Free Webinar on The Virtue of Dialogue!
PLUS, other news from The Englewood Review of Books.
Things have been a bit quiet here as our ERB team spent most of last week up in Chicago for The ’s annual gathering. Watch for a post with our reflections on that gathering later this week. But for now, a related bit of silliness… The gathering was held at the Catholic Theological Union, which is where Pope Leo XIV went to seminary, so of course we had to get our picture taken with (a cardboard cutout) of him…
I will be doing a free webinar with V3 on my latest book The Virtue of Dialogue: Becoming a Thriving Church through Conversation. (Wednesday July 30 at 1PM ET)
In the midst of so much upheaval in our churches and in the world, how do our congregations make sense of what faithfulness to the way of Jesus looks like for us?
One key to answering this question is beginning to learn how to talk together within church community. Chris Smith's own congregation committed to a weekly practice of conversation over 25 years ago, a story that is told in his book, The Virtue of Dialogue: Becoming a Thriving Church through Conversation, and are still learning to talk together today. But the slow, messy practice of conversation has radically transformed them and given them the wisdom and the grace they need to navigate seasons of scarcity and chaos.
In this webinar, Chris & host Dan White, Jr. will explore why conversation is an essential practice for the health and vitality of churches, regardless of their context.(There will be a replay available for those who register but cannot make it.)
This webinar is FREE, but registration is required… REGISTER HERE.
A brand new episode of The Englewood Review of Books podcast (Episode 87) went live today!!!
ERB Podcast Producer Joel Wentz spoke with two first-time guests to the podcast, Jonathan Tran and Malcolm Foley, about their recent books and their work to more precisely illuminate and define the “racial capitalism” in which those of us in the Western world live. It’s a stimulating and wide-ranging conversation about race, economics, history, higher education, politics and more. As always, the episodes ends with a discussion of what our guest have been reading.
[ LISTEN to this episode here ]
In other news…
We are currently working on our Most Anticipated Books list for Fall 2025. The plan is to publish it later this week, and include it in our weekly newsletter (Are you a subscriber?) So many extraordinary books coming this fall, you won’t want to miss this list! And in the meantime, if you’re craving good books to read, check out our Most Anticipated Books list for the first half of this year…
If you’re preaching from the lectionary this Sunday, check out our newest list of Lectionary Poems that accompany this week’s readings.
In case you missed it, there are now three books available in our Cultivating Communities book series:
- The Shape of Our Lives: A Field Guide for Congregational Formation (Book 1) by Phil Kenneson, Debra Dean Murphy, and others.
- The Virtue of Dialogue: Becoming a Thriving Church through Conversation (Book 2 ) by C. Christopher Smith (that’s me!)
- And the brand new The Form of the Word: Making Sense of Scripture in the Body of Christ (Book 3) by Stephen Fowl.
- ALL three books should be available wherever you prefer to shop for books. (Your local independent bookstore may have to order them for you.)
- I recorded a podcast episode last week discussing these books with authors Phil, Debra, and Steve. Watch for the release of that episode in a couple of weeks!My ongoing series of reflections on Neil Postman’s classic book, Amusing Ourselves to Death will return next week. You can catch up on it from the latest post "Words are Entrusted to us as Equipment for our Life Together,” which also includes links to the previous posts in the series.
Ooh, excited to check out the weekly lectionary poems. People are always drawn to that stuff!