Small press roundup. Art by Alaina Agnew

Small press roundup. Artwork by Alaina Agnew; Books on the "gray areas of faith"; period between Old and New Testament; how salvation was accomplished; the gospel from Peter's perspective; and more

Canadian creatives

Mindfulness (16″ by 19″, markers on canvas, 2022) by Alaina Agnew. www.Instagram.com/Blue.Birds.Gallery and TikTok/YouTube @bluebirdsg ARTWORK © ALAINA AGNEW

"I’m a pattern design artist who draws inspiration from my Irish heritage, but mostly from God’s creation in my environment. I love to marvel in God’s perfect, wondrous designs. I visually deconstruct the world around me to reconstruct it to how I perceive things. Then a design like this one comes to life."

Small press roundup

• Tinder, Tattoos and Tequila: Navigating the Gray Areas of Faith by Bradley Truman Noel (Whitaker, 2022). A practical examination of how to discern between the excesses of legalism or license. By a Pentecostal pastor and professor from Newfoundland who just died in a tragic motorcycle accident.
• Since Babylon: A Window on Israel From the Silent Years to 70 CE by Allen P. Stouffer (Resource, 2022). In just over a hundred pages a retired Nova Scotia history professor examines the period between the Old and New Testament and how it’s relevant today.
• The Growing Season: Contemplations on Wine and the Soul by Nelson Boschman (Independent, 2022). Reflects on the transformation that occurs from grape to glass, and what that can teach us about human flourishing. By a pastor of spiritual formation in Vancouver.
• A Brain Tumor Changes Everything: Searching for the Shape of Mercy in a Suffering Season: A Mother’s Memoir by Jan Woltmann (Resource, 2021). A spiritual director in Winnipeg uses contemplative Christian thinkers as she shares how her family walked through her 21-year-old son’s terminal illness. Tender and hopeful.
• Faith to Rise: A Journey to Joy and Centering by Julie Fitz-Gerald (Roar Publishing, 2021). This 52-week devotional by an Ontario journalist (and Faith Today writer) includes landscape photography and warm reflections on God and Scripture. Companion journal also available.
• The Passover Mystery: How the Cross Creates a New Human by Gene Tempelmeyer (Resource, 2022). In just over a hundred pages a Canadian Baptist painter and former pastor reconnects the Passover and the cross, resulting in a fresh, hopeful understanding.
• What Happened on the Cross: Forgiveness Not Punishment by Nick Peros (Wipf & Stock, 2020). A challenging in-depth biblical study about how salvation was accomplished. This Canadian poet and musician finds inadequate both the penal substitution and christus victor theories.
• A Fisherman’s Tale by Denn Guptill (Penn of Denn, 2022). A creative retelling of the gospel from Peter's perspective. By a Nova Scotia Wesleyan pastor.