Philip Jenkins
A History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, 1450-1990
History & Biography
“Given the widespread interest in the global spread of Christianity, this new book by Koschorke, Ludwig, and Delgado provides a splendid service to readers. These scholars have done a fine job in collecting relevant documents, with plenty of surprising and enlightening choices, and the book makes for fascinating reading. It should be of enormous value to both students and general readers.”
Biblical Studies & Commentaries
“Understandings of Mark’s Gospel have changed enormously over the decades. Once seen as a simplistic narrative by an untutored believer, Mark is now understood as the work of a subtle writer who used a deceptively simple literary style to present profound theological truths. The modern literature on Mark is so vast that a learned guide is essential for anyone wishing to make sense of it. Fortunately, we now have this work of exemplary scholarship in which David Garland offers his carefully considered thoughts on Mark, and on the gospel’s theological arguments. Both scholars and general readers will benefit greatly from Garland’s illuminating study, which is presented in such a clear, accessible writing style.”
Theology
“Beyond the Academy explores the implications of Christian theology in the setting of an oppressive and deeply divided Asian society, namely Myanmar. Throughout, David Moe centrally emphasizes lived experience, as he allows us to see through the eyes of grassroots Christians. The book is thoughtful, innovative, and it is truly moving to hear the voices of those ordinary believers as they live their faith. Thoroughly recommended.”
History & Biography
“Bullies and Saints is no simple apologia for the Christian church, or for Christianity as such. John Dickson offers a thoroughly frank account of Christian history, confronting some of the ugliest episodes in that story. But at the same time, he highlights and disproves the countless distortions and falsehoods that sceptics have so often levied against the faith. Such an honest accounting reinforces the view that Christianity is an essential foundation of our civilization. Dickson has written a very necessary book, which at the same time makes for enlightening and rewarding reading.”
History & Biography
“Alister McGrath presents a daringly ambitious idea, nothing less than a systematic history of Protestantism and its variant forms - evangelicalism, Pentecostalism - from the Reformation through the modern-day rise of world Christianities. This highly readable survey is at once wonderfully wide-ranging, and impressively fair-minded.”
Cultural Christians in the Early Church
History & Biography
“Praise for Cultural Christians in the Early Church Once upon a time, early Christians were stereotyped as sturdy white-robed heroes, who seemed little less than angels walking the earth. In her very readable (and thoroughly researched) book, Nadya Williams performs the amazing feat of presenting those ancient believers as real human beings, with highly recognizable virtues and flaws, living in environments not that different from what we know today. Indeed, as she shows, those Christians often acted very much like their modern counterparts and faced many of the same dilemmas in their everyday lives. Her book is a major achievement of imaginative inquiry.”
Fiction
“Dayspring is timeless in that it deals with an ordinary man suddenly and shockingly exposed to eternal realities far beyond his experience or comprehension. Not only was Harry Sylvester a powerful novelist in his own right, but Dayspring belongs in the very select list of American spiritual classics, of its great Christian novels... This is a thoroughly modern book in the questions it asks about the nature of Christianity, and the tremendous spiritual appeal of the forms of faith found in the Southwest. It is above all a novel of conversion, of how the rising sun of faith begins to ‘enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.’”
History & Biography
“Enlarging the Story is an eye-opening collection of essays by first-rate scholars, who, all in their different ways, remind us that a very great deal of Christian history happened outside Europe and North America. This challenging book is essential reading for anyone interested in tracing the global development of Christianity through the centuries.”
History & Biography
“It's not exactly true that this book explores Every Leaf, Line, and Letter of the Bible, as if such a project were even possible in a single volume. But the dozen contributions still offer a dazzling range of acute and informative studies of evangelical uses of Scripture over the past three centuries, all rooted in exemplary scholarship. Global and transnational themes are very well covered, and the authors show admirable concern with perennial themes of race and empire, of gender and social justice. The resulting book is both valuable and provocative.”
Fakes, Forgeries, and Fictions
Biblical Studies & Commentaries
“Fakes, Forgeries and Fictions is an impressive and provocative collection of essays about the hundreds of apocryphal texts and pseudo-gospels that Christians have written through the centuries. In the process, the essays ask challenging questions about the intentions of these early authors, and just what we mean when we label works as forgeries or fictions. This very informative book offers a rich array of good stories, and fine scholarship.”
“This is a splendid book. Of itself, the growth of Christian numbers to the Global South is no longer surprising, nor is the tension with an increasingly secularized post-Christian West. What makes this book so valuable is the author's ability to stand back and offer an astute and wide-ranging analysis of these trends, rooted in his wide experience and his passionate ecumenical commitment. He presents a confident, well-judged survey of the emerging face of Christianity that ranges, well, from Times Square to Timbuktu. Strongly recommended.”
George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles
History & Biography
“Victorian writer George MacDonald was a powerful influence on later authors such as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, and Madeleine L'Engle. In this fine collection of lectures, scholar Timothy Larsen provides an essential context to MacDonald's life and thought, and indeed to the religious history of the nineteenth century. With his acute literary and theological insights, Larsen's book is a readable and perceptive guide to one of the great Christian thinkers.”
Evangelism & Missions
“For decades now, ethnic diasporas have played a critical role in spreading Christianity to new regions, while reshaping the faith in traditional centers of belief. It is extremely valuable, then, to have such an impressive and wide-ranging collection of essays on this epochal phenomenon. The book impresses by its truly global diversity of expertise, and the uniformly high quality of contributions. Indispensable.”
In the Light of a Blessed Tree
World Religions
“In the best sense of the word, this is a deceptive book. Although written in such approachable terms, that simplicity conceals the author's deep scholarship and his extensive exploration of the faith of Islam, especially in a Western context. In the Light of a Blessed Tree is an inspiring work, and I hope this thoughtful book finds the wide audience it deserves.”
Biblical Studies & Commentaries
“Inside the Whirlwind addresses an issue of enormous significance to contemporary Christianity, namely how the rapidly growing churches of the global South interpret scripture. Jason Carter here focuses on the Book of Job, a work of enormous relevance to societies deeply acquainted with suffering. He has written a thoughtful, rewarding, and provocative book, from which Northern-world Christians can learn much.”
Theology
“Different societies vary in exactly how they understand Christ's gospel message in terms of their own culture. The rewarding essays in Jesus Without Borders offer an impressively wide-ranging survey of those diverse responses and understandings of Christology. Provocative and interesting.”
Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered
Church Leadership & Ministry
“While plenty of works now speak generally of African Christianity, this book is such a treasure because of its specific detail, its rich and textured account of the growth of a thriving megachurch. This is a smart and thoughtful analysis of an extraordinarily important phenomenon in contemporary Christianity.”
Migration and the Making of Global Christianity
History & Biography
Foreword
“In Beyond Christendom and other writings, Hanciles did so much to define an emerging field. Now, it is wonderful to see him applying his insights about migration and mission to an earlier era—nothing less than the first three-quarters of Christian history, the years before 1500. This is a remarkably ambitious goal, which he accomplishes with great success. Throughout, we must be impressed by his range of scholarship, and his acuity, as he roams through so many diverse eras and locales. He never lets us forget the links and parallels that bind those early centuries to our own day. This is an adventurous transnational history, which demands to be read and cited.”
Church Leadership & Ministry
“Jason Byassee has written an excellent account of Christian faith in contemporary England, specifically in areas that we might have thought deeply hostile to faith. The result is an insightful account of churches, parachurch networks, and church planting in a modern secular society, and it is far more relevant to current US conditions than we might initially think. His book is very well-written, and often really entertaining. Heartily recommended!”
History & Biography
“Saints can be off-putting and unapproachable figures, trapped in pious pictures and stained-glass windows. The pleasure of Christopher Armstrong's attractively written book is in seeing the very human, quirky side of some of the greatest heroes and heroines of the Christian story.”
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