Crossing the Water


Sylvia Plath - 1971
    Published posthumously in 1971, they add a startling counterpoint to Ariel, the volume that made her reputation. Readers will recognise some of her most celebrated poems – ‘Childless Woman’, ‘Mirror’, ‘Insomniac’ – while discovering those still overlooked, including her radio play Three Women. These two extraordinary volumes find their place alongside The Colossus and Ariel in the oeuvre of a singular talent.

Velocities: New and Selected Poems, 1966-1992


Stephen Dobyns - 1994
    This volume brings together new poems and a generous selection of work from Dobyns's seven previously published collections.

No Longer Strangers: Finding Belonging in a World of Alienation


Gregory Coles - 2021
    Growing up, there was my mutated national identity to deal with--my not-quite-American, not-quite-Indonesian soul, restless in both countries. Later, when I came out as a celibate gay Christian, I found I didn't fit into the church as easily as I used to. I've often wondered what it means to belong to others even when I can't manage to blend in with them. The way Jesus tells it, if we give up on belonging in order to follow him, we'll find ourselves belonging anyway. We might not belong the way other people do, with normal homes and normal families and normal ways of fitting in. But we'll belong in a way that's a hundred times better. We'll be fully in place because we know we are out of place. We'll belong like aliens. Maybe you're caught in the same tension as me, wanting to fit somewhere even as you're permanently out of place. Maybe you feel like an alien. If so, let's be aliens together.

How (Not) to Save the World: The Truth About Revealing God’s Love to the People Right Next to You


Hosanna Wong - 2021
    She quickly discovered lies she had believed that held her back from actually sharing God’s love. It turns out, believing lies that you’re not enough, your story doesn’t matter, and there’s no way for you to make an impact… that’s how not to save the world. Through faithfully studying God’s Word and fumbling through her own flawed progress, Hosanna uncovered what the Bible says about revealing God’s love in our everyday lives.With honesty and humor, Hosanna will help you:Embrace your unique story to naturally talk about Jesus through your real life and authentic relationships;Discover the three most effective steps to take when fighting for a loved one who is in a tough place;Overcome the lies that hold you back so you can step into your calling and empower people to encounter God.It turns out, you can naturally share God’s love in your everyday life. You can fight for those you love, and a world Jesus loves. There is a way for every person you know to realize how valuable they are to God. You’ve been created for it, equipped for it, and you’re ready for it. Let’s go!

Daily Light On The Daily Path


Samuel Bagster - 1789
    This highly principled and religiously minded bookshop owner gathered his large family together daily for reading God's Word, testing their knowledge by connecting the day's verses with other passages, and praying over how it could be applied. It was from this practice of worship that the Bagster family compiled the material for Daily Light on the Daily Path.It is said that this daily devotional book is the most popular of all time. It has touched hundreds of thousands of Christians to the remotest corners of the world with the biblical message of comfort and help. Originally printed in the 1800s, this work is timeless because each reading is a connection of Scripture verses centered around a theme. Crossway is delighted to re-release this classic book in the beautiful and clear language of the English Standard Version.

Real Christianity


Dale Partridge - 2019
    But the reality is, the lives of many Christians look a lot more like the culture than like Christ. The question the devout are seeking today is, what does it really look like to follow Christ in a culture of darkness? In this short book, Dale Partridge assaults the watered-down, lukewarm Christianity that is harbored in many modern churches and replaces it with the raw, biblical Gospel found in the New Testament.

Bright Existence


Brenda Hillman - 1993
    Informed in part by Gnostic concepts of the separate soul in search of its divine origins ("spirit held by matter"). This dualistic vision is cast in contemporary terms and seeks resolution of these tensions through acceptance.

Letting Go: Rugged Love for Wayward Souls


Dave Harvey - 2016
    What do you do when someone you love leaves? And how do you pursue someone who has hurt you, who has sinned against you?  In Letting Go, pastors Dave Harvey and Paul Gilbert share stories of pain and stories of hope as they reveal how to care for the prodigal who has strayed.  Whether you are dealing with an unfaithful marriage partner, a rebellious child, or a wayward friend, the counsel they offer will help you to pursue a gospel-rooted approach, grounded in truth and practiced in the midst of Christian community. While each situation is unique, most stories deal with common themes of shame, guilt, confusion, uncertainty, and struggle.  You will understand the spiritual dynamics at work in the heart of the prodigal and how you as a family member, spouse, friend, or church leader can best relate to them in love.  You will learn how to practice “redemptive release” through confrontation and discipline as well as how to forgive the person who has hurt you through a process of reconciliation. For those in a time of waiting and wondering if their loved one will ever return home, there is a reminder of the hope of the gospel and the necessity of depending upon the Holy Spirit through prayer.  A must-have resource for every believer struggling to love the prodigal back home again, it is ideal for parents and siblings, counselors, pastors, and those ministering to hurting families and churches.

Traveling Light: Modern Meditations on St. Paul's Letter of Freedom


Eugene H. Peterson - 1982
    In "Traveling Light," Eugene H. Peterson, who is translator of "The Message Bible," explores the free life in Christ that we must both receive as a gift and practice as a skill. In an engaging, often passionate dialogue in which Paul's letter to the Galatians faces off against the crises of modern life, he offers both encouragement and challenge to men and women trapped in the anxieties and determinism of our age. Eugene H. Peterson was pastor of Christ Our King United Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland, for nearly three decades, then served as professor of spirituality theology at Regent College, Vancouver, BC. Dr. Peterson is translator of "The Message" and author of numerous other works, among them "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" and "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places." "Like a skilled eye doctor, Eugene Peterson turns the lens that clears our vision and enables us to discriminate between reality and fantasy, to see what satisfies and what leads to bondage." -- Rebecca Pippert

Behold the King of Glory: A Narrative of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ


Russ Ramsey - 2015
    Enter into the greatest story ever told.In this carefully researched retelling of the story of Jesus, Russ Ramsey invites us to rediscover our wonder at Christ's sinless life, brutal death, and glorious resurrection.Featuring forty short chapters recounting key episodes from Jesus's time on earth, this book expands on the biblical narrative in a fresh and creative way--giving us a taste of what it would have been like to walk next to Jesus and experience his earthly ministry firsthand.

10 Wonders of the Rosary


Donald H. Calloway - 2019
    Donald Calloway, MIC, in all its wonder: leading armies into battle; defeating the enemies of Christ and His Church; and transforming hearts and minds in order to save societies and entire civilizations. After exploring the 10 Wonders of the Rosary, you'll never look at this timeless and powerful devotion the same way again.

An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God


Erik Reece - 2009
    Erik Reece’s grandfather was a Bible-thumping, fire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher. He loved to hunt and fish and explore the Kentucky woods, but for him, existence on this earth was about denying the pleasures of this life in preparation for the next. Erik’s father was a Baptist minister, too. But at the age of thirty-three—not coincidentally, Jesus’ age when he was crucified— Erik’s father violently took his own life, and Erik ended up spending much of his childhood in the care of his grandparents. So, while Erik grew up with a conflicted relationship with Christianity, he also grew up with an acute awareness of a part of the country suffering ongoing economic, environmental, and even spiritual collapse. When he himself neared age thirty-three, he found unexpected comfort and guidance in his intellectual hero Thomas Jefferson’s famous Jefferson Bible, especially when he began to track similarities between it and the Zen-like message of the Gospel of Thomas. Inspired, he undertook what would become a spiritual and literary quest—to identify an “American gospel” coursing through the work of both great and forgotten American geniuses, from William Byrd to Walt Whitman to William James to Lynn Margulis. In synthesizing that gospel—one that prizes the pleasures and glories of this earth—Reece began to find a way to a spiritual and intellectual peace with his own American soul. The result of Reece’s journey is a deeply personal but also deeply thought out, inspiring, and stirring book, delivered almost like a secular sermon, about personal, political, and historical demons—and the geniuses we can and must call on to combat them.

Soul Feast, Newly Revised Edition: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life


Marjorie J. Thompson - 2014
    Offering a framework for understanding the spiritual disciplines and instruction for developing and nurturing those practices, Soul Feast continues to be a favorite for individual reflection and group study. Many new additions, including a new chapter on keeping the Sabbath, make this newly revised edition of Soul Feast a must-have.

End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology


Gary DeMar - 2001
    Tim LaHaye contends that his bestselling Left Behind series (with Jerry Jenkins) is ""the first fictional portrayal of prophetic events that are true to the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy." " Gary DeMar takes issue with this bold claim, contending that the theological premise the series is based upon is only one interpretation of the book of Revelation.DeMar examines the series in four distinct sections: The Left Behind Sensation; Putting Tim LaHaye's Literalism to the Test; the Theology Behind Left Behind; and What Does it Mean and What Does it Matter? Readers will learn to develop a simple method of Bible interpretation and to assess the impact of "Left Behind" on the future of the church and our society.

Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: A Practical Guide to Prayer for Active People


Robert J. Spitzer - 2008
    Some develop very quickly, but do not achieve significant depth; while others develop quite slowly, but seem to be almost unending in the depth of wisdom, trust, hope, virtue, and love they engender. The best way of explaining this is to look at each of the pillars individually.Before doing this, however, it is indispensable for each of us to acknowledge (at least intellectually) the fundamental basis for Christian contemplation, namely, the unconditional Love of God. Jesus taught us to address God as Abba. If God really is Abba; if His love is like the father of the prodigal son; if Jesus' passion and Eucharist are confirmations of that unconditional Love; if God really did so love the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world not to condemn us, but to save us and bring us to eternal life (Jn 3:16-19); if nothing really can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rm 8:31-39); and if God really has prepared us "to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all understanding, so that we may attain to the fullness of God Himself" (Eph 3:18-20), then God's love is unconditional, and it is, therefore, the foundation for unconditional trust and unconditional hope. There can be nothing more important than contemplating, affirming, appropriating, and living in this Unconditional Love. This is the purpose of contemplation; indeed, the purpose of the spiritual life itself.