Books published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Written in a bold, inventive style, Xodus aims at a new, positive "reconstruction" of African American maleness in light of the black womanist movement, the men's movement, the recent vision of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the theological sensibilities of Howard Thurman.

Cheryl Sanders here sharpens the agenda of black liberation by offering both a fresh reading of historical black religion and a distinctive approach to Christian ethics. Arguing that the experience of oppression has been the catalyst for black moral life and thought, Sanders traces several paths or approaches that African American Christians have taken in moving from victimization to moral agency: testimony, protest, uplift, cooperation, achievement, remoralization, and ministry. Informative and engaging, earnest and constructive, Sanders's book envisions a new way of empowering people to take responsibility for their moral and spiritual development.

Gary Dorrien's major work addresses the roots of and remedy to the current crisis in American Christian social ethics.Focusing on the story of American liberal Protestantism, the book examines in fascinating depth the three major movements in this century - the Social Gospel, Christian Realism, and Liberation Theology - in a way that also brings African American, feminist, environmentalist, Catholic, and other voices into the increasingly multicultural quest.Dorrien then carefully assesses the crisis of social Christian thought in a culture that is increasingly secular, materialistic, and dominated by capitalism. He shows how the progressive Christian vision of social and economic democracy can be redeemed in the face of its apparent defeat. He argues strongly for a social Christianity faithful to the spiritual reality and kingdom-oriented ethic of the way of Christ.Dorrien's engaging narrative, knowledgeable and fair analysis, and thoughtful proposal bring desperately needed clarity and commitment to the Christian social conscience.

Newspapers daily document the violence that rends our times. Who can account for its relentless pervasion? Why is it also found fascinating or gripping? What is wrong with societies that produce it? Answers are elusive and fragile, renowned ethicist Huber believes. For, even apart from the gross brutalities of crime and war, he finds more subtle and covert violence in childrearing, family intimacy, schools, employee relations, entertainment, and competitive sports. Huber shows how the constant, everyday disregard of human dignity is a root of violence in all spheres, how the inviolability of dignity is the one absolutely necessary premise of countering violence, and how we can become personally vigilant in the service of human dignity. Huber's clear, sweeping creed articulates principles of a planetary ethos, a public theology for rebuilding personal and political culture rent by violence.

Brecht here describes the years in which the distinctive aspects of the Reformation took shape. During this time four difficult conflictsthe Peasants' War, the interchange between Luther and Erasmus, debates on the Lord's Supper, and the rise of Anabaptist groupsstrengthened the need to fashion new orders for govering the church and the need to develop new patterns for worship and the instruction of youth. Luther the theologian was occupied with problems of politics, economy, law, and education. In addition, his own life was altered by his marriage.