Social Ethics

CHRISTIAN BELIEF

Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?

The Bible and Modern Science and the Trouble of Making It All Fit Janet Kellogg Ray

Foreword by Deborah Haarsma Is an acceptance of science compatible with Christian faith? Janet Kellogg Ray thinks so, even if it means rethinking a literalist understanding of the Bible—particularly the early chapters of Genesis. In this book, Ray goes through the evidence for evolution and the science of origins to show how a creationist worldview doesn’t hold up under scrutiny—and how being a Christian doesn’t have to mean believing that there were baby dinosaurs with Noah on the ark.

“A down-to-earth yet thorough introduction for how science works and how necessary it is to shake off unhelpful and untrue assumptions about the Bible.”

— JARED BYAS

cohost of the podcast The Bible for Normal People

“A deeply personal, scientifically informed, and valuable contribution to our troubled conversation on evolution.” — KARL W. GIBERSON

author of Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution

“This is a well-written, insightful, and accessible book with pitch-perfect and well-balanced tone. I couldn’t help but to be drawn into the stories that punctuated the treatment.” — JOHN H. WALTON

professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College

“This is the most cleverly written and yet profound book I’ve read in some time. I love it! Ray makes complex and deep issues accessible.”

— THOMAS JAY OORD

author of The Uncontrolling Love of God

Janet Kellogg Ray is an enthusiastic science educator who blogs at JanetKRay.com on the intersections of science, faith, and culture. Raised a creationist, she is uniquely equipped to explain evolution to questioners, doubters, deniers, and those who just want to know more about the science of origins: she’s been there, and she understands.

978-0-8028-7944-8 • Paperback • 227 pages • $17.99 US $23.99 CAN • £13.99 UK • AVAILABLE NOW

Questions Christians Aren’t Supposed to Ask

James V. Brownson

Why should anyone believe in God in a world with so much pain? Why should I become a Christian when I find the public agenda of many Christians so offensive? I have been hurt by the church in the past. Why should I bother with it now?

In each chapter of this book, James Brownson introduces a difficult question that Christians “aren’t supposed to ask” and then reframes it with a relevant passage from the Bible, bringing to bear his expertise as a biblical scholar. Rather than providing dogmatic (and ultimately unsatisfying) “Sunday school answers,” he explores the questions in provocative ways that often challenge the status quo of American Christianity. Fittingly, each chapter closes with discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, so that the conversations begun here can continue among the book’s readers in fruitful ways.

“Jim Brownson is one of the most important biblical scholars writing today, and in this book he lends his theological expertise to a variety of contemporary issues that often prove to be stumbling blocks for young people and others wrestling with doubts about Christianity. From the problems of hypocrisy and abuse in the church to theological debates about sexuality, hell, and women’s roles, Dr. Brownson offers important insights from Scripture to help Christians think more clearly about complex topics.”

—MATTHEW VINES

author of God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case for Same-Sex Relationships

James V. Brownson is the James and Jean Cook Professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He is also the author of Bible, Gender, Sexuality and The Promise of Baptism.

978-0-8028-7841-0 • Paperback • 139 pages • $17.99 US $23.99 CAN • £13.99 UK • AVAILABLE NOW CALVIN INSTITUTE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP LITURGICAL STUDIES

Living under Water

Baptism as a Way of Life Kevin J. Adams

Foreword by Cornelius Plantinga Our truest identity isn’t something we create or build ourselves.

It’s a gift we receive. We live under water.

What does baptism mean? And what do we do with it? Kevin Adams—an experienced pastor and church planter who has baptized people of all ages and spiritual origins—makes the case that baptism isn’t merely a one-time ceremony but something to be lived and affirmed throughout one’s life. In Living under Water, Adams shares stories that illustrate how baptism shapes one’s identity and enters us into an alternate narrative, one ongoing since the dawn of creation, through which we understand our truest selves with all our joy and trauma and by which we are united with a group of people unbound by race or language, continent or generation.

“The book can only be described as marvelous—rich with insights and revelations, deeply informative. It will be described as the best Christian account of baptism.” — CORNELIUS PLANTINGA

president emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary

“Congregations who study this book will expand their horizons for the many ways that God is seeding shalom in communities of faith through the gift of baptism.” — LEANNE VAN DYK

president and professor of theology at Columbia Theological Seminary

Kevin J. Adams is the founding and senior pastor of Granite Springs Church in greater Sacramento, California, and a program affiliate at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

978-0-8028-7963-9 • Paperback • 276 pages • $19.99 US $26.99 CAN • £15.99 UK

AVAILABLE JANUARY 2022

Humbler Faith, Bigger God

Finding a Story to Live By Samuel Wells Finding a renewed Christian story in a time of skepticism and doubt

Is Christianity just a fairy tale for the infantile? Or worse, a cruel fantasy— the perpetrator of terrible harm and the cause of endless conflict? At the very least, one path among many? Such questions reflect the skepticism of outsiders and the doubts of insiders—some perennial, some underscored by recent events and movements.

The answer to these objections isn’t a louder faith to shout them down— it’s a humbler faith that points to a bigger God. Samuel Wells illustrates this through his generous, respectful, and earnest engagement with ten difficult questions about Christianity. In each case he portrays the traditional position and the skepticism of the modern age as two rival stories. Transcending both, he then offers a revitalized Christian story that better renders the radical, courageous, and vulnerable nature of authentic faith. Wells is unwaveringly honest about the failures of the institutional church and acknowledges many people’s negative prior experiences of Christianity—making this a book for both Christians and non-Christians who have found the stories of their lives disrupted and now seek a fulfilling and truthful story to live by.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1. Crutch for the Deluded? 2. Catalogue of Betrayals? 3. Fairy Tale for the Infantile? 4. Drug for the Poor? 5. Intolerant Poison? 6. Perpetrator of Terrible Harm? 7. Cause of Endless Conflict? 8. One Path among Many? 9. Arrogant Narcissism? 10. Cruel Fantasy? 11. A Faith to Live By Study Guide

Samuel Wells is vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. His previous books include Walk Humbly, Incarnational Ministry, Incarnational Mission, Shaping the Prayers of the People (with Abigail Kocher), and Learning to Dream Again.

978-0-8028-7931-8 • Jacketed Hardcover • 248 pages • $22.99 US • $30.99 CAN

AVAILABLE MARCH 2022

God Gets Everything God Wants

Katie Hays

In this book for spiritual refugees—weary Christians, former Christians, and the Christ-curious who have been excluded from church because of who they are and what they (don’t) believe—Katie Hays proposes a gospel of hope, inclusion, and defiance of the powers that be. She invites readers into “the painstaking work of examining our Christian faith and sorting it out” to find what might be salvaged from the wreckage of a faith that still smolders with life-giving possibilities.

“There are few people I trust as much as Rev. Katie Hays when it comes to understanding the heart of God and how to live out the kingdom. She just—to put it plainly—gets it, and then shares that it with us in a way where we start believing we can get it, too. In God Gets Everything God Wants, Katie casts a vision of a loving, passionate, and persistent God so good it simply must be true.”

— COLBY MARTIN

author of The Shift: Surviving and Thriving after Moving from Conservative to Progressive Christianity

“Spirituality is best explored in community, and in God Gets Everything God Wants, Katie Hays invites us to bring all of our beautiful, broken, burdened selves to the conversation. Do not be fooled by Katie’s light-hearted language and easy way with words. This book is a serious theological rehabilitation of the core message of the gospel, with the kind of clarity and insight that puts you in mind of Richard Rohr or Brian McLaren. We’ve needed this book.”

— PAULA STONE WILLIAMS

author of As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and the Patriarchy after I Transitioned

“Katie’s book is for anyone who has felt unheard and unwelcome in church and those who are still shaking off the dusty remnants of a loveless, controlling faith in cahoots with systemic injustices. She invites the reader on a tour through personal and scriptural witness toward a reimagined, loving community where real, noholds-barred relationship reigns—with God and with others. ”

— HEIDI B. NEUMARK

author of Sanctuary: Being Christian in the Wake of Trump

Katie Hays is the founder and lead evangelist of Galileo Church, a church that seeks and shelters spiritual refugees, especially young adults and LGBTQ+ people, on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas. She is also the author of We Were Spiritual Refugees and the coauthor, with Susan Chiasson, of Family of Origin, Family of Choice.

978-0-8028-7856-4 • Jacketed Hardcover •181 pages • $21.99 US • $29.99 CAN • £17.99 UK

AVAILABLE NOW