Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive

by T.D. Jakes     (Get the Book)
"Never settle for less than God's best for your life." So says respected preacher, bestselling author, and entrepreneur Jakes (Reposition Yourself) in his latest book. Jakes takes readers on a journey into their instincts—God-given natural aptitudes that, when examined, reveal considerable opportunities and resources to help people succeed in business, overcome obstacles, gain a better sense of direction, stay protected from predators, become better leaders, and build more inspiring relationships, among other things. "Instincts are the product of what we have and what we want to have," writes Jakes. "They are the inner compass guiding us from where we are to where we want to go." A big part of understanding how that inner compass works, though, is heeding Jakes' advice not to settle for less than God's best. Being in touch with inner instincts helps individuals meet life's challenges without fear. This positive book encourages readers to get in touch with their instincts, trust them, and rely on them, because they come from God. --Publishers Weekly

Christian Reconstruction: R. J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism

by R.J. Rushdoony     (Get the Book)
McVicar (religion, Florida State Univ.) provides an extensively researched and critical yet balanced history of the Christian Reconstruction movement and its founder, R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001). The author relies on a multitude of resources, including Rushdoony's personal papers and correspondence, to demonstrate that the movement and its creator aspired to a powerful "restructuring" of individual lives and also of American society and politics as a whole through their variety of controversial "Christian" leadership, based in part upon Old Testament law. McVicar doesn't shy away from discussing some of the moral contradictions—mean-spiritedness and even cruelty, personal opportunism disguised as piety—of Rushdoony and his associates. Despite the movement's decline starting in the 1990s and beyond, McVicar finds many of its racist, patriarchal, antistate, and educational tenets (such as homeschooling) flourishing in newer movements (e.g., the Tea Party) and in much popular public opinion—especially about what constitutes good and bad religion. VERDICT Specialists in religion, politics, sociology, history, and cultural analysis, as well as the general public, can find rich reflection herein no matter their personal, political, or religious persuasions. --Library Journal

The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path

by Ethan Nichtern      (Get the Book)
Nichtern (founder, Interdependence Workshop; A Declaration of Interdependence) writes that "Buddhist teachings are only meaningful if they positively inform the way we live our lives." With this in mind, the author makes ancient Buddhist teachings and texts approachable, contemporary, and relevant. Using an informal and engaging style, Nichtern applies the metaphor of a commuter to describe the way people often feel when trying to become more present in their daily lives or feel at home in their minds: as though they are always trying to get to a different place. The content is grounded in meditation practice, although this book will not serve as a how-to guide to meditation. Rather, Nichtern presents the bigger picture as to why such techniques are important to cultivating meaningful and compassionate relationships with self, others, and society in our fast-paced and hyperconnected world. The author provides a helpful list of suggested readings for more in-depth exploration into Buddhism and meditation practice. VERDICT Valuable for readers looking for an introduction to Buddhist teachings as they relate to meditation practice or for those searching for ways to live their lives in the here and now.  --Kirkus

UnOffendable

by Brant Hansen    (Get the Book)
Hansen is a radio host and also works with CURE International and is active as a blogger and Twitter user. So, while neither an academic nor a traditional minister, he is the very model of a modern Christian: full of a missionary's zeal and conversant with social media. Hansen's message is true to his approach. His mode is remarkably inoffensive, and the lesson he offers is that it is better for Christians to discard their personal (or societal) propensity to take offense or indulge in righteous anger. He asserts that being "unoffendable" is the meaning of service, of humility, of "dying to the self," as the faith instructs. His method is light, accessible, and occasionally touched with suitably humble instances of humor, usually at his own expense. Unoffendability, to the author, is key to the conclusion of a certain sort of pain and the answer to discovering "the joy of gratitude." VERDICT A slight but charming handbook for the contemporary Christian that will also find its audience among pastors.

Encounters With Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life's Biggest Questions

by Timothy Keller

Famed pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, hugely best-selling Keller argues that Jesus didn't give easy answers to our most basic questions, e.g., What's my purpose? What does it mean to live successfully? Here he evokes ten crucial encounters in the New Testament to show how Jesus wanted us to ponder these concerns. --Library Journal

How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee

by Bart D. Ehrman    (Get the Book)
Ehrman, who has written prolifically about early Christianity, here takes up one of religious history’s most profound questions: How did a messianic Jewish preacher become identified as God? This is a particularly astonishing phenomenon when one considers how fast it happened and how different the idea of Jesus as God was from Jesus’ actual message. Ehrman writes very personally, especially in the beginning, and this approach draws the reader into a subject that is littered with curves and contradictions. Eventually, all writers who tackle this topic must answer the fundamental question: Did Jesus’ followers actually see a resurrected Christ? Ehrman sets up his answer well, first considering the various interpretations of divine humanity in ancient times. When it comes to the resurrection, he explains that whether the apostles actually saw Jesus or saw a vision makes no difference. Their belief in a risen Jesus is what shifted and shaped Christianity. A discussion of later Christologies and heresies becomes complicated, but this fascinating discussion will engage—and provoke—a wide audience. --Booklist

Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church

by Rachel Held Evans     (Get the Book)
Evans (A Year of Biblical Womanhood) uses the lens of her own journey as an evangelical Christian to explore what is happening in church circles today and, more broadly, what it means to be part of a church community. Evans humorously describes her gradual evolution from a teenager with a "crusader complex" to an adult who became increasingly uncomfortable with her church's conservative theology: "The trouble started when I began to suspect God was less concerned with saving people from hell than I was." Dividing the book into sections named after sacraments, Evans begins by contemplating, in lyrical prose, the theological significance of each sacrament's key ingredient (water, bread, ash, etc.). A powerful storyteller, Evans captures transformative moments, such as leaving a church full "of kind, generous people"; investing wholeheartedly in a new church that "collapsed slowly, one week at a time"; and witnessing healing at the Gay Christian Network's conference, feeling "simultaneously furious at Christianity's enormous capacity to wound and awed by its miraculous capacity to heal." Honest and moving, this memoir is both theologically astute and beautifully written. --Publisher's Weekly

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen     (Get the Book)
A guide to taking the bad feedback with the good and learning from what we're told. As Harvard Law School lecturers Stone and Heen (co-authors: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, 1999) note early on, there have been countless books on the management side of the feedback equation: how to be a good boss and effective leader, delivering feedback to employees that hits every nail on the head. While it's often a shell game to drive employees to be better while also not burning them out, surprisingly little attention has been focused on being an effective recipient of feedback. Enter Stone and Heen with a well-rounded consideration of "the science and art of receiving feedback well." As they write, both of those disciplines are required to receive feedback in productive ways—not only in the workplace, but in personal life as well. The authors examine therapy and neurology as two of the avenues through which we can locate and address the blocks to feedback; thoughts can cause emotions, emotions can cause thoughts, and feedback from someone in a position of authority can trigger the fight-or-flight response.  --Kirkus

Beyond Championships: A Playbook for Winning at Life

by Dru Joyce II      (Get the Book)

A few years after getting married and starting a career in sales, Joyce began coaching basketball part-time. Despite having played very little organized basketball and having no coaching experience, Joyce felt he was called to help young people. In 2002, he became the head boys' basketball coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, OH, where he has coached three state championship teams, won the National Coach of the Year award, and taught one of the greatest basketball players of all time—LeBron James, who wrote the foreword. This book contains the principles by which Coach Dru lives his life and instills in his players for success both on-and-off court. Each chapter centers on one principle, which is given a catchy phrase ("Decisions Create Environment") and contains real-life examples from Joyce's life as a husband and father, his years coaching, and his Christian faith. He preaches discipline, taking responsibility for your choices, and following your dreams. While these tenets are not unique, the book's style makes it palatable for a teenage, mostly male audience, especially given its connection to basketball and James. VERDICT Recommended for preteens, teenagers, and anyone who works with and mentors students of that age. --Library Journal

Galileo's middle finger : heretics, activists, and the search for justice in science

by Alice Domurat Dreger     (Get the Book)
Raised by conservative Catholic parents, Dreger (One of Us, 2004) rejects the church that persecuted Galileo both as champion of evidence-based science and as forerunner of rights-endowing democracy. But in two decades as a bioethicist committed to progressive causes, she has encountered unexpected conflict between the political and scientific branches of Galileo’s legacy. The author indeed takes readers into the dangerous no-man’s land separating warriors for political enlightenment from tough-minded researchers reporting unwelcome empirical findings about human identity, especially sexually identity. Seasoned by her own combat on behalf of intersex individuals, Dreger understands that those attacking women and sexual minorities have often (mis)used science. But she fears the consequences when political crusaders—including her allies—­reject empirical science and slander those who do it. In a disarmingly candid narrative, she chronicles her political-scientific struggles dealing with passion-laden issues such as transgender rights, rape, child sexual abuse, and prenatal fetal experimentation. Readers see repeatedly the high costs when Galileo’s scientific epigones clash with his political heirs. A sobering report from a hotly contested cultural battlefield. --Booklist