New books at Soul Desires

Here you’ll find some of the hot new titles that our customers are enjoying — from Richard Rohr to Thich Nhat Hanh — you’re sure to find something you’ll like.

The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus by John Dominic Crossan $25.99

In 1969, I was teaching at two seminaries in the Chicago area. One of my courses was on the parables by Jesus and the other was on the resurrection stories about Jesus. I had observed that the parabolic stories by Jesus seemed remarkably similar to the resurrection stories about Jesus. Were the latter intended as parables just as much as the former? Had we been reading parable, presuming history, and misunderstanding both?
–from “The Power of Parable”

So begins the quest of renowned Jesus scholar John Dominic Crossan as he unlocks the true meanings and purposes of parable in the Bible so that modern Christians can respond genuinely to Jesus’s call to fully participate in the kingdom of God. In “The Power of Parable,” Crossan examines Jesus’s parables and identifies what he calls the “challenge parable” as Jesus’s chosen teaching tool for gently urging his followers to probe, question, and debate the ideological absolutes of religious faith and the presuppositions of social, political, and economic traditions.

Moving from parables “by” Jesus to parables about Jesus, Crossan then presents the four gospels as “megaparables.” By revealing how the gospels are not reflections of the actual biography of Jesus but rather (mis)interpretations by the gospel writers themselves, Crossan reaffirms the power of parables to challenge and enable us to co-create with God a world of justice, love, and peace.

Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation by Elaine Pagels, $27.95

Elaine Pagels’  new book tackles a text that is firmly, dramatically within the New Testament canon: The Book of Revelation, the surreal apocalyptic vision of the end of the world . . . or is it?

In this startling and timely book, Pagels returns The Book of Revelation to its historical origin, written as its author John of Patmos took aim at the Roman Empire after what is now known as “the Jewish War,” in 66 CE. Militant Jews in Jerusalem, fired with religious fervor, waged an all-out war against Rome’s occupation of Judea and their defeat resulted in the desecration of Jerusalem and its Great Temple. Pagels persuasively interprets Revelation as a scathing attack on the decadence of Rome. Soon after, however, a new sect known as “Christians” seized on John’s text as a weapon against heresy and infidels of all kinds-Jews, even Christians who dissented from their increasingly rigid doctrines and hierarchies.

In a time when global religious violence surges, Revelations explores how often those in power throughout history have sought to force “God’s enemies” to submit or be killed. It is sure to appeal to Pagels’s committed readers and bring her a whole new audience who want to understand the roots of dissent, violence, and division in the world’s religions, and to appreciate the lasting appeal of this extraordinary text.

Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit by Parker Palmer, $24.95

“For those of us who want to see democracy survive and thrive–and we are legion–the heart is where everything begins: that grounded place in each of us where we can overcome fear, rediscover that we are members of one another, and embrace the conflicts that threaten democracy as openings to new life for us and for our nation.”
–From the Prelude

At this critical moment in American life, Parker J. Palmer looks with realism and hope at how to deal with our political tensions for the sake of the common good.

Building on his decades of social activism and inner life exploration, Palmer examines ways to restore the invisible infrastructure of American politics. What he did for educators in The Courage to Teach he does here for citizens by seeking answers to democracy’s dilemmas within us and between us. He points the way to a politics rooted in the commonwealth of creativity and courage still found among “We the People.”

“Democracy…,” writes Palmer, “is a nonstop experiment in the strength and weakness of our political institutions, our local communities and associations, and the human heart ” The democratic experiment is endless, unless we blow up the lab, and the explosives to do the job are found within us. But so also is the heart’s alchemy that can turn suffering into community, conflict into the energy of creativity, and tension into an opening toward the common good.”

Palmer names the “habits of the heart” we need to revitalize our politics and shows how they can be formed in the everyday venues of our lives. He proposes practical, promising ways to hold the tensions of our differences for the sake of restoring a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son by Anne Lamott, $26.95

In “Some Assembly Required,” Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter of her own life: grandmotherhood.

Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax’s life.

In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam-about whom she first wrote so movingly in “Operating Instructions”-struggle to balance their changing roles with the demands of college and work, as they both forge new relationships with Jax’s mother, who has her own ideas about how to raise a child. Lamott writes about the complex feelings that Jax fosters in her, recalling her own experiences with Sam when she was a single mother. Over the course of the year, the rhythms of life, death, family, and friends unfold in surprising and joyful ways.

By turns poignant and funny, honest and touching, “Some Assembly Required” is the true story of how the birth of a baby changes a family-as this book will change everyone who reads it.

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren Winner, $24.99

In the critically acclaimed memoir “Girl Meets God,” Lauren F. Winner chronicled her sojourn from Judaism to Christianity. Now, in “Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis,” Winner describes how experiences of loss and failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of doubt and spiritual despair: “My belief has faltered, my sense of God’s closeness has grown strained, my efforts at living in accord with what I take to be the call of the gospel have come undone.”

Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest, Winner lays bare her experience of what she calls the “middle” of the spiritual life. In elegant and spare prose, she explores why–in the midst of the overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and boredom of her deepest questioning about where (or if) God is–the Christian story still explains who she is better than any other story she’s ever known. “Still” is an absorbing meditation combining literary grace with spiritual wisdom. It is sure to resonate with anyone looking to sustain a spiritual life in the midst of real life.

Peace is Every Breath by Thich Nhat Hanh, $14.99

Offering personal anecdotes, meditations, and advice for mindfully connecting with our present experience, Zen master and international bestselling author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how we can discover within the here and now our own innate ability to experience inner peace and happiness. We do not need to escape reality to harness the joy that is possible with every breath we take.

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr, $19.95

A fresh way of thinking about spirituality that grows throughout life. In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them that those who have fallen, failed, or “gone down” are the only ones who understand “up.” Most of us tend to think of the second half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book is exactly the opposite. What looks like falling down can largely be experienced as “falling upward.”

The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom by Christine Valters Painter, $14.95

Summarized in the phrase pray and work, The Rule of St. Benedict provides the inspiration for Christine Valters Paintners newest exploration of the mutually nourishing relationship between contemplative practices and creative expression. Artists of all stripes and stations in lifepoets or painters, potters or photographerswill discover how traditions of Benedictine, Celtic, and desert spirituality can offer new sources of inspiration for their work.

Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words by Brian McLaren, $14.99

In the same way he revitalized our faith in “A New Kind of Christianity,” church leader Brian McLaren reinvigorates our approach to spiritual fulfillment in “Naked Spirituality”–by tearing down the old dogmatic practices that hamper our spiritual growth, and leading us toward the meaningful spiritual practices that can help transform our lives.

Have You Seen Mary by Jeff Kurrus, $16.99

Written by native Nebraskan author Jeff Kurrus.