novus•lumen

So, last month I started a publishing company.

It’s called novus•lumen books, based on the name of the blog.

novus•lumen books is an independent publisher that explores the tension of spirituality and culture, politics and theology, existing and emerging forms of Church, the Kingdom of God and America, modern and postmodern thought, and the gritty drama that is our collective pilgrim story. novus•lumen books pledges to offer fresh, relevant, intuitive, and insightful written pieces for Christians and non-Christians alike.

I basically started it as a way to publish my forthcoming book, the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus . There was an opportunity to try a traditional publishing route, but I thought it best to try the New Media route and publish myself through my own venture.

Right now novus•lumen books is just a DBA (doing business as), but I’d like to turn it into an LLC and help others publish there stuff.

Are you interested?

Keep reading →

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I’m lucky to get the endorsement from Scot McKnight and Tony Jones for my book, “the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus.” I just hope the book lives up to the hype!

“Jeremy is a deep thinker; he’s courageous enough to challenge some popular evangelicals and emergents today. Yet, this is not a screed: Jeremy loves the Church and has a passion for the ostracized, like the homosexual community, and he tells us in this book that grace grinding is the not the way of Jesus and it is not the gospel Jesus preached.”

Scot McKnight
Professor, North Park University
Author, ‘The Jesus Creed’ and ‘The Blue Parakete’

“Jeremy Bouma, wise beyond his years, makes a compelling case that the gospel of Jesus Christ is (un)offensive in these pages. For the gospel is ultimately a testament of God’s love for the world as instantiated in Jesus of Nazareth. Jeremy reminds us of this simple but profound truth, and introduces us to some of his friends who make this truth come to life.”

Tony Jones
National Coordinator, Emergent Village
Author, ‘The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier’

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Here are my endorsements, so far. I am grateful for the positive response and am eager for ‘real people’ to start reading it!

“Jeremy had me at the title—the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus. With deep passion for the Church, a sharp awareness of the prevalent, hot, future-shaping emerging conversation, and the courage to slay a few sacred cows, Jeremy offers a compelling vision of Jesus and the Church’s mission. Jeremy’s debut book informs, disturbs, encourages and challenges. Who is the Jesus we show to the world? What is the Story we tell? These two questions will never be the same for me.”

John W. Frye
Pastor, Fellowship Covenant Church; Grand Rapids, MI
Author, “Jesus the Pastor” and “Out of Print”

“While recognizing our fallen world with failing followers of Jesus, Jeremy paints a brilliant, honest, passionate and redeeming picture of the Christ who heals, speaks with authority and still changes the impossible. As we step back and gaze at this amazing portrait of a liberating magnetic Jesus I find good news, an (un)offensive Jesus, to whom I have too often shamefully been offensive.”

Dr. Doug Fagerstrom
President, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary

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Another video in anticipation of the release of my first book, the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus, at the end of October.

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Here is a video I took with the new social networking service 12seconds.tv to capture the essence of what my new book is about. Enjoy!

“the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus” in 12 seconds on 12seconds.tv

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I posted another video for my upcoming book, “the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus.”

It is a reading of one of my favorite sections from a chapter entitled, “our creation.” In this chapter I contend that the way we tell God’s Story of Rescue begins in entirely the wrong place: we begin either with sin or with heaven. I (and others) believe God’s Story begins at creation and our collective human story doesn’t being with sin but with the reality that we are beings crafted after the Image and Likeness of God. Yes we do rebel and are broken/cracked because of rebellion, but we are not fundamentally sinful. Instead, we are fundamentally Image Bearers of God.

Enjoy the video and dont forget to join my Facebook Group!

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The Series
1. Introduction
2. Taking Life
3. Making Life
4. Faking Life
5. Discussion

Folks, you all are in for a real treat!

I was browsing through my iTunes library and stumbled upon a series of mp3 recordings I did for the ministry for which I worked a few years ago. During that time I was the coordinator of our Statesmanship Institute, a program that sought to equip congressional staffers with an understanding of a biblical world view on such topics as economics, foreign policy, and law. While most of the sessions were from a decidedly conservative version of the biblical world view, probably the gem of the entire series was a talk given by Nigel Cameron on a emerging biotechnologies and issues of human ethics. And since the ministry doesn’t exist anymore (thus the recordings belong to no one), I’m going to offer them here!

Nigel Cameron, who hales from England and studied at the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, is Director of the Center on Nanotechnology and Society, Research Professor of Bioethics and Associate Dean at Chicago-Kent College of Law in the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is also President of the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies, founded the journal Ethics and Medicine in 1983 and is widely recognized as a commentator technology policy and ethics issues. His leadership in this field has brought him into partnership with “the Other” who also cares about human nature and emerging biotechnology.

This lecture was no Sunday School talk nor was it right-wing conservative anti-abortion propagandizing. It is a wide ranging discussion delving into the real implications of taking, making, and faking human life. He comes at the issue not so much from the stand point of the Biblical text, but rather from the philosophical, scientific, theological and cultural implications of modern biotechnological practices.

I guarantee you will want to download and listen to all five 13-minute installments over the next five Tuesdays. Enjoy and come back to share your thoughts!

You can read more about Nigel Cameron, here.

christian spirituality, theology, biotechnology, bioethics, bioscience

 

 Bioethics & Christian Spirituality: Introduction [13:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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