Pastors counseling faith amid times of fear and grief, professors expounding on the pain of racism within the church and society, and novels that always end on an up-note of hope and God's love are among the religion and spirituality books coming in March.
Nonfiction
March 1
Blindsided by Mark Roser (Paraclete, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64060-652-4). After his son, 19, died in an accident at Wheaton College, Roser describes wrestling with such profound questions as why God permitted his son’s death.
March 2
Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Caroline Leaf (Baker, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-8010-9345-6). The mental mess of toxic thoughts, depression is not normal. Leaf offers a five-step path to wholeness, peace, and happiness.
Wild at Heart Expanded Ed: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul by John Eldredge (Thomas Nelson, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-4002-2526-2). Eldredge has revised his phenomenal bestseller, Wild at Heart, and invites men to recover their masculine heart and gives them permission to be what God designed them to be—dangerous, passionate, alive, and free.
Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul by John Eldredge, Stasi Eldredge (Thomas Nelson, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-4002-2528-6). Eldredge updates the companion book he wrote for women after his bestselling Wild at Heart for men, casting a vision for the power, freedom, and beauty of a woman released to be all she was meant to be.
40 Days with God: Time Out to Journey Through the Bible by Kent Hickey (Paraclete, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64060-604-3). Hickey offers ways to find time with God on a journey through the Bible, 40 reflections based on 40 passages from Scripture, starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation.
The Politics Of The Cross: A Christian Alternative To Partisanship By Daniel K. Williams (Eerdmans, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-8028-7851-9). Williams explains how Christians can renounce partisanship and pursue policies that show love for our neighbors to achieve a biblical vision of justice.
Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known by God by Abraham Joshua Heschel, edited by Robert Erlewine (Plough House, $12 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-87486-351-2). Erlewine brings together key insights by Heschel, a renowned rabbi and civil rights leader, to reinvigorate readers of any faith who hunger for wonder and thirst for justice. It is part of the Plough Spiritual Guides series.
Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N T Wright (HarperOne, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-087270-0). Acclaimed biblical scholar, theologian and Anglican bishop Wright gives a straightforward introduction for those unfamiliar with the faith, and a source of thoughtful, accessible scholarship for everyone.
What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid? Inspiring Jewish Ideas That Will Change Your Life by Michal Oshman (DK, $19.99, ISBN 978-0-7440-2910-9). Oshman draws on her Jewish heritage and a wide range of ancient Jewish texts to dismantle fear and offer practical advice on common modern concerns, whether or not you are Jewish yourself.
The Hopeful Neighborhood Field Guide: Six Sessions On Pursuing The Common Good Right Where You Live By Tony Cook, Don Everts (IVP, $10 TRADE PAPER, ISBN 978-0-8308-4732-7). The authors detail ways to discover the gifts of your community and pursue the common good.
The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life by Mark Gerson (St. Martin’s Essentials, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-250-62424-6). The Haggadah, which has guided Jewish families and friends through Pesach celebrations for millennia, offers life-changing wisdom for people of all faiths.
Leading Things You Didn’t Start: Winning Big When You Inherit People, Places, and Possibilities by Tyler Reagin (WaterBrook, $22, ISBN 978-0-525-65404-9). Reagin, a high-impact leadership coach, provides a faith-based four-step plan that answers practical questions and helps readers maximize their influence.
The Realm of Shambhala: A Complete Vision for Humanity’s Perfection by Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö (Shambhala, $17.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-61180-803-2). In Tibetan Buddhism, Shambhala can be both an ancient kingdom, a physical place, or an exalted state of mind. The author lays out a vision for how we can cultivate an unbiased mind, overcome our collective afflictions, and usher in an era of perfect peace and harmony.
March 12
Be Bold in the Broken: How I Found My Courage and Purpose in God’s Unconditional Love by Mary E. Lenaburg, Leah Darrow (Ave Maria, $15.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64680-039-1). The authors draw on their own experiences and advise that a woman questioning her identity, purpose and belonging can find answers by directing her heart to God.
Give Up Worry for Good! 8 Weeks to Hopeful Living and Lasting Peace by Gary Zimak (Ave Maria, $15.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64680-051-3). Zimak, author of Give Up Worry for Lent! Is back with an eight-week program to help win the battle against worry and experience the peace that only Jesus can provide.
Praying a Christ-Centered Rosary: Meditations on the Mysteries by James L Papandrea (Ave Maria, $14.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-59471-957-8). Papandrea, a popular author and teacher, helps readers tap into the Church’s rich heritage of theological reflection.
Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter? by Timothy P. O’Malley, McGrath Institute for Church Life (Ave Maria, $14.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64680-055-1). Most Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. University of Notre Dame theologian O’Malley clears up the confusion and shows you how to learn to love God and neighbor through a deeper understanding of the doctrine of real presence.
Rejoice in the Lord by Augustine of Hippo, Trenton Mattingly (Ave Maria, $10.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64680-043-8). This is a prayer companion for busy people who want to ground their spiritual life in St. Augustine’s greatest spiritual works including Confessions and City of God.
March 9
Church, Interrupted: Havoc & Hope: The Tender Revolt of Pope Francis by John Cornwell (Chronicle Prism, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-7972-0201-3). Vanity Fair contributor, and papal biographer John Cornwell offers an insider story of Pope Francis’s bid to bring renewal and hope to a crisis-plagued Church despite fierce opposition from a traditionalist clergy and ultra-right media
The Gravity of Joy: A Story of Being Lost and Found by Angela Williams Gorrell (Eerdmans, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-8028-7794-9). Gorrell was studying the theology of joy when she encountered grief at the deaths in her family. She found respite in faith and articulates a vision for communities that yearn for joy and “walk together through the shadows” to find it.
Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution by John Archibald (Knopf, $26.95, ISBN 978-0-525-65811-5). Everything Archibald, son of generations of preachers, knows and believes about life is “refracted through the stained glass of the Southern church. It had everything to do with people. And fairness. And compassion.” Archibald writes of a difficult reckoning with his past in a book about growth and evolution.
The Power of 1440: Making the Most of Every Minute in a Day by Tim Timberlake (Thomas Nelson, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-7852-3892-8). The son of a preacher, eighteen-year-old Tim Timberlake’s tragic and painful personal story of how the sudden loss of his father prompted his journey toward seeing the benefit and blessing of each day. He shares those lessons in 30 brief chapters.
Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening by Guo Gu (Shambhala, $16.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-61180-872-8). Chan Buddhist teacher Guo Gu shares practices to help meditators interested in beginning or deepening their silent illumination practice and finding their inner Buddha nature.
The Sweet Fluff: Cuddly Animals and Inspirational Thoughts for a Joyful Heart by Lindsey Bonnice (Tyndale Momentum, $12.99, ISBN 978-1-4964-4940-5). This is based on the popular Instagram account, The Sweet Fluff, and the Live Sweet blog, is a gift book of cute critters with encouraging Scripture verses; and inspirational reflections.
Hope in a Time of Fear: The Lesson of Resurrection and the True Meaning of Easter by Timothy Keller (Viking, $27, ISBN 978-0-525-56079-1). The Resurrection accounts of Jesus in the Gospels are the most dramatic and impactful stories ever told. Keller reveals their message in a book filled with unshakable belief, piercing insight, and a new perspective on Easter.
March 15
The Devil and His Advocates by Erik Butler (Reaktion, $27.5, ISBN 978-1-78914-373-7). Through the lens of the Old and New Testaments, Butler explores the Devil in literature, theology, visual art, and music from antiquity up to the present. “The Devil made me do it” does not hold up in the court of cosmic law. With wit and surprising examples, this book explains why.
March 16
Faithful in Small Things: How to Serve the Needy When You’re One of Them by Kevin Wiebe (Herald, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5138-0774-4). Wiebe, who grew up in deep poverty, now pastors a “low-resource” church of mostly low-income immigrants. He exposes gaps in the mainstream Christian understandings of economic inequality and explores holistic ways of reducing poverty.
The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton by Sophfronia Scott (Broadleaf, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5064-6496-1). Scott mines the extensive private journals of one of the most influential contemplative thinkers of the past for guidance on how to live in these fraught times and gain a steady sense of how to dwell more deeply within—and even to love—this despairing and radiant world.
Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living by Charles J Chaput (Holt, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-250-23978-5). The archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia takes on life’s central questions in the search for authentic faith: why are we here, and how can we live and die meaningfully? This longing is the key to our search for God.
The Gospels, translated by Sarah Ruden (Modern Library, $28, ISBN 978-0-399-59294-2). This is a new translation from one of today’s most respected exponents of ancient literature. Ruden presents each Gospel as a narrative that can be read clear through and understood on its own terms.
The Fire Within: Desire, Sexuality, Longing, and God by Ronald Rolheiser (Paraclete, $19, ISBN 978-1-64060-666-1). This is a book on desire, its experience, its origins, its meaning, and how it might be generatively channeled. Sexuality is inside us to help lure us back to God.
The Prophet’s Heir: The Life of Ali Ibn ABI Talib by Hassan Abbas (Yale University, $32.5, ISBN 978-0-300-22945-5). Ali ibn Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after prophet Mohammad. But Muslims are divided on whether he was supposed to be Mohammad’s political successor and his pluralist ideas have been buried under sectarian agendas and power politics.
Echoing Hope: How the Humanity of Jesus Redeems Our Pain by Kurt Willems (WaterBrook, $16 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-19350-1). An influential pastor shares how despair can lead us to discover true hope and a deeper relationship with God, helping us emerge stronger and more joyful from times of crisis.
Psobriety: A Journey of Recovery through the Psalms by Jeff Dafler (Westminster John Knox, $18 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-664-26696-7). A recovering alcoholic, Dafler shares how people recovering from alcohol and substance abuse can develop and strengthen their spirituality by daily readings on each of the 150 Psalms — Psobriety.
The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive by Patrick B. Reyes (Westminster John Knox, $23 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-664-26670-7). Reyes reflects on a family member’s death after a long struggle with incarceration and homelessness. He presents how pastors, organizational leaders, educators, family, and friends must all perceive their calling to create new stories and new conditions of thriving for those most marginalized.
The Perfect You: God’s Invitation to Live from the Heart by Andrew Farley (Salem, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68451-127-3). This provocative book invites readers to find where Jesus lives within them, inspiring everything they do.
March 22
White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America by Anthea Butler (University of North Carolina, $24, ISBN 978-1-4696-6117-9). Butler reveals how evangelical racism, propelled by the benefits of whiteness, has since the nation’s founding played a provocative role in severely fracturing the electorate. Evangelicalism’s racial history festers, splits America, and needs a reckoning now.
March 23
Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age by Richard Beck (Broadleaf, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5064-6465-7). Centuries ago, people believed in a world full of angels, demons, God and magic. The rise of rationalism, secularism, technology, and science did not erase God: we just stopped paying attention. Beck writes of cultivating the capacity to experience God now.
Women Rising: Learning to Listen, Finding Our Voices by Meghan Tschanz (IVP, $17 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8308-4778-5). During a multi-year, around-the-globe missions trip, Tschanz opened her eyes to gender inequality and the oppression of women in poverty. Her journey inspires her to want to help empower women worldwide.
Mysteries of the Messiah: Unveiling Divine Connections from Genesis to Today by Rabbi Jason Sobel (Thomas Nelson, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-7852-4005-1). Sobel, raised in a Jewish home but now a Christian, guides readers from Genesis through Revelation to see the passion and purpose of the Messiah, the Torah, and several of the patriarchs and prophets.
The Truth at the Heart of the Lie: How the Catholic Church Lost Its Soul by James Carroll (Random House, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-593-13470-2). A former priest and National Book Award-winning writer examines his crisis of faith and his journey to renewal in this memoir that also traces the roots of the Catholic sex abuse scandal back to the history and power structure of the church itself.
The Woman Who Raised the Buddha: The Extraordinary Life of Mahaprajapati by Wendy Garling (Shambhala, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-61180-669-4). This is the life story of the Buddha’s adoptive mother, Mahaprajapati. Her story is interwoven with the founding of Buddhism, detailing how she helped the Buddha establish an equal fourfold community of lay and monastic women and men
The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 1: Ancient Israel, from Its Beginnings Through 332 Bce, edited by Jeffrey H Tigay and Adele Berlin (Yale Univ., $200, ISBN 978-0-300-13550-3). This book presents extensive selections from the Hebrew Bible, extrabiblical inscriptions and documents by and about Israelites and Jews, and images representing the visual culture of ancient Israel. It details ancient Israel’s cultural innovations and commonalities with neighboring societies.
March 26
Running for a Higher Purpose: 8 Steps to Spiritual and Physical Fitness by Thomas John Paprocki (Ave Maria, $15.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64680-045-2). Most Rev. Paprocki, bishop of Springfield—a marathon runner and hockey player—shares how running not only unlocks physical benefits but also profound spiritual wellbeing.
The Catholic Notetaking Bible by Mark Hart, Sarah Christmyer, John Bergsma, Anthony Pagliarini, Sonja Corbitt (Ave Maria, $49.95, ISBN 978-1-64680-078-0). This is the only Bible on the market with comprehensive cross-references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and wide margins for notetaking and journaling.
March 30
Decolonizing Christianity: Becoming Badass Believers by Miguel A. De La Torre (Eerdmans, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-8028-7847-2). De La Torre indicts white American Christians for aligning themselves with the oppressors who subjugate the “least of these.” Working from the parable of the sheep and the goats in the Gospel of Matthew, he calls for unapologetic solidarity with the sheep.
Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence by Diana Butler Bass (HarperOne $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-265952-1). The award-winning author of Grateful goes beyond the culture wars to offer a take on the comprehensive, multi-faceted nature of Jesus, keeping his teachings relevant and alive in our daily lives.
What Is the Church and Why Does It Exist? by David Fitch (Herald, $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5138-0570-2). Fitch delves into the origins of the church, exploring the identity and calling of the body of Christ in scripture and church history. He suggests historic Anabaptism as a model for thriving as God’s people.
My Vertical Neighborhood: How Stranger Become a Community by Lynda MacGibbon (IVP, $17 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8308-4740-2). MacGibbon moved from a small town to a high-rise in Toronto, adapting to life in a “vertical neighborhood” presented challenges including how to live out the gospel among non-Christian neighbors.
Fiction
March 2
The Robin’s Greeting, Volume 3: Amish Greenhouse Mystery #3 by Wanda E. Brunstetter (Barbour, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64352-479-5). Suddenly widowed, with the weight of her family and business on her shoulders, Belinda King struggles to remain strong and at peace.
Dreams Rekindled by Amanda Cabot (Revell, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8007-3536-4). Dorothy Clark’s dream of writing something that will challenge people clashes with a journalist starting a fledgling newspaper. Ultimately they work together for the benefit of the town in the second novel in Cabot’s Mesquite Springs series.
Facing the Dawn by Cynthia Ruchti (Revell, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8007-3729-0). While her humanitarian husband Liam has been digging wells in Africa, Mara Jacobs has been struggling. As Mara strives to find her footing, she discovers that even when hope is tenuous, faith is fragile, and the future is unknown, we can be sure we are not forgotten... or unloved.
Miriam’s Song by Jill Eileen Smith (Revell, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8007-3472-5). Historical fiction author Smith fills in the gaps in the biblical story of Miriam, prophetess, as she journeys from childhood to motherhood, obscurity to notoriety, and yearning to fulfillment as she learns that what God promises he provides—in his own perfect timing.
Unknown Threat by Lynn H. Blackburn (Revell, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8007-3795-5). Romance-suspense novelist Blackburn’s latest novel combines love, faith, and peril as two agents — one from the Secret Service and another from the FBI — team up to hunt down a killer who murdered their colleagues.
March 9
The Curator’s Daughter by Melanie Dobson (Tyndale House, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-4964-4416-5). A young girl, kidnapped on the eve of Word War II, changes the lives of a German archaeologist forced into the Nazi Party and—decades later—a researcher trying to overcome her own trauma.
March 30
Daniel: Prophet at the King’s Command by Terry Thompson (Ambassador International, $18.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64960-085-1). Thompson brings the book of Daniel to life in novel form, drawn from extensive research into the lives and customs of the Hebrew people. The book opens up discussions of the prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled.
A New Love for Charlotte by Amy Lillard (Zebra, $8.99 mass market, ISBN 978-1-4201-4960-9). Charlotte faces different personal challenges in the 11th volume in Lillard's Wells Landing series set in the Oklahoma Amish community.
An Unexpected Amish Proposal by Rachel J Good (Zebra, $8.99 mass market, ISBN 978-1-4201-5036-0). Two competing entrepreneurs at a farmer’s market find faith and friendship tested in Good's newest entry in her Amish romance series.
March 31
Silent Altitudes by Michael Emberger (Ambassador International, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64960-050-9). Emberger, who writes sci-fi suspense with a Christian perspective, takes on climate change in a novel where a United Nation’s sponsored carbon reduction system turns deadly.
