Painting by Sarah Karpa. New media roundup

Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit; Pandemic, Public Health, and the People of God; The Book of Answers: A Rev. Thomas Book Mystery; Invisible: God's Loving Pursuit of His Unseen Daughters; and more

Canadian creatives

"Inspired by a southern Ontario sunset over snow, as I painted this piece themes emerged that reminded me of the winter I spent in Norway with its long nights and slanted evening sunsets over the fjords. The theme in my heart while I painted was of the hope of Christ’s victory and glorious return, breaking into a dark and troubling world. ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’ (John 1:5)."

New media roundup

• Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit, Second Edition, by Clark H. Pinnock, including new commentary by Daniel Castelo (IVP, 2022). A refreshed and more accessible version of a 2009 Christianity Today Book of the Year by an influential theologian from McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ont., who died in 2010.
• Pandemic, Public Health, and the People of God (East Coast Theology Series), edited by Melody Maxwell (Wipf and Stock, 2023). The faculty of Acadia Divinity College reflect on the theological foundations and practical ideas for ministering through health care.
• The Book of Answers: A Rev. Thomas Book Mystery, by Darrow Woods (Reluctant Sleuth Press, 2023). Father Brown meets Inspector Armand Gamache, in Oakville, Ont., (says blurb by David Guiliano). A first novel shortlisted by the Crime Writers of Canada with honest and humorous takes on church life.
• Invisible: God's Loving Pursuit of His Unseen Daughters, by Brenda Erb Roberts (Word Alive, 2023). Looks at women in the Bible who felt invisible, but became a “Beloved Daughter of God with no qualifications as a paragon of virtue required.” Includes questions for reflection. First book by Ontario author.
• Mission as Penance: Essays on the Theology of Mission from a Canadian Context, by Charles J. Fensham (Pickwick, 2023). A Reformed theologian at Knox College, Toronto, explores the theological roots that led Christians to a sense of cultural and religious superiority. Considers harms done to First Nations Peoples, eurocentrism, climate change and gender issues.
• Healing the Effects of Stigma: In the Name of Jesus How Can We Help? by Marja Bergen (Self-published, 2023). What Christ followers can do to make their friends with mental health issues feel better about themselves and grow in confidence. Latest booklet (48 pages) by prolific B.C. mental health advocate.
• Untangled: Caribbean Tales of Hope and Lament, by Joy Rudder (Resource Publications, 2023). Reflections on the riotous beauty of the Caribbean, and its ugly history of human trafficking and colonial oppression. B.C. author voices pain and transforms it to poetry, outrage and transforms it to prayer, and finds God’s presence in the everyday.