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age will mean having to accept growing
dependence—but being a burden is
“part of the price we pay for loving and
being loved,” he provocatively writes.
Besides his thoughtful theology,
Willimon offers practical suggestions
for what Christian churches can do for
aging people and their caregivers, and
prompts the aging with ways they can
serve. Older Christians, those who
attend to the elderly, and congregations
in general will find this to be a valuable
pastoral resource. (Apr.)★ The Magic of Marie Laveau:
Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of
the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans
Denise Alvarado. Weiser, $16.95 trade paper
(240p) ISBN 978-1-57863-673-0
Anthropologist and Louisiana folk
magic “rootworker” Alvarado (The
Voodoo Doll Spellbook) rejects the sensa-
tional accounts of voodoo queen Marie
Laveau (1801–1881) to present a com-
prehensive, intensely researched, and
imminently readable narrative of her life
and spirituality. Alvarado examined legal
documents, historical interviews, oral
tradition, testi-
mony of voodoo
practitioners,
and Laveau’s
genealogy to
create her
account, which
also features a
compendium of
prayers, rituals,
and spells asso-
ciated with
voodoo. Laveau was born a free woman of
color in New Orleans and was a devout
Catholic, slave owner, philanthropist,
nurse, and volunteer who performed
many charitable works, and was likely a
hair dresser to upper class white women.
Beginning her career as a voodoo queen
in the 1820s, Laveau was a driving force
in the formation of New Orleans voodoo
and the Creole voodoo religion, combining
African traditions, Dahomean cosmology,
the loa spirit Papa Legba, and Hoodoo
magical practice. Nearly half of the book
contains spellwork, including candle
magic, Catholic conjure, fetishism, gris
gris, and water rituals—for purposes
including keeping a lover, finding a losteducated risk-taking, collaboration,
perseverance, self-regulation, and the
“ultimate life skills: hope and optimism.”
Levine also emphasizes the ability to
thrive amid uncertainty, illustrated with
stories of people
who have evinced
this skill, both
famous—Steve
Jobs, who sur-
vived being
fired from his
own company—
and not—a
medical techni-
cian who fled
her native South
Vietnam at age 15. While the issues raised
are relatively familiar, Levine pulls
together a solid set of recommendations
for dealing with them. Plenty of parents
will benefit from her treatise on how to
prepare children for an uncertain future.
(Feb.)Religion/Spirituality
★ Aging: Growing Old in Church
Will Willimon. Baker Academic, $21.99 trade
paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-5409-6081-8
Willimon (Accidental Preacher), bishop
emeritus in the United Methodist
Church and professor at Duke Divinity
School, encourages aging Americans to
“think like Christians about elderhood”
in this bracing sermon of a book. The
twilight years of one’s life is a time of
inevitable
diminishments
but also of
unprecedented
opportunities
to serve God
and others in
the last period
of life, which
lasts longer
than it did two
generations ago,
he notes. Retirement is a whole new life,
Willimon argues, one for which the
church can and should help its people
prepare, especially given that church
congregations “are graying even faster
than the general American population.”
Willimon contends that, for many, oldperson, healing, and attacking enemies.
This insightful resourceful is a thorough
examination of Laveau’s legendary status
and will be an invaluable reference for
devotees of the Laveau voodoo tradition.
(Feb.)Buddha’s Office: The Ancient Art
of Waking Up While Working Well
Dan Zigmond. Running Press, $18 (240p)
ISBN 978-0-7624-9458-3
Data scientist and Zen priest Zigmond
(Buddha’s Diet) turns to Buddhist wisdom
in this insightful guide to addressing
the stresses of the modern workplace.
Though the Buddha “never worked a day
in his life,”
Zigmond
writes, his
teachings offer
guidelines for
“right liveli-
hood,” one of
the steps of the
Eightfold Path
to enlighten-
ment. Zigmond
suggests that work, being such a critical
part of modern life, is “an integral part of
truly waking up.” He asks readers to take
a step back, pay attention, and be more
conscious in creating and sustaining
healthy relationships with oneself and
workplace colleagues. Along the way,
Zigmond covers the fundamentals of
Buddhist thought and encourages mind-
fulness meditation as the basis for
everyday navigation of work situations,
among them office disagreements, career
advancement, workplace friendships and
romances, work-life balance, and multi-
tasking. Working Buddhists and those
interested in Buddhist mindfulness will
find this to be an accessible, down-to-earth
handbook for finding a “middle path” while
at the office. (Jan.)The Gospel According to Satan:
Eight Lies About God That Sound
Like the Truth
Jared C. Wilson. Thomas Nelson, $17.99
trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-40-021204-0
In this vociferous work, Wilson
(Supernatural Power for Everyday People),
director of content strategy at Midwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary, explores
what he believes are eight common lies