Andrew Root

Abiding in Amen

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“Wes Ellis is one of the great young theologians working within the church and leading a congregation. In this book Ellis lives out this vocation on every page. This book is soaked with a mind and life that lead people into deep theological reflection by teaching them to pray. This is an exciting work.”

Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?

Science & Faith

“It’s often unwise to judge a book by its title, yet this is the rare case when you should do just this. Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? is an intriguing title completely backed up with an even more intriguing book. Janet Kellogg Ray blends storytelling, biology, and biblical reflection to offer a very helpful, engaging, and important book. All pastors, parents, and young adults will find this book an essential resource in understanding faith and science and a way to faithfully embrace them both.”

Barth in Conversation

Theology

“Theological systems and philosophical tomes remain important, but now more than ever we’re aware that it’s not brain in vats that do theology, but living, embodied persons, with histories, commitments, and senses of humor. Barth told us long ago that it’s a joyful task to be a theologian, because it’s something that living persons do in contemplation of a living God. In this volume you’ll find a treasure of little known pieces of Barth that reveal, suddenly but surely, a living person doing theology with joy. Each piece gives us insight not only into Barth the theologian, but Barth the person. It is a joy to read, inspiring the reader to look again and again for revelation of God in Jesus Christ.”

Becoming God's Family

Theology

“This is a stirring book, beautifully written and rich on every page. Bringing the Scriptures and our lives together, this book has been needed for a long time. Many of us have longed for a book that explores the family inside the biblical tradition. This book is a gift to ministers, practical theologians, and biblical scholars.”

Between Two Gileads

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This is a book we all need. Hank Spaulding is one of my favorite up-and-coming theologians; not only are his thoughts always rich and extensive, but his ideas are always moving. Hank is a talented thinker and wonderful reader of texts, taking these ideas and thoughts and creating a beautiful vista with his writing. That’s just what he’s done with Between Two Gileads. This is a wonderfully creative and insightful book. It is timely, offering us all reflections we need in this time.”

Educational Ministry in the Logic of the Spirit

Discipleship & Christian Education

Foreword

(wrote a foreword)

Embedded Faith

Children & Youth

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Envisioning the Good Life

Theology

“Volf is one of the greatest theological minds of his generation, combining profound theological depth with adept creativity and willingness to mold his theology to address our many contemporary challenges. In this book you'll not only receive a resource to better understand Volf's work, but you'll be taken deep into a conversation that works the very center or aims of theology itself, directing its focus toward the good life. This book promises rich rewards for the interested reader.”

Eyes of the Heart

Science & Faith

“Haitch, with beautiful writing and deep thought, shows himself to be an able and wise guide. This is a book you need. It's splendid.”

Faithful Futures

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Maybe since the dawn of modernity listening for the sacred has been a struggle. But even so, in this late modern moment, it’s particularly difficult. It is hard work. Trying to hold on to anything sacred inside technological advances, capitalist drives, and political struggles has been a hallmark of modernity itself. But most often modernity has given us an empty cacophony because the sacred has been drowned in subjectivity. The only way back to something sacred—into any form of the sacred—is to listen. Josh Packard has given us an important way to listen to young people. And more, he’s given us a way to help lead them into listening. This book is filled with insights on the challenges and importance of listening and how this listening can reconnect us with the sacred. This is a timely and important book. It will go right onto my syllabi.”

From Isolation to Community

Christian Living

“There is no shortage of books on the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Nor is there any shortage of books on church and ministry in our contemporary moment. But books that can put these together are few and far between. Yet here is one! From Isolation to Community does so marvelously. With dexterity and depth Werntz brings Bonhoeffer to life in a way that will help churches faithfully minister in this time. It’s a valuable read.”

Glocal Theological Education

Discipleship & Christian Education

“Call it a crisis or not, theological education is in a time of major transition. Across the globe, consensus has arisen that things need to change; theological education needs new forms, new practices, new visions. But inside this consensus there has been despair, with no easy or straightforward pathway. It is amidst all the possibilities and perils that Glocal Theological Education arrives. This book will be an important resource in helping us all move forward faithfully.”

God is Not Black-and-White

Theology

“Robert Snitko offers us a wonderful pastoral call for unity, understanding, and the witness to reconciliation promised in Jesus Christ. With a sharp mind and a pastor’s heart Snitko draws us all back to the Apostle’s Creed and the centrality of Christ for a unity that can actually witness to the depths of God’s love in our pluralistic age. This book is timely, engaging, and insightful.”

Hidden in Contradiction

Theology

“Jeff McSwain does systematic theology in the cadence of the practice of ministry. Few to no one else can do this like he does. He continually lands doctrine nicely in the reader’s life. McSwain’s rich grasp of Scripture is complemented with stories and analogies unpacking his central idea of a Christological anthropology. Pastors and others seeking a robust theological grounding for gospel embodiment will find this work engaging, challenging, and refreshing.”

How I Changed My Mind About Evolution

Science & Faith

“While very few people seem to care about science as a philosophical construct, many people care about how scientific findings impact their understanding of life, love, meaning and faith. No scientific concept draws us into these contemplations more than evolution, which leads us to ask big questions about our nature and God's. This book should be embraced as a treasure. In it you will find unique minds wrestling with how we got here and what our evolutionary history has to do with God, the Bible and the depth of our lived experience. I promise this book will challenge you on nearly every page as you discover new insight after new insight.”

Hunting Magic Eels

Christian Living

“For us late modern people, who often feel like we've outgrown the meaning systems that claim that people, places, and even things can draw us into transcendence, Richard Beck invites us back. Not necessarily to return to the old superstitions but to rediscover, maybe for the first time, that all around us the finite participates in the infinite.”

Iconoclastic Sex

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This book is a gem! With amazing intellectual erudition, practical insight, and wisdom, Henry Spaulding has shown himself to be one of our most able young theologians and ethicists. Iconoclastic Sex is timely, important, and deeply insightful.”

Introducing Practical Theology

Christian Living

“Introducing Practical Theology does much more than you might think from the title. It no doubt introduces practical theology, but it goes much further, introducing a whole way of thinking about the field. Pete Ward is a unique thinker that uncompromisingly demands that practical theology attend to real people's experiences by respecting their tacit and meaningful lived theology. Ward champions the belief that ordinary people in our churches are indeed attending to God's action. In this volume you'll find a beautiful way for attending to theology in the everyday.”

Jesus Loves You and Evolution Is True

Science & Faith

“A few years ago, George Levine published a book called Darwin Loves You. He admitted in the preface that he ripped off his title from a bumper sticker that said 'Jesus Loves You.' Levine recognized the need for evolution to say something about beauty, art, and purpose. Jason Lief and Sara Sybesma Tolsma return to the original, reminding us that indeed Jesus loves us, and at the same time evolution may offer us the best picture of the origins and continued diversity of our material existence. Believing this doesn't oppose a deep confession in the love and mystery of Jesus Christ but can, with imaginative integration, take us somewhere deeper. Lief and Tolsma, writing as a theologian and scientist, live out this very integration, helping us see how we can address the young Levines in our ministries today.”

Liberating Youth from Adolescence

Children & Youth

“Jeremy Paul Myers has offered us a timely and engaging little book in Liberating Youth from Adolescence. It comes on the heels of other pieces in youth ministry arguing that adolescence is a constant empirical reality across all cultures and times, not an invention of industrial capitalism. Myers offer a competing and, I believe, more helpful construal. Escaping the hidden chains of scientific positivism, Myers offers a prophetic take that all working with young people should consider, study, and engage. In doing so, you’ll be moved to action that I’m confident will change your ministry.”