Editors' picks

Christian Century, Jan 3, 2001

Augustine of Hippo, by Peter Brown (University of California Press). This classic biography, which first appeared in 1967, has been updated in light of newly discovered letters and sermons, and in light of Brown's own (autobiographically colored) second thoughts. "There is a harshness in my judgments of the old Augustine which the indulgent reader should put down to a young man's lack of experience of the world.

Since then I have come to know bishops." Merry Christmas: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday, by Karal Ann Marling (Harvard University Press). The experience of Christmas is inescapably shaped by lots of material stuff (like greeting cards mid department store windows) and cultural icons (like White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life). Marling records it `all faithfully, with no ideological axe to grind. Evocations of Grace: Writings on Ecology, Theology and Ethics, by Joseph Sittler (Eerdmans): In an address to the World Council of Churches in 1961, long before ecology was a familiar word, Sittler called for a "Christology of nature." This collection of essays by the late theologian includes that speech and nine other essays from the 1950s to the 1970s. Best Christian Writing 2000, edited by John Wilson (HarperSanFrancisco): Annual volumes of "best essays and "best spiritual writing" have been appearing for a while, and now there is a thoughtful, ecumenical collection of "best Christian writing." Eugene Peterson, Miroslav Volf and Alasdair MacIntyre are among those whose essays make the grade. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, David Noel Freedman, editor-in-chief (Eerdmans): Freedman served as chief editor for the acclaimed Anchor Bible Dictionary, which came in at six volumes. This new work sets the pace for single-volume Bible dictionaries, It combines a comprehensive scope, concisely written entries mid the best in current biblical scholarship.