In the past week 153 titles added to the library’s collection; below is a sample. Click on a link for more information.

Being the Church in Abbotsford : reflective essays /editors, Ron Dart, David Giesbrecht, J.H. Hans Kouwenberg, J. Christoph Reiners.
Abbotsford has often been described as the Bible Belt. This title aims to offer a balanced assessment of churches in the city of Abbotsford; in particular, how churches are working with the city to provide resources and ministry to the people.

Confronting religious denial of gay marriage : Christian humanism and the moral imagination /Catherine M. Wallace.
Writing in part for secular humanists, non-Christians, and ex-Christians, the author locates the beginning of religious vilification of LBGTQ Americans, followed by three major flaws in the religious argument against gay marriage.

Holy tears : weeping in the religious imagination /edited by Kimberley Christine Patton and John Stratton Hawley.
What religion does not serve as a theater of tears? This book addresses through a selection of essays this universal phenomenon with passion and precision, ranging from Mycenaean Greece up through the tragedy of 9/11.

How to teach reading to elementary and middle school students : practical ideas from highly effective teachers /Robert B. Ruddell.
This strategy based test combines ideas from the classrooms of highly effective teachers with the latest findings from reading research. This book is designed to ensure continued growth in reading skill, including the use of phonics and structural analysis; in sight vocabulary and meaning vocabulary development; in reading fluency; and in comprehension of narrative and informational text.

Making fast food : from the frying pan into the fryer /Ester Reiter ; artwork by Richard Slye.
The author shares her experiences in the fast food industry and analyses the profound effect this industry has had on women’s work, youth employment, the labour movement, the family, and the community.

Natural beauty : a theory of aesthetics beyond the arts /Ronald Moore.
This book surveys historical and modern accounts of natural beauty and weaves elements derived from those accounts into a “syncretic theory” that centers on key features of aesthetic experience, specifically, features that sustain and reward attention.

Neither sun nor death /Peter Sloterdijk with Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs ; translated by Steve Corcoran.
Peter Sloterdijk is a German philosopher and cultural theorist known for his late 1980’s Critique of Cynical Reason. In this book, Sloterdijk answers questions posed by German writer Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs, commenting on such issues as technological mutation, development media, communication technologies, and his own intellectual itinerary.

The poetry of George Herbert /Helen Vendler.
This title is a selection of poetry by Welsh born poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. Herbert’s poetry has been associated with the writings of metaphysical poets and he is considered to be one of the foremost British devotional lyricists.

Qumran interpretation of the Genesis flood /Jeremy D. Lyon.
This book is a literary analysis of the four primary Qumran Flood texts (1QapGen, 4Q252, 4Q370, and 4Q422) and reveals how ancient Jews interpreted and employed the Genesis Flood narrative. These fragmentary texts also reveal such ancient understandings of the Flood as a reversal and renewal of creation, a restoration of Eden and anticipation of the Promised Land, and an archetype of eschatological judgment.

Technology-mediated TBLT : researching technology and tasks /Edited by Marta Gónzalez-Lloret, University of Hawai’i at Man̄oa ; Lourdes Ortega, Georgetown University.
This volume contributes to the development and advancement of TBLT as a research domain by investigating the intersection between tasks and technology from a variety of theoretical perspectives and by gathering empirical findings on the design and implementation of diverse tasks for writing, interaction, and assessment with the mediation of technological tools such as wikis, blogs, CMC, Fanfiction sites, and virtual and synthetic environments.