Here are a few new book releases from this week that are worth checking out:

(Where possible, we have also tried to include a review/interview related to the book…)

		> > > > Next Book
	The Fall of Arthur: An Epic Poem By J.R.R. Tolkien

This is fabulous!   Novelist John Green gives the commencement address at Butler University, May 11, 2013.

John starts his speech at 3:15.

Highlights:

• Lovely tip o’ the hat to Fred Rogers.
• “We are taught that the hero’s journey is the journey from weakness to strength, but I’m here today to tell you that that story is wrong. The real hero’s journey is from strength to weakness.” (start at 8:00 for context)
• “You are probably going to be a nobody for awhile” (11:45)
• “In learning how to be a nobody, you will learn how NOT to be a jerk”. (11:55)

*** Books by John Green

Slowly Creating Well

A Feature Review of

Making Manifest: On Faith Creativity and the Kingdom at Hand
Dave Harrity

Paperback: Seedbed Publishing, 2013
Buy now:  [ Seedbed ]

Reviewed by Sam Edgin

Dave Harrity’s Making Manifest had two strikes against it by the time I had finished the introduction (“to begin” on pp. xi-xv). First, it is arranged as a combined group study and personal devotional. This form –  a youth group staple –  specializes mainly in covers splashed with either neon or explosions, faux-edgy graphic design swirling about cool praying teens, and a troubling overuse of phrases like “chew,” “the meat,” and “on-fire.”  It also has an unhealthy preoccupation with the almighty “you,” and with writing on pre-printed lines at the end of each day/chapter.

My second – and I admit, needlessly personal –  issue with Making Manifest is that latter feature. I hate writing in books. Anything that mars the original condition of a book flares compulsion within me. Dog-earing is a cardinal sin; highlighting, an offense to nature. I read trade paperbacks through a thin V of pages in order to avoid breaking spines. Within the introduction of Making Manifest Dave Harrity asked me to do all those things. “There’s space for you to write… crack the spine so the book rests flat, dog-ear, sketch and scratch,” He says (xiv). I almost flipped the book to the floor in frustration.

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Reexamining Paul’s Missiology in the 21^st Century

A Feature Review of

Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours
Robert L. Plummer & John Mark Terry, editors

IVP Academic, 2012
Buy now:  [ Amazon ]  [ Kindle ]

Reviewed by Chris Schoon

There are two temptations when engaging works from a previous generation. The first is a persnickety tendency to elevate the perspectives of those with whom we resonate in a way that prevents us from seeing where their contributions leave room for further development. At the same time, we also face the temptation of a naïve ahistorical hubris that blindly critiques our predecessors for failing to fully conform to our common sensibilities. Such are the dual challenges faced by Plummer and Terry in Paul’s Missionary Methods, which celebrates, extends, and deepens conversations initiated by Roland Allen’s Missionary Methods 100 years ago.

For the past century, Allen’s Missionary Methods has served as one of the central introductory textbooks for exploring a biblical model of mission, catalyzing a wide range of New Testament studies and contextualized mission conversations in the process. Allen’s reflections have empowered several generations of New Testament scholars, missiologists, and practicing missionaries to take not only the words of the gospel seriously but also to carefully consider the manner in which the Apostle Paul carried out his calling. Drawing together a strong cohort of evangelical scholars and practitioners, Plummer and Terry’s editorial work reasserts Allen’s argument for seeing Paul as the “exemplary model not for us to blindly follow, but to appropriate and replicate intelligently.”(28)

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Through Monday May 27, Amazon is running a huge sale on ebooks.

Over 500 ebooks have been marked down, with savings of up to 88%!!!

You can browse the full list here: http://amzn.to/BigDeal-May2013

CLICK HERE to jump right into the Religion/Spirituality section…

HOWEVER, if you don’t have the time or desire to browse the full collection, we have picked 10 essential ebooks that you should own and read:

1) The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Communities – John McKnight / Peter Block $2.99 Read an excerpt here…

2) The Autobiography of Mark Twain $1.99

3) Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership by Elton Trueblood $1.99

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One of the best books out there on neighborhoods and caring for our neighbors…

The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and NeighborhoodsJohn McKnight and Peter Block

Paperback: B-K Books, 2009.
Buy now:  [ Amazon ]

SUPER DEAL: The Kindle ebook is only $2.99 through May 27!!!!

Read an excerpt:

Today is the birthday of Robert Owen, whose utopian vision has long been intriguing to me…

The following book is a good intro to Robert Owen’s life and is available as a free ebook download through Google Books.

Robert Owen: Pioneer of Social Reforms
Joseph Clayton
London, 1908.

CLICK HERE to download ebook
(links for various file-types are in the upper right corner)

If you want an even shorter intro, the Wikipedia page on Robert Owen, is also good.

Read an excerpt:

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Here are a few new book releases from this week that are worth checking out:

(Where possible, we have also tried to include a review/interview related to the book…)

		> > > > Next Book
	Americanah: A Novel By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Watch for our review in our next print issue!) Listen to an NPR interview with the author…

Like mystery novels?  Have you read the mysteries of Dorothy Sayers?

Dorothy Sayers is a writer often associated with C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, who wrote many books for Christian audiences. She considered her best work to be her translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

We recently posed the question of where to start with her mystery novels to David Neuhouser, who is Scholar in Residence at Taylor University’s Center for the Study of C.S. Lewis and Friends (and Professor Emeritus at TU). Neuhouser has taught courses on Sayers, Lewis, Wendell Berry and perhaps his favorite, George Macdonald.

		> > > > Next Book
	Strong Poison: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery with Harriet Vane Start here… “It is in Strong Poison that Lord Peter first meets Harriet Vane, an author of police fiction. The immediate problem is that she is on trial for her life, charged with murdering her former lover. If Lord Peter does not prove she is innocent, he will lose her before he even persuades her to accept his proposal of marriage. But all the clues point to Harriet as the one who gave Philip Boyes the arsenic that killed him.” (Wikipedia.com)

Our Latest Book Giveaway…

As a Mother’s Day treat,
We’re giving away 2 copies of  Ann Voskamp’s important book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

From our review:
Ann’s writing reads like letters from a poet or a priest.  She is caught up in the world where God is expressing love through the gifts which show her he can be counted upon.  There is a section where she describes contemplating a soap bubble while washing dishes.  I read with marvel as she over and over finds another way to express God’s truth and reality’s frailty and beauty here.  Ann is able to find Jesus in ten thousand places and has gifted us all with a window into a different kind of living.

[ Read the full review... ]

This book is also on our list:
TOP TEN BOOKS ON CULTIVATING GRATITUDE.

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Two lucky winners will get a copy of this book!
Enter now to win (It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!) :

1) Receive our free weekly online edition via email – or – LIKE our Facebook page (LGT: More info… )

2) Post the following message on your blog, Facebook Page, or on Twitter:

I just entered to win the book 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp from @ERBks! You can too: http://su.pr/4RCEHu

3) Leave a comment below noting which option you chose for #1 **and** a link to your post for #2 before 12PM PT on Saturday May 11, 2013.
(Leaving a comment is essential as we will draw the giveaway winners from among the comments left.)

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We will draw the winner at random after the Book Giveaway ends, and will notify them asap.

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