GODSTUFF

SUNSCREEN, SWIMSUITS AND SUMMER

READING

Sunscreen, in 45, 30, 15 and 8 SPF. Check.

Acidophilus capsules and Mylanta in case of Montezuma’s revenge. Check.

A variety of bikinis and one black one-piece granny suit in case I’m too chicken to sport the two-piece variety. Check.

I’m packing for a short trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico — a long overdue mini-vacation after a long, looooooong year of writing.

The last thing on my list is to decide which of the dozens of books I haven’t had time to read the rest of the year will make it into my suitcase, as well as the prized position in my carry-on bag for the flight south. (Barring the last-minute purchase of a Kindle, I’ll only be able to carry three or four.)

Usually the choice is easy as I normally reserve my beach holidays for supremely light reading, filling my beach tote with whatever new, fluffy Marian Keyes and Jennifer Wiener novels have hit the market.

But this time around, I’m so far behind in getting to some of the spiritual titles that have come out recently that I’m breaking with tradition and indulging in a little less-than-light reading.

Here is my list of titles to choose from. Perhaps you’ll find a few of them of interest as you pack for your August vacations as well.

The Sacred Echo: Hearing God’s Voice in Every Area of Your Life
By Margaret Feinberg
Zondervan, $16.99

Named one of the “Thirty Emerging Voices” under 40 in the Christian community by Charisma magazine, Feinberg, author of The Organic God, has written a provocative nonfiction book about hearing God’s voice in what she calls “sacred echoes.” Feinberg says, “When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn’t just whisper something once.” God repeats the message until we grasp what it is. Like the prophet Elijah in the Hebrew Scriptures, who heard from God not only in a “still, small voice” but also in an earthquake, a fire and in the wind, Feinberg guides readers in hearing and seeing divine signs, wonders and whispers.

Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America
By Gustav Niebuhr
Viking, $25.95

One of the most astute observers of American religion, veteran journalist Niebuhr, the former religion reporter for the New York Times and the Washington Post, takes a less-than cynical look at interreligious cooperation in the United States. Niebuhr, grandson of the renowned theologian H. Richard Niebuhr and great-nephew of the great religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr, traveled across the nation to examine religious communities that have formed perhaps unlikely unions: Hindus and Quakers in New York City, Catholics and Buddhists in Los Angeles, and black Baptists and Catholics in Louisville, Ky., among them. The author looks at why the communities formed the interfaith bonds they have, and what has come of their alliances.

Sexless in the City: A Memoir of Reluctant Chastity
By Anna Broadway
Doubleday, $12.95

The former editor of bodice-ripping romance novels, Broadway has written a humorous memoir about her real-life romantic adventures as a young woman on the dating scene who is looking for true love while trying to hold on to her chastity. The book is an outgrowth of her popular blog, also called “Sexless in the City” (annabroadway. blogspot.com). Along her spiritual romantic journey, Broadway weathers romantic adventures with men such as “Harvard Lickwit,” “Hippie the Groper,” and “Ad Weasel,” among others.

The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher
By Rob Stennett
Zondervan, $12.99

My one nod to fiction on the list is a debut novel by Stennett, an award-winning screenwriter and film/theater director. I’m not usually a fan of so-called “Christian fiction,” but I’ve been lured in by the premise of Stennett’s satirical book: A young, ambitious real estate agent named Ryan Fisher (an atheist) discovers what he thinks is an untapped market while watching late-night television — evangelical Christians. As he investigates the community for sales leads, he discovers that, with his business savvy, he could start a church of his own (and perhaps a religious empire, to boot). In its review, Publisher’s Weekly says, “As church numbers swell, Oprah calls, local pastors are on the warpath, a religious fanatic plots Ryan’s assassination, and Katherine is smitten with Cowboy Jack, a karaoke singer-turned-worship leader who pens Christian lyrics to popular radio tunes.” I’m definitely intrigued.

A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-Filled, Open-Armed, Alive-and-Well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind and Let Down in Us All
By Doug Pagitt
Jossey-Bass, $21.95

From what I can tell, this book is dangerous — a manifesto of a kind (mixed with personal memoir) that argues for a holistic view of Christianity rather than the God-as-all-powerful-king-in-the-sky version rooted in 5th-century Greco-Roman understanding of deity and faith that has been so popular for the last millennium and a half. Pagitt is pastor of an “Emergent” congregation called Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis/St. Paul and brings the emergent deconstructive spirit to his approach to the faith, which is informed by the Jewish understanding of God as creator, lover, redeemer, judge and mediator and by the Orthodox belief that humans are basically good, not totally depraved. It’s a book, the author says, for alienated believers. “To me, faith is all about possibility, the hope that we are made for something better than our often limited human imagination might suggest.”

What the Light Was Like
By Luci Shaw
Wordfarm, $12.00

and

Red Bird
By Mary Oliver
Beacon Press, $23.00

I never travel without at least one poetry collection, and these two slim volumes, a 2006 collection by Shaw — the transcendental poet and onetime collaborator with the late Madeleine L’Engle — and the latest offering from Oliver — the Pulitzer Prize-winning naturalist poet, whose earlier work includes the magnificent collections American Primitive and Dream Work — are a pretty good bet to find a spot next to the iPod and People magazine in my carry-on bag.

Full disclosure: Two of the above titles were published by Zondervan, the publishing house that has just released my new book, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace.