I have really been getting back into the works of Walter Brueggemann recently, his two newest books are fabulous ( An Unsettling God and Journey to the Common Good — click for our reviews) and I just picked up a used copy of his classic The Land while I was in Grand Rapids.

So, I was excited to find out about this six-part series (each segment is about an hour long) that Brueggemann gave last Fall on the book of Daniel and what it means for the people of God to be a holy people.   (H/T:  Ragan Sutterfield)

• Part 2 – October 7, 2009
  
• Part 3 – October 14, 2009
• Part 4 – October 21, 2009
• Part 5 – October 28, 2009
• Part 6 – November 4, 2009

Today is the birthday of the late author and illustrator Theodore Geisel (aka, Dr. Seuss).

Here are two articles on Dr. Seuss  from Mental Floss magazine with stories that offer a deeper look at his life and works:

• 10 stories about Dr. Seuss’s most beloved books
• 5 stories about Dr. Seuss himself.

And here is the movie of one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, The Lorax:

Here is a recent video of Wendell Berry reading and commenting on his short story “Making it Home” (found in That Distant Land), in a talk given at the Wisconsin Book Festival.

If you enjoy this video, you will want to check out our recent reviews of a new Wendell Berry book and audiobook from last Friday’s issue:

• Our Review of Imagination in Place: Essays
  (Counterpoint Press, 2010)
• Our Review of THAT DISTANT LAND audiobook
  (ChristianAudio, 2010)

This is a long video, and if it keeps stopping and buffering, you might want to hit the pause button for a few minutes and let most of it load.

Brian McLaren’s newest book A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY (HarperOne, BUY NOW from ChristianBook.com) was just released last week, and now TheOoze.tv is featuring a series of videos with Brian that engage the content of the book.

Here is the first of these videos.  Stay tuned to TheOoze.tv for the subsequent episodes.  Watch for a review of ANKOC coming soon in the ERB!

David Dow’s new book, The Autobiography of an Execution, “is in part an exploration of the politics behind the death penalty and an argument for its abolition. It’s also a memoir; Dow delves into how this line of work has affected his family life.”

The Autobiography of an Execution.
David R. Dow.
Hardcover: Twelve, 2010.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

Michael Silverblatt of KCRW’s Bookworm talks with Barbara Kingsolver about her recent novel The Lacuna (Harper, Nov. 2009).

Why does no one today speak as boldly and as eloquently against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as Dr. King did against the Vietnam War? It’s amazing how relevant his message against American militarism is today — 40+ years later.

You need, I need and we all need to watch these videos and to be challenged by the faithful boldness of Dr. King.

Shorter clip:

Longer clip:

The following interview with Stanley Hauerwas offers a superb counterpoint to the perspectives on leadership and culture that we see embodied in the lives of Billy Graham and Ralph de la Vega, as described in the two books reviewed above.

In addition to providing the video below, Duke Divinity School’s blog also offers a longer, text version of the same interview.  Both are well-worth your time and reflection!

Here is a fabulous video which serves both as an excellent introduction to Eric Sanderson’s new book Mannahatta (to be reviewed by Brent Aldrich in next week’s issue of the ERB), and as an overview of social artist Fritz Haeg’s Lenape Edible Estate project in Manhattan (Fritz Haeg’s book Edible Estates was named as one of our Best Books of 2008.)  You won’t want to miss this captivating video.
(~15 minutes long)

Mannahatta: A Natural History of NYC.
Eric Sanderson.
Hardback: Abrams, 2009.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn.
Fritz Haeg.
Paperback: Metropolis Books, 2008.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

The Story of Mannahatta and the Lenape Edible Estate from fritz haeg on Vimeo.

The Work of the People has recently released snippets of their forthcoming film on Stanley Hauerwas.  Here two of those snippets on our fear of dying alone and on sentimentality:

Aloneness from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

Sentimentality from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

There also are two other excellent snippets that are available to Facebook users:

• “Are you aware you’re going to die?” (My Favorite)
• “Despair is a sin”
  

HT: Andy Rowell