New book: Engaging Globalization by Bryant Myers

Engaging Globalization: The Poor, Christian Mission, and Our Hyperconnected World by Bryant Myers - Globalization is speeding up our world, extending our relationships globally and bringing us closer together in positive and not-so-positive ways. The church and many Christians, however, remain largely unaware of its seductive power, resulting in a failure of vision for mission in today's world. This up-to-date resource by a veteran leader in global development work with World Vision orients readers to the history of globalization and to a Christian theological perspective on it, explores concrete realities by focusing on global poverty, and helps readers reimagine Christian mission in ways that announce the truly good news of Christ and God's kingdom. Diagrams and sidebars that incorporate the voices of global partners are included. This is the second book in a new series that reframes missiological themes and studies for students using/featuring the common theme of mission as partnership with Christians.

Book information:

Title: Engaging Globalization: The Poor, Christian Mission, and Our Hyperconnected World

Author: Bryant Myers

Call number: 266.3 MYE

New book: Has Christianity Failed You? by Ravi Zacharias

Has Christianity Failed You? by Ravi Zacharias - In 2006, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) held an open forum at the Fox Theater in Atlanta to address the subject: “Has Christianity Failed You?” Tickets were sold for the event and—to the complete surprise of everyone—the event was sold out with a capacity crowd of over 5,000. People lined up offering to buy tickets from folks in line for higher prices. Before the event, an RZIM cameraman walked the streets and asked people if they had rejected the faith they held at one time. One answered that, because of a Christian’s rejection of his gay lifestyle he had done just that. Another answered that she had left her faith because she had fallen into adultery and could never live it down in the church. Others had their own reasons. Some said it was just intellectually untenable in an age of reason. They chose to come to the event to judge if there were adequate answers. It is estimated that for every one person who writes a letter or attends an event, there are one thousand who agree. If the Atlanta crowd was any indication, the question is real and troubling. Why is it that many live with silent doubt, many leaving the “evangelical fold” for something else? Is there something wrong with the message, the communicator, the hearer…or is it all three? It’s time to ask the hard questions of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and why it seems as though God has made it so hard to continue believing. In fact, the son of a prominent U.S. Senator phoned me with that very question. “Why has God made it so hard to believe in Him?” Such skepticism is not just representative of the hostile; it also represents many honest questioners. This book attempts to lay out the response to those within as well as those outside the Christian faith so as to understand what it is we believe and why it is so hard to do so. More to the point: Why it is actually so hard to deny God and still make sense out of life? In the end the answers should be both felt and real, with the added truth that God is nearer than you think. He desires that we sense Him very near to us and not distant. But closeness comes at a cost just as any relationship of love and commitment does.

Book information:

Title: Has Christianity Failed You?

Author: Ravi Zacharias

Call number: 137 ZAC

New book: The End of Reason by Ravi Zacharias

The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists by Ravi Zacharias - When you pray, are you talking to a God who exists? Or is God nothing more than your “imaginary friend,” like a playmate contrived by a lonely and imaginative child?When author Sam Harris attacked Christianity in Letter to a Christian Nation, reviewers called the book “marvelous” and a generation of readers—hundreds of thousands of them—were drawn to his message. Deeply troubled, Dr. Ravi Zacharias knew that he had to respond. In The End of Reason, Zacharias underscores the dependability of the Bible along with his belief in the power and goodness of God. He confidently refutes Harris’s claims that God is nothing more than a figment of one’s imagination and that Christians regularly practice intolerance and hatred around the globe. If you found Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation compelling, the book you are holding is exactly what you need. Dr. Zacharias exposes “the utter bankruptcy of this worldview.” And if you haven’t read Harris’ book, Ravi’s response remains a powerful, passionate, irrefutably sound set of arguments for Christian thought. The clarity and hope in these pages reach out to readers who know and follow God as well as to those who reject God.

Book information:

Title: The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists

Author: Ravi Zacharias

Call number: 137 ZAC

New book: Martin Luther by Herman Selderhuis

Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography by Herman Selderhuis - Martin Luther is well known for initiating one of the most influential movements in church history--the Reformation. But this fascinating nonconformist, praised as a hero or criticized as a heretic throughout history, was first and foremost a man searching for God. This new biography by leading Reformation scholar Herman Selderhuis digs deep into the heart and mind of Luther, following him on his spiritual journey and revealing the many facets of his powerful personality, from loving husband and father, to serious monk, to feared opponent, to compelling preacher and writer. Selderhuis uses Luther's own words to help us see him as a man of flesh and blood, full of faith and full of faults, with a deep longing to live for God.

Book information: 

Title: Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography

Author: Herman Selderhuis

Call number: 267.3 SEL

New book - The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright

The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright - This text answers the scepticism about the need for a historical understanding of Jesus and shows how this can affect Christian discipleship today. It explores Jesus' preaching, his Messiahship and death, and his self-understanding in relation to God. The book goes on to ask: what does this imply? What should this mean for us? What, in fact, is the mission of the church grounded in this Jesus and this resurrection, to our postmodern world?

Book information: 
Title: The Challenge of Jesus
Author: N.T. Wright
Call number: 132 WRI