Best of
Read-For-College

2016

Brooklyn Antediluvian: Poems


Patrick Rosal - 2016
    But trouble is everywhere, and Rosal, acclaimed author of My American Kundiman, responds in kind, pulling no punches in his most visceral, physical collection to date. “My hand’s quick trip from my hip to your chin, across / your face, is not the first free lesson I’ve given,” Rosal writes, and it’s true—this new book is full of lessons, hard-earned, from a poet who nonetheless finds beauty in the face of violence.

Two Views on Homosexuality, the Bible, and the Church


Preston Sprinkle - 2016
    While Christian debates about homosexuality are most often dominated by biblical exegesis, this book seeks to give much-needed attention to the rich history of received Christian tradition, bringing the Bible into conversation with historical and systematic theology.To that end, both theologians and biblical scholars--well accomplished in their fields and conversant in issues of sexuality and gender--articulate and defend each of the two views:Affirming – represented by William Loader and Megan K. DeFranzaTraditional – represented by Wesley Hill and Stephen R. HolmesThe main essays are followed by insightful responses that interact with their fellow essayists with civility. Holding to a high view of Scripture, a commitment to the gospel and the church, and a love for people--especially those most affected by this topic--the contributors wrestle deeply with the Bible and theology, especially the prohibition texts, the role of procreation, gender complementarity, and pastoral accommodation.The book concludes with reflections from general editor Preston Sprinkle on the future of discussions on faith and sexuality.The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

Lifespan 360: Christian Perspectives on Human Development


Virginia Cashion - 2016
    

Read America(s): An Anthology


Hari AlluriBob Hicok - 2016
    It offers poetry not just from the United States of America, not just from North and South America, but from any manifestation of America(s); from Pangaea to apocalypse, from and occupying every negotiated borderland in between. This anthology inspires one to ask: what is/are America(s)? What are its boundaries? Where is it? Is it real? What language does it speak? This collection expresses the America(s) of the mind, of physical space, of the body and bodies in and around it. LHP offers a collection of poets who are re-writing borders--borders of inclusion and exclusion, safety and danger, highly politicized existence, physical and emotional resources. Read America(s) is myriad voices capturing the triumph--and the inadequacies--of language to navigate and grapple with the complexities of America(s).

Forget English!: Orientalisms and World Literature


Aamir R. Mufti - 2016
    In Forget English! Aamir Mufti scrutinizes the claims made on behalf of world literature by its advocates. The notion of a borderless, egalitarian global literature has obvious appeal, he notes, but behind it lurks the continuing dominance of English as a literary language and a cultural system of international reach.The cultural logic of what Edward Said identified as Orientalism continues to structure world literature discourse, Mufti says--although in updated ways that conceal the persistence of the continental and civilizational inequalities of the colonial past. From the beginning, world literature has been an eminently Orientalist idea, one made possible by the translation labors of European Orientalist scholars and the canonizing of Orientalist concepts of cultural difference.World literature has always been a border regime, an implicit set of regulations governing the mobility of various national and local literatures across the world. Mufti explores how English historically achieved its literary preeminence, and he deepens our understanding of how the hegemony of English affects non-European languages--particularly those of India and South Asia--as vessels of literary expression. At the center of the very possibility of world literature is the dominance of English, as both a literary vernacular and the undisputed language of global capitalism.