Leaders today—whether in corporations or associations, nonprofits or nations—face massive, messy, multidimensional problems. No one person or group can possibly solve them—they require the broadest possible cooperation. But, says Harvard scholar Dean Williams, our leadership models are still essentially tribal: individuals with formal authority leading in the interest of their own group. In this deeply needed new book, he outlines an approach that enables leaders to transcend internal and external boundaries and help people to collaborate, even people over whom they technically have no power. Drawing on what he's learned from years of working in countries and organizations around the world, Williams shows leaders how to approach the delicate and creative work of boundary spanning, whether those boundaries are cultural, organizational, political, geographic, religious, or structural. Sometimes leaders themselves have to be the ones who cross the boundaries between groups. Other times, a leader's job is to build relational bridges between divided groups or even to completely break down the boundaries that block collaborative problem solving. By thinking about power and authority in a different way, leaders will become genuine change agents, able to heal wounds, resolve conflicts, and bring a fractured world together.

We rarely give thought to our bodies until faced with a physical challenge or crisis. We have somehow internalized the unbiblical idea that the immaterial aspect of our being (our soul or spirit) is inherently good while the material aspect (our body) is at worst inherently evil and at best neutral--just a vehicle for our souls to get around. So we end up neglecting or disparaging our bodies, seeing them as holding us back from spiritual growth and longing for the day we will be free of them. But the thing is, we don't have bodies; we are our bodies. And God created us that way for a reason. With Scripture as his guide, theologian Gregg Allison presents a holistic theology of the human body from conception through eternity to equip us to address pressing contemporary issues related to our bodies, including how we express our sexuality, whether gender is inherent or constructed, the meaning of suffering, body image, end of life questions, and how to live as whole people in a fractured world.

Christians have always looked to models within the Christian faith to guide their lives. At a time when the church is more identifiable by ugly partisan politics--what we call "crappy Christianity"--than by compassionate neighbor love, this book highlights the lives and work of seven individuals who are pursuing their Christian calling in humility and profound love for and service to others, this book highlights the lives and work of seven individuals who are pursuing their Christian calling in humility and profound love for and service to others. Their commitments have led to vocations in working with homeless women, employing refugees, lobbying on Capitol Hill for environmental protection, healing trauma in urban communities, peacemaking in Israel-Palestine, advocating for immigrants, and walking alongside people in addiction recovery. Their individual and collective witness offer compelling examples of authentic Christian life, which is marked in part by active, embodied faith in pursuit of the common good; a broad and inclusive love for all people; rightly ordered political identities and loyalties; and a commitment to work toward holistic redemption of both people and the systems that constitute our life together. In contrast to much of contemporary American Christianity, these models of faith demonstrate that Christians should focus much more on what we are for rather than what we are against.

ECPA BESTSELLER • An invitation to love like Jesus and step beyond distraction and division into the joy we long to experience—from the author of The Deeply Formed Life, winner of the Christianity Today Book Award “A stunning book with power to reshape our world . . . if we let it.”—Glenn Packiam, pastor and author of Blessed Broken Given We long for a good life, a beautiful life, a kind life. But clearly that’s not the world we live in. We carry the stress of our fractured world in our bodies and relationships. Families that once gathered around tables have converted those tables into walls. Hostility, rage, and offense is the language of our culture. How did we lose goodness, kindness, and beauty? And more important, how do we get them back into our lives? These are the two questions crying out in our streets, homes, churches, and from deep within our souls. Pastor and author Rich Villodas is convinced that only Jesus offers a way of being human that is both strong and tender enough to tear down the walls of hostility we experience daily. In Good and Beautiful and Kind, he reveals how… • These three essentials are stolen by sin, powers and principalities, and trauma. • We can get goodness, beauty, and kindness back through contemplative prayer, humility, and the cultivation of calm presence. • The traits of healthy conflict, forgiveness, and justice lead to wholeness, healing, and a new collective future—when rooted in the ancient way of Jesus. Filled with fresh energy, classic truth, and practical solutions, this is your road map for stepping beyond distraction and division to love like Jesus. Doing so will change the atmosphere within you…and around you!

One of the most respected religious thinkers of our time makes an impassioned plea for the return of religion to its true purpose—as a partnership with God in the work of ethical and moral living. What are our duties to others, to society, and to humanity? How do we live a meaningful life in an age of global uncertainty and instability? In To Heal a Fractured World, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offers answers to these questions by looking at the ethics of responsibility. In his signature plainspoken, accessible style, Rabbi Sacks shares with us traditional interpretations of the Bible, Jewish law, and theology, as well as the works of philosophers and ethicists from other cultures, to examine what constitutes morality and moral behavior. “We are here to make a difference,” he writes, “a day at a time, an act at a time, for as long as it takes to make the world a place of justice and compassion.” He argues that in today’s religious and political climate, it is more important than ever to return to the essential understanding that “it is by our deeds that we express our faith and make it real in the lives of others and the world.” To Heal a Fractured World—inspirational and instructive, timely and timeless—will resonate with people of all faiths.

A collection of three dystopian sci-fi series starter novels by Sue Parritt, G.A. Franks & L.E. Fitzpatrick, now available in one volume! 28 Days: In futuristic Melbourne, Emma Cartwright is racing against the clock to find employment before being forced into one by the government. With the Employment Positions Portal disabled and her unemployment period expiring, Emma is desperate. A chance encounter with the enigmatic Cal Ritchie sparks a determination within Emma to break free from a life of conformity. But when her son Jack is unexpectedly arrested, Emma's choices dwindle, forcing her to take drastic measures. Will she be able to save her son in a race against time and oppressive laws? Maelstorm: A hundred years from now, everything you know will be gone. Young orphan Gideon Rayne yearns to join Kaoteck Industries as one of their Constables. After Gideon is granted an extraordinary suit of advanced armor, he is put on a collision course with forces darker than he never knew existed. G.A. Franks's 'Maelstorm' immerses you in the tumultuous world of 2120, as Gideon embarks on a thrilling journey through the chaotic New Britain. The Running Game: In the midst of a war-torn London, a dangerous game is set to unfold. Rachel, an ordinary doctor harboring a hidden power as a Reacher, finds herself hunted by both the government and criminal underworld. Charlie and John, renowned for their audacity, are drowning in sorrow until they stumble upon a job involving a fellow Reacher. James, a cunning conman, joins the fray seeking his own vendetta. Together, they navigate a treacherous path, but can Rachel defy the odds and save herself with the aid of her unpredictable allies?

Some two hundred miles above Earth, Commander Orlando Iron Wolf is ready to complete his final orbit of the day aboard the International Space Station. As he peers out the window and counts down the minutes until his shift ends, he suddenly sees a blinking light in the distance. Wolf has no idea that what he is seeing is a rogue comet headed straight on a collision course with Earth. Now it is up to him to try to stop it before the planet is destroyed. As NASA frantically moves the Hubble, Wolf is assigned to travel on the Atlantis shuttle to observe the comet. As the world prepares to save as many people as possible, Wolf ignores his foreboding feelings and heads toward the comet, where his mission inevitably fails and he is placed in suspended animation. Now cryogenically frozen, Wolf is watched through the centuries by an onboard computer. When Wolf is finally released from the comet's grip, thousands of years have passed, the earth has been fractured into two nearly identical planets, and humankind has reverted to living amid medieval times. In this exciting science fiction tale, a man must use his newly discovered superpowers and the female voice of a computer to stem the oppressive tide of those who want nothing more than to see him and the future annihilated forever.

"A Stanford psychologist offers a bold new understanding of empathy, revealing it to be a skill, not a fixed trait, and showing, through science and stories, how we can all become more empathetic"--

Social science.

"Theology is a place and a story. Theology is the place and story you think of when you ask yourself about the meaning of your life, of the world, and the possibility of God." So begins Serene Jones's epic work of raw truth, fierce love, and spiritual teaching as muscular as the fractured soul of this century demands. From her abiding Oklahoma roots to her historic leadership of a legendary New York seminary, her story illuminates the deep fault lines of this age--and points beyond them. With a voice that is at once frank and poetic, humble and prophetic, intimate and practical, Jones makes complex teachings around hatred, forgiveness, mercy, justice, death, sin, and grace understandable and immediately applicable for modern people. Excavating the wisdom of great theological voices--Soren Kierkegaard, Reinhold Niebuhr, John Calvin, James Baldwin, James Cone, Luce Irigaray, Saint Teresa of Avila--she brings them to life with an intimacy and vividness that illumines our lives and our culture now. At the same time, and with great beauty, Call It Grace reveals Serene Jones as a towering voice of a new, and urgently necessary, public theology for this century.