Adam L. Gustine

Plundered

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“David Swanson is a wise guide—a needed voice in a fraught world. Plundered is a gift to the church, a compelling blend of penetrating insight and expansive vision for the life of the church in the world. Swanson's theological imagination draws us into a more connected world—showing us the intertwined injustices of ecological and racial violence. This is the kind of thinking we need as we move toward a future of unprecedented challenge. The best books help us see the striking similarities between being human and being Christian. Plundered invites us into deeper ways of being both.”

The Sacred Overlap

Christian Living

“This is a book I wish I could have written. The invitation to paradoxical mystery in the Christian life is not only something we desperately need to hear about, we couldn’t hear it from a better teacher. Briggs has crafted something beautiful here worthy of our attention. Here’s to entering the glorious mystery. DR. A.J. SWOBODA, assistant professor of Bible and theology at Bushnell University and author of After Doubt One of J.R.’s great gifts is his ability to ask unique questions in ways that help us all live more fully into kingdom realities. The Sacred Overlap is another such example. In a deeply divided world of either/or thinking, J.R. helps to chart a course that not only embraces the tensions of life but allows us to see that this is actually a better way. There is rich wisdom for those who desire to live the “in between” faithfully.”

Uncommon Church

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Alvin Sanders is a leader who knows of what he writes because it comes out of the very story of his life and ministry. His leadership and focus on the gospel at work in urban communities and communities experiencing the effects of poverty and injustice have translated into a book that will be inspirational and challenging to those who are willing to muster the courage to respond to what they read. Perhaps most importantly, Sanders connects the presence of the local church—enacting the gospel on the sidewalks and intersections of neighborhood life—to the possibility of experiencing something of a common good in our time. I appreciate the narrative focus; stories that weave throughout the wisdom Alvin has left for us to learn from as we read. It reinforces the credibility those of us who know Alvin can observe, even from afar, and provides a context to the insights he shares. Uncommon Church resists the temptation to cave to an overly spiritualized vision of the kingdom that sees no compulsion to deal with the injustice of the world while still maintaining a vibrant and nourishing spiritual center that comes from his many years of pastoral experience. We all would do well to read it, share it widely, and then get to work living out the wisdom we find.”