Trevor Thompson has narrated 22 audiobooks on Listento.it by 26 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 26 ratings. The most-rated is How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor.
How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor
Summary
How (Not) to Be Secular is what Jamie Smith calls "your hitchhiker's guide to the present" - it is both a reading guide to Charles Taylor's monumental work, A Secular Age, and philosophical guidance on how we might learn to live in our times.
Taylor's landmark book, A Secular Age (2007), provides a monumental, incisive analysis of what it means to live in the post-Christian present - a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief. Jamie Smith's book is a compact field guide to Taylor's insightful study of the secular, making that very significant but daunting work accessible to a wide array of readers.
Even more, though, Smith's How (Not) to Be Secular is a practical philosophical guidebook, a kind of how-to manual on how to live in our secular age. It ultimately offers us an adventure in self-understanding and maps out a way to get our bearings in today's secular culture, no matter who "we" are - whether believers or skeptics, devout or doubting, self-assured or puzzled and confused. This is a book for any thinking person to chew on.
©2014 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Raising Passionate Jesus Followers
Summary
For Christian parents, there is no greater joy than seeing their children learn to walk with the Lord. And there is no greater fear than that their children will walk away from God. After serving together in pastoral ministry for 40 years, Phil and Diane Comer know those hopes and fears well. Thirty-seven years ago, they became parents themselves. And like all new parents, they were intimidated and unsure about how to take on the task of spiritually training their young children. Now, with all four of their children grown and establishing their own households of faith, Phil and Diane have embarked on a quest to help the next generation of parents raise passionate Jesus followers. Drawing on years of pastoral counseling, teaching, leading, and decades of watching families from the perspective of pastors and leaders in ministry, Phil and Diane instruct, guide, encourage, and offer hope and practical help to Christian parents. Raising Passionate Jesus Followers is a manual full of practical, biblically based, and time-tested guidelines that parents will be able to turn to again and again through every stage of their children's development.
©2018 Diane Comer (P)2019 Tantor
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Summary
"The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind." So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism's most respected historians. Unsparing in his judgment, Mark Noll ask why the largest single group of religious Americans - who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence - have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship in North America. In nourishing believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why have evangelicals failed at sustaining a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of "high" culture? Noll is probing and forthright in his analysis of how this situation came about, but he doesn't end there. Challenging the evangelical community, he sets out to find, within evangelicalism itself, resources for turning the situation around.
©1995 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
The Come Back Effect
Summary
The key to growth as a church, youth ministry, or a business is getting first-time guests to come back. And as any good manager of a hotel, a store, a restaurant, or an attraction knows, the key to getting guests to come back is not actually the rooms or the product or the food itself; it's how guests feel when they're there. It's about hospitality. No matter how much effort and time we spend on excellence - stirring worship time, inspiring sermons, a good coffee blend in the foyer - what our guests really want when they come to our churches is to feel welcome, comfortable, and understood. Written by a church consultant and a hospitality expert, The Come Back Effect reveals to church, ministry, and even business leaders the secret to helping a first-time guest return again and again. Through an engaging, story-driven approach, they explain how service and hospitality are two different things, describe how Jesus practiced hospitality, and invite leaders to develop and implement changes that lead to repeat visits and, eventually, to sustained growth.
©2018 Jason Young and Jonathan Malm (P)2019 Tantor
Exactly as You Are
Summary
Welcome to the spiritual neighborhood of Fred Rogers “I like you as you are Exactly and precisely I think you turned out nicely And I like you as you are.” Fred Rogers fiercely believed that all people deserve love. This conviction wasn’t simply sentimental: it came directly from his Christian faith. God, he insisted, loves us just the way we are. In Exactly as You Are, Shea Tuttle looks at Fred Rogers’s life, the people and places that made him who he was, and his work through Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. She pays particular attention to his faith - because Fred Rogers was a deeply spiritual person, ordained by his church with a one-of-a-kind charge: to minister to children and families through television. Tuttle explores this kind, influential, sometimes surprising man: the neighborhood he came from, the neighborhood he built, and the kind of neighbor he, by his example, calls all of us to be. Throughout, Tuttle shows how he was guided by his core belief: that God loves children, and everyone else, exactly as they are.
©2019 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2019 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Love Big, Be Well
Summary
Jonas McAnn is a weary pastor without a congregation, trapped in a dead-end insurance job. Granby Presbyterian is a weary congregation without a pastor, overwhelmed by the prospect of finding someone who actually wants to be a pastor - not a manager, coach, or CEO. When Granby's pastoral search committee and Jonas connect through handwritten letters passed back and forth, something sparks between them - something so real and refreshing that even after Jonas and his family move to Granby, he continues the regular practice of writing letters to his congregation. Spanning seven years of his ministry at Granby Presbyterian, Jonas' letters ruminate on everything from fly-fishing to the Nicene Creed. They reveal the earthy spirituality woven into the joys and sorrows of the people of Granby, the community of the church, and Jonas' own unfolding story. Listeners will discover what it means for a pastor and a church to do the slow work of ministry in community - anchored by a common place and buoyed by a life of faith that is meaningful, rooted, and true.
©2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (P)2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Lament for a Son
Summary
The author describes the progress of his grief from the shock of learning of his son's accidental death to his final resignation a year later.
©1987 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump
Summary
A historian’s acute take on current American politics
“Believe me” may be the most commonly used phrase in Donald Trump’s lexicon. Whether about building a wall or protecting the Christian heritage, the refrain is constant. And to the surprise of many, about 80 percent of white evangelicals have believed Trump - at least enough to help propel him into the White House.
Historian John Fea is not surprised - and in Believe Me he explains how we have arrived at this unprecedented moment in American politics. An evangelical Christian himself, Fea argues that the embrace of Donald Trump is the logical outcome of a long-standing evangelical approach to public life defined by the politics of fear, the pursuit of worldly power, and a nostalgic longing for an American past. In the process, Fea challenges his fellow believers to replace fear with hope, the pursuit of power with humility, and nostalgia with history.
©2018 John Fea (P)2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Co.
Paul and the Power of Grace
Summary
Paul and the Gift changed the landscape of Pauline studies forever upon its publication in 2015. In it, John Barclay led students through a recontextualized analysis of grace and interrogated Paul’s original meaning in declaring it a “free gift” from God, revealing grace as a multifaceted concept that is socially radical and unconditioned - even if not unconditional. Paul and the Power of Grace offers all of the most significant contributions from Paul and the Gift in a package several hundred pages lighter and more accessible. Additionally, Barclay adds further analysis of the theme of gift and grace in Paul’s other letters and explores contemporary implications for this new view of grace.
©2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
A Crisis of Beliefs
Summary
How investor expectations move markets and the economy The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 caught markets and regulators by surprise. Although the government rushed to rescue other financial institutions from a similar fate after Lehman, it could not prevent the deepest recession in postwar history. A Crisis of Beliefs makes us rethink the financial crisis and the nature of economic risk. In this authoritative and comprehensive book, two of today's most insightful economists reveal how our beliefs shape financial markets, lead to expansions of credit and leverage, and expose the economy to major risks. Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer carefully walk listeners through the unraveling of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing meltdown of the US financial system, and then present new evidence to illustrate the destabilizing role played by the beliefs of home buyers, investors, and regulators. Using the latest research in psychology and behavioral economics, they present a new theory of belief formation that explains why the financial crisis came as such a shock to so many people - and how financial and economic instability persist.
©2018 Princeton University Press (P)2019 Tantor
Having Nothing, Possessing Everything
Summary
Pastor Mike Mather arrived in Indianapolis thinking that he was going to serve the poor. But after his church’s community lost nine young men to violence in a few short months, Mather came to see that the poor didn’t need his help - he needed theirs. This is the story of how one church found abundance in a community of material poverty. Viewing people - not programs, finances, or service models - as their most valuable resource moved church members beyond their own walls and out into the streets, where they discovered folks rich in strength, talents, determination, and love. Mather’s Having Nothing, Possessing Everything will inspire listeners to seek justice in their own local communities and to find abundance and hope all around them.
©2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee
Summary
The first close examination of how Robert E. Lee's faith shaped his life Robert E. Lee was many things - accomplished soldier, military engineer, college president, family man, agent of reconciliation, polarizing figure. He was also a person of deep Christian conviction. In this biography of the famous Civil War general, R. David Cox shows how Lee's Christian faith shaped his crucial role in some of the most pivotal events in American history. Delving into family letters and other primary sources - some of them newly discovered - Cox traces the lifelong development of Lee's convictions and how they influenced his decisions to stand with Virginia against the Union and later to support reconciliation and reconstruction in the years after the Civil War. Faith was central to Lee's character, Cox argues - so central that it directed and redirected his life, especially in the aftermath of defeat.
©2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
The Battle for Bonhoeffer
Summary
The figure of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) has become a clay puppet in modern American politics. Secular, radical, liberal, and evangelical interpreters variously shape and mold the martyr’s legacy to suit their own pet agendas. Stephen Haynes offers an incisive and clarifying perspective. A recognized Bonhoeffer expert, Haynes examines “populist” readings of Bonhoeffer, including the acclaimed biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. In his analysis Haynes treats, among other things, the November 2016 election of Donald Trump and the “Bonhoeffer moment” announced by evangelicals in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage. The Battle for Bonhoeffer includes an open letter from Haynes pointedly addressing Christians who still support Trump. Bonhoeffer’s legacy matters. Haynes redeems the life and the man.
©2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
One Soul at a Time
Summary
For more than five decades, Billy Graham (1918 to 2018) ranked as one of the most influential voices in the Christian world. Nearly 215 million people around the world heard him preach in person or through live electronic media, almost certainly more than any other person. For millions, Graham was less a preacher than a Protestant saint. While remaining orthodox at the core, over time, his approach on many issues became more irenic and progressive. And his preaching continued to resonate, propelled by his powerful promise of a second chance. Drawing on decades of research on Billy Graham and American evangelicalism, Grant Wacker has marshaled personal interviews, archival research, and never-before-published material from the Graham family and others to tell the remarkable story of one of the most celebrated Christians in American history. Where Wacker’s previous work on Graham America’s Pastor focused on the preacher’s relation to the nation’s culture, whereas One Soul at a Time offers a sweeping, easy-to-listen narrative of the life of the man himself.
©2019 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Andrew Jackson, Southerner
Summary
Many Americans view Andrew Jackson as a frontiersman who fought duels, killed Indians, and stole another man's wife. Historians have traditionally presented Jackson as a man who struggled to overcome the obstacles of his backwoods upbringing and helped create a more democratic United States. In his compelling new biography of Jackson, Mark R. Cheathem argues for a reassessment of these long-held views, suggesting that in fact "Old Hickory" lived as an elite southern gentleman. In fact, Cheathem contends, Jackson had already started to assume the characteristics of a southern gentleman by the time he arrived in Middle Tennessee in 1788. After moving to Nashville, Jackson further ensconced himself in an exclusive social order by marrying the daughter of one of the city's cofounders, engaging in land speculation, and leading the state militia. Cheathem notes that through these ventures Jackson grew to own multiple plantations and cultivated them with the labor of almost 200 slaves. His status also enabled him to build a military career focused on eradicating the nation's enemies, including Indians residing on land desired by white southerners. Jackson's military success eventually propelled him onto the national political stage in the 1820s, where he won two terms as president.
©2013 Louisiana State University Press (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks
In This World of Wonders
Summary
World-renowned Christian philosopher. Beloved professor. Author of the classic Lament for a Son. Nicholas Wolterstorff is all of these and more. His memoir In This World of Wonders opens a remarkable new window into the life and thoughts of this remarkable man. Compiled not as a complete life story but as a series of vignettes, Wolterstorff’s memoir moves from his humble beginnings in a tiny Minnesota village to his education at Calvin College and Harvard University to his career of teaching philosophy and writing books and to the experiences that prompted some of his writing - particularly, his witnessing of South African apartheid and Palestinian oppression firsthand. In This World of Wonders is the story of a thoughtful and grateful Christian whose life has been shaped by many loves - love of philosophy, love of family, love of art and architecture, love of nature and gardening, and more. It’s a lovely, wonderful story.
©2019 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
The Old Religion in a New World
Summary
One of our foremost historians of religion here chronicles the arrival of Christianity in the New World, tracing the turning points in the development of the immigrant church that have led to today's distinctly American faith. Taking a unique approach to this fascinating subject, Noll focuses on what was new about organized Christian religion on the American continent by comparison with European Christianity. In doing so, Noll provides a broad outline of the major events in the history of the Christian churches that have filled North America with such remarkable vitality and diversity. He also highlights some of the most important interpretive issues in the transfer of the hereditary religion of Europe to America.
©2001 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind
Summary
Already an acclaimed Christocentric theology for contemporary evangelical intellectual life, Mark Noll's Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind significantly updates Noll's critical assessment of evangelical Christian scholarship in his landmark Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In this audiobook, Noll charts a positive way forward for evangelical thinking and learning.
Noll's Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind shows how the orthodox Christology confessed in the ancient Christian creeds, far from hindering or discouraging serious scholarship, can supply the motives, guidance, and framework for learning. Christian faith, Noll argues, can richly enhance intellectual engagement in the various academic disciplines - and he demonstrates how by applying his insights to the fields of history (his own area of expertise), science, and biblical studies in particular.
In a substantial postscript, Noll candidly addresses the question How fares the "evangelical mind" today? as he highlights "hopeful signs" of intellectual life in a host of evangelical institutions, individuals, and movements.
©2011 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
52 Uncommon Dates
Summary
Fun, creative, and spiritually engaging - these are no ordinary dates! Have you ever tried a photography date? A water date? What about a second first date? 52 Uncommon Dates is more than a book...it's an experience! Each date will set the scene for you and walk you through making it happen. Learn how to practically speak each other's love language, incorporate prayer in ways that are natural and relevant to real life, and finish strong with questions that help keep conversation alive. You can even dig deeper to discover Bible passages that fit the theme of each date. Ignite prayerful and playful connections in ways that deepen the relational, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your relationship, one date at a time.
©2014 Christopher Hudson & Associates, Inc. (P)2019 Tantor
Scandalous Witness
Summary
Fifteen propositions for changing Christianity in America Christian identity is in moral and political crisis. Lee Camp writes “that one major reason Christianity in America has been made into a bad public joke is our failure to rightly understand what Christianity is.” Scandalous Witness provides a way forward. Although refusing to reduce Christianity to any partisan agenda, he reminds us that the gospel is inherently political and that we are called to be political witnesses. Camp’s provocative diagnosis is that “American hope” is a bastardized form of Christian hope. The United States is not the hope of the world nor is it a Christian nation. Rather, “American Christian values” corrupts Christianity, and partisanship mocks the true scandal of the gospel. Camp reminds us that all empires fall. By conceiving Christianity as a politic instead of a religion, we may begin to take seriously the true scandal of the gospel. We may envision new possibilities by which our gospel practices make a new world possible. Offering a robust vision of a Christian politic that exposes modern parodies of faith, Camp mixes wit, charm, and logic, challenging Christians to rethink who they are and how they participate in the modern world.
©2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.