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I Am Not Your Enemy
$29.99Add to cartIn a time of heightened alienation and fear, McRay offers true, sacred stories of reconciliation and justice, asking what they can teach us about our own divided states.
Are you my enemy? Am I yours?
Violent stories surround us. Brutal beginnings, horror-filled middles, despair-inducing endings. We need better stories: stories forged in the furnace of conflict, narratives that kindle compassion and ignite hope. In the pages of I Am Not Your Enemy, writer Michael T. McRay visits divided regions of the world and interviews activists, peacebuilders, former combatants, and clergy members about their personal stories of conflict, justice, and reconciliation. In Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa, he hears from grieving parents who comfort each other across enemy lines, a woman who meets her father’s killer, and a young man who uses theater to counter the oppression of his people.In a time of heightened alienation and fear, McRay offers true, sacred stories of reconciliation and justice, asking what they can teach us about our own divided states. Must violence be met with violence? Is my belonging complete only when I take away yours? Will more guns, more walls, more weapons keep us safe?
We need stories that cultivate empathy and tell the truth. We need stories to save us from our fear.
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Myth Of The American Dream
$22.99Add to cartAffluence, autonomy, safety, and power.
These are the central values of the American dream. But are they actually compatible with Jesus’ command to love our neighbor as ourselves? In essays grouped around these four values, D. L. Mayfield asks us to pay attention to the ways they shape our own choices, and the ways those choices affect our neighbors. Where did these values come from? How have they failed those on the edges of our society? And how can we disentangle ourselves from our culture’s headlong pursuit of these values and live faithful lives of service to God and our neighbors?
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More Than Conquerors In Cultural Clashes
$14.99Add to cartWARNING! Don’t read this book–if you are satisfied with the status quo and don’t like to be challenged! However, if you yearn to expand your knowledge, to deepen your faith, and to strengthen your ability to answer tough questions from skeptical friends and family, keep turning these pages, absorbing the truths, and pondering the questions at the end of each chapter. If you understand and apply what you read, you are in for the thrill of your life! Especially, remember to pray daily, “Lord, please fill me with your Holy Spirit and put me in the right place at the right time with the right words to honor you.” You will be amazed how God answers this prayer and uses you!
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I Am Not Your Enemy
$16.99Add to cartIn a time of heightened alienation and fear, McRay offers true, sacred stories of reconciliation and justice, asking what they can teach us about our own divided states.
Are you my enemy? Am I yours?
Violent stories surround us. Brutal beginnings, horror-filled middles, despair-inducing endings. We need better stories: stories forged in the furnace of conflict, narratives that kindle compassion and ignite hope. In the pages of I Am Not Your Enemy, writer Michael T. McRay visits divided regions of the world and interviews activists, peacebuilders, former combatants, and clergy members about their personal stories of conflict, justice, and reconciliation. In Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa, he hears from grieving parents who comfort each other across enemy lines, a woman who meets her father’s killer, and a young man who uses theater to counter the oppression of his people.In a time of heightened alienation and fear, McRay offers true, sacred stories of reconciliation and justice, asking what they can teach us about our own divided states. Must violence be met with violence? Is my belonging complete only when I take away yours? Will more guns, more walls, more weapons keep us safe?
We need stories that cultivate empathy and tell the truth. We need stories to save us from our fear.
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Finding Jesus At The Border
$22.00Add to cartImmigration is an issue of major concern within the Christian community. As Christians, how should we respond to the current crisis?
Interweaving biblical narratives of border-crossing and recent stories of immigrants at the US-Mexico border, this accessibly written book invites Christians to reconsider the plight of their neighbors and respond with compassion to the present immigration crisis. Julia Lambert Fogg, a pastor and New Testament scholar who is actively serving immigrant families in Southern California, interprets well-known biblical stories in a fresh way and puts a human face on the immigration debate.
Fogg argues that Christians must step out of their comfort zones and learn to cross social, ethnic, and religious borders–just as Jesus did–to become the body of Christ in the world. She encourages readers to welcome Christ by embracing DREAMers, the undocumented, asylum seekers, and immigrants, and she inspires Christians to advocate for immigrant justice in their communities.
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Abortion : Christian Compassion, Convictions And Wisdom For Today’s Big Iss
$6.99Add to cartOur culture is locked in a battle between two opposing worldviews on abortion. How should Christians advise those who are considering, or feeling the pressure to abort their child? How can we help those who are struggling with the emotional and spiritual fallout from abortion? What stance should we take in the public arena, and how should we conduct ourselves in conversations on these subjects?
In this short book, Lizzie Ling and Vaughan Roberts survey the Christian worldview and help us to think biblically, speak wisely and act compassionately as we engage with the people, the questions and the heartache surrounding abortion, in a society with very different values.
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How The Nations Rage
$18.99Add to cartHow can we move forward amid such political strife and cultural contention?
We live in a time of division. It shows up not just between political parties and ethnic groups and churches but also inside of them. As Christians, we’ve felt pushed to the outskirts of national public life, yet even then we are divided about how to respond. Some want to strengthen the evangelical voting bloc. Others focus on social-justice causes, and still others would abandon the public square altogether. What do we do when brothers and sisters in Christ sit next to each other in the pews but feel divided and angry? Is there a way forward?
In How the Nations Rage, political theology scholar and pastor Jonathan Leeman challenges Christians from across the spectrum to hit the restart button. First, we shift our focus from redeeming the nation to living as a redeemed nation. Second, we take the lessons learned inside the church into our public engagement outside of it by loving our neighbors and seeking justice. When we identify with Christ more than a political party or social grouping, we avoid the false allure of building heaven on earth and return to the church’s unchanging political task: to represent a heavenly and future kingdom now. It’s only when we realize that the life of our churches now is the hope of the nation for tomorrow that we become the salt and light Jesus calls us to be.
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How Do You Kill 11 Million People (Expanded)
$15.99Add to cartBecome an informed, passionate citizen who demands honesty and integrity from our leaders or suffer the consequences of our own ignorance and apathy.
In this updated and expanded New York Times bestselling nonpartisan book, Andy Andrews urges you to believe that seeking and discerning the truth really, really matters and that believing lies is the most dangerous thing you can do. You’ll be challenged to become a more “careful student” of the past, seeking accurate, factual accounts of events and decisions that illuminate choices you face now.
By considering how the Nazi German regime was able to carry out over eleven million institutional killings between 1933 and 1945, Andrews advocates for an informed population that demands honesty and integrity from its leaders and from each other. He includes several key documents written by our Founding Fathers as examples of America’s core principles that present and future leadership should live up to and embrace.
We can no longer measure a leader’s worth by the yardsticks provided by the left or the right. Instead, we must use an unchanging standard: the pure, unvarnished truth.
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5 Loaves Two Fish 12 Volunteers
$14.99Add to cartSixty-two percent of food pantries and meal programs in the United States are faith-based. Most of these ministries are transactional; people needing food interact with church volunteers to earn access to direct service.
Elizabeth Magill advocates relational ministry as a better model for food ministry. People donating food or money eat with the people who need food and get to know them as they serve alongside them. Those needing food share all aspects of the ministry, including planning, setting up, leading, serving, and cleaning. As volunteers become better acquainted, they can form deep, meaningful relationships, creating a new way to be the church.
Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers tells the stories of 8 churches that share food ministry with people who need their services. Full of practical advice, this book emphasizes that building relationships and offering radical welcome is more important work for churches than efficiency or order.
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Good White Racist
$20.00Add to cartWhen it comes to race, most White Americans are obsessed with two things: defending our own inherent goodness and maintaining our own comfort levels. Too often, this means white people assume that to be racist, one has to be openly hateful and willfully discriminatory–you know, a bad person. And we know we’re good, Christian people, right? But you don’t have to be wearing a white hood or shouting racial epithets to be complicit in America’s racist history and its ongoing systemic inequality.
In Good* White Racist, Kerry Connelly exposes the ways white people participate in, benefit from, and unknowingly perpetuate racism–despite their best “good person” intentions. Good* White Racist unpacks the systems that maintain the status quo, keep white people comfortable and complicit, and perpetuate racism in the United States and elsewhere. Combining scholarly research with her trademark New Jersey snark, Connelly shows us that even though it may not be our fault or choice to participate in a racist system, we all do, and it’s our responsibility to do something about it.
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After Trump : Achieving A New Social Gospel
$45.00Add to cartA black social gospel movement arose after the Civil War to mitigate the broken promises of reparations and the reestablishment of white supremacy. After the Gilded Age, a new social gospel arose in the early twentieth century that brought together Christian proclamation and an ethic of social justice that became liberal Protestantism’s distinctive contribution to world Christianity, leaving residues in the New Deal and the Great Society. In the face of poverty and bondage in the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. led a second wave of the black social gospel movement and died for it, as prophets do. It birthed new liberation movements on many fronts. Again things fell apart as the Reagan Revolution massively redistributed wealth and social benefits upward and “”late capitalism”” flourished. In this environment tax cuts for the wealthy and massive inequalities grew, and President Trump inherited the resentments of the Christian Right and the opportunism of economic conservatives. Would a recurring social gospel have made a difference? After Trump, American Christianity faces another crisis of decision. Will the strange God of the Bible be re-called, will the churches re-live as social movements that bring good news to all the people, will American Christianity re-contest the public square and proclaim a new social gospel for our times? This book is an invitation and a manifesto.
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Born Again This Way
$16.99Add to cartAs a Christian who experiences same-sex attraction, is it possible to live a life that’s faithful and fuilfiing? Rachel Gilson wants to show you that it is. Living as a Christian with same-sex attraction is not just a case of limping to the finish line–it’s possible to run the race with joy.
In this powerful and personal book, she describes her own unexpected journey of coming out and coming to faith… and what came next. As she does so, she addresses many of the questions that Christians living with same-sex attraction are wrestling with: Am I consigned to a life of loneliness? How do I navigate my friendships? Will my desires ever change? Is there some greater purpose to all this? What comes next, and next, and next?
Drawing on insights from the Bible and the experiences of others, Born Again This Way provides assurance and encouragement for Christians with same-sex attraction, and paints a compelling picture of discipleship for every believer. Whatever your sexuality, this book is an inspiring testimony of how a life submitted to Jesus will be fulfilling and fruitful–but not always in the ways we might expect.
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Myth And Meaning In Jordan Peterson
$18.99Add to cartPopular philosopher Jordan Peterson has captured the imagination of Western world.
For some, Peterson represents all that is wrong with patriarchal culture; for others, he is the Canadian academic prophet who has come to save civilization from dizzying confusion. Regardless of how one feels about him, his influence in North America–and beyond–is difficult to deny.
While the “Peterson phenomenon” has motivated numerous articles and responses, much of what has been written is either excessively fawning or overly critical. Little has been produced that explores Peterson’s thought–especially his immensely popular 12 Rules for Life–within the context of his overall context and scholarly output. How is one to understand the ascendency of Jordan Peterson and why he’s become so popular? Does his earlier Maps of Meaning shed light on how one might understand his worldwide bestseller, 12 Rules for Life?In Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson, scholars across various disciplines explore various aspects of Jordan Peterson’s thought from a Christian perspective. Both critical and charitable, sober-minded and generous, this collection of ten essays is a key resource for those looking to faithfully engage with Jordan Peterson’s thought.
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Multicultural Church : Embracing Unity And Restoration
$12.99Add to cartDespite the progress our country has made in Civil Rights over the past century, Sunday morning is still one of the most segregated times in America. It seems like the only people striving to lead in the area of racial reconciliation are politicians, activists, and celebrities. Pastor Dan Willis wants to know… Where is the church? What can the people of God do to become leaders again and not just be Johnny-come-lately followers? The art of bringing harmony to the masses lies in the love all should see in the church of God. If the church is to make a difference and return to relevance in this world, the only option is multicultural ministry. If leaders are not prepared to minister to this growing culture, then American Christianity is in danger of becoming nonessential to the body of believers. For years, Dan Willis has led a growing, multicuItural Christian community in the suburbs of Chicago. In The Multicultural Church, Dan shares what he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and what can be done to successfully minister to a diverse culture.
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Speak Your Peace
$16.99Add to cartFrom one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.
Is nonviolence irresponsible? Is peacemaking naive?
From one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.With candor and logic, Sider takes on enduring questions about violence and nonviolence, showing how the contemporary church in a warring world has largely set aside Jesus’ call to love our enemies and traded its birthright in Christ for a stew of nationalism and militarism. But ignoring what Jesus said about killing is a huge theological mistake. Returning us to the inescapable call of the Son of God, Sider reminds the church of its true vocation in a world of hatred and war.
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Every Mans Battle Revised And Updated 20th Anniversary Edition (Anniversary)
$18.00Add to cartThe groundbreaking guide to winning the battle with sexual temptation–now revised and updated to help men navigate the realities of technology and other contemporary challenges.
From movies and television to print media and the Internet, men are continually bombarded with sensual images and content. It is impossible to avoid temptation, but this book offers a clear and tested strategy for victory.
Millions have found Every Man’s Battle an invaluable guide to overcoming the struggle and remaining strong in the face of temptation. With extensive updates for a new generation, including the latest data on the intersection between brain science and sexuality, this bestseller shares the stories of dozens who have escaped the trap of sexual immorality and presents a practical, detailed plan for living with sexual integrity and a godly view of women. A comprehensive workbook makes this an ideal resource for small groups as well as personal use.
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Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With
$16.99Add to cartChristians are increasingly seen as outdated, restrictive and judgmental when it comes to sex before marriage, cohabitation, homosexuality, gender identity or transgender rights. In fact for many people, this issue is one of the biggest barriers for them considering Christianity.
Sam Allberry, author of many books including Is God Anti-gay sets out God’s good design for the expression of human sexuality, showing that God himself is love and that only he can satisfy our deepest desires.
It is a great reminder of the Bible’s positive blueprint for love, sex and marriage and ideal for giving away to people who may see this as a stumbling block for belief.
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Materiality As Resistance
$18.00Add to cartWhat is materiality?
Jesus practiced materiality when he healed the bodies of the sick, proclaimed Jubilee to the poor, and fed the five thousand. He practiced materiality over materialism. In Materiality as Resistance, Walter Brueggemann defines materiality as the use of the material aspects of the Christian faith, as opposed to materialism, which places possessions and physical comfort over spiritual values. In this concise volume, Brueggemann lays out how we as Christians may reengage our materiality for the common good. How does materiality inform our faith when it comes to food, money, the body, time, and place? How does it force us to act? Likewise, how is the church obligated to use its time, money, abundance of food, the care and use of our bodies, observance of Sabbath, and stewardship of our world and those with whom we share it? With a foreword from Jim Wallis, Materiality as Resistance serves as a manifesto of Walter Brueggemann’s most important work and as an engaging call to action. It is suited for group or individual study.
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Speak Your Peace
$29.99Add to cartFrom one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.
Is nonviolence irresponsible? Is peacemaking naive?
From one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.With candor and logic, Sider takes on enduring questions about violence and nonviolence, showing how the contemporary church in a warring world has largely set aside Jesus’ call to love our enemies and traded its birthright in Christ for a stew of nationalism and militarism. But ignoring what Jesus said about killing is a huge theological mistake. Returning us to the inescapable call of the Son of God, Sider reminds the church of its true vocation in a world of hatred and war.
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3rd Option : Hope For A Racially Divided Nation
$16.99Add to cartMiles McPherson, founder of The Rock Church in San Diego, presents “a discussion about race that we desperately need…a must read” (Bishop T.D. Jakes, Senior Pastor, The Potter’s House) and argues that we must learn to see people not by the color of their skin, but as God sees them-humans created in the image of God.
Pastor Miles McPherson, senior pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego, addresses racial division, a topic many have shied away from, for fear of asking the wrong question or saying the wrong thing. Some are oblivious to the impact racism has, while others pretend it doesn’t exist.
Even the church has been affected by racial division, with Sunday now being the most segregated day of each week. Christians, who are called to love and honor their neighbors, have fallen into culture’s trap by siding with one group against another: us vs. them. Cops vs. protestors. Blacks vs. whites. Racists vs. the “woke.” The lure of choosing one option over another threatens God’s plan for unity among His people.
Instead of going along with the culture, Pastor Miles directs us to choose the Third Option: honoring the priceless value of God’s image in every person we meet. He exposes common misconceptions that keep people from engaging with those of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and identifies the privileges and pitfalls that we all face.
The Third Option challenges us to fully embrace God’s creativity and beauty, as expressed in the diversity of His people. By following the steps and praying the prayers outlined in his book, Pastor Miles teaches us how we can all become leaders in unifying our communities, our churches, and the nation.
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Bible And The Ballot
$34.99Add to cartHow to read the Bible on matters of public policy
Christians affirm the Bible as our standard of faith and practice. We turn to it to hear God’s voice. But what relevance does the Bible have for the contentious public policy issues we face today? Although the Bible does not always speak explicitly to modern issues, it does give us guiding principles as we think about how we might vote or act as political figures ourselves.
The Bible and the Ballot demonstrates the proper use of Scripture in contemporary political discussions. Christians regularly invoke the Bible to support their positions on many controversial political topics–gay marriage, poverty, war, religious liberty, immigration, the environment, taxes, etc.–and this book will help facilitate those conversations. Tremper Longman provides a hermeneutical approach to using the Bible in this manner, then proceeds topic by topic, citing important Scriptures to be taken into consideration in each case and offering an evangelical interpretation.
Longman is careful to suggest levels of confidence in interpretation and acknowledges that often there are a range of possible applications. Each chapter includes questions to provoke further thought in individuals’ minds or for group discussion.
The Bible and the Ballot is a ready guide to understanding the Bible on issues that American Christians face today as we live within a pluralistic society.
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MeToo Reckoning : Facing The Church’s Complicity In Sexual Abuse And Miscon
$17.99Add to cartThe #MeToo movement has revealed sexual abuse in every sphere of society, including the church. But all too often, churches have been complicit in protecting abusers, reinforcing patriarchal power dynamics, and creating cultures of secrecy, shame, and silence. Disclosing candid stories of abuse, pastor and survivor Ruth Everhart offers God’s hope to survivors while shining a light on the prevalence of sexual misconduct within faith communities.
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Our Bodies Tell Gods Story
$21.99Add to cartIn response to a world awash in sexual chaos and gender confusion, this book offers a bold and thoroughly biblical look at the meaning of the body, sex, gender, and marriage.
Bestselling author, cultural commentator, and popular theologian Christopher West is one of the world’s most recognized teachers of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. He specializes in making this teaching accessible to all Christians, with particular attention to evangelicals. As West explains, from beginning to end the Bible tells a story of marriage. It begins with the marriage of man and woman in an earthly paradise and ends with the marriage of Christ and the church in an eternal paradise.
In our post-sexual-revolution world, we need to remember that our bodies tell a divine story and proclaim the gospel itself. As male and female and in the call to become “one flesh,” our bodies reveal a “great mystery” that mirrors Christ’s love for the church (Eph. 5:31-32). This book provides a redemptive rather than repressive approach to sexual purity, explores the true meaning of sex and marriage, and offers a compelling vision of what it means to be created male and female. Foreword by Eric Metaxas.
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Healing Racial Trauma
$18.99Add to cartPeople of color have endured traumatic histories and almost daily assaults on their dignity. Professional counselor Sheila Wise Rowe exposes the symptoms of racial trauma to lead readers to a place of freedom from the past and new life for the future. With Rowe as a reliable guide who has both been on the journey and shown others the way forward, you will find a safe pathway to resilience.
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Color Of Compromise
$22.99Add to cartAn acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically–up to the present day–worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.
The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don’t know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.
The Color of Compromise
*Takes you on a historical, sociological, and religious journey: from America’s early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War
*Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today’s Black Lives Matter movement
*Reveals the cultural and institutional tables we have to flip in order to bring about meaningful integration
*Charts a path forward to replace established patterns and systems of complicity with bold, courageous, immediate action
*Is a perfect book for pastors and other faith leaders, students, non-students, book clubs, small group studies, history lovers, and all lifelong learnersThe Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality. A call that challenges black and white Christians alike to standup now and begin implementing the concrete ways Tisby outlines, all for a more equitable and inclusive environment among God’s people. Starting today.
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Be True To Yourself
$15.99Add to cartOur culture tells us that the way to be happy is to be true to yourself. It’s posted on social media, promoted in adverts, taught in schools and, even, expressed in churches. But what does that mean, and does it actually work?
Matt Fuller explores how true happiness, wholeness and freedom can be found in embracing who God has created us to be; allowing ourselves to be shaped by who the Bible says we are, rather than our own fluctuating feelings, or the voices around us. In the process, this book draws on a broad range of fascinating research and examples to give us a fresh biblical take on some of today’s biggest hot-button issues.
By cutting through the confusion and showing us something better, this is a book to help every Christian live with confidence in today’s culture.
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Who Is My Neighbor
$10.95Add to cartPart of the group of Little Books that focus on social justice and faith
Written by an immigrant who is also an Episcopal priest and now helps refugees find a new home in America We live amidst the largest mass migration in human history. God has chosen to use the Church, the Body of Christ, to be the instrument of Christ’s healing and restorative love in the world. The restorative and healing work of Christ can be accomplished when each Christian is moved by compassion to see and love the neighbor. Who is My Neighbor? puts a human face on a politically charged issue: refugees. It tells stories about refugees to challenge us all to reconsider our definition of “neighbor.”
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Earthkeeping And Character
$27.00Add to cartAddressing a topic of growing and vital concern, this book asks us to reconsider how we think about the natural world and our place in it. Steven Bouma-Prediger brings ecotheology into conversation with the emerging field of environmental virtue ethics, exploring the character traits and virtues required for Christians to be responsible keepers of the earth and to flourish in the challenging decades to come. He shows how virtue ethics can enrich Christian environmentalism, helping readers think and act in ways that rightly value creation.
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Spirit Of Hope
$34.00Add to cartFamous theologian Jurgen Moltmann returns here to the theme that he so powerfully addressed in his groundbreaking work, Theology of Hope. In the twenty-first century, he tells us, hope is challenged by ideologies and global trends that would deny hope and even life itself. Terrorist violence, social and economic inequality, and most especially the looming crisis of climate change all contribute to a cultural moment of profound despair. Moltmann reminds us that Christian faith has much to say in response to a despairing world. In “the eternal yes of the living God,” we affirm the goodness and ongoing purpose of our fragile humanity. Likewise, God’s love empowers us to love life and resist a culture of death.
The book’s two sections equally promote these affirmations, yet in different ways. The first section looks at the challenges to hope in our current world, most especially the environmental crisis. It argues that Christian faith–and indeed all the world’s religions–must orient themselves toward the wholeness of the human family and the physical environment necessary to that wholeness. The second section draws on resources from the early church, the Reformation, and the contemporary theological conversation to undergird efforts to address the deficit of hope he describes in the first section.
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Collateral Damage : Changing The Conversation About Firearms And Faith
$16.99Add to cartOne hundred people die from gun violence every day in the United States. Some fifty children and teens are shot. There are more than 35,000 gun-related deaths every year. Yet many Christians say gun violence shouldn’t be talked about in church.
In Collateral Damage, pastor and activist James E. Atwood issues an urgent call to action to Christians to work together to stop gun violence. An avid hunter for many years, Atwood enumerates the tragic and far-reaching costs that accrue in a country with more guns than people. Collateral damage includes a generalized fear and loss of trust. Suicides and homicides. Trauma for children in neighborhoods plagued by gun violence and in schools with frequent lockdown drills. A toxic machismo that shapes our boys and men in unhealthy ways. Economic costs that exceed $229 billion per year. Atwood also considers the deeper story of racism, inequality, and mass incarceration in which the conversation about gun violence is lodged.
Gun violence has been called the theological emergency of our time. The church has a moral and spiritual obligation to side with life against death. Will we rise to the occasion?
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10 Commandments Of Progressive Christianity
$7.99Add to cartA cautionary look at ten dangerously appealing half-truths.
In 1923, J. Gresham Machen, then a professor at Princeton Seminary, wrote his classic text, Christianity and Liberalism. The book was a response to the rise of liberalism in the mainline denominations of his own day. Machen argued that the liberal understanding of Christianity was, in fact, not just a variant version of the faith, nor did it represent simply a different denominational perspective, but was an entirely different religion. Put simply, liberal Christianity is not Christianity.
What is remarkable about Machen’s book is how prescient it was. His description of liberal Christianity–a moralistic, therapeutic version of the faith that values questions over answers and being “good” over being “right”–is still around today in basically the same form. For this reason alone the book should be required reading, certainly for all seminary students, pastors, and Christian leaders.
Although its modern advocates present liberal Christianity as something new and revolutionary, it is nothing of the sort. It may have new names (e.g., “emerging” or “progressive” Christianity), but it is simply a rehash of the same well-worn system that has been around for generations.
The abiding presence of liberal Christianity struck me not long ago when I came across a daily devotional from Richard Rohr that listed ten principles he thinks modern Christianity needs to embody. These ten principles are actually drawn from Philip Gulley’s book, If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus. In that devotional series, ironically titled “Returning to Essentials,” Rohr sets forth the ten principles as a kind of confessional statement of modern liberalism (while at the same time pretending to deplore confessional statements). They are, in effect, a Ten Commandments for progressive Christianity.
Indeed, these ten sound like they were gathered not so much on the mountaintop as in the university classroom. They are less about God revealing his desires and more about man expressing his own–less Moses, more Oprah.
But take note: each of these commandments is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging. It is a master class in half-truths that sound appealing on the surface until you dig down deeper and really explore their foundations and implications. Benjamin Franklin was right when he quipped, “Half the truth is often a
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Rest For The Justice Seeking Soul
$16.99Add to cartSusan K. Williams Smith is a minister and activist who has been on the front lines of social and racial justice for many years. As she has marched shoulder-to-shoulder to resist systematic oppression, she has heard the same question over and over: “How are we going to get through this?” Rest for the Justice-Seeking Soul was birthed out of those cries.
Here is a soul-care manual for social justice-seeking believers who stand in constant vigilance against all forms of racial, class, and gender oppression. The fight for justice and equality is an exhausting daily grind–and the work is never over. That’s why it is incumbent upon all who speak and advocate for the less fortunate to practice self-care. You can’t fight when your tank is empty.
In response to the many calls and emails she has received from friends, clergy, and strangers who are in utter despair and even deep depression, she has created ninety daily devotions to provide a daily spoonful of hope and encouragement, a healing balm to “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” (Hebrews 12:12). Lift your gaze upward toward a better future by allowing God to restore harmony and focus in your soul and justice in your community. Our God is bigger than whoever is oppressing you. As the old hymn states, “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”
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I Bring The Voices Of My People
$30.99Add to cartDisrupting the racist and sexist biases in conversations on reconciliation
Chanequa Walker-Barnes offers a compelling argument that the Christian racial reconciliation movement is incapable of responding to modern-day racism. She demonstrates how reconciliation’s roots in the evangelical, male-centered Promise Keepers’ movement has resulted in a patriarchal and largely symbolic effort, focused upon improving relationships between men from various racial-ethnic groups.Walker-Barnes argues that highlighting the voices of women of color is critical to developing any genuine efforts toward reconciliation. Drawing upon intersectionality theory and critical race studies, she demonstrates how living at the intersection of racism and sexism exposes women of color to unique experiences of gendered racism that are not about relationships, but rather are about systems of power and inequity.Refuting the idea that race and racism are “one-size-fits-all,” I Bring the Voices of My People highlights the particular work that White Americans must do to repent of racism and to work toward racial justice and offers a constructive view of reconciliation that prioritizes eliminating racial injustice and healing the damage that it has done to African Americans and other people of color. -
Abortion And The Christian Tradition
$40.00Add to cartAbortion remains the most contested political issue in American life. Poll results have remained surprisingly constant over the years, with roughly equal numbers supporting and opposing it. A common perception is that abortion is contrary to Christian teaching and values. While some have challenged that perception, few have attempted a comprehensive critique and constructive counterargument on Christian ethical and theological grounds. Margaret Kamitsuka begins with a careful examination of the church’s biblical and historical record, refuting the assumption that Christianity has always condemned abortion or that it considered personhood as beginning at the moment of conception. She then offers carefully crafted ethical arguments about the pregnant woman’s authority to make reproductive decisions and builds a theological rationale for seeing abortion as something other than a sin.
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No Avatars Allowed
$21.95Add to cartReaches across generations to explore divinity, humanity, and technology through the lens of video games
Challenges readers to look theologically at how they play Since the advent of video games in the 1960s, they have become the common experience of everyone from Gen-X to the Millennial and post-Millennial generations. While many of today’s clergy, parishioners, and theologians grew up gaming, the church’s stance regarding video games is one of, at best, bemusement. This book takes seriously the idea that video games can challenge us to think more deeply about our reality, divinity, faith, and each other. It draws readers into a small, but growing, conversation about models of incarnation and what it means to distinguish between the virtual and the real. This book will introduce readers to concepts and questions from the perspective of a Christian systematic theologian who has been playing games since he was four years old, and who has been writing, speaking, and podcasting about this topic since 2010. It is an invitation into a relatively new conversation about divinity, humanity, and technology.
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End Of Hunger
$17.99Add to cartJesus’ command is clear: we are called to feed all of God’s children. But is that possible? Bringing together activists, politicians, scientists, pastors, theologians, and artists, this is a comprehensive picture of the current situation with the latest facts and figures, compelling stories both from those fighting against hunger and from the hungry themselves, and clear steps for action by individuals, families, churches, and communities.
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Separated By The Border
$18.99Add to cartIn 2017 five-year-old Julia traveled with her mother, Guadalupe, from Honduras to the United States.
Her harrowing journey took her through Mexico in the cargo section of a tractor trailer. Then she was separated from her mother, who was held hostage by smugglers who exploited her physically and financially. At the United States border, Julia came through the processing center as an unaccompanied minor after being separated from her stepdad who was deported. Gena Thomas tells the story of how Julia came to the United States, what she experienced in the system, and what it took to reunite her with her family. A Spanish-speaking former missionary, Gena became Julia’s foster mother and witnessed firsthand the ways migrant children experience trauma. Weaving together the stories of birth mother and foster mother, this book shows the human face of the immigrant and refugee, the challenges of the immigration and foster care systems, and the tenacious power of motherly love.
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With Her Last Breath
$15.99Add to cartWith Her Last Breath looks for answers of hope for those struggling with thoughts of suicide and their loved ones.
When Barbara M. Roberts first heard that her niece, Kathy, had taken her life, the pain was so bad she could barely stand it. If only she had called her more often; if only they had taken her to dinner one more time; if only she had taken her ‘suicide talk’ more seriously.
Suicide happens so often in our society that it now almost seems normal. People used to think that Christians did not commit suicide. But when Barbara read through Kathy’s 26-page journal, written within the last 36 hours of her life, she knew she was experiencing something the likes of which she had never seen in all her years of pastoral ministry. Kathy’s journal not only details the act itself, but her reasoning behind her suicide–a depiction of why she could not stay here on this earth one more day, looking forward instead to her hope of Heaven. Each chapter of With Her Last Breath is tied to a page in Kathy’s journal, intertwining the pages with stories of others and tools to help those who are suicidal or their loved ones, including what to watch for, how to care, and where to turn. Hearing others’ stories of suffering, those struggling with suicide in any manner are able to make more sense out of their own suffering and emerge with a vision of God’s love and faithfulness.
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Holy Disunity : How What Separates Us Can Save Us
$20.00Add to cartThese days, there’s no dirtier word than “divisive,” especially in religious and political circles. Claiming a controversial opinion, talking about our differences, even sharing our doubts can be seen as threatening to the goal of unity. But what if unity shouldn’t be our goal?
In Holy Disunity: How What Separates Us Can Save Us, Layton E. Williams proposes that our primary calling as humans is not to create unity but rather to seek authentic relationship with God, ourselves, one another, and the world around us. And that means actively engaging those with whom we disagree. Our religious, political, social, and cultural differences can create doubt and tension, but disunity also provides surprising gifts of perspective and grace. By analyzing conflict and rifts in both modern culture and Scripture, Williams explores how our disagreements and differences–our disunity–can ultimately redeem us.
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Bread For The Resistance
$17.99Add to cartSometimes you get tired, doing this thing we call justice. You feel burned out or disillusioned. Sometimes you just need a word from the Lord. In these daily devotions, Donna Barber offers life-giving words of renewal and hope for those engaged in the resistance to injustice. When your legs are tired from marching and your knees bruised from kneeling, you can experience rest and healing.
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Carpe Diem Redeemed
$22.99Add to cartHow do we make the most of life and the time we have? In the midst of our harried modern world, Os Guinness calls us to consequential living, reorienting our notion of history not as cyclical nor as meaningless, but as linear and purposeful. We can seek to serve God’s purpose for our generation, read the times, and discern our call for this moment in history.
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I See You
$17.99Add to cartWe don’t care about what we don’t see.
Countless people are invisible to us. We overlook the poor and homeless, partly because we don’t share much space with them. More seriously, we often choose not to see the realities around us. We hold misconceptions about who is deserving or not, or make false assumptions about people’s poverty being their own fault. Terence Lester calls us to see the invisible people around us. His personal encounters and real-life stories challenge Christians to become more informed about poverty and homelessness, and to see the poor as Jesus does. When we see people through God’s eyes and hear their stories, we restore their dignity and help them flourish. And when we recognize our own inner spiritual poverty, we have greater empathy for others, no matter their circumstances. Let love open your eyes. Discover how seeing leads us to act with compassion and justice–as God intends.
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Truth Over Fear
$20.00Add to cartQuestions and fears about Islam have proliferated American life for decades, from the Iranian Revolution in 1979 to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Yet more recent history has seen a new development in the tangle of Christian-Muslim relations: the mainstreaming of Islamophobia as a path to political and societal power at the highest level. Politicians and religious leaders now routinely spread fear and confusion about Muslim beliefs and practice in order to bolster their own positions.
Many recognize what is wrong with this situation but are frustrated with what seem to be limited options for response. Truth over Fear provides resources to address the manipulation of religious misunderstanding and intolerance. From renowned Christian scholar of Islam and longtime participant in Christian-Muslim engagement, Charles Kimball demystifies Islam, the world’s second-largest religion, and provides practical guidance on how to share simple facts about Muslim beliefs and practices with family and others, how to take the first steps in dialogue with Muslim neighbors, and how to move beyond dialogue to shared ministry and community building.
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I Was Hungry
$20.00Add to cartHunger is one of the most significant issues in America. One in eight Americans struggles with hunger, and more than 13 million children live in food insecure homes. As Christians we are called to address the suffering of the hungry and poor: “For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat . . .” (Matthew 25:35). However, the problems of hunger and poverty are too large and too complex for any one of us to resolve individually.
I Was Hungry offers not only an assessment of the current crisis but also a strategy for addressing it. Jeremy Everett, a noted advocate for the hungry and poor, calls Christians to work intentionally across ideological divides to build trust with one another and impoverished communities and effectively end America’s hunger crisis. Everett, appointed by US Congress to the National Commission on Hunger, founded and directs the Texas Hunger Initiative, a successful ministry that is helping to eradicate hunger in Texas and around the globe. Everett details the organization’s history and tells stories of its work with communities from West Texas to Washington, DC, helping Christians of all political persuasions understand how they can work together to truly make a difference.
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Different Shade Of Green
$15.95Add to cartWe have been shockingly bad at using our Bibles and our brains when it comes to conservation and the environment. Unhinged environmentalism is not the answer, but neither are ignorance and apathy. It’s time for something different.
Christian responsibility for the natural world goes back to the very beginning, when God commanded us to “fill the earth and subdue it.” This Dominion Mandate is an authoritative alternative to both environmental activists and to those who think “conservation” is a word progressives made up.
So what does “dominion” mean for us, living in a world of constant reports about impending global meltdown; of oils spills, pollution, and strip-mining; of extinction threats both real and imagined? A Different Shade of Green contains a compelling Christian approach to biodiversity, life cycles, and the environment, offering solutions and correcting errors while teaching us how to give thanks for-and rule over-all of creation.
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Invited : The Power Of Hospitality In An Age Of Loneliness
$29.99Add to cartJust come on over.
Many people today feel lonely, isolated, and disconnected from God and others. We crave authentic community, but we have no idea where to start. We’d be glad to cultivate friendships; but honestly, who’s got the time?
In Invited, writer Leslie Verner says real hospitality is not having a Pinterest-perfect table or well-appointed living room. True hospitality is not clean, comfortable, or controlled. It is an invitation to enter a sacred space together with friends and strangers. Through vivid accounts from her life and travels in Uganda, China, and Tajikistan, and stories of visiting congregations in the United States, Verner shares stories of life around the table and how hospitality is at the heart of Christian community. What if we in the West learned about hospitality from people around the globe? What if our homes became laboratories of belonging?
Invited will empower you to open your home, get to know your neighbors, and prioritize people over tasks. Holy hospitality requires more of Jesus and less of us. It leads not only to loving the stranger but to becoming the stranger. Welcome to a new kind of hospitality.
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Invited : The Power Of Hospitality In An Age Of Loneliness
$16.99Add to cartJust come on over.
Many people today feel lonely, isolated, and disconnected from God and others. We crave authentic community, but we have no idea where to start. We’d be glad to cultivate friendships; but honestly, who’s got the time?
In Invited, writer Leslie Verner says real hospitality is not having a Pinterest-perfect table or well-appointed living room. True hospitality is not clean, comfortable, or controlled. It is an invitation to enter a sacred space together with friends and strangers. Through vivid accounts from her life and travels in Uganda, China, and Tajikistan, and stories of visiting congregations in the United States, Verner shares stories of life around the table and how hospitality is at the heart of Christian community. What if we in the West learned about hospitality from people around the globe? What if our homes became laboratories of belonging?
Invited will empower you to open your home, get to know your neighbors, and prioritize people over tasks. Holy hospitality requires more of Jesus and less of us. It leads not only to loving the stranger but to becoming the stranger. Welcome to a new kind of hospitality.
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Protecting Your Child From Predators
$17.00Add to cartEven good parents often underestimate the dangers their children face. Research indicates that one in four females and one in six males are sexually abused before age 18. In most cases, the enemy is not a faceless stranger; it’s someone you know and trust–a neighbor, a coach, or even a family member.This book provides practical steps to ensure you’re doing all you can to reduce the risks of abuse. But since you cannot be with your children 24/7, it goes beyond what you can do as a parent to teach you how to increase your child’s own awareness and strategies in the face of potential dangers–without making them fearful.Dr. Robinson, whose decades-long practice focuses on abused and endangered children, calls on her own case studies to show age-appropriate conversation starters for parents, teaching them how to ask the right questions and provide the right boundaries.This book will help you move from fear to confidence on this heavy topic that is just too important to ignore.
