Through the end of the month, we will give you a FREE copy of our first issue when you purchase a subscription to our print edition. Issue #2 will be released in February.

Subscriptions are available for $19.95 (1 year) or $36.95 (2 year)…

Go here now to subscribe today: http://subscriptions.englewoodreview.org/

If you are outside North America, you can get this new print edition for FREE as a PDF file. More info and signup here: http://global.englewoodreview.org/

[CLICK HERE to read the Table of Contents for Issue #1 (PDF)...]

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

Want a free ebook of our 2010 Book of the Year?

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Paraclete Press are offering a free ebook of Jonathan’s recent book THE WISDOM OF STABILITY to anyone who agrees to write about it on their blog, or in a print publication!

This is an important book and it is exciting for us to be able to offer free copies of the ebook…

If you are willing to write about the book (preferably before the end of February), drop me an email

e d i t o r [ a t ] e n g l e w o o d r e v i e w [ d o t ] o r g

with the following information:

• Your name.
• The name and address of your blog (or print publication where you intend to publish a review)

And we’ll email you a copy of the ebook…

At the close of another year, we thank God for allowing us another year of reading and reviewing books, and for all of you who have continued on this journey with us — reading our reviews or even writing reviews for us. 2010, of course, saw the launch of our print edition, about which we are really excited, and we are grateful for all who have been among our earliest subscribers. We have read (or excerpted) several hundred books this year, most of which have been very good – we try not to waste our time or anyone else’s with bad or even mediocre books – but we offer to you here the best of the best, our honor books for 2010.

As in past years, our primary criterion both for selecting books to review and for honoring the year’s best books is to choose books that are “for the life of the Church” – i.e., books that energize us to be the community of God’s people that God has called us to be and that nurture our mission of following in the way of God’s reconciliation of all things (in all its broadness!).

[ Read the full list of award-winning books here ... ]

In order to help us maintain our sanity and focus some more energy on making some of our other projects more sustainable, we will be making some changes to the online edition of The Englewood Review of Books for 2011:

• Our issues of the online edition, which have been weekly thus far, will now become bi-weekly.
• On the in-between weeks, we will post a brief update, which will feature videos, excerpts, poems, links, etc.
• Readers who receive our email updates about new issues will still receive a weekly notice of the new issue or off-week update.
• We will be starting a new, blog-like page where we will frequently post book-related news that will be of interest to our readers.  These posts will generally not be included in our weekly emails, and the best way to keep up with these posts will be through following us on Twitter or Facebook.
• Our first issue of 2011, will be released this Friday January 7th.

As our Advent gift to you, we will be uploading the audio recordings from the main sessions of the “A Rooted People: Church, Place and Agriculture in an Urban World” conference. (Click here for the conference website and more info on the conference).

Click for previous installments in this series:
[ Part #1 - Ragan Sutterfield / Fred Bahnson ]
[ Part #2 - Martin Price / Sean Gladding ]
[ Part #3 - Claudio Oliver / Martin Price ]

Talk #7 –Saturday  Afternoon Keynote.
“The 2050 Scenario—Peak Oil, Peak Food, Peak… Church?” – Fred Bahnson
Fred is a writer and co-founder of Anathoth Community Garden.

 Fred Bahnson - The 2050 Scenario - A ROOTED PEOPLE [54:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A Brief Reflection on
Slavoj  Žižek’s use of John Howard Yoder
In his New Book:

Living in the End Times.
Hardback: Verso Books, 2010.
Buy Now:  [ Amazon ]

By Chris Smith

[ Watch a video of Žižek talking about this new book... ]

This will not be a full review, as I am taking my time working through Slavoj Žižek’s new book Living in the End Times; I’m only about a third of the way through the book and savoring every word as I go.  However, since the book has been out for a few months, I thought that a reflection on Žižek’s brief reference to the work of John Howard Yoder in this new volume might fit well with the content of the current issue.   Before I get to Yoder, however, allow me first to summarize the project that Žižek is undertaking here.   Starting with the premise that global capitalism is in the last days before its collapse (a premise based on the evidence of ecological crisis, widening social and economic divides and the biogenetic revolution), Žižek makes a pointed and convincing case that humankind’s collective response to the reality of the imminent collapse of capitalism parallels the traditional five stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, withdrawal and finally, acceptance.  His work here demonstrates as clearly as any of his previous works that he is – as I have argues before in these pages – one of the keenest critics of global capitalism, to whom the Church must lend an ear as we seek to discern the signs of the times.

Žižek uses Yoder to critique some of the “anger” response to the collapsing of capitalism, the (very) basic line of his argument is that such anger is rooted in despair, but he offers Yoder’s work as a counter-example of hope that a different non-capitalist form of society is possible:  i.e., the Church.  He offers a sympathetic reading of Yoder, saying:

Yoder did not reject Constantinianism on behalf of an ascetic withdrawal of believers from social life:  aware of the limitations of democracy, he understood “being Christian” as involving a non-reconciled political standpoint.  The primary responsibility of Christians is not to take over society and impose their convictions and values on people who do not share their faith, but to “be the church.”  By refusing to repay evil with evil, by living in peace and sharing goods, the church bears witness to the fact that there is an alternative to a society based on violence or the threat of violence (129).

(more…)

As our Advent gift to you, we will be uploading the audio recordings from the main sessions of the “A Rooted People: Church, Place and Agriculture in an Urban World” conference. (Click here for the conference website and more info on the conference).

Click for previous installments in this series:
[ Part #1 - Ragan Sutterfield / Fred Bahnson  ]
[ Part #2 - Martin Price / Sean Gladding  ]

Talk #5 –Saturday – Morning Intro.
“The Three WHY’s” – Claudio Oliver
Claudio lives, farms and writes as part of a church community in Curitiba, Brazil.

Talk #6 – Sat. Morning Keynote
“Growing Food on Rooftops and Other Hard-to-Grow Places”
- Martin Price
Martin is the former Director of Educational Concerns For Hunger Organization (ECHO) in Ft. Myers, FL.

 A Rooted People Conference - Claudio Oliver [45:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 A Rooted People Conference - Martin Price - Sat Keynote [84:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As our Advent gift to you, we will be uploading the audio recordings from the main sessions of the “A Rooted People: Church, Place and Agriculture in an Urban World” conference.  (Click here for the conference website and more info on the conference).

[ Click here for the first installment of these recordings... ]

Talk #3 – Keynote Talk
“Introduction to ECHO” – Martin Price
Martin is the former Director of Educational Concerns For Hunger Organization (ECHO) in Ft. Myers, FL.

Talk #4 – Evening Storytelling
“The Story of God, The Story of Us”
- Sean Gladding
Sean is a member of the Communality community in Lexington, KY and author of the new book THE STORY OF GOD, THE STORY OF US  (Read our review… ).

 Talk #3 – Keynote Talk - "Introduction to ECHO” – Martin Price [69:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 Talk #4 – Evening Storytelling “The Story of God, The Story of Us” - Sean Gladding [44:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thirteen excellent books that would make great Christmas gifts!

And buying them from CBD through this page will help support the work of the Englewood Review of Books!

NOTE: This is not our “Best Books of 2010″ list, which will be published later this month.

	God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas By Dietrich Bonhoeffer, compiled by Jana Riess / Westminster John Knox Press Scroll up to read our review…
	The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture By Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove / Paraclete Press Our Best Book of the First Half of 2010!!! Read our review…
	Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals By Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove & Enuma Okoro / Zondervan Read our review from our first print issue…  (PDF)
	Journey to the Common Good By Walter Brueggemann / Westminster John Knox Press On our list of  Best Books from the First Half of 2010!!! Read our review…
	Building Cultures of Trust By Martin E. Marty / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Read our review…
	The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time By Judith Shulevitz / Random House, Inc On our list of  Best Books from the First Half of 2010!!! Read our review…
	The Story of God, the Story of Us: Getting Lost & Found in the Bible By Sean Gladding / IVP Books Read our review…
	Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught about God’s Wrath and Judgment By Sharon L. Baker / Westminster John Knox Press Read our review…
	The Sacredness of Questioning Everything By David Dark Our Best Book of 2009. Read our review and download a free copy of the full audiobook!!!
	Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life By Kathleen Norris / Riverhead Our Best Book of 2008! Now available in paperback… Read our review…
	Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir By Stanley Hauerwas / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Read our review…
	That Distant Land – Unabridged Audiobook on CD By Wendell Berry / christianaudio Fiction Read our review…
	Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture By Adam S. McHugh / IVP Books Read our review…

As our Advent gift to you, we will be uploading the audio recordings from the main sessions of the “A Rooted People: Church, Place and Agriculture in an Urban World” conference.  (Click here for the conference website and more info on the conference).

Talk #1 – Opening Session
“Humility” – Ragan Sutterfield
Ragan is a farmer and writer from Little Rock Arkansas, and author of  Farming as A Spiritual Discipline (Click here for our review…)

Talk #2 – Keynote Talk
“Lords, Priests, and Lovers (or Three Ways to Become a Master Gardener)”
- Fred Bahnson
Fred is a writer and co-founder of Anathoth Community Garden

 Fred Bahnson - A ROOTED PEOPLE - Talk 1 [89:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 Ragan Sutterfield - A ROOTED PEOPLE - Opening [55:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On Wednesday November 10, 2010, Indiana University hosted a conversation with Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson that was moderated by Bloomington’s own agrarian writer Scott Russell Sanders.

Click for our reviews of:

• Wendell Berry’s latest book What Matters?
• Wes Jackson’s latest book Consulting the Genius of the Place.

What follows is part two (of two) of a good quality audience recording of this very special event…

PART ONE of this interview is available here, if you missed it…

Enjoy!

 Standard Podcast [32:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download