No Turning Back: My Summer with Daddy King
Gurdon Brewster. Orbis, $18 (236p) ISBN 978-1-57075-728-0

In the summer of 1961, Brewster, a white seminary student from the North, worked at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where both Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. were pastors. In this moving memoir, he recalls his first encounters with Atlanta's segregated restrooms, restaurants and public swimming pools, and describes finding the spontaneous church services of the black Baptist tradition both unnerving and energizing. When local white ministers didn't embrace Brewster's idea of setting up meetings between black and white church youth groups, Brewster's eyes were opened about the intransigent racism of ostensibly moderate white clergy. (Less dramatically, Brewster also learned about that staple of Southern cuisine, grits, during his Atlanta summer.) Brewster's book is valuable not only for the record of his own awakenings, but for the personal anecdotes about King Sr., who emerges as a passionate, wise man with a sense of humor equal to his sense of justice. Though Brewster is not attempting to analyze the Civil Rights movement, he does offer useful insights about the importance of hymnody in black churches' freedom struggle. The prose is uneven; often, Brewster's descriptions are vivid and energetic, but occasionally he lapses into didactic clichés ("I was shaken. This experience would change my life."). On the whole, however, this memoir is engaging and inspiring. (Oct.)

3:16: The Numbers of Hope
Max Lucado. Thomas Nelson, $24.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-8499-0193-5

Lucado (When Christ Comes; Facing Your Giants) digs deeply into one of the most famous and oft-quoted passages of the Bible—John 3:16. First situating it in its biblical context as part of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, Lucado then dissects the 26-word promise phrase by phrase, picking out key theological ideas that provide hope to Christians. What does it mean that God "so loved the world"? What must we do to gain everlasting life? Using his trademark folksy style, Lucado employs great stories and real-life illustrations to drive home points about God's love, justice and determination to save. The chapter on hell (pinging off the phrase "shall not perish") is alone worth the price of admission; it's uncharacteristically hard-hitting for Lucado, with the beloved pastor drawing a line in the sand for evangelicals who might be tempted to believe in universal salvation or who imagine hell as a mere metaphor. That chapter, in fact, could and should be further developed in a book of its own. Some of Lucado's points in this book are devastatingly insightful, others only gimmicky or superficial; still, the book is an excellent entry into the popular Texas writer's body of work. It's short, marvelously accessible and followed by a 40-day Bible study on the life of Jesus (excerpted from Lucado's prior books). (Sept. 11)

I Dare You: Embrace Life with Passion
Joyce Meyer. FaithWords, $22.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-446-53197-9

Christian television personality and bestselling author Meyer (Battlefield of the Mind; Approval Addiction) turns her prolific pen to living life with passion. "It's time to take action and make your life count," she says. In typical Meyer fashion, she spends the rest of the book informing readers how to do just that: "Make a decision to be an excellent person"; "If you really cannot stand your life, then do something about it"; and "Make up your mind regarding what you believe, have God's words to back it up, and don't ever back down." She first describes how passion and purpose work together, then provides directives on how to pursue that passion with purpose, particularly in areas such as spirit, mind, emotions, finances and the physical body. Declarative sentences that get right to the point are a Meyer trademark, and fans won't be disappointed here. Pithy pull-out aphorisms and "I Dare You" sidebars help readers break down the concrete steps of dreaming big. Meyer's message is sound, if unoriginal—"Let's be determined to fulfill our purpose"—and her method stern yet loving. Fans will enjoy this enthusiastic manual for Christian living. (Sept. 4)

Meditation: Now or Never
Steve Hagen. HarperOne, $14.95 paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-114329-8

Zen priest Hagen, author of Buddhism Plain and Simple and Buddhism Is Not What You Think, offers a brief and wonderfully accessible primer on meditation, which can be a surprisingly difficult practice for many beginners. He helpfully defines meditation via negativa: meditation is not a self-help program, a quick fix, a mind-training technique or a way to relax before jumping right back into the fray of our busy lives. It's a lifelong practice that can, and should, seep into every arena of the quotidian, so that when we're attentively folding laundry or taking out the trash, we're doing meditation. It involves teaching the mind "just to be here," says Hagen. Three dozen microchapters are organized into sections on getting started, establishing a daily practice and doing meditation "for the long run." While there are a few black-and-white illustrations to get readers to try seated meditation in different postures, Hagen emphasizes that it's also okay to sit in a chair (without slouching), stand, walk barefoot or even lie down. The key is to be constant, meditating at "precisely the same time every day" and allowing the mind to settle into the present. "Meditation isn't something we apply to our life," Hagen insists. "Rather, we take it up as our life." (Sept.)

Four Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, July 9:

Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite
D. Michael Lindsay. Oxford, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-19-532666-6

Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University who has previously worked with pollster George Gallup Jr., looks at the rise of evangelical Christian influence in the spheres of power of American public life: political, intellectual, cultural and economic. Based on interviews with 360 leaders from these spheres, including two former presidents, as well as a command of what everybody else has heretofore written, Lindsay demonstrates how over the past two decades evangelicals have moved into positions of great influence. From a sociological point of view, their path to power is easy to discern through networks of relationships or institutions that have seeded larger political and economic institutions. This growing network has produced new leaders whose ideas and actions are motivated by their Christianity. The interviews allow Lindsay to cite numerous examples that make his point persuasively. He is a sympathetic observer who understands that evangelicalism is as reformist as any other movement that has ascended to power in America. Yet he also understands that evangelicalism has made accommodation to the larger public life it seeks to reform, a tension he calls "elastic orthodoxy." This important work should be required reading for anyone who wants to opine publicly on what American evangelicals are really up to. (Oct.)

The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West
Mark Lilla. Knopf, $26 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4000-4367-5

This searching history of western thinking about the relationship between religion and politics was inspired not by 9/11, but by Nazi Germany, where, says University of Chicago professor Lilla (The Reckless Mind), politics and religion were horrifyingly intertwined. To explain the emergence of Nazism's political theology, Lilla reaches back to the early modern era, when thinkers like Locke and Hume began to suggest that religion and politics should be separate enterprises. Some theorists, convinced that Christianity bred violence, argued that government must be totally detached from religion. Others, who believed that rightly practiced religion could contribute to modern life, promoted a "liberal theology," which sought to articulate Christianity and Judaism in the idiom of reason. (Lilla's reading of liberal Jewish thinker Hermann Cohen is especially arresting.) Liberal theologians, Lilla says, credulously assumed human society was progressive and never dreamed that fanaticism could capture the imaginations of modern people—assumptions that were proven wrong by Hitler. If Lilla castigates liberal theology for its naïveté, he also praises America and Western Europe for simultaneously separating religion from politics, creating space for religion, and staving off "sectarian violence" and "theocracy." Lilla's work, which will influence discussions of politics and theology for the next generation, makes clear how remarkable an accomplishment that is. (Sept. 14)

A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus, Judas, and Life's Big Questions
James Martin. Loyola, $22.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-8294-2582-6

Martin, an author and Jesuit priest, lifts the curtain on theater life in this account of his experiences as theological adviser to an off-Broadway play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. It was the role of a lifetime for Martin, who had access to all the players involved in the production from the first readings to the play's five-week run in 2005. Although the play, which deals with the fate of the disciple who betrayed Christ, is compelling in and of itself, the way Martin combines the story line with historical detail and conversations with the actors, playwright and director is utterly captivating. Martin takes readers inside the play and into the minds of the key players, showing everything from glimpses into their spiritual lives to their reactions to the mixed reviews the play received. As a writer, editor and parish priest, Martin was obviously stage-struck by his encounter with the theater. But his transparency is sweet and refreshing, particularly when he talks about the ways in which the play affected him spiritually. His ability to translate and dissect the gospel story of Judas for a troupe of thespians echoes through his writing, making this a book that is bound to draw applause from a diverse audience. (Sept.)

Finding the Still Point: A Beginner's Guide to Zen Meditation with Instructional CD
John Daido Loori. Shambhala, $14 (128p) ISBN 978-1-59030-479-2

Loori, the revered and celebrated founder and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in New York, has authored numerous books on Zen Buddhist practice (The Eight Gates of Zen). In this ultra-slim illustrated primer, Loori distills that experience and wisdom into a resolute and economical guide for beginners. It will likely become a classic. Part One addresses the Zen basics such as meditation positions, hara focus, breathing, walking meditation and home practice. This section is particularly friendly for beginners with its concise instructional essays, most under 1,000 words. Loori's deceptively simple prose, arising from decades of practice and teaching, hits its mark as an arrow hits center target: the means and results are evident, but the flight is elegantly invisible. Part Two, a dharma talk on "The Great Way," effectively imparts "a direct expression of the spirit of Zen by the teacher to his… students." Tools such as an appropriately short glossary and suggested reading list are complemented by a 70-minute CD (not heard by PW). The CD offers timed zazen sessions of 10 and 30 minutes, plus a brief talk by Loori on the benefits of meditation. This book-and-CD package promises to be a graceful gem in the legendary cosmic Diamond Net. (Sept.)