Books by Al Staggs

""Al Staggs knows about words and puts them to fresh and suggestive use. He knows about brutality that shows its ugly face in too many places. And he knows about phoniness that supports evil by its default. With his words he conducts guerilla warfare, leaving us unsettled, seeing more clearly than we might wish, inviting us to decide anew. No easy slumbers here!""--Walter Brueggeman""Al Staggs writes his poetry with the passion of a prophet. Like Amos of old, he recognizes that divine worship is nothing but human justice being offered to God and that human justice is nothing but divine worship being acted out. His words call religious spokesperson and political leaders who lace their rhetoric with religious phrases alike to acknowledge both their idolatry and their hypocrisy. Read him and weep for what your country has become and for what Christianity is no more."" --John Shelby SpongAl Staggs holds a B.A. from Hardin-Simmons University, an M.R.E. from Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from Harvard Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In the spring of 1983 he was honored as a Charles E. Merrill Fellow at Harvard with major emphasis in applied theology under the direction of Harvey Cox. After serving as a pastor for 24 years, Al became a full-time performing artist. His repertoire of seven programs includes characterizations of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Clarence Jordan, and Oscar Romero. He has been writing and publishing poetry related to the themes of peace and justice throughout his careers as pastor and performer.

""In moving poetry, Al Staggs has given us a book that raises all the questions that should be raised about our consumerist and materialistic society. This is not only an intellectual challenge but it is a moral challenge as well."" --Tony Campolo, PhD""You continue to nail the sin of our time--greed and gluttony at the top, despair and tedium below, and a great chasm without empathy in between. In doing so, you continue to remind me of the power of one man''s witness, a single light in his hand as darkness settles around us. But from that one small beacon shines the hope that is the beginning of redemption."" --Bill MoyersAl Staggs holds a BA from Hardin-Simmons University, an MRE from Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary, a ThM from Harvard Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In the spring of 1983 he was honored as a Charles E. Merrill Fellow at Harvard with major emphasis in applied theology under the direction of Harvey Cox. After serving as a pastor for 24 years, Al became a full-time performing artist. His repertoire of seven programs includes characterizations of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Clarence Jordan, and Oscar Romero. He has been writing and publishing poetry related to the themes of peace and justice throughout his careers as pastor and performer.