FIRST-TIME
AUTHORS
DR. LANTA DAVIS
Honors Professor of Humanities and Literature, IWU-Marion
Becoming by Beholding restores the imagination to its central role in spiritual formation by recovering key works from the Christian tradition, enabling us to experience the formative power of the imagination for ourselves. It also revives “the art of fashioning the soul” as an essential aspect of Christian spiritual formation and character development.
Davis explains that many of the problems at the heart of the Christian church today—such as nationalism, consumerism, and partisan politics—stem from a crisis of the imagination. She encourages us to reorient our gaze from diseased cultural forms and fix our eyes instead on works from the historic Christian imaginative tradition that better reflect the love, joy, and wonder of the gospel.
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Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation (Baker Academic, August 30, 2024)
DR. ERIN DEVERS
Professor of Psychology, IWU-Marion
So much human behavior can be explained by two motives: we want to be right, and we want to feel good about ourselves. But the tension between these two motives makes us especially vulnerable to bias—and bias distorts our view of the world and of ourselves and can keep us from doing even what we know is right.
In The Unbiased Self, Devers lays out what psychology has discovered about bias and selfishness. To truly overcome cognitive bias, we need a vision of what an unbiased self could look like, stemming from a solid sense of identity—an identity available in Christian faith. Devers explains how a Christian concept of the self can provide the combination of humility with self-confidence that enables unbiased thinking.
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The Unbiased Self: The Psychology of Overcoming Cognitive Bias (InterVarsity Press, March 11, 2025)
DR. MIRANDA ZAPOR CRUZ
Professor of Historical Theology IWU-Marion
Christians who seek to relate their faith to politics have always encountered tensions. Instead of easy answers and simple checklists, we need tools to help us thoughtfully navigate the complexities of Christian faithfulness in an increasingly diverse and polarized society.
In Faithful Politics, Cruz guides readers in forming a vision of citizenship that brings Christian convictions into political engagement while avoiding common pitfalls. Cruz provides a measured, nonpartisan overview of different ways Christians have approached political participation. These ten views represent a range of theological approaches to the relationship between the kingdom of God and the country, including Anabaptist, social gospel, principled pluralist, and Christian nationalist. Cruz describes strengths and weaknesses of each view, with a focus on Christian faithfulness.
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Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to (InterVarsity Press, March 11, 2025)