Joel Carpenter

An African Dream

History & Biography

“In 1973, leaders of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, itself only a few years old, saw the need for advanced theological studies—in Africa, for Africans, and by Africans. It was a bold vision, especially for evangelicals in Francophone Africa, where leaders with advanced education were perhaps only a half-dozen in number. Fulfilling that vision took courage and persistence, without much promise of organizational and financial resources. Histories of colleges and seminaries are usually rather placid, if not dull. Not this one. An African Dream recounts the rise and development of the Bangui Evangelical School of Theology (BEST) during army mutinies, presidential coups, the HIV-AIDS pandemic, and the struggles of everyday life in the Central African Republic—not to mention churchly intrigue and attempted theological coups. Through these many dangers, toils, and snares, BEST has come to be an exemplary theological school, and Jack Robinson shows how it got there, carefully detailing this story, step by step. This pioneering work makes an important contribution to the history of Christian development in modern Africa.”

An Invitation to Joy

Christian Living

“These reflections on joy are very encouraging. As Daniel Denk makes clear, we live in a world filled with sorrows, disappointments, and dangers, but joy is a gift from God; it is both a feeling and something far deeper that inhabits our very being. Listen to Denk. He knows life in its depths, he knows God, and he knows joy. May his book bring joy to many.”

Communities of Faith in Africa and the African Diaspora

Evangelism & Missions

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Conservative in Theology, Liberal in Spirit

Evangelism & Missions

“Karl Dahlfred’s study of the effects of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy on missions in Thailand offers a fascinating example of what makes Christianity a world religion: its kinetic interaction across cultural borders. This book offers much more than its title suggests. It is a carefully wrought view of how engagement with Thai people affected Western missionaries.”

Elisabeth Elliot

History & Biography

“Elisabeth Elliot first rose to fame by bringing the story of the ‘Auca martyrs’ to the world, but as this carefully researched and deftly written biography shows, she was much more than an iconographer. She became a provocateur who cast doubts on the triumphalism of the evangelical missions industry. She became an ardent critic of fundamentalist spirituality and cultural separatism. She encouraged a generation of evangelical artists and intellectuals who wondered if God really wanted to use their talents. And she was an arch-traditionalist who attacked modern egalitarianism, especially as it addressed gender roles. Elliot was a brilliant, difficult, and complicated person, and this biography treats her life with great sensitivity and honesty. Anyone who wants to understand Elisabeth Elliot, and indeed postwar American evangelicalism, needs to read this book.”

Finding God

History & Biography

“What wonderful testimonies to conversion, to God's meeting people where they are and turning what they already have toward Jesus Christ. This book shows some remarkable people searching for and finding God, but it is at least as much about God's finding them and drawing them in. The best thing about this expanded edition is that it includes more accounts from the global South and East. Those contexts are quite different, but the Savior's voice and touch reach people in those regions in ways that make our hearts burn with recognition here.”

For the Gospel's Sake

Evangelism & Missions

“This thorough and intelligently presented study proves that the more closely we examine American fundamentalism and evangelicalism, the more fascinating and unpredictable the story becomes. . . . There is a remarkable second generation of evangelical studies emerging just now, and this book is one of the best.”

From Bubble to Bridge

World Religions

“Interfaith dialogue has been happening for a long time, whether or not evangelicals have participated. So what might evangelicals bring to the table, other than a guilty conscience for coming rather late? From Bubble to Bridge offers an answer: their activism! These evangelical scholars ask, can dialogue help people of differing faiths get along better as neighbors? If that is not a cardinal aim, they insist, then dialogue seems rather sterile. So the authors set out a model of interfaith engagement. They endorse dialogue, yes, but beyond that, cooperation—out of mutual caring for the common good. Given the conflicts, tensions, and passions of our day, this book is very timely, very much needed.”

From Times Square to Timbuktu

“Over the past decade, we have seen many books that announce the rise of Christianity from the global South and East, but this new book by Wes Granberg-Michaelson is different. Yes, world Christianity is here, he says -- but now what? . . . Offering wise and winsome advice for intercultural fellowship and partnership, this book is both eye-opening and deeply practical. I hope it provokes fresh Christian thinking and engagement, far and wide.”

Global Evangelicalism

History & Biography

“Evangelical Protestant Christianity started with pietist prayer groups in Europe and the evangelical revivals in Great Britain, but now its advocates gather on every continent. By comparison, says Andrew Walls, the great Scottish church historian, global evangelicalism 'makes the Reformation look like just a little local difficulty.' This book is a fine place to start learning the story, and in the process, relearning Christian history.”

Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Most studies about African Christianity focus on how the faith relates to traditional Africa or how it has dealt with colonialism. As Africa becomes more urban and globally interactive, however, so does African Christianity. Megachurches spring up in every metro area on the continent. Where do they come from? Why do they grow? What difference do they make? European and American scholars have argued that African megachurches merely mimic those in the Northern Hemisphere. Dr. Gitau makes it clear, however, that these new assemblies are genuinely African responses to their contexts. She combines an insider's knowledge of this movement with the analytic tools of theology and social science to create a lively, refreshing, and original account of urban African Christianity.”

Restoring the Soul of the University

Discipleship & Christian Education

“All universities search for a soul, for some unifying vision of identity and mission. So say the authors of this remarkable book, and they comb through the history of universities in the West to show what kinds of souls they have—whether a heart for God's way and will in the world, for unifying and building a national culture, or for creating more personal wealth and prowess. And they show what a fragmented sprawl of competing visions and ambitions contemporary American universities have become. Can their souls be saved? Only if, the authors insist, they recover a pervasively theological vision, drawing on the only reality that can comprehend all that there is: God. Then they suggest ways in which theology might reintegrate university life. What a grand, sweeping book. I have been trying for forty years to learn how to be a Christian higher educator and to make higher education Christians, and this book humbles me with its breadth of knowledge and depth of wisdom. It should be required reading for this field, especially for those called to lead in it.”

Rising

History & Biography

“Daughrity’s personal narrative approach is refreshing and effective. It brings the reader close to some of the most dynamic expressions of Christian worship and witness around the world today.”

Teaching in a Distant Classroom

Evangelism & Missions

“Teaching in a Distant Classroom is a valuable introduction to college teaching as crosscultural ministry. Indeed, as a former college provost who cares a great deal about teaching Christianly, I think that it could be valuable for college teachers anywhere, including Christian colleges in the United States! These days, all college teaching is 'crosscultural ministry.' It is remarkable how little guidance newly minted Ph.D.s have received in the art and craft of good teaching, even if they have some university teaching experience. This book offers valuable introductions to these topics, and much more, including the life of learning as a genuine calling from God, the cultural assumptions behind much of Western college teaching and what it means to be an authentic ambassador of Jesus Christ in all of one's life. This is a wise and practical book, and I hope that many Christian professors will read it.”

The Registered Church in China

“Wayne Ten Harmsel’s firsthand account and reflections on the Three-Self Churches is very enlightening. He dispels some misunderstandings about these congregations and their leaders and shows them to be largely pragmatic and evangelical in their beliefs and practice. Three-Self pastors, the author shows, focus on making the most of their opportunities to minister by finding ways to work around the restrictions imposed on them. In a climate of increasing government pressure, the registered churches make do by avoiding confrontations and focusing on personal salvation and discipleship. Ten Harmsel has traveled extensively in China and visited with more than a hundred Three-Self congregations. He offers rare glimpses into the thought and practice of these, the most public and accessible but often overlooked Chinese Christians.”

Understanding World Christianity

History & Biography

“Christianity has been growing in Africa at a geometric rate, and soon the continent will be home to one out of every four Christians in the world. Increasingly, Africans claim ownership of the question of what it means to be a Christian in the world today. So Christians worldwide need to know more about the character of the faith in places like eastern Africa. This book is a very timely and useful resource, whether you are a student just beginning to explore the topic, a more advanced scholar looking to move deeper into some of its finer points, or just a curious-minded reader with new African neighbors in church or down the street. Understanding World Christianity: Eastern Africa is a fine addition to a very important series.”

Understanding World Christianity

History & Biography

“The story of Christianity in India is much older and more complex than one might imagine. All the major branches of Christianity are present: Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Pentecostal, and each has made a profound contribution to society and culture in India. At a time when Hindu nationalists say that Christianity is a foreign imposition, it is hugely important to know of Indian Christianity's ancient origins and the ways in which Indian people have made the faith their own. This book, then, is very timely and welcome.”

Wonderful Words of Life

History & Biography

“At least since the time when Paul and Silas sang from the depths of the Philippian jail, praising God with hymns has been central to the Christian faith. Isn't it odd, then, that so little careful study has been devoted to popular hymnody? True religion, Jonathan Edwards once said, can never be doctrinal knowledge only, 'without affection.' Vital faith is rather 'a ferment, a vigorous engagedness of the heart.' Few human acts can so powerfully fuse heads, hearts, hands, and voices like singing, and these authors show how multidimensional vocal praise has been. For American Protestants, hymn singing is nearly sacramental; it also can be political. Hymn singing expresses theological ideas, challenges common wisdom, defines and enacts community, and roots the gospel in culture. Wonderful Words of Life models the kind of scholarship we need for every time and place where Christianity has gone, to understand the powerful effects of ordinary people singing praise to God.”