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IVP to publish ‘one of the most important Christian artists of our day’ Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Monday, 15 September 2014 02:40 PM America/New_York

MakotoFujimura-webInterVarsity Press (IVP) has announced the acquisition of three books by Makoto Fujimura, Andy Crouch and the late Richard Twiss, who have been described as a culture shaper, a visionary on culture, and a reconciler, respectively.

“For decades, IVP has been committed to offering a multiplicity of voices to enrich the church,” said Andy Le Peau, associate publisher for editorial at InterVarsity Press. “These new books by Fujimura, Crouch and Twiss will do just that.”

Fujimura is an artist, writer and speaker whose work is featured at galleries around the world. He is one of the first artists to paint live on stage at New York City’s Carnegie Hall as part of an ongoing collaboration with composer and percussionist Susie Ibarra.

“Makoto Fujimura is a world-renowned visual artist, and his work has often explored the intersection of suffering and faith,” said Al Hsu, senior editor for IVP Books. “Now his forthcoming book takes him on a personal journey into Japanese history to the time of persecution chronicled by Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence. Fujimura’s book will be published in conjunction with the release of Martin Scorsese’s film version of Silence around Christmas 2015, which will be an opportunity for our culture to reflect on the possibility of faith in a suffering world where God seems silent.”

“It will be a publishing event to have Makoto Fujimura, one of the most important Christian artists of our day, offer historical and personal perspectives on Endo’s book and what the experiences of Christians in Japan can teach us all,” Le Peau added.

Crouch is writing a follow-up to his book Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, in which he unpacked the dynamics of power that either can make human flourishing possible or can set out to destroy the image of God in people.

“Andy Crouch continues to be one of the most incisive, clear-headed observers of our day,” Le Peau said. “This new practical book will help leaders embrace their authority without just playing it safe so they and those they lead flourish and grow fully.”

Crouch’s first book with IVP, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, won Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and was named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership. Crouch serves as executive editor of Christianity Today, where he is also executive producer of This Is Our City, a multiyear project featuring documentary video, reporting and essays about Christians seeking the flourishing of their cities.

Twiss was co-founder and president of Wiconi International, which seeks reconciliation between Native Americans and other Americans. IVP will be releasing his unpublished manuscript titled Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way (July 2015).

“Richard Twiss was one of the key Native/indigenous leaders of our time, and his untimely death in 2013 was a great shock to many of us,” said Hsu, editor for Twiss’ new book. “But we’re grateful that he still speaks to us through this manuscript, which he had essentially completed just days before his passing. In it, we hear his prophetic critique of colonialism and a compelling vision for contextualization, ministry and mission. It’s an honor for IVP to be entrusted with his final words as a gift for the wider church.”

In 1972, Twiss was a participant in the forced occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington, D.C., with the radical political group the American Indian Movement or AIM. He later became a minister, author and public speaker. His vision was to “serve as a bridge-builder and consultant, nationally and internationally, to develop understanding, respect and mutual appreciation for one another, especially among Native American/First Nations people.”