Lysa TerKeurst wrestles with faith, country singer Sara Evans shares her life story and beliefs, and a study of Thomas Jefferson's edited Bible are among the religion and spirituality books publishing in September.
Nonfiction
September 1
Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn (B&H, $24.99, ISBN: 978-1-5359-1093-4). Vaughn uses missionary Elisabeth Elliot’s private journals and interviews with family and friends to tell the story of her mission to the Waorani tribe of Ecuador, among whom her husband had been killed.
World Changers: How God Uses Ordinary People to Do Extraordinary Things by Greg Laurie (Baker Books, $24.99, ISBN: 978-0-8010-7595-7). Laurie, a pastor, shares stories in the Gospel of John woven with personal anecdotes, in this 90-day devotional.
Without Reservation: Awakening to Native American Spirituality and the Ways of Our Ancestors by Randy Kritkausky (Bear & Co., $20 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-59143-384-2). Kritkausky, a tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, shares his experiences with the realm of ancestral Native American connections and communications with nature.
Biblical Hospitality: Design, Organize, and Decorate Your Home for Gospel-Centered Community by Victoria Duerstock (Good Books, $24.99, ISBN: 978-1-68099-618-0). Interior designer Duerstock offers simple, faith-filled ways to prepare one’s home to be open to friends, neighbors, and strangers.
Shaman Box: Tools for Healing, Protection, and Good Fortune by Nicholas Wood, illus. by Sarah Bartlett (Hampton Roads, $24.95 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-64297-024-1), discusses shamanistic ethics and the tools of shamanistic healing, including medicine wheels, the shaman’s drum, altars and shrines, psychoactive plants, and the shaman’s rattle.
Is God Speaking to Me? How to Discern His Voice and Direction by Lysa TerKeurst (Harvest House, $2.99 paper, ISBN: 978-0-7369-8262-7). In this 64-page book, bestselling author TerKeurst shares her wrestling with questions of faith and how she’s learned to discern God’s direction in her everyday life.
It’s All About Jesus: A Treasury of Insights on Our Savior, Lord, and Friend by Randy Alcorn (Harvest House, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-7369-7995-5) brings together quotes from Bible scholars, teachers, and writers about Jesus, including Augustine, Francis Chan, Joni Eareckson Tada, Martin Luther, Trillia Newbell, and Charles Spurgeon.
Who Will Be a Witness: Igniting Activism for God’s Justice, Love, and Deliverance by Drew G.I. Hart (Herald, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-5138-0658-7). Hart uses scripture and history, along with personal stories, to help readers identify how church hierarchies have become distorted by white supremacy and religious nationalism.
Thinking about the Prophets: A Philosopher Reads the Bible by Kenneth Seeskin (Jewish Publication Society, $21.95 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8276-1505-2) examines the thinking of great literary prophets whose ministry ran from the eighth to the sixth centuries BCE, including the books of Amos, Ezekiel, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Job.
Angels and Saints by Eliot Weinberger (New Directions, $26.95, ISBN: 978-0-8112-2986-9). Essayist Weinberger meditates on the nature of angels and saints alongside reproductions of the works of ninth-century German Benedictine monk Hrabanus Maurus.
War of the Gods: Alien Skulls, Underground Cities, and Fire from the Sky by Erich Von Däniken (New Page, $17.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63265-171-6). Bestseller von Däniken, a popular advocate of the theory of ancient aliens visiting Earth, explores what drove ancient humans to build city-size places underground and considers possible connections to aliens.
Religion: A Very Short Introduction by Thomas A Tweed (Oxford Univ., $11.95 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-19-006467-9). Beginning with the first signs of religion among ancient humans and concluding with a look at modern trends, scholar Tweed examines religious impulse throughout history.
September 8
A House Divided: Engaging the Issues Through the Politics of Compassion by Mark Feldmeir (Chalice, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8272-0096-8). Feldmeir, a pastor, offers biblically centered ways of engaging and responding to divisive political issues.
The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor by Kaitlyn Schiess (IVP, $17 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8308-4830-0). Schiess, staff writer at Christ and Pop Culture, argues that the church’s politics are shaped by habits and practices and insists the way out of partisan division is to recover historic Christian practices.
With Liberty & Justice for Some: The Bible, the Constitution, and Racism in America by Susan K. Williams Smith (Judson, $23.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8170-1813-9). Smith, a pastor, examines truths presumed to be self-evident in the U.S. Constitution and Bible, arguing that the two texts have been used to support and sustain white supremacy.
Dual Citizens: Politics and American Evangelicalism edited by Timothy Padgett (Lexham, $28.99, ISBN: 978-1-68359-407-9) collects articles from Christianity Today originally published between 1956 and 2016 to trace evangelical engagement with politics.
Calming Magic: Enchanted Rituals for Peace, Clarity, and Creativity by Nikki Van De Car (Running Press, $18, ISBN: 978-0-7624-7046-4). The author seeks to educate readers about the healing energy of mystical practices, aromatherapy blends, crystal rituals, yoga, tarot readings, and other rituals.
Born to Fly by Sara Evans (Howard, $27, ISBN: 978-1-5011-6258-9). Country music star Evans tracks her rise to stardom, her circuitous path to love, and the ways her faith brings daily joy.
Practical Witch’s Almanac 2021: Crafting Your Magic by Friday Gladheart (Microcosm, $13.95 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-62106-655-2). Gladheart provides magic-based planner pages, worksheets, and articles intended to help readers discover hidden talents, explore the beauty of nature, and hone their witchery.
The Penguin Book of Exorcisms by Joseph P. Laycock (Penguin Classics, $17 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-14-313547-0) provides accounts of real-life exorcisms through the centuries and around the world, including stories from ancient Egypt, the biblical Middle East, colonial America, and 20th-century South Africa.
September 15
7 Days of Simplicity: A Season of Living Lightly by Jen Hatmaker (Abingdon, $21.99, ISBN: 978-1-5018-8830-4). Bestselling author Hatmaker explores the spirituality of living a simpler life, focusing on how small choices can affect one’s spirit, community, and the Earth.
Everything Is Spiritual: Who We Are and What We’re Doing Here by Rob Bell (St. Martin’s Essentials, $27.99, ISBN: 978-1-250-62056-9).These explorations from Bell, a controversial pastor, center on finding one’s purpose within the “one connected whole,” which sees past divisions, differences, and polarization.
End of the Christian Life: How Embracing Our Mortality Frees Us to Truly Live by J. Todd Billings (Brazos, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-58743-420-4). Billings, a theologian and cancer patient, invites readers to embrace mortality in order to enliven their faith.
Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons (Broadleaf, $26.99, ISBN: 978-1-5064-6252-3). Progressive Christian activist Graves-Fitzsimmons explains how a strong religious left has accompanied many progressive advances in society and makes the moral case for pluralism.
I Understand: Pain, Love, and Healing After Suicide by Vonnie Woodrick (Eerdmans, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8028-7804-5) explores the pain and healing following Woodrick’s husband’s death by suicide in 2003, and calls for change in the way society thinks about mental illness and suicide.
Jefferson Bible: A Biography by Peter Manseau (Princeton Univ., $24.95, ISBN: 978-0-691-20569-4). Manseau, curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, tells the story of the Jefferson Bible, which Thomas Jefferson edited by removing all mention of miracles and other supernatural events in an effort to reconcile Christian tradition with reason.
Like Streams to the Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins (Random House, $26, ISBN: 978-0-593-13723-9). Travel writer Jenkins follows up his bestseller To Shake the Sleeping Self with these reflections on difficult topics such as ego, love, family, and work.
Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You by Holley Gerth (Revell, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8007-2291-3). Counselor Gerth explores the brain science behind introversion in an effort to help readers understand the psychological, relational, and spiritual aspects of being an introvert.
50 Bible Stories Everyone Should Know: An Illustrated Book of Bible Stories for Adults by Matthew Lockhart (Salem, $29.99, ISBN: 978-1-68451-001-6) retells Old Testament stories—such as those of Adam and Eve, Moses, and King David—alongside full-color illustrations, brief introductions, and postscripts of how lessons are applicable to everyday life.
The Post-Quarantine Church: Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation by Thom S. Rainer (Tyndale, $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-4964-5275-7), seeks to provide encouragement and vision to pastors, highlighting challenges and opportunities that the Covid-19 crisis creates for local churches.
September 16
Hunger for Hope: Prophetic Communities, Contemplation, and the Common Good by Simone Campbell (Orbis, $16 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-62698-378-6). Sister Campbell, an organizer of the Nuns on the Bus social justice campaigns, provides spiritual practice and awareness intended as an antidote to individualism.
September 22
Clare of Assisi: Gentle Warrior by Wendy Murray (Paraclete, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-64060-183-3). Journalist Murray digs into the life of Francis of Assisi’s female friend Clare, who abandoned her rank and wealth for a life of devotion to Christ.
The Gospel in Dickens: Selections from His Works, edited by Gina Dalfonzo (Plough, $18 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-87486-841-8). Dalfonzo provides short excerpts from Dickens’s works that reveal the Christian vision and values within his writing.
When Love Comes to Light: Bringing Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita to Modern Life by Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor (Shambhala, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-61180-817-9). Yoga teachers Freeman and Taylor look at lessons from the Bhagavad Gita, a text essential to Hinduism and Yoga, and assess how they can be applied to life today.
September 29
God in Gotham: The Miracle of Religion in Modern Manhattan by Jon Butler (Belknap, $29.95, ISBN: 978-0-674-04568-2). Historian Butler describes the flourishing of organized religion in Manhattan between the 1880s and the 1960s, showing how many faiths adapted to American secularism.
Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal, edited by Sarah Bessey (Convergent, $20, ISBN: 978-0-593-13721-5), collects prayers from Barbara Brown Taylor, Amena Brown, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and other artists and thinkers, for women who feel overworked or on the edge of burnout.
Clear Light: Spiritual Reflections and Meditations by Steve Taylor (New World Library, $18.95, ISBN: 978-1-60868-712-1). Taylor, senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, offers poetic reflections as a guide to spiritual awakening, including ruminations on empathy, acceptance, and love.
Muhammad’s Body: Baraka Networks and the Prophetic Assemblage by Michael Muhammad Knight (Univ. North Carolina, $24.95 trade paper, ISBN: 978-1-46965-891-9). Novelist and essayist Knight lays out how early believers of Islam imagined Muhammad’s relationship to beneficent energy, which was used to legitimize or marginalize groups or
individuals.
Fiction
September 1
Nine by Rachelle Dekker (Revell, $17.99, ISBN: 978-0-8007-3596-8). Zoe Johnson takes a leap of faith when a teenager with nearly no memory asks for help reaching a woman in Corpus Christi, Tex., who can help her before government agents searching for her catch up.
Something Worth Doing by Jane Kirkpatrick (Revell, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-8007-3611-8). When an injury forces Abigail Scott’s husband to stop working, Abigail starts working and discovers the appalling working conditions for women, inspiring her to support women’s suffrage.
Mountain Laurel by Lori Benton (Tyndale, $25.99, ISBN: 978-1-4964-4431-8). In 1793 North Carolina, Boston-born Ian Cameron leaves for Mountain Laurel hoping to become his planter uncle’s heir. There, he falls in love with Seona, a slave with a hidden talent for drawing.
September 8
The Stone Wall by Beverly Lewis (Bethany, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-7642-3308-1). Lancaster County tour guide Anna searches for answers regarding her grandmother’s past and an old stone wall, both a mystery due to the elderly woman’s Alzheimer’s.
September 15
Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer (WaterBrook, $16 trade paper, ISBN: 978-0-525-65372-1). Addie Cowherd, a traveling librarian, ventures into the mining towns of Kentucky and sets up a library program for residents steeped in superstitions and deeply suspicious of outsiders.
September 29
Amish Husband for Tillie by Amy Lillard (Zebra, $7.99, ISBN: 978-1-4201-5172-5). Tillie Gingerich returns to the Amish community of Pontotoc, where she grew up, pregnant and unmarried after a failed relationship. There, she struggles for acceptance from the community, until she meets widower Levi Yoder.
