Recommendations based on "Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, and the Aesthetic of Revelation"

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry calls us to rediscover the path that leads to a deeper life with God.“One of the most important books I have read in a decade . . . If we would all follow in this way, our lives would change and the world would change.”—Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head and Find Your PeopleWe are constantly being formed by the world around us. To be formed by Jesus will require us to become his apprentice.To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life—a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open up space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transforms the deepest parts of us to become like him.This introduction to spiritual formation is full of John Mark Comer’s trademark mix of theological substance and cultural insight as well as practical wisdom on developing your own Rule of Life.These ancient practices have much to offer us. By learning to rearrange our days, we can follow the Way of Jesus. We can be with him. Become like him. And do as he did.

With over ten million copies sold, God's Smuggler has thrilled and inspired readers for more than forty years. It tells the true story of how a young Dutchman risked his life to bring faith and hope to believers behind the Iron Curtain.Now updated with new material from interviews with Brother Andrew, he tells of his adventures as his ministry took him to the Middle East, Africa, China, Israel, Pakistan and other places of great danger and extraordinary opportunities. With new relevance, and at such a poignant time for persecuted Christians, this book is set to inspire a whole new generation of readers.

Do you find it more difficult to think of Jesus Christ as a human, like you, than to think of him as God? You may believe in God, and you may believe Jesus is God, but many Christians find it difficult to think of him as a real person--fully human as he was fully divine. Award-winning author Max Lucado reveals in this video Bible study (DVD/streaming video sold separately) that in order to really know God and understand the Gospel, it's essential that we take a closer look at Jesus' humanity. The concept of Jesus' human and heavenly nature is difficult to wrap our minds around. He's the God who formed the universe and, at the same time, knows your personal struggles...because he went through the same things. For thirty-three years, Jesus felt everything you have ever felt. Weakness. Weariness. Sadness. Rejection. His feet got tired. His head ached. He was tempted and his strength was tested. The purpose of this study is simple: by journeying through these six lessons with a small group, you will get to know Jesus—and, therefore, God—like you never have before. And by learning more about the person Jesus was and is, we come to understand more clearly the people we were created to be. The Jesus Study Guide includes: Video teaching notes Group discussion questions and activities Bible exploration and prayers Weekly personal study and reflection materials. Get ready to study who Jesus was while he walked this earth and what that means for your life today. In doing this, you will get to know God, his purpose for you, and his love for you like you never have before. *Designed for use with the Jesus: The God Who Knows Your Name Video Study, available on DVD or streaming video, sold separately.

Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller reveals the hidden depths within the book of Jonah—the most misunderstood parable in the Bible. Previously published as The Prodigal Prophet The story of Jonah is one of the most well-known parables in the Bible. It is also the most misunderstood. Many people, even those who are nonreligious, are familiar with Jonah: A rebellious prophet who defies God and is swallowed by a whale. But there's much more to Jonah's story than most of us realize. In Rediscovering Jonah, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller reveals the hidden depths within the book of Jonah. Keller makes the case that Jonah was one of the worst prophets in the entire Bible. And yet there are unmistakably clear connections between Jonah, the prodigal son, and Jesus. Jesus in fact saw himself in Jonah. How could one of the most defiant and disobedient prophets in the Bible be compared to Jesus? Jonah's journey also doesn't end when he is freed from the belly of the fish. There is an entire second half to his story—but it is left unresolved within the text of the Bible. Why does the book of Jonah end on what is essentially a cliffhanger? In these pages, Timothy Keller provides an answer to the extraordinary conclusion of this biblical parable—and shares the powerful Christian message at the heart of Jonah's story.

Beutifully repackaged as part of the C.S. Lewis Signature Classic Range, Lewis addresses the question which tortures every generation -- Why must we suffer? For centuries people have been tormented by one question above all -- 'If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?' And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it? The greatest Christian thinker of our time sets out to disentangle this knotty issue. With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C.S. Lewis offers answers to these crucial questions and shares his hope and wisdom to help heal a world hungering for a true understanding of human nature.

Do Miracles Really Happen?In Miracles, C.S. Lewis argues that a Christian must not only accept but rejoice in miracles as a testimony of the unique personal involvement of God in his creation. Using his charismatic warmth, lucidity, and wit, Lewis challenges the rationalists and cynics who are mired in their lack of imagination and provides a poetic and joyous affirmation that miracles really do occur in everyday lives.

"This book has monumental stature. It is fresh and vivid. . . aflame with prophetic vision." —James MuilenburgFrom the author of Man is Not Alone and God in Search of Man, comes Abraham Heschel's 1962 masterpiece of Biblical scholarship, The Prophets.Abraham J. Heschel's The Prophets, originally published in 1962, provides a unique opportunity for readers of the Old Testament, both Christian and Jewish, to gain fresh and deep knowledge of Israel’s prophetic movement. The book includes detailed examinations of the stories of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isahiah, Micah, Jeremiah, as well as explorations of the theology and philosophy of pathos, the theory of ecstasy in modern religious scholarship, an excavation of the relationship between prophecy and psychosis, and a comparative view of prophets throughout the world. Heschel's project is excavate and examine the consciousness of the prophets: not just the content of their prophecies, but the type of faith-based experience they personified.Heschel's exegetical skill and profound understanding of the prophets opens the door to new insight into the philosophy of religion - a wonderful text for anyone interested in the dialectic of the divine-human encounter.

Christians have proclaimed the good news about Jesus for centuries. But the good news isn't sounding so good these days, at least to some. More and more surveys show that people view Christians as bearers of bad news, judgment, and intolerance.In Vanishing Grace, bestselling author Philip Yancey acknowledges the problem and then explores how we can respond with both grace and truth. He offers a discerning look at what contributes to a hostility toward Christians, and identifies three groups--pilgrims, artists, and activists--who can show us a different way.With a reporter's eye and a compassionate heart, Yancey suggests practical ways in which we can live as salt and light within a society that is radically changing. What can we learn from those who shun church but consider themselves spiritual? Can the good news, once spoiled, ever sound good again?As Yancey writes, "Like a sudden thaw in the middle of winter, grace happens at unexpected moments. It stops us short, catches the breath, disarms. . . . Yet not everyone has tasted of that amazing grace, and not everyone believes in it. In a time of division and discord, grace seems in vanishing supply. Why? And what can we do about it?"In the wake of recent events--Las Vegas, Charlottesville, Charleston, Ferguson, Islamic terrorism--people both inside and outside the church are thirsty for grace. Vanishing Grace calls us to see their thirst, and ours, in a hopeful new light as we listen, love, and offer a grace that is truly good news.

What does it mean to be a good reader of Genesis 1-11? What does it mean to take these ancient stories seriously and how does that relate to taking them literally? Can we even take any of this material seriously?Reading Genesis Well answers these questions and more, promoting a responsible conversation about how science and biblical faith relate by developing a rigorous approach to interpreting the Bible, especially those texts that come into play in science and faith discussions. This unique approach connects the ancient writings of Genesis 1-11 with modern science in an honest and informed way.Old Testament scholar C. John Collins appropriates literary and linguistic insights from C. S. Lewis and builds on them using ideas from modern linguistics, such as lexical semantics, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics. This study helps readers to evaluate to what extent it is proper to say that the Bible writers held a "primitive" picture of the world, and what function their portrayal of the world and its contents had in shaping the community.

America's Book shows how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history influenced the use of Scripture. It explores the rise of a strongly Protestant Bible civilization in the early United States that was then fractured by debates over slavery, contested by growing numbers of non-Protestant Americans (Catholics, Jews, agnostics), and torn apart by the Civil War.This first comprehensive history of the Bible in America explains why Tom Paine's anti-biblical tract The Age of Reason (1794) precipitated such dramatic effects, how innovations in printing by the American Bible Society created the nation's publishing industry, why Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831 and the bitter election of 1844 marked turning points in the nation's engagement with Scripture, and why Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were so eager to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible.Noll's magisterial work highlights not only the centrality of the Bible for the nation's most influential religious figures (Methodist Francis Asbury, Richard Allen of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Catholic Bishop Francis Kenrick, Jewish scholar Solomon Schechter, agnostic Robert Ingersoll), but also why it was important for presidents like Abraham Lincoln; notable American women like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Willard; dedicated campaigners for civil rights like Frederick Douglass and Francis Grimké; lesser-known figures like Black authors Maria Stewart and Harriet Jacobs; and a host of others of high estate and low. The book also illustrates how the more religiously plural period from Reconstruction to the early twentieth century saw Scripture become a much more fragmented, though still significant, force in American culture, particularly as a source of hope and moral authority for Americans on both sides of the battle over white supremacy-both for those hoping to fight it, and for others seeking to justify it.