Description
Book SynopsisA collection of essays of the contemporary Christian writing.
Trade ReviewChosen by
Christianity Today editor Wilson, this eclectic treasure trove, on subjects as diverse as repentance, being an unmarried believer, and the evangelical Christian Book Association convention, contains some truly extraordinary writing. Notable essays include a wide-ranging interview with German filmmaker Wim Wenders, a spare but haunting recollection of a trip to Wounded Knee, and a wonderfully contemporary and demanding sermon on the Old Testament Book of Daniel. Wilfred McClay's subtle and keenly honed meditation on what it means to be an American Christian after September 11 is timely, theologically acute, and likely to be very challenging to some readers. Although some authors, like Frederica Mathewes-Green, Philip Jenkins, and Kathleen Norris, are famous, others edit religious journals, pastor churches, or teach in colleges. Rich in whimsy, overflowing with gentle wonder, and laced with both irony and anguish, these pieces by and large live up to their rather audacious billing, as the best of the best. (Oct. 24) (
Publishers Weekly, August 25, 2003)
This is the fifth anthology in this most worthwhile series from Jossey-Bass (the first was Best Christian Writing 2000), and like any good anthology it provides a mixture of the sublime and the accessible. Of particular interest to the general reader will be Jennifer Holberg's amusing and touching "SWF Seeking King," James Calvin Schapp's achingly candid "Dancing with Ghosts: A White Man at Wounded Knee," or Albert Louis Zarnbone's striking "Technology As If the Incarnation Actually Happened." Overall, the essays in this year's edition are shorter and less challenging to the mind and soul than the previous years' have been-but this alone is no blot on the escutcheon for editor Wilson or his very fine series. For most collections. (Library Journal, October 1, 2003)
Table of ContentsIntroduction ix
Preface xvii
Saving the Corporate Soul 1
Dakota Christmas 8
We're Rich 27
A Conversation with Wim Wenders 30
SWF Seeking King 55
A New Religious America 61
Just Wood 70
Jesus Sells 81
Both Door and Path: On Repentance 93
The Continuing Irony of American History 99
The Prodigal Reader 117
The Cold Reaches of Heaven 122
Be Thou My Vision 128
Dancing with Ghosts: A White Man at Wounded Knee 131
God and a Grateful Old Man 146
The Shocking Truth About John Wesley 151
How to Build Homes Without Putting Up Walls 157
Vegetarians in Babylon: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 171
Speaking in Tongues 179
Technology As If the Incarnation Actually Happened 185
A Sense of Place: The Many Horizons of Martin E. Marty 194
Biographical Notes 211
Credits 215
