Books published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Intersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide offers a pathway for reflective Christians, pastors, and theologians to apply the concepts and questions of intersectionality to theology. Intersectionality is a tool for analysis, developed primarily by black feminists, to examine the causes and consequences of converging social identities (gender, race, class, sexual identity, age, ability, nation, religion) within interlocking systems of power and privilege (sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, nativism) and to foster engaged, activist work toward social justice. Applied to theology, intersectionality demands attention to the Christian thinker's own identities and location within systems of power and the value of deep consideration of complementary, competing, and even conflicting points of view that arise from the experiences and understandings of diverse people.This book provides an overview of theories of intersectionality and suggests questions of intersectionality for theology, challenging readers to imagine an intersectional church, a practice of welcome and inclusion rooted in an ecclesiology that embraces difference and centers social justice.Rather than providing a developed systematic theology, Intersectional Theology encourages readers to apply its method in their own theologizing to expand their own thinking and add their experiences to a larger theology that moves us all toward the kin-dom of God.

"A remarkable, accessible, winsome guide to the complexity of the Old Testament for any reader who does not know where to begin. This book will be a rich resource for study gorups that want to grow and are at ease with irreverence." - Walter Brueggemann - Back cover.

Riding the age wave with graceIn this inspiring book, Roland D. Martinson draws on the folk wisdom and experience of over fifty persons between the ages of sixty-two and ninety-seven. He puts this wisdom in conversation with scriptural and theological understandings of elders in the last third of life and sets forth perspectives on aging for individuals, groups, civic organizations, and congregations to utilize in developing a vital, resilient, and productive quality of life for elders.The book explores some current age-wave numbers and explores elderhood in relation to Scripture, theology, and the wisdom of "pioneers and pathfinders." Practical direction is given for conversation and action based on exploring elder identity, presence, partnerships, passions, purpose, powers, and promise.Martinson lays out a process for helping communities, including faith communities, become "vital aging centers" where elders are called to look honestly and hopefully at life's third chapter and to make it a time of discovery, adventure, and capacity. The volume will help congregations better serve the needs of elders and integrate elder wisdom and capacity in their mission and ministry.

Shoki Coe was among the first to speak of "contextualization" in theology. Coe argued that theology is not a reiteration of past formulas or doctrines but a response to the self-disclosing initiative of the living God in history and human experience. Yet he remains little known outside his native Taiwan. Wresting with God in Context introduces Coe's work and social vision and evaluates his contributions to the field of missiology and ecclesiology. Eager to offer a creative and critical witness to Christian faith, Coe worked tirelessly to liberate theology from its Western captivity and shaped a generation of theological reflection on God, culture, and history. For thousands of students and church members around the world, Shoki Coe was the spiritual father that guided their contextual theological pursuit to the living reality of God. In order to reflect on his legacy, the chapters in this volume--including original essays from Stephen Bevans, Dwight Hopkins, and Enrique Dussel--tackle the critical, methodological issues related to doing theology, reading the Scriptures, and being the church.

MLK and the Practice of SpiritualityThe scholarship on Martin Luther King Jr. is seriously lacking in terms of richly nuanced and revelatory treatments of his spirituality and spiritual life. This book addresses this neglect by focusing on King's life as a paradigm of a deep, vital, engaging, balanced, and contagious spirituality. It shows that the essence of the person King was lies in the quality of his own spiritual journey and how that translated into not only a personal devotional life of prayer, meditation, and fasting but also a public ministry that involved the uplift and empowerment of humanity. Much attention is devoted to King's spiritual leadership, to his sense of the civil rights movement as "a spiritual movement," and to his efforts to rescue humanity from what he termed a perpetual "death of the spirit." Readers encounter a figure who took seriously the personal, interpersonal, and sociopolitical aspects of the Christian faith, thereby figuring prominently in recasting the very definition of spirituality in his time. King's "holistic spirituality" is presented here with a clarity and power fresh for our own generation.

Visser 't Hooft and the Shaping of Ecumenical TheologyVisser 't Hooft is, perhaps, the most distinguished figure in the modern ecumenical movement, emerging in the postwar decades as a pivotal figure. Under his leadership, the World Council of Churches was officially constituted in 1948 by 147 Protestant and Orthodox Catholic denominations, and the organization grew to include nearly 300 denominations in the following decades. Visser 't Hooft played a major role in the inclusion of churches from communist countries in the World Council, and he also sought to enlarge the role played by African, Asian, and Orthodox churches in the organization. He served as editor of the Ecumenical Review from 1948 to 1966. He was also the author of numerous books on the ecumenical movement and the nature and functions of the church.

The Bible can be hard to understand. To many of us, it often does seem like a crazy book. But, according to the authors of Crazy Book, the crazy book we call the Bible actually teaches us the sanity that we need. The sanity that lets us know who God is, who we are in light of God's love, and where God's love can be found and experienced.Very similar in tone and organization to Crazy Talk, the authors of Crazy Book unleash their passion, faith, and humor. This time they have their sights on the Bible and biblical terms, and they don't hold back. Here, they've elected to focus on major people, events, places, books, and types of literature in the Bible communicating the life-giving truth of the Bible via often knock-em-dead humor. The volume's savvy and sassy overtones are bound to leave an impression. An accessible book almost devoid of scholarly jargon but filled with scholarly insight.The revised and expanded addition includes new and expanded entries and all new images.

In this first of three volumes addressing Luther's outlaw God, Steven D. Paulson considers the two "monsters" of theology, as Luther calls them: evil and predestination. He explores how these produce fear of God but can also become the great and only comforts of conscience when a preacher arrives.Luther's new distinction between God as he is preached and God without any preacher absolutely frightened all of the schools of theology that preceded it, and for that matter all that followed Luther, as well. That fear coalesced in various opponents like Eck and Latomus, but in a special way in Desiderius Erasmus.For Paulson, bad theology begins with bad preaching, and since the church is what preaching does, bad preaching hides the church under such a dark blanket that it can hardly be detected. He argues that the primary distinction of naked/clothed or unpreached/preached radiates out in all directions for Luther's theology, and shows what difference this makes for current preaching. Specifically, Paulson takes up the central question of all theology (and life): What is God's relation to the law, and the law's relation to God? Luther's answers are surprising and will change the way you preach.

Each volume in the Insights series discusses discoveries and insights gained into biblical texts from a particular approach or perspective in current scholarship. Accessible and appealing to today's students, each Insight volume discusses:-how this method, approach, or strategy was first developed and how its application has changed over time;-what current questions arise from its use;-what enduring insights it has produced; and-what questions remain for future scholarship.In this volume, Karl Allen Kuhn provides a description of what cultural anthropology is and how the discipline has impacted biblical studies. Looking at Scripture through the lens of cultural anthropology is related to social-scientific criticism, which refers to that phase of the exegetical task that analyzes the social and cultural dimensions of the text and its environmental context through the utilization of the perspectives, theories, models, and research of the social sciences.Kuhn discusses general matters garnered from cultural-anthropology interpretation that would be relevant for the study of biblical texts. He analyzes several biblical specific texts from a cultural-anthropology perspective and provides conclusions, challenges, and considerations for the future of cultural anthropology and biblical interpretation.

A title that proceeds through the canon of the Old Testament and the apocrypha, judiciously presenting the state of historical, archaeological, and literary understanding of the biblical text, and engaging the student in questions of significance and interpretation for the contemporary world.

Mihee Kim-Kort is a wife, a mom and a Presbyterian minister. And she's queer, which has brought her closer to Jesus and taught her how to love better. Outside the Lines shows us how God loves us in queer ways. When we love ourselves and our neighbors with the boundary-breaking love of God, we live out queer spirituality in the world.

You're probably missing some of the most interesting books of the Bible.In the Jewish tradition, the five books known as "The Five Scrolls" perform a central liturgical function as the texts associated with each of the major holidays. The Song of Songs is read during Passover, Ruth during Shavuot, Lamentations on Tisha B'av, Ecclesiastes during Sukkot, and Esther during the celebration of Purim. Together with the five books of the Torah, these texts orient Jewish life and provide the language of the faith.In the Christian tradition, by contrast, these books have largely been forgotten. Many churchgoers can't even find them in their pew Bibles. They are rarely preached, come up only occasionally in the lectionary, and are not the subject of Bible studies. Thus, their influence on the lives and theology of many Christians is entirely negligible. But they deserve much more attention. With scholarly wisdom and a quick wit, Williamson insists that these books speak urgently to the pressing issues of the contemporary world. Addressing themes of human sexuality, grief, immigration, suffering and protest, ethnic nationalism, and existential dread, he skillfully guides readers as they rediscover the relevance of the Five Scrolls for today.

It is time for the Holy Spirit to get its own street cred! There shall be no more third-wheeling the ever-present, life-sustaining, and empowering member of the Trinity. In this guide to the Spirit, Kim is putting the Holy Ghost back where it belongs; after all, the Spirit gave birth to the church and kept it rocking, rolling, revivaling, and transforming across time and culture. Throughout the book, you will get a taste of the different ways the church has understood the Spirit, partnered with the Paraclete, and imaged the Spirit in scripture. Most importantly, Kim brings together the tradition with contemporary culture, science, and the many tongues and testimonies of the global church.The compelling power of this volume comes from the creative interplay Kim orchestrates between images such as the Spirit as vibration, breath, and light and her powerful unpacking of different images such as the releaser of han, a Korean term for unjust suffering, or the concept of Chi. This isn't simply a guide to what the church is saying about the Holy Spirit--it's a guide to actually opening our theological imaginations to a Spirit that is present, active, and calling us to participate in life-giving work.

In this 40th anniversary edition of the classic text from one of the most influential biblical scholars of our time, Walter Brueggemann, offers a theological and ethical reading of the Hebrew Bible.This edition builds off the revised and updated 2001 edition and includes a new afterword by Brueggemann and a new foreword by Davis Hankins.

Whether a diagnosis of dementia arrives suddenly or gradually, this illness reorganizes a family's entire life. Drawing on her own experience, as well as interviews with eight family and professional caregivers, Janet L. Ramsey helps caregivers and those with impaired memories learn as they listen to each other.

How growing in self-awareness deepens relationshipsFrom their years of counseling individuals, couples, and families, George Faller and Heather Wright show how to repair conflict, move from disconnection to reconnection, and discover God's movement in our life and relationships.They call their model NAME IT (Notice, Acknowledge, Merge, Embrace, Integrate, and Thank). To heal a relationship, first we connect with our own hearts and stories, then understand the other person's position, and finally merge those two truths (or versions of what is happening), giving birth to a new connection.By telling their own stories and those of clients they have cared for, Faller and Wright encourage those who feel disconnected not to despair in the midst of their trials but to find faith and a community to help them survive and grow. They show readers that rather than letting painful relationships leave them feeling alone and despairing, they can find hope in a deepened self-awareness that leads to richer relationships and spiritual vitality.Whether readers hope to experience the magical glow of romance, the joy of parenting, the satisfaction of community life, or a loving view of God, the NAME IT model will help them transform all their relationships.

Dispatches on nationalism and religionAs an insider to church politics and a scholar of contemporary Orthodoxy, Cyril Hovorun outlines forms of political orthodoxy in Orthodox churches, past and present.Hovorun draws a big picture of religion being politicized and even weaponized. While Political Orthodoxies assesses phenomena such as nationalism and anti-Semitism, both widely associated with Eastern Christianity, Hovorun focuses on the theological underpinnings of the culture wars waged in eastern and southern Europe. The issues in these wars include monarchy and democracy, Orientalism and Occidentalism, canonical territory, and autocephaly. Wrought with peril, Orthodox culture wars have proven to turn toward bloody conflict, such as in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.Accordingly, this book explains the aggressive behavior of Russia toward its neighbors and the West from a religious standpoint. The spiritual revival of Orthodoxy after the collapse of Communism made the Orthodox church in Russia, among other things, an influential political protagonist, which in some cases goes ahead of the Kremlin. Following his identification and analysis, Hovorun suggests ways to bring political Orthodoxy back to the apostolic and patristic track.

Each volume of the Understanding World Christianity series analyzes the state of Christianity from six different angles. The focus is always Christianity, but it is approached in an interdisciplinary manner--chronological, denominational, sociopolitical, geographical, biographical, and theological.Short, engaging chapters help readers understand the complexity of Christianity in the region and broaden their understanding of the region itself. Readers will understand the interplay of Christianity and culture and will see how geography, borders, economics, and other factors influence Christian faith.In this exciting volume, Paul Kollman and Cynthia Toms Smedley offer an introduction to Eastern African Christianity that has been desperately needed by scholars, students, and interested readers alike. Rich in experience and knowledge, Kollman and Toms Smedley introduce readers to the vibrancy of Eastern African Christianity like no other authors have done before.

Zach Mills's lively and powerful biography, The Last Blues Preacher, brings the life and work of Reverend Clay Evans into our time and examines how current national conversations on race, religion, politics, and popular culture can and should inform contemporary activism.

By entering the culture wars, churchgoers in the United States have ushered the Left and the Right to even greater extremes. Battles over moral issues like abortion rights and homosexuality have now widened to include taxation and size of government, so that specific church affiliation has become an accurate predictor of political party affiliation. The extremists in American politics rely on Christians to be the engine that pushes the culture farther right or left.Allen Hilton believes that religion isn't inherently divisive, and he suggests a new role for Christianity. Jesus prayed that his disciples might all be one, and this book imagines a proper answer to that prayer in the context of American polarization.Rather than asking people to leave their political and theological beliefs at the church door, Hilton promotes a Christianity that brings people together with their differences. Through God's transforming work, he writes, we can create a house united that will help our nation come back together.

John J. Collins's Introduction to the Hebrew Bible is one of the most popular introductory textbooks in colleges and seminary classrooms. Enriched by decades of classroom teaching, it is aimed explicitly at motivated students, regardless of their previous exposure to the Bible or faith commitments.The third edition is presented in a new and engaging format with new maps and images. An index has been added to the volume for the first time.In order to enhance classroom use, Collins's major text has now been divided into four volumes, one for each major part of the Hebrew Bible. This volume focuses on the Torah/Pentateuch. Here, Collins explores the Near Eastern context and the nature of the pentateuchal narrative and provides helpful insights into Gensis thorugh Deuteronomy.The volume also contains the introduction to Collins's major text and is now available with even more student-friendly features, including charts, maps, photographs, chapter summaries, and bibliographies for further reading.Collins presents the current state of historical, archaeological, and literary understandings of the biblical text and engages the student in questions of significance and interpretation for the contemporary world.