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The Artist’s Rule, Christine Painter (Sorin Books)
Our heart requires space to listen, to ruminate and to waken to life — and then (and only then) can we truly create. This is the guiding assumption of Painter’s work. Crafted as a 12-week journey (and that’s the best setting for it — in a group, not individually), The Artist’s Rule connects the spiritual and the creative, the artistic and the monastic. For anyone longing to spark their creative soul or for anyone struggling to pull their art and their faith together, following this journey with a few trusted friends could be a true joy.
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The Spirit Unfettered, Edmund J. Rybarczyk (Paraclete)
If, over the last few decades, any issue has been more divisive within the church than the issue of the Holy Spirit, I don’t know what it would be. The fire (pun intended) has died down in recent years, but still, there are deep fissures under the surface. In The Spirit Unfettered, Rybarczyk offers a good gift by sketching out most of the primary Protestant views on the Holy Spirit. This volume could increase understanding — and provide for greater generosity among those of us within God’s Church.
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Working with Words: On Learning to Speak Christian, Stanley Hauerwas (Cascade)
Rightly called a “word provocateur,” Hauerwas has a powerful commitment to the idea that language creates new realities — and to the notion that Christian faith exists as the epicenter of the true reality. No wonder then that we have a new collection of essays from Hauerwas on the nature of “what makes Christians Christian” — and how words are part of this particular Christian identity.
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Winn Collier is pastor of All Souls, a Baptist congregation in Charlottesville, Va., the author of three books, a columnist and a trustee of the Religious Herald. (www.winncollier.com)