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BookTALK: PTS Community Series

This guide contains resources that complement the PTS Community Series sponsored by the Center for Writing and Learning Support and Barbour Library

Library & Online Resources

 

Ruth L. Boling is a 2024 graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in the Doctor of Ministry program in Creative Writing and Public Theology. She is a writer and Presbyterian minister who has served churches in Ohio, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey for more than three decades. She is the co-author of the bestselling A Children's Guide to Worship and author of Come Worship with Me: A Journey through the Church Year. Season’s Greetings began as a labor of love for her congregation in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and grew into a book during her DMin program.

 

 

In the Advent devotional Season's Greetings: Christmas Letters from Those Who Were There (The Upper Room, 2024), meet twelve biblical characters -- some well-known, others less so -- who share what Christmas meant to them through personal letters written to 21st-century readers. As we hear the multiple perspectives of what Jesus' birth and life meant for these characters of old, we're invited to ask what it means for us, now, today. Each chapter ends with a prayer, reflection questions, and journaling prompts, making this new resource an enriching Advent companion for individuals, small groups, and church leaders alike..

               Purchase the book on Bookshop.org

               Purchase the book on Amazon.com

Select Bibliography

The following books are not currently in the Barbour Library collection. The links below will take you to either Bookshop.org (which supports local bookstores) or Amazon.com, where you can purchase the book.

Daub, Tracy S. Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2022.

Duffield, Jill J. Advent in Plain Sight: A Devotion through Ten Objects. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021.

Books in Barbour Library

Print books below may be checked out by PTS students, faculty, and staff, as well as local area patrons who have library accounts (requires an annual fee). Ebooks are indicated by asterisks, and are available to current PTS students, faculty, and staff only.

Library Resources by Subject

Click on the links below to perform subject searches in the library catalog:

Advent -- Meditations.

Advent -- Prayers and devotions.

Bible. Gospels -- Devotional literature.

Christmas -- Prayers and devotions.

Incarnation.

Jesus Christ -- Person and offices.

Articles in Barbour Library

Articles that are available online have links, and are only available to current PTS students, faculty, and staff. Articles without links are in the print journal collection.

Bolkema, Anthony, and Jim Oord. “Advent with the Ancient Church: A Service with Reflections on the Writings of Church Fathers and Mothers.” Reformed Worship 145 (September 2022): 23–26. 

Nikondeha, Kelley. “Mary, Joseph, and a Tea Vendor Named Sami: Understanding Advent through the Eyes of Bethlehem’s Innkeepers and Merchants.” The Christian Century 139, no. 20 (December 2022): 40–44.

Reid, Julian Davis. “All Is Calm: Despite the Busyness as Advent and Christmas Draw Near, We Can Hear Scripture’s Radical Call to Rest and Stillness.” Sojourners Magazine 52, no. 10 (December 2023): 22–27. 

Wells, Samuel. “Coming, Ready or Not: The Character of Advent Hope.” Journal for Preachers 45, no. 1 (Advent 2021): 9–11

 

Print and electronic materials available for checkout at Barbour Library.