Behavioral science books are popping up on bestseller lists: Predictably Irrational; Thinking, Fast and Slow; Nudge; Decisive. Even the White House launched a Behavioral Insights Team to match the British Ministry of Nudges. Conspicuously absent from this conversation is the church. The Irrational Jesus bridges this gap. Ken Evers-Hood looks at Jesus through the lens of cognitive heuristics (mental shortcuts) and biases (blind spots) and makes the case that a fully human Jesus is predictably irrational--just like all of us. Find out how the Apostle Paul's community building mirrors a prisoner's dilemma game and how this makes Paul an irrational leader, too. Discover how playing better games in church can foster hopeful, flourishing communities. Improve your decision-making; learn when to plan for irrationality and when to live into it. The Irrational Jesus addresses these issues and more. Integrating the insights of behavioral economists such as Dan Ariely, the gameful thinking of Jane McGonigal, and cutting-edge ideas from decision theory, Evers-Hood articulates a behavioral theology for fully human pastors of fully human congregations--a fresh perspective that will change how pastors and other church leaders see themselves, the institutions they serve, and the scriptural and theological tradition.

Is God really real? And how can we know if anyone's experience of God is actually valid? Skeptics today are increasingly vocal in their assertion not only that God is unverifiable, but also that believing in God is irrational and even dangerous. Even those who believe wonder if they can speak objectively about the actual reality of God or if they can only appeal to a subjective belief in God. Amy Orr-Ewing addresses key questions and objections that many people today have about God. She explores whether our understanding of God is delusional or merely a psychological crutch. She probes whether the Christian claim to a unique personal relationship with God is plausible in light of other world religions, and how anyone can continue to believe in God in a world of pain and suffering. If you have questions about God, you're not alone. Come consider some possible answers.

Is God lost? Many of us feel that way. It’s as if God’s gone missing, out in the universe somewhere—and we must pick up the hunt, following any trail of breadcrumbs he may have left to go out and find him. We speak of “searching for God,” “exploring spirituality,” and “finding faith.” But what if we have it backward? What if God is the one pursuing us? What if our job is not to go out and find God, but simply to stop running and hiding? Not to earn God’s love, but to receive it? Not to turn on the light, but to step out of the shadows? Jesus reveals a God on the prowl, pursuing us, hunting down his world for reconciliation. And the question we’re left with is not whether we’ve pursued hard enough, searched long enough, or jumped high enough . . . The question is, “Do we want to be found?”

Abiezer Coppe is one of the most exciting writers of the seventeenth century, full of urgency and passion, righteous indignation, humour, fury, wit and naked sincerity; an extraordinary writer by any measure. He does not fit easily in the canons of Literature but nevertheless has been studied by both historians such as Christopher Hill and literary scholars including Nigel Smith, reprinted in the 20th Century in various forms and even included in the Norton Anthology of English Literature, a tradition he would certainly reject. Within the tradition to which he declares his loyalty, that of the Prophetic religious writers and the Fathers of the Church, he either associates himself with or frequently incorporates writings ascribed to Paul of Tarsus, John of Patmos, King David, Solomon, Hosea, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, and Christ. He is not afraid to speak directly in the voice of God to condemn the hypocrisy and corruption of his era. Coppe’s range of expressive strategies has led to confusion among commentators: Thomas Corns justly describes a "ludic and simultaneously aggressive idiom". Such extremes are characteristic of highly charged satirical writing such as Coppe’s. Nashe and Swift’s extremes are no less, although both come from the other side of a profound religious and philosophical divide. Coppe’s stance and style, extraordinary as they are, are not without precedent: they participate in Bakhtin’s “Apocalyptic Time”; the time when everything is about to happen.

In The Irrational Jesus: Leading the Fully Human Church, Ken Evers-Hood explored how our predictable irrationality can trip us up and how we can adjust for biases. But irrationality isn’t all bad. Leaders who live in their heads will never connect deeply with the hearts of those they serve. Because we are like small rational riders astride enormous emotional elephants, leaders must learn how to sing to elephants even as they speak to riders. In The Irrational David: The Power of Poetic Leadership, Ken invites you to sing. Through his work with poet David Whyte, Ken explores poetic leadership in King David, a fully human, irrational leader who knew how to stir people with song. In four sections, The Irrational David observes King David the believer, the beloved, the beautiful mess, and the broken-hearted. Offering his own poetry as a lens, Ken enters into scripture and creates a conversation between the spoken word and sacred text. Discover how irrationality and poetry can prepare us for the real conversations for which our communities are so hungry. Find new layers of meaning in familiar Scriptures. And welcome a fellow traveler into your life who has found strength through vulnerability and is willing to share his journey on the beautiful and messy road of faith with you.

The bestselling author of A Wrinkle in Time contemplates the true meaning of faith in the third installment of her series of memoirs. Upon her death, the New York Times hailed Madeleine L’Engle as “an author whose childhood fables, religious meditations and fanciful science fiction transcended both genre and generation.” L’Engle has long captivated and provoked readers by exploring the intersection of science and religion in her work. In this intimate memoir, the award-winning author uncovers how her spiritual convictions inform and enrich the everyday. The Irrational Season follows the liturgical year from one Advent to the next, with L’Engle reflecting on the changing seasons in her own life as a writer, wife, mother, and global citizen. Unafraid to discuss controversial topics and address challenging questions, L’Engle writes from the heart in this compelling chronicle of her spiritual quest to renew and refresh her faith in an ever-changing world and her ever-changing personhood. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Madeleine L’Engle including rare images from the author’s estate.

The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.