John D. Witvliet
Hymns and Hymnody, 3-Volume Set
Preaching & Worship
“A remarkable group of scholars provides a perceptive set of essays to orient students to the riches of Christian hymnody throughout the first twenty centuries of Christianity. What a remarkable testimony this is to the Spirit's work in and through composers and poets throughout the centuries.”
Christian Living
“This book offers instructive, practical wisdom for shaping worship in local congregations, parishes, campus ministries, and other ministry contexts in ways that make seamless connections between what we do together in gathered worship and how we live and serve in the workaday world. Even as the authors present many ready-to-use resources, they are also patiently and creatively teaching us how to perceive, celebrate, and pray for the work of the Holy Spirit in and through God’s people in a wide array of pursuits. This is a book with transformative potential for worship ministries in a variety of circumstances.”
Discipleship & Christian Education
“"Christian theology, like musicology, uses words to describe realities and experiences that resist explanation. Lisa Hess explores how theologians could better attend to the performative, embodied nature of spirituality in all its various forms. This book is a helpful reminder of how elusive the subject of theology is, and points readers to a variety of voices and questions that are often neglected in theological reflection.”
Learning Theology through the Church's Worship
Theology
“Theology and worship belong together. What we do together in public worship arises out of and then further forms our particular visions of who God is, the kind of salvation that is offered to us in Jesus Christ, and the nature of the Holy Spirit’s work in the world. Ideas, practices, convictions, and perceptions all work together. Thanks to Dennis Okholm for inviting students to see so many of the connections! This book promises to deepen our engagement in worship, to encourage us in our life of faith, and to invite us to further reflection and learning.”
Church Leadership & Ministry
“Learning ministry involves so much more than learning skills and techniques. These letters from a wise, veteran pastor lead us into a deeper way of envisioning the very core of what pastoral ministry is all about—a way of seeing deeply into the hopes and fears in our hearts and in the people among whom we minister. May many growing pastors embrace this book as ‘pastoral wisdom literature.’”
Theology
“Life in God is a beautiful example of how patient theological and historical reflection can be a catalyst for contemporary renewal. . . . This volume calls us to dispense with the destructive dichotomy of doctrine and practice and to embrace approaches to theology that explicitly strengthen a Christian way of life. Boulton demonstrates how the writings of John Calvin continue to serve as a provocative, inspiring, and clarifying conversation partner for contemporary theologians.”
World Religions
“Jazz music--so creative and free, so grounded and disciplined--provides a vivid and illuminating metaphor for reflecting on the internal dynamics of faithful and fruitful Christian lives and worship practices. This book pushes readers beyond any initial superficial appeal of this analogy to explore how it might radically convert our perceptions about the shape, tone, and sheer beauty of Christian discipleship.”
Preaching & Worship
“While Matthew Henry is well known for his biblical commentaries and writings about prayer, his liturgical writings are not well known. In his book, Jong Hun Joo offers a helpful introduction to Matthew Henry's contributions to the shaping of public worship. The material discussion in this volume promises to sharpen our understanding of Nonconformist worship practices and liturgical spirituality. It also offers an instructive case study in the interplay of form and freedom in the long and variegated history of Protestant worship.”
World Religions
“A compelling study of the power of ancient, biblical poetry and sung prayer to express the deep cries of human hearts, to shape moments of profound encounter and recognition across religious and cultural divides, and to bear witness to the love of God in a hurting world. Dr. Sarwar's life of ministry and study has been a profound witness to the themes explored in this book--and now it is a gift to us to have the insights and convictions that have guided his ministry in written form. May many future pastoral leaders and students learn to return to the Psalms, to receive the gift of sung prayer, and to stretch beyond their comfort zones to reach out to others in peace-shaping, shalom-seeking ways.”
Reordered Love, Reordered Lives
Christian Living
“David Naugle writes as a philosopher, master teacher, and child of God. He draws on a wide range of classic Christian texts and crystallizes this countercultural wisdom about a virtuous and happy life for students of all ages. His candid discussion of the disordered human condition is particularly crucial for explaining just how dramatic and transformative the gospel really is.”
Arts & Literature
“This volume represents a burst of cross-disciplinary energy and insight that can be celebrated by musicians and theologians, music-lovers and God-lovers alike.”
Preaching & Worship
“"William Dyrness offers us here a very timely and strategic contribution to the growing conversation about how the arts can contribute to worship and the life of faith. By listening to so many varied voices of worshipers in actual congregations, Dyrness offers many illuminating insights that promise to sharpen not only the work of artists in many media, but also the faith life of pastors, theologians, worship leaders, and all thoughtful Christians who long for a multi-sensory life of prayer.”
Shaping the Prayers of the People
Preaching & Worship
“In the past generation, congregations have given renewed attention to many aspects of worship — preaching, music, the Lord's supper, and visual arts and media. Public prayer is, in too many cases, a notable exception. This wise and winsome volume promises to remedy that, leading congregations to become more intentional and faithful in shaping prayers that aspire to match the breadth and depth of God's redemptive activity.”
History & Biography
“A poignant, compelling, redemptive cry of the heart. Each of the thirty-four short chapters invites readers to slow down, to reread them before moving on. Like waves rolling in on an ocean seashore, each successive chapter immerses the reader in worlds of heartache and hope. The interplay of Reformed, Mennonite, Catholic, and Anglican voices is, in itself, a powerfully instructive case study in the formation of a contemporary disciple of Jesus. Yet that pales in comparison with the soulful lament of a son grappling with the memories and legacy of trauma. I found myself bracing against the author's noble candor, yet doubly grateful for the solemn invitation here to behold the fierceness of familial love and paradoxical splendor of divine redemption that contends with the wounds of a world gone wrong.”
History & Biography
“An instructive guide to a profoundly influential chapter in American religious history, demonstrating again the pastoral significance of Holy Spirit–led songwriters and singers in evoking and sustaining faith. Some readers will hum along as they read, recalling heart songs that shaped generations of believers. Others will be introduced to entirely new musical worlds and may well be astonished by the breadth and influence of the songs and practices described here.”
Preaching & Worship
“An illuminating study of a dramatic, intense, and instructive chapter in the history of Protestant church music, one shaped by strongly worded theological opinions and clashes among and between ecclesial and civic leaders. It is a gift to have new access in the English language to insights from the protagonists involved in these Dutch controversies, and to receive this invitation to pause and consider the remarkable power and influence of music in the Christian life.”
Theology
Foreword
“One of the gifts of this book is that David Stubbs does this careful work in such a generously orthodox and symphonic way, weaving together insights from biblical, historical, systematic, and practical theology, defying the tight boundaries that too often keep these disciplines apart. He does so in ways that invite all of us to pay attention to some of the most dearly loved and also some of the most rarely read passages of the Bible.”
Theology
“A deeply probing and richly evocative exploration of the central mystery of the Christian faith. This is a book to contemplate, to savor, to reread. It promises to nourish renewed Christian preaching, a new generation of Christian poets and hymnwriters, and ministries of witness, evangelism, pastoral care, worship, and Christian education that brim with doxological testimonies about the counter-intuitive, counter-cultural reality of Jesus' life-giving death. It is easy to glibly repeat Paul's claim that Jesus' death is a scandal and stumbling block. It is quite something else to let that claim transform how you perceive the world and the triune God who created it. This book confronts all that is glib and evokes that life-giving transformation.”
Preaching & Worship
“Offers a thought-provoking vision of God as an empathetic listener, a vision implicit in so much of what the church does in public worship, but relatively underdeveloped in the church’s long history of formal theological reflection. . . . This is the rare kind of book that can simultaneously challenge common assumptions about theological method, make bold theological claims about the character of God, correct readings of significant theologians in the history of the church, and inspire a deeper liturgical spirituality of wonder, expectation, and hope.”
Preaching & Worship
“All Christians are on a journey toward God's multicultural kingdom. We live in a remarkable time of opportunity for growth in understanding and shared practices across cultures. Drawing on years of creative leadership in a variety of contexts, Sandra Van Opstal offers us testimonies, tools and insights to inform the next steps in our own journeys of growth and sanctification. May God use this book to break down barriers and strengthen intercultural bonds of many worshiping communities!”
NOTE: Only includes books currently in our catalog; not necessarily a complete list.
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