InterVarsity Press Receives Three
Logos Book of the Year Awards
Krista Carnet | 630.734.4013 | kkcarnet@ivpress.com
WESTMONT, ILLINOIS—InterVarsity Press was honored with three 2015 Book of the Year awards by the Association of Logos Bookstores during its annual convention in June.
“The people who comprise the Association of Logos Bookstores have long been lovers of great books and good friends of InterVarsity Press,” said Jeff Crosby, IVP’s associate publisher and director of sales and marketing. “We’re grateful for the recognition they have given these works by Jen Pollock Michel, Os Guinness and Kenneth Bailey. All three are artful writers with substantive messages for the church today.”
Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith by Jen Pollock Michel was honored with the award for Best Book in the category of Spirituality/Devotional. Michel writes in the book: “Reflecting on our desires asks us to address the more naked parts of who we are and why we do what we do. When we talk about desire, we undress our hearts. We worm our way into intention and hope to arrive at self-awareness. When we’re stuck in patterns of chronic sin, we should think to ask, ‘What must I be wanting to continually persist in these choices?’ We usually know that something is driving our behavior, but the forces often feel imperceptible to us. The simple question, ‘What do I want?’ can lead to important change.” Teach Us to Want was also named Christianity Today’s 2015 Book of the Year in December.
Os Guinness received the Logos award for the Best Book in the category of Christianity and Culture for Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times. Drawing on great thinkers like John Baillie, Christopher Dawson, C. S. Lewis, Thomas Cahill and others, Guinness shows that the church is in a moment of great transition, but it has been here before. In light of this, he encourages readers to rely God’s provision, knowing that with it the Christian faith can continue to be the cultural influence it’s always been.
The Logos award for Best Book in the category of Theology/Doctrine/Reference went to The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament by Kenneth E. Bailey. Gary Burge, New Testament professor at Wheaton College, said, “Ken Bailey is the consummate expert on the cultural context of first-century life. And here he applies these skills to one motif—the shepherd—illustrating how it is employed in a variety of biblical stories and parables. His interpretations use a variety of tools unknown to many of us: ancient versions, original languages, cultural anthropology, ancient Middle Eastern writers who shared this ancient culture, and his own personal career embedded in a crosscultural life in the Middle East. Always insightful, always fresh, consistently surprising, Bailey has produced yet another book that will get many of us rethinking beloved passages of Scripture in completely new ways.”
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Founded in 1947 as an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church and the world by publishing thoughtful Christian books that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of life. For more information, visit ivpress.com.