Larry D. Bouchard

God's Wounds: Hermeneutic of the Christian Symbol of Divine Suffering, Volume One

Theology

“"With rigor and discipline--and moving deftly across many streams of analogy, Scripture, and creaturely experience--Jeff Pool guides us deep into the symbolism of God's suffering and vulnerability and undertakes a new mapping of the divine and human 'logic of love.' The culminating chapters of this first volume of God's Wounds are among the most succinct theological-ethical interpretations of the paradigm of God and humanity constituted as love that I have read.”

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Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“How do we resist a sign of evil without promulgating it? Mark Twain saturated and satirized the racist word; hip-hop tries to appropriate and 'flip' it. They both risk making it more pervasive and global. James Harris's way is to locate the word's cruelty in a memoir of childhood, education, and ministry--and of surviving a graduate seminar on Huckleberry Finn. The forbidden word is out there, as hostile as ever. His gripping, startling narratives show how and why.”

No Longer Bound

Preaching & Worship

“So much more than a great book on the art of the sermon--and it is that!--James Henry Harris has given us a fully realized theology of dialogue and liberation. In astonishingly deft and astute ways, he juxtaposes his own autobiography with commentaries on philosophical theology, literature, postmodern society, and life in diverse African American communities. A fine, critical work of narrative art in its own right, No Longer Bound guides us--issue by issue, question by question--into the passion of 'preaching as an act of love.'”

Renunciation

Fiction

“This novel of two brothers is a tale of two quests, Peter's to understand Will and Will's to experience God. John Barbour poignantly captures conflicts in spirituality today: family faith vs. distant wisdom, doctrine vs. lived practice, obedience vs. innovation. He keenly observes how paths of renunciation can become possessions. This paradox sends Peter searching, from academic Chicago to Buddhist Thailand, then to a Sikh community in India--where Will's mystery inspires unsettled but caring thought.”

The Hardened Heart and Tragic Finitude

Theology

“Via's incisive demonstration of tragic finitude in Jewish and Christian Scripture--showing where it runs alongside the dominant themes of sin and the 'hardened heart'--sharpens and clarifies our awareness of how innocence and suffering mingle with anxiety and moral culpability. His new comparisons of key biblical texts with themes from Greek tragedy lead to a provocative and acute theological account of the origins of evil and the challenges of grace and responsibility.”