Cláudio Carvalhaes

An Unpromising Hope

Theology

“Two questions guide Thomas Gaulke’s book: Where might we look for hope outside of promise? Where might we find hope for an agnostic church and for those of us who find it hard to believe? In different ways, Gaulke shows us how hope is possible in a space that is, perhaps, closer to the gospel—that is closer to Jesus—than the frail forms of hope we hear everywhere. Against a Christian tradition that seals the promise to a few and circumscribes hope to a proper belief, Gaulke shows us that hope is only possible where hope is not given. The Thomas of this book shadows the Thomas of the Gospel, and the results are strikingly close. Both of them have had a hard time believing, but both have also touched Jesus. Don’t be mistaken: this is a mighty book!”

Arts and Preaching

Preaching & Worship

“In this absolutely superb book, Yang shows us dazzling forms of relationships between art and preaching. Art here is not a subdued artifact to be explored for the sake of preaching but rather a luminous partner that shares light with Scripture in the formation of a sermon.”

Becoming Rooted

“Becoming Rooted offers us a precious way back into the land: a way into restoration and reciprocity, a way into healing ourselves and the land, a way of belonging again, a way of finding out who we are. Randy Woodley takes us by the hand and walks with us for the first one hundred days. We begin to think and feel differently, our senses gain new direction, and we start to gain roots. The law of the land becomes our most fundamental law, and we move as the land moves. After reading this book, we know enough to keep on the journey, to pay attention, to look and listen for the signs. Unless we become rooted, there is no future even for our next three generations. I am so grateful for this book and for the life and work of Randy Woodley.”

Building a Eucharistic Pedagogy for the Presbyterian Church of Korea

Preaching & Worship

“Rice cake and the cup, pedagogy and Eucharist, missionary movement in the nineteenth century and the renewal of liturgical practices in the twenty-first century, foreign theology and Korean indigenous thought--these are the ingredients of Hyoung Seop Shin's book. Learn about it; take and eat.”

Church of the Wild

Christian Living

“Church of the Wild is about a very different church. There we encounter a wilderness that might be closer to us than our church buildings. Victoria Loorz's storytelling offers a Christ-tradition language much needed for new dialogues, and a path back to the parts of the Christian faith we have forgotten for centuries. Take and read, and let your body be-wild-ered.”

Dorothy Day for Armchair Theologians

History & Biography

“Hinson-Hasty gifts us with this wonderful rendering of the life and work of one of the most powerful and important theologians of the twentieth century. Dorothy Day is definitely not an armchair theologian, and any true reader of her work will be challenged to go to the streets and engage with the poor, with the disenfranchised, and in popular grassroots movements. This book is a blessing from two wonderful theologians.”

Finding Our Voice

Christian Living

“Ellis is a prophet that comes back to us time and again, haunting our religious commitments and the ins and outs of our faith. In this new book, Ellis’s poetry is riveting, rendering the prophetic even more complex, difficult, and challenging. Where do we go now that we have this religious consciousness? Our task is to decide what to do with our faith the same way Father Paneloux did in Camus’s novel The Plague. Definitely not an easy task.”

Hands of Doom

Arts & Literature

“To read Jack Holloway’s theological account on the music of Black Sabbath was to discover a treasure I never thought existed. This poetic and vibrant book carries a theology of gloom and doom that can take us away from the often wishy-washy notions of hope within Christianity, and into places of transformation. . . . More than ever, we need art that makes us imagine a new world. In this absolutely brilliant book, Holloway shows us musical ways to do it.”

In Counterpoint

Theology

“Kristine Suna-Koro does phenomenal work reading the sacraments through postcolonial lenses. Keeping a complex language, she gives us one of the best gifts a theologian can offer: the work of the imagination! Grounded in expansive postcolonial theory and solid sacramental theology, Suna-Koro shows how the theological imagination, when done from a diasporic place, can challenge and expand the ways we think about​ God. Echoing Aidan Kavanagh, by way of the Baltic Sea, Suna-Koro issues a call for us to consider sacramental theology as theologia prima.”

Interrupting a Gendered, Violent Church

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This is a fundamental book for those interested in the life of the Christian church as a place that honestly strives to live toward justice, equality, and honor. What we find here is a wealth of wisdom, powerful passion, and deep knowledge to build on an expanded notion of sexuality in relation to gender and race. Like the prophets who always interrupt us in our tracks, Anna Mercedes calls us to see, feel, change, and be transformed. Can we hear it?”

Listening as Hosts

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Re-Forming the Liturgy

Preaching & Worship

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Singing the Psalms with My Son

Marriage, Family & Relationships

“In this book, T. Wilson Dickinson holds not only his son’s hand but ours too. With the richness of the Psalms, he guides us now and into the future through times unknown and spaces growing in loss and destruction. This book is like the mask we hear about in the airplanes. We put it first on ourselves, so we are able to help our kids. Dickinson teaches us to read the Psalms and offer healing to the world.”

Take My Hand

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Take My Hand is a great telling of a first-year pastor living in his first congregation . . . [The] writing is very gracious and mirrors what happens right there at the 'ground of the fabric' where our theologies are built, our prayers are shared, our world views reshaped, and our love of God and one another deeply nourished.”

The Planet You Inherit

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“These letters are for all of us, so sit down and let the stories unfold. Many times the stories are not easy and carry the anxiety of our time. But they also prepare us to face our fears, offering ways through our climate disasters with hope and imagination. Thank you, Larry, for these stories.”

Word and Sacrament

Preaching & Worship

“Finally, we have a robust analysis of the sacramental understanding of the Reformed tradition! Paul Galbreath knows the tradition inside out and through the notions of Scriptures, Lord’s Supper and Baptism, he unpacks the Biblical, theological and liturgical riches of this tradition, pointing us to the past, to the present and to the future of this powerful channel of God’s grace. Galbreath is a unique gem of a biblical scholar, a theologian and a liturgist and only someone like him could do such a complex work in a very accessible way. This book is a powerful witness to a tradition that has shaped our time in so many ways.”

World Christianity and Interfaith Relations

World Religions

“It is becoming very difficult to figure out our world today. When it comes to Christianity and its almost infinite compositions and multifaceted forms of existences, we feel at loss. World Christianity and Interfaith Relations is a remarkable resource to help us get into those muddy waters. With voices from different parts of the world, this book engages vivid themes of our time such as nationalism, intolerance, race, gender, ecology, forms of resistance, religious dialogues, ecumenical efforts, and more. This book shows us how much we need to pause, learn, and change our views. It is indeed rich material for anyone who wants to understand the complexities of the Christian faiths across the globe.”

Worship and Power

Preaching & Worship

“Addressing a huge lacuna of worship/liturgy done in and from Free Churches, this very rich collection of essays documents, questions, challenges, and lays out power dynamics within communities, the place of authority between clergy and members, and the hidden/open relations between communities and state. Always at stake, this book wrestles with power structures that determine who we are, the places we inhabit, the mission we carry, what to be a church is all about, and what it means to be Christians.”