By Seth Satterlee | Jan 15, 2021 This season, religious publishers turn to the ways spirituality can uplift those suffering from depression or anxiety. They also continue to confront systemic issues at the heart of abuse scandals and propose grassroots strategies to overcome social inequalities. Top 10 Yvonne Orji. Worthy, May 25 ($26, ISBN 978-1-5460-1267-2) Emmy-nominated comic actor Orji shares 25 life lessons infused with the wisdom of the Bible and aimed at helping readers pursue ambitious goals. Checking In: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life and Can Save Yours Michelle Williams. Thomas Nelson, May 25 ($26.99, ISBN 978-1-4002-2333-6) Williams, a member of Destiny’s Child, details her struggles with depression and her decision to check into a treatment facility in 2018. There, she found power in God’s unpredictable plan for her life.
What books have most profoundly shaped how you serve and lead others for the sake of the gospel? A handful of girlfriends and I memorized Colossians, plus a good chunk of Ephesians, a couple years ago. Getting those words into my heart and mind have had a huge effect on me. The supremacy of Christ in Colossians 1 is grounds for immeasurable comfort and joy. God’s grace displayed in these two letters has served as an antidote to self-centeredness and reminded me to be God-centered in my life, as well as in my serving and leading of others. Along those same lines, reading John Piper’s
The Face of Water) wrestles fresh meaning from Christianityâs sacred texts in her startling new translation of the four Gospels. Working from the original Greek text and within the context of the ancient Greco-Roman-Jewish era, Ruden strives to rescue a âdefensively hermeticâ text from âunder the muffling, alien weight of later Christian institutions.â The result makes the familiar unfamiliar and intriguing. Faith and believe are translated as âtrustâ; one does not repent but âchanges purposeâ; disciples is rendered as âstudentsâ; and Jesus is not crucified but âhung on the stakes.â When Jesus comes to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, Ruden uses the affecting formulation that Jesus âhowls within.â Ruden also appealingly modernizes many scenes, such as Pilate, after having Jesus whipped, saying, âLook at this guy.â Thousands of her word choices differ from common translations, and footnotes provide essential pithy explanations of her reasoning, as do a lengthy introduction and a âdiscursive glossaryâ of key terms. This audacious translation is essential reading for anyone who thinks they already know the Gospels.