Books

New & Noteworthy Books

Chosen by Matt Reynolds.

Crowned with Glory: How Proclaiming the Truth of Black Dignity Has Shaped American History

Jasmine L. Holmes (Baker Books)

During the Jim Crow era, leading Black educators wrote history textbooks meant to elevate Black experiences that other textbooks ignored or obscured. Jasmine L. Holmes, a writer with an extensive teaching background, pursues a similar goal in Crowned with Glory, which uplifts a range of Black Americans who bore witness to God’s image in all people. As she explains, “I have written of Black Christians who understood their rights came from the Word of God, defended those rights in word and deed, and forged citizenship for themselves in a country that claimed to be founded on them.”

Love the Ones Who Drive You Crazy: Eight Truths for Pursuing Unity in Your Church

Jamie Dunlop (Crossway)

Conflict within churches over matters of politics and personality can sometimes signal a failure of gospel unity. But the good news, argues Jamie Dunlop, a pastor in Washington, DC, is that such conflicts offer valuable opportunities to affirm and live out the centrality of Christ. In Love the Ones Who Drive You Crazy, Dunlop turns to the later chapters of Romans for wisdom on bearing patiently with fellow believers. As he observes, “the glory [God] receives in your church’s unity is greater in disagreement and difference than if everyone were in the same place to begin with.”

C. S. Lewis in America: Readings and Reception, 1935–1947

Mark A. Noll (IVP Academic)

C. S. Lewis became a household name in America on the strength of his Narnia novels and his most famous work of apologetics, Mere Christianity. But even in the years preceding The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950), his star was already rising. In this volume, adapted from lectures given at Wheaton College’s Marion E. Wade Center (and responses from Wheaton faculty), historian Mark A. Noll tracks the early attention to Lewis among Catholics, Protestants, and secular commentators. He writes, “By bringing together what Lewis wrote and what Americans wrote about Lewis, we gain deeper insight into both Lewis and America.”

Also in this issue

Our cover story this month looks at the complexity of the immigration crisis through a different lens. Rather than focusing on politics or policy, “One Christian’s Quest to Change the Way We See Immigration” profiles one particular border ministry and its vision for a specific piece of land and the stories it tells. Also in this issue: new life for a Deadhead, Jesus’ take on thrift, insights from medieval Christian spirituality, and lessons in unheroic aid from the Good Samaritan.

Cover Story

One Christian’s Quest to Change the Way We See Immigration

Blessed Are the Thrifty?

Susan Mettes

Indian Church Draws Strength from Ostracism

American Evangelicals Divide over Ukraine

Jonny Williams

Trump-Era Controversies Had a Measurable Effect on Church Attendance

Abolitionist Bible to Go on Public Display

Why Prison Ministries Are Growing

Maria Baer

Dying to Our Selfies

A Person by Any Other Pronoun

Alexandra Mellen

The Border Is a Complex Place. Jesus Is There.

Why I’m a ‘Bible Thumping Fundamentalist’

Excerpt

There Is an Edge to Living on the Edge

Alicia J. Akins

I Stumbled in the Steps of the Good Samaritan

Eric McLaughlin

Review

The Law Can’t Always ‘Love’ You

Mike Schutt

Testimony

I Was a Disenchanted Deadhead Who Found Christ on a Greyhound Bus

Eric Watkins

Our Divided Age Needs More Talk of Enemies

Paul’s View on Death Changed Mine

Osvaldo Padilla

The Black Church Models a Different Conversation About ‘Gender Roles’

Khristi Lauren Adams

Mystics, Monastics, and the Moderns Who Need Them

Interview by Greg Peters

Review

Secular Figures Are Giving Faith a Second Look

Elizabeth Oldfield

View issue

Our Latest

News

Church Provides Shelter, Aid During Bondi Beach Attack

Amy Lewis

Australian Christians are finding ways to support the Jewish community after an ISIS-motivated shooting killed 15.

News

How Rhode Island Churches Responded to the Brown Shooting

Harvest Prude and Kara Bettis Carvalho in Providence, Rhode Island

God “draws near to us in our suffering,” local pastor Scott Axtmann preached after Saturday’s deadly attack. Area ministries were active too.

The Bulletin

Hanukkah Attack in Australia and Christmas Hospitality

Steve Cuss, Mike Cosper, Clarissa Moll

Shootings prompt a conversation about antisemitism and violence, and Being Human’s Steve Cuss discusses God’s hospitality.

News

Religion on Egyptian Citizens’ ID Cards Enables Christian Persecution

The requirement makes it difficult for religious minorities to get jobs, justice, and opportunities. Advocates are pushing for change.

Review

Personal Preference Is No Way to Judge Faithful Worship

Steven Félix-Jäger’s new volume on biblical, aesthetic, theological, and pastoral considerations in worship will serve many churches.

News

Killed: Acclaimed Gospel Vocalist Jubilant Sykes

The Grammy-nominated singer jumped from gospel to opera to spirituals to jazz; he considered it all sacred.

Review

Union With Christ Means A Responsible Life

Christa McKirland

Theologian Kelly Kapic’s new book Christian Life is a corrective to anxious faith.

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