Robert J. Miller

Agnostic at the Altar

“Van Hagen combines an honest agnosticism with critical biblical scholarship, his insights as a psychologist, and an open-eyed awareness of both the blessings and toxins of organized religion to share what we can learn from the Jewish prophets (including Jesus) about embracing the ambiguities of our time as we strive for moral clarity and religious integrity.”

Deuteronomy

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Jack Lundbom has written what is at last the successor to S. R. Driver's 1895 ICC commentary on Deuteronomy. This exhaustive work includes a fresh translation kept close to the Hebrew so as to bring out rhetorical structures lost in English since the King James Version. Each passage is accompanied by commentary, along with abundant referrals to further scholarship, focusing especially on delimitation, framing, keywords, chiasms, and inclusios determined both from the rhetorical criticism Lundbom is known for and from evidence in the ancient manuscripts. The extensive supplementary material at the start of the volume lays out moderate, cautious positions, conversant with the latest critical scholarship.”

From Monk to Modernity, Second Edition

Philosophy

“Against the background of his disarming spiritual autobiography, Kirkham engages an impressive array of topics that investigate unexpected connections by which a responsible acceptance of modernity necessarily interacts with our collective religious past. The author’s restless curiosity sparks insightful explorations that are undergirded by a moral clarity and an honest appraisal of a religion he loved but can no longer embrace.”

From Symposium to Eucharist

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Smith's fine-grained analysis of Greco-Roman dining customs and the literary conventions surrounding the symposium is a breakthrough that sets the New Testament data on meals into their rightful cultural and historical contexts. Smith sheds new light on vital issues concerning the historical Jesus, Paul's theology and ethics, and the development of early Christian worship. This is a definitive study on a fundamental topic in Christian origins.”

Horror and Hope

History & Biography

“With courage and honesty, Kirkham confronts some of the most perplexing and troubling problems of our time. A former monk and a meticulous scholar, Kirkham eloquently engages these issues with unflinching analyses of how Christianity has enabled and abetted profound evils as well as how it can offer hope for their healing.”

Jesus' Parables Speak to Power and Greed

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“How can Jesus’ parables possibly relate to climate change without seriously misreading them? But make no mistake: Ford expertly shows that it is our assumption that the powerful characters in the parables represent God that leads to seriously misreading these subtle scenarios about superiors and subordinates. With astute psychological insights, Ford helps us to see how these power imbalances relate to the terrifying threat confronting our species.”

Promise and Poison

History & Biography

“John Van Hagen distills the best of recent scholarship on Christian origins for his lucid description of how diverse groups of Jesus followers took different paths as they found their ways forward in the first two centuries. Van Hagen also shows how these ancient approaches live on in modern forms of Christianity and offers insightful and balanced assessments of their benefits, as well as their toxic side effects.”

The Bible, Violence, and the Sacred

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This book deserves a careful, critical consideration by those who look into the Jewish and Christian traditions for insight in understanding and healing the interconnection between violence and religion.”

The Parables of Jesus and the Problems of the World

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Reader beware: this subtle yet passionate book might make you doubt what you've never questioned about Jesus' parables. Ford helps us see that these seemingly simple stories are actually cunning invitations to ponder the tragedies of co-dependencies between characters separated by vast discrepancies of power. If that weren't enough, Ford provocatively juxtaposes Jesus' parables with contemporary economic, political, and military crises fraught with global injustices. If you can read this book without squirming, you probably aren't understanding it.”

The Wisdom of Jesus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Hedrick distills a lifetime of learning as he invites and equips us to learn from the wisdom of Jesus in the only way one can learn wisdom: by thinking along with it. Those willing to benefit from Hedrick's expert guidance and ponder the historical Jesus's shrewd observations, dark humor, and paradoxical perspectives, run the real (and exhilarating) risk of changing their minds about what they thought they knew.”