Happy Boxing Day!  Here is a selection of recently added titles ready for unpacking.

 10 days that shaped modern Canada /Aaron W. Hughes. Revisiting ten notable days from recent history, Aaron W. Hughes invites readers to think about the tensions, achievements, and people that make Canada distinctive. These indelible dates interweave to offer an account of the political, social, cultural, and demographic forces that have shaped the modern nation. Diverse episodes include the enactment of the War Measures Act, hockey’s Summit Series, the patriation of the Constitution, the Multiculturalism Act, the École Polytechnique Massacre, victories for gay rights, Quebec’s second referendum on secession, The Tragically Hip’s farewell concert, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and ongoing Black equality struggles. Ten Days That Shaped Modern Canada is the perfect guide for all those curious about the forces that shape our country and about how we understand our place in the world..

 A philosopher’s guide to natural capitalism: a sustainable future within reach /Wayne I. Henry. This book posits that a sustainable future is possible without abandoning Capitalism. Henry sets out an economic model for a sustainable form of Capitalism, referred to in the literature as Natural Capitalism. In Part II, he abandons exposition in favour of rigorous philosophical analysis and critiques the older but still dominant narrative that underlies Classical Liberalism. In Part III, he investigates Classical Liberalism and globalized capitalism, the economic system it licenses, from a normative perspective. Finally, in the conclusion, Henry draws the threads of the discussion together in a way that emphasizes the differences between the two narratives.

 Caught in the current: British and Canadian Evangelicals in an age of self-spirituality /Sam Reimer. Caught in the Current explores how and why Western evangelicals are changing. Drawing upon 125 interviews with British and Canadian clergy and active laity, Reimer argues that evangelicals have been deeply influenced by a post-Christian culture that has rejected institutional religious authority and embraced self-spirituality. Caught in the Current is an insightful and nuanced assessment of how British and Canadian evangelicals are navigating a post-Christian culture, often in ways that are distinct from how their counterparts in the United States approach it.

 Companions in the darkness: seven saints who struggled with depression and doubt /Diana Gruver ; foreword by Chuck Degroat. Gruver looks back into church history and finds depression in the lives of some of our most beloved saints, telling their stories in fresh ways and offering practical wisdom both for those in the darkness and those who care for them.

 Faith and reason through Christian history: a theological essay /Grant Kaplan. Kaplan revisits the key figures and debates that shape how faith and reason relate. Divided into three parts, Kaplan invites readers into a conversation rather than a drive-by. Readers will encounter the words and arguments of some of Christianity’s greatest thinkers, some well-known (Augustine, Aquinas, Newman) and others nearly forgotten. In Faith and Reason through Christian History, the roughly fifty figures treated are given sufficient room to breathe. Rather than simply summarizing their thought, Kaplan traces their arguments through key texts.

 From underground railroad to rebel refuge: Canada and the Civil War /Brian Martin. From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge examines the role of Canadians in the American Civil War. Martin will open eyes in both Canada and the United States about how the two countries and their citizens interacted during the Civil War and the troubled times that surrounded it.

 Heavy burdens: seven ways LGBTQ Christians experience harm in the church /Bridget Eileen Rivera. Provides an honest account of the ways LGBTQ people experience discrimination in the church, helping Christians grapple with hard realities and empowering churches across the theological spectrum to navigate better paths forward.

 Inconspicuously Christian film criticism /by Kenneth R. Morefield. This collection presents essays that lay out the author’s Christian approach to film criticism and reviews that exemplify this critic at his most perceptive. Including interviews with award-winning actors and directors, this volume draws heavily on the author’s academic expertise and his decade of experience as an acclaimed film journalist. Whether examining the latest Hollywood blockbuster, a topical documentary, or an indie festival favorite, the book subtly, but carefully, draws attention to how films can speak to Christians and how Christian voices can enrich the conversations around them.

 Invested indifference: how violence persists in settler colonial society /Kara Granzow. Invested Indifference offers a divergent perspective by examining practices during three different periods in the place we now call Edmonton, juxtaposing early settler texts, documents concerning the former Charles Camsell Indian Hospital, and contemporary online police materials. Granzow reaches a startling conclusion: that what we see as societal indifference doesn’t come from an absence of feeling but from a deep-rooted and affective investment in framing specific lives as disposable. Granzow demonstrates that through mechanisms such as the law, medicine, and control of land and space, violence against Indigenous peoples has become symbolically and politically ensconced in the social construction of Canadian nationhood..

 Leading with the sermon: preaching as leadership /William H. Willimon. Willimon makes the compelling case that two key pastoral tasks–preaching and leadership–complement, correct, strengthen, and inform one another. This book shows how the practices, skills, and intentions of Christian preaching can be helpful to the leadership of a congregation.

 Lifting the stone /Susan McCaslin.(TWU AUTHOR) Lifting the Stone is the finest collection yet by an award-winning poet with a growing reputation for writing with passionate candor and exquisite finesse on matters of faith and spirituality in the tradition of Herbert, Hopkins, and Avison. A series of courageously forthright treatments of the problematics of 21st Century belief is complemented by a set of affectionately witty accounts of family, students and mentors, electronic technology, and a veritable bestiary of creatures; and the book concludes with a luminous meditation on water “in her myriad transformations.”

 Raised on the third day: defending the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus : essays in honor of Dr. Gary R. Habermas /W. David Beck and Michael R. Licona, Editors. Raised on the Third Day collects essays from prominent contributors in the fields of philosophy, history, and apologetics. Contributors evaluate scriptural, historical, moral, and apologetic issues related to Christ’s death and resurrection. Essays on the Shroud of Turin and near-death experiences round out the volume. Inspired by the foundational work of Gary Habermas these essays build upon his work and move the discussion forward. Readers will better appreciate how Habermas has shaped scholarship on Christ’s resurrection and further areas for exploration and discussion.

Routledge handbook of philosophy and nursing /edited by Martin Lipscomb. This Handbook provides a gateway to new understandings of nursing. International in scope, this volume provides a vital reference for all those interested in thinking about nursing, whether students, practitioners, researchers, or educators.

 The battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the age of Trump /Stephen R. Haynes.  Haynes examines “populist” readings of Bonhoeffer, including the acclaimed biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. In his analysis Haynes treats, among other things, the November 2016 election of Donald Trump and the “Bonhoeffer moment” announced by evangelicals in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage.  Haynes offers a countering warning to those who misappropriate Bonhoeffer to align themselves against an imagined parallel between Trump and Adolf Hitler.  The Battle for Bonhoeffer includes an open letter from Haynes pointedly addressing Christians who still support Trump.

 The Grapes of wrath /John Steinbeck ; introduction and notes by Robert DeMott. Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America.

 The hope of life after death: a biblical theology of resurrection /M. Jeff Brannon. Brannon explores how the hope of life after death is woven throughout Scripture. As we follow the biblical themes of creation, fall, and redemption, we begin to understand the doctrine of resurrection and what it means for Christian faith and discipleship.

 The vice president’s Black wife: the untold life of Julia Chinn /Amrita Chakrabarti Myers. Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796-1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Outliving Chinn, Johnson was ruined politically by his relationship with her, and Myers compellingly demonstrates that it wasn’t interracial sex that led to his downfall but his refusal to keep it-and Julia Chinn-behind closed doors.

 Tongue-tied: learning the lost art of talking about faith /Sara Wenger Shenk. Shenk investigates the reasons that people who claim the name of Christ are so reluctant to talk about him. By reflecting theologically on biblical wisdom and our shared humanness, Shenk calls readers to recover the winsome language of Christian faith.

 Turning points: decisive moments in the history of Christianity /Mark A. Noll, David Komline, and Han-luen Kantzer Komline. Now in its fourth edition, this bestselling textbook isolates key events that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. The book presents Christianity as a worldwide phenomenon rather than just a Western experience. It also more thoroughly highlights the importance of women in Christian history and the impact of world Christianity.

 Who are you, really?: a philosopher’s inquiry into the nature and origin of persons /Joshua Rasmussen. Rasmussen offers a step-by-step examination into the fundamental nature and ultimate origin of persons. Using accessible language and clear logic, he argues that understanding what it means to be a person sheds light not only on our own nature but also on the existence of the one who gave us life.