Wright dispels the common misconception that Christian living is nothing more than a checklist of dos and don’ts. Nor is it a prescription to "follow your heart" wherever it may lead.

Instead, After You Believe reveals the Bible’s call for a revolution, a transformation of character that takes us beyond our earthly pursuit of money, sex, and power into a virtuous state of living that allows us to reflect God and live more worshipful, fulfilling lives.

Wright insightfully encourages readers to find new purpose and clarity by taking us on an eye-opening journey through key biblical passages that promise to radically alter the work of the church and the direction of our lives.

Also available by Wright:

• Surprised by Hope. SPCK (2007) $34.99

• Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision. SPCK (2009) $34.99

Journey to the Common Good. Walter Brueggemann. 125pp. Westminster John Knox. $36.00.

Brueggemann encourages readers to trust in God’s abundance and obey God’s economic command-ments, to become free to be good neighbours. He distils this challenge to its most basic issues: Where is the church going? What is its role in contemporary society? What lessons does it have to offer a world enmeshed in such turbulent times?

Also new by Brueggemann: Redescribing Reality: What We Do When We Read The Bible. SCM. $59.99.

“We have become accustomed to the insightful reflections and the critical theological thinking of many contemporary biblical scholars. However, seldom has an author taken us step-by-step through the actual progression of that thought. This is precisely what Walter Bureggeman does in this book. Insisting that all believers, not merely scholars, should be able to critically read the Bible, he offers a modified, though still critical interpretive approach, that shows us how we might do it ourselves.” Dianne Bergant, CSA, author of Scripture: History and Interpretation.

 

The Justice Project. Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, Ashley Bunting Seeber eds. Foreword by Jim Wallis. 284pp hbk. Baker Books. $44.99.

The Justice Project is a collective expression of the need for and possibility of justice, with essays by 34 writers. Here is an invitation to readers to deepen their understanding of the pressures our world faces and to take up the challenge of alleviating them.

"Put together by exemplary leaders, this will be a handbook for any who are committed to working for biblically based social justice. It’s comprehensive and brilliantly well written." Tony Campolo

 

Spirit of Service. 380pp hbk HarperCollins. $48.00

A daily devotional that will stir the soul and inspire every reader to meet the challenge of helping others with hope, energy, personal resources, and innovation. Offering 365 ways to serve, this self-help experience allows readers to look at all the ways that they can get involved in service to others, from serving the person sitting next to them to their communities as a whole, to actions that impact the world.

 

  A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith. Brian McLaren. 306pp hbk. HarperCollins. $49.99.

McLaren examines 10 questions the church must answer as it heads toward a new way of believing. He addresses how the Bible should be understood as an inspired library, not a constitution. He urges us to trade up our image of God and realise that Jesus came to launch a new Genesis. The Church, sexuality, the future, and pluralism merit chapters, as does McLaren’s final call for a robust spiritual life.

Also available by McLaren

•       Generous Orthodoxy. $29.99. Zondervan

•       More Ready Than You Realize. $19.99. Zondervan

•       Everything Must Change. $24.99. Thomas Nelson

•       Secret Message of Jesus. $29.99. Thomas Nelson

•       Finding Our Way Again (Ancient Practices Series) $24.99. Thomas Nelson

 

Re-Shaping Rural Ministry: A Theological & Practical Handbook. James Bell, Jill Hopkinson, Trevor Willmott eds. 160pp. Canterbury. $44.99.

Focused especially on the needs of people running local churches in rural areas, those preparing for rural ministry in such a context, and for those who train them, this book explores:
• Pastoral skills for rural ministry
• Leadership models and distinctive values of rural churches
• Developing lay ministry and leadership.

Also on this topic:

·         God of the Whenua: Rural Ministry in Aotearoa New Zealand. Bill Bennett. Philip Garside Publishing (2005) $25.00.

 

The Word is Very Near You: Preaching the Lectionary, Years A, B and C. John Pridmore. 332pp. Canterbury. $56.99

Pridmore’s preaching skills were forged in one of the most notorious areas of London’s East End where there was absolutely no room for platitudes or escapist readings of the Scriptures. He quickly learned that in such a context, the Bible actually did have some real, gritty meaning for today or it had none at all. Here is an expert, wise and extremely down to earth guide for all who, week by week, seek inspiration as they prepare sermons on the set lectionary readings.

 

Such is Life!: A Close Encounter with Ecclesiastes. Lloyd Geering. 214pp. Steele Roberts. $29.99.

Geering has ingeniously brought Ecclesiastes to life in a series of dialogues with him, which show that, in today’s terminology, Ecclesiastes was a free-thinker, a humanist and an existentialist. The role of the sage, as Ecclesiastes saw it, was not to pass on gems of eternal wisdom, but to goad us to think things out for ourselves in our search for meaning.

Also new by Geering: Coming Back To Earth: From gods, to God, to Gaia. 221pp. Polebridge. $37.00

 

To The Church To The World: Ki te Hahi Ki te Ao. John Fairbrother ed. 122pp. Vaughan Park. $30.00.

The 23 contributors to this collection of essays in honour of The Right Reverend John C Paterson, Bishop of Auckland (1995-2010), focus on contemp-orary issues, directions, vitality and concerns of the Anglican Communion and the wider church. Topics include: the Five Marks of Mission, Ministry Education, Local Shared Ministry & the Anglican Consultative Council.

 

Jesus and the Gospel Women. Joanna Collicutt McGrath. 174pp SPCK. $34.99

What does Jesus reveal about himself through his encounters with women in the gospel stories? McGrath acknowledges the strong erotic overtones of seeing Jesus as a sort of "romantic hero" and muses on what makes the character of Mr Darcy so alluring, and the resonances with Jesus. She then helps us explore several aspects of the psychology of Jesus as expressed in his engagement with women. The recurring and deeply affirming theme of the volume is that through encounter with Jesus, women are raised up.

 

Stones Into Schools. Greg Mortenson. 420pp. Penguin. $37.00.

Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea ($30.00) left off in 2003, recounting his ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake in 2005; and how he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders. He shares his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women - all woven together with personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort.

 

All-Age Worship. Lucy Moore. 192pp. BRF. $27.99

A book for those who sense that worshipping God together is probably a good thing, but are nervous of trying to lead their church towards that vision. "...full of inspiration and deeply practical. Read this book and you will be left in no doubt that all-age worship really can be spiritually engaging and nourishing for everyone." Rt Rev Paul Williams, Bishop of Kensington.

Also by Moore from BRF:
• Messy Church (2006) $26.99
• Messy Church 2 (2009) $29.99

Through The Year With Jesus!: A Once-a-month Children’s Programme For Small Churches. Eleanor Zuercher. 205pp. BRF. $34.99

A year’s worth of material for 3 to 11 year olds, based on the life and teaching of Jesus. Provides a wealth of creative and interactive activities that enable children to feel involved, whatever their age or level of attendance.

Also by Zuercher from BRF: Not Sunday, Not School! (2006) $26.99

 

Honouring Our Loved Ones. Brian Malcouronne. 119pp. Grasmere Productions. (Fascimilie edition 2010) $25.00

Now re-issued after a 9 year gap, this much loved book is for funeral celebrants, families and friends who want to honour their loved ones in this important last rite of passage. Today more people are contributing in a creative way to the funeral, ensuring that the service expresses their wishes and the values, beliefs and personalities of the one they remember. Here are guidance notes, poems and liturgies to help those planning and preparing a funeral service.

The Psalm Walk – eBook. Anna Johnstone. Supplied as 2 x PDF files 4.93mb and 5.16mb. Johnstone² $25.00. (Will be sent by email, no postage charge applies)

Aucklander Anna Johnstone has written 60 moving meditations on the Psalms, accompanied by stunning, evocative photographs and images. You can easily copy and paste the photos and text from the eBook into PowerPoint or other software for presentations in church or other gatherings. 

“In her unique way, she writes beautiful paraphrases, reflections, expositions, poems on the psalms. Her words are both grounded and transcendent. She engages with James Bond, Depression, shopping and school boards and had my spirit soaring.” John Hunt, author of We Celebrating People

This eBook is designed for viewing at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or greater, using Adobe Acrobat Reader version 8 or later. We recommend that you view the PDFs in full screen mode so that you can see all the content on each page at once.

Other books by Anna Johnstone now also available in eBook PDF format:

•       The God Walk ebook. 1 x PDF file 5.34mb. $20.00

•       The Cross Walk ebook. 1 x PDF file 3.29mb. $20.00

Jesus: The Cold Case. Bryan Bruce. Random House NZ. $39.99

For true crime investigator Bryan Bruce the death of Jesus of Nazareth is the ultimate cold case. The two deceptively simple questions, Who killed Jesus? And Why? serve as the starting point for his landmark re-examination of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the most famous person in history. His conclusion is that the Gospels' account of the arrest, trial and execution of Jesus is so flawed that the traditional Easter story in which the Jews set Jesus up to be executed by the Romans simply does not make any sense. He argues that it is based on a lie told in the first century by Christian writers and copyists trying to spin-doctor their new religion to appeal to the Romans. In the process they laundered the character of Pilate and darkened the character of the Jews. The terrible outcome of this lie takes us right to the gates of Auschwitz. This deeply researched book is a remarkable achievement, and an extraordinary contribution to the many-layered fascination with life and death of Jesus. 

A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Diarmaid MacCulloch. Hbk 1161pp. Penguin. $65.00.

In this comprehensive book, MacCulloch describes not only the main ideas and personalities of Christian history, its organisation and spirituality, but how it has changed politics, sex, and human society. He ranges from Palestine in the first century to India in the third, from Damascus to China in the seventh century and from San Francisco to Korea in the twentieth.

MacCulloch is one of the most widely travelled of Christian historians and conveys a sense of place as arrestingly as he does the power of ideas. He shows how, after a semblance of unity in its earliest centuries, the Christian church divided during the next 1400 years into three increasingly distanced parts, of which the western Church was by no means always the most important: he observes that at the end of the first eight centuries of Christian history, Baghdad might have seemed a more likely capital for worldwide Christianity than Rome. This is the first truly global history of Christianity, and was the subject of a 6 part 2009 BBC Television series.

Spirited Practices: Spirituality and the Helping Professions. Fran Gale, Natalie Bolzan, Dorothy McRae-McMahon. 244pp. Allen & Unwin. (2007). $39.99

Spirituality and religion are fundamental to all human cultures. Yet in the helping professions, whose shared objective is to promote human well being, questions of spirituality have often been avoided.

Spirited Practices shows how it is possible for professionals to think critically, and be open to spirituality at the same time. Professionals and teachers from diverse faiths and fields of work, including social work, health, psychology and ministry explain how they have integrated spirituality into their work.

Resources for Easter to Ordinary Time – Order Now

Fire and Bread: Resources from Easter Day to Trinity Sunday. Ruth Burgess. Wild Goose (2006). $55.50. (2 copies in stock)

This book of Eastertide resources is a companion to Ruth Burgess's popular collections, Eggs and Ashes, Candles and Conifers and Hay and Stardust. It offers prayers, responses, liturgies, songs, poems, reflections, meditations, sermons and stories, written by Iona Community members, associates, friends and others, and is suitable for use by groups and individuals. The resources cover the weeks from Easter Day to Trinity Sunday, including Ascension Day, Pentecost, Saints’ days, Rogation days, environmental days and many more.

Bare Feet and Buttercups: Resources for Ordinary Time (Trinity Sunday to the Feast of the Transfiguration). Ruth Burgess ed. 270pp. Wild Goose. $50.00 (10 copies on order)

This fine collection of resources for Ordinary Time includes prayers, stories, responses, songs, poems, reflections and meditations, written by Iona Community members and others. Much of the material can be used at other times during the year. Suitable for worship, groups and individuals.

Acorns and Archangels: Resources for Ordinary Time. (Transfiguration to All Hallows’ Eve) Ruth Burgess. 259pp. Wild Goose. $57.00. (10 copies on order)

Includes the psalms and the prophets, the Acts of the Apostles and New Testament letters, women’s stories, sections on saints and angels and harvest, a variety of blessings and a play for Halloween. Contains prayers, stories, responses, songs, poems, reflections and meditations, written by Iona Community members, associates, friends and others.

New Proclamation: Year C 2010 Easter Through Christ the King. David B. Lott. 303pp. Augsburg Fortress. $49.99 (Allow 2 – 3 weeks to supply)

Assists preachers in understanding bible readings, developing effective, gospel-centred sermons faithful to Scripture and liturgical seasons and preaching the gospel in a way that is true to the Christian tradition and relevant for our day. Ecumenical in orientation, each volume in this series offers exegesis and homiletic reflection on readings for half the church year as well as an overarching strategy for approaching each season and ways to connect one’s homily or sermon to the salient features of contemporary life.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the RCL – Year C Vol. 2 – Lent through Eastertide. David Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Hbk Westminster John Knox, US. (2009) $109.99 [Allow 4 – 6 weeks to supply]

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the RCL – Year C Vol. 3. Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1  $109.99. [1 in stock, then allow 2 – 3 weeks to supply]

When complete, the 12 volumes of the series (4 per year) will cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day. For each lectionary text, there are four brief essays - one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text.

“Feasting on the Word should be a delight for all those obligated to preach Sunday after Sunday. Wonderfully organized and intelligently shaped, these reflections on Scripture are sure to be a valuable aid for those in ministry.” Stanley Hauerwas, Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University Divinity School.

Popular Titles Now in Paperback

An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith. Barbara Brown Taylor. 216pp HarperOne. $33.00

Taylor left full-time ministry to become a university professor. In this book she shares how she developed new skills for encountering God far beyond the walls of the church. Through her expert guidance, we learn to live with purpose, pay attention, slow down, and revere the world we live in. “Elegant, wise, and insightful, this book is also sacramental: it mediates the life it describes.” Marcus Borg.

Also available by Taylor:

·         Leaving Church. HarperCollins (2007). $38.00

·         Seeds of Heaven: Sermons and the Gospel of Matthew. $41.00. Westminster John Knox (2004)

Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus. Robin Meyers. 243pp. Hbk. HarperOne. $33.00

Meyers takes the best of biblical scholarship and recasts core Christian concepts to exhort the church to pursue an alternative vision of the Christian life.