Local books: Christianity in Vancouver, Longing for Joy, 50 NT Stories . . .

This is my fifth local books round-up of 2024, covering 11 newly published books from the local Christian community.

Again there is a range of topics. The write-ups are primarily from Amazon and publisher / author sites.

• Ross A. Lockhart: West Coast Mission: The Changing Nature of Christianity in Vancouver (McGill-Queen’s University Press)

This one is hot off the presses. I haven’t seen a copy yet, but plan to write about it in more detail in the future. I’m sure it will be a valuable addition to the (fairly limited number of) works which assess how the church engages with our west coast culture.

• Rev. George C.F. Pringle: Adventures in Service (Inlet Publishing)

Adventures in Service, first published in 1926, is the autobiography of Rev. George Pringle (1873 – 1946), a fine man sent as a missionary – first for nine wonderful years in the Yukon, later to BC’s water access only logging camps, and to isolated homesteads where early settlers struggled with the lack of soil and with loneliness.

He was an extraordinarily decent man – courageous, non-judgmental, sensitive to both the gifts of the lonely men and women he met in his travels, but also empathetic to their hardships. Amazingly forward looking, he described the need for what we now call unemployment insurance and universal health care.

He was a great admirer of the men, women and children he met during his ministry in the Yukon and on the BC coast – but also of those he met as a chaplain during World War One, including the young German he ministered to and comforted as he died. Wonderfully exciting writing.

Pringle’s is a simple Christianity of love thy neighbour and forgiveness that anyone, Christian or not, can identify with.

Also included are memos about his remarkable son, Rev. George Robert Pringle (1913 – 1943).

Adventures in Service is part of the Coast Stories series, which includes two books by Inlet Publishing co-owner Diana Davidson: Narrow Escapes and Quiet Excursions for the Geologically Inclined and Is That a Grizzly I Hear? Princess Louisa and Jervis Inlets with Related History.

• Alastair Sterne: Longing for Joy: An Invitation into the Goodness and Beauty of Life (InterVarsity Press)

The troubles around us and in our lives lead many of us into a joyless experience where despair and hopelessness are the norm. Yet something within us still longs for a joy that transcends our challenges and gives us meaning and satisfaction.

Alastair Sterne says our inner longings for joy actually point us to a God of joy who gives us both the capacity for joy and the realities of joyful experience. Sterne explores pathways to joy and why we often experience the absence of joy.

He then offers theologically grounded and research based practices for becoming people of joyful presence. Even if we are not temperamentally happy enthusiasts, we can gradually cultivate the deep abiding joy that we were created for and that enriches the world around us.

Vancouver psychologist and author Hillary L. McBride said, “In his book Longing for Joy, Sterne invites us to encounter a joy that is as robust as it is mysterious, as whimsical as it is accessible, as human as it is divine. With writing that is informed, playful and full of heart, Sterne weaves together theological thought and personal encounter, creating a hopeful tapestry of aliveness that does not eschew suffering but welcomes it in to feast at joy’s table. I can imagine no better guide to joy than this.”

Alastair Sterne (DIS, Fuller Theological Seminary) is a creative director, now serving as associate pastor at Coastline Church in Victoria. He previously partnered with Redeemer City to City and founded St. Peter’s Fireside, a creative liturgical church in Vancouver. He is also author of Rhythms for Life: Spiritual Practices for Who God Made You to Be. Alastair and his wife, Julia, write and podcast together at ordinarymatters.org and collect joy with their daughters.

• Rob James (author), Amanda Rushton (illustrator): 50 New Testament Stories for Storytellers (Morehouse Publishing)

In this new children’s bible, Anglican priest and biblical scholar Rob James offers adaptations of 50 stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, as well as the experience of the early church, designed for oral storytelling.

From the annunciation to the resurrection appearances to Paul’s travels, 50 New Testament Stories for Storytellers introduces children to the key events of the New Testament, whether at home, in church or in school. Each story is beautifully and diversely illustrated by Anglican priest and artist Amanda Ruston, offering visual inspiration to readers and listeners alike.
 
Designed for new and experienced storytellers, each two-page narrative is built for dramatic verbal delivery. Ideas for enhancing the story are offered at the end of each narrative, which will help bring the text alive. 50 New Testament Stories for Storytellers offers a fun and engaging way to introduce children to the basics of Christianity and crucial episodes in the New Testament.

Rob James has been a parish priest and the Chancellor of Wells Cathedral, Somerset. Having worked for the Church of England, he then moved to Canada where he is an Associate Professor at Vancouver School of Theology. Among other things, he has research interests in the New Testament, in particular Luke’s Gospel. His ministry has always included large amounts of children’s ministry and biblical storytelling.
 
Amanda Ruston is a priest at St. James Anglican Church in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and a vowed Benedictine. In addition to more than 20 years’ experience in graphic design and illustration, she has an MDiv and is pursuing doctoral work in the field of liturgy and language.

• David Anonby: Shakespeare on Salvation: Crossing the Reformation Divide (Pickwick Publications)

This cutting edge book explores Shakespeare’s negotiation of Reformation controversy about theories of salvation. While 20th century literary criticism tended to regard Shakespeare as a harbinger of secularism, the so-called ‘turn to religion’ in early modern studies has given renewed attention to the religious elements in Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Nevertheless, there remains an aura of uncertainty regarding some of the doctrinal and liturgical specificities of the period. This historical gap is especially felt with respect to theories of salvation, or soteriology. Such ambiguity, however, calls for further inquiry into historical theology.

The author explores how the language and concepts of faith, grace, charity, the sacraments, election, free will, justification, sanctification and atonement find expression in Shakespeare’s plays. In doing so, Shakespeare on Salvation contributes to the recovery of a greater understanding of the relationship between early modern religion and Shakespearean drama.

While the author shares David Scott Kastan’s reluctance to attribute particular religious convictions to Shakespeare, in some cases such critical guardedness has diverted attention from the religious topography of Shakespeare’s plays. Throughout this study, the author’s hermeneutic is to read Shakespeare through the lens of early modern theological controversy and to read early modern theology through the lens of Shakespeare.

David Anonby has a PhD from the University of Victoria and is assistant professor of English literature at Trinity Western University, where he has taught since 2002. He has published and presented papers on historical religious controversy in Shakespeare and on the theology of John Donne.

• David Koop: The Contented Life: The Art of Enjoying What You Have Right Now (Insight International)

In The Contented Life, pastor and author Dr. David Koop shares the secrets to finding true happiness and fulfillment in the here and now. Drawing from his studies and experience of helping others find contentment, Pastor Koop offers practical strategies for managing your thoughts, emotions and circumstances, as well as the power of gratitude and connection with others.

Through personal stories and expert insights, he shows you how to let go of the constant desire for more and learn to find joy and purpose in what you already have. Don’t let the constant search for happiness leave you feeling empty and unfulfilled. It’s time to discover the contented life. Are you ready to embrace it?

Nicky Gumbel, pioneer of the Alpha Course wrote: “David Koop has a remarkable ministry, and this book is the fruit of a wide variety of personal experiences and pastoral encounters over many years. Rooted in Scripture and drawing on the expertise of many others, the book expounds beautifully what the apostle Paul calls “the secret of contentment.”

David Koop grew up on a farm in southwestern Alberta, which he left to pursue a career in the oil industry and later transitioned into ministry. In 1994, along with his wife, Cheryl, he planted Coastal Church in Vancouver. In 2010, he received his DMin from Bakke Graduate University. As well as pastoring and speaking at various conferences, he also serves as a director on a number of boards.

• Dan Heavenor: Friendship with Jesus: An Imaginative Prayer Journey (Wipf and Stock)

Experiencing friendship with Jesus can feel elusive and yet he invites us to know him this way. How do we do this? This book invites the reader on a journey of friendship through imaginative prayer with Jesus. This book offers a framework to experience friendship with Jesus in a way similar to other friendships.

Every friendship has a beginning – hearing about someone, meeting them and beginning to do things together. As the friendship develops, trust grows, hearts slowly open up and affection for the friend grows.

Intimate friends share their lives with each other, are honest about their longings and failures, and are even willing to lay down their lives for one another. All this happens slowly over time. In the Gospels, Jesus reveals this friendship development with his own friends – and invites others into a similarly real and meaningful friendship with him.

Friendship with Jesus explains and then invites the reader into a practice of imaginative prayer as the means by which to enter into a profound experience of friendship with Jesus. Believers have ‘invited Jesus into their lives.’ Now Jesus invites them into his!

Dan Heavenor is a spiritual director, retreat leader and author. A former pastor, Dan now writes, offers individual spiritual direction and leads weekend prayer and silent retreats. His full-time job is driving a transit bus in Vancouver. His passion and calling is to walk with others as they seek after God, ask their questions and live their journey with God in all its complexity and uniqueness. Dan’s writing reflects these interests, as well as diving deeply into the life of prayer, especially imaginative prayer.

• Grace Fox: Names of God: Living Unafraid (Aspire Press)

Our world is a scary place. Focusing on the chaos can paralyze us with fear, but instead, we can anchor ourselves in the truth of who God is, and live unafraid. The Living Unafraid devotional study will help you build an unshakeable foundation of trust in God by empowering you with God’s character as revealed through his names in Scripture. 

God’s names describe who he is, revealing his holy nature, steadfast promises, unwavering protection and fierce love. Living Unafraid equips you with the meanings behind seven of God’s names to help you overcome fears and life’s challenges:

• Yahweh: “I am who I am.” God is self-existent and yet desires relationship.
• Yahweh Tzidkenu: The Lord is Our Righteousness. Jesus has redeemed us.
• Yahweh Rohi: The Lord is My Shepherd. Our ever-present God cares deeply for us.
• Yahweh Tzevaot: The Lord of Hosts. God is the supreme commander.
• Yahweh Yireh: The Lord Will Provide. God knows our needs in advance.
• Yahweh Shammah: The Lord is There. God’s presence makes all the difference.
• El Elyon: Most High God. God is the supreme, sovereign, ultimate authority.

Grace Fox has written 14 books and published hundreds of articles in magazines. She speaks at women’s events worldwide and is national co-director of International Messengers Canada, an interdenominational ministry that offers creative short-term and career opportunities in more than 30 countries. She and her husband married in 1982 and celebrate three grown children and 13 grandchildren. They live full-time on a sailboat near Vancouver.

• Wayne Northey: Justice that Transforms: Restorative Justice ‘Not Enough!’ Vol 4 (independently published)

In my Preface, I state the thesis, adumbrated in the subtitle: It is also the time to radically transform punitive / retributive criminal justice systems that operate worldwide, and are deeply addicted to violence! Addicts of all kinds – including nation-states – generally cannot ‘reform’: they must practice abstinence! So too with retributive criminal justice systems.

My friend and mentor, Ruth Morris, who died in 2001, gave a consistent clarion call in response to ‘restorative justice’ as embraced by many in the early years: “Not Enough!“ She was convincing.

Restorative justice had back then stopped at the borders of state criminal justice, and had not pushed to the ‘final frontiers’ of penal abolition, international state relations and international law. This remains largely the case in 2024. It would be wonderful to hear about exceptions!

Many of Justice that Transforms’ essays reflect further on why ‘Not Enough!’ As with previous volumes, they are a collection of edited writings spanning almost five decades, many previously published in various journals.

Wayne Northey retired as Director of Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman: Restorative Christian Ministries (M2/W2) in BC in 2014. He has been active in the criminal justice arena and a keen promoter of restorative justice since 1974. He has also published in this field for many years.

• Fr. Lawrence Farley: The Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (independently published)

• J.I. Packer: Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age: the 1978 Lectures (Crossway Books)

Christians today confront complex opposition to the gospel from intellectuals, skeptics and pluralists who deny the divinity of Christ. But these are not new issues; the first century church encountered similar challenges to their faith. How did the apostle Paul address these questions and doubts to effectively spread God’s word?

In these never-before-published lectures, originally given at Reformed Bible College and Moore College in 1978, renowned theologian J.I. Packer tackles common objections to Christianity – including secular humanism, pluralism and universalism. By studying the evangelistic efforts of Paul and the early church, Packer skillfully preaches the glory of Christ crucified and helps students, pastors and believers share their faith in an age of skepticism.

The five lectures in Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age cover topics including Jesus’s humanity and divinity, substitutionary atonement and the truth of Christ’s resurrection.

J.I. Packer (1926 – 2020) served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College. He authored numerous books, including the classic bestseller Knowing God. Packer also served as general editor for the English Standard Version Bible and as theological editor for the ESV Study Bible.

Here are links to the first, second, third and fourth ‘local books’ updates of 2024.