A Nun on the Bus: How All of Us Can Create Hope, Change, and Community by
These powerful, inspiring stories from the Nuns on the Bus tour and from Sister Simone's own life offer a fresh vision for a lived spirituality that is at the heart of today's progressive Christian movements working for change.
Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology by
In her new book, Monica A. Coleman articulates the African American expression of "making a way out of no way" for today's context of globalization, religious pluralism, and sexual diversity. Drawing on womanist religious scholarship and process thought, Coleman describes the symbiotic relationship among God, the ancestors, and humanity that helps to change the world into the just society it ought to be. Making a Way Out of No Way shows us a way of living for justice with God and proposes a communal theology that presents a dynamic way forward for black churches, African traditional religions and grassroots organizations.
No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice by
No Innocent Bystanders looks at the role of allies in social justice movements and asks what works, what doesn't, and why. It explains what allies legitimately can accomplish, what they can't, and what kind of humility and clarity is required to tell the difference. This book is a start-up guide for spiritual or religious people who are interested in working for social justice but don't know how or where to begin, drawing on the lessons of history, the framework of Christian ideas, and the insights of contemporary activists. It offers practical guidance on how to meaningfully and mindfully advocate alongside all who struggle for a more just society.
The Politics of Jesús: A Hispanic Political Theology by
The Politics of Jesus is a powerful new biography of Jesus told from the margins. Miguel A. De La Torre argues that we all create Jesus in our own image, reflecting and reinforcing the values of communities--sometimes for better, and often for worse. In light of the increasing economic and social inequality around the world, De La Torre asserts that what the world needs is a Jesus of solidarity who also comes from the underside of global power.
Liberating Biblical Study: Scholarship, Art, and Social Action in Honor of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice by
Liberating Biblical Study is a unique collaboration of pioneering biblical scholars, social-change activists, and movement-based artists. Well-known and unknown, veterans and newcomers, these diverse practitioners of justice engage in a lively and critical conversation at the intersection of seminary, sanctuary, and street. This volume is an accessible invitation to action that will appeal to all who love and strive for justice--whatever their discipline, and whatever their familiarity with the Bible, scholarship, art, and activist communities.
Purposes of Preaching by
What are the purposes of preaching? What should a good sermon accomplish? What is at stake in the church's preaching for individuals, religious communities, and the world? This collection of ten essays by noted homileticians offers a range of answers to these questions. The contributors also comment on what homiletics must do in the years ahead to strengthen the resources available for the church's preaching.
Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: African American Women and Religion by
This groundbreaking book begins with slavery and gives us a remarkable account of the religious faith, social and political activism, and extraordinary resilience of black women during the centuries of American growth and change. Jesus, Jobs, and Justice restores black women to their rightful place in American history, elucidating both the quality and consequence of their faith in themselves, their race, and their God.
God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now by
In God and Empire Crossan surveys the Bible from Genesis to Apocalypse, or the Book of Revelation, and discovers a hopeful message that cannot be ignored in these turbulent times. The first-century Pax Romana, Crossan points out, was in fact a "peace" won through violent military action. Jesus preached a different kind of peace--a peace that surpasses all understanding--and a kingdom not of Caesar but of God. The Romans executed Jesus because he preached this Kingdom of God, a kingdom based on peace and justice, over the empire of Rome, which ruled by violence and force. For Jesus and Paul, Crossan explains, peace cannot be won the Roman way, through military victory, but only through justice and fair and equal treatment of all people.
Justice: A Biblical Perspective by
Focusing on concepts and themes as they relate to the comprehensive view of justice contained in the Old and New Testaments, Justice: A Biblical Perspective brings together various passages to give the historical and literary context. Dempsey sets a clear definition of justice and its relationship to compassion, two virtues that lead to liberation.
Overrated: Are We More in Love with the Idea of Changing the World Than Actually Changing the World? by
Eugene Cho has a confession: "I like to talk about changing the world but I don't really like to do what it takes." If this is true of the man who founded the One Day's Wages global antipoverty movement, then what must it take to act on one's ideals? Cho does not doubt the sincerity of those who want to change the world. But he fears that today's wealth of resources and opportunities could be creating "the most overrated generation in history. We have access to so much but end up doing so little." He came to see that he, too, was overrated. As Christians, Cho writes, "our calling is not simply to change the world but to be changed ourselves." In Overrated, Cho shows that it is possible to move from talk to action.
Doing Justice in Our Cities: Lessons in Public Policy from America's Heartland by
Warren Copeland draws from his experience of more than two decades in city politics and addresses head on the issue of Christian ethics in public service. Throughout, he animates the discussion with numerous anecdotes from his tenure in City Hall, combining examples of specific ethical issues in American cities with theological and ethical reflection. Then he takes it a step further by including specific suggestions for addressing social injustice in a manner that is true to Christian faith.
Toward a Theology of Migration: Social Justice and Religious Experience by
Offering a theology of migration, Cruz reflects on the Christian vision of 'one bread, one body, one people' in view of the gifts and challenges of contemporary migration to Christian spirituality, mission, and inculturation and the need for reform of migration policies based on the experience of refugees, migrant women, and others.
Luke, Widows, Judges, and Stereotypes by
By putting historical criticism and reception history into dialogue with womanist biblical hermeneutics, Luke, Widows, Judges, and Stereotypes offers a provocative reading of Jesus' parable about a widow who confronts a judge and obtains what she seeks by means of physical threat. Rather than simply reading the widow as the model for "one who prays always and does not lose heart" (Luke 18:1), Dickerson shows that read in the context of Luke's wider narrative, the widow, domesticated and robbed both of her agency and moral ambiguity, is more likely demanding vengeance instead of justice. Likewise, rather than simply reading the judge as one "who neither feared God nor had respect for people" (Luke 18:2), Dickerson argues that the judge is both an ideal man and one who compromises standards of ancient masculinity. Then, reading both the widow and judge through African American stereotypes (Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire, Cool Black Male, Master-Pastor, and Foolish Judge) that are used to degrade, debase, and control, and reading them into and in light of the parable, Dickerson demonstrates how the parable calls into question these stereotypes thereby producing new liberative readings.