Books by Stanley Hauerwas

Sermons from one of the country¿s best-known theologians.Stanley Hauerwas was named ¿Best Theologian¿ by Time magazine in 2001. His writings are controversial and well-read, including Hannah¿s Child, a memoir that ends about the time he became an Episcopalian. This collection includes 17 sermons, from ¿Saints¿ and ¿Letting Go,¿ to ¿Recognizing Jesus/Seeing Salvation¿ and ¿Clothe Your Ministers in Righteousness.¿ There are two bonus presentations on ¿Leadership¿ and ¿An Open Letter to Christians Beginning College¿ in the appendix.

""If anything, these prayers are plain. They are so because I discovered I could not pray differently than I speak. In other words, I thought it would be a mistake to try to assume a different identity when I prayed. I figured (Texans ''figure'') that God could take it, because God did not need to be protected. I think I learned this over the years by praying the Psalms in church. God does not want us to come to the altar different from how we live the rest of our lives. Therefore I do not try to be pious or use pious language in these prayers. I try to speak plainly, yet I hope with some eloquence, since nothing is more eloquent than simplicity.""So writes Stanley Hauerwas in the introduction to this collection of prayers, as inimitable as the widely respected (and argued with) theologian himself. Originally prayed in Hauerwas'' divinity school classroom - on a variety of occasions including war, births, Yom Kippur and the death of a beloved cat - they not only display an invigorating faith but demonstrate how late-modern Christians can pray with all the passion, turbulence and life of the ancient psalmists.

Stanley Hauerwas challenges contemporary Christians to imagine what it might mean to break back into Christianity in a world that is at best semi-Christian. He engages, often quite critically, with a range of prominent theological and philosophical figures.

Without conforming to Jesus, our colony and our faith will fail.

Narrative Theology is still with us, to the delight of some and to the chagrin of others. 'Why Narrative? is in reprint because it represents what is still a very important question. This diverse collection of essays on narrative theology has proven very useful in university and seminary theology classes. It is also of great use as a primer for the educated layperson or church study group. Jones and Hauerwas have done an excellent job of selecting representative essays that deal with appeals to narrative in areas such as personal identity and human action, biblical hermeneutics, epistemology, and theological and ethical method.

Intended for the clergy as well as academics and students to provide guidance in reading the Bible under the rule of faith, this title aims to recover classical theological commentary for the 21st century. It demonstrates the intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

Synopsis:The crucial challenge for theology is that when it is read the reader thinks, "This is true." Recognizing claims that are "true" enables readers to identify an honest expression of life's complexities. The trick is to show that theological claims--the words that must be used to speak of God--are necessary if the theologian is to speak honestly of the complexities of life. The worst betrayal of the task of theology comes when the theologian fears that the words he or she must use are not necessary.This new collection of essays, lectures, and sermons by Stanley Hauerwas is focused on the central challenge, risk, and difficulty of this necessity--working with words about God. The task of theology is to help us do things with words. "God" is not a word peculiar to theology, but if "God" is a word to be properly used by Christians, the word must be disciplined by Christian practice. It should, therefore, not be surprising that, like any word, we must learn how to say "God."Endorsements:"The essays and sermons in Working with Words reveal that the vibrancy of Stanley Hauerwas arises from his single-minded, manic determination to learn from Jesus and the Scriptures to see and speak as a Christian, and to teach other Christians to do the same."--Peter J. LeithartNew St. Andrews Collegeauthor of Defending Constantine"Working with Words displays more clearly than ever before the basso ostinato that is Wittgenstein's imprint on the Hauerwasian dialect . . . This is vintage Hauerwas."--Jennifer A. HerdtProfessor of Christian Ethics, Yale University "Whether preaching or teaching, writing or conversing, Stanley Hauerwas serves the Word with words--careful words, bold words, nuanced words, provocative words. . . . Reading Working with Words is its own reward, as are the insights one receives upon its completion."--Michael L. Buddeauthor of The Borders of Baptism: Identities, Allegiances, and the Church (forthcoming in the Theopolitical Visions series of Cascade Books). "Thanks be to God that we are blessed with a God who loves us enough to say something substantial to us. And thanks for Stanley Hauerwas who is able to say so well what God says."--William H. WillimonBishop, The United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Alabama Area"Stanley Hauerwas is a word provocateur-but always in service to the Word that is our life and our hope."--Debra Dean Murphyauthor of Teaching That Transforms: Worship as the Heart of Christian Education"They range wide and deep, offering both priestly affirmation and prophetic critique. Writing as always in his distinctively Christian voice, Hauerwas helps his audience to cease mumbling and fumbling about the Gospel and the Church. Indeed, he leaves us without excuse for speaking anything other than Christian."--Ralph C. WoodUniversity Professor of Theology and LiteratureBaylor UniversityAuthor Biography:Stanley Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School. Publishers Weekly named his memoir, Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir, one of the Best Religion Titles of 2010.

How does biotechnology touch on human destiny? What are its promises and challenges? In search for a response, the present volume turns to the thought of Hans Jonas, one of the pioneers and founding fathers of bioethics. The continued relevance of his ideas is exemplified by the way Jurgen Habermas applies them to the current debate. The chief promise of biotechnology is to increase our freedom by overcoming the limits of the human condition. The main risk of biotechnology, as both Jonas and Habermas see it, is to diminish or outright abolish our capacity for responsibility and morality. It is argued that the greater freedom is not simply freedom from constraints but freedom for our destiny: the freedom to be the benevolent, responsible, and spontaneous authors of our lives, capable of communion and love. The touchstone for evaluating any biotechnological procedure has to be this greater freedom.

Stanley Hauerwas begins this volume with a vigorous response to the charge of sectarianism leveled against his work by James Gustafson, among others. "Show me where I am wrong about God, Jesus, the limits of liberalism, the nature of the virtues, or the doctrine of the church," Hauerwas replies to his critics, "but do not shortcut that task by calling me a sectarian."The essays that follow explore in a lucid, compelling, firm, and provocative way the church's nature, message, and ministry in the world. Hauerwas writes on the church as God's new language, on clerical character, on the pastor as prophet, on the ministry of the local congregation, on grace and public virtue, and on the relation of church and university.Underlying Hauerwas's argument is his conviction that "the most important knowledge Christian convictions involve, and there is much worth knowing for which Christians have no special claim, requires a transformation of the self. Christianity is no 'world view,' not a form of primitive metaphysics, that can be assessed in comparison to alternative 'world views.' Rather, Christians are people who remain convinced that the truthfulness of their beliefs must be demonstrated in their lives. There is a sense in which Christian convictions are self-referential, but the reference is not to propositions but to lives."

In Sanctify them in the Truth Stanley Hauerwas provides an overview of the development of theology and ethics. He considers how the two disciplines interrelate, discusses the nature of sin, how any account of sin requires a more determinative account of moral law, the nature of sanctification, the body as a subject for Christian holiness, and the relationship between sanctification and truthfulness. The volume ends with sermons - Hauerwas emphasizes the freedom the sermons create, as they remind us that the words we use are not our words. The inclusion of sermons also underlines Hauerwas' point that the truth of the gospel cannot be discovered apart from its embodiment in specific communities of faith. The Christian life, he argues, is not about being in possession of "the truth," defined as a set of timeless and universal principles of belief and action. Rather, it is about learning and living the life of truthfulness toward God and one another.For this Cornerstones edition Hauerwas has provided a new preface that places the work in the present debate and brings this remarkable work to a new audience.

This work slashes through the tangled undergrowth which Christianity in America has become, to clear a space for those to whom theology still matters. The author engages, often critically, with the thought of major theological and philosophical figures such as Martin Luther King.

These twelve sermons by renowned author and pastor William Willimon, with responses by theologian Stanley Hauerwas, demonstrate the fruitfulness and difficulty of the interaction between theologians and practicing pastors. In this book, the authors suggest an intriguing way to think about theological work within the church. In this intriguing...

A Hauerwas "reader", this book is aimed at undergraduate students of ethics. The author characterizes non-violence as the cornerstone of Christian ethics.

How are American identity and America's presence in the world shaped by war, and what does God have to do with it? Esteemed theologian Stanley Hauerwas helps readers reflect theologically on war, church, justice, and nonviolence in this compelling volume, exploring issues such as how America depends on war for its identity, how war affects the soul of a nation, the sacrifices that war entails, and why war is considered "necessary," especially in America. He also examines the views of nonviolence held by Martin Luther King Jr. and C. S. Lewis, how Jesus constitutes the justice of God, and the relationship between congregational ministry and Christian formation in America.

Leading theological ethicist Stanley Hauerwas shows how discussions of Christology and the authority of scripture involve questions about what kind of community the church must be to rightly tell the stories of God. He challenges the dominant assumption of contemporary Christian social ethics that there is a special relation between Christianity and some form of liberal democratic social system.

Describing Hauerwas' work as Christian ethics, one can allow that phrase its full scope of meaning. It is the work of an ethician, who is thoroughly conversant with that branch of philosophy and comes to grips with its major issues.

Some fourteen years after its initial publication, this important and influential book, with a new, substantial, and candid introduction by the author, is available in a reasonably priced paperback edition. In this volume Hauerwas assesses recent interest in the "ethics of character" and suggests areas in his own work that now call for some corrective and/or further work.

This work investigates the distinctiveness of virtues as illuminated by Christian practise using a discussion of Aristotle's ethics with contemporary scholars. It contrasts non-Christian accounts of virtue with Christian accounts of key virtues, including obedience, hope, courage, and patience.

Deals with patriotism and pacifism, justice and revenge. Critiquing government policy, citizen apathy, and societal justifications following the attacks, this title presents a range of opinions on such issues as contemporary American foreign policy; and the relationship between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.