Kate Ott, a professor of Christian Social Ethics at Drew University, Theological School, knows that talking with your child about sex can be scary. Her new book, Sex + Faith, comes along to help. It aims to help parents incorporate their faith values with sexual information so they can answer questions, discuss sexuality at each stage of childhood, and show support of sexual differences. She answered some questions about how — and at what age — to begin this dialogue and how we... Read more
This month at the Patheos Book Club, we’re featuring the new book by popular author and pastor Matt Chandler To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain. Chandler explores the pages of the apostle Paul’s radical letter to the Philippians as a road map of sorts for achieving authentic Christian maturity. Here, Chandler answers some questions about the themes in his book. You talk about becoming a “mature believer” as an important part of growing as a Christian; can you briefly... Read more
Popular Catholic author and professor Paula Huston’s new novel comes out this month, A Land Without Sin. Set in the jungles of southern Mexico in the early 90s, the book is described as a modern-day journey into the heart of darkness, in which a sister goes searching for her lost brother, who happens to be a priest, after a mysterious disappearance. (Visit the Patheos Book Club for more about this book.) Here, Huston talks with Caitlin MacKenzie of Slant Books about... Read more
In the new book Rock-Bottom Blessings: Discovering God’s Abundance When All Seems Lost, Karen Beattie faces serious challenges: she loses her job, experiences a miscarriage, and encounters heart-wrenching difficulties in adopting a child. Her faith journey through her grief, loss and disappointment is at the heart of her book, now featured at the Patheos Book Club. We had a chance to ask Beattie a few questions about her story, including what inspired her to write her book, her thoughts on... Read more
Over on Frank Schaeffer’s blog, this famous former Evangelical-turned-Progressive-Christian-son is reading excerpts from his newest book, And God Said, “Billy!” It’s a real treat to hear Frank read from his funny and poignant work. The book has been warmly endorsed by the likes of Brian McLaren and Kevin Miller. And God Said, “Billy!” is a darkly comic coming-of-age story. The story is set in the 1980s and is about Billy, a young fundamentalist Christian who feels called to go to Hollywood to make... Read more
Not getting along is nothing new. We’ve been doing it for centuries and we’re getting better at it all the time. The only major difference lies in that through most of human history up through the Cold War of the late twentieth century, we didn’t care all that much. We wanted to get along as much as on our own terms as possible. But if, as a nation, we couldn’t, then to reference Lewis Carroll in “Alice in Wonderland”, “…off... Read more
Confession time here – I came to Five Stones: Conquering Your Giants set to dislike it. As I unpacked it, I thought, “Fine. Another book on how I’m supposed to solve my life by a formula devised by some ‘personal trainer’ who smears their face with tofu and is the expert on this kind of stuff. It will come wrapped in sappy stories and cosmetic Bible references to suck in Christian buyers.” Nothing flattens the tires of judgmental cynicism like actually... Read more
“My name is Shane Stanford, and I am a giant killer.” So begins the first chapter of a new book by United Methodist Minister Stanford, and his friend and former CEO of Saks Inc. R. Brad Martin. In Five Stones: Conquering Your Giants, Stanford and Martin engage the well-known biblical story of David and Goliath, along with their own real-life stories of battling giants, to draw out lessons for us on how we fight the giants in our own lives. Stanford and Martin... Read more
By Mark Scandrette Author, Free: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most Lisa and I and our daughter are all of average height, but my sons, who are 6’3” and 6’7”, make me feel like a little man. We look like clowns piling out of a clown car as the five of us emerge from our well-used 2005 Scion XB, or what we affectionately call “the little toaster.” It’s a vehicle that is roomier on the inside than it... Read more
This month at the Patheos Book Club, we’re featuring a new book on faith and money called Free: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most, by Mark Scandrette. The following is an exercise excerpted from the book. Appreciate Your Assets of Abundance Life can seem scarce rather than abundant when we hurry or forget to savor all that we’ve been given… What if we measured wealth in purposeful work, simple pleasures and meaningful relationships? Many of the things we enjoy most... Read more
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