Scholarship - New Publications

Bearing the Marks of Jesus: A History of the Christian Reformed Church in Cuba

Eduardo B. Pedraza
Translated by Daniel R. Miller

Calvin Center for Chrisitan Scholarship, June 2009

Eduardo Pedraza's Bearing the Marks of Jesus tells the fascinating story of the Christian Reformed Church in Cuba from its beginnings in the early 1950s to its maturation during the exciting but stressful years of the Cuban Revolution. Caught between the contending pressures of Cuba's Marxist Revolution and its own religious ideals, the Cuban CRC forged a unique identity that was faithful to its Reformed Christian confession and sympathetic to the goals of the Revolution.

 

Aquinas's Ethics: Metaphysical Foundations, Moral Theory, and Theological Context

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung,Colleen McCluskey, and Christina Van Dyke

University of Notre Dame Press, May 2009

Aquinas’s Ethics intentionally links his metaphysics and anthropology to his action theory and ethics to illuminate how the moral theory is built on foundations laid elsewhere. The authors emphasize the integration of concepts of virtue, natural law, and divine grace within Aquinas’s ethics, rather than treating such topics in isolation or opposition. Their approach, presented in clear and deliberately non-specialist language, reveals the coherent nature of Aquinas’s account of the moral life and of what fulfills us as human beings. The result is a rich and engaging framework for further investigation of Aquinas’s thought and its applications.

 

Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

Brazos Press, May 2009

"This book is a treat for the mind and a tonic for the soul, recovering and refining riches in the Christian tradition almost lost from view. It is not often that one reads a work that is as intellectually deep and sharp as this one, but which is also intensely practical: helping its readers become the persons they were created to be."
—C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University

"Grace Amid the Vices," Christianity Today, September 2009

 

The Emmaus Readers: More Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction

Edited by Susan M. Felch and Gary D. Schmidt

Paraclete Press, April 2009

How do contemporary writers of fiction engage with spiritual questions?

The Emmaus Readers—an eclectic multi-disciplinary group of book-lovers at Calvin College in Michigan—have again set out to find what is implicitly and explicitly spiritual in the fiction that frequents the bestsellers lists. Choosing novels of historical fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, realism, science fiction, and mystery—they probe, guide, question, and point—and so show ways in which readers might approach fiction from within the contexts established by their own faith. They write to you as fellow readers, walking along the same road to Emmaus, hoping to have eyes opened in ways none of us, perhaps, could have anticipated.

Contributors include:

Chad Engbers
Susan M. Felch
Glenn Remelts
John M. Rottman
Gary D. Schmidt
Otto H. Selles
Cynthia Slagter
Jennifer Hardy Williams

 

Faithful Imaginations in the Academy: Explorations in Religious Belief and Scholarship

Edited by Janel M. Curry and Ronald A. Wells

Lexington Books, 2008

Faithful Imagination in the Academy takes an approach based on dialogue with various viewpoints, claiming neither too much nor too little. All the authors are seasoned academics with many significant publications to their credit. While they all know how the academy operates and how to make worthwhile contributions in their respective disciplines, they are also Christians whose religious commitments are reflected in their intellectual work.

Contributors include:

Janel M. Curry
Mark Fackler
Susan M. Felch
John Hare
Del Ratzsch
Kurt C. Schaefer
Helen M. Sterk
David A. Van Baak, and
Ronald A. Wells

 

The Bible, Rocks and Time: Geological Evidence for the Age of the Earth

Davis A. Young and Ralph F. Stearley

IVP Academic, 2008

Is the Earth relatively young or very old?

We've all heard the controversy. The consensus regarding the age of the Earth, based on the best geological evidence, is that it is billions of years old. But many Christians believe that the Bible teaches the Earth is only a few thousand years old at best. What are we to make of this discrepancy? Geologists Davis Young and Ralph Stearley tackle this issue head-on.

Thoroughly examining historical, biblical, geological and philosophical perspectives, the amply illustrated Bible, Rocks and Time takes a comprehensive and authoritative look at the key issues related to the Earth's antiquity.

 

The Emmaus Readers: Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction

Edited by Susan M. Felch and Gary D. Schmidt

Paraclete Press, 2008

"It's rare for an edited anthology to be consistently good, let alone exceptional, but this unassuming collection of essays on 12 novels with religious themes offers rich satisfaction. The essayists—all Calvin College professors and staff members—formed a group called "the Emmaus readers" in 2006 to better understand the role of faith in creating and interpreting fiction."
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review »

Contributors include:

Chad Engbers
Susan Felch
Brian Ingraffia
Glenn Remelts
Gary Schmidt
Otto Selles
Cynthia Slagter
Jeff Tatum
Jennifer Hardy Williams

Real Texts: Reading and Writing Across the Disciplines

Elizabeth Vander Lei and
Dean Ward

Pearson Longman, 2008

Real Texts is a new kind of reader for freshman composition-a collection of texts by academic, professional, and student writers that model the very best practices of writing within and across disciplines, from communication to chemistry, from nursing to education.