Well, as most people in the US know, this Sunday is Super Bowl XLVI …

and usually the Super Bowl is not something that we would comment on here at The Englewood Review of Books, but this year Indianapolis is hosting the Super Bowl and it’s a pretty big deal locally.   Even closer to home than Lucas Oil Stadium, the site of the Super Bowl game, is the Super Bowl Legacy Project which has been a $150 million redevelopment in the Near Eastside neighborhood where Englewood Christian Church is located.

I have written a new piece about the role of churches and conversation in the Super Bowl Legacy Project, that is currently featured on the front page of the Christianity Today website:

A Legacy in Indianapolis That Outlives the Super Bowl

[ Read the full
Super Bowl XLVI Legacy Project article on the Christianity Today website... ]

(more…)

ERB editor Chris Smith has been curating a series of Advent reflections on the daily Lectionary texts on the Slow Church Blog.

We invite you to check out the following reflections that have been posted this week, and if you find them helpful, you can keep up with this daily Advent series, by following SlowChurch.com on FACEBOOK or TWITTER.

Monday 11/28: Fear Not! (Chris Smith)

Tuesday 11/29: The Immense Joy of Christ’s Victory (Chris Smith)

Wednesday 11/30: Incarnating Christ in our Places (Chris Smith)

Thursday 12/1: The Whoring Bride of Christ (Chris Smith)

Friday 12/2:  A Season Wrought With Tension (Kyle Mobley)

Watch for reflections by other frequent ERB contributors over the Advent season…

Last Saturday was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of The East Washington Street branch of the Indianapolis Public Library (the library located just south of Englewood Christian Church).

One of the treats of this celebration was a brief talk by renowned Indiana author Scott Russell Sanders on the importance of public libraries for common good.  Scott’s most recent book A Conservationist Manifesto was selected as a 2009 Englewood Honor Book, as one of the best books of that year (Read our review here).  He also has a large retrospective collection of his essays (that includes nine previously unpublished pieces) entitled Earth Works that will be released by Indiana University Press in early 2012 (and is available for pre-order).

Listen to or download this talk:

 Scott Russell Sanders on the Importance of Public Libraries.: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Recording posted with the permission of the speaker.

ERB editor Chris Smith and ERB contributor John Pattison recently launched a blog called Slow Church on Patheos.com:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slowchurch/

During Advent, Chris will be posting daily reflections on the that day’s lectionary text.  Advent is too often a season when the pace of life speeds up instead of slowing down.  Through these Advent reflections, we hope to challenge ourselves to slow down and remember all the gifts of life that surround daily.

To be sure you don’t miss these reflections, connect with  the Slow Church blog on Facebook, Twitter or by entering your email address on the righthand sidebar of the blog.

As we are assembling the next issue of our print edition (Advent 2011), we have been reflecting on the best books of the year.

We have some ideas based on the books we’ve read and reviewed this year, but we’d love to get your input.

Using the comments below, tell us what the best book is that you’ve read this year (preferably a book published this year, but we’d love to hear from you regardless) and just as importantly, WHY you loved that book.

If you need to jog your memory, some of our reviewers and readers have already weighed in our Facebook poll, do check out what they’re saying and place a vote there…

“Could it be that the American Christian tradition is more like Muhammad
than Jesus when it comes to questions of war and peacemaking?

This is the question that Lee Camp poses in a recent video (in three clips) discussing his new book:

Who Is My Enemy?:
Questions American Christians Must Face
about Islam — and Themselves.
Lee Camp.
Paperback: Brazos Press, 2011.
Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ]

[ Read our review...  ]

Click these links for  [ Part 2 ]  [ Part 3 ]

Next week, we will be running the main bookstore at The North American Christian Convention (the annual convention for our tribe of “Independent Christian Churches”) in Cincinnati.  This is the second year that we have done this bookstore and we’re very much looking forward to it!

If you are going to be at the NACC please do stop by and say “hello”!  Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for a bunch of deals that we will be running throughout the week!  If you’ve discovered us at NACC for the first time, I hope you find the issue of our weekly online edition below enjoyable and challenging!

If you’re not going to be at NACC next week, this is just a heads up that there will be no online issue next week.  We will post the next issue early in the following week (probably on July 13 or 14), before we head up to Chicago for the Ekklesia Project gathering.  Hope to see some others of you there!

As I was writing my review of Bruno Latour’s On The Modern Cult of the Factish Gods, I was reminded several times along the way of art critic Daniel Siedell‘s excellent book God in the Gallery (one of our Englewood Honor Books for 2008… read our review.)  I instinctively did a quick search online search to see what Daniel was up to these days and uncovered this excellent video of him speaking recently at Biola… Enjoy!

Our work here at The Englewood Review has always been focused, on promoting reading, and conversations about what is being read, as practices that are beneficial to local church communities.

So, as we get ready to celebrate the most important holiday of the church year, we would like to encourage you to take this Easter Season as an opportunity to share the ERB with your own church.

Specifically, we are offering our lowest price ever on our print edition ($13.95 for 1 year or $25 for two years – Save over 50% off newsstand price!), and inviting you to purchase a subscription for your church library, pastor(s), elder(s), teacher(s) and/or whomever you think should be reading the ERB.

AND, every subscription purchased will get a free copy of our second issue, featuring interviews with L.L. Barkat, Scot McKnight, and reviews including Read Mercer Schuchardt’s review of Marshall McLuhan by Douglas Coupland and an essay on congregational conversation by Mike Bowling. (The subscription will start with issue #3, which will be out in June…)

Also, if you have not yet subscribed yourself, this is an excellent opportunity for you to do so!

**** If you live outside North America, you can share our print edition with your church for FREE.
Invite them to sign up to receive our print edition via email (PDF):
http://global.englewoodreview.org/

HAPPY EASTER! Christ is Risen!

Click here to purchase subscriptions for your church….

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF ATTENDING INHABIT and have NOT registered, please do so immediately!

(Rumor has it that there are less than 50 spaces left!!!)

The ERB is proud to be one of the sponsoring partners of the Inhabit conference in Seattle, April 29-30.

We look forward to being there and engaging in the conversation, and passing out copies of our print issue #2!

If you are in the greater Seattle area, you should make every possible effort to participate in this unique event, and if you are within a reasonable traveling distance, it is well worth your considering a trip to Seattle!

More info is available on the conference website: InhabitConference.com

**** Two Weeks Left and still plenty of space left…
**** Please help us spread the word!!!

No Longer Strangers:
A Conversation on the Church and Immigration

Immigration is one of today’s most pressing issues, one on which there is much fear, misunderstanding and tension. We believe that in the church community – where, despite our ethnic heritages, we are brothers and sisters – we can begin to untangle the misunderstandings and seek justice and reconciliation together.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this important conversation – in English and Spanish – on the church and immigration.

Main Speaker:
Daniel Carroll Rodas, Author of: Christians At the Border

When: Friday evening April 8 and Saturday April 9, 2011

Where: Englewood Christian Church / Indianapolis

Registration / More Info: http://www.englewoodcc.com/nolonger/

Facebook E-vite (spread the word!): http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191803657497627