Book Reviews Archives

Hope in the Wilderness: Learning to Trust the God of Hope

By Amy Knorr

I can still feel my eyebrows arch when I think about the words my mother spoke to me during a rough patch as a (very) young adult.

“Amy, I don’t want you to suffer, but that is actually not my prayer for you.”

I’m pretty sure my response was something like, “Thanks a lot, Mom.” (Insert all the sarcasm of a late teenager.)
But she followed that declaration with words that have anchored me in every hard season since:

“I know you will walk through hard things.

25 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Be Reading

By Kaitlin B. Curtice

Originally published on November 26, 2019

I’m constantly asked for resources on how people can move forward learning about Indigenous culture, and I’m often repeating the same thing: read books.

MLK’s Advice to Find 1 Positive Thing

By Kristyn Komarnicki

“The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all [people] human and, therefore, [siblings].”
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The last 12 years of facilitating dialogue across difference through CSA’s Oriented to Love program have taught me many things.

How to Choose Nonviolent Tactics That Move the Needle

Editor’s note: This piece is part 4 of our 4-part series on the levels of strategy for nonviolent direct action for racial justice. Click here to start at the beginning.

A political miracle for racial justice occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in the late spring of 1963.

How Rebecca Solnit’s ‘Not Too Late’ Reveals Hope in a Time of Climate Crisis

By Liz Cooledge Jenkins

For me, the summer of 2023 feels like the time when the climate crisis finally became impossible to ignore—which may simply mean that the climate crisis has started to impact me personally in more obvious ways.

How to Build Racial Justice Campaigns That Last

Editor’s note: This piece is part 3 of our 4-part series on strategic nonviolent direct action for racial justice. Click here to start at the beginning.

“Freedom only comes through persistent revolt — through persistent agitation.”
– Rev.

Reflections of a Former Bully

By Kristyn Komarnicki

As a kid, I was a terrible bully. In 3rd grade, I kidnapped a kid’s blue rock, which he’d brought in for show-and-tell. I left a ransom note that reduced him to a tearful panic, which only made me hate him more.

4 Powerful Bible Verses to Share with Gay People

By Misty Irons

Seasoned ministers tell me that preaching and pastoring go hand in hand. You can’t know what to preach to people on Sunday unless you have already spent Monday through Saturday shepherding their hearts.

How CSA Is Observing Black August

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:10

You’d never suspect that this short, elderly South African man was once considered a threat to national security.

Can I Be Black and Christian?

By Micky ScottBey Jones

After the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012, I was forever changed. Nothing could remain the same—not my mothering, not my relationships, not my faith. I needed more than The Power of a Praying Wife.

Living a Theology of Contrast Instead of Opposition

By Bridget Eileen Rivera

Originally published Jul 27, 2020

I’ve been thinking a lot about “positions” lately and what it even means to hold a position.

When people ask about my “position” on “homosexuality,” it’s rarely in the interest of broadening their own perspective, understanding my own, or (God forbid) adjusting their beliefs.

Why the World Needs More Sensitive Souls to Create Social Progress

By Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

“The real warriors in this world are the ones that see the details of another’s soul.”
~Shannon L. Alder
In the Indo-European cultures of old, there were generally two types of leaders: warrior kings and priestly advisers.

How Parents Can Use the Bible to Equip Kids for the Work of Justice

By Sarah Driver

“Sorry kid, life’s not fair.”May we never again say that to a child.Children have a wonderful, natural instinct toward fairness and justice–and so often we caregivers squash it with phrases like that.How we nurture their instincts shapes their ability to discern and do the work of justice.

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