Archive for December, 2011

Wheaton, IL (December 30, 2011)—Crossway is pleased to announce that Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian received the 2012 Christianity Today Book Award in the category of Christian Living on December 29, 2011. The 390 titles submitted by 52 publishers were narrowed down to 12 winners.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything is the equation that changed Tchividjian’s life during his most difficult season of ministry—shortly after taking over for D. James Kennedy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. Tchividjian turned to scripture, specifically the book of Colossians, and realized his utter bankruptcy apart from Christ. As he clung to Jesus, this discouraged pastor experienced how the gospel frees believers from the pressure to perform, their addiction to being liked, and the slavery of self-righteousness.

Tchividjian calls readers to rediscover the gospel and continually reorient their lives around Jesus. “Tchividjian diagnoses how and why Christians form gospels to suit themselves,” writes CT Associate Editor Matt Reynolds. “Prepare to be exposed and counseled into a true recovering of the gospel.”

Tempted and Tried by Russell Moore received a Christianity Today Award of Merit in the category of Christian Living and Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins received an Award of Merit in the category of Biblical Studies.

Commissioned to Commemorate 400^th Anniversary of the King James Bible

Dec 14, 2011 (Wheaton, IL)—On Friday December 16^th, The Crossing @ Christmas will offer the East Coast premiere of Alpha and Omega by James MacMillan, in concert at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA. The Crossing is a choir in Philadelphia led by Donald Nally, conductor and chorus master. The piece will air on 90 public radio stations throughout December and will be available for commercial release in October 2012.

Alpha and Omega was commissioned by Soli Deo Gloria and sponsored by Crossway and the University of Chicago. The vision for the work originated with Dr. Lane Dennis, President and Publisher at Crossway, whose idea it was to partner with Soli Deo Gloria to commission a great contemporary musical work, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible.

This six-minute sacred choral piece is set to the ESV text of Revelation 21:1-6a. “It is a beautiful passage…from the book of the apocalypse,” explains MacMillan. “It basically addresses Christ as the beginning and the end of everything.” MacMillan masterfully handles the ambiguities of a both apocalyptic and celebratory passage. “It is my principle priority in being a composer…to allow extremes to confront each other,” MacMillan says. “For the joyful and the terrifying to co-habit the same time-space.”

The choral piece premiered at the University of Chicago on June 4, 2011 by The Rockefeller Chapel Choir and Motet Choir. “Though brief at just six minutes, Alpha and Omega is a lovely miniature surely crafted and distinctive in the vein of MacMillan’s music,” writes Lawrence A. Johnson in The Chicago Classical Review.

The broadcast from the performance by The Crossing will be available to all PRI stations internationally from December 16-31.

###

Crossway is an internationally-recognized, not-for-profit publisher of Christian books, the ESV Bible (English Standard Version), and gospel literature. For more information on Crossway, visit www.crossway.org. For more information on the ESV Bible, visit www.esv.org.