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New in the Book Corner | Fall 2009

“The Lemon Tree” by Sandy Tolan

This is a moving book about two women – a Jewish Holocaust survivor and an Arab – that traces the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Journalist Tolan captures the Arab-Israeli struggle in this story of a house and the two families, first Palestinian and then Jewish, who successively lived in it. Members of both families came to know one another and to seek dialog between Arabs and Jews. This wonderful human story vividly depicts the depths of attachment to contested ground.

“If God Is Love” by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland

Two Quaker ministers, one raised Catholic and the other Protestant, explore the question, “What could our world look like if we took seriously God’s love for all people?” The authors make the point that what we believe has great influence over how we live and interact with those around us and present a new vision for our personal, religious, and corporate lives.

“An Altar In The World” by Barbara Brown Taylor

In her critically acclaimed Leaving Church, Barbara Brown Taylor wrote about leaving full-time ministry to become a professor, a decision that stretched the boundaries of her faith. Now, in her stunning follow-up, An Altar in the World, she shares how she learned to encounter God beyond the walls of any church.

From simple practices such as walking, working, and getting lost to deep meditations on topics like prayer and pronouncing blessings, Taylor reveals concrete ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of devotion if we pay attention to what we are doing and take time to attend to the sights, smells, and sounds around us.

“Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell

An introduction to a Christian faith that has room for doubts. God doesn’t change, but times do, and Rob Bell, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, believes new times call for us to remain open and flexible, living with passion and conviction. An advocate of a postmodern approach to faith, Bell is vulnerable about his own struggles with doubt and understanding Scripture. Joy, awe, raw honesty, and an appreciation for the mystery of faith permeate the pages.

“Crazy Book”

Ever thought of the Exile as a 40-year timeout? Did you know Mary Magdelene’s pet peeve is artists who paint her as “that kind of woman”? And has it ever occurred to you that it would be cool if the Salome said to have been at Jesus’ tomb was the very same Salome who bumped off John the Baptist?

The authors of “Crazy Book” have put a lot of thought into questions like these.

This “not-so-stuffy dictionary of biblical terms” was written by assistant religion profs Hans Wiersma and Karl Jacobson, and Karl’s brother Rolf, an associate professor at Luther Seminary.

Book Corner hours
  • Sunday mornings
  • Wednesdays during the school year, 6-7 p.m.
  • First Saturday of each month 5-6:30 p.m

Jan Aplin, Book Corner manager

"Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God." ~Martin Luther