"Streams of Contentment" is a book full of smiles—or at least, that was my experience. Wicks’ heartwarming tales of the farm blend easily with his stories about encounters with patients and colleagues in his professional practice, and all have lessons to tell. Read more

By Jonathan Fitzgerald [This post is part of a conversation hosted at the Patheos Book Club on the new book, Left, Right & Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics, by Lisa Sharon Harper and D.C. Innes.] This Thanksgiving, families across the country will gather around the table and, in an effort to keep the peace, avoid talking about the infamous dinnertime conversation taboos, religion and politics. Though there is a lot to talk about, the Republican nomination process, the Occupy movement,... Read more

[This post by David Swartz is part of a conversation hosted at the Patheos Book Club on the new book, Left, Right & Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics, by Lisa Sharon Harper and D.C. Innes.] It’s that time of year that would bring a smile to Friedrich Nietzsche’s face, even though, with that national forest he grew on his upper lip, who would know? Possessor of one of the greatest moustaches in intellectual history, Nietzsche launched ideas and phrases like the... Read more

By Anna Quinn [This post is part of a conversation hosted at the Patheos Book Club on the new book, Left, Right & Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics, by Lisa Sharon Harper and D.C. Innes.] So while the Lord tarries, Christians in America are to prosper our country, help make it a better place in every respect: more just, more equitable, more merciful, more wise, more beautiful, more fruitful, more flourishing in every way that God desires human communities to... Read more

By Bruce G. Epperly [This post is part of a conversation featured at the Patheos Book Club on the new book 25 Books Every Christian Should Read, by Renovaré.] The Challenge of “Should”- Pondering 25 Invitations to Spiritual Transformation I’m a sixties type of person and I’ve always been nervous hearing the word “should,” especially when it comes to the spiritual life.  I was raised in a conservative Baptist environment where we were told what we should believe with the... Read more

“I began to wonder what would happen if men everywhere embraced their God-given destiny to defend and protect the vulnerable women and children in their communities. What would happen if, in addition to unleashing their strength, skills and passion on the sports field, in the office or behind their computer screens, and they discovered their true masculinity by answering this call to arms and action.” –Daniel Walker, God in a Brothel The words “God” and “brothel” in the same book... Read more

[Editor’s Note: This post by Fred Schmidt is part of a conversation about the new book 25 Books Every Christian Should Read, featured now at the Patheos Book Club.] Whenever an editor or a group of people (like the editorial board of Renovaré) makes the effort to identify a list of books that must be read, there are inevitable risks and easy criticisms that can be made: In the case of this essential guide to spiritual classics, one might ask,... Read more

A story of love, liberation and bravado, God in a Brothel is an effective text to confront the naiveté of complacent American Christianity with the harsh realities and levels of sin in this world generally and in this own country specifically. Walker’s story thus operates as a call for American Christians to question to what degree they share characteristics with abusers when they ignore the plight of the impoverished, those to whom Jesus referred to as “least of these.” Read more

So why did I like this book? Because while Mutants & Mystics may have fought an ideological fight in which I do not like to participate, it did so in the name of a larger insight from which we can all benefit. Read more

I really enjoyed all of the blogs and reviews about my book, Mutants & Mystics, but Eric, aka ol’ Meta-man, probably came closest to the spirit of what I was trying to do in the book. Because of the comparative mystical literature that I have been absorbed in for the last three decades, I do in fact suspect that we are all “eddies of a vast ocean” or World Soul, that “we are all infinite, all the time.” Read more