literary spirit \Religion in the media

“So Far” by Bethany Dillon (Sparrow Records/EMI): It’s been a busy spring for Christian singer-songwriter Bethany Dillon. In March, Dillon tied the knot with Shane Bernard of Dallas-based Christian act Shane Shane, and she released “In Christ Alone: Hymns of Worship,” a collaboration with Matt Hammit of Sanctus Real. Ms. Dillon recently released her fourth solo LP, “So Far: The Acoustic Sessions,” which expands on last year’s online-only EP of the same name. Both titles offer fresh creative takes on oft-played singles such as “All I Need” and “Beautiful.” Dillon also seeks to replicate the feel of “what happens in my room at 2 a.m.,” through quiet, contemplative versions of “Hallelujah” and “The Kingdom.” Producers Ian Fitchuk and Justin Loucks make sure that the 10-track LP is more than a “girl with guitar” release.

“Fall Like Rain” by Clint Brown (Tribe Music Group): It’s probably not often that the pastor of a 6,000-member megachurch is referred to as a “blue-eyed soul singer.” Then again, there aren’t many pastors with the voice and background of Clint Brown releasing CDs. The three-time Dove Award nominee and pastor of Faith World Church in Orlando, Fla., has released his 17th CD, “Fall Like Rain,” and it’s already burning up the charts. If Brown weren’t a gospel preacher, he probably would have no problem earning a decent living as an R&B crooner. Among his legion of fans are legends Natalie Cole and R&B producer Rodney Jerkins, and one of the hit singles from “Fall Like Rain” — “I’m Forgiven” — includes a hook from an old Earth, Wind & Fire classic. With more than 300 compositions, however, Brown is an entrenched gospel performer.

“Empty and Beautiful” by Matt Maher (Essential Records): Listen closely, and you may think you have mistaken Matt Maher’s music for Chris Tomlin’s. But it was Maher who wrote the popular worship song, “Your Grace is Enough.” Tomlin rerecorded it in 2004, and it seems Maher has been living in Tomlin’s shadow ever since. Musically, “Empty and Beautiful” resembles everything you would expect from a modern worship album. The lyrics are easy for church congregations to adopt, while the style stays within a catchy, light rock sound. Though these characteristics are not bad, as they continue to capture Christian music fans, they do not make this album original.

“Love Forever Shines” by Regina Belle (Pendulum Records): Regina Belle released some classic R&B hits back in the late 1980s, songs such as “Show Me the Way,” “Baby Come to Me” and “Make It Like It Was.” These days, the Grammy Award-winning entertainer is singing a different tune. She has just released her debut gospel album, “Love Forever Shines,” but the soulful vocals that were a hallmark of Belle’s R&B days are still very much in effect. The 14-track project is a nonstop spiritual get-down, from the grateful old-school ballad, “God Is Good” to the uplifting “Victory” to the plaintive “Almost Slipped.” With her strong voice, deeply personal lyrics — many of which she penned herself — and her own musical legacy, Belle will have no problem shining wherever she is.

“Thank God for Evolution!” by Michael Dowd (Council Oak Books, 394 pages, $24.95): The Rev. Michael Dowd, once a United Church of Christ pastor, now travels full time with his wife, making impassioned presentations about how to bring science and religion together in our time for the sake of the world’s future. In his acknowledgements, he credits respected science writer Connie Barlow effusively as both spouse and partner in this new “missionary” work and as co-creator of several of the book’s technical sections. But his dedication is “to the glory of God,” with this explanatory footnote: “Not any ‘God’ we may think about, speak about, believe in, or deny, but the one true God we all know and experience.” If that doesn’t intrigue readers, the cover will, its Darwinian-looking, fossilized fish overlaid with that simple, ancient Christian symbol. The enthusiastic endorsements of two 2006 Nobelists, John Mather in physics and Craig Mello in physiology/medicine, also attract. What impresses here is the author’s fact-melding perspective: that the world’s religions grew from revelations; that science, driven by humankind, continues to reveal, providing insights that in each successive generation enrich rather than conflict with of faith.

“Out of the Storm” by Derek Wilson (St. Martin’s Press, 416 pages, $29.95): “Arise, O Lord. ... A wild boar has invaded your vineyard,” Pope Leo X warned himself and the Roman Catholic Church too late. Martin Luther had taken the issues of indulgences, expanded it to include justification by faith, rather than good works, and finally taken on the supremacy of the pope himself. By the time of his death, Luther had split the church and indeed Europe itself. Derek Wilson, who has written some outstanding works of English history, here offers what he calls a popular biography for a secularized age. Wilson attempts to explain how a man who became a monk in spite of his family, who was a brilliant theological scholar and preacher on the road to church preferment, turned to fight his church and become the leading figure in the Reformation. Much of Luther’s life is familiar, but Wilson emphasizes the spiritual unrest in Europe that awaited a leader such as Luther. The author also credits Luther’s writing for his success and, indeed, in forming a German language. Luther died a bitter man, convinced he had failed, but by 1545, Wilson estimates that about 35 percent of Europe’s population were adherents of an evangelical faith. Modern readers have looked askance at Luther’s support of German princes in their battles against the peasants and his harsh attacks on the Jewish people, but Wilson argues that, if he meant to or not, Luther’s most precious gift to his contemporaries was freedom — both theological and social.

McClatchy Newspapers