Faith and Daily Life
Through the Year With Oscar Romero: Daily Meditations, translated by Irene Hodgson, is a collection of excerpts from the beloved archbishop’s homilies, one for every day of the year. Romero’s themes are still timely—the scandal of a church that doesn’t serve the poor, the façade of piety, and the idolatries of power, money, and the self. "Justice, according to the word of God for today," he writes, "means action." St. Anthony Messenger Press.
Listening to Change
The New Heroes, by Christopher Hedge, is the soundtrack accompanying a PBS series of the same name that looks at the impact of social entrepreneurs around the globe. Hedge incorporates "aural samples"—roosters crowing, singing schoolchildren, and a boy shouting his name for the first time after a lifetime of bondage—into the CD’s 14 melodic tracks. Combined with original music from percussionists, violinists, and others from across the globe, the total effect is emotionally stunning. www.rockpaperscissors.biz
Nonviolent Peacemaking
Getting in the Way: Stories from Christian Peacemaker Teams, edited by Tricia Gates Brown, is a collection of first-person accounts from trouble spots in Haiti, Iraq, Colombia, Hebron, Mexico, and Canada. The sometimes-harrowing narratives of this small group of fierce accompaniers ring with humanity: fear, intimacy, doubt, and joy are all part of incarnating Jesus’ radical way of peace. Herald Press.
Transforming the Church
Professors Tony Campolo and Michael Battle take on the painful issue of racism in The Church Enslaved: A Spirituality of Racial Reconciliation. The book’s first half looks at the ways in which the church is enslaved—and how Christianity has been culpable in the development and continuation of racism. The second half offers a way forward, with spiritual and social resources Christians can use to address racism, concluding with concrete ways we can promote racial reconciliation in our churches. Fortress Press.
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