience. He’s practical, describing the ways Covid revealed ableist assumptions about in-person worship, and theological, exploring “the image of (crucified) Jesus as the disabled God.” Hardwick writes with an urgency and clarity that make a heady topic accessible and painfully relevant, noting “racism cannot exist without ableism.”
Anti-Racism as Daily Practice
Jennifer Harvey
St. Martin’s Press, 288 pages
Publishing July 16, 2024
There is no shortage of books available for White people eager to “do the work” of understanding racism — the hard part is knowing what to actually do. Harvey shares specific techniques and habits to help White people become active anti-racists. Her scenarios – ranging from engaging with friends and family to speaking out in church and community settings – describe ways to meet tough situations with courage and vulnerability, while avoiding the traps of blaming and shaming.
Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism
Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood
Chalice Press, 264 pages
Publishing July 9, 2024
Mainline churches know that (White) Christian Nationalism is a heresy, right? So why does it appear so similar to the seemingly benign “civil religion” that American Christians have created? When Christian chaplains pray in Congress, national hymns are sung, and we insist on inserting “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, we reinforce the assumption that America is a Christian nation. Kaylor and Underwood connect the dots between these practices and Christian nationalist activities, particularly the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The book is easily organized for a small group study and would be an excellent choice for churches looking ahead to the program year.
Proclaiming the Parables: Preaching and Teaching the Kingdom of God
Thomas G. Long
Westminster John Knox, 460 pages
Published March 12, 2024
Give yourself an uninterrupted afternoon and grab your highlighter before tackling Tom Long’s latest. He challenges earlier understandings of parables as moralistic, over-simplified similes, removed from the context of Jesus as Jewish teacher. Instead, he shows how Jesus’ parables reveal different aspects of the kingdom, bringing them together in a way that proclaims their power. Before covering parables from the synoptic gospels, Long guides preachers to make wise interpretative choices before they reach the pulpit.
The People of the Parables: Galilee in the Time of Jesus
R. Alan Culpepper
Westminister John Knox, 350 pages
Published March 26, 2024
Culpepper’s hefty book is not intended for your beach bag; instead, add it to your bookshelf as a welcome tool for sermon preparation, Bible studies and seminary classrooms. Culpepper paints a rich picture of Galilean life, describing the people, practices and culture that Jesus’ audiences would have understood. To preach on the parable of the sower, for example, it helps to understand the farmers’ job of sowing and reaping, the process of growing barley, and the challenges of weather patterns. Organized by topic and linked to specific Bible passages, The People of the Parables is scholarly, accessible and fascinating.
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