Books in Brief

This book inaugurates the Resources for Reconciliation series, a joint venture of the publisher and Duke Divinity School’s Center for Reconciliation. The two authors, codirectors of the center, bring perspectives that pair perfectly: Catholic and evangelical Protestant, African and American, academic and practitioner, ordained and lay. Each also brings powerful life experience in confronting oppression and injustice: Katongole grew up under Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and lived near the Rwandan genocide. After growing up a missionary kid in South Korea, Rice worked for 17 years in an urban ministry in Jackson, Miss. Against a background of difference, the two argue for a vision of reconciliation that is neither trendy nor pragmatically diplomatic, neither cheaply inclusive nor heedless of the past. The reconciliation they explain and hold out hope for is distinctively Christian: a God-ordained transformation of the consequences of the fall into the new creation spoken about by the apostle Paul. Deeply theological, this short book needs slow reading by anyone interested in harnessing the power of the spirit for social change. (Nov.)

Munroe, founder of Bahamas Faith Ministries International and a motivational speaker, already has a considerable following through previous books and a worldwide ministry network. In a style somewhere between that of Rick Warren and Oprah Winfrey, Munroe grounds a simple message of self-empowerment in scripture (“He has prepared a place. Your leadership is in your spot—your area of gifting”). Like popular preacher Joel Osteen, Munroe has a gift for the catchy simple phrase (“Who died and left you in charge?”), but he’s got more theological heft than Osteen, and an interesting personal rise out of colonialism that lends authenticity to his words. He’s repetitive, but so are most motivational books. More iterations of the servant-leadership philosophy that Munroe espouses can’t hurt and are certainly preferable to prosperity-gospel-speak. This book will please his audience and help him lay claim to a larger following. (Nov. 10)

It’s 1984, and four young lives intersect in Testimony, Ohio, with one of the four, Diana, becoming the victim of rape. After introducing her major characters and a central issue, Griffith (Shades of Style series) jumps ahead to 2005, when Diana, now going by her middle name Grace, returns to her hometown, and her troubled past, to teach at a charter school for challenging teens the system is about to give up on. The book is all about relationships: their changes, their remarkable endurance, their power to nurture. Grace and minister’s daughter Zeely are close friends; Grace and her teaching colleague Brian become quickly entangled in a halting but inevitable romance; lawyer Ron, who was like Brian’s brother when the two were young, is engaged to Mindy but has been carrying the torch for Zeely. Interracial romance allows Griffith to engage racism as a force affecting her characters; the town of Testimony also got its name from the $500 exacted before a black fleeing slavery would be allowed to settle in the area. The book is thickly plotted, perhaps too thickly—some connections between characters and events strain credibility. Nor is everything resolved, since there’s a sequel in the offing. Griffith’s dialogue is engaging and her major characters deeply memorable; she deserves a wide audience. (Sept.)

This book testifies to the diversity of the Latino community in America. Though a majority of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican ancestry, Valentin is of Puerto Rican heritage. While most Hispanics are Catholic, the author is a Baptist; evangelicalism is growing among Hispanics. This book does not, however, concern itself with statistics and the sociology of religion. Instead, it offers slice-of-life reflections accompanied by scripture and prayers, primarily the work of Aymat, Valentin’s uncle and a clergyman. The book is a very easy read; it speaks to and about a community being assimilated into the American quilt of ethnicities, one with strong family ties and seriousness about faith. In a friendly and closely observed way, Valentin offers lived faith, seen through a unique Hispanic lens. (Aug.)