Mary E. Hess

Atando Cabos

Discipleship & Christian Education

“This is a beautiful book! Conde-Frazier reaches deeply into the history of encounter between European colonial powers who drove a specific understanding of mission, and the diverse, vibrant, and multiple understandings of mission that have arisen across a vast array of Latinx contexts. She elegantly lifts up a view of misión integral which rests within the breath of the Spirit. She makes clear how the continued vitality of Latinx congregations even in the midst of sharp oppression grows from the embrace of the Spirit’s life and work. Her book offers a rich and energizing view of theological education that is dialogical, thoroughly embodied in practice, relevant, shares the good news of the basileia of God, and nourishes the priesthood of all believers. We all must read this book!”

Doing Theological Double Dutch

Discipleship & Christian Education

“Lockhart-Rusch uses the rich metaphor of Double Dutch jump rope to highlight how the ‘tightrope’ of hegemonic culture and history can be woven together with the ‘second rope’ of womanist engagement to facilitate playful, faithful learning that is deeply transformative. Her book is full of concrete examples of womanist pedagogical practices that can be embodied in theological classrooms, as well as places of learning far beyond the academy. We need this book; it’s an essential reminder that God comes to us in the work and play of the margins, showing up in ways that bring joyful fun and communal engagement into being.”

Everyone Must Eat

Church Leadership & Ministry

“In this brief, story-driven book, Mark L. Yackel-Juleen creates bridges across the many familiar divides we inhabit. Everyone Must Eat offers a way past urban/rural, foodie/corporation, libertarian/government activist and draws us into the complexities of living in deep relationship with each other and all of creation. An excellent read. I highly recommend it!”

From Generation to Generation

Discipleship & Christian Education

“Charles Foster makes a compelling argument for the development of catechetical cultures in congregations capable of helping their members to anticipate, prepare for, rehearse, participate in, and analyze the heart of the Christian story. His masterful analysis of mainline Protestant churches suggests that unless we can retrieve and re-member the developmental, practical, and discovery elements of such a culture, our congregations will fade even further into irrelevance.”

Holy Ground

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“How do we invite people into practices of prayer that nourish and sustain? This exquisite little book invites readers into an open and generous space of wondering about prayer, encourages a diverse and wide range of ways of praying, and offers resources for going deeper into traditions which honor prayer.”

Hope Deferred

Counseling, Grief & Mental Health

“The women who share their stories here inscribe new ways of doing theology that are at once both faith-filled and personal, and yet wonderfully catholic.”

Leadership Formation in the African Context

Church Leadership & Ministry

“One of the best ways to understand the missional-church conversation is to perceive it through a deeply rooted and clearly situated set of lenses. This book does that beautifully . . . . Highly recommended for both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as pastoral leaders seeking to move beyond highly individualistic notions of leadership, this book will draw you into the heart of such formation with depth and clarity.”

Listening as Hosts

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This is a beautiful, lyrical book which seeks to embody what it teaches by naming the hurt, observing the aesthetics that are embodied in ritual, listening deeply with and to pluralities, and forming liturgical vocabularies and gestures that are humble, embodied, and thoroughly grounded in a Christianity that is always transforming towards the one love Christ draws us into.”

Networked Theology

Theology

“A thoughtful, compelling, and substantial reflection on the intersection of networked religion and Christian theology. The authors' distinctive backgrounds--his in computer science, hers in media studies--offer unique perspectives from which to consider difficult questions about identifying and loving our neighbors in the midst of digital cultures. An excellent text for both seminary and congregational study.”

Proleptic Pedagogy

Discipleship & Christian Education

“This book is an excellent example of the scholarship of teaching and learning, written by an astute and collaborative theological faculty. Their vivid descriptions of pedagogical challenges evoke experiences that are common throughout the theological landscape. Their responses are deeply thoughtful, profoundly hopeful, and thoroughly engaging. Give yourself the gift of learning with them!”

Teaching for a Culturally Diverse and Racially Just World

Discipleship & Christian Education

“This is a wonderful resource for teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. Rather than retreating from the dilemmas faced when confronting institutionalized racism in theological contexts, these authors lean into the challenges and offer a broad and deep array of pertinent frames of analysis with correspondingly pragmatic responses. There is much bread for the journey here and an invitation into a community of hope. Every school in the ATS should be reading and learning from this book.”

The Future Horizon for a Prophetic Tradition

Church Leadership & Ministry

“The missional ecclesiology conversation has long been in need of an historically grounded, theologically astute engagement with the history of the Black Church in the states. David Everett offers here an imaginative and innovative interweaving of text-driven and active appreciative inquiry into the contexts and commitments of such churches. He has constructed a powerful argument for how the Black Church's historic and unique commitment to public action needs to shape our understanding of missional ecclesiology.”

The Holy and the Hybrid

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Ryan Panzer is one of the most accessible and thoughtful Christians writing about digital tech in ministry today. Following upon his excellent first book, Grace and Gigabytes, he offers a resource-rich path through the uncertain spaces we are navigating as we move into the next chapters of church in and beyond a pandemic. He goes straight to the heart of the challenges when he writes, 'Digital Reformation is not a specific response to an event, but an effort to achieve a level of inclusivity that will benefit the church well after the worst of the pandemic has passed.'”

Understanding Bible by Design

Discipleship & Christian Education

“This book is a warm and thoughtful friend to have alongside as you design learning experiences. Brooke does an excellent and accessible job of introducing the 'understanding by design' principles, using his own context of biblical studies as the focus. Chock full of specific examples of rubrics, assignments, and key questions, this book also offers a friendly counterpoint to academe’s all-too-frequent dismissal of pedagogical reflection. The book includes not only typical classrooms, but also the challenges to be found when moving the process of teaching and learning into online or hybrid environments. The text offers numerous pragmatic ideas for engaging your students, whether you teach in an undergraduate or graduate, public university or seminary, setting.”

Women Called to Catholic Priesthood

Women

“What can it mean to willingly invest oneself in a religious institution that tells you that you cannot, that you should not, lead? How do you follow the Holy Spirit into leadership amidst oppressive structures? These are some of the most difficult questions Roman Catholic womenpriests must struggle with, and this compelling and beautifully written book explores the diverse and multiple answers these women articulate. The wider Christian community has so much to learn from their journeys, and to ignore them is to miss out on the surprising joy the Spirit breathes into the world in the twenty-first century. Why ever would a woman want to be a Roman Catholic priest? This book offers the surprising, compelling, and powerful stories of women who have chosen to do just that, even as the official church excommunicates them for doing so. The wider Christian community has so much to learn from their journeys, and to ignore them is to miss out on the surprising joy the Spirit breathes into the world in the twenty-first century. Quixotic, compelling, full of both joy and sorrow, the stories of Roman Catholic womenpriests that Callahan and Rodriguez have gathered into this book offer captivating glimpses into a church in transition in the twenty-first century. The book also offers a concise yet substantial historical overview of the question of women and the priesthood in the Catholic church, with careful attention to both church documents and contemporary theological wisdom. I have a front-row seat to the struggles of women seeking to lead in the Catholic church, not simply because of my own journey, but because I've followed my mother-in-love Dagmar as she became a Roman Catholic womanpriest as part of the Danube 7. This book is a compelling, carefully researched, and thoughtfully contextualized engagement with the movement of Roman Catholic womenpriests. Callahan and Rodriguez have given us a profound gift that has much to teach all of us who care about Christian community, leading with the Holy Spirit, and embodying church in the twenty-first century.”