The best new books I’ve read in the last 30 days are listed below.
- (5+) Beautiful and Terrible Things: Faith, Doubt, and Discovering a Way Back to Each Other by Amy Butler (The Dial Press, 2023)
- (4.5) Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God Into a Hopeful Future by Dwight Zscheile, Michael Binder, and Tessa Pinkstaff (Fortress Press, 2023)
- (4.5) Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen (Penguin Books, 3rd edition, 2023)
- (4.5) Quiet Street on American Privilege by Nick McDonell (Pantheon Books, 2023)
- (4.0) Millennial Philanthropy: Next Generation Fund Development for Professionals and Nonprofits by Holly Hull Miori (Palgrave Macmillian, 2023)
- (4.0) Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, and the Myth of the Blessed Life by Amanda Held Opelt (Worthy, 2023)
- (4.0) Making Christianity Manly Again: Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, and American Evangelicalism by Jennifer McKinney (Oxford University Press, 2023)
- (3.0) Leading Christian Communities by C. Kavin Rowe (William B. Eerdmans, 2023)
Beautiful and Terrible Things
Amy Butler has made two prior appearances on So What Faith. In 2011 – while she was serving as Senior Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington D.C – I quoted her Associated Baptist Press article about adjusting expectations. Then in 2015 – while she was serving as Senior Pastor of Riverside Church in New York City – I mentioned her Faith & Leadership interview about the marginalization of the church.
Currently, Butler serves as Interim Pastor of Community Church of Honolulu and will transition to the role of Designated Pastor of this congregation for 2024 and 2025. Additionally, she is the founder of Invested Faith, a non-profit that receives the assets of institutions and individuals and offers small, unrestricted grants to faith-rooted social entrepreneurs building businesses that are changing unjust systems.
Beautiful and Terrible Things is just the third book to be rated 5+ this year by So What Faith and the first such volume penned by a first-time author. Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond was the most unsettling book I’ve read this year, Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents – and What That Means for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge was the most eye opening, and Beautiful and Terrible Things: Faith, Doubt, and Discovering a Way Back to Each Other was the most authentic. In Butler’s own words this collection of essays is arranged to tell the story of her journey, which is “a movement toward complexity, toward moral maturity, and toward spiritual understanding” (xiv).
Whether you know the general story of Amy Butler’s life or have followed the progression of her pastoral career or not, you’ll be invited to connect with her deeply personal stories of the joys, challenges, and disappointments of life and ministry. And, you’ll be inspired to reflect on your own journey.
Welcome Back
One author on this month’s list has been mentioned previously on So What Faith. Dwight Zscheile first appeared in 2011 when he co-authored The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation (Baker Academic, 2011).