Christianity Books

With a survey of the history of new friar movements and commentary by forerunner Viv Grigg, this seminal book, edited by Scott A. Bessenecker, paints a picture of the global mission of the "new friars" that is new only because it has been neglected for...

Trent Sheppard explores historical turning points as they've intersected college students in prayer. From the establishment of early American campuses during the Great Awakening, to the parachurch movement in the mid-twentieth century, to the Campus...

Through a decade of challenging hikes up Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, the Fourteeners, with his father, Richard J. Foster, Nathan Foster navigated his twenties - finishing college, choosing a career, a possible cross-country move, the early years of...

Margot Starbuck's story begins with a woman looking for her biological father. But it doesn't end when she finds him. Instead, his rejection punctures her soul and sends her on a different search--one that leads to a different Father. This Father did not...

When three of Andrew Marin's friends came out to him in the span of three months, he was confronted head-on with the question of how to reconcile his friends with his faith. Love Is an Orientation is the result of years of wrestling with this issue. In...

Activists Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove show how prayer and action must go together. Their exposition of key Bible passages provides concrete examples of how a life of prayer fuels social engagement and the work of justice.

Recounting his own history, Matt Rogers explores the question of how, in a world of suffering, we can call God good. This challenging question can manifest itself as a conspiracy of doubt and depression, so that our emotions and our intellect come under...

In the wake of a historic earthquake in the fragile country of Haiti, Kent Annan considers suffering as a problem for faith. Along the way he discovers that he is not alone, that from the psalmists of old to our neighbors today, people have followed life...

Thousands of steeples on the horizon represent countless agendas, doctrines, quarrels. And they represent a question: How can we know anything about Jesus now? The answer, according to Rick James, is in the context. He recalls the specific contexts that...

Mindy Meier presents just the facts: straightforward answers to real questions about sex and dating in an age of hooking up, oral sex and "friends with benefits."

Have you been called by God to stick out, act out, speak out? Are you ready to set aside comfort and privilege for meaning and impact? Scott Bessenecker profiles young Christians who have done just that, making radical commitments to seek justice and...

Framed around the monastic concept of praying through the hours of the day, Leighton Ford helps you to develop spiritual attentiveness so you can pay attention to how God is working through you and in the world around you.

Sociology professor and spiritual director Susan Phillips walks us through our circuslike cultural landscape to invite us into a cultivated life of spirituality and attentiveness. God extends to us an invitation to live in the garden of grace, and these...

How do we allow the life of Jesus to flow through our whole bodies into our everyday lives? Having Jesus in our hearts is not enough. In this whole-life approach to Christian formation, Tom Smith directs us into a "rhythm of life" that brings flourishing...

We are made by and for relationship with God and others, even discovering and developing our God-given identity through relational connection. Bringing together the study of psychology and spiritual formation, The Relational Soul highlights how a...

Providing a historical and modern context for the unique spiritual discipline of walking a labyrinth, Travis Scholl weaves his own journey with a prayerful study of the Gospel of Mark, guiding readers to powerful encounters with God, even in the midst of...

What are the pathways that lead us to God? In this book Helen Cepero leads you through the journey beginning with three ways of love, then three ways of continuing in faith, and then lastly, three ways of living in hope. These nine pathways will lead you...

Why is it so hard to master consistent and meaningful prayer? MaryKate Morse explores 24 pathways of prayer meant to give readers a vast array of ways to focus and reflect. Whether you are a beginner or a lifetime person of faith, you will find a...

Calvin Miller introduces six types of Celtic prayer that teach you how to pray out of the circumstances and uncertainties of your own life. With traditional examples of each type of prayer, the book also includes a historical and spiritual overview of...

James Wilhoit and Evan Howard suggest that the special nature of the Bible invites us to develop special habits of reading. In this step-by-step introduction to lectio divina, you will learn what it means to read your way to intimacy with God.

In this practical workbook Stephen A. Macchia looks to St. Benedict as a guide for discovering your rule of life. It takes time and effort; you must listen to God and discern what he wants you to be and do for his glory. But through the disciplines of...

This guide to prayer, rooted in centuries of Christian tradition, introduces figures such as St. Benedict, Martin Luther, John Calvin, St. Ignatius, Teresa of Ávila and Andrew Murray. You'll learn how each of these spiritual giants uniquely connected to...

Too often we study biblical texts without believing that God truly inhabits this book. In these pages Chris Webb shows how reading the Bible with the right approach can reconfigure the habits of your heart, refresh your imagination and memory, reshape...

In Awaken Your Senses, longtime ministers Beth Booram and Brent Bill invite you to engage your right brain in your faith through sensory spiritual practices that position your heart for divine encounter. Readings and a variety of exercises lead you to...

Richard Foster equips Christians to embark successfully on the journey of meditative prayer. Featuring short chapters on the method of meditative prayer, insights from classical Christian writers, and reflections from Foster's own experiences of prayer,...

God's invitations to rest, follow, remember or repent may seem less compelling than your to-do list. But Adele Calhoun believes invitations like these can heal, restore and shape where we go, what we do and who we become. Here she includes reflection...

In six short chapters, James Bryan Smith zooms in on what Christ's work on the cross means about who God is and how we're to live as his people. A soul-training exercise included with each chapter and a discussion guide at the end makes this complement...

Spirituality writer Emilie Griffin takes us on a beautiful exploration of our later years. Filled with rich story, spiritual exercises and wisdom from those who have gone before us about topics like relocation, vocational changes, losing parents and...

Which activities give you energy and connect you with God? Do you know what behaviors are life-draining for you, separating you from God? In this book Jan Johnson provides small experiments with simplicity as well as questions for discussion or...

Copastors Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken tell the decade-long story of how God took their thriving, consumer-oriented church and transformed it into a modest congregation of unformed believers committed to the growth of the spirit-even when it meant a...

What does it mean to be a holy person? The answer might surprise you. This delightful yet challenging book from spiritual director Albert Haase provides practical wisdom for becoming holy--right in the midst of "ordinary" life. With brief, engaging...

The Leadership Ellipse by Bob Fryling is designed to help Christian leaders embrace both halves of the tension of being in leadership--our internal relationship with God and our external relationship with others--to find a truly authentic, integrated way...

Memorizing Scripture can seem overwhelming-like one more task on a checklist. But pastor Joshua Choonmin Kang has discovered what happens when we do spend time memorizing God's Word: we grasp a larger, truer picture of God. Pastor Kang also knows that...

Jason Brian Santos takes us on a tour of the Taizé community, one of the world's first ecumenical monastic orders, from its monastic origins in the war-torn south of 1940s France to its emerging mission as a pilgrimage site and spiritual focal point for...

Experienced spiritual director Alice Fryling presents an overview of what group spiritual direction is and how it is practiced, offering practical step-by-step guidance for those who would like to start, lead or particpate in group spiritual direction.

Spiritual disciplines connect us to the God who wants to transform our souls. These forty-eight sessions will help you to explore sixteen core practices with a unique mix of inductive Bible study, guided meditation and transformational exercises...

Bobby Gross presents chapters on each season of the liturgical year, accompanied by weekly devotions based on the Sunday readings of the lectionary cycle. His book offers a flexible weekly format, designed to let you break the devotions down any way you...

Helen Harmelink Cepero looks at how we can use journal writing to enhance and support other disciplines such as discernment, self-understanding, attention to God, prayer and more.

Albert Haase presents the spiritual journey as a return home. And home is the sacrament of the present moment. It is only living right now, right here, that we discover life and this world awash in the grace of God. We simply need to become aware and...

Michael Mangis explores why we get stuck in a pattern of sin by looking at how we repeat one core, or signature, sin again and again. He helps us each uncover that sin, and then looks at gender, personality, family background and other influences that...

Tricia McCary Rhodes offers us a fresh view of connecting to God, one that focuses on quality time and frees us from the rigidity of a devotional life that may feel stifled, grow stagnant, or bring about guilt when we can't keep up. Ideas at the end of...

With fifty-two brief readings ideal for weekly reflection, this devotional from pastor Joshua Choonmin Kang invites you to walk slowly, paying attention to God's work in you and around you, to walk intentionally, using spiritual disciplines to develop...

Mindy Caliguire introduces us to the concept of soul care (the spiritual discipline). Soul Care Resources are designed to be simple, but not simplistic, guides to maintaining or recovering the life and health of your soul, that essential personhood...

James W. Sire explores two types of psalms: psalms about Jesus and psalms Jesus might have heard read. Following the pattern of Learning to Pray Through the Psalms, this book explores how Jesus might have heard and related to the Psalms as they were read...

Pilgrimage is a spiritual discipline not many consider. In these pages Arthur Paul Boers describes his month-long journey on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, a classic pilgrimage route that ends at the cathedral where St. James is buried, opening to us...

Have you been longing to learn more about spiritual disciplines but haven't known where to start? Focusing on a different core spiritual discipline each month, this year-long devotional includes brief daily readings to help you develop holy habits...

Peter Schakel opens to you the more practical parts of C. S. Lewis's wonderful writings. Covering areas of potential struggle such as prayer, suffering, doubt and love, Schakel draws principles from Lewis's nonfiction as well as illustrations from the...

A group of youth ministry experts answers your questions about raising teenagers. Editor Wayne Rice collects practical wisdom--and "I've been there" sympathy--from Mark DeVries, Jim Green, David Olshine, Marv Penner, Duffy Robbins, Kendra Smiley, Tim...