New Listings: Five on Faith

Cahill, Thomas, The Gifts of the Jews: How A Tribe of Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (Nan A.Talese/Anchor Doubleday, 1st ed., 7th printing, 1998). ISBN 0-385-48249-3. Trade paperback. The second volume in his series, Hinges of History, this history tells how the Jewish people rethought the very concept of time, casting off the old endless wheel of birth, death and rebirth for a new, linear, and ultimately triumphant path to eternal life. Cahill is an inspired narrator of the first rank. This copy is inscribed by him on the title page. Very good condition. HBB price: 19.95.

Chase, Mary Ellen, The Psalms for the Common Reader (W.W Norton, 1st ed. 1st printing, 1962). LOC 62-8579. Chase (1887-1973), a Smith College professor the English Novel and the King James Bible from 1926 to 1955, was one of America’s best-loved mid century novelists. This book, aimed at the general reader, is a thoughtful, scholarly and graceful treatment of the sometimes confusing, contradictory collection that is The Psalms; it calls to mind the works of another scholar-popularizer of the time, Edith Hamilton. Fifty years on, it holds up well, and will give much pleasure and insight to readers. Hardcover clipped dust jacket 
showing some edge wear, good condition. HBB price: $12.95.

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Hagerty, Barbara Bradley, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality (Riverhead Books, 1st ed., 1st printing, 2009). ISBN 978-1-59448-877-1. NPR’s remarkable religion correspondent considers whether science can quantify faith, its exercise, and its effects. Exactly the sort of book all kinds of dogmatists should read, but won’t; more pleasure to those who do! Thoroughly researched, provocatively written. Unique in its scope. Hardcover unclipped dust jacket, remainder mark on bottom edge; very good condition. HBB price: $12.99.

Smith, Huston, The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition (HarperSan Francisco, 1st ed., 2nd printing, 2005). Smith, a comparative religion scholar whose PBS series with Bill Moyers was a bit hit, produced this work at age 86. In it, he considers the evolution of the Christian church in its first millenium, and suggests lessons to be learned and applied in a world of aggressive secularism, media sensationalism, and the increasing inability of various offshoots of the faith to find any common ground. A remarkable summa of  lifetime of thought and scholarship. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $14.95.

Wright, N.T., Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (HarperSanFrancisco, 1st ed., 7th printing, 2006). ISBN 13-978-0-06-050715-2. The retired Anglican bishop of Durham, England is a very conservative, orthodox, fellow. But he co-authored a book with the late Marcus Borg- about as far across the table as one can get- and Henry likes that in authors. Beyond that, Wright, who, has taught at Oxford and Cambridge, is an engaging, articulate writer who makes his case for the relevance of faith. This isn’t an investment collectible; it’s an ideas collectible. It will provoke and challenge. Hardcover, dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $14.99