Sparkhouse

You Can Change: Stories from Angola Prison and the Psychology of Personal Transformation

Can people make positive changes in their lives that really last? To answer this question, Dr. Mark W. Baker wound up interviewing inmates in the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, located in Angola, Louisiana. Baker uses stories from inside Angola, along with his decades of experience as a clinical psychologist, to show all of us how to change our lives for the better--no matter who we are or what we've done.

9781506455648

Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

When Richard Beck first led a Bible study at a maximum security prison, he went to meet God. His own faith was flagging, but Beck still believed the promise of Matthew 25, that when we visit the prisoner, we visit Jesus. With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us in the marginalized and the refugee. God comes to us in the poor, the crippled, the smelly. 

9781506433752

Hunger and Happiness: Feeding the Hungry, Nourishing Our Souls

Read Fortress Press's interview with Shannon Jung, only on fortressforum.com ! In a world where there is so much food, why are so many people hungry? Amidst...

9780806670607

Wild Belief: Poets and Prophets in the Wilderness

Wild Belief brings together a diverse and unique set of writers who span literary styles, genres, and time periods--but who are united in their search for spirit in the wild.

Through them we discover the tension between our understanding of the wilderness as both a fearful and a sacred space, which makes it particularly apt for capturing the unknown and surprising elements of belief.

9781506464633

Jesus for Farmers and Fishers: Justice for All Those Marginalized by Our Food System

Food producers in America are in the midst of one of the most severe farm crises of the last half-century. Yet we are largely unaware of the plight of those whose hands and hearts toil to sustain us. In Jesus for Farmers and Fishers, Gary Nabhan offers a fresh look at the parables of Jesus to bring us into a heart of compassion for those in the food economy hit by this crisis.

9781506465067

#ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing

Sexual abuse is utterly rampant in Christian churches in America. And the reasons are somewhat different than those you might find in the #MeToo stories coming out of Hollywood or Washington. #ChurchToo turns over the rocks of the church's sexual dysfunction, revealing just what makes sexualized violence in religious contexts both ubiquitous and uniquely traumatizing, and lays the groundwork for survivors of abuse to live full, free, healthy lives.

9781506464817

Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity

In Just Faith, activist and writer Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons explains how a strong religious left has accompanied every major progressive advance in our society, and he resurrects the long but forgotten history of progressive Christianity in the United States. This book is a rallying cry for a bold progressive Christianity that unapologetically fights for its values to impact the biggest political battles of our time--from immigration and economic fairness to LGBTQ+ and abortion rights.

9781506462523

Trains, Jesus, and Murder: The Gospel according to Johnny Cash

In Trains, Jesus, and Murder, Beck explores the theology of Johnny Cash by investigating a dozen of Cash's songs. In reflecting on Cash's lyrics, and the passion with which he sang them, we gain a deeper understanding of the enduring faith of the Man in Black.

9781506433769

Religion in The Handmaid's Tale: A Brief Guide

From the significance of names to twisted uses of religion to the origins of the Ceremony, Religion​ in The Handmaid's Tale answers all the questions you might have about religion in Atwood's prophetic novel. For anyone who's ever googled a biblical precedent or religious phrase after encountering Atwood's dystopia, this essential guide explains it all and gives readers a fascinating look into the novel and its world. Read it and understand The Handmaid's Tale like never before.

9781506456300

Parable of the Brown Girl: The Sacred Lives of Girls of Color

The stories of girls of color are often overlooked and ignored rather than valued and heard. Instead of relegating these young women to the margins, minister and youth advocate Khristi Lauren Adams brings their stories front and center where they belong. Thought-provoking and inspirational, Parable of the Brown Girl is a powerful example of how God uses the narratives we most often ignore to teach us the most important lessons in life.

9781506455686

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US

Lenny Duncan is an unlikely pastor. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make the headlines, but Duncan connects the church's lack of diversity to its lack of vitality. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of the church.

9781506452562

The God Beat: What Journalism Says about Faith and Why It Matters

In the 1960s and '70s a more personal, subjective, voice-driven journalism emerged, known as New Journalism. In the new century, those same tropes are used by religion writers who similarly scrutinize questions of faith and doubt while taking God-talk seriously. The God Beat brings together significant and characteristic samples of this emerging genre, helping us understand how we talk about God in public spaces--and why it matters--in a whole new way.

9781506465777

Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age

Five hundred years ago, the world was enchanted with angels and demons--God existed, and the devil was real. Today, we live in a post-Christian world characterized by doubt and skepticism. Richard Beck argues this is not evidence of a crisis of belief but a crisis of attention. Hunting Magic Eels reveals how we can cultivate an enchanted faith in a skeptical age and recover our ability to experience God as a living, vital presence.

9781506464657

In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World

From master storyteller and host of On Being's Poetry Unbound, Pádraig Ó Tuama, comes an unforgettable spiritual memoir of peace and reconciliation, Celtic spirituality, belonging, and sexual identity. From the heart of a poet comes a profound look at the landscapes we all try to inhabit even as we always search for shelter, a place we can call home.

9781506470528

Dear Doctor: What Doctors Don't Ask, What Patients Need to Say

In the form of an open letter from patients to their doctors, spiritual writer and professor of medical humanities Marilyn McEntyre brings to light the hidden fears, desperate needs, deepest hopes, and heartfelt truths that many feel doctors overlook in their approach to health care. Ultimately, Dear Doctor is an important first step to begin a dialogue between two communities that often have a very large disconnect.

9781506460475

In My Grandmother's House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit

A grandmother's theology carries wisdom strong enough for future generations. In the pages of In My Grandmother's House, public theologian Yolanda Pierce builds an everyday womanist theology rooted in liberating scriptures, stories from the Black church, and truths from Black women's lives. The Divine has been showing up at the kitchen tables of Black women for a long time. It's time to get to know that God.

9781506464718

Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder's Meditations on Hope and Courage

Native America knows something about cultivating resilience and resisting darkness. Choctaw elder and Episcopal priest Steven Charleston offers words of hard-won hope, rooted in daily conversations with the Spirit and steeped in Indigenous wisdom. For all who yearn for hope, Ladder to the Light is a book of comfort, truth, and challenge in a time of anguish and fear. Night will not last forever. Together we can climb toward the light.

9781506465739

Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers

Known for her bestselling detective novels, Dorothy L. Sayers lived a fascinating, groundbreaking life as a novelist, feminist, Oxford scholar, and important influence on the spiritual life of C.S. Lewis. Subversive shows how Sayers ignites new ways to think about Christianity, shocking people into seeing the truth of ancient doctrine; inspiring believers to evaluate how and why their language perpetuates divisive certitude rather than the hopeful faith; and showing us all a better way forward.

9781506462752

IRL: Finding Realness, Meaning, and Belonging in Our Digital Lives

It's easy to view our online presence as fake, to see the internet as a space we enter when we aren't living our real, offline lives. IRL, Chris Stedman's insightful exploration of authenticity in the digital age, shines a light on how age-old notions of realness can be freshly understood in our online lives. Stedman invites readers to consider how they use the internet to fulfill the essential need to feel real, online and off.

9781506463513

Waging Peace: One Soldier's Story of Putting Love First

Diana Oestreich served 407 days as a combat medic in Iraq. But when she was commanded to run over an Iraqi child to keep her battle buddies safe, she became a peacemaker instead. This beautiful and gut-wrenching memoir exposes the false divide between loving our country and living out our faith's call to love our enemies. By showing that us-versus-them is a false choice, this book will inspire us all to choose love over fear.

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