Our Church Speaks is an interesting introspection of the saints. It includes a short history of each saint, from the first century to modern-day saints, and is accompanied by illustrations.

What a helpful resource for those who want to learn more about the communion of saints and the great cloud of witnesses of the Christian faith! I look forward to using this throughout the liturgical year and for years to come!

I really enjoyed this book telling the stories of people of faith throughout history. One of the things that I appreciated the most was that this book didn't just focus on the usual heroes of faith who are mostly men, but they included many women who also helped form the faith that we practice, as well as some more modern heroes of the faith. The illustrations were really nice and added a lot to the stories, and the reflections included for each individual were thought provoking and well written. This book would be a great addition to any family or church library.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions are my own.

Lovely illustrations, and fine for what it is, but I would have liked to see more focus on the saints' lives and less on the modern meditations. I will commend that authors for their efforts to help a larger audience learn about these heroes of the the faith.

I love the idea of this book. Church history is important and this beautifully illustrated devotional book presents short biographies of notable Christians throughout history. My only complaint is that there isn't more quotes from the saints when it would have been possible. Each devotion also includes Scripture and a prayer. But overall a really interesting devotional book.

This book highlights 52 saints in the church with art, a summary of the person, a Bible verse, and a meditation. The book serves as a good introduction to saints from around the world and across church history. I recommended using this book as a devotional rather than reading the book at once to better distinguish the people and their impact.

Thank you NetGalley and InterVarsity Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I have been following Our Church Speaks on Instagram for over a year or maybe more. Thank you so much to Intervarsity and netgally for gifting this to me as a complimentary digital copy.

I myself am from a Protestant section of the Christian faith, and have been brought up to believe that all Christians are considered to be "saints" and need not be cannonised as my Catholic brothers tend to do. However, I have been brought up knowing and hearing about the work and faith of Christian "heros." Recently I am recognizing that whether "saints" or "heroes" maybe this is a case of semantics. All have set an example for us to lead similar lives of conviction and self sacrifice.

I was immediately drawn in by the illustrations created for each person mentioned in this selection of 52 saints, ancient and modern. I appreciate the selected people being from a wide array of locations and cultures. I think the entries may have been on the theologically and thoughtfully light side, but I appreciate having a launchpad or prompt for deeper study and discussion.

I have never used a litergical style of devotional before, and I enjoyed that aspect.

As with all devotionals and studies, I will be taking the teachings and thoughts with a grain of salt, taking in the good and profitable, building up the weak parts, and setting aside what doesn't fit with my faith.

I am all kinds of conflicted over this book.

There is much to love. I've been following Our Church Speaks on Instagram for over a year. I appreciate that Lansing and Marotta have brought both ancient and contemporary saints into a new generation. Through their art and knowledge of Church History, they have treated social media as a pedagogical tool for the discipleship of Christians across many traditions. The significance of what they have accomplished even before this book cannot be overstated. It is what drew me to this beautifully organized and informative devotional.

I appreciate the breadth of the saints they chose. They chose saints from different times, professions, and parts of the world. They chose to uplift saints that even after seven years in a Bachelor's and Master's program studying theology, I was unfamiliar with. One of the saints, Moses the Ethiopian was so captivating to me that I included it in my sermon the next Sunday after I read it. Most of this book is a treasure and well-suited for a clergy or layperson. Their selection of saints is true to their objective and it is evident that their desire is for readers to use this book to deepen their spiritual life. Their pastoral heart for the saints and for the reader comes through. The writing is easy to understand and the illustrations magnificent.

I would recommend 85% of this book. But I have been sitting with this book for weeks and I still can't get past the parts of this book that seemed to lack thought and care, especially for marginalized people.

I particularly have issues with the "meditation" sections of this book. As a whole, I found this part of the book unnecessary. It seems as if it is their way to try to make the saint relevant to modern day. In the author's interpretation of how it applies today, you can see an interpretive slant and bias. While some of that is inevitable, as every author has their own perspective, I would have appreciated more voices at the table or a consideration for how the broader church has commemorated or understood that saint. I believe it is more helpful to first understand the saint in their original context like how we look at Scripture in its original context, before trying to make a leap to life application. I think that Lansing and Marotta were aiming to do that, but should have let the reader make that jump through reflection questions or a brief survey of the a few different ways saints have been celebrated and interpreted by those who have carried their memory forward.

My specific grievances span three chapters. The first was in the chapter on Mary Slessor. They said, "On every continent, in nearly every culture, in every age there is a tragic history of the devaluing and killing of children. In our own age, abortions and child abandonment continue this pattern." They go on to talk about the church offering a cultural critique. I agree the church should be invested in the wellbeing of children and advocating for all marginalized groups. But if you are going to go there and make that argument, it should be broader than that. What about the children who are victims of sexual assault forced to carry a child to term? What about the black boys killed by police or 'concerned' citizens? What about the children who are abandoned or neglected not out of a lack of love, but out of a lack of resources? What about the children who have no option but to go to a public school that's falling apart? What about the children of "illegals"? To seek the wellbeing of children as a whole, the church needs to see the bigger picture. Mary Slessor saw the bigger picture. That should be the lesson for the church.

In the meditation for Josephine Bakhita, the meditation says, "It's not the comfort of therapy, where you must learn coping mechanisms to deal with the poverty of your spirit in order to feel blessed...None of these can offer the poor and poor in spirit what Jesus can offer." While, I would agree that there is something only Jesus can offer, I don't think it needs to be in competition with therapy. My therapist is an ordained deacon and I believe that Christ is present in our sessions and works through her expertise to help me live a more full, disciplined, and fruitful life. I really do not understand why the author felt the need to include that sentence.

The meditation for Harriet Tubman is entitled: "No Little People." The only way I can think to describe this meditation is: bizarre, especially given the saint on whom's life the meditation should be. If you asked me what Harriet Tubman can teach the church I would say something along the lines of, "A passion for justice, doing the will of God through freeing others even as that was not the will of her master, a holy resistance, someone who internalized and held onto the words of Scripture in a time of horrendous struggle." The author instead chooses the theme of "Look! Anyone can be used by God!" And within the meditation even says, "Jonah was a racist...And yet these are the people God chooses." I was hoping that if the authors were going to faithfully engage in an issue such as racism, it wouldn't just be a one-off sentence ESPECIALLY when discussing someone who was so important in freeing others from slavery. It felt very out of touch and dismissive of the deeper issues saints like Harriett Tubman should lead us to engage with and instead offer a feel-good meditation about how anyone can be used by God.

I went into this book excited and convinced it would be an easy 5-star read, informative and illuminating. Some of it was. There is so much good in this book. But I would recommend skipping over the meditations. The illustrations, history, and prayer are all beautiful. Meditation of those aspects alone make the book worth it to read. And maybe someday there will be a companion with many saints at the table reflecting on the historic saints as they understand them.

For the record, if I could give 3.5 stars, I would do that rather than 3.

Thank you InterVarsity Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed this book!

When I requested it from NetGalley, I hadn't connected the dots between the book title and the artistic project of the same name. I actually own a couple prints (which I've since framed) from them and totes love them and the artistic style and quotes, so that added an extra depth of enjoyment to the read.

The collection is diverse and well organized, and I enjoyed the setup--biography, scripture, and prayer. My liturgical-fangirl self geeks out hard over much of this, and I think it's a helpful addition to my devotional collection and faith journey. Plus, a great way to enjoy more of the artwork without springing for individual prints!

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I am glad that I was given the chance to read and review this book as I always love learning about different Saints and I always like trying new spiritual books.
I thought this was a lovely, informative book. I liked how the author had a diverse collection of Saints from different denominations. This book was a great starting point for learning about these amazing people. I had heard about some of these Saints before, but others were new to me or I hadn't realized that were Christian/spiritual.
I also liked the setup of the book - how each Saint was given an illustration, a little biography, a Bible verse, and then a meditation.

'Our Church Speaks' is a diverse collection of 52 faithful believers from church history and how they point us to trust in Christ. Each entry has a beautiful illustration, brief biography about the believer, lesson from the Bible, and crafted prayer. This is a great resource to go through in personal or family devotional time, or in a meeting with fellow believers.

Just like 'Foxe's Book of Martyrs', I greatly appreciated this opportunity to be challenged and encouraged by the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ. If you enjoy learning about believers who have said yes to following God even when it's difficult, then I recommend this devotional to you!

Special thanks to the Publisher, InterVarsity Press, and Net Galley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The cover and title caught my interest, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got into the meat of the book! I have now contacted my local bookstore to ask about pre-ordering because I need the physical copy. Hearing little snippets about different saints/important figures through the history of my faith is amazing, there's so much I didn't know! Excited to go more in depth with my own kids.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I’ve heard of several of these people but there were several that were new to me. I like the mediation points and scripture at the end of each bio. This is a good read to learning more about the various people that helped spread the gospel.

Absolutely love this book! I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end, and wish there were more entries! Highly recommended, and I can't wait for a second volume or expanded edition.

This book contains 52 entries of saints throughout church history, from apostolic fathers like Polycarp and early church fathers like Athanasius to medieval saints like Thomas Aquinas and modern figures such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Each entry comes with an artwork of the saint from @ourchurchspeaks (on Instagram) and a quote from him/her, a biography of the saint, a short write-up for devotion and meditation in response to the saint's life, and a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer.

There are also great pieces at the beginning and end of the book. The end contains 3 appendixes, one of which is a brief summary of 2000 years of church history. The Introduction, titled "Saints over Celebrities", starts by pointing out a problem with our modern society – everyone desires to be a celebrity. And this desire both transforms virtue into vanity (sometimes even without the doer noticing it) and generates anxiety to no end. The solution to this problem, the authors submit, is to "tune the frequency of our souls to the still-broadcasting song of the gospel being sung by the lives of men and women throughout the history of the church" (see also Hebrews 12:1-2). Saints are almost the diametrical opposite of celebrities - "The celebrity demands, “Look at me!” The saint whispers, “Look to God.” The celebrity says “Try to be like me, but you'll never be like me.” The saint says, “Why would anyone want to be like me? Who has God made you?” The celebrity is ever ascending, climbing the tower of Babel to the double-platinum throne. The saint is ever descending, saying, “Please have my seat, I insist.”

I end this review with the same invitation the authors extend to the reader: "Our church speaks. Those who have ears, let them hear."

if you're like me who is eager to learn about the church and the saints we have, then this book is the one for you. it has illustrations as well as a profound explanations and description as to who the saint is and their ways in the early times and what considered them to be a "saint. now i, myself, am a Catholic and i think this was written by a Christian perspective but i really believe that this can be for everyone! i suggest to also read this while having your Bible study as it is more fun that way but that's just me! reading this anytime is great as it also has prayers for every saint.

thank you so much to NetGalley for this book as well as the authors who really took their time to write this book <3

This is a fascinating book. The authors share 52 short stories of important Christians from throughout the 2,000 years of Church history. Some names you will recognize, others you probably never heard of before. Along with the short biographical sketch, the authors then share a Bible verse and a relevant short reflection. Each chapter also includes a beautiful illustration of the Christian figure and one memorable quote.

This book will give the reader a taste of Church history, jumping into stories from a wide variety of locations and historical periods. It made me want to learn more about many of these inspirational people. I appreciated the short, accessible chapters- perfect for reading one a day in five minutes. But I found that I often did not stop at one, as my curiosity kept me turning the pages!

Many Christians will recognize the images in Our Church Speaks - the religious icons created for this project are popular on social media, including among progressive Christians. However, as lovely as these graphics are, and as much as I agree with the premise that Christians can learn a great deal by turning to the Calendar of Saints, I would not recommend Our Church Speaks as the way to do that. The text editorialized significantly around the importance of individual figures (for example, Josephine Bakhita is cited as part of the lineage of righteous opposition to abortion, a position not supported by many denominations), and overall is a very conservative approach to the lives of the saints. I might encourage potential readers to turn to this text for a model of how to approach the Calendar of Saints as a devotional practice, but to eschew the actual materials it contains once they have gleaned the overall approach. Additionally, editorializing aside, the authors have a strange and not very skillful writing style that frequently jolts the reader out of the material at hand.

I received this for free from netgalley for an honest review.

A really wonderful book I highly recommend it if you're into religion and history.