Books published by Chalice Press

The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, reignited a long-smoldering movement for justice, with many St. Louis-area clergy stepping up to support the emerging young leaders of today's Civil Rights Movement. Seminary professor Leah Gunning Francis was among the activists, and her interviews with more than two dozen faith leaders and with the new movement's organizers take us behind the scenes of the continuing protests. Ferguson and Faith demonstrates that being called to lead a faithful life can take us to places we never expected to go, with people who never expected us to join hands with them.Ferguson and Faith is the first book from the partnership of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) and Chalice Press.

Coming home from military service is a process of reconnection and reintegration that is best engaged within a compassionate community. There are almost 20 million veterans and service members living in the United States, including more than one million Americans deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001. Post-war life can be challenging unless there are communities responding with compassion and hospitality. How churches welcome and respond will be critical to the well-being of our nation's veterans, their families, our local communities, and our nation. Zachary Moon, a commissioned military chaplain, has seen the unique challenges for those adjusting to post-war life. In this book, he prepares congregations to mobilize a receptive and restorative ministry with military service members and their families. Designed to be accessible to both clergy and laypersons, this is an ideal resource for individuals or small groups interested in addressing the opportunities and challenges facing veterans and their families. Discussion questions and other resources included will help support small-group dialogue and community building.

For Graduating seminary students, Stephen Sprinkle has written a practical theological guide for preparing for ordination in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), United Church of Christ, American Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), and other closely related denominations. He provides a theology of what ordination is and what it means to the person being ordained, to the life of the church at large, and to the congregation gathered for the celebration. Sprinkle includes "hands-on" practical guidance on how to plan the service, plus samples of ordination services from each of the four traditions.

Real questions, real responses. Examine questions and answers about Jesus that many of us were afraid to ask. Some of the questions discussed in this book include: Why did Jesus have to suffer so much before he died? Or did he have to? What happened during the "missing years" of Jesus'' life unaccounted for in the Bible? Does it really matter if Jesus was born to a virgin or not? What if Mary wasn''t a virgin, or if Joseph (or someone else) was the father? The Bible says that Jesus had siblings. Does that mean that there are people alive today who are from his family bloodline? Where are they? Who are they?

The first five books of the Hebrew Bible spark discussions that last for centuries. From the creation stories in Genesis through the delineation of the law in Deuteronomy, these five books-- the Pentateuch-- contain deep troves of historical and spiritual treasures. In The Bible's Foundation: An Introduction to the Pentateuch, Charles Aaron Jr. looks at each book through several perspectives: ancient near-Eastern background, literary analysis, structure, important theological concepts, and compositional history. The Bible's Foundation: An Introduction to the Pentateuch accounts the academic significance of each book and the issues of faith that have marked these books as important, sacred texts. Each chapter summarizes the content of an individual book, provides careful analysis for selected representative passages, and discusses in a critical way the faith issues raised from the text.

This revised and expanded introductory text introduces students of the Bible to the layers of meaning that can be uncovered by serious study of the synoptic gospel texts. Included are two new chapters introducing ideological exegetical approaches to the gospels and a concluding chapter that helps the student synthesize the exegetical discoveries they have made using the methods taught in the book.

In Mitch Albom's popular novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Hyperion 2003), Albom presents a vision of heaven and the afterlife, but the novel is not just about what happens after we die. It also offers some pretty important insights into the lives we lead in the here and now. Using the Wisdom Traditions of the Bible as their backdrop, Gilvin and Godsey bring us into a discussion of what, as Albom suggests in his novel, might truly be important in life. Wisdom Literature, says Gilvin and Godsey, expresses the way individuals experience life. Illustrating biblical concepts with examples from Albom's novel, Wisdom from the Five People You Meet in Heaven parallels each of the characters of The Five People You Meet in Heaven with the themes and insights from a particular selection from Wisdom Literature. For individual reading or group discussion, each of the six chapters offer questions for reflection or as discussion starters.