Jen Pollock Michel

Para subir hay que bajar

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“Nos hemos olvidado del camino de Jesús—este que 'nos llama a agacharnos', escribe Marlena Graves. En su libro más reciente, Para subir hay que bajar, la voz de Graves es valiente y profética, llamándonos a todos fuera del desierto de la auto voluntad al arrepentimiento de la lujuria por el poder y la avaricia material. Pero esto no es simplemente un libro. Es un testimonio convincente de una vida: una mujer nacida en la pobreza y la opresión racial, que ve y ama a lo más bajo y nos invita a ser como ellos.”

Pastoral Confessions

Theology

“Jamin Goggin’s Pastoral Confessions contributes significantly to a renewing interest in the tradition of the seven deadly sins. With a biblical scalpel, Goggin, a longtime pastor himself, examines the vices that tempt the shepherds of God’s people. Going further still, he brings his own heart into the radiant light of God’s holiness. Such fearless, costly vulnerability can only be possible when someone grasps the expansive and extravagant love of Christ. Goggin makes a way for many to come after him, serving the church in the honest, humble power of our Lord.”

Placemaker

Christian Living

“In one sense, placemaking is a particular story rooted in a Pennsylvania farmhouse and shaded by the canopies of tall and aging trees. In another sense, it’s the universal story, swept up and carried in the river of human longing: to belong. As Purifoy so lyrically illustrates, placemaking isn’t just what we make of our places. It’s the spiritual practice of naming, of knowing, of remembering.”

Prayer in the Night

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“Prayer in the Night is another radiant example of wisdom formed in the crucible of suffering. As a priest who finds she can't pray, Tish Harrison Warren finds God in our harrowing vulnerability—and stubbornly holds to believing that God remains good even when life is not. This is a book I'll turn to again and again when life is upended. It's a book I will put into the hands of suffering friends. Prayer in the Night is a book that sings, even as it weeps.”

Praying Together

Christian Living

“Megan Hill learned to pray as a small child in the company of her parents and members of her local church. Now she’s written a rich resource on corporate prayer, helpful for families, small groups, and churches. I look forward to gathering friends and reading Praying Together. Better yet, I look forward to praying with them.”

Reading the Times

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Jeffrey Bilbro's Reading the Times makes a compelling sweep of material, technological, and philosophical history, helping Christians ask pressing contemporary questions: How do we attend faithfully to the news? To what political, moral,social, and spiritual ends do we scroll Twitter, check Facebook, and scan the morning headlines? Attention deficit, hyperpartisanship, and misinformation are familiar problems in our current media landscape, but Bilbro goes beyond these standard diagnoses. In the Augustinian tradition, he examines not just media consumption but media appetite. I find his work both practical and prophetic: one foot in chronos, one in kairos, Bilbro begs us to fight for better media habits and rightly ordered media loves. I hope people will gather together around these pages and attend to them slowly, prayerfully, resolutely.”

Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Women

“If there is a slippery subject in the church today, it’s “biblical manhood and womanhood.” We’re confused by the disagreements, constricted by the “rules,” and seemingly helpless to discern what’s true. This is why Aimee Byrd’s book is so important. Wading through the cultural murkiness, Byrd returns us to Scripture with theological rigor. I celebrate her strong voice and urgent plea to recover a better vision—for the good of the family and the church.”

Remember Death

Christian Living

“Can we face death and find hope? According to Matt McCullough, yes. Remember Death rightly reorients us to the impermanence of this world and the brevity of our lives, witnessing to the paradox that grief is necessary for faith. Richly informed by Scripture and a feast of other sources, this book vitally forms our longings for the world to come. I can’t wait to recommend it.”

Telling a Better Story

Apologetics

“If we are to be compelling witnesses for Jesus, we can’t offer answers to questions people are no longer asking. Apologetics, then, is never a static endeavor. It requires listening as well as talking—which makes Telling a Better Story an essential book for equipping the church. Using a broad array of sources, Joshua Chatraw has incisively explored the reigning cultural scripts and illuminated the beauty and coherence of the gospel by contrast. This is a book to underline, to study, and to discuss in groups. I look forward to recommending it widely.”

The Enneagram Goes to Church

Church Leadership & Ministry

“As Christians, we can sometimes pursue truth without also pursuing transformation. Without a doubt, the Enneagram has helped me attend to this gap and learn to apply the gospel to my own particular heart. It has become a tool for mortifying besetting sins, for mending broken relationships, and even for discovering my unique giftedness. For those who remain dubious about the Enneagram—its origins, its misuse—Todd Wilson is a theologically reliable guide. His heart is wisely pastoral, helping readers see the value of self-knowledge for the glorious purpose of self-giving.”

The Gift of Thorns

Christian Living

“In The Gift of Thorns, A. J. Swoboda has comprehensively argued a faithful theology of desire, and it is prophetic, pastoral urgency that ignites his words. On every page, Swoboda invites readers to believe the truly good news of Jesus. “The flesh entices us into short-term enjoyment and relief that leads to long-term anxiety and death,” he writes. “The Spirit invites us into painful faithfulness in the present leading to long-term life and peace.” May many read his words—and follow this narrow road of desire into the fullness of joy.”

The Good and Beautiful God

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“'What do you want?' This question, which Jesus often asked, is central to this book. If you want a life of growing connection to Jesus and a reliable plan for advancing that goal, this is a book to read and return to again and again. James Bryan Smith holds to the compelling paradox of God's good news: that while spiritual formation is not accidental, we only learn to love him because he, in his kindness, has first loved us.”

The Gospel After Christendom

Apologetics

“Christian witness requires, among other spiritual capacities, a kind of biliteracy. We must be fluent in the truth of the Scriptures and in our cultural contexts. The Gospel After Christendom is an essential primer in this fluency that enables powerful gospel proclamation, and I highly recommend its collected wisdom.”

The Magnificent Story

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“'We are story-making people,' James Bryan Smith writes. But what if the stories we tell and live are too small? What if the gospel story is truer, better, and more beautiful than we have ever imagined? As only a seasoned minister could, Smith asks and answers these questions with practicality and passion, theological lucidity and love. As he so importantly captures here in these pages, the story of Jesus doesn't just prepare us for the moment of death, but for every breathing, pulsing minute of life.”

The Pug List

History & Biography

“Alison Hodgson's tender lament in the wake of her family's house fire rings with faith and hope, even laughter. Her story mirrors life itself: love and beauty, complicated by grief--but never fully extinguished.”

The Radical Pursuit of Rest

Christian Living

“Here is the extravagant promise of John Koessler's wise, pastoral book: none of us needs to work harder at rest. Rather, rest is laid at the table of grace, which God himself has prepared. In this way, it is rescue for the weary and hope for the heavy-laden. When we realize that God hasn't invited us to share his busyness but enter his rest, we reclaim the holy leisure of worship. That's an invitation I can't seem to resist, and I'm thankful Koessler has made it so clearly and compellingly.”

The Sound of a Million Dreams

Christian Living

“Suanne Camfield's writing is vivid and lyrical, nearly every sentence like a pearl plucked from the mouth of an oyster. This book has enriched my life, daring me not just to dream but to become.”

Transfiguring Headship

Theology

“Transfiguring Headship doesn’t simply offer new answers to old questions. More generatively, it reframes old questions for the good, not just of the genders individually, but of the social units of the family and church. With Jost’s academic work now available to a wider readership, it will test cherished assumptions, insisting that the Holy Scriptures define our reality. Like all good scholarship, the dogged pursuit of truth in these pages is sure to disturb, even as it instructs.”

Turn Neither Right Nor Left

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Tragically, American evangelicalism is no less polarized than the wider culture, and this makes Jordan Pickering’s courageous book essential reading. With theological deftness, Pickering calls us back to our rightful center, Jesus Christ, to a proper understanding of Scripture, and a witness of humility and love. Turn Neither Right Nor Left does what good books should do. It doesn’t simply offer answers. It enlivens curiosities.”

Undaunted Joy

Christian Living

“Shemaiah Gonzalez’s deliciously poetic debut book, Undaunted Joy, is ripe with delight. Some may think of joy as a naive, indulgent refusal to deal with the wounded world. Doesn’t joy see? But this is the entire point, says Gonzalez, as she invites readers to behold God’s world and squeal their pleasure. To meet Gonzalez in these pages is to long for her joy—and the hopeful faith that makes it possible.”