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Times arise when Christians need to take center stage before the world as part of living according to the Good News. Various books address these crucial moments.

One book that presents Lutherans taking center stage through words is Simul: Lutheran Voices in Poetry, collected and edited by ELCA pastor Mark Patrick Odland (Xulon, 2007, $13.99). This anthology of more than 130 poems by a spectrum of Lutheran poets is full of evocative imagery, sensitivity, and poignancy. There are poems on various seasons of the church year, family, nature, 9/11, and more. Several of the poets are established writers, while others have never been published before. Some of the verse is shocking, such as the opening lines of the first poem: “Jesus, raptor, now devour my rabbit spleen / Gorge yourself on every unseen fear / For I should rather die unbowelled / Than brook this bland timidity” (p. 15). Other poems are lighter but still stimulating, such as “Reformation,” which starts off with, “My friends all wanted to be Superman / when they grew up. I wanted to be Martin Luther…” (p. 105). In any case, this collection will provide edifying entertainment that can help to energize sermons, classes, and personal devotion.

A situation that calls for a center-stage response is the current popularity of atheism in the world of publishing. Consider, for instance, celebrity-atheist Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion, that mocks and lambastes religion, then tosses it away as irrational and destructive. A helpful contrast to this kind of popular attack is The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath (IVP Books, 2007, $16). A former atheist and scientist who became a renowned theologian, Alister McGrath, with guidance from his spouse, shows that much of Dawkins’ harangue against religion and belief in God is itself irrational and not reflective of the facts. For instance, Dawkins’ main argument is that believing in God is simply nonsense that science has obliterated for any truly reasonable person. The McGraths respond in part by recalling a survey that reveals that belief among scientists in a God who responds to prayer held steady throughout the twentieth century at about 40 percent. The McGraths go on to expose flaws in Dawkins’ logic, such as when he avers that God must not exist because a being sufficiently complex to explain the origin of everything, including humanity, is highly improbable. The McGraths reply that the existence of humanity is also highly improbable, yet here we are. God being improbable does not mean that God is not actual.

As the subtitle of the book indicates, the McGraths’ main criticism of atheists such as Prof. Dawkins is that they are, well, fundamentalist in their atheism in that they are adamant that atheism is good and religion is bad. There are no gray shades when it comes to religion. It is simply deleterious nonsense. The McGraths indicate that such a stance is itself irrational and certainly not scientific.

The McGraths’ The Dawkins Delusion? helps theistic people respond more intelligently to the current religion-bashing that has become a source of schadenfreude for some (though certainly not all) nonbelievers. However, it is unlikely that atheists will find the McGraths’ book persuasive.

A second book that responds to current atheism is Richard Grigg’s Beyond the God Delusion: How Radical Theology Harmonizes Science and Religion (Fortress, 2008, $16). Grigg contends that, ultimately, traditional theism is indeed incompatible with science. A compatible theological alternative is a form of pantheism that Grigg explicates with help from Sallie McFague and other radical theologians. Of course, while Grigg’s book will provide intellectual and spiritual stimulation for some readers, it ventures too far from Scripture and the Confessions to provide for Lutherans a theologically sound response to the attacks of atheists. Even so, Lutherans may derive some assistance from Grigg’s intelligent, erudite creativity as they take center stage, even if they may not agree with his conclusions.

Taking center stage not only requires Christians to respond to ideas but also to engage in acts of healing and compassion. One person who has engaged admirably in such acts is Dr. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai’s memoir, Unbowed (Anchor Books, 2006, $14.95), provides a personal and detailed introduction to Maathai and her brilliant work of launching the Green Belt Movement, which has helped to reduce poverty, unemployment, and deterioration of the environment in Kenya through the planting of more than 30 million trees. Maathai provides a detailed and personal account of her life and how she came to determine her goals and achieve them. Also valuable is Maathai’s description of her native Kenya, a land about which many Americans know little. A Roman Catholic who has noted that the creation narratives in Genesis have helped to mold her beliefs as a conservationist, Maathai is a true hero who has taken center stage to care for other people and the environment.

One central-stage issue for Christians is sexuality, including the many disturbing messages regarding sexuality booming from the arts and advertising. A book that can assist us with sorting through the confusion is L. William Countryman’s time-honored book, Dirt, Greed, and Sex: Sexual Ethics in the New Testament and Their Implications for Today (Fortress, 2007, $18, revised edition). This revised edition differs from the first (which was published in 1988) by incorporating more recent scholarship and some rewriting. Countryman provides an extensive, incisive, and meticulous analysis of the Bible’s teachings on sexuality.

Of course, Countryman attends to the most controversial sexual issue for Christians today, homosexuality. With scholarly thoroughness, he exegetes biblical passages that deal with homosexuality. Countryman concludes that according to the Bible, one can be both a homosexual and a good Christian. Regarding all sexual matters, Countryman asserts that Christian sexuality should, to a high degree, “rejoice in God’s gifts to the whole creation, in what is given to others as well as to each of us, while enabling us always to leave the final word to God” (p. 283).

Regardless of whether one agrees with Countryman’s conclusions, Dirt, Greed, and Sex provides an exegetically sound and thought-provoking perspective on numerous biblical passages.

Another book pertaining to ethics is Bob Sitze’s Starting Simple: Conversations About the Way We Live (Alban, 2007, $17), which focuses not on teaching people how to live simply but on facilitating conversations among parishioners that will beget simpler living. To this end, Sitze, recently retired as director for hunger education in the ELCA, has filled the book with questions, quotes, subheadings, suggestions, and exercises for helping foster such conversation. Some readers will find this guidance valuable. Such conversations for simpler living can aid in leading Christians to concentrate on holy simplicity.

A third book that addresses ethics is Ronald D. Sisk’s Preaching Ethically: Being True to the Gospel, Your Congregation, and Yourself (Alban, 2008, $17). Sisk strives to lead preachers to more ethically sound preaching. He covers a spectrum of topics, from appropriate self-disclosure in preaching to proper citation of sources in a sermon to addressing controversial issues. While many of the book’s points are obvious, they are good reminders to preachers, who can easily lose touch with the basics of preaching in the process of addressing other matters.

The day after reading the book, I was teaching a college class when one of my students asked me, “How do you handle abortion and politics in the pulpit?” I thought of Sisk’s book, remembering in particular his emphasis on the importance of pastoral sensitivity when addressing inflammatory issues. The book did not lead me to think anything new as I formulated a response to this student’s surprising question, but Preaching Ethically did help me to articulate a response more quickly and efficiently. Further, I predict that returning repeatedly to Sisk’s book will help fortify my homiletical ethics.

Finally, a book about a legendary preacher who was very much center stage in ways both good and bad is Debby Applegate’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Doubleday, 2006, $27.95). With engrossing, vivid writing, Applegate pulls the reader into the world of Beecher, from his childhood to his education, to the blossoming of his career as a preacher, to his struggles with scandals that fueled his celebrity status and sullied his reputation. Applegate helps readers better understand not only Beecher himself but also the nineteenth century and so, by extension, our own preachers and day.

All of these books can guide Christians so that when the spotlight shines on us, such as when we engage our culture, we, by the Spirit’s power, shall glorify God and benefit the neighbor.

David von Schlichten, Lutheran Partners’ book review editor, is pastor of St. James Lutheran Church, Youngstown, Pennsylvania.