Books published by Cascade Books

Promise has a long pedigree in the history of Christian understandings of the gospel. This volume gathers together leading homileticians to consider the breadth of its understanding today in light of the struggle to reconcile God''s grace with God''s justice. Assuming that promise is a core sense of the gospel, how does this relate to the variety of contexts in which homiletical theology is done? In this final volume in the series, six homileticians from a variety of contexts and perspectives try to move specifically toward a homiletical theology of promise as a way to articulate the central theological gift and task that is preaching the gospel today.""Each chapter of this compelling book teaches a vital aspect of the promissory nature of preaching: as a lure to new forms of human dwelling and action, as a unique way of liturgically embodying eschatology, as a key to homiletical genre, as God''s unique way of acting and speaking in sermons, and as the way preaching becomes provisional good news in difficult situations. Highly recommended for all serious students of preaching.""--John S. McClure, Vanderbilt Divinity School""Continuing the ''turn to theology'' in contemporary homiletics, this thoughtful and wide-ranging collection of essays explores preaching as a theological expression of divine promise that embodies and empowers our human response. Jacobsen is to be congratulated for bringing this important project to completion."" --Michael P. Knowles, McMaster Divinity College""These final six essays of the Promise of Homiletical Theology series proceed from the central conviction that any hope worth preaching proceeds from the world-transforming, justice-making promises of the God revealed in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord of God''s new creation. Strikingly varied in their methodological approaches and rich in theological creativity, these writers urge hope-fueled preaching that is healing and prophetic, poetic and theologically discerning, accompanied by locally embodied, diverse, and hope-infused practices of worship and witness."" --Sally A. Brown, Princeton Theological SeminaryDavid Schnasa Jacobsen is Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Director of the Homiletical Theology Project at Boston University School of Theology. His books include Preaching in the New Creation, Preaching Luke-Acts, Kairos Preaching: Speaking Gospel to the Situation, and Mark.

Collecting essays from prominent scholars who span the globe and academic disciplines, Practicing with Paul speaks into the life of the church in ways that inspire and edify followers and ministers of Jesus Christ. Each contribution delves into the details and historical contexts of Paul''s letters, including the interpretation of those texts throughout church history. Meanwhile, each author interprets those details in relation to Christian practice and suggests implications for contemporary Christian ministry that flow out of this rich interpretive process. By modeling forms of interpretation that are practically-oriented, this book provides inspiration for current and future Christian ministers as they too attempt to incarnate the ways of Christ along with Paul.""As the title promises, the essays here draw, even compel, the reader into Pauline ''practice,'' that is to say, into engagement with the Pauline gospel as it informs contemporary Christian ministries of transformation, justice, and peace-making. The essays span a distinguished, intergenerational company of authors whose work is informed and enriched by Susan Eastman''s extraordinary, generous, and generative gift for showing how careful Pauline exegesis speaks to the most urgent concerns of our times.""--Alexandra Brown, Washington and Lee UniversityPresian R. Burroughs is Assistant Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to Pauline scholarship, her research interests include ecological theology.

In this thoroughly revised edition of a classic in spirituality, Walter Brueggemann guides the reader into a thoughtful and moving encounter with the Psalms. This new edition includes a revised text, new notes, and new bibliography."The movement and meeting of God with us is indeed a speech-event in which new humanness is evoked among us. Being attentive to language means cultivating the candid imagination to bring our own experience to the Psalms and permitting it to be disciplined by the speech of the Psalms. And, conversely, it means letting the Psalms address us and having that language reshape our sensitivities and fill our minds with new pictures and images that may redirect our lives." --from Chapter 3"I am so glad to see this second edition of Praying the Psalms. In it Walter Brueggemann reveals the ways in which the Psalms teach the mother tongue of biblical speech by inviting us to the risk of daring candor with God.The contemporary church in North America regularly suffers collective amnesia in the face of the languages of techno-speak, market share and sentimental cliche that shape the world we inhabit. Praying the Psalms offers a surprising antidote to this chronic forgetfulness. It invites us to recover our ancient memory and true identity by learning again to pray the Psalms. I know of no better book for introducing a congregation to the Psalms than this one."--Edwin Searcy, Pastor, University Hill Congregation, United Church of Canada, Vancouver, BC"'The Psalms just don't speak to me.' Anyone who has ever felt this way should read Brueggemann's book. . . . He shows how these ancient prayers can lead us from the disorientation of our chaotic lives into a reorientation of transformation. His treatment of both the post-Holocaust Christian use of these very Jewish prayers and the troublesome call for vengeance is most timely. This book shows how the Psalms can indeed speak to us."--Dianne Bergant, CSAauthor of Preaching the New Lectionary". . . Brueggemann pushes me and other readers to recognize the full gamut of passions reflected in the Psalms: joy and exultation but also disappointment, sorrow, anger, resentment, even the desire for vengeance. . . . I am grateful to Brueggemann for making me more alert to what the Psalms are saying about our common human relation to God and more honest about my own feelings as I pray the Psalms every day as part of the Liturgy of the Hours."--Joseph A. Bracken, SJcoauthor of Self-Emptying Love in a Global Context"Few persons have so lived in and with the Psalms as Walter Brueggemann. Here he takes us into their depths, which are so clearly the depths of our human existence. The piety of the Psalms is strong medicine. Brueggemann bids us take it for the cure of our souls."--Patrick D. Millerauthor of Interpreting the Psalms and They Cried to the LordWalter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is the author of numerous works including Theology of the Old Testament, Inscribing the Text, Prophetic Imagination, and David's Truth.

FEATURING:Judith ButlerLia ChavezKatherine James D. S. Martin Thomas NailPLUS:What Does Where You''re From Matter? * Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Power of Lament * Sing More Like a Girl * Jesus Doesn''t Want Me for a Sunbeam * Occupied Identity * What''s So Holy about Matrimony?AND MORE . . .""We the people . . ."" So begins the familiar first line to the Preamble of the United States Constitution. But even in its initial context, in a document intended to be a manifesto of hope and freedom, the matter of who exactly was to be included in this ""we"" was unclear and contested. First-person pronouns (i.e., I and we) roll off the tongue-or onto parchment paper-with ease, but their common use often belies an underlying complexity. Who am I? Who are we? Who does my theology say that I am? Identity is at the same time essential to life and yet also deeply contested, problematic, and enigmatic. The world may be becoming more one and, yet, it seems also to be becoming more different, fragmented, agonistic, and isolated. In this issue of The Other Journal, we explore the valences of identity, both individual and communal, personal and public. We take up the theme of identity in multiple ways, examining its interconnections with gender and race, the dissolution and reconstitution of borders, and, yes, even the 2016 presidential campaign. The issue features essays by Derek Brown, Zach Czaia, Ryan Dueck, Julie M. Hamilton, Peter Herman, Zen Hess, Kimberly Humphrey, Katherine James, Russell Johnson, Sus Long, Willow Mindich, Angela Parker, Taylor Ross, and Erick Sierra; interviews by Stephanie Berbec and Zachary Thomas Settle with Judith Butler and Thomas Nail, respectively; poetry by T. M. Lawson, D. S. Martin, Oluwatomisin Oredein, and Erin Steinke; performance art by Lia Chavez; and photography by Jennifer Jane Simonton, Pilar Timpane, and Mark Wyatt.

Many preachers and teachers of preaching talk about the gospel; few name it. Theologies of the Gospel in Context assembles a gifted group of homileticians who think that preachers need to be able to articulate the gospel not ""in general,"" but in a certain time and place, in context. They consider what gospel sounds like for people under oppression, in capitalist economies, in neocolonial contexts, for survivors of trauma, and for disestablished mainline churches marred by racism. Preachers will appreciate these preacher/scholars'' desire to articulate the gospel with clarity, especially since the term is so often left unexplained. Homileticians will see a new genre of doing their work as teachers and researchers in preaching: a vision that helps preaching see itself not just as an adjunct to exegesis or communication, but a place of doing theology. In these pages homiletics is more than technique, it is a truly theological discipline.""This third volume in the important The Promise of Homiletical Theology series brings together a group of outstanding interpreters of contexts and situations in order to broaden and deepen our understanding of the theological nature of preaching. The result is a new and vital awareness of the expansive scene in which preachers are called upon to name the reality of ''gospel'' in today''s world.""--John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School  ""The six essays included in this volume . . . provide preachers with profound theological insights into ''naming gospel'' through distinctive contextual lenses.""    --Eunjoo Mary Kim, Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics, Iliff School of Theology ""The gospel is not the gospel of Jesus Christ unless it is enfleshed in the world in particular contexts. The homileticians in this collection teach this and challenge us to remember that without the gospel, homiletics is a dead discipline and preaching is a vain task. Readers will walk away from these pages knowing that homiletical theology has a heart and that heart beats to the rhythm of the gospel.""--Luke A. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Duke University ""With yet another installment in The Promise of Homiletical Theology series, David Schnasa Jacobsen has established himself as the leading homiletical sage of contemporary homiletics. Conferring wisdom and pulling together a diverse cohort of emerging and veteran guild scholars, Jacobsen weaves together a revealing tapestry of essays that attend to the effects of colonialism, modernity, race, and capitalism on preaching.""--Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Howard University, author of A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil RightsDavid Schnasa Jacobsen is professor of the practice of homiletics and director of the Homiletical Theology Project at Boston University School of Theology, where he leads the PhD concentration in homiletics and practical theology. He is author of Preaching in the New Creation: The Promise of New Testament Apocalyptic Texts (1999) and co-author of Preaching Luke-Acts (2001), Kairos Preaching: Speaking Gospel to the Situation (2009), and Mark in the Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries Series (2014).

I Found God in Me is the first womanist biblical hermeneutics reader. In it readers have access, in one volume, to articles on womanist interpretative theories and theology as well as cutting-edge womanist readings of biblical texts by womanist biblical scholars. This book is an excellent resource for women of color, pastors, and seminarians interested in relevant readings of the biblical text, as well as scholars and teachers teaching courses in womanist biblical hermeneutics, feminist interpretation, African American hermeneutics, and biblical courses that value diversity and dialogue as crucial to excellent pedagogy.""The seed for this wide-ranging volume in womanist biblical hermeneutics was first planted at Howard University Divinity School and has now grown into an excellent collection of essays which constitute a significant contribution to an ever-growing corpus. It provides rich and rewarding reading for those--female and male alike--who would wish to hear the Bible as a liberating word of life for our time--especially for African and African-American women. Highly recommended.""--Gosnell L. Yorke, Institute for African Renaissance Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa""Smith has brought together outstanding studies by established scholars and skilled doctoral candidates and given us a challenging and thought-provoking collection of essays. It is good reading for pastor and academician alike: for pastors to see the many implications of a growing movement for fellowship in the black church; for academicians to engage in a continuing activity that is not dissipating but growing, a movement which has significant implications for the interpretation of Scripture and the development of Christian theology and ethics in the future. The church and the academy are indebted to Smith for this significant, stimulating study.""--Thomas B. Slater, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Macon, GAMitzi J. Smith, PhD, is Associate Professor of New Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary/Detroit. She is author of The Literary Construction of the Other in the Acts of the Apostles: Charismatics, the Jews, and Women (Pickwick 2011), and coeditor of Teaching All Nations: Interrogating the Matthean Great Commission (2014).

In Second Sky, Runyan intertwines the life and writings of the Apostle Paul with the spiritual journey of a modern suburban woman confronting the broken world. Second Sky wrestles with the deeply personal challenges presented in Paul''s letters and experiences: putting on the new self, burying oneself with Christ, and counting all as loss while driving through snowstorms, reading horrific headlines, and bathing the family dog. These are not simple poems of religious inspiration; they are steely encounters with the living God. Runyan invites us to work out our salvation in rusted Cadillacs, operating rooms, and packs of wild coyotes. Meanwhile, Paul runs from the collapsing walls of his prison cell toward shipwrecks and vipers, meeting us on our own roads to Damascus, the earth breaking open to a second sky of faith.""While these poems are anchored by Paul''s familiar words, his directives and admonishments, Tania Runyan''s plucky responses challenge traditional pictures of the believer''s life. God''s grace appears in many guises in her poems--from a frisbee laid bare in the melting snow to a drive on icy roads with a carload of children. These are spirited and intimate pictures of a suburban woman''s encounter with holy mystery, often both unpredictable and oddly comforting.""--Jill Palaez Baumgaertner, Professor of English, Wheaton College""This is a remarkable book. The poems are brief posts about the fissures--cataclysms--emergencies in the daily life of a parent, a spouse, a friend. It was only after devouring the book that I went back to check on how each poem glosses a passage of Scripture. There are layers and layers here to uncover. I will discover them slowly, but meanwhile, I love the fierce brio of these poems. I love their intelligence and urgency.""--Jeanne Murray Walker, Professor of English, University of DelawareTania Runyan, an NEA fellow, is the author of A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which won the Book of the Year from the Conference on Christianity and Literature. Her work has appeared in dozens of journals, including Poetry, Image, The Christian Century, Books & Culture, Mid-American Review, and the Harvard Divinity Bulletin. She lives with her family in northern Illinois.

These essays represent William Campbell''s ongoing challenge over the last two decades to a residual aspect of the paradigm of Paulinism, namely that of interpreting Paul in antithesis to his Jewish roots. Campbell has proposed a new approach to Paul focusing on such themes as diversity, identity, and reconciliation as the basic components of transformation in Christ. The stance from which Paul theologizes is one that recognizes and underpins social and cultural diversity and includes the correlative demand that since difference is integral to the Christ-movement, the enmity associated with difference cannot be tolerated. Thus reconciliation emerges as a fundamental value in the Christ-movement. Such reconciliation respects and does not negate the particularities of the identity of Jews and those from the nations. This paradigm transformation implies the reevaluation of all things in Christ, whether of Jewish or Gentile origin. An underlying trajectory permeates these essays. What unites them is the emphasis on continuity between Judaism and the Christ-movement, particularly as exemplified in Paul''s letter to the Romans. Such continuity is vitally important not only for understanding the past and present of Christ-followers, but even more significantly for the contemporary understanding of the identity of both Judaism and Christianity.""Bill Campbell has led the challenge to traditional approaches on a number of topics arising in Romans and throughout the Pauline corpus. Anyone interested in Paul''s Jewish roots, diversity within the Christ movement, and the formation of identity in the Pauline communities will be richly rewarded for making Campbell a conversation partner. His style is clear and readable, informed by the most recent research, and always thought-provoking.""--Mark D. Nanos, University of Kansas""With particular attention to Paul''s letter to the Romans, Campbell''s work is deeply informed by modern theorists and is methodologically sophisticated. His explorations of the relationship between theology and context often lead to original insights. This is one of the best works available today on the nature of Paul''s theology.""--Margaret Y. MacDonald, St. Francis Xavier University""Rigorously insistent on reading Paul''s letters in their historical and rhetorical contexts, yet ever aware of the consequences for us as we deal with issues of identity and diversity today, these are important essays. They show a supple mind at work and present a coherent and compelling understanding of the apostle. No reader of Paul can afford to miss them.""--Neil Elliott, author of The Arrogance of NationsWilliam S. Campbell is Reader in Biblical Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, UK. He is the author of Paul and the Creation of Christian Identity (2006) and numerous other publications on Christian origins.

Even on a bumper sticker, grace is irresistible.Grace Sticks: The Bumper Sticker Gospel for Restless Souls is light-hearted spiritual memoir and theological travel guidance for restless souls looking for more direction, more truth, and more life. Robb-Dover invites readers to reflect on how the bumper stickers they affix to their cars or entertain at traffic lights are themselves spiritual aspirations of sorts pointing to One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In their meanderings, with bumper stickers as pit stops, readers will laugh, cry, be provoked, and be inspired to look for God in the most seemingly frivolous and unlikely of places. They''ll discover in the process there''s as much grace to be found in the journeying itself as in the destination.""I imagine Kristina Robb-Dover as a kind of mechanic of the soul--reaching down into the depths of our souls to whisper not what we want to hear but what we need to hear. . . . Standing over the hood of our hearts with oil on her face and a used rag in her hand, she tinkers. . . . So open your hood.""--A.J. Swoboda, Author, Messy""In Grace Sticks, a timely and well-written read, Kristina Robb-Dover''s words speak home to my wanderlust soul. . . . Robb-Dover''s description of a spiritually hungry culture and what church could truly be, should we seek Christ''s vision for it, gives words to my angst. I highly recommend Grace Sticks to church leaders and laypersons who wonder where God is today.""--Emily T. Wierenga, Author, Mom in the Mirror""For most of us, the slogans of bumper stickers float banally on the surface of culture. But Kristina Robb-Dover has a sharper eye and a keener sense of discernment. She sees beneath the veneer of these popular epigrams a yearning for wisdom and a hungering after grace. Her book is a delight to read.""--Thomas G. Long, Professor of Preaching, Candler School of Theology, Emory UniversityKristina Robb-Dover is a restless soul longing for more, for whom God seems to turn up in surprising places. When she is not chasing after or chauffeuring her two kids, she serves as a workplace chaplain. You can find her musings at Beliefnet''s ""Fellowship of Saints and Sinners."" Robb-Dover holds degrees from Yale and Princeton.

""If a leader is a Christian, what difference does it make?"" Giant strides have been made in secular leadership theory toward a Christian viewpoint. Priority is now given to character as well as competence, accountability as well as power, transformation as well as transaction, and servanthood as well as success. But these qualities apply to secular as well as to Christian leadership. So, the question remains, ""What difference does it make?""David McKenna finds the answer in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ--a divine act for him and a defining attitude for us. Philippians 2:11-15 sets the standard and gives the details. ""Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ"" means following his call to the cross, where we die to self and sacrifice all self-interest in position, power, and prestige in order to serve obediently, faithfully, and humbly for the good of others and the glory of God. Christ-centered leadership is not an extension of the highest and best of human leadership. Radical obedience to the call of Christ and utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit make a substantive difference. In the most practical terms, Incarnation continues in us when we live fully, lead freely, and go where he wants us to go.""At last! Someone writing about Christian leadership who takes seriously the incarnation of Jesus and the actual life, ministry, and writings of Paul. . . . With the insight of decades of leadership experience and an understanding of contemporary issues, McKenna brings the focus on Christian leadership to a fine point. The essential nature of Christian leadership requires a concerted and sustained discipline to be like Jesus. Nothing else can be authentically called Christian leadership.""--Jesse C. Middendorf, General Superintendent, Church of the Nazarene""What can be more critical to the church than Christ-centered leadership? What is more contrary to the world than Christ-centered leadership? Eminent and widely read author David McKenna has been instrumental in the spiritual formation and development of many of us. His latest contribution, Christ-Centered Leadership, what he terms his ''best book,'' will be similarly helpful as we follow Christ, and by his grace lead as he would lead: sacrificially.""--Commissioners William and Nancy Roberts, USA National Leaders, The Salvation Army""I wish I had this book when I began my career as a CEO. David McKenna gives invaluable insights to a new generation of Christian leaders, yet his wisdom runs so deep I find much to learn in Christ-Centered Leadership.""--Richard Stearns, President, World Vision USA""There are a myriad of books on leadership but none like Christ-Centered Leadership by longtime leader David McKenna. It is the premier book on leadership. . . . What is written is not mere theory but very practical examples of leadership lived out in the context of large, complex institutions as well as smaller organizations. . . . A must for every leader, regardless of age or level of leadership.""--Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent, The Wesleyan Church""Expertly weaving Scripture, leadership research, and personal experience, David McKenna condenses five decades of senior leadership wisdom. I wish I could have read this book when I was thirty!""--Alec Hill, President, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship""Die to self and instead do sacrifice in a way that completely empties you and epitomizes the cross. Christ-Centered Leadership is a humbly uncompromising manual of uncomfortable truths, a must-read for anyone truly wanting to model Christ and his cross in the corner office.""--Harold B. Smith, President and CEO, Christianity Today""After decades of practicing Christ-centered leadership himself, David McKenna has put his wisdom into words that will inspire and instruct a new generation of leaders in both the church and society. . . . Because so much of what he writes comes from his actual experience, the book combines the ring of truth with the tone o

Through Iraqis'' eyes--through their stories--this book ""tells the truth"" about what war and the U.S. government''s antiterrorism policies have really meant for them. Iraqis recount the abuses they experienced in the U.S. and new Iraqi detention systems, the excessive violence, and collective punishment of the U.S.-led occupying forces, as well as tensions between Kurds and Arab Iraqis--tensions rooted in Saddam Hussein''s genocide against the Kurds. Stories coming out of Iraq between 2004 and 2011 also describe the efforts of courageous and creative Iraqis speaking out against injustices and building movements of nonviolence and reconciliation. We also get a glimpse of how the author, a peace-worker, immersed in the violence and chaos of war, dealt with the pain and suffering of those around her, as well as her own personal losses and kidnapping ordeal. Her experiences strengthen her belief that the power of nonviolent suffering love (the way of Jesus) is stronger than the power of violence and force, and can break down barriers and be transformative in threatening situations. She counters the myths of the superiority of violent force to root out evil in places such as Iraq and challenges us to do all we can to prevent the tragedy of any future war.""Peggy Faw Gish steadfastly refused to let war sever the bonds of friendship that had grown between her and numerous Iraqi friends. She witnessed the ongoing U.S. torment of Iraqis. By remaining with people afflicted by economic and military warfare, listening carefully and honestly chronicling what she saw and heard, she has created a compelling description of life in a country devastated by invasions, dictatorship, sanctions, and war.""--Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence""By living in Iraq under U.S. bombs and occupation, Peggy Faw Gish has learned to see with Iraqi eyes. By reading her inspiring story of suffering love, we, too, can learn to see--and be transformed.""--Jim Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable""This account of civilian peacemaking in the Iraqi war zone by a seasoned human rights worker combines poignant personal reflection and hard-nosed analysis. Gish''s moving stories of Iraqi and Kurd endurance, hospitality, and dignity amidst the most violent years of U.S. occupation challenge us to refuse to forget this war.""--Tim Nafziger, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries""This long-overdue book is the fruit of many years of bold adventures for peace. It reads like a journal, but a thrilling journal filled with horror and hope, written from the trenches of one of the most troubled war zones in the world. Peggy has seen things that did not make the news--some of them are more terrible than we can ever imagine, and some of them are more beautiful than we could ever dream. Her life and words are a daring call for us to get in the way of violence.""--Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible RevolutionPeggy Faw Gish has been working in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams since October 2002. Her first book, Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace (2004), covers the first year and a half of the Iraq War. She has been active in peace and justice work for the past forty-five years. Peggy is a mother, grandmother, community mediator, and member of the Church of the Brethren. She lives on a farm near Athens, Ohio.

The book offers an interpretation of a posthumously published poem by Edwin Muir (1887-1959), beginning ""The heart could never speak / But that the Word was spoken."" The poem is read as summing up Muir''s lifelong struggle with fundamental questions about the meaning of existence, questions often developed in dialogue with such figures as Nietzsche, Holderlin, and Kafka. These references allow us to bring Muir into conversation with modern existentialist philosophy and theology, and Muir''s poetic thought is seen as both illuminating and as illuminated by such existentialist thinkers as Heidegger, Bultmann, Kierkegaard, and Berdyaev. Themes such as death, time, love, the nature of language, and the alienation brought about by technological mass society, and the threat of nuclear catastrophe are central to the poem''s subject-matter and are dealt with by Muir in such a way as to make possible a Christian version of existentialist thought. The perennial nature of such questions in modern society makes the poem as relevant to contemporary issues in religious thought today as when it was written. For all its simplicity, it is the argument of the book that it makes an abiding contribution to human self-understanding.""This fine and original book offers a conversation between poetry and philosophy that succeeds . . . in being both a rigorous analysis and a deeply moving meditation. Sensitive to the poetic text and learned in the existential philosophy of modernity, the author unveils a ''heart'' to which poets, philosophers, and theologians bear witness, a heart speaking of love, broken in time, and resurrected by human art and divine word.""--Paul S. Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Oxford""There are many ways to read a poem and some of them allow a poem to read us. This beautiful short meditation on a late poem by Edwin Muir is rooted in a lifetime''s scholarship in Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and existentialist thought. . . . Written with clarity yet moving and profound, this engagement with one poem explores the nature of faith in our technological world, yet a world that still breathes with the wonder of poetry and faith.""--David Jasper, Professor of Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow and Renmin University of China""In the spirit of Augustine and Merton, Kierkegaard and the later Heidegger, Pattison takes us on a profound poetic journey--his own edifying discourse. Muir, and his one poem, are not just read closely: under the winds of Christian contemplation and existential experience, they become part of a richly expansive landscape of poetry, theology, and philosophy, one open to all travelers interested in the maneuverings of the heart.""--Andrew W. Hass, Lecturer in Religion, University of Stirling""George Pattison has an acute ear for ''the language of the heart,'' and in this terrific new study he explores the complex connections between emotion, time, and grace with admirable precision. His focus on a single poem is a rare example of attentive, patient, and close reading, and, like all stimulating theology, it opens a door to new perspectives on shared reality.""--Andrew Tate, Senior Lecturer in English, Lancaster UniversityGeorge Pattison is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. He is the author of many books on theology and philosophy of religion, including works on Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and the visual arts.

Broad in scope--theological, ecological, and personal--and acutely particular in details--witnessed and lived--the affecting poems in Particular Scandals explore how one endures suffering, avoiding the cliches of both bitterness and transcendence. Thus, while Moore''s poetry depicts the debilitating ruin illness wreaks, it also embraces the beauty and mystery in creation, in faith, even in tribulation itself. At the book''s core is pure paradox and insightful integration, wedding Christmas--Christ''s incarnation and eventual, willing sacrifice--to pain and grief. Thus, on the heels of Moore''s multiple surgeries and amid her husband''s serious heart problem--both while in their forties--come ""flashes of hallelujah"" and songs knit with Amens ""un- / broken, like a world without end."" Empathetic and observant, Moore''s evocative poems also turn their attention to friends'' and other family members'' appalling losses: a stillborn infant, suicidal adolescents, molested, and trafficked children. All in all, the book portrays how Moore survives like the Sycamore tree in one of her poems, ""scabbed and scarred from moments like this,"" offering her ""empty self / like a cup to the Lord of the storm.""""The scandal of this collection is it sizzles with such life, such particularity, such fierce pain and love, that you may not be able to put it down. Chatting about the weather, reflecting on ill health, estimating our chances of happiness, recounting adventures of a Labrador retriever and the astonishment of the incarnation, Julie Moore sounds as close as a friend. And yes, she is as trustworthy.""--Jeanne Murray Walker, author of New Tracks, Night Falling""These are poems that span our daily lives and ask the hard metaphysical and theological questions living brings. . . . They are alert (without sentimentality or false transcendence) to the grace and beauty, both ordinary and commonplace, that open our hearts and mouths in hallelujah. I so admire these poems that quietly refrain from false claims and extravagances, but patiently bring us--in their detailed evocations--closer to [our] paradoxical and mysterious lives.""--Robert Cording, author of Walking with Ruskin""What poetry can be made of [those] sufferings none of us want to live the first time around? Fine poetry, it turns out, that offers neither a romantic whitewash nor despairing doubt, but a series of beautiful particulars that offer clarity, beauty, and ''amens'' in the midst of a world unlikely to change. Readers will be freshly charged to see joy in the scandal of living.""--Leslie Leyland Fields, editor of The Spirit of Food""The poems of Julie Moore''s exhilarating collection, Particular Scandals, are poised ''on the primal edge / of wonder.'' Musical and observant, attentive to the ''mystery that envelops us,'' she glimpses the eternal in ordinary things, such as the birds she lovingly identifies, from vulture to white-breasted nuthatch. Even in a ''universe of pain,'' she discovers how to praise, as any real poet must.""--John Drury, author of Creating PoetryJulie L. Moore is the author of Slipping Out of Bloom (2010) and the chapbook Election Day (2006). Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice and Best of the Net and has appeared both in anthologies and in publications like The Christian Century, The Missouri Review Online, The Southern Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Verse Daily. She lives in Cedarville, Ohio, where she''s the Writing Center Director at Cedarville University.

2009 is the 500th anniversary of the birth of Calvin, the Reformed theologian whose legacy has played such an important role in the shaping of modern South Africa. The popular understanding of him as grim moralist, proponent of predestination and a tyrannical God is a caricature, but one that does spring from aspects of Calvin''s legacy. In this book, De Gruchy attempts to restate the Reformed tradition as a transforming force, one that opposed slavery and apartheid and that participated in the struggle for liberation and transformation in this country. De Gruchy considers Christian humanism to be an alternative to both Christian fundamentalism and secularism, as ""being a Christian is all about being truly human in common with the rest of humanity"", and has come to the conclusion that there is much to retrieve and celebrate in the Reformed tradition that is of importance for the ecumenical church and global society in the 21st century. The ""evangelical"" element in the title refers to the literal meaning of the word - ""good news"" - which is at the heart of being both Christian and human.John de Gruchy is Emeritus Professor of Christian Studies at the University of Cape Town, where he taught for over thirty years. He is currently a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Cape Town and an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch. De Gruchy, who has doctorates in both theology and the social sciences, is author of The Church Struggle in South Africa and a number of other significant books.

A Bird in the Hand is not a ""how to"" book, but a ""how so"" book in which the reader is invited to travel with Leah Kostamo on the wild ride of salmon saving, stranger welcoming, and God worshiping as she and her husband help establish the first Christian environmental center in Canada. Avoiding simplistic prescriptions or cliched platitudes, Leah wrestles with issues of poverty, justice, and the environment through the narrative of her own life experience. The lived-theology and humility of voice conveyed in these pages draws readers to new and creative ways to honor the Creator as they are inspired to care for creation.""Grace, beauty, humor, and truth-telling combine in Leah Kostamo''s story of the growth of A Rocha, a grassroots organization in which she and her husband Markku have been world-changers for good. This is a fascinating narrative in which committed environmentalists respond to God''s call to renew our planet and our souls.""--Luci Shaw, author of The Crime of Living Cautiously: Hearing God''s Call to Adventure""A Bird in the Hand is one of the most captivating and inspiring books I have read in a long time. It offers rich and intimate glimpses into what sacrificial care for all God''s creation can look like in the lives of ordinary Christians. Surely God desires for this to become part of our story as well.""--Ben Lowe, activist and author of Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation""Leah Kostamo''s elegant memoir shares the story of A Rocha, an organization that lives out the principles of Christian stewardship and community. With humility, grace, and candor, Leah takes her readers along the creation-care journey, sharing how many small acts can and do make a difference. Most inspiring of all, Leah and her husband, Markku, provide a living example of being the change they wish to see in the world.""--Matthew and Nancy Sleeth, co-founders of Blessed Earth""The righteous person, says the psalmist, is like a tree planted by the waters. In this delightful book Leah Kostamo describes what it feels like to be (sometimes reluctantly) one of those trees, planted by the waters of God''s good creation. With humor, irony, wisdom, and a refreshingly iconoclastic voice, Planted blooms and flourishes--with fruit every thoughtful Christian needs to enjoy.""--Loren Wilkinson, Professor of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies, Regent CollegeAn American transplant to Canada, Leah Kostamo has a background in campus ministry and education. For the past twelve years, Leah has worked alongside her husband, Markku, to show God''s love for all of creation through the ministry of A Rocha. She lives and thrives on Kingfisher Farm near Vancouver, BC.

The Radical Orthodoxy Annual Review examines emerging agendas in contemporary theology and philosophy. Today, in an era of biotechnology and a growing ecological consciousness, it is rapidly becoming clear that the key question for our times is how to make sense of the nature and significance of life. In this, the inaugural edition of the Review, some of today''s most influential and important thinkers address this issue through wide-ranging discussion of the way in which life is currently being redefined in the work of orthodox theologians and philosophers. In so doing, they show the extent to which contemporary theology and philosophy are helping us to make better of sense of the natural world, the human body, contemporary techno-science, as well as the possibility of a living transcendence--allowing us to see why theology and philosophy remain absolutely crucial to any attempt to understand the current state of the modern world and its likely future development.""The present essays undertake a conversation the importance of which is impossible to exaggerate. . . . They direct us beyond liberal modernity''s form of the ''self-possessive'' and its ''homelessness'' to a created world centered in liturgy and community.""--David L. Schindler, Professor of Fundamental Theology, John Paul II Institute, The Catholic University of AmericaNeil Turnbull is Principal Lecturer in Philosophy at Nottingham Trent University, UK. He has published widely in the areas of Philosophy and Social Theory. He is currently the editor of the journal Radical Orthodoxy: Theology, Philosophy, Politics.

In 1984, Ron Sider challenged that until Christians are ready to risk everything in pursuit of peace, ""we dare never whisper another word about pacifism . . . Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword."" From this challenge, Christian Peacemaker Teams was born. Nearly thirty years later, Michael McRay too explored Sider''s challenge, interning with CPT in the West Bank city of Hebron. Alongside local and international peacemakers, McRay learned how to resist the violence of occupation, sharing in the stories of a suffering people as he struggled to embody the peaceable spirit of the rabbi from Nazareth. This book tells those stories.Drawing on his personal experience with the land and its history, McRay''s raw letters home tackle critical issues relevant to peacemakers everywhere: What is really happening in Palestine that mainstream media fails to report? How are Palestinians'' lives being affected? How can one be peaceable amidst such violence and oppression? How should Christian discipleship influence one''s pursuits of peacemaking and reconciliation? McRay''s letters illustrate both the challenge and promise of the cross in today''s world.""Our field needs passionate, on-the-ground, firsthand descriptions of the challenges of constructively engaging settings of deep and painful conflict. McRay''s book provides just such a window.""--John Paul Lederach, author of The Moral Imagination""Surprisingly invitational. This is a book worth reading and rereading. As a guide for activism, I hope these reflections will have a profound rippling effect.""--Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize nominee""A valuable resource for all who are called to be peacemakers--which should mean all of us."" --Brian D. McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity""What is hopeful about these letters is the humanity the author shows through his interaction with Jews and Palestinians. In a down-to-earth yet profound way, this book shows Jews a way out of the injustice of occupying another people. What more important lesson do we Jews have to learn before it is too late?""--Marc H. Ellis, author of Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation""Here is a book as unflinchingly faithful to the Christian gospel as a book can possibly be.""--Richard T. Hughes, author of Myths America Lives ByMichael T. McRay received his BA in History from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, earning regional and national awards for his senior thesis comparing European colonialism and the Israeli occupation. In addition to his internship with Christian Peacemaker Teams, Michael has worked and traveled extensively in the West Bank in various capacities. He is currently pursuing graduate studies in conflict transformation and reconciliation with the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin) in Belfast, Northern Ireland.