I have two favorite religious books for 2008.  The first one is Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of this World for
Crucifixion and Empire by Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker. 

This is a great book for those of us who are looking for
some serious theological reflection on the rightful place of Jesus, the cross, salvation
and kingdom of God in this world. 
Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker are scholars of the first rate.  It is not an
“easy read” but the long needed correction to current blithely accepted atonement theology is worth it. 

The second is Sea Is So Wide and
My Boat Is So Small, The: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, by Marian Wright
Edelman.  While not as theological
as Brock and Parker’s book, Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund,
wakes the reader up with a stirring call to do right by our children and thereby do
right by God. 

Taken together, these two books by three powerful women remind us that
Jesus came to redeem us spiritually and physically right here on earth.  This Christmas let’s remember Mary
‘ song from Luke: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my
savior…God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the
lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty….”   Brock, Parker, and Edelman
are bringing Mary’s message to us again in 2008 with these great books. 

What other suggestions do Progressive Revival readers have?  Please add them below.