Valerie Bridgeman

Baptized Rage, Transformed Grief

Counseling, Grief & Mental Health

“Cheryl Kirk-Duggan’s poems are a ‘Vision’ of how to ‘clean up relationship with self,’ as she writes. The musicality of the emotions intoned—between grief, joy, disappointment, fatigue, hope, sadness, resolve, faith, and more—lead readers through every feeling. The poems are a symphony, a prayer, a righteous rage against loss. I hope everyone reads these ‘whispered prayers.’”

Disciplined Hope

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“With this collection, Shannon Craigo-Snell has captured a part of faithful resistance often left out of the history of movements. This book of her social media prayers, annotated within their historical contexts, is a love note to people who long for justice as a faithful Christian response. It is a powerful testimony of prayer as action, as intention, as community. I will be reading and praying them again and again.”

Let the Church Say Amen

Preaching & Worship

“a thorough and engaging history of call-and-response as a homiletical tool in the historic Black church, while adding to the conversation on how this communal act of preaching builds strength, support, and courage within the congregation that shares in building the sermon. Homileticians, historians, preachers in the church—no matter their ethnicity or race—and students will need this book.”

Looking at Life through a Biblical Lens

Preaching & Worship

“From the very first paragraph, this book is a heartbeat of God, a breath of revelation, a peering into the soul of a scholar-preacher who loves the people to whom these sermons are addressed. The turns of phrases, examples, and engaging of biblical texts. . . make the sermons powerful and meaningful. I will return to them several times. If you get this book, so will you. It’s that good.”

Pharaohs on Both Sides of the Blood-Red Waters

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“. . . a primer on hope born in struggle that is incisive. This book is grounded historically, autobiographically, and prophetically. Every page is a theological history of how people stay in the struggle for human dignity and freedom, undergirded by faith in God and in people. It is a major work for our times.”

Spiritual Care in an Age of #BlackLivesMatter

Counseling, Grief & Mental Health

“Every chapter of this book is a love offering for black life thriving, a guide for those who long for emotional and spiritual health and to foster it in others. . . . My only lament is that we had to wait this long for such a thorough offering. Every pastor, every chaplain, every scholar of every discipline who wants to situate their work through the lens of black love and black lives needs this book.”

The Africana Bible, Second Edition

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Hugh R. Page Jr., General Editor”

The Genesis of Liberation

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“‘African Americans’ respect for the authority of the Christian Scriptures is a miracle in itself.’ This opening line in the first chapter begins the treasure hunt that Drs. Powery and Sadler lead with detail and historical acumen. This book about how early African Americans understood and embraced the Bible is also a miracle, weaving in and out of slave narratives and biblical hermeneutics with ease. The Genesis of Liberation joins a growing and necessary body of works that help us look back on our histories in order to go forward toward liberation. I hope every professor, student, pastor, and layperson, no matter their affiliations, read and use this book.”

Womanist Sass and Talk Back

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This sassy, bold, brave book reads texts and contexts with a very keen eye, a passion for people and justice, and a clear expertise in biblical texts and histories. Smith has read complex concerns in a way that, whether scholar or lay, readers will encounter insight, challenge, and courage. I can hardly wait to use this book in a class. But if you’re a pastor or educator in a local congregation, it will serve you just as well.”