New Titles Catalogue: Autumn 2008

Fear or Fredom?
Why a Warring Church Must Change
Simon Barrow (Ed.)
9781905565146 Shoving Leopard/Ekklesia (2008), 139pp £12.95

The ugly public rows over sexuality, authority and the interpretation of the Bible in the Anglican Communion leave many people not caught up in internecine church conflict baffled and frustrated.
• What has this bitterness got to do with the Gospel and Jesus’ message of radical emancipation?
• Why is there so much fuss over a denomination that often appears a colonial hangover?
• What about the far more pressing issues of war, peace, development, environment, science and spirituality?
• How does such infighting impact the credibility of the Christian message in the twenty-first century?
With a short preface from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Fear or Freedom? takes a constructively critical look at the significance of ‘Anglican wars’ in the run up to (and well beyond) the much publicised 2008 Lambeth Conference, signalling some important fault lines in post-Christendom life and faith.
Drawing on material from the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, the book asks why many historic churches are in a mess and how they can change. Its message is positive. The churches can - and must - abandon their obsession with top-down control, and rediscover the Gospel as a subversive source of hope in society at large.
Contributors: Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley (Co-directors of Ekklesia), Glynn Cardy (St Matthew’s-in-the-City, Auckland, New Zealand), Deirdre Good (Professor of New Testament, The General Theological Seminary, New York), Savitri Hensman (Equalities adviser and writer, UK and Sri Lanka), Tim Nafziger (Christian Peacemaker Teams, USA), Chris Rowland (Dean Ireland Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford) and David Wood (Parish priest and university chaplain, Western Australia).
Publication date: 30 June 2008
ISBN: 9781905565146 (2008) 139pp

New Titles Catalogue
Autumn 2008

Anabaptism

Embodying the Way of Jesus
Anabaptist Convictions for the Twenty-First Century
Ted Grimsrud
9781597529877 Wipf & Stock (2007), 262pp £19.50
Ted Grimsrud proposes a fourfold approach to interpreting Anabaptist theology, considering themes from the Bible, from the tradition’s history, from present experience, and from envisioning a hopeful future. What emerges is an engaging portrait of a living tradition that speaks with urgency and relevance to a world badly in need of a message of peace.

States of Exile
Visions of Diaspora, Witness, and Return
Alain Epp Weaver
9780836194227 Herald Press (2008), 216pp £14.25
States of Exile offers a political theology of exile which envisions diaspora and return as both integral dimensions of the church’s witness for the shalom of the city. Unlike conventional views, Alain Epp Weaver insists that diaspora and return need not stand in irreducible opposition. He explores these understandings in critical conversations with John Howard
Yoder, Edward Said, Karl Barth, and Daniel Boyarin. His views also represent reflection on over a decade of living and working among Palestinian refugees. Epp Weaver envisions the Christian church as a community in exile which
must learn to be theologically “not in charge.” The church in exile, he argues, must cultivate a receptiveness to the inbreaking of God’s Spirit from beyond its walls.
Polyglossia: Radical Reformation Theologies Series, Vol. 3

What We Believe Together
Exploring the ‘Shared Convictions’ of Anabaptist-Related Churches
Alfred Neufeld
9781561486267 Good Books (2008), 160pp £9.95
Mennonite World Conference commissioned this project and asked theologian and teacher Alfred Neufeld, of Asuncion, Paraguay, to write this commentary on the shared convictions. In a rich and readable style, he fills out their meaning and significance, drawing upon Old and New Testament Scriptures, as well as examples and stories from history and
current church life around the world. Very engaging! This book offers a fresh and up-to-date look at the core beliefs, and the practices that have developed from them, held by Mennonite-related groups around the world today.

Biblical Studies

The Kings and their Gods
The Pathology of Power
Daniel Berrigan
9780802860439 Eerdmans (2008), 224pp £10.99
The scenario that confronts us in the biblical text of 1 and 2 Kings is a turbulent one. Daniel Berrigan minces no words in his assessment of that biblical era. Prophets, kings, and the gods they worship — all are found wanting. Berrigan examines the complex terrain of these two biblical books, opening our eyes to the deep flaws of their oft-praised characters. He shows that this dark time in biblical history is in many ways repeating itself today. The wars of these kings, Berrigan says, are our wars now, and we are fashioning our own gods to approve our misdeeds. These two books of Scripture come to vivid — and sometimes terrifying — life when we recognise these undeniable similarities.

Children

Bully Bill
Joy Birky
9780836193824 Herald Press (2008), 42pp £8.95
Bully Bill is like all bullies in the world: he thinks that because he can fight, he can get his own way. But when he encounters another boy, Happy Hal, who makes friends by helping others, Bill becomes curious about how this happens. When Hal introduces Jesus and the Golden Rule to Bill, things begin to change for the better. This delightful story, for early elementary school children, can serve as a springboard for parent-child conversations on the subject of bullying, being kind to enemies, and using love to overcome evil and meanness. The rhymed couplets encourage repetition and memorisation.

Christian Life

Beloved
Henri Nouwen in Conversation (+ CD)
Philip Roderick
9781853118098 DLT (2007), 96pp hb £9.99
This book and CD package is created from an interview he gave some fifteen years ago in which he reflects on this theme and on the many practical aspects of daily life in which the realisation that we are uniquely loved makes a transformative difference. Loneliness is changed to creative solitude and solitude becomes community when we learn to see ourselves
and others as beloved.

The Great Awakening
Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America
Jim Wallis
9780060558291 HarperOne (2008), 352pp hb £18.25
“I had always been a skeptic of the church of personal peace and prosperity ... of righteous people standing in a holy huddle while the world rages outside the stained glass. But I’ve learned that there are many people of the cloth who are also in the world, and from debt cancellation to the fight against AIDS and for human rights, they are on the march. Jim Wallis isn’t just part of this movement — he’s out front carrying a bullhorn.”
— Bono, lead singer of U2

Telling the Difference
Dr Jeremy Thomson
9781847990662 YTCP (2007), 292pp £12.95
For some, the very word ‘theology’ arouses suspicions. In this book, Thomson challenges that suspicion. All involved in the fields of youth work and youth ministry need to turn their theological assumptions into decisions, and that requires thought. Young people often face issues and ask questions that have theological dimensions. Youth practitioners
should be able to spot these theological dimensions and develop ways of bringing them into the open. This book helps us support young Christians in exploring their own faith. Thomson develops his argument with clarity, drawing on Scripture, early Church theological debate and more recent historical discussions. All this is grounded in practice. Crucially, Thomson elucidates the difference between youth ministry and youth work from a theological perspective.

Church

The Churc h of All Ages
Generations Worshiping Together
Howard A Vanderwell
9781566993586 Alban Inst (2007), 245pp £14.25
Led by pastor and resource developer Howard Vanderwell, nine writers — pastors, teachers, worship planners, and others serving in specialized ministries — offer their reflections on issues congregational leaders need to address as they design their worship ministry. In addition, numerous sidebars illustrate the diversity of practices in the church today.
Contributors do not propose easy answers or instant solutions. Rather, they guide readers as they craft ministries and practices that fit their own community, heritage, and history. Each chapter includes questions for reflection and group discussions, and an appendix provides guidelines for small group use.

Fear or Fredom?
Why a Warring Church Must Change
Simon Barrow (Ed.)
9781905565146 Shoving Leopard/Ekklesia (2008), 139pp £12.95
The ugly public rows over sexuality, authority and the interpretation of the Bible in the Anglican Communion leave many people not caught up in internecine church conflict baffled and frustrated. What has this bitterness got to do with the Gospel and Jesus’ message of radical emancipation? Why is there so much fuss over a denomination that often appears a colonial hangover? What about the far more pressing issues of war, peace, development, environment, science and spirituality? How does such infighting impact the credibility of the Christian message in the twenty-first century?
With a short preface from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Fear or Freedom? takes a constructively critical look at the significance of ‘Anglican wars’ in the run up to (and well beyond) the much publicized 2008 Lambeth Conference, signalling some important fault lines in post- Christendom life and faith. Drawing on material from the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, the book asks why many historic churches are in a mess and how they can change. Its message is positive. The churches can — and must — abandon their obsession with top-down control, and rediscover the Gospel as a subversive source of hope in society at large.

Contributors: Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley (Co-directors of Ekklesia), Glynn Cardy (St Matthew’s-in-the-City, Auckland, New Zealand), Deirdre Good (Professor of New Testament, The General Theological Seminary, New York), Savitri Hensman (Equalities adviser and writer, UK and Sri Lanka), Tim Nafziger (Christian Peacemaker Teams, USA),
Chris Rowland (Dean Ireland Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford) and David Wood (Parish priest and university chaplain, Western Australia).

New Monasticism
What It Has to Say to Today’s Church
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
9781587432248 Brazos (2008), 160pp £8.99
Wilson-Hartgrove founded a new monastic community and works with an alternative theological collaborative. In this book, he takes readers inside new monasticism, tracing its roots through scripture and history and
illuminating its impact on the contemporary church. He identifies the key tenets of new monasticism, including:
How monasticism is the oldest form of counter-culture in the West God’s alternative economy and financial practices for church Hospitality and active peacemaking A model for grassroots ecumenism What the church offers new monasticism: stability, diversity and structure
Due August 2008

Church History

The Purple Crown
The Politics of Martyrdom
Tripp York
9780836193930 Herald Press (2007), 200pp £13.25
The Purple Crown exhibits how Christianity’s ultimate act of witnessing, martyrdom, is an inherently political act. Your argues that the path of Christianity leads to a confrontation with the same powers that crucified Jesus. Tripp York goes outside of the normal understandings of public theology and points to the most powerful persuaders within Christian history: the martyrs. The martyrs remind us of the moment in which all the world was simultaneously exposed as fallen and redeemed, of Christ’s death and resurrection. In York’s telling, just as martyrs’ deaths reveal Christ, so too their lives
bear witness to the City of God, exposing those powers and principalities that crucified Jesus and continue to crucify him through his followers. He includes the biography of El Salvador priest Oscar Romero.

Conflict Mediation/VORP

Changing Paradigms
Punishment and Restorative Discipline
Paul Redekop
9780836193879 Herald Press (2008), 294pp £13.25
After several decades working in the field of restorative justice, Paul Redekop concludes that punishment is a major obstacle to healthy societies, families, and schools. Punishment can be so damaging, cruel, and barbaric, especially to children, that it should be replaced with restorative discipline, and societies should move toward a punishment-free justice system. “How can we make restorative justice a way of life? How does it apply to our lives and institutions? In this refreshing book, Paul Redekop helps to answer this by taking restorative justice further — to restorative discipline
and restorative living in general.” — from the foreword by Howard Zehr, author of Changing Lenses

Film and Faith

The Gospe l Acc ording to Harry Potter
The Spiritual Journey of the World’s Greatest Seeker
Connie Neal
9780664231231 WJK (2008), 392pp £9.99
Is Harry Potter a Christ figure? Was book 7 a metaphor for the resurrection? Just how much did religion help shape JK Rowling and the moral worldview of the most popular books of all time? Connie Neal has these answers and more!

Human Relationships

Crying for the Light
Bible Readings and Reflections for Living with Depression
Veronica Zundel
9781841015651 Bible Reading Fellowship (2008), 160pp £5.99
Through these 28 Bible reflections, meditative prayers and poetry, Veronica Zundel weaves her own experiences of living with depression, reaching out to others who share similar situations and offering advice to family and friends. Exploring how having faith and suffering from depression do not have to be mutually exclusive, Crying for the Light is not about pulling you out of the darkness but helping you through it, with God’s love in your heart.

Praying for the Dawn
A Resource Book for the Ministry of Healing
Ruth Burgess and Kathy Galloway (Eds)
978190155726X Wild Goose (2007), 192pp £10.99
In addition to giving a taste of the background, context and range of ministry of healing, Praying for the Dawn offers detailed resources for those who wish to introduce the ministry of healing to their own churches or groups but are unsure of where to start. These guidelines, based on many years of experience of planning and leading services of prayer for
healing and the laying-on of hands, both on Iona and elsewhere, are intended to give readers the confidence to go on and gain their own insights and experience in this work. Includes several liturgies and a large section of worship resources – prayers, readings, meditations and blessings.

Using the Psalms for Prayer Through Suffering
Simon P Stocks
9781851746736 Grove Books (2007), 28pp £2.95
All too often our forms of prayer together do not leave room for disappointment and suffering; if there is ever any problem, it is ours. And yet the prayers in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms, often point the finger at God. This study shows how the psalms of lament, with their two aspects of complaint and petition, can offer a framework for prayer which can sustain through the dark times as well as the good.

Leadership

Dancing Through Thistles in Bare Fet
A Pastoral Journey
Gary Harder
9780836193862 Herald Press (2008), 167pp £11.50
“This is narrative pastoral theology at its best. It springs from life situations, and its grounded in good biblical exegesis and clear theological reflection. Each encounter expresses the clarity, candour, humility and honesty of the servant stance that sees the good and brings out the best in others. And when things are going wrong, God appears.” — David Augsburger, Fuller Theological Seminary

A Guide to Preaching and Leading Worship
William H Willimon
9780664232573 WJK (2008), 144pp £9.99
One of the world’s most admired preachers here offers his practical and sage advice for some of the most basic tasks of ministry: preparing, delivering, and evaluating sermons; planning, leading, and evaluating worship services; offering public prayers; and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In addition, Willimon provides creative suggestions for involving laity in worship.

How To Become a Creative Church Leader
A Modem Handbook
John Nelson (Ed.)
9781853118135 Canterbury Press (2008), 434pp £17.99
A wide range of experienced church leaders and consultants (including Bridge Builders’ director Alastair McKay) reflect on key components of effective church leadership today:
Part one – People
Leading a team
Choosing and mentoring assistants
Leading lay ministers and volunteers
How to delegate
How to transform conflict
Part two – Organisation
Leading churches of different sizes
Leading multiple congregations
Relating to the local community
Initiating and completing projects
How to chair meetings
Part three – Up close and personal
What kind of a leader are you?
Getting your work/life balance right
Thinking strategically
Preaching with a purpose

The Human Face of the Church
A Social Psychology and Pastoral Theology Resource for Pioneer and
Traditional Ministry
Sara Savage & Eolene Boyd-Macmillan
9781853118128 Canterbury Press (2007), 256pp £19.99
“Unlike books that offer quick-fix “do-it-like-this” instructions about how to sort out issues in the church, this is a book that encourages understanding of the underlying issues: it is written in a way that encourages intelligent engagement, with helpful boxes suggesting ‘discussion points’ and ‘Pause for thought’. The subtitle and the blurb make a point of mentioning Fresh Expressions and pioneer ministry, and some not working with this focus may not immediately register the wide usefulness of this book: many of the comments that are made about pioneer ministry and doing things differently could equally well apply to many local ministry situations too.” — Joanna Cox

Preaching Ethically
Being True to the Gospel, Your Congregation, and Yourself
Ronald D Sisk
9781566993616 Alban Inst (2007), 132pp £17.25
Preaching Ethically offers guidelines for preaching in light of a range of factors that might tempt a preacher to misuse the pulpit. How do you preach about controversial issues? What do you say from the pulpit when your marriage is in trouble? What are the ethics of preaching in times of local or national crisis? How do you draw from resources found on the
Internet and elsewhere without plagiarising or misleading listeners about the source of the materials? How do you write a sermon when you know very little about a subject? Why and how do you feed a congregation a balanced sermonic diet? To be true to ourselves and our calling, says Sisk, we must examine how the many factors that can influence our preaching come into play. The calling to preach the gospel compels us to preach in ways that keep the gospel foremost, treat the congregation fairly, and are true to our own convictions and our personal integrity.

Stilling the Storm
Worship and Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times
Kathleen S Smith
9781566993272 Alban Inst (2006), 229pp £9.75
When congregations go through difficult times, worship will both reflect and influence those difficulties. The practice of worship itself can be a key part of the congregation’s healing process. Teacher and consultant Kathleen Smith successfully demonstrates this truth in Stilling the Storm, a book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the ways that worship intertwines with the life and health of a congregation. There are three main types of difficulty congregations can face: times of crisis, transition, and conflict. Smith considers their differences, similarities, and implications for worship, and explains the congregational dynamics that accompany such times and the roles that leaders play. She
reviews basic principles of worship and the ways that unique moments and regular habits of worship shape the congregation. For each type of difficulty she suggests important themes for congregations and their worship planners.
Smith explores the wide range of liturgical resources available for congregations of all worship traditions.

The Word Militant
Preaching a Decentering Word
Walter Brueggemann
9780800662776 Fortress (2008), 224pp hb £19.99
Against the easy assurance of a too-enculturated religion, Walter Brueggemann refocuses the preaching task around the decentering, destabilising, always risky word that confronts us in Scripture – if we have the courage to hear. These powerful essays, previously available only in journals, are here combined with a newly composed preface and introduction. Includes a foreword from the Reverend William H Willimon.

Mission

After McDonaldisation
Mission, Ministry and Christian Discipleship in an Age of Uncertainty
John Drane
9780232526547 DLT (2008), 166pp £11.95
The decline in church attendance continues in the US and Europe, yet increasing numbers of people are turning to ‘spirituality’; the continuing impact of globalisation and consumerism has been joined by a post-9/11 culture of fear and a search for truth. In this sequel to the hugely influential The McDonaldisation of the Church, John Drane considers what must come next for the Church. He presents the case for a more ‘practical theology’, a reinvigorated style of ministry and the restatement of classic Christian beliefs for the 21st century; not just as ‘things to believe’ but ‘values to live by’.

Hospitality and the Other
Pentecost, Christian Practices and the Neighbour
Amos Yong
9781570757723 Orbis (2008), 192pp £13.99
Building careful Biblical scholarship and insights into the practices of Jesus and the early church, launched on the day of Pentecost, Amos Yong: (1) shows that the religious “other” is not a mere object for conversion in the Scriptures but a neighbour to whom hospitality must be extended and from whom Christians should be open to receiving hospitality; and
(2) argues that the practices of the Christian community must reflect this insight if they are to be faithful to the trinitarian God of Jesus Christ.

Mission Shape d Evangelism
The Gospel in Contemporary Culture
Steve Hollinghurst
9781853118425 Canterbury Press (2008), 192pp £14.99
Mission Shaped Evangelism is a landmark book that will renew our understanding of what the gospel — literally ‘the good news about Jesus’ — is for today’s cultures. It begins with a key challenge — do we believe God speaks in the cultural context, or only in the Christian traditions?
Part 1: Listening to God in the cultural context
Part 2: Listening to God in the Christian tradition
Part 3: From theory to practice
Due October 2008

Mission-shape d Questions
Defining Issues for Today’s Church
Steven Croft
9780715141533 Church House (2008), 228pp £14.99
‘If we are to grow and mature as a mixed economy Church, there are hard questions to be asked and answered. We need first-class thinking to back up and support all that is happening at local level. I hope this collection will get the attention it richly deserves.’ — Archbishop Rowan Williams

The New Atheists
The Twilight of Reason and the War on Religion
Tina Beattie
9780232527124 DLT (2007), 209pp £8.95
Tina Beattie, argues that the threat of religious fanaticism is mirrored by a no less virulent and ignorant secular fanaticism which has taken hold of the intellectual classes in Britain and America. Its High Priest is Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, but its disciples and acolytes include well-known public figures such as philosophers Sam Harris, Daniel
Dennett and A C Grayling, journalists Christopher Hitchens and Polly Toynbee, and novelists Martin Amis and Ian McEwan. Theologians such as Alister McGrath and Keith Ward have defended the rationality of Christian beliefs about God, but both sides neglect wider questions about faith, science, power and justice in a postmodern world, which impinge deeply on all our lives.

Paradigm Shifts in Christian Witness
Insights from Anthropology, Communication, and Spiritual Power
Charles Edward Van Engen, J D Woodberry et al
9781570757716 Orbis (2008), 208pp £13.99
If there is one book you are going to read to understand the deep currents affecting Christian life and witness today, this is it. Paradigm Shifts in Christian Witness enlists the world’s foremost observers of global Christianity to discern the most important intercultural patterns and paradigm shifts as the Christian movement matures beyond postcolonialism as a world religion.

Youthwork After Christendom
Jo Pimlott and Nigel Pimlott
9781842276051 Paternoster (2008), 176pp £9.99
The authors’ hope is that Youth Work after Christendom will be an invaluable resource to youth workers, stimulating their thinking and enhancing their ability to engage sensitively and contextually with young people in and beyond the churches. They hope, too, that this volume will introduce post-Christendom perspectives to those who might otherwise not recognise their significance, but who will be inspired by reading this book to look at many other dimensions of life and faith from this
distinctive angle of vision. And for those who have read the earlier volumes, here is another – maybe unexpected – subject that cannot remain unaffected by the demise of Christendom and the coming of the strange new world of post-Christendom.

Peace

118 Days
Christian Peacemaker Team Held Hostage in Iraq
Tricia Gates Brown (Ed.)
9781438202433 CPT (2008), 240pp £12.99
On November 26, 2005, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) members Tom Fox and Jim Loney along with delegation members Norman Kember and Harmeet Sooden were kidnapped in Iraq. Tom Fox was killed on March 9, 2006. Jim, Norman and Harmeet were freed two weeks later on March 23 after 118 days of captivity. The kidnapping of these four peacemakers was like a rock thrown into a pond. This collection describes the ripples on the water, the impact and results of that rock, in stories characterised by hope, courage, friendship, and forgiveness. 118 Days bears witness to vital peacemaking being done around the world in these times.

Hope Indeed
Remarkable Stories of Peacemakers
N Gerald Shenk
9781561486328 Good Books (2008), 120pp £9.95
Hope Indeed! is his collection of stories of stunningly ordinary people behaving with extraordinary hope. Here are the stories of— Ned Wyse, a farmer/pastor in Michigan, chosen randomly for a near-death beating by some neighbourhood kids, and what he did about it. The Palestinian parents who gave their young murdered son’s organs to ill Jewish children.
The Amish, who subverted the vicious violation of their innocent children in the Nickel Mines school by refusing to multiply the horror, and instead offered forgiveness and generosity. Jewish Cantor Michael Weisser and his family who took carry-out food to the white supremacists who had harassed them mercilessly. The German Lutheran pastor couple who offered their home to recently desposed and homeless Erich Honecker, who had ruthlessly ruled East Germany. Brother Ivo who kept bringing former Catholic and Muslim neighbours together as war escalated in Bosnia.

Peace Churc h and the Ecumenical Community
Ecclesiology and the Ethics of Nonviolence
Fernando Enns
9781894710787 Pandora Press/WCC (2008), 360pp £24.50
“This is a small church that has put ethics and theology very closely together... and the peace issue is at the very centre,” Enns, a Mennonite theologian from Germany, said of the Historic Peace Churches. “I feel this is a very rich tradition that should present (itself) in a clearer way.” While Enns grew up in the peace church tradition, he also found valuable perspective as he became involved in the ecumenical movement. He feels the two spheres have much to share with each other, and he hopes his book contributes to that conversation. Enns, a member of Central Committee, also carefully grounded the principles of nonviolence in trinitarian theology. The church, he said, is the place where overcoming violence must start.

To Rwanda and Back
Liberation Spirituality and Reconciliation
Mary C Grey
9780232526646 DLT (2007), 228pp £12.95
What happens when a celebrated feminist theologian whose work has always sought pathways of healing and hope visits Rwanda? If reconciliation is at the heart of the meaning of the church, how do we come to terms with the terrible truth of the church’s complicity in genocide?
Mary Grey’s shattering experience led to a re-examination of her understanding of justice and reconciliation. The result is a remarkable book that magically weaves into an interconnected whole ideas from many different religious and ethnic traditions - Hindu, Sufi, Islamic, Korean, Jewish, Yoruba - and many different theological traditions - liberation and feminist theology and eco-theology.

Social Justice

Faith Beyond Despair
Building Hope in the Holy Land
Elias Chacour with Alain Michel
9781853119064 Canterbury Press (2008), 128pp £8.99
Elias Chacour is described in the foreword to this new book as ‘a man of peace in a country at war’. This book — based upon conversations recorded by a French journalist Alain Michel — mixes autobiographical reflections with a powerful critique of the current state of the Middle East, and the author’s own ‘road map’ for peace. This, he says, lies in the
mutual recognition by Jew and Arab of the humanity of the other, and an agreement to try to move suspicion aside. However many the stumbling blocks, the author believes that ‘to achieve a truly just and fraternal peace is the one desire of the majority of both populations’.

Planetwise
Dare to Care for God’s World
Dave Bookless
9781844742516 IVP (2008), 160pp £7.99
This is not another book on green issues to make you feel guilty. The message is that there is hope. God can take your small and insignificant efforts and multiply them in his great plan. Dave takes us right into the heart of his family and shows how living simply, besides honouring God, can be an exciting adventure. Caring for our planet is integral to our Christian faith, something that will have ramifications for the whole of our lives. Here is a message to honour our Creator. It will free us up, not tie us up in legalistic knots.

Sharing the Blessing
Overcoming Poverty and Working for Justice
Kathy Galloway
9780281059492 SPCK (2008), 95pp £8.99
Sharing the Blessing is about how you can work for change. It will encourage you to think spiritually and creatively around issues of economics, globalisation and migration. By putting a human face on huge social problems, which can so easily seem abstract and distant, you can more easily connect these issues with your faith. Here you will find practical suggestions and spiritual guidance that will help you to make a real difference to those suffering from injustice and poverty

Spirituality

Prayers for a Privileged People
Walter Brueggemann
9780687650194 Abingdon (2008), 192pp £9.99
In Prayers for a Privileged People, this much-published author sculpts — as carefully as if with chisel — prayers on behalf of those who are people of privilege and entitlement — the haves — at an urgent moment in our society. The privileged face, on the one hand, the seduction of denial or, on the other, the temptation of despair. These prayers of wisdom and
prophetic power remind us that when things go wrong , when we are afraid , and when we feel prodded by those who lack voice, there is a conversation we can have — a conversation situated amid the promises and commands of God when (and perhaps especially when) they disagree with Ron. For all who aspire to be faithful citizens of God’s beautiful kingdom, I enthusiastically recommend this work.” — Gregory A Boyd, Woodland Hills Church, Maplewood, Minnesota, and author of The Myth of a Christian Nation

Jesus and the God of Israel
“God Crucified” and Other Essay
Richard J Bauckham
9781842275382 Paternoster (2008), 280pp £14.99
The basic thesis of this important book on New Testament Christology, sketched in the first essay ‘God Crucified’, is that the worship of Jesus as God was seen by the early Christians as compatible with their Jewish monotheism. Jesus was thought to participate in the divine identity of the one God of Israel. The other chapters provide more detailed support for, and an expansion of, this basic thesis. Readers will find not only the full text of Bauckham’s classic book God Crucified, but also groundbreaking essays, some of which have never been published previously. Due August.

Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction
Christianity and the Battle for the Soul of a Nation
Rodney Clapp
9780664230883 WJK (2008), 192pp £9.99
“Directing attention to the tensions that are at the heart of that project called ‘America’ Rodney Clapp draws on a profound understanding of the Christian story to help us see how the Christians in America are rightly Americans. His account of Johnny Cash is worth the price of the book. It is so because he helps us see that Johnny Cash in all of us — a seeing that
is at once truthful and freeing of sentimentality. I highly recommend this wonderfully written book.” — Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School.

Political Theology
An Introduction
Michael Kirwan
9780232527452 DLT (2008), 224pp £12.95
This guide to a vibrant, fascinating and sometimes bewildering subject is designed for both theology students and students from religious studies programmes. It avoids, or explains where necessary, technical theological terms, and supplies a helpful glossary. Political Theology challenges believer and non-(or not-yet) believer alike, to each learn a new language, so they can talk respectfully to one another — a situation which, for once, make the lecture hall a microcosm of society at large, not an enclave from it.

Send Forth Your Light
A Vision for Peace, Mission, and Worship
Willard M Swartley
9780836193848 Herald Press (2008), 349pp £13.25
In Send Forth Your Light, Willard M Swartley develops a biblical theology of peacemaking and witness to the powers. He draws on both Old and New Testaments to address two controversial topics: payment of taxes used to support war-making and what the Bible teaches about Israel. Underlying these topics are two agonising questions — can one be faithful to the peacemaking Messiah and continue to support mind-boggling military expenditures? How should Christian believers view Israel, both as a state and as a people?
This book uniquely unifies themes of peace, mission, and worship. Peace and mission, both at the heart of Jesus’ gospel, are viewed as God’s gift, first and foremost. For those who faithfully worship God, peacemaking and sharing the gospel in mission are the fruit of the faith.

Seven Ways To Change The World
Reviving Faith and Politics
Jim Wallis
9780745952987 Lion (2008), 256pp £8.99
In Seven Ways to Change the World, Jim Wallis argues that politics has failed to solve the biggest issues of our time: extreme and needless poverty, global warming and environmental degradation, terrorism and the endless cycle of violence, racism, human trafficking, health and education, respect for human life and the crisis in families and parenting.
Whatever happened to the ‘common good’? Writing out of a US context but applicable to the wider world, Wallis helps us rediscover our moral centre and infuses us with the inspiration and passion we need to chart a new course and build the kind of movements that change politics.

Stricken by God?
Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ
Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin (Eds.)
9780802862877 Eerdmans (2008), 527pp £17.99
“This wonderful book is must reading. Stricken by God? addresses one of the problems that is most alive today, the view of the Crucifixion as the vengeance of a wrathful God which is held by some traditional Christian theologies. The writers counter with a rich variety of analyses whose common thread is that violence comes from man and not from God.”
— René Girard

Who Will Be Saved?
William H Willimon
9780687651191 Abingdon (2008), 176pp £8.99
Perhaps we should stop asking, Who will be Saved? and ask instead, “How is God calling me to participate in the redemption of the world?” Rejecting the idea that God chooses some and not others, drawing on his Wesleyan heritage, and deepening his longstanding theological conversation with Karl Barth, Willimon reflects as a pastor and a theologian on God’s intention that all would someday return from the far country into the loving embrace of the One who created them.

The Work of Jesus Christ in Anabaptist Perspec tive
Essays in Honor of J Denny Weaver
Alain Epp Weaver and Gerald J Mast (Eds)
9781931038492 Cascadia (2008), 342pp £19.95
How should Anabaptists, Mennonites and other Christians think today about the saving work of God in Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection? In this volume, 20 leading theologians, biblical scholars, historians of Anabaptism, pastors, and peacemaking practitioners offer their reflections. In addition, while engaging the thought of J Denny
Weaver, they ponder such questions as these and more: Should Jesus’ atoning work be viewed as a sacrifice? Or is it better viewed as a defeat of the powers of sin and death?

DIRECTOR’S CUT
For this season’s catalogue, I just want to highlight three recent
Mennonite titles from North America which I think should be read
by everyone in the UK who is interested in the current direction of
Anabaptist theology. That means YOU!

Recovering Jesus
The Witness of the New Testament
Thomas R Yoder Neufeld
9780281059720 SPCK (2007), 352pp
£12.99
During the past twenty years we have been treated to a huge and somewhat overwhelming wave of new titles about Jesus. Unfortunately, the scholarly debates about Jesus have been quite polarised and it has not been easy to find a serious scholarly work that relates to those from a less critical tradition. Neufeld has filled that gap with this very
careful look at the Jesus of the New Testament. While aimed primarily at students, it is fairly easy to read and will be of interest to all who are looking for a moderate and solidly Anabaptist voice in Jesus scholarship. But this is by no means a work of abstract theology – it is about how a careful reading of Jesus leads us to the Kingdom of God which Jesus was
living and teaching and which should be a part of the lives of all who would follow him. Highly recommended.

Embodying the Way of Jesus
Anabaptist Convictions for the Twenty-First Century
Ted Grimsrud
9781597529877 Wipf & Stock (2007), 252pp
£19.50
This book is a series of essays and sermons written by an important voice in American Mennonite theology. While it is not a carefully structured theological work, it nevertheless articulates a very clear vision for what Grimsrud thinks Anabaptist theology should look like (and how it should be used) in the 21st century. Grimsrud suggests that Anabaptist theology,
from its beginnings in the 16th century, has been a practice-oriented theology centred on privileging and following the life and teachings of Jesus. Such a practice-oriented theology, focusing on practice instead of doctrine, and placing ethics at the centre, is well-placed in our society to engage with the issues which now face us, issues like global poverty, war and the environmental crisis. Grimsrud’s book is a very welcome, helpful, very easy-to-read addition to current discussions on Anabaptist theology. It also compliments Yoder Neufeld’s book (e.g. it presents a different Mennonite viewpoint on Christology). It is true that a few of the essays are aimed at an American audience, but this should not discourage readers in the UK, who will learn much of interest about the theological debates happening among North American Mennonite
theologians. Don’t miss it! (Note: my full-length review of this book on the webshop at www.metanoiabooks.org.uk)

The Work of Jesus Christ in Anabaptist Perspec tive
Essays in Honor of J Denny Weaver
Alain Epp Weaver and Gerald J Mast (Eds)
9781931038492 Cascadia (2008), 432pp
£19.95
This book is another collection of essays, many of them focusing on Denny Weaver’s vital contribution to the recent debate on the atonement in The Nonviolent Atonement. I would not normally speak so highly of a collection of such essays, especially when other good collections of essays on the atonement already exist, but this collection is unique. Primarily this is because it contains a variety of Mennonite perspectives on the theology of the atonement, but also because it relates these perspectives to the wider discussion of Mennonite views on Christology, ecclesiology and nonviolence. As in any collection of essays, there are some essays which are stronger than others, and this book
is not as important as the previous two, but for anyone who wants to know more about the discussions taking place in the field of Mennonite theology today, this book is a must-read.