Divine Surprises in the Tight Spots of Life
Carol Kent
Zondervan, 2010
240 pp., $16.99
Manion lost his mother at an early age and has since walked with many others through painful trials. He invites readers to enter into the biblical narrative of the Israelites in the wilderness as a way to find God. The backdrop of Kent's book is her son, who is serving a life sentence for murder. Kent weaves letters from her son with other "grace place" stories to underline hope and joy in Christ.
The Good News About the End of Christian America
Gabe Lyons
DDay Religion, 2010
192 pp., $13.99
Wilkens and Thorsen do a good job of explaining what evangelicalism is and isn't, exploding some myths and reinforcing the reality that the movement is much more diverse that the media let on. Lyons, coauthor of the popular UnChristian, argues that younger Christians are trying to forge a new way of being Christian that rejects a lot of what evangelicals (or, à la Wilkens and Thorsen, a segment) currently represent.