Christian Scharen
Church Leadership & Ministry
“It turns out the contours of everyday spirituality and struggles to live a faithful life can be deeply helpful to scholars, ministers, and ordinary Christians in many locations, exactly because we share this historical moment of spiritual tumult. Her attention to women’s spirituality, and the interplay, told in their own words, between everyday spirituality and more traditional faith practices, is especially welcome.”
Theology
“Rooted in a vibrant engagement with Christian tradition, yet welcoming contemporary concerns such as science, ecology, and social justice, Craig L. Nessan has truly written a theology for all Christian people. In a time of spiritual fragmentation, it will do the church good to have an accessible take on the whole of Christian faith. Like all good theology, Earthy Faith is richly rooted in Scripture. Fortunately, Nessan brings these ancient words of faith into dialogue with hard questions asked by everyday people of faith. The result is an invitation to conversation I hope many across the church--from youth groups to church assemblies--take up.”
Discipleship & Christian Education
“Paul Hoffman joyously testifies to God's reviving breath stirring a congregation and bringing new Christians to baptism when a faith community embraces the Adult Catechumenate as the focus of its ministry. Those skeptical that an ancient way of forming Christians can work today will meet people whose lives were truly transformed as they walked with God, surrounded by God's people, on a journey of revelation, faith, and discovery that a congregation in Seattle simply calls 'The WAY.'" Craig A. Satterlee Professor of Homiletics Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago "Paul Hoffman has written a stunning book. The book describes one congregation's bold embodiment of the ancient catechumenate--a pattern of apprenticeship forming people into faith in Jesus Christ. It offers pastors, seminarians, and congregational leaders sage council for beginning this baptismal pattern of 'font-forming-faith' in their own communities, and in doing so sets out a gracious and vital proposal about the witness of faith in an increasingly secular society.”
Integrating Work in Theological Education
Discipleship & Christian Education
“This kind of book is both long overdue, and, for that reason, deeply needed. Generations of research on theological education (Farley, Kelsey, Foster) have pointed to the dis-integrating character of traditional patterns of theological education. This book offers a rich (and integrated!) discussion of how to change these patterns. Staff, faculty, administration, trustees, and church leaders involved in forming faith leaders should read, discuss, and enact changes based upon this energetic, collaborative book.”
Work, Money & Leadership
“Snyder has written one of the most honest and remarkable theologies of work I've read. Appropriately, as a Lutheran practical theologian studying Lutheran congregations and their membership, he draws on a rich theological tradition that comes down from Martin Luther on the value and dignity of daily work. His close-to-the-ground stories from everyday Christians are the heart of the book, and his brilliant engagement with them opens up a vibrant vision of how to imagine God involved in the place where most of us spend the majority of our lives. While his stories are from Lutherans of European background, an unsurprising fact given that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is predominantly white, his rich canvas of stories ought to inspire others, from other traditions and backgrounds, to add their stories and thereby deepen the rich and rewarding path upon which this work embarks.”
Theology
“Bard Norheim has written a magnificent book. It not only summarizes the many strengths of the Christian practices conversation, but deftly critiques some leading voices for inadequate attention to what, exactly, makes such practices Christian. It develops an exciting interpretation of Martin Luther's theology of baptism as something one practices daily. Highly recommended for a wide range of readers, from pastors and youth workers to professors of practical, historical, sacramental, and systematic theology.”
Preaching & Worship
“In the new digital age, attention has become the most important commodity, and companies currently spend over half a billion dollars vying for it. Giant media platforms like Netflix structure their offerings to produce “binge watching” shows, vying for more and more of our time. Rather than bemoaning these cultural shifts, in this clever and eminently practical book Hannan and Chandler take a deep dive into the world of media production, surfacing with treasures for preachers who want to be effective in forming Christian communities with the Gospel. Highly recommended.”
Christian Living
“This powerful book should be required reading for every ministry training program in North America. Highly recommended!”
Theology
“Too often rock music is written off by the faithful as 'the devil's music,' dangerous unless transfigured by the formulaic approach of the Contemporary Christian Music industry. Yet as Felix-Jager shows, rock music is not one thing, but internally diverse, representing many sub-genres of music. Further, these sub-genres are religiously complex, engaging a wide range of basic human and even explicitly religious concerns. This unique and compelling book is cognizant of the diversity and religious complexity of rock, and rewards the reader with a rich and original 'transformational theology of rock' by way of response. Highly recommended.”
NOTE: Only includes books currently in our catalog; not necessarily a complete list.
Church Leadership & Ministry
Theology
Arts & Literature
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