Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God, by Mike Erre (M.A. ’04), David C. Cook, April 2014. Jesus should get bigger the longer we walk with him. Life and faith should grow to be more profound and wondrous, not less. In Astonished, you will see how we are far more comfortable with tips, steps and techniques for living than we are with ruthlessly trusting the mysterious God of the Bible. God asks us to follow him into tension, frustration and difficulty because he wants our trust, not just our intellectual agreement. Erre issues an invitation to wonder in a world with little mystery left.

I Beg to Differ: Navigating Difficult Conversations with Truth and Love, by Tim Muehlhoff (professor of communication studies), IVP, February 2014. In today’s polarized world, friends and strangers clash with each other over issues large and small. Is there any hope for restoring civil discourse? Muehlhoff provides a strategy for having difficult conversations, helping us move from contentious debate to constructive dialogue. Insights from Scripture and communication theory provide practical ways to manage disagreements and resolve conflicts.

In Search of Moral Knowledge: Overcoming the Fact-Value Dichotomy, by R. Scott Smith (associate professor of ethics and Christian apologetics), IVP Academic, June 2014. For most of the church’s history, people have seen Christian ethics as universally applicable. Recently, however, this view has been lost. Smith argues that Christians need to overcome the fact-value dichotomy — that science uniquely gives us knowledge, whereas ethics and religion just give us personal preferences — and recover the possibility of genuine moral and theological knowledge.

Pursuing Justice: The Call to Live and Die for Bigger Things, by Ken Wytsma (M.A. ’01), Thomas Nelson, February 2013. If God designed us to experience abundant life, why do so many Christians feel dissatisfied? The path to a meaningful life leads us alongside the orphan, the widow and the powerless. Using evangelical theology and narratives drawn from two decades of global ministry, Wytsma, founder of The Justice Conference, calls us back to a proper understanding of biblical justice and righteousness, and the connection between our joy, others’ joy and the wondrous gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reforming the Monastery: Protestant Theologies of the Religious Life, by Greg Peters (associate professor, Torrey Honors Institute), Cascade, November 2013. Although medieval monasteries were regularly suppressed during the Reformation and the magisterial Reformers rejected monastic vows, the existence of monasticism has remained within the Reformation churches, both as an institution and in its theology. This volume examines Protestant theologies of monasticism, including the thought of select Protestant authors who have argued for the existence of monasticism in the Reformation churches, beginning with Martin Luther and John Calvin. The current movement known as the “new monasticism” is also discussed and evaluated in light of Protestant monastic history.

Letters to a Birmingham Jail: A Response to the Words and Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Bryan Loritts (M.A. ’98, Biola trustee), Moody, April 2014. Much progress has been made in the half-century since Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail became the manifesto of the civil rights movement. Long gone are the burning crosses, biting police dogs and angry mobs. But in its place we find passivity, cynicism and avoidance. In this new collection of essays, diverse voices in today’s church — including John Piper, John M. Perkins and Soong-Chan Rah — suggest that while the movement could change laws, it could never change hearts. Nudging us to pursue Christ-exalting diversity, they argue that the gospel demands justice in all its forms, spiritual and physical.

Defending the Line: The David Luiz Story, by Alex Carpenter (’08), Zonderkidz, April 2014. For kids ages 8-12 and soccer fans of all ages comes the newest addition to the Zonderkidz biography series, Fueled by Faith, The David Luiz Story. One of the rising stars in international soccer, David Luiz made his debut in professional soccer player as a teen and has since become a star player whose faith and success drive him forward and inspire athletes, young and old, around the world.