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Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster)
Everyone’s talking about Jobs’ biography, so you might as well cave and give it a go. One observer noted that decades from now, we will remember Jobs in the same way we remember Alexander Graham Bell — as a man who transformed the way our society operates. Jobs was a complex character, and Isaacson peels back some of the layers.
Just War as Christian Discipleship, Daniel Bell (Brazos Press)
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As we continue to evaluate the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War (and as we hear saber rattling about Iran), it’s high time for the Church to think intentionally about the Christian response to violence, defense and war. Bell’s work offers a unique contribution, setting the historic Just War tradition squarely within theological categories. Pacifists (such as Yoder and Hauerwas) have offered the Church a gift (whether or not you agree with their conclusions) by insisting we think of war in terms of Christian obedience. Bell, though supporting Just War principles, insists on the same.
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The Word Militant, Walter Brueggemann (Fortress Press)
Brueggemann is one of those rare voices who is both an academic heavyweight and a prophetic preacher. In this collection of Brueggemann’s essays on preaching, we discover Brueggemann’s conviction that preaching is a sacred task carrying “impossible responsibilities for the preacher.” Preaching, says Brueggeman, is the arduous work of offering God’s words to a community, words which will always “decenter” our understanding as well as our loyalties.
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Winn Collier is pastor of All Souls, a Baptist congregation in Charlottesville, Va., the author of three books and a columnist. (www.winncollier.com)