Shaking the System: What I Learned from the Great American Reform Movements Tim Stafford
At a time when talk about Christian activism, pro and con, proceeds amid mutual incomprehension, Tim Stafford has written a book that is unpretentious and wise, passionate and dispassionate in equal measure, and blessedly concise. Stafford looks at abolitionism, the crusade for women’s suffrage, temperance and Prohibition, the civil rights movement — enterprises for reform in which Christians were deeply involved — and asks what lessons we can draw from their successes and failures, lessons that should inform our choices as we seek “the kingdom of God … breaking into our world.”
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Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness Christopher Lane
Chances are that you know someone—perhaps in your own family—who is taking medication for anxiety or a related condition. Christopher Lane writes as an uncompromising critic. In his telling, a corrupt psychiatric profession has formed an unholy alliance with unscrupulous corporations, “pushing social anxiety disorder so aggressively that the public learned to think about mental health and unease in entirely new ways. … Together, they turned a rare disorder into a full-blown epidemic afflicting millions.” Is it really that simple?
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Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations Martin Goodman
The centuries from the birth of Christ through the reign of Constantine are familiar territory for many CT readers, but Martin Goodman—professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford University—approaches this period from a fresh angle. Enormously learned, intellectually ambitious, and fluently written, Rome and Jerusalem is rich in detail about the politics, the cultural currents, and the lifeways of his subjects.
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