You'll get through this : hope and help for your turbulent times

Mark Lukado    (Get the Book)
New York Times best-selling author Lucado uses the Old Testament's Joseph to illustrate that, no matter what happens, we fare better facing challenges with God's help. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, but he made the best of his circumstances by looking out for others, avoiding seduction, remaining honest, and staying true to his heart and intuition. After two decades, he progressed from prisoner to prince of Egypt. For those facing difficult times job loss, illness, loss of a loved one, accident, divorce maintaining integrity may seem out of reach, but Lucado offers countless examples of those who have done just that and reaped untold rewards. He insists that what kept these individuals rock solid was the understanding that God was with them. Lucado also touches upon several universals: understanding your specific calling and destiny, absorbing God's grace, doing what's morally right, the benefits of gratitude, the power of forgiveness, and the importance of making a life plan. With this book, and maybe the intercession of the divine, those facing tough times can make it through. --Booklist

All in : you are one decision away from a totally different life

by Mark Batterson    (Get the Book)
While leading a growing ministry on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the author (The Circle Maker) preaches and teaches about the committed life of faith. He sees the Christian life as "playing offense" in the community, living each day with integrity and hope that the world can be changed. "Success is spelled stewardship, and stewardship is spelled success," he writes. Taking examples from his congregation, National Community Church, Batterson examines the faith journeys of lay people who have been able to make a difference in an inner-city church. Using the scriptures, he makes a convincing argument that Christians need to move from beyond the pew to put faith in action. According to the author, good works are the fruit of a strong belief system. The tough decision about putting faith into action is one that each person in the community needs to make. This is an exciting text for the Christian reader and should appeal to those who need a boost in their faith. --Publishers Weekly

Killing Jesus : a history

by Bill O'reilly    (Get the Book)
"Millions of readers have thrilled to bestselling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, page-turning works of nonfiction that have changed the way we read history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God. Killing Jesus will take readers inside Jesus's life, recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable - and changed the world forever."--Provided by publisher.

The case for the Psalms : why they are essential

by N.T. Thomas    (Get the Book)
Wright (Simply Christian) preaches on the page. He knows the Bible about as well as he knows his name, and on this go plumbs the Psalms, the biblical book a songwriter such as Bob Dylan might have written had he lived a long, long time ago. The Psalms sing, praise, curse, and offer a view of a relationship to God that is by turns humble and assertive, joyful and mournful. Wright offers an insider's appreciation; it helps to have some familiarity with this remarkable group of prayers, because Wright quotes liberally, as if his interpretation will be obvious as soon as he cites the passage he is exegeting. Wright's deep knowledge is in New Testament, not Old, yet few readers will want to quarrel; the book is not addressed to scholars, although its origin is a gathering of pastors and theologians. Rather, the author's reflections are pastoral, urging the reader to understand and then pray and sing the Psalms. Reading is easier, and more rewarding, if a Bible is nearby to provide context and references. --Publishers Weekly

But where is the lamb? : imagining the story of Abraham and Isaac

by James E. Goodman   (Get the Book)
For centuries, theologians, philosophers, and others have struggled with the 19 lines of Genesis 22 that Jews call the binding of Isaac and Christians refer to as the sacrifice of Isaac. No one has found a definitive answer to the questions of why Abraham was so ready to follow God's command that he kill his son or why Isaac agreed to be bound on the altar. Unlike other analysts, Goodman is a historian and a writer. Accordingly, his book focuses on the chronicle of the story, beginning with when and by whom it was written. He proceeds to analyze the explanations that have been given by Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others, including contemporary interpretations. Obviously fascinated by the story, Goodman demonstrates great prudence in not offering his explanation but in asserting that the story has many meanings. This refreshing restraint along with the author's writing skills make his contribution an important addition to the libraries of commentaries about Abraham and Isaac that vainly strive to explain what is ultimately unfathomable. --Publishers Weekly

7 : an experimental mutiny against excess

by Jen Hatmaker    (Get the Book)
The central principles of living a Christian life, like tithing, fasting, and prayer, might get short shrift from some people but not Hatmaker (A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study). The wife of a pastor at Austin (Texas) New Church aims for a more saintly life by cutting back on possessions, food, stress, and other excesses with funny and lively writing that can get overly self-deprecating. Her goal is to convince the reader that a simpler life is a godlier one, which lends a sanctimonious element to some of the writing. Other parts are earnest and moving, such as the final chapter, in which the book drops snarky humor to offer sincere appreciation for prayer, even if the subject matter is divided between prayer and the couple's adoption of two Ethiopian children. For Christians who desire to live out their New Year's resolutions year round, this is worth reading. --Publishers Weekly

Positive words, powerful results : simple ways to honor, affirm, and celebrate life

by Hal Urban   (Get the Book)
Although we live in an ocean of words, we rarely acknowledge their power to uplift or put down, to inspire or discourage, to help or hurt. But in this jewel of a book, Hal Urban -- parent, award-winning teacher, and author of the classic Life's Greatest Lessons -- shows us simple and immediate ways that we can use language to change lives -- both our own and those around us. (Summary)

Soil and sacrament : a spiritual memoir of food and faith

by Fred Bahnson     (Get the Book)
Bahnson (Making Peace with the Land) is outstanding in his field. Now director of the Food, Faith, and Religious Leadership Initiative at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Bahnson has spent a lot of time in a lot of fields. He developed his field studies into essays of depth and inspiration, humility and, yes, frustration, for he is dealing with the earth and the fullness-or dratted emptiness-thereof. More specifically, he deals with soil (not dirt), a living organism that "both craves life and wants to produce more life, even a hundredfold." With Christians, he plants in Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina at Advent, plows the Lord's Acre in North Carolina at Eastertide, and fertilizes Tierra Nueva in Washington State at Pentecost; with Jews, he harvests during Sukkot at Adamah Farm in Connecticut. Like Anne Lamott's spiritual writing, Bahnson's essays introduce people of deep faith, imprisoned pasts, ticklish humor, and hope-filled vision, farmer/priests being church by feeding the hungry and praying in the dirt. --Publishers Weekly

Zealot : the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth

by Reza Aslan    (Get the Book)
In his notes section, Aslan (creative writing, Univ. of California, Riverside; No god but God) remarks that he is heavily indebted to John Meier's multivolume A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Like Meier, Aslan analyzes historical information from first-century Palestine in order to situate Jesus within the turbulent social and political context of his time, appreciating the man for who he really was: one of many itinerant peasant preachers and teachers who sought to reinvigorate the Judaism of his day with eschatological and spiritual fervor. Aslan takes a somewhat dim view of Pauline Christianity, arguing that Paul's concept of a divine, cosmic Christ is at odds both with the Jerusalem church of James, brother of Jesus, and with the Gospel of John. Likewise, Paul's approach, Aslan believes, is at odds with sacred Jewish norms, e.g., circumcision, and with eyewitnesses who saw Jesus as reviving Judaism. But following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE, claims Aslan, "the Christ of Paul's creation utterly subsumed the Jesus of history," giving the world the Christianity we have today. This perspective is hardly new but is accessibly and strongly presented here. VERDICT Readable and with scholarly endnotes, Aslan's book offers a historical perspective that is sure to generate spirited conversation. For Christian history buffs of all stripes. --Library Journal

Think : a compelling introduction to philosophy

by Simon Blackburn    (Get the Book)
Sensing that many people are daunted by the big questions in philosophy, university professor Blackburn supplies this primer. Its capital weapon is logic, but Blackburn shrewdly postpones discussing that until he explores such areas as the self, free will, the reality of sensory perception, and God. Doubt, either initially or continually, infuses anyone who reflects on those spheres, and Blackburn illustrates ways to begin thinking about them by using the example of Descartes. Descartes gave yes answers to the question of whether the four spheres exist or not, through a logical process with which, after Blackburn has mapped it out, one can agree or not. One spoil sport was eighteenth-century philosopher David Hume, and Blackburn deploys further disputations of Descartes' beliefs, as in mind-body dualism. Blackburn does, however, subscribe to a species of free will, which he describes as "revised compatibilism." Finding out its definition is sufficient reason to consult Blackburn's book, written with exemplary concision and with conviction that philosophy needn't be an ethereal subject, alienated from practical concerns. --Booklist