[A quick aside: if you are interested in a serious study of the history of claims of stolen elections and voter suppression see Stealing Elections, American Style by David F. Albert (Bloomsbury; $27.00 // our sale price = $21.60.)]

These days, being a good citizen is on one hand harder than I recall it ever being (I voted for the first time in the early 1970s)  but, also — forgive me if I overshare — simpler than ever. I’d say we must vote against anyone who has not spoken out against the current reckless and vulgar regime. His crimes and comments, policies and mockery of prayer (you know about that, I assume, those prayer call scams) are so inappropriate that any leader who has not protested should be voted out. I care less about party than principle, and resistance to Trump is, as I discern the times, a moral necessity.

Further, I’ve signed the Bread for the World pledge to vote for candidates who make it a priority to work for policies that help the poor. We can hold our candidates and elected officials accountable to support legislation that helps fight hunger, at home and abroad and BFW shows you how. You can sign it HERE.

In any case, regardless of your views about, say, Trump’s playing footsie with the Russians or his disinterest in the rape victim dishonored by his Vice President, or his lying about elections, or his weaponizing of the DOJ far worse than any President ever, we should all agree that we simply have to keep studying up, reading to know what professing Christians ought to be known for in our civic concerns, how we should relate to the public square, and what a Biblical-informed view of statecraft ought to be. We have seen (across parties) what it is not.

I’ve written about this often. On the positive side, some great books about faithful Christian thinking about civic life and faithful politics, see, at least HERE.

On the critical side, some books about the dangers from the increasingly influential extremists and far-right ideologues who want to erode our Republic and our constitutional democracy, see, at least HERE or HERE.

For now, to inspire you this mid-term season take a look at this short list. Even if you don’t buy them now, maybe it is helpful just to read my comments about them, knowing a bit about the state of appropriate scholarship on the topic.

I trust it is helpful to hear about these titles, but I do hope some folks buy them as it isn’t easy making a living promoting these sort of resources. We’ve got the goods. All are 20% OFF. What may we send yoiu?

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Can Religion Save Democracy? How More Faith — Not Less — Can Heal Our Public Life Matthew Kaemingk & Shadi Habid (Brazos Press) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

This is one of the most important books of the year, certainly in this genre of public affairs books and thinking well about civic life. I’ve raved about this before, celebrating it when it first came out so will be brief, here.

Let me say a quick thing or two to set this up.

First, as some might think I’ve done, even above, there is an insinuation that because the anti-democracy, far-MAGA-right that extols some sort of evangelical theocracy or Christian nationalism (often, but not always, driven by a racism and unrighteous xenophobia) are motivated by their religion, that therefore the safest thing for a democracy is to discourage religion from the public square. Who doesn’t know how harmful religious zealots can be. Granted. But to try to bad religion from the public square is down-right unAmerican, and impossible, anyway.

The first major critique of that nonsense in our era came perhaps from Richard Neuhaus in the 1980s with his classic Eerdmans book The Naked Public Square. It showed that we can’t be neutral, ever, anyway, so disallowing religious convictions from our civic conversations only then priviliges a secularized view, which is not “naked” but a particular sort of view, religoius-like in it’s privileging of secularity. There’s no escaping the ways in which our ultimate concerns shape our public values and political debates — whether religious or not, it’s how everybody, everywhere acts — so trying to silence some religious-aligned voices simply won’t do. We don’t want a theocracy, obviously, but not a secularized “naked” civic space, either but a pluralistic one. Liberty and justice for all, you know? Muslim or Morman, Sikh or Seveth Day Adventist, atheistic secularist of any sort all are welcom to bring their valued-laded views to the public conversations and political discourse. So because some extremist Muslims are terrorists, and because Christians have acted in bad faith — smashing stuff in the Capitol with their Jesus tee-shirts and vile language, comes to mind — does not mean we should therefore resist religious language and convictions in our public life. The authors of this book understand all that and explain a theological (and practical) argument for pluralism that is as compelling as anything I’ve read along these lines. Hooray for “more religion, not less.”

Secondly, besides their commitment to religiously-informed principled pluralism and a welcoming of all sorts of viewpoints from all sorts of motivations and worldviews, I’ll note this. As I explained in the previous review, Kaemingk and Hamid are friends (they do a podcast together) and their friendship is sincere. An evangelical and Reform Christian and a moderate Muslim talk about their differences in their podcast, which is both advocating for (and modeling) wholesome disagreements among Muslim and Christian thinking but also showing the world how civic minded public intellectuals, if you will, can disagree and yet work together to advance the common good for all. This is political discourse at its finest.

(If you are like most people, I’ll bet you’ve never read a book co-authored about political differences by a practicing Christian and a devout Muslim. This book is a rare gift, and you should have it if for no other reason than this project is so rare, so wonderful. Can you help us spread the word?)

So, Can Religion Save Democracy pushed back against a view that at times seems repressive against religiously-oriented citizens (be they Christian or Muslim or Jewish or other.) Yes, they think we from the faith communities can be a healing force. It is audacious, given how extremists of all sorts have wrecked havoc on our world, but it is the right vision. Together they show a better way.

David Brooks — who has studied and read and interviewed countless scholars and ordinary people from across the political spectrum — says “This book is original and profound. Kaemingk and Hamid take the wisdom from two great religious traditions and use it to bend your mind — especially if you are secular.”  Exactly. This is mind-blowing for any of us.

Don’t miss the chapter “From Cancel Culture to Covenant Culture” and the great pair of chapters “Schools of Democracy” and the wonderful follow-up bit (or so it seemed to me) “Praying for Democracy.” This is wise, thoughtful, good stuff — offering at least a posture and some practices rather than simple solutions. Kudos to Kaimingk and Hamid and to all who buy this great book.

Unity in Diversity: How Critically Recovering Our Sense of a Nation As a Body Can Offer Us New Paths Forward in an Age of Division Donald Roth (Cascade) $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

This isn’t a simplistic book about listening well or getting along — although we have plenty of recommendations on civility if you need any suggestions — but is a deeper study of what sort of metaphors we use to discuss our society in our social contract. (Speaking of which, I almost said it above, but Jamie Smith has argued why “the public square” isn’t a helpful metaphor. Fair enough.)

Unity in Diversity is drawing on (as the lengthy sub-title notes) the image of the body. As a Bible believing Christian, he obviously draws on Pauline lingo about the body. He is in the tradition (as is Matthew Kaegmink, by the way) of Dutch neo-Calvinism — think of Abraham Kuyper at the turn of the 1800s into the 1900s who became Prime Minister in Holland on a platform of religious pluralism and the common good.( Roth teaches at Dordt University in Iowa and co-directs the Kuyper Honors Program there.

This is a serious, principled study of a Kuyperian sort of social arrangement that includes a profound pluralism, and a realization that the metaphor of “the body” really does help us get around the pressure we have these days (some might call it binary.) Winners vs losers, suffer or sue, “wage war or wait it out.” Can we reimagine our role in society in a way that “promotes flourishing for our communities and the pursuit of our ultimate purpose: the glory of God?”

I’m not sure it is quite right to say that Dr. Roth is Burkean but he’s in that ball-park. Kuyper’s party was the Anti-Revolutionary Party, one holding to reformation principles that were not aligned with the modernist spirit of the French Revolution. He is a conservative who calls his view “organic.” Fascinating.

Roth rescues us from our damaging mechanical metaphors for politics and restores to us a more ancient, organic kind: the body. To escape the cage of our machines of polarization and dysfunction, Roth offers Reformed organicism: not unity despite, or against, but in diversity. What’s in a metaphor? Roth shows us the very task, purpose, and dignity of justice. This book deserves to convince and convict, and I hope it will do so very widely! — Robert Joustra, Spoelhof Chair, Calvin University, author of Christ and Covenant in Global Politics: A Christian Introduction to International Relations

Dispatches from Rural America: Sixteen Essays Wendell Berry (Counterpoint Press) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

With Saint Wendell’s recent death I’d have thought we’d have had more orders for this brand new one. Thanks to those who pre-ordered it or those who saw our announcement of it in that BookNotes we did about small towns, rural life, small churches and the like. It fit that theme, obviously.

But, as with most of the other (many) gathered collections of Berry’s essays, Dispatches may be from rural America, but they are not all directly about rural life. And so, we list this here as an election year commentary, whether you are voting or not, whether you are concerned about politics, per se, our social ethics and cultural reform. Healthy citizenship is more than voting once every so often, but an enduring care for your place, an ordered sort of love for your commonwealth. These sixteen pieces are about our lives together from a great public intellectual who (as you all know) was also a working farmer. And part time poet.

Berry may have been the voice of sustainability and localism and what is often called an agrarian worldview, but listen to this assessment, from The Washington Post: “Here is a human being speaking with calm and sanity out of the wilderness.” We would do well to hear him.”

I invite you to read Brian Walsh’s nice piece about Berry, (HERE)  calling him “a prophet of exile.” Brian observes:

In a secular world of self-reliant autonomy, Berry was a man of prayer. In a disenchanted world reduced to scientific explanation, Berry was grounded in a good creation birthed in love. In a world of propaganda and duplicity, Berry longed for truth. And in a world teetering between despair and cheap optimism, Berry was a prophet of hope.

And so, I commend his new set of dispatches. From the sad details of children dead due to handgun violence to the very big picture of his critique of industrialism, from the granularity of barn raising to the large questions about God, faith, and science (and page or two in that chapter, “Without God” about politics and the Christian right.) One chapter is called “Wild and Domestic” which could easily shape our political views and another granular one is “For the Neighbors.” (There are a few charming essays here about friendships, actually, which seems instructive, too.) The chapter “That Wondrous Pattern” is about a poet and her vision of how “everything that lives in holy.” I wonder how that might change our political action? Anyway, this is not about political science as such or even about civic life, mostly. But the implications of Berry, the Mad Farmer, are huge. It makes an important companion here near the end of 2026.

By the way, speaking of Berry, in a “Three Books from Hearts & Minds” podcast a year ago I named three books about Wendell Berry and a favorite of mine included Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life: A Readers Guide by Matt Bonzo & Michael Stevens (and, not coincidentally, done by Brazos Press, back when Rodney Clapp [mentioned below] was still working there.) Matt Bonzo had a very nice tribute to Berry which you can read HERE.

Reimagining Biblical Politics: What Scripture Says About Public Life and Why It Matters Michael J. Rhodes (Baker Academic) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Again, this is a recent one that we raved about a month or so ago. I know of know better introduction to a directly Biblical view of politics than this. I think we need more than this — I’ve described often the careful detail in the method for thinking about voting offered by Ron Sider years ago in his must-read Just Politics: A Guide for Christian Engagement and I’ve suggested the brainy but vital Political Visions & Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies or his less hefty one released in 2024, Citizenship Without Illusions: A Christian Guide to Political Engagement.) Maranda Zapor Cruz has given us Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why It Matters a spectacular evaluation of 8 reasonably Christian styles or approaches to faithful politics (and two that are clearly wrong-headed) which I’d call a must-read. But Reimagining Biblical Politics does offer the foundational stuff we need to think as Biblical people about our role as citizens and has plenty of good practical stuff (even guidelines for forming political discernment groups.) It is excellent.

Michael Rhodes is a mighty thinker and amazing Biblical scholar. He wrote the detailed and nearly comprehensive text on why justice should be a priority in our daily discipleship (Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World and he co-wrote a fabulous guide to economics for the ordinary Christian household called Practicing the King’s Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give.) He is currently a lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College in New Zealand. I think this recent release is really, really good. I highly recommend it.

Don’t believe me? Read these good comments about its importance.

This is the book I have been looking–and praying–for! Rhodes blends rich biblical exegesis with robust theological insight and practical wisdom. I will personally reach for Reimagining Biblical Politics often, and I will recommend it to pastors, small groups, and any Christian seeking biblical wisdom for political life. — Kaitlyn Schiess, author of The Ballot and the Bible and The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor

Rhodes gallops from one end of the Bible to the other at an exhilarating pace, yet with a keen eye for how subtle word choices, overlooked narrative details and characters, and even whole biblical books that we might have neglected bear upon our exercise of political discipleship. One of the most exciting and trustworthy biblical theologians currently at work, Rhodes offers not prescribed choices but rather guidelines for discernment of a variety of faithful responses to the text as read and lived out in community. Practical exegesis such as this keeps the Word of God alive in the church. — Ellen F. Davis, Duke Divinity School, author of Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament and Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible 

Scripture declares, ‘God reigns’ and ‘Jesus is Lord’–political language from Genesis to Revelation. But what do such claims mean and not mean? In readable, perceptive (and provocative) prose, with real-life examples and practical guidance, Michael Rhodes invites us to reimagine the Bible’s varied political texts as manifestations of ‘outpost politics’ and ‘pilgrim politics.’ This is a timely and much-needed book as political division and even political idolatry pervade countries and churches. — Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical and Theological Studies, St. Mary’s Seminary & University, author of Life Transfigured: A Contemporary Pauline Theology

Compassion (&) Conviction: The and Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement Justin Giboney, Michael Ware & Chris Butler (IVP) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

The fabulous book came out in 2020 and I raved then, and often since then. I suggested it was good for those who felt too conservative for the progressive crowd and too liberal for the conservative groups.  Especially when (or so some suggest) the Democratic Party is increasingly led from the far left and the Republicans have abandoned conservatism, where do we go when we feel we’ve got no political home?

At the very least, how can we be properly holistic in terms of what the Bible teaches. How do we hold together stuff that sometimes seems in tension and how do we faithfully navigate these troubled waters?

I really appreciate the hopeful tone and clear remarks of Chris Broussard (a black FOX Sports broadcaster with whomI  have shared a stage — laittle known fun fact) who says this:

At a time when America’s body of Christ is as divided as our nation itself, the AND Campaign has presented a much-needed model for those who aspire to stay true to biblical principles–all of them!–in their civic engagement. Free of partisanship and cultural bias, this book provides a framework that, if adhered to, could lead to unity, healing, and perhaps even revival. Just in the nick of time, the AND Campaign has given us a gem, a light, a guide for how Bible believers can accurately represent Christ in a public square so desperately in need of our true and faithful witness. —Chris Broussard, broadcaster for FOX Sports, founder and president of the K.I.N.G. Movement, producer of DVD curriculum Share the Dream Video Study: Shining a Light in a Divided World Through Six Principles of Martin Luther King Jr.

Chris Broussard is right — this book offers a framework we need to consider. It has a nice tone, blending passion and urgency but balance and consideration. Here is the Table of Contents, just so you can see:

Foreword by Barbara Williams-Skinner
Preface

1. Christians (&) Politics
2. Church (&) State
3. Compassion (&) Conviction
4. Partnerships (&) Partisanship
5. Messaging (&) Rhetoric
6. Politics (&) Race
7. Advocacy (&) Protest
8. Civility (&) Political Culture
9. A Closing Exhortation
– – Discussion Questions (&) Exercises

Wake Up Running: Building Democratic Space at the Crossings Walter Earl Fluker (Broadleaf Books) $28.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.19

Do you recall a few years ago when most White folks and certain most responsible Christians from across the theological spectrum were agreeing that we all should remember to keep the voices of people of color in our reading menu. I hope you continue to read widely and we are eager to suggest this as a classic take the struggle for peace and justice by an impeccable Black leader. Fluker is the MLK Emeritus professor (in ethical leaders) at Boston University and is  the editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project. He has written in the field of leadership and has appeared in various PBS and NPR news shows, as well as academic and religious forums.

Anyway, this book is (and I have only started it) brilliant. It is eloquent. It is exciting. It is scholarly, but not too difficult.  He introduces the word fugitivity. Cornel West calls it “a remarkable achievement” (inspired by his intellectual mentors, King and Thurman) and “a philosophical and poetic text that speaks to the core of our grim moment.”

Take a deep breath before you begin this book, and expect to burn some calories while you read it, because Walter Fluker is counting on you to keep up. Like the sower in Jesus’s famous parable, he has a bag full of good seed that he flings with gracious abandon. There is shamanic storytelling in one handful and broad scholarship in the next; stirring hymnody in one swing of his arm and taut prophecy in the next. Fluker won’t calm down and he won’t be contained — which is what he asks of his readers as well — because his mission is too urgent: to seed the field with new, nonlinear leaders of faith who are willing to make a way out of no way at the crossroads of madness and hope.”— Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Always a Guest and An Altar in the World

Wow. Right?

In our current climate of political authoritarianism and social uncertainty, Fluker offers a compelling and eloquent argument on faith, leadership, and democracy, insisting that democratic possibilities can yet be imagined. In a context of clamoring perspectives that often lean toward pessimism and despair, Fluker reminds us of the deep, rich Black faith tradition that fugitively reimagines not optimism, but hope. — Keri Day, Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion, Princeton Theological Seminary, author of Notes of a Native Daughter: Testifying in Theological Education 

Living Out of Control: Political & Personal Faith in Waning Christendom Rodney Clapp (Fortress Press) $25.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

This came out in 2025 and this is some of what I said at BookNotes back then. I’m convince it is urgent, if a tad dense, and I highly recommend it.

Rodney Clapp is a storied, thoughtful writer and publishing industry rock star. Okay, maybe he isn’t well known, but for those of us who follow these things, Clapp is emblematic of the best thinking in broader evangelical and ecumenical publishing in the last 40 years. He was an editor in the last millennium at IVP doing very good work; he acquired many legendary authors and his own books include ones we still stock, such as Families at the Crossroads: Beyond Traditional and Modern Options, and a book on consumerism, one on pop culture, and one on the church. He released one on Johnny Cash and the lovely and wise Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels which I just loved!

Clapp, I’m told founded Brazos Press (now a part of the Baker Publishing Group) and then went to work as editor for Wipf & Stock. With them he did one of our favorite books of late, New Creation: A Primer on Living Between the Times. You really should read that. We’ve got it at 20% off, too!

Just a few years ago he did a major hardback book with Fortress called Naming Neoliberalism: Exposing the Spirit of Our Age which we reviewed here. It was a complex and vital study of the “panoply of cultural, political, and economic practices that set marketized competition at the center of social life.” Naming Neoliberalism was truly amazing, and now this somewhat slimer Living Out of Control seems to pick up where that left off. The neoliberalism critique places that ideology, of course, within the post-Christian era in which we live…. Living Out of Control revisits that, asking how we might engage Christian political life without assuming Christendom, rejecting dominionisms of any sort, inviting us to reject being in control.

Read that line again!

It isn’t too hefty even it may be slower going if your not used to this kind of close reading of contemporary ideology, but, whew, we need it.  How might this spunky study spark your own imagination? Might this be the sort of public theology we need? We highly recommend it.

Rodney Clapp has given us the book we all need at this moment. With vivid writing, theological depth, and an abundance of wisdom, Living Out of Control will help you make sense of this moment and hear again the call of Jesus Christ to follow within it. Timely and rich. — Andrew Root, Professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary, author of Evangelism in an Age of Despair

In his latest book, the inestimable Rodney Clapp offers a great gift to the Christian community for this moment. With remarkable brevity, drawing on his wide-ranging and eclectic reading interests, and always deeply rooted in the biblical text, Clapp diagnoses a major current Christian problem — a desperate grasp for control — and offers a way to get us to a solution: learning to “live out of control.” I learned a great deal from this book and commend it strongly. — David P. Gushee, University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University, author of After Evangelicalism

Poverty Abolitionists: Faith, Activism, and Hope for Difficult Times David Beckmann (Bloomsbury) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

With a nice forward by the popular travel writer and Lutheran lay leader, Rick Steves, Beckmann’s new call to political activism for the sake of the poor is so very, very good. Steves says “we need this book now” and he is right. Jim Wallis notes that “David Beckman always connects facts to faith. He tracks reduction of poverty in recent decades and directly relates it to the moving of a loving God in history. He documents how the US government is now making life harder and even deadly for poor and hungry people.”

You know about the unrestrained destruction of USAID by President Trump and Elon Musk and for that reason alone the blood of the innocent cries out to heaven; if we hear it we will work to remove Trump from office. The mass destruction of programs of life-giving medicines, mosquito netting, development protocols, water purification, human rights advocacy, education for girls in places where that was unheard of, and on and on — mostly cost-effective programs honed by sacrificial years of work in the fields around the world — was nothing but evil run amok.  The MAGA-supported policies of greed and destruction are cruel to the poorest of the poor but US farmers are hurt by all this too , which should be obvious.

Here, now, with plenty of data and lots of lessons learned (Beckmann worked at the World Bank before leading Bread for the World, the Christian citizenship movement that advocates for anti-hunger policies here and abroad)  we are all given tools to become Poverty Abolitionists. Sounds like the Biblical Year of Jubilee to me.

From stories of ordinary citizens fighting for programs like SNAP and WIC to examples of international projects funded largely due to the advocacy of US citizen (including church folks from the many Bead for the World groups in every state in the union) Poverty Abolitionists: Faith Activism, and Hope for Difficult Times is informative and inspiring. Eugene Cho, who took David’s place as President of BFW, celebrates that in his book, Beckmann “discusses an inspiring array of other ways that people are helping to move us toward the abolition of hunger and poverty.” An inspiring array of options for involvement? Yes. This is a fabulous resource to keep you going with Godly care about Biblical justice.

We need to act now to defend democracy and protect vulnerable people. We also need to raise up and make room for leadership from younger generations. Poverty Abolitionists will help us on both fronts. — Barbara Williams Skinner, Co-convener, National African American Clergy Network; President, Skinner Leadership Institute

 

The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on The Moral Meaning of America Raphael G. Warnock (Penguin Press) $31.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.80

I’ve admired this exceptional Black leader who has been a scholar, a pastor, and a sensational Senator. This collection of essays is tremendous if one wants a vigorous, faith-oriented, liberal, even prophetic, take on everything from climate change to gun violence to “squeezing out the rest of us.” Read his passionate chapter “Two Thousand Verses” and his moving “Humble Ourselves, Heal the Land.” What a book, giving this reader hope for the future of our politics.

Raphael Warnock is the lodestar of our time of holding fast to Christian faith while pressing hard and realistically for the ends of justice. This book is a luminous sermon to the nation on voting rights, gun violence, mass incarceration, poverty, dark-money politics, and the eco-crisis, delivered with Senator Warnock’s characteristic eloquence. — Gary Dorrien, author of Over from Union Road and Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary

In The Crooked Places Made Straight, Senator Raphael Warnock stands in the ancient shadow of the prophet Isaiah and dares to ask whether America has the courage to straighten what it has allowed to bend. A must read, his words flow like a steady stream of truth; a moral reckoning for the nation’s soul. This book is a prophetic summons to lift the valleys, lower the mountains, and build a beloved community where justice for ‘the least of these’ is an obligation not an aspiration.  — Bishop Vashti Murphy Mckenzie, President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA

The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life Michael Wear (Zondervan) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

In recent posts we’ve written a bit about good books on spirituality. From the excellent one I’ve raved most about The Way of the Spirit: Recognizing and Responding to God’s Subtle Movements by Jeremey Sims to Ruth Haley Barton’s Leading a Transforming Community: Foundations, Practices, and Strategies for Opening to God Together to Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise by John Mark Comer to the beautiful work of Laura Kauffman in her new The Meeting Place: Quiet Spiritual Practices for Dwelling with God in Prayer this has been a season of excellent new books to encourage your interior life with God.

The Spirit of Our Politics is, in many ways, a follow up to the last question I asked Jeremy Sims in our Hearts & Minds webinar with him. (You can hear that hour-long-plus conversation HERE.) I asked about how all this mystical grappling with discerning the Holy Spirit in our quiet practices funds or fuels our public and social lives. Does prayer have anything to do with politics? Does our habitual formation through spiritual disciplines influence how we vote?

If that question haunts you there are specific books about how social activists can do their advocacy work out of a contemplative ethos. My friend Wes Granberg-Michaelson wrote the must-read on that — The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action (on Orbis Books.) Or consider Looking Inward Living Outward: The Spiritual Practice of Social Transformation by Daniel Wolpert (published by Upper Room) or the clear and fabulous Good and Beautiful and Kind: Becoming Whole in a Fractured World by Rich Villodas. Done by Water brook, which I am reading a second time — it’s so good.

However, aside from these contemplative practices that might make us more expansive and generous and bold for our public witness, how does all this inform and shape our politics as such.

I hope you know the name Dallas Willard. All the above authors — most of our favorite writers about spirituality — draw on his thoughtful work on the spirit of the disciplines and the spirituality of what he called “the divine conspiracy” and the renovation God is able to do in us from the inside out.  Now, imagine that Dallas Willard went to Washington.

Yep, our respected friend Michael Wear has written a book like no other. Literally, I don’t know anything like this and that says something. For as many books as there are about our spirituality and as many books as there are about ethical and intentionally Christ-shaped politics, nobody has brought them together as Michael does.

I’ve said in other BookNotes reviews that Michael’s first book (before his part in the above-mentioned Compassion (&) Conviction) was Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House about the Future of Faith in America. As a young politico shaped by his early experiences with black soul music and idealist politics, he joined (and later resigned) from the Obama administration. But the theme of hope remained and his Reclaiming Hope was a great book. (So much so that we hosted him here at a very crowded event here at the shop in 2018.)

In this very smart and hopeful book, Michael offers this sense of how we are shaped to think about political life and asking what it would be like if a gentleness and interior quiet captured our busy civic lives. How can we have our political activism truly emerge from as part of our daily discipleship to Jesus? What kind of person does that? What kind of people can we become so we can enter the political sphere of our vocations as citizens as Christ-like ambassadors of Christ’s divine conspiracy? Wow.

We are going to have to, in the poetic words of Rudyard Kipling, learn the grit and composure to “keep your head when all about your are losing theirs and blaming it on you.” This problem of our deep divide in our society and increasing violence about politics isn’t going away. This book, The Spirit of Our Politics, is increasingly urgent. All of these listed could help. I hope you find them of use. Let us know how we can help.

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