TWO NEW ADVENT-THEMED books bring deep wisdom for this liturgical season.
Peter B. Price is a retired Church of England bishop with decades of experience advocating on the ground and in the halls of power for peace and reconciliation in conflict situations around the world. His new book, A Shaking Reality: Daily Reflections for Advent, takes its title from a mediation written by a German priest, Alfred Delp, S.J., while imprisoned by the Nazis.
Price reflects on Delp (who was later executed for being in the resistance) and the “courage and witness” of others in these graceful meditations for each day of Advent. He writes about the world’s brokenness from his sensibilities as a pastor—acknowledging structures that harm and oppress, while guiding readers toward what Delp called “God’s promise of redemption and release.”
Fleming Rutledge is an Episcopal priest and respected author, theologian, and preacher. Her new book, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, collects sermons, writings, and other resources from a more-than-40-year career.
Rutledge writes, “It might be said of Advent that it is not for the faint of heart.” This is a deep dive into Advent (and the preceding Sundays after All Saints Day) as a season focused on apocalypse, the Second Coming, and the ethical choices facing believers who watch and wait for God on the move, while being also called to “live a life of meaningful action.”
Rutledge writes with elegance, learnedness, and clarity, demonstrating a preacher’s gift for combining challenging insights with food for the journey. Throughout this collection her true focus is never doom but hope in Christ who has come and will come again—a promise that will endure through both natural and human disasters.
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