Guides
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
A practical spiritual guidebook based on the life and teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by the Reverend James Martin (My Life with the Saints) shows us how to manage relationships, money, work, prayer, and decision-making, all while keeping a sense of humor about it all. Fans of Kathleen Norris and other Christian spiritual writers, as well as just the curious, are sure to appreciate the helpful and effective advice in this New York Times bestseller.
God’s Politics
New York Times bestseller God’s Politics struck a chord with Americans disenchanted with how the Right had co-opted all talk about integrating religious values into our politics, and with the Left, who were mute on the subject. Jim Wallis argues that America’s separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. God’s Politics offers a vision for how to convert spiritual values into real social change and has started a grassroots movement to hold our political leaders accountable by incorporating our deepest convictions about war, poverty, racism, abortion, capital punishment, and other moral issues into our nation’s public life. Who can change the political wind? Only we can.
Forgive and Forget
For all of us who have been wounded by another and struggled to understand and move beyond our feelings of hurt and anger, Lewis Smedes’s classic book on forgiveness shows that it is possible to heal our pain and find room in our hearts to forgive. Breaking down the process of healing into four stages and offering stories of real people’s experience throughout, this wise book provides hope and solace for all who long for the peace that comes with forgiveness.
Mere Christianity
A forceful and accessible discussion of Christian belief that has become one of the most popular introductions to Christianity and one of the most popular of Lewis’s books. Uncovers common ground upon which all Christians can stand together.
The Screwtape Letters
In this humorous and perceptive exchange between two devils, C. S. Lewis delves into moral questions about good vs. evil, temptation, repentance, and grace. Through this wonderful tale, the reader emerges with a better understanding of what it means to live a faithful life.
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter
For years, Sue Monk Kidd was a conventionally religious woman. Then, in the late 1980s, she experienced an unexpected awakening, and began a journey toward a feminine spirituality. With the exceptional storytelling skills that have helped make her name, the author of When the Heart Waits tells her very personal story of the fear, anger, healing, and freedom she experienced on the path toward the wholeness that many women have lost in the church. Kidd reveals a new level of feminine spiritual consciousness for all women—one that retains a meaningful connection with the “deep song of Christianity,” embraces the sacredness of ordinary women’s experience, and has the power to transform in the most positive ways every fundamental relationship in a woman’s life—her marriage, her career, and her religion.
When the Heart Waits
Blending her own experiences with an intimate grasp of spirituality, Sue Monk Kidd relates the passionate and moving tale of her spiritual crisis, when life seemed to have lost meaning and her longing for a hasty escape from the pain yielded to a discipline of “active waiting.”
Leaving Church
After five successful years as the pastor of her own small congregation in Clarkesville, Georgia, Barbara Brown Taylor ultimately finds herself experiencing “compassion fatigue” and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith, she may have to leave. Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor’s realization that this may in fact be God’s surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope—and ultimately, renewal.
Addiction and Grace
An inspiring and hope-filled vision for those who desire to explore the mystery of who and what they really are. May examines the “processes of attachment” that lead to addiction and describes the relationship between addiction and spiritual awareness. He also details the various addictions from which we can suffer, not only to substances like alcohol and drugs, but to work, sex, performance, responsibility, and intimacy. Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist working with the chemically dependent, May emphasizes that addiction represents an attempt to assert complete control over our lives. Addiction and Grace is a compassionate and wise treatment of a topic of major concern in these most addictive of times, one that can provide a critical yet hopeful guide to a place of freedom based on contemplative spirituality.
A People's History of Christianity
For too long, the history of Christianity has been told as the triumph of orthodox doctrine imposed through power. Now, historian Diana Butler Bass sheds new light on the surprising ways that many Christians have refused to conform to a rigid church hierarchy and sought to recapture the radical implications of Jesus’s life and message.
Why Faith Matters
Why Faith Matters is an articulate defense of religion in America. It makes the case for faith and shows its relationship to history and science. Refuting the cold reason of atheists and the hatred of fanatics with a vision of religion informed by faith, love, and understanding, Rabbi David J. Wolpe follows in a literary tradition that stretches from Cardinal Newman to C. S. Lewis to Thomas Merton—individuals of faith who brought religion and culture together in their own works. Wolpe takes readers through the origins and nature of faith, the role of the Bible in modern life, and the compatibility of God and science, concluding with a powerful argument for the place of God, faith, and religion in today’s world.
If the Church Were Christian
Quaker minister Philip Gulley, author of If Grace Is True and If God Is Love, returns with If the Church Were Christian: a challenging and thought-provoking examination of the author’s vision for today’s church… if Christians truly followed the core values of Jesus Christ. Fans of Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, and unChristian will find much to discuss in If the Church Were Christian, as will anyone interested in the future of this institution.
If Grace Is True
In this controversial bestseller, authors and Quaker ministers Philip Gulley and James Mulholland expand upon their belief in eternal salvation for all through God’s perfect grace. For seekers, for thoughtful Christians, and for the simply curious, Gulley and Mulholland offer a beautiful, timeless message of hope.
An Altar in the World
In An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor shares how she learned to encounter God far beyond the walls of the church. She reveals meaningful ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see, from simple practices such as walking, working, and prayer. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of meditation if we pay attention to what we’re doing and take time to notice the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Allowing yourself to get lost leads to new discoveries. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do. Through Taylor’s expert guidance and delicate, thought-provoking prose, we learn to live with purpose, pay attention, slow down, and revere the world we live in.
Death by Suburb
A great number of seekers find themselves in the seemingly unreal world of the suburbs. They read spirituality books but find themselves in carpools and coaching soccer, not in monasteries. Dave Goetz, a former pastor, shows that the suburbs are a real world, but a spiritually corrosive one. The land of SUVs and soccer leagues can truly be toxic to the soul. Suburbanites need to understand how the environment affects them and what spiritual disciplines are needed for their faith to survive and thrive. Goetz weaves sociology studies, his own experiences, current events, wisdom of the spiritual masters, and a little humor to equip spiritual suburbanites for how to relate to God amidst Starbucks, strip-malls, and perfect lawns.
In Praise of Doubt
In In Praise of Doubt, two world-renowned social scientists, Peter L. Berger and Anton C. Zijderveld, map out how we can survive the political, moral, and religious challenges raised by the extreme poles of relativism and fundamentalism. A book that asks and answers Big Questions, In Praise of Doubt offers invaluable guidance on how to have convictions without becoming a fanatic.
A New Kind of Christianity
In this much anticipated book, Brian McLaren examines ten questions facing today’s church—questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is, whether we have to understand Jesus through only an ancient Greco-Roman lens, what exactly the good news is that the gospel proclaims, how we understand the church and all its varieties, why we are so preoccupied with sex, how we should think of the future and people from other faiths, and the most intimidating question of all: what do we do next? Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to the Christian faith of tomorrow.
The Promise
In his work as a priest and commentator for FOX News, Father Jonathan Morris has traveled to the troubled spots of the world, meeting with Muslim youth during the rioting in Paris, sitting down with populists at odds with the Church in Venezuela, and investigating human trafficking in Germany. Now Father Jonathan peels back the layers of questions that arise when someone asks, “Why me?” in response to human suffering. With an accessible voice and calming pastoral guidance, Father Jonathan leads readers through each step of suffering—from doubt and anger to healing and acceptance.
The Greatest Prayer
Every Sunday, the Lord’s Prayer echoes in churches around the world.
It is an indisputable principle of Christian faith. It is the way Jesus taught his followers to pray and distills the most essential beliefs required of every one of the world’s 2.5 billion Christians. In The Greatest Prayer, our foremost Jesus scholar explores this foundational prayer line by line for the richest and fullest understanding of a prayer every Christian knows by heart.
Speaking Christian
In a revolutionary argument vital to every person of faith in the English-speaking world, acclaimed Bible scholar Marcus Borg—author of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time—argues that the very language Christians use has become dangerously distilled, distorted, and disconnected from the beliefs which once underpinned it. Stating a case that will resonate with readers of N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian, Borg calls for a radical change to the language we use to invoke our beliefs—the only remedy that will allow the Church’s words to once again ring with truth, power, and hope.
Naked Spirituality
In the same way he revitalized our faith in A New Kind of Christianity, church leader Brian McLaren reinvigorates our approach to spiritual fulfillment in Naked Spirituality—by tearing down the old dogmatic practices that hamper our spiritual growth, and leading us toward the meaningful spiritual practices that can help transform our lives.
Breaking Up with God
In the tradition of Barbara Brown Taylor and Sue Monk Kidd, Sarah Sentilles offers a poignant, beautifully wrought memoir of her personal crisis of faith. Sentilles was on the way to becoming a priest when she ultimately faced the truth: she no longer believed. Her moving story examines the question of how you leave the most powerful being in the universe—and, if you do, where do you go? Breaking Up with God is an inspiring reflection no matter where you stand on the matter of faith.
The Novice
Thich Nhat Hanh offers a poignant and beautiful novel with the power to teach, transform, and transcend all boundaries of faith, creed, country, and era. For readers who know Hanh from books such as Peace is Every Step and Anger, or for those who may be new to the writing of the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master and peace activist, The Novice will open a soulful road of introspection and self-discovery, a path leading to greater awareness of the means to manifest peace both inside oneself and in the world at large.
The Hidden Power of the Gospels
The Hidden Power of the Gospels reveals how the recurring cycles of change, loss, enlightenment, and maturation are illuminated by the Bible’s four gospels. Combining ancient Christian traditions, anthropology, and modern psychology, he reveals how each gospel focuses on a vital spiritual question. Matthew begins with “How do we face change?” Mark faces the hard question of “How do we move through suffering?” John stirs and elevates the soul as he asks, “How do we receive joy?” And Luke moves forward on the practical journey, as he inquires, “How do we mature in service?” By using this lens, the gospels become practical guides for creating faith-filled lives and a map for our never-ending spiritual journey.
Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment
The founder of The Chopra Center and the preeminent teacher of Eastern philosophy to the Western World, Deepak Chopra gives us the story of the man who became Messiah in his phenomenal New York Times bestseller Jesus. The author who illuminated the life of Buddha now offers readers an unparalleled portrait of Jesus Christ, from carpenter’s son to revolutionary leader, that is fresh and inspiring—a remarkable retelling of the greatest story ever told.
Made for Goodness
Over the years the same questions get asked of Desmond Tutu, the archbishop, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and veteran of the moral movement that ended apartheid in South Africa: “How can you be so hopeful after witnessing so much evil?” “Why are you so sure goodness will triumph in the end?” This book is his answer. Now, more than any other time in history, our world needs this message: that we are made for goodness and it is up to us to live up to our destiny.
Revelation of the Magi
Theologian Brent Landau presents the ancient account of Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, the three “wise men” who journeyed to Bethlehem to greet the birth of Jesus. Revelation of the Magi offers the first-ever English translation of an ancient Syriac manuscript written in the second to third century after the birth of Christ and safeguarded for generations in the Vatican Library. Following in the footsteps of Elaine Pagels and her exploration of the Gnostic Gospels, including the controversial Gospel of Judas, Landau delivers an invaluable source of information to a world interested in learning more about the Nativity and the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Last Week
Top Jesus scholars Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan join together to reveal a radical and little-known Jesus. As both authors responded to questions about Mel Gibson’s blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, they discovered that many Christians are unclear on the details of events during the week leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion. Using the gospel of Mark as their guide, Borg and Crossan present a day-by-day account of Jesus’s final week of life. The Last Week depicts Jesus giving up his life to protest power without justice and to condemn the rich who lack concern for the poor. Informed, challenged, and inspired, we not only meet the historical Jesus, but meet a new Jesus who engages us and invites us to follow him.
Love Wins
Fans flock to his Facebook page, his NOOMA videos have been viewed by millions, and his Sunday sermons are attended by 7,000 parishioners—with a downloadable podcast reaching 50,000 more. An electrifying, unconventional pastor whom Time magazine calls “a singular rock star in the church world,” Rob Bell is the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation. Now, in Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing, “Would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever?” With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly hopeful—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.
The Abolition of Man
C. S. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society.
Still
In Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, Lauren Winner describes how experiences of loss and failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of doubt and spiritual despair. Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest, Winner lays bare her experience of what she calls the “middle” of the spiritual life. In elegant and spare prose, she explores why—in the midst of the overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and boredom of her deepest questioning about where (or if) God is—the Christian story still explains who she is better than any other story she’s ever known. Still is an absorbing meditation combining literary grace with spiritual wisdom. It is sure to resonate with anyone looking to sustain a spiritual life in the midst of real life.
Simply Jesus
“The world’s leading New Testament scholar.” —Newsweek
In the tradition of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity and his own classic book Simply Christian, N. T. Wright invokes 200 years of Biblical scholarship to show us how we should best retell the story of Jesus today. For believers confronting the challenge of connecting with their faith, Wright offers a provocative new picture of how to understand who Jesus was and how we should relate to him.
Miracles
An impeccable inquiry into the proposition that supernatural events can happen in this world. C. S. Lewis uses his remarkable logic to build a solid argument for the existence of divine intervention.
Ruthless Trust
In his sequel to The Ragamuffin Gospel, bestselling author Brennan Manning shows how true and radical trust in God can transform our lives.
The Alchemist
Every few decades, a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, Paulo Coelho’s charming fable has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. The story of Santiago’s journey teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following our dreams.
Putting Away Childish Things
“We all know that Marcus Borg is a gifted teacher, biblical scholar, and writer of nonfiction, but it turns out that he’s a master storyteller, too.” —Brian D. McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity
Bestselling author, Bible scholar, and theologian Marcus Borg uses his core teachings on faith and the Bible to demonstrate their transformative power and potential in Putting Away Childish Things: the moving, inspirational story of a college professor, her students, and a crisis of faith.
The Spirit of the Disciplines
Dallas Willard, one of today’s most brilliant Christian thinkers and author of The Divine Conspiracy, presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life. He reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest. The Spirit of the Disciplines is for everyone who strives to be a disciple of Jesus in thought and action as well as intention.
Slow Way Home
On the surface, Brandon Willard seems like your average eight-year-old boy. He loves his mama, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and G. I. Joe. But Brandon’s life is anything but typical. Wise beyond his years, Brandon understands he’s the only one in this world he can count on. It’s an outlook that serves him well the day his mama leaves him behind at the Raleigh bus station and sets off to Canada with “her destiny”—the latest man that she hopes will bring her happiness. The day his mother leaves, Brandon takes the first step toward shaping his own destiny.
Hope Springs
Pull up a chair and discover the strength and sustenance of friendship with Jessie, Margaret, Louise, Beatrice, and Charlotte, as the unique bond forged between these five remarkable women is put to the test when one of their own is stricken with a deadly illness. Filled with the mystery and wonder that make life worthwhile, Hope Springs will lift your spirits and warm your heart.
Drops Like Stars
When we encounter pain and suffering, our lives are disrupted. Our normal paths and expectations come to a halt. Suffering forces us to take a new path, to create new expectations. In Drops Like Stars, Bell shows us how art does the same thing; it disrupts us, forces us to see the world differently and to forge new expectations. How will we reimagine suffering when we realize that God sees our lives as works of art?
Jesus Wants to Save Christians
In Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell joins with Don Golden, Christian activist and vice president of World Relief, to call upon the church to break from its cultural captivity and challenge the assumptions of the American Empire. Bell, whom the New York Times calls “one of the country’s most influential evangelical pastors” and whom Time Magazine named one of the most influential people in 2011, is a pioneer in the movement seeking new Christian expression, and anyone who has ever questioned their faith or is looking for answers they cannot find in their own church’s standard teachings will discover a new creed in Bell and Golden’s provocative and spiritually enlightening work.
Sex God
“You can’t talk about sexuality without talking about how we were made. And that will inevitably lead you to who made us. At some point you have to talk about God. Sex. God. They’re connected. And they can’t be separated. Where the one is, you will always find the other.” —from Sex God
Velvet Elvis
“This book is for those who need a fresh take on Jesus and what it means to live the kind of life he teaches us to live. This pursuit of Jesus is leading us backward as much as forward. . . . I am learning that what seems brand new is often the discovery of something that’s been there all along—it just got lost somewhere and it needs to be picked up, dusted off, and reclaimed.” —from Velvet Elvis
Living the Questions
Bringing together the voices of top Bible scholars and church leaders—including Marcus Borg, Diana Butler Bass, John Dominic Crossan, Helen Prejean, and John Shelby Spong—pastors David Felten and Jeff Procter-Murphy present a lively and stimulating tour of what it means to be a “progressive” Christian. Living the Questions explores matters many churches are afraid to address, including the humanity of Jesus and homosexuality, and examines in a new light traditional faith topics such as the Bible, atonement, salvation, the rapture, and more.
The Book of the Shepherd
In a mythical time, in an unnamed land, the shepherd Joshua is troubled by the harsh code of “an eye for an eye” that governs his world. Called by a dream, he sets off on a journey to find “the new way.” Accompanied by Elizabeth, a former slave, and David, a boy who must learn to walk in new shoes, the shepherd knows that “an age of miracles” will come when the new way is found.
Streams of Living Water
In this landmark work, Foster examines the “streams of living water”—the six dimensions of faith and practice that define Christian tradition. He lifts up the enduring character of each tradition and shows how a variety of practices, from individual study and retreat to disciplines of service and community, are all essential elements of growth and maturity. Foster examines the unique contributions of each of these traditions and offers as examples the inspiring stories of faithful people whose lives defined each of these “streams.”
Toxic Charity
Veteran urban activist Robert Lupton reveals the shockingly toxic effects that modern charity has upon the very people meant to benefit from it. Toxic Charity provides proven new models for charitable groups who want to help—not sabotage—those whom they desire to serve.
The Pastor
An inspiring memoir of faith, humility, and the joys and struggles of answering God’s call, from the most well-known pastor in the world—Eugene Peterson, translator of the internationally bestselling The Message. In this humble, personal chronicle, Peterson tells the story of how he stumbled into his vocation, and recounts his difficult journey to discover just what being a pastor really means.
Prayer
Bestselling author Richard J. Foster offers a warm, compelling, and sensitive primer on prayer, helping us to understand, experience, and practice it in its many forms—from the simple prayer of beginning again to unceasing prayer. He clarifies the prayer process, answers common misconceptions, and shows the way into prayers of contemplation, healing, blessing, forgiveness, and rest.
Theirs Is the Kingdom
Urban ministry activist Robert Lupton moved into a high crime area of Atlanta intending to bring Christ’s message into the ghetto—but his humbling discovery of a spiritual life already flowering in the city’s urban soil forces the minister to reexamine the deepest parts of his own soul, confronting his own patronizing, materialistic attitudes and the biases he himself held against the urban poor.
The Great Divorce
In The Great Divorce C. S. Lewis again employs his formidable talent for fable and allegory. The writer finds himself in Hell boarding a bus bound for Heaven. The amazing opportunity is that anyone who wants to stay in Heaven, can. This is the starting point for an extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment.
The Divine Conspiracy
A renowned teacher and writer of the acclaimed The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard, one of today’s most brilliant Christian thinkers now offers a timely and challenging call back to the true meaning of Christian discipleship.
A Letter of Consolation
Beloved author Henri Nouwen reflects on the spiritual significance of death and life in this moving meditation dedicated to “all those who suffer the pain that death can bring and who search for new life.”
Shame & Grace
If you persistently feel you don’t measure up, you are feeling shame—that vague, undefined heaviness that presses on our spirit, dampens our gratitude for the goodness of life, and diminishes our joy. The good news is that shame can be healed. With warmth and wit, Lewis B. Smedes examines why and how we feel shame, and presents a profound, spiritual plan for healing. Step by step, Smedes outlines the road to well-being and the peace that comes from knowing we are accepted by the grace of One whose acceptance of us matters most.
Intimacy
In his classic work Intimacy, Henry J.M. Nouwen, one of the most beloved spiritual writers of the 20th century, explores the pathway to a more creative and fulfilling intimacy in our relationship with God.
A Glimpse of Jesus
Beloved Christian writer Brennan Manning has long been illuminating the transforming power of God’s constant love for us in his bestselling books. Now he identifies self–hatred as the reason that so many of us seem unable to accept this incredible, unchanging love. By clearly examining and understanding Jesus’ life, we can put self–hatred behind us forever and truly be transformed in the ways God intended.
The Evolution of Faith
Renowned Quaker minister Philip Gulley, bestselling author of If the Church Were Christian, delivers a practical, insightful guide to developing a living, flexible, personal Christianity—a faith that allows you to confront the profound challenges facing every believer in today’s difficult world.
God According to God
In his first book since 2002’s acclaimed The Hidden Face of God, popular scientist Gerald Schroeder combines decades of scientific research and biblical study to present a groundbreaking new paradigm of how to understand God. Readers of Jack Miles’ God: A Biography, Francis Collins’s The Language of God, and Richard Friedman’s Who Wrote the Bible will find much to contemplate in God According to God.
What We Talk About When We Talk About God
Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Rob Bell does here for God what he did for heaven and hell in Love Wins: he shows how traditional ideas have grown stale and dysfunctional and reveals a new path for how to return vitality and vibrancy to how we understand God. Bell reveals how we got stuck, why culture resists certain ways of talking about God, and how we can reconnect with the God who is with us, for us, and ahead of us, pulling us forward into a better future—and ready to help us live life to the fullest.
The Importance of Being Foolish
Coming from the gentle yet compelling voice of Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish is a refreshing reminder of the radical call of Jesus and the transforming love of God.
A Grief Observed
Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moment,” A Grief Observed is C. S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss.
If God Is Love
If God is love, why are so many Christians fearful, and why do so many church leaders sound hateful? Two controversial pastors address issues the church won′t face, calling us to restore grace as the center of the Christian life.
The Problem of Pain
Why must humanity suffer? In this elegant and thoughtful work, C. S. Lewis questions the pain and suffering that occur everyday and how this contrasts with the notion of a God that is both omnipotent and good. An answer to this critical theological problem is found within these pages.
