Charles Mathewes
Theology
“A lucid, powerful, and deeply thoughtful work. Kaufman takes a very skeptical historian's view of the proposals of several contemporary thinkers, myself included, on Augustine and politics. He is equally frank about those disagreements and charitable with those whose views he critiques. But the book rises above critique; it distills decades of careful linguistic and historical scholarship, and offers a compelling vision of Augustine's understanding of the relation between Christianity and 'worldly' activism. I may stubbornly disagree with (parts of) Kaufman's interpretation, but I learned a tremendous amount from this book, both to my edification and my correction; and the next time I teach anything about Augustine and politics, it will be required reading.”
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
“Mark Douglas's Believing Alou is a wonderful book, or really two books: one a collection of his newspaper columns, the other a series of meditations (which connect the columns) on what he was trying to do in the columns, and how he thought he did. Combining theological depth, political and cultural acumen, and a vivid and sharp writing style, the book is both an education in Douglas's wise and persuasive understanding of religion's role in public life, and an education about how to communicate that understanding to others. A delight.”
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
“Bretherton’s work is always rich, brimming with ideas and thought-provoking arguments. But this is a new kind of gift—an introduction to the whole field of political theology, taking seriously both the political and the theological aspects of the field. Furthermore, this field is often only seen in fragments; but in this book, the synoptic nature of this book makes for a gift on an altogether new level. Ambitious, lucid, making surprising and fruitful connections, the book takes readers on a journey through a bewildering maze of topics—and you never feel lost. I don’t know of another book that can compete with it. Highly recommended, to those seasoned in the field and to those just starting out.”
Theology
“This fascinating 'manifesto' reminds us all that theology can only matter if it engages what matters. While their book is directed to theologians, it asks questions so fundamental to human life, and in language so ordinary and pellucid, that many people who are not at all theologians may find themselves caught up in this text. Which is, of course, their point. Highly recommended.”
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
“Rick Elgendy recognizes one of the most pressing questions in political life today—how do you live in a world where active collaboration with manifest evil seems sometimes unavoidable, and tacit complicity seems at best inescapable? For Christians in particular, what does it mean to pray ‘thy kingdom come’ in a world like ours, beset by Powers and Principalities radically opposed to the way of Jesus? Elgendy offers a highly creative answer to these questions, one with real theoretical and theological depth and genuine colloquial accessibility, innovatively using figures heretofore never put in serious conversation.”
Philosophy
“This is a rich and systematic analysis of the problem of evil as it presents itself in Christian thought, and one open to dialogue with other religious and moral traditions of reflection. It lucidly probes the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of approaches, and readers will learn a great deal by following Scott along on this sobering but enlightening journey. An excellent resource for the classroom and for a general readership.”
Theology
“From the beginning Margaret Miles has been a wise and astute reader of Augustine, and a pellucid writer on his thought in its context. As one of the earliest feminist thinkers to engage seriously with the great Father, her work has always been surprisingly charitable and politically insightful. This collection of essays--on Augustine, Augustine's antecedents and context, and several of Augustine's more prominent conceptual inheritors--deepens and nuances her view of Augustine's thought and age, revealing an even more shaded and subtle assessment than before. This collection of essays underscores Miles's gifts as an interpreter and confirms her place as one of the best and most mature thinkers in the contemporary academy engaging with Augustine's thought.”
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
“In this volume O'Donovan challenges how we do ethics, and what we say of ethics, across the board, from alpha to omega. The book is brief but elegant, erudite, judicious, its proposals matured by decades of reflection on what ethics can and cannot do. Its poetically dense, richly thought-provoking style invites one to leisurely reflection. After reading the first paragraph I was intrigued; halfway through the second I was hooked. You will be too: taste and see.”
The Covenant Theology of Jonathan Edwards
Theology
“Paul Hoehner offers a powerful analysis of the theology of Jonathan Edwards, placing his thought lucidly in the context of his Reformed heritage. Combining theological acuity and great depth of historical learning, Hoehner’s book advances scholarship on Jonathan Edwards, on the Reformed theological tradition, and on Enlightenment religious thought.”
Theology
“Augustine is always relevant, and in the twenty-first century even moreso. Gregory W. Lee’s selection of passages from Augustine’s masterpiece, City of God, together with Lee’s own astute commentary on those passages, makes for an exceptional work for students and interested general readers. Highly recommended.”
The Peril and Promise of Christian Liberty
Theology
“Littlejohn's work would have been enough if it had simply been a terrific recovery and restatement of major themes in the work of Richard Hooker—for he is, after all, perhaps the one truly great major thinker in Christian thought who lacks disciples in the contemporary academy. But, more than that, it is also a significant contribution to debates about the nature of modernity and liberalism, the relation between earlier theological notions of liberty of conscience and contemporary individualism, church and state, and arguments about the meaning of the Reformation for the contemporary world—all from a deeply underappreciated perspective. Agree or disagree, Littlejohn's work, in reaffirming a major Christian tradition, is a wonderful addition to the current tumult in political theology.”
The Politics of Practical Reason
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
“We have long lacked a guide for the philosophical background of Hauerwas's thought, especially as it comes from the work of idiosyncratic anglophone philosophers like Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, and Charles Taylor. Now Mark Ryan has offered us one such guide, and a generous and insightful one at that. The book represents a new step into philosophical seriousness for those of a Hauerwasian persuasion. Offering a 'non-reductive understanding of politics' as the context in which to see how practical reason becomes what it aims to be, Ryan shows us how Hauerwas's ethics is actually also a politics. His provocative but charitable critiques of Charles Taylor, Gloria Albrecht, and Jeff Stout help flesh out how Hauerwas's work is both engaged with and distinct from some of his sharpest interlocutors.”
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
“David Gushee is one of the most important theological ethicists writing today, and this book is a landmark for future work in Christian ethics. If you are interested in fundamental moral and theological concepts, or in the character of religious discourse in our public life, or in the future health and sanity of the Christian churches in the USA (and beyond), you owe it to yourself to read this book.”
NOTE: Only includes books currently in our catalog; not necessarily a complete list.
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
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