Books
Habits of Hope: Educational Practices for a Weary World
Editors: Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers
Foreword by: Amos Young
Publisher: IVP Academic (Available to Pre-Order)
In the world of education, disorientation and uncertainty has been increasing for several decades, with the Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbating preexisting challenges. Christians called to academic vocations need authentic hope to sustain them in their work―and they need to be able to share that hope with a weary world.
Habits of Hope explores a Christian understanding of hope and how it applies to the work of educators, administrators, scholars, and others in academia. Essays by master practitioners focus on six key educational practices and describe how these practices can cultivate hope within educators as well as among their students and everyone they serve:
- integration
- conversation
- diversity
- reading
- writing
- teaching
Contributors include Hans Boersma; Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu; Kevin G. Grove, CSC; Cherie Harder; Jon S. Kulaga; Philip Graham Ryken; David I. Smith; and Jessica Hooten Wilson.
Christian hope, these thinkers are convinced, has two fundamental characteristics: it’s tied inextricably to the world to come, inaugurated by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and it’s active in its very nature. Habits of Hope combines theology and practical application to help educators find hope and infuse it throughout every area of their work.
Todd C. Ream and Jerry Pattengale
Foreword by: Mark A. Noll
Publisher: Baylor University Press
In the 1990s, Christian colleges and universities experienced a record boom in students and employees. However, less than twenty years later Christian institutions experienced new challenges spurred on by four major changes: first, the “Great Recession” of 2008 and widespread debt; second, declining birthrates in certain regions of the United States; third, the passing of the Affordable Care Act, which raised the question of whether Christian institutions were required to cover contraceptives; and fourth, the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage, which brought issues of employment to the forefront at certain Evangelical institutions. Yet despite mounting challenges, most Christian colleges and universities are still stronger now than at any point in their respective histories by almost any measure.
With The Anxious Middle, Todd C. Ream and Jerry Pattengale engage the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a model for navigating our tumultuous times. The authors argue that if the present age is defined by what Bonhoeffer calls in Creation and Fall the “anxious middle”―somewhere between Eden and the Apocalypse―the challenges faced by Christian higher education must be recognized as both existential and practical. To confront them while still embracing any opportunities afforded by occasional cross breezes, Christian colleges and universities would be wise to employ a fourfold approach to planning informed by Bonhoeffer’s work as well as historic and contemporary examples: institutions should be articulate about their missions, imaginative in advancing them, collaborative in deploying them, and strategic in sharing them.
Trustees, administrators, faculty members, and others concerned with the future of Christian colleges and universities will find in The Anxious Middle a planning process applicable to organizational levels ranging from the campus-wide to the departmental or the programmatic. The result is an understanding of Christian higher education not merely focused on surviving but thriving between Eden and the Apocalypse.
Johnnie Moore and Jerry Pattengale
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
An inspiring keepsake that honors the heroic sacrifice of today’s martyrs for the Christian faith―and shows how their actions mirror the courage of a long line of brave Christians.
In the twenty-first century, we are witnessing an escalation in Christian persecution like we have rarely seen since the first century. Many people don’t realize that today thousands of Christians are dying cruel deaths throughout much of the world. There were, in fact, more martyrs in the last century than in all the previous Christian centuries combined. Millions have given their lives since the fall of Rome, and today tens of thousands die annually for their faith in Jesus. Most of these modern stories are not legendary; in fact, many are unknown.
The New Book of Christian Martyrs commemorates those modern-day heroes. In this update to Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Johnnie Moore and Jerry Pattengale highlight key martyrs of past centuries and feature stories of contemporary martyrs around the world. Through tears, Johnnie and Jerry offer this compendium of heroes from the first century to the twenty-first century, from Europe to Africa and from Asia to the Americas, to inspire Christians around the globe. Today, we live in solidarity with them and in the next life, we will rejoice by their side. We will never forget their sacrifice for the truth.
Edited by: Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers
Foreword by: George M. Marsden
Publisher: IVP Academic
Evangelical Christians are active across all spheres of intellectual and public life today. But a disconnect remains: the work they produce too often fails to inform their broader communities. In the midst of a divisive culture and a related crisis within evangelicalism, public intellectuals speaking from an evangelical perspective have a critical role to play—within the church and beyond. What does it look like to embrace such a vocation out of a commitment to the common good?
Public Intellectuals and the Common Good draws together world-class scholars and practitioners to cast a vision for intellectuals who promote human flourishing. Representing various roles in the church, higher education, journalism, and the nonprofit sector, contributors reflect theologically on their work and assess current challenges and opportunities. What historically well-defined qualities of public intellectuals should be adopted now? What qualities should be jettisoned or reimagined?
Public intellectuals are mediators—understanding and then articulating truth amid the complex realities of our world. The conversations represented in this book celebrate and provide guidance for those who through careful thinking, writing, speaking, and innovation cultivate the good of their communities.
Contributors:
- Miroslav Volf
- Amos Yong
- Linda A. Livingstone
- Heather Templeton Dill
- Katelyn Beaty
- Emmanuel Katongole
- John M. Perkins and David Wright
Christian Askeland, Ashley Carter, Jerry Pattengale, and Amy Van Dyke
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Different buildings on America’s landscape become iconic. Others become convening spaces. And some surface on bucket lists. All three traits are manifest in the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. From its signature entrance and striking skyline silhouette to its gathering rooms overlooking the Capitol’s rotunda, thousands of artifacts, and high-tech experiences, it’s become an international destination. Millions have toured it, including hundreds of leaders and influencers from various countries and professions and millions more are coming. This high-image book captures the overview of this amazing story, from its genesis in 2010 to its opening in 2017 and its first five years in Washington, DC. It affords a pleasant look into the museum’s mission, to invite all people to engage with the transformative power of the Bible, by authors who have had a front-row seat in this journey.
Edited by: Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers;
Foreword by: Mark R. Schwehn
Publisher: IVP Academic
Many colleges and universities informally highlight the value of mentoring among academic professionals. Yet scholars often lack clear definitions, goals, practices, and commitments that help them actually reap the benefits mentoring offers. As new faculty members from younger generations continue to face evolving challenges while also reshaping institutions, their ability to connect with more experienced mentors is critical to their vocations―and to the future of higher education.
In Cultivating Mentors, a distinguished group of contributors explores the practice of mentoring in Christian higher education. Drawing on traditional theological understandings of the mentee-mentor relationship, they consider what goals should define such relationships and what practices make their cultivation possible among educators. With special attention to generational dynamics, they discuss how mentoring can help institutions navigate generational faculty transitions and cultivate rising leaders. Contributors include:
- David Kinnaman
- Tim Clydesdale
- Margaret Diddams
- Edgardo Colón-Emeric
- Rebecca C. Hong
- Tim Elmore
- Beck A. Taylor
- Stacy A. Hammons
This book offers valuable insights and practical recommendations for faculty members, administrators, and policy makers. Whether pursuing their vocation in Christian or secular institutions, Christian scholars will benefit from the sharing of wisdom mapped out in Cultivating Mentors.
Jerry Pattengale
Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
The name of Jesus and his teachings captured people’s hearts and minds throughout much of the world long before Christianity was legal. Long before armies and governments protected or supported it, and then long after Emperor Constantine’s reign as many leaders misused it for their own gains or religious views. Christianity also survived brutal persecutions during many centuries, including the present. Its growth seems inexplicable.
While there are innumerable possible explanations for this, in the final analysis, there are relatively few viable answers. One leading contender is that there really is something to the mystical power of the Holy Spirit, and the life-changing message of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. Another is, at the least billions of people have held passionate beliefs in Jesus’s miraculous powers over life and death, and his eternal promises. The Pew Research Center’s recent work supports the claim that “Christianity is the only religion in the world with a major presence on every continent.”
Inexplicable traces this remarkable spread of Jesus’s followers, including many of the heroic actions from those believing in his deity, and those horrific actions of those misusing his teachings. The Gospel’s journey is ongoing, and its story remains an engaging one. From Coptic monasteries and the Roman Coliseum to a small church in Franklin, Tennessee or mega-churches in Laos or Seoul, it’s a rich narrative. Whether standing in the Sistine Chapel, looking at a Nestorian stone in China, or a Christian school in Kigali, this narrative continues and here we provide its historic context.
Edited by: Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers
Publisher: IVP Academic
Two decades on from Mark Noll’s Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, could we now be on the threshold of another crisis of intellectual maturity in Christianity? Or are the opportunities for faithful intellectual engagement and witness even greater now than before? These essays invite readers to a virtual “summit meeting” on the current state of the evangelical mind. The insights of national leaders in their fields will aid readers to reflect on the past contributions of evangelical institutions for the life of the mind as well as prospects for the future. Contributors include:
- Richard J. Mouw
- Mark A. Noll
- Jo Anne Lyon
- David C. Mahan and C. Donald Smedley
- Timothy Larsen
- Lauren Winner
- James K. A. Smith
- Mark Galli
The State of the Evangelical Mind frames the resources needed for churches, universities, seminaries, and parachurch organizations to chart their course for the future, both separately and together, and provides readers an opportunity to participate in a timely conversation as they consider what institutional and individual role they might play. This is not a book to define or diagnose evangelicalism broadly, and there’s no fear-mongering or demonizing here, but rather a call to attend to the evangelical mind and the role played by interlocking institutions in its intellectual formation and ongoing vitality. It will encourage―and challenge―those who want to be part of the solution in a time of need.
Jerry Pattengale
Publisher: Worthy Books
This provocative new book provides the truth and perspective needed to remind us of how high the stakes can be when we get the Bible wrong.
Throughout history and around the world, people have made bizarre or dangerous claims in the name of God. They continue to do so today, citing biblical passages out of context or inappropriately. Doing so has led to a wide range of disasters, from executing other Christians for theological differences, to wild activities in the name of evangelism, and more. Is the Bible at Fault? examines these historical errors, problematic biblical interpretations, and tragedies to reveal how and why the Bible has been misused to justify and rationalize profound acts of persecution, destruction, violence, human rights abuse, and downright strange behavior.
Is the Bible at Fault? explores twelve different cases of abhorrent behavior in the name of Scripture. These terrible, destructive movements have led people astray, brought irreparable spiritual and emotional harm, and even cost countless people their lives. The members of the Ku Klux Klan had no doubt that their actions were justified in the eyes of God. The murderous armies of the Fourth Crusade rationalized slaying other Christians in the name of the church. Detroit’s Prophet Jones locked his followers in all-night revival meetings and often wouldn’t let them out until they made financial contributions to the cause — the cause being his lavish lifestyle. Some Christian missionaries not only condoned the wholesale slaughter of Australia’s native Aborigines people, they participated in it — with a clean conscience. These are real, historical people and events, and we’ll explore every one of them and more in these pages.
Edited by: Jerry Pattengale, Steve DeNeff, and Emily Vermilya
Publisher: Wesleyan Publishing House
EXPERIENCE THE REALITY OF HOW GOD MAKES GENUINE TRANSFORMATION POSSIBLE
Testimonies are proof that miracles still happen and that real transformation is possible in the lives of ordinary people. We all have our own stories that point to God’s goodness and grace, give different perspectives, and teach important lessons. From stories of redemption and restoration, to saintly lifestyles and selfless neighbors, we find our way more easily in the light of these testimonies.
Through the stories in these pages, you will see faith made real through community and vulnerability. These personal reflections from members of College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, will inspire, encourage, and fill you with the hope that, wherever you may find yourself, you are a part of God’s great story.