PURPLE STATE OF MIND - THE BOOK

Our culture is reeling from divisiveness and strife. People are divided politically (into red and blue states), morally, and spiritually. Successful author and Hollywood filmmaker Craig Detweiler reveals how to be a "purple" Christian - a follower of Christ who finds middle ground, not to compromise but to converse. He empowers readers to build relationships rather than erect barriers so they can more effectively communicate and live out the good news. This relevant and practical guide reveals ways to...communicate the gospel with humility, promote prolife and pro-family positions in a pluralistic society, love members of the gay community, relate to people in other faith traditions The Christian community has become known for what it opposes rather than what it proposes-faith, hope, and love. A Purple State of Mind dismantles unhelpful misrepresentations of Jesus' life-giving message and presents it in a fresh, contemporary way.

Books by John

Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind. Read an excerpt here.

Praise for Reasons to Believe:

"REASONS TO BELIEVE illuminates a world that most people think they know, but don't. Marks's discoveries about Christianity in America will reshape your view of the future of faith." - Bruce Fletcher, author of Walking the Bible

"For an intelligent, first-person tour through the large American evangelical landscape, readers could not do much better than John Marks's REASONS TO BELIEVE" - U.S. News and World Report

"Marks gives us a stunning glimpse of American evangelicalism in all its variety." - Publishers Weekly

The Wall: A New York Times Notable Book. The Berlin Wall falls, and the world changes forever. A tale of spies, journalists, revolutionaries, and the man who loves them all.

War Torn: Best of 2003, Publishers Weekly. The scars of the Twentieth Century heal in Berlin while a Bosnian city is torn apart by war. Two lovers are caught in between the ghosts of the past and the violence of the present.

Fangland: Soon to be a major motion picture, starring Hilary Swank. What if Count Dracula was alive and well, and obsessed with the Holocaust? Read it and believe.

Books by Craig

A Matrix of Meanings: All the biggest, messiest pop cultural forms rolled into one rollicking book. Where is God amidst movies, music,TV, and art? What is spiritual about celebrities, advertising, sports and fashion? Students and scholars dig our matrix...

Into the Dark: Screening the Sacred: A survey of the top films of the 21st century based upon the Internet Movie Database. I tackle mindbending movies like Memento, Eternal Sunshine, and Donnie Darko. Revelant Magazine named it one of the most anticipated books of 2008.

Behind the Screen: Friends and colleagues in Hollywood weigh in on how to navigate the Entertainment Industry. My chapter covers the complex history between the Church and Hollywood, from a tangled past to our more cooperative future. Book proceeds benefit the Act One Program.

Practitioners: Voices within the Emerging Church: This book arose from a series of conversastions called The Soliton Sessions. I was honored to join Emerging Church leaders gathered in Ventura, California to consider the future of the faith. Fresh, funny, insightful.