Charles R. Pinches

A Faith Embracing All Creatures

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Other recent books have made the case that our contemporary treatment of animals is both inhumane and unchristian; A Faith Embracing All Creatures does so in a refreshingly light-handed way. Its arguments are both morally serious and deeply theological, particularly because its authors pore carefully over important sections of biblical text. But the book is also extremely inviting as it opens to questions people are genuinely asking about how a commitment to moral vegetarianism (or related commitments) can make theological sense. . . . Furthermore, the concerns about the welfare of animals that the authors highlight in their theologizing turn out to be immensely fruitful. As they free us from customary presumptions, they teach us how to read and appreciate the biblical material in new ways.”

Beyond Belief

Arts & Literature

“Beyond Belief ventures courageously into the aporia between the contemporary art world and religious faith. Its authors lament the widespread distrust among contemporary artists and critics of religious themes, identifying intellectual blindness fueling this distrust, but also listening carefully for muffled cries for the return of the sacred. The collection is a delightful mix of fresh, critical perspectives, built upon a unified vision that re-roots the creative human act in the transcendent. We need this book to remind us what art might do for our souls.”

Making a Welcome

Christian Living

“Maria Poggi Johnson knows that good stories are what guide good lives--and that we learn goodness as we place ourselves within them. She also knows that good theology begins at home, in the strange and glorious particulars of human community. In this book she reaches out by inviting us in to her own rather crazy life and home. The conversation that ensues is enlivening and theologically insightful, moved along by Maria's extraordinary stylistic skill and humoristic flare.”

The Politics of Practical Reason

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“In this wondrously clear and seamlessly constructed book, Mark Ryan makes a compelling case for the centrality of practical reason in any serious contemporary account of theological ethics. Further, he shows why this account must be rooted in a politics that knits us together around a shared conception of the good that is itself practical, a form of life that anchors a lived conception of the virtues, especially justice. This gives him firm footing for assessing the trajectories of key contemporary moral thinkers: Elizabeth Anscombe, Charles Taylor, Alasdair MacIntyre, Jeffrey Stout, and Stanley Hauerwas. His reading of Hauerwas is especially helpful for future work in theological ethics, as Ryan shows how Hauerwas can help us begin to discern together not only how we think but what we most love.”