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Are your wages paid with real coin or with counterfeit? Bill Kaufman puts it this way in his new book Look Homeward America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists:

[T]he most ennobling work we do is seldom remunerated in greenbacks. Bearing and raising a child, cultivating a garden, just being there for a sibling or friend to lean on: this “work” is compensated in a currency far more valuable than Uncle Sam’s paper. . . [This is] the work we do for “nothing.” (For everything, really.) . . . This is the work whose coin, whose only coin, is love.

In his review of Kaufman’s book for the Intercollegiate Review, our friend Caleb Stegall discusses the real divide in American society today. It is not between liberal and conservative, but between materialists who argue about the best way to amass “more” and those who recognize a transcendent power.

Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton was father of the dubious Manifest Destiny doctrine and uncle of the renowned 20th century painter of the same name. The elder Benton and future U.S. President Andrew Jackson once fought savagely in a bar room brawl. Whether this type of historical minutia is your thing, or if you just want to get a better feel for the broad sweep of American history, you’ll want to read William J. Bennett’s compelling book America: The Last Best Hope. The first installment of the two volume set is subtitled From the Age of Discovery to a World at War (the second volume is due out in the Spring of 2007). Bennett was concerned that many modern history books had a tendency to portray our past, not “warts and all”, but rather “warts, that’s all”. While admitting the failings and shortcomings of our predecessors, he also shows the heroic qualities that shaped America. While it was not perfect, if we can remember and emulate the best things about our history, we hold out great hope for a world in chaos.

On Monday, October 2, the weekly Public House “Culinary Culture Lecture Series” featured Tom Wheat, director, farmer, importer, and roaster for Nueva Mission, Inc. in a talk entitled Thinking Locally in a Supranational Industry: Venezuela Biointesive Coffee Farm Communities and the American Consumer. Nueva Mission is a non-for-profit organization which links the people of the Caripe region in Venezuela with the community of Lawrence, KS, by growing, producing, importing, and roasting Venezuela coffee for the Lawrence market while using organic, sustainable, and community-focused methods. Wheat’s talk focused on the sharp distinctions between “conventional” farming techniques and “sustainable” farming techniques, and the impact each technique has on rural coffee-growing communities.

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The leadership team of Douglas County Young Life will be reading a book together this fall. Area director Rick Mumford announced that his team will be studying Henry Blackaby’s book Experiencing God: How to Live the Full Adventure of Knowing and Doing the Will of God . Those participating in the study get a special super deal on the book at Signs of Life when they mention the secret code at the checkout counter. If you’re a Young Life Leader and don’t know the secret code, dude, you aren’t reading your e-mail from Rick!

By now everyone in Lawrence has heard that David Corliss is our new City Manager. We want to join with the well-wishers to offer Dave our hearty congratulations! All indications are the he will do an excellent job. We appreciate the City Council for noting that Dave is a man of integrity. We were glad they noticed and glad that it was important to them. Sarah and the girls can be more than proud.

Everyone knows that David is the new City Manager, but did you know that he is also a history buff? Before becoming Interim City Manager, you could find him on his lunch break perusing the history section at Signs of Life. With his added responsibilities, though, he probably doesn’t get time off for lunch. In honor of Dave’s new appointment and interest in history, we’re offering a special on one of our most popular history titles, River of Doubt. This is the story of another man of integrity, Theodore Roosevelt, and his amazing expedition to chart the Amazon. For a limited time you can pick up a copy of Candice Millard’s bestseller for only $16.90 (normally $26.00 - this price is only available in the store, not on the web).

Ted Dekker has just released another psycho-thriller called Saint. Carl Strople has been kidnapped and forced to murder someone to save his wife and son. Or has he? Does he even really have a wife and son? As with previous Dekker books, nothing is ever quite what it seems. That’s OK. It makes for a great read, plenty of action, good vs evil in the spiritual realm. All good stuff. But when he ressurects from previous novels the old magic blank books in which whatever is written becomes true, you want to holler “enough already”.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m a huge Dekker fan and I enjoyed this one immensely. But seriously, Ted: get a new shtick.

We get a lot of questions at Signs of Life about the emergent church. We can’t presume to even begin to answer them here in a few short paragraphs - we have a whole section of books dedicated to the topic. But perhaps we can give a bit of insight into it and direct readers to a few books that might help shed some light on the subject.

As a starting point the emergent church, or just emergent as it is often known, could be thought of as a movement within evangelicalism that seeks a more authentic Christianity. Many emergent writers seem to be reacting against some Read the rest of this entry »

John Piper, Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, is one of our favorite authors at Signs of Life. Many authors have solid theology. Many authors have a clear and engaging writing style. Many authors write on pertinent and timely topics. But few have the skill to combine all those elements into books that get us jumping-up-and-down excited about following Jesus.

Whether its his classic Desiring God, his book about the supremacy of God in missions Let the Nations Be Glad!, or biographical works on the puritans and their friends, the theme of Christian hedonism shines through all Piper’s writing. Christian hedonism? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Piper explains via a twist on the famous answer to the first question of the Westminster Confession: it is the Christian’s duty to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. This is the dangerous duty of delight, as Piper would phrase it. We are created for God’s pleasure and He is most pleased when we are delighting in him.
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The cover image shows a blond-haired, blue-eyed knight in shining armor and his white-robed damsel in distress. The series title is Legends of the Guardian King. You immediately dismiss it as trite, poorly-written, romatic fantasy. Not so fast.

In The Light of Eidon and its sequels, Karen Hancock has crafted an intelligent, fast-paced allegory with well-developed characters and excellent insight into the life of faith. Middle-aged male readers (like myself) love it. Teenage female readers (like my daughters) are enthralled. Any Christian will be thoroughly entertained while simultaneously encouraged to trust more fully in our sovereign God who holds all things under his control.