A multitude of Hope professors are also authors of several bestselling, general interest books. On topics that range from faith to sports, these books are testament to the writing talent of Hope scholars who desire to share their passion and expertise beyond the classroom in published, public form. And though the list below is certainly not exhaustive of all of the books by Hope faculty, it does offer a little of something for everyone.
Whether you are finishing up, or just starting with that Christmas shopping strategy of getting your loved ones something they want, something they need, something they wear, or something they READ, we have the READ portion covered here for you. All books are available at college’s Hope-Geneva Bookstore. The Hope-Geneva Bookstore is located on the ground level of the DeWitt Center, 141 E. 12th St., and can be called at 800-946-4673, or 616-395-7833. Email them, too, at bookstore@hope.edu.
Writing in the first-person and a conversational tone, Mulder provides an overview of several core tenets of the Catholic Church. He was motivated by his own faith journey. Mulder was raised a Protestant, and converted to Catholicism 11 years ago, shortly before joining the Hope faculty in 2004. He seeks to provide answers to the sorts of questions that he had along the way. “This book is really for three groups, namely, new Catholics who want to know more about their faith; non-Catholics who want to understand Catholic distinctives better; and lifelong Catholics who would like to be reacquainted with what they believe,” he said.
In this book, Myers responds to the “new atheist” argument that all religion is dangerous and false, by suggesting how faith can be—and often is—reasonable, science-affirming, healthy, hopeful and humane. Myers writes as both a social scientist and a person of faith. While acknowledging ways religion has fueled the worst in human behavior, he notes that religion more often leads adherents to engage with the world as forces for good.
In “Prince Caspian” by C.S. Lewis, Aslan, the great Lion and Christ figure, says to the young girl Lucy, “Every year you grow you will find me bigger.” Schakel’s book uses that sentence as the starting point for an examination of how Lewis’s writings provide help for readers seeking growth in their Christian lives through an expanding, deepening understanding of God.
Co-authored with Brian J. Walsh, this book explores the forms and implications of dislocation in contemporary North American culture and considers Christian faith as a path toward healing and faithful homemaking. Not only explores the problem of homelessness as an economic and sociological condition, Bouma-Prediger and Walsh also examines two other types of homelessness: what they call ecological homelessness and postmodern homelessness.
Why do so many Christians struggle to relate their faith to their daily work? Is it the church’s fault? President Knapp argues that the church’s unclear teachings about vocation, money, and business have long contributed to Christians’ uncertainty about how to live out their beliefs in the workplace. Based on Knapp’s business experience and extensive research, this book brings fresh perspectives to this troubling problem.
Memoirs and Biographies
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and Mennonite Meets Mr. Right by Rhoda Janzen Burton, Associate Professor of English Themes of family, faith and love, delivered with a good dose of humor, propel major life events in these two memoirs by Burton. The first in storyline and publication date, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, topped on the New York Times bestseller’s list for several weeks in 2010. Though never seeing herself as a nonfiction writer prior to writing both books (she is also a published poet), Burton tackles her own spiritual discoveries and life changes in ways that are “not just beautiful and intelligent but also painfully—even wincingly—funny,” said Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, of the first book. Kate Braestrup, the author of Here if You Need Me said Burton’s second memoir, Mennonite Meets Mr. Right, “made me laugh out loud, often enough to make my beloved children inquire as to whether I was losing my mind.”
Although the marriage and death of prominent, 19th-century Bostonian Marian “Clover” Adams were well documented, it was the story that hadn’t been told that most fascinated Dykstra. In telling it, she had a crucial ally: Clover Adams herself, whose letters and artistic eye, as expressed in her portrait and landscape photography, provide a new and compelling view of her life. Adams, whose husband was the descendant of two U.S. presidents, lived an 1800s-life of privilege among the city’s political and social elite. By the standards of the day, she seemed to have it all, and yet in 1885, at age 42, she succumbed to depression and took her own life by drinking a poisonous chemical she used to develop her photographs. Clover Adams was named a “Must Read” book of 2013 in the 13th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards.
Set in southern Kentucky, this novella centers on two 11-year-old friends, Steve and Kendra, when they notice that someone has taken an interest in the long-neglected grave of a young girl who died in the 1860s. Their investigation leads them not only to discover her story, but to lessons on the Civil War, slavery and the Underground Railroad.
Adult Fiction
Bell is also the author of an on-going series of mystery novels set in ancient Rome that track the fictional adventures of real-life protagonist Pliny the Younger. Five books comprise the series thus far: All Roads Lead to Murder, The Blood of Caesar, The Corpus Conundrum, Death in the Ashes, and The Eyes of Aurora. These books have earned high marks from critics with the second, The Blood of Caesar being named one of the 5 Best Mysteries of 2008 by “Library Journal.”
This chapbook is based primarily on Cho’s own life as a Chicago-born and -raised child of Korean parents, who immigrated to America in 1971. Whether writing of his parents, other relatives, his multi-ethnic friends, or other members of community or congregation, Cho seeks to honor and elucidate the past, even as it clashes with the present to form an American hybrid: the poet himself. Along the way, he revisits moments of childhood confusion and wonder, of assimilation and tradition, of memory and loss.
The first full-length poetry collection reflects a life journey from loss to joy, with an emphasis on finding wonder in the moment whatever the stage. Featured poetic work across a decade, James grouped the collection’s 60 poems into three parts that show, he notes, “an upward trend from a fairly bleak outlook on life due to existential realities to a new appreciation for life and the now—which is why the title Since Everything Is All I’ve Got.”
A specialist in modern British history, Baer focuses on eight men and women who lived in Great Britain between the beginning of the 18th century and the middle of the 20th century, and the difference that they—and their Christian faith—made to the world. The title is derived from a phrase coined by C.S. Lewis, reflecting that while those whose lives Baer explores represent a variety of traditions within Christianity, they are part of a larger community of faith. The group is also diverse in terms of background and experience, ranging from Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, who in the 18th century used her wealth to support the Methodist movement that was outcast during her times; to Olaudah Equiano, a former slave from Nigeria who purchased his own freedom and advocated abolition in the 18th century; to 18th-century politician William Wilberforce, who shifted his priorities from career ambition to abolition; to Dorothy L. Sayers, the 20th-century, mystery novelist who also wrote extensively about the importance of finding one’s calling.
Hemenway, a long-time faculty member who has had a profound effect on international education at Hope himself, chronicles the extraordinary life of Dr. Paul Fried, a legendary Hope College faculty member whose impact on the college continues decades after his retirement. Fried, who died in July 2006 at age 87, was an émigré whose family was killed by the Nazis. After initially coming to West Michigan to attend Hope, he served with the U.S. Army in the European Theatre during World War II and was subsequently a translator during the Nuremberg war crimes trials. He returned to Holland to teach history at Hope from 1953 to 1984, and is widely recognized as the principal architect of the college’s international education program. Hemenway was a long-time colleague and friend of Fried, and since 1976 has directed the college’s Vienna Summer School, which Fried had founded in 1956 and directed for the two decades in between.
This comprehensive three-book set details the entire sweep of the Holland’s history since 1847, when the initial band of Dutch settlers founded the community. With more than 2,600 pages with nearly 900 photographs, the three volumes received a State History Award, the highest recognition presented by the Historical Society of Michigan. Swierenga spent more than 10 years conducting research for and writing the history. The index alone, some 200 pages long, required several months to create.
This players and coaches’ how-to book covers serving, passing, setting, attacking and blocking, as well as tactics for playing various offensive and defensive schemes at all positions. Dozens of drills featuring a self-scoring component allow players to chart progress and accelerate improvement. Informed by a Schmidt’s coaching career that has included more than 300 wins since 2004 and a NCAA Division III national championship, Volleyball: Steps to Success was written by Schmidt with club and high school volleyball players and their coaches or instructors in mind.
