• Baylor authors fill bookshelves with summer releases

    Baylor books

    Accounts of heroism from first-responders in West. An example of a church that’s changing the world. The story of a certain football coach whose revolutionary offense changed Baylor forever.

    These are just some of the options available to Baylor Nation as Bears everywhere hit the beach or otherwise work through their summer reading lists, while the prolific library of books by Baylor alumni, faculty and staff authors continues to grow. In recent months, Bears have released the following books:

    * The Last Alarm—First Responders’ Stories of the West Explosion (by Amber Adamson, BA ’04, MA’ 13) shares the first-hand accounts of more than 40 first responders and West residents of the tragic fertilizer plant explosion. The book was designed by alum Stephanie MacVeigh, BA ’99, and edited by Baylor journalism lecturer Sharon Bracken, BA ’92, MA ’01.

    * The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail: Community, Environment and Belief on a Long-Distance Hiking Path (by Dr. Susan Bratton, professor of environmental science) takes readers on a physical and spiritual trip down the Appalachian Trail, providing insight into how the 2,000+ mile trek impacts hikers spiritually. The book was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Book and was nominated for The Crader Family Book Prize.

    * Beating Goliath: My Story of Football and Faith (by Baylor football coach Art Briles) shares the secrets behind his great success in a book that takes Bear fans back to his childhood in West Texas. Briles shares how lessons from his parents and the faith they fostered helped him after their tragic loss, and how he shares those lessons with his players today.

    * Tracing Southern Storytelling in Black and White (by Dr. Sarah Ford, BA ’90, a Baylor English professor) explores how many of the nation’s greatest storytellers, both black and white — names like Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston and William Faulker — have employed oral storytelling in literature, arguing that the connections between Southern authors of different ethnicities and backgrounds is stronger than we realize.

    * Baptist Preaching: A Global Anthology (by Dr. Joel Gregory, BA ’70, PhD ’83, a Truett Seminary professor) compiled sermons delivered in a single year from around the globe to paint a picture of Baptist preaching today. The book contains 35 complete sermons and allows readers to discover how integral preaching is to the Baptist identity, and see an example of how Baptists confront cultural issues globally.

    * Passion and Purpose: Believing the Church Can Still Change The World (by Jimmy Seibert, BBA ’86) tells the story of Waco’s Antioch Community Church and Antioch Ministries International, which Seibert has shepherded from a popular college ministry into a community of faith that has led tens of thousands to Christ around the globe. His latest book builds on Antioch’s story as an example of how the church as a whole can still change the world.

    Sic ’em, Baylor authors!

    [Have you written a book that you’d like to share with your Baylor family? Submit a Class Note for Baylor Magazine! Select books will be featured in the magazine’s “CopyWrite” section; others will be run in Class Notes.]