Books published by Herald Press (VA)

Humanity is nearing a technological tipping point. The blistering pace of technological, scientific, and social change is ushering in an era in which human bodies merge with devices, corporations know everything about us, and artificial intelligence develops human and even godlike potential. In possession of the most powerful tools history has ever seen, we will be faced with questions about wisdom, authority, faith, desire, and what it means to be human.In Braving the Future, Douglas Estes equips Christians to thoughtfully and prayerfully prepare for a future of technological reign that is rapidly expanding. Drawing on Scripture, Christian tradition, and scientific literature, Estes offers a theology of work, creation, and personhood that is both prophetic and sturdy enough to keep pace with the technology of a future as yet unknown. He helps readers choose trust in God over fearful retreat and following Jesus over uncritical engagement with technology. The future may not look exactly like a science fiction movie, but are we ready to brave a future of limitless tech and boundless change?

Timna is the wife of Shem, one of Noah''s sons. As this story by Lucille Travis for 9-to-14-year-olds open, the family has loaded the ark with animals and supplies as God has ordered, and they are ready to shut the doors. Soon the Flood will begin. Along with two enchanting and mischievous dogs named Thief and Mangy, Timna seals herself into the ark. She doesn''t know what to expect, only that she is obeying-and trusting-God. 170 Pages.

Spanish translation: Adopted by the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church at Wichita, Kansas, July 1995. The 24 articles and summary statement were accepted by both groups as their statement of faith for teaching and nurture in the life of the church. 136 Pages.

Elmer A. Martens explores the message and insights of Jeremiah for today. In Jeremiah, God disciplines people and punishes them. Yet there is also forgiveness and thepromise of a new covenant. This ancient book is strangely relevant to our generation. The more we learn about the stressful times in which Jeremiah lived, about the passionate prophet himself, and about the arrangement of the book that bears his name, the more forceful the message becomes. 328 Pages.

Straight from the pens of Amish and Mennonite women . . .

Are you rapture ready?As a teenager in the buckle of the Bible Belt, Zack Hunt was convinced the rapture would happen at any moment. Being ready meant never missing church, never sinning, and always listening to Christian radio.But when the rapture didn't happen, Hunt's tightly wound faith began to fray. If he had been wrong about the rapture, what else about his faith might not hold water?Part memoir, part tour of the apocalypse, and part call to action, Unraptured traces how the church's focus on escaping to heaven has it mired in decay. Teetering on the brink of irrelevancy in a world rocked by refugee crises, climate change, war and rumors of war, the church cannot afford to focus on the end times instead of following Jesus in the here and now. Unraptured uses these signs of the times to help readers reorient their understanding of the gospel around loving and caring for the least of these.

What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous?Anxious, results-driven Christians can never pray enough, serve enough, or study enough. But what if God is calling us not to frenzied activity but to a simple spiritual encounter? What if we must merely receive what God has already given us?In Flee, Be Silent, Pray, writer and contemplative retreat leader Ed Cyzewski guides readers out of the anxiety factory of contemporary Christianity and toward a God whose love astounds those quiet long enough to receive it. With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.Ready to shed the fear of the false self and the exhaustion of a duty-driven faith? Flee. Be silent. Pray.

In the anniversary edition of the classic book The Upside-Down Kingdom, author Donald B. Kraybill calls readers to imagine and embody the reign of God on earth as it is in heaven. Since its publication in 1978, The Upside-Down Kingdom has become the most-trusted resource on radical Christian discipleship. What does it mean to follow the Christ who traded victory and power for hanging out with the poor and forgiving his enemies? How did a man in first-century Palestine threaten the established order, and what does that mean for us today? What would happen if Christians replaced force with service, violence with love, and nationalism with allegiance to Jesus?

Deuteronomy is a book full of life, stories of God's people, and a vision for walking in the way of God. Considered by some to be the theological center of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy has been called the gospel according to Moses, with its attention to divine grace and practices of justice. Deuteronomy has also disturbed thoughtful readers throughout history, having been used to justify violence and all manner of war. In this insightful commentary, Old Testament scholar Gerald Gerbrandt invites readers to struggle with the difficult passages and to humbly converse with the book's consistently hopeful themes of covenant, land, and leadership. Against the backdrop of apathy and amnesia and countless competing modern-day gods, Deuteronomy calls for the exclusive worship of the one God, with a reminder of what that God has done for us. It presents a vision for a community of brothers and sisters who treat each other with justice and generosity. By examining the book that Jesus quoted when asked about the heart of Israel's faith, Gerbrandt unfolds for readers the richness of a book that is endlessly challenging and remarkably relevant for today. 602 Pages.

Taking a cue from one of the most (in)famous postmodern thinkers, Friedrich Nietzsche, the essays in this book put forth "experiments" in thought rather than arguments for fixed conclusions. Blum brings John Howard Yoder to the same table with Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, and provides a provocative glimpse of what the resulting conversation might look like.As Anne Lamott and others have recently insisted, faith is not the opposite of doubt, but of certainty. Blum's essays explore some of our commonly held ways of talking about knowledge, meaning, commitment, and action. He suggests that some postmodern theoretical work, often dismissed or assumed to be anti-Christian, is well worth bringing into contemporary Anabaptist-Mennonite conversations about discipleship and corporate life. Part of the Polyglossia series, this book is intended for conversation among academics, ministers, and laypersons regarding knowledge, beliefs, and practices of the Christian faith. 184 Pages.