Bernd Wannenwetsch

Conceiving Parenthood

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Reading Conceiving Parenthood comes at a risk, but a risk well worth taking. Written in an engaging and brilliantly entertaining style, the book confronts us with the ideology of the familiar and familial — an ideology in which we all are easily and comfortably entrapped. Who would not want to have or be part of a ‘good family'? Working through a wealth of amazing — and embarrassing — material that demonstrates the self-idolizing of the better-offs in twentieth-century American society as it has stylized the image of the ‘right' and ‘decent' family, Amy Laura Hall's analysis is still far from cold-blooded deconstructivism. Drawing on theological voices of brave dissent from the mainstream, her call for ‘reconceiving parenthood' is ultimately a call for mercy and a witness to its transforming presence in the midst of a highly ideologized society.”

Essays in Anthropology

Philosophy

“Robert Spaemann is one of the brightest minds in contemporary philosophy, and the four fresh approaches to the old question 'What is Man?' presented in this collection of essays prove the point. The quartet provides the ideal companion to Spaemann's seminal work on 'Persons' and a timely challenge to the host of reductionist anthropologies that swamp the intellectual scene today. DeGraaff and Mumford are to be thanked for making this collection available to English speaking readers in a translation that is accurate and elegant at the same time.”

God's Most Earnest Purpose

Theology

“Ngien's succinct interpretation of Luther's catechisms according to a "Trinitarian grammar of faith" allows the reader to appreciate the magisterial Reformer as precisely the theologian he aspired to be: not an "innovator," but a faithful exegete of the church's biblically grounded doctrinal tradition.”

Living By Faith

Theology

“Living by Faith is truly a wonderful book. It does not represent just another voice in Lutheran theology; rather, it brings out Luther's own voice for today. Conversing with a wide range of philosophical and theological traditions, Oswald Bayer illuminates the liberating power of divine justification in a world full of tribunals and self-justification. Having learned much from the German edition, I am delighted to see this gem -- a rarity in contemporary German theology -- made accessible to English-speaking readers. As a moral theologian, I heartily recommend it.”

Singing the Ethos of God

Theology

“Brian Brock is one of the most gifted younger scholars in theological ethics, and this book more than proves the point. He suggests an exciting turning of the tables in the debate on Scripture's usefulness for Christian ethics with a fascinating analysis of two champions of 'premodern' biblical exegesis and their accounts of the Psalter — Augustine and Luther. Instead of approaching Scripture with a preconceived general theory of understanding, Singing the Ethos of God instructs the reader in how the fathers practiced the (sung) Psalter in order to become familiar with God's own patterns of communication in and through Scripture, coming in time to shape the lives of those who 'read' appropriately. Beyond Hermeneutics would have been an apt subtitle for this groundbreaking study.”