By David Platt Multnomah Books, $14.99, 232 pages David Platt’s book, Radical is about the disconnect between the Christianity described in the Bible and the American dream of financial success and security. Platt is a self-described, mega-church pastor trying to follow a mini-church Messiah. He makes a compelling argument that American Christians have mistakenly believed [...]
By Anne Jackson Thomas Nelson, $16.99, 190 pages “What is the one thing you feel you can’t say in the church?” Two years ago, Anne Jackson—author, speaker and activist—asked this question on her web blog. The response was overwhelming. Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace flows out of those [...]
By Gordon Powell Xlibris, $19.99, 278 pages J. Gordon Powell is inspired to convey an urgent message about life with Christ and companionship with God. His book is a detailed and researched description of the current errors in thinking that drive much of Christian worship. He is passionately concerned that believers understand that, though they [...]
By Foster, Richard J. HarperOne, $22.99, 400 pages This is a daily guide that introduces the reader to the spiritual practices of Christianity. The practices include prayer, study, service, solitude, confession, worship, simplicity, fellowship, celebration, and sacrifice. Using biblical stories to illustrate the discipline, Foster also offers a brief commentary then a recommends practical action. [...]
By James Davison Hunter Oxford University Press, $27.95, 337 pages This is a scholarly and thoughtful book with a very important point to make to Christians who are saddened, frustrated, and bereft by the direction of Christianity in America. Davidson is a distinguished professor of religion culture and social theory at the University of Virginia, [...]
By Prothero, Stephen HarperOne, $26.99, 388 pages “At least since the first petals of the counterculture bloomed across Europe and the United States in the 1960s, it has been fashionable to affirm that all religions are beautiful and all are true… This is a lovely sentiment but it is dangerous, disrespectful, and untrue.” Stephen Prospero‘s [...]
Edited by John W. Loftus Prometheus Books, $21.00, 422 pages Books about and by Atheists have been in vogue now since 2006 when Richard Dawkins released The God Delusion. Since then, numerous authors, both theist and atheist, have jumped on the bandwagon and written their own thoughts on God, whatever that is, and those who [...]
By Jim Henderson, Todd Hunter, and Craig Spinks Baker Books, $24.99, 208 pages This book is dedicated to the people Jesus misses most — Outsiders. The Outsider Interviews: A New Generation Speaks Out on Christianity is the joint effort of a lively trio of writers who traveled to four American cities in 2008 to discover [...]
By Philip Pullman Canongate U.S., $24.00, 245 pages Philip Pullman, the celebrated author (and famously atheistic thinker) of the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, retells the story of Jesus in the newest addition to Canongate’s acclaimed Myth series written by noted authors. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ takes us back two millennia [...]
By Jenkins, Philip HarperOne, $26.99, 328 pages In the plethora of current works on non-orthodox early movements from the likes of excellent scholars such Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagel (plus the absurd novels of Dan Brown and his imitators), there has been precious little recent consideration of the establishment of Christian orthodoxy from a historical [...]
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Basic Books, $25.95, 238 pages The Protestant Church in America, including evangelicals, has undergone dramatic changes, though not everyone is enthusiastic about it. Thieves in the Temple describes how marketing and consumerism have resulted in a power shift, enabling congregations to wield greater influence than clergy on the direction of the [...]
By Brian D. McLaren HarperOne, $24.99, 320 pages Author Brian McLaren poses 10 questions to the reader about Christianity and the Bible. In these questions McLaren considers the Bible’s story line, how readers typically read and interpret it, how the Bible should be understood, violence in the name of Jesus, and more. McLaren talks about [...]
By Lynn Hunt, Margaret C. Jacob, Wijnand Mijnhardt Belknap Press, $32.95, 380 pages It is hard to imagine that one book can change a society, but that is what the authors of this book argue, that Religious Ceremonies of the World was so revolutionary that it changed European society. The authors examine the life, times, [...]
By Omid Safi Harper Collins,$24.99, 346 pages There are many biographies of the Prophet Muhammad, some of them by pious Muslims, others by those who want to brand the Islamic religion as one of terror and violence. This is one of the pious biographies, though in a sense it is not exactly a biography of Muhammad; though [...]
By Mcgrath, Alister Harper Collins, $24.99, 282 pages Attempting a herculean task, Alister McGrath’s Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth is an investigation of the Christian perspective while also defining heresy as a term. McGrath does a fine job explaining the various movements within Christianity, though on occasion he is selective with his sources in order [...]
By Jonathan Merritt FaithWords, $16.99, 190 pages Ironically, many who espouse God’s role in creation seem ambivalent when it comes to creation care. Faith and culture writer Jonathan Merritt is trying to do something about this troubling dichotomy in his first book, Green Like God: Unlocking The Divine Plan For Our Planet. Merritt, who became a green [...]
