I’m planning to join some friends from a local church who are planning to read through a few books in the coming year. Now that the New Year has come around the bend, it’s time for me to be obtaining the first in the series, procrastinator that I am. The first book we’re going to be reading through and blogging about at their church’s blog is called, Jesus: Made In America, by Steve Nichols. The publisher’s description describes the content in the following way:
Beginning with the Puritans, he leads readers through the various cultural epochs of American history, showing at each stage how American notions of Jesus were shaped by the cultural sensibilities of the times, often with unfortunate results. Always fascinating and often humorous, Jesus Made in America offers a frank assessment of the story of Christianity in America, including the present.
Sounds pretty entertaining as well as enlightening. But since I’ve yet to order a copy of the book, I thought I might check the websites of one of the major Christian booksellers who have locations in my area, in case I can just swing by and pick up a copy on my way home from work tonight. I went to the site for Family Christian Stores and entered “jesus made in america” in the search engine to see if they carry it.
You’ll never guess what the top result was:
Need I say more?
Guess I’ll order it from Westminster Seminary’s bookstore anyway.
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 
I am so sick of this self centered, narcissistic Christianity!
They don’t sell Christian books at Christian bookstores anymore.
Sorry for the reminder, Will. And Gage, it was our old boss, and your great friend, Eric, who always says Barnes & Noble sells better Christian books than the major Christian chains. . . . You don’t suppose he lumped Joshua’s into that category, too, do you? Even under the Smith/Browning regime? 😉
No under the Smith/Browning regime, we had a theology section and a reformed section…but that era ended long ago…
Wow, a Reformed section? We didn’t have that in Hurst, that must have only been at one in Arlington or something. There were some Banner of Truth books represented though. I got my copy of The Forgotten Spurgeon from Joshua’s when I was working there. I also recall seeing a large, impressive looking volume on baptism, that I think wasn’t advocating believer’s immersion onlyism. So maybe there was some trickle down. But back then, I was too distracted by the Charismatic Interest section. However, Lifeway does have some good Reformed books in their theology section nowadays, and I think even more at the location out near Southwestern Seminary, which is also just around the corner from Theological Pursuits bookstore (theologicalpursuits.com / reformationshirts.com).