Walter Brueggemann

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In Old Testament studies, John Willis has been a reliable reference point, a mountain of critical information as attested in these essays, and a font of theological passion in his interpretation for as long as I can remember. It is a delight to salute a well-beloved colleague. It is an equal delight to commend to his readers the rich resources and the thoughtful scholarship reflected in this volume. Willis has taken the text with deep seriousness and he invites his readers to do the same.”

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Authority of Scripture

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This collection of essays is a bold and high-quality reflection on how to hold to a 'high view' of Scripture once the notion of 'infallibility' is perforce given up. Since my entire life has been outside the orbit of the question of infallibility, much of this is new to me. I have learned a great deal from the judicious, disciplined, honest way in which Scripture is approached here. The wise foreword by William Abraham that functions as an overture is itself of enormous value and prepares the way for the thoughtful, critical, well-informed analyses that are to follow.”

Introducing Old Testament Theology

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“For a generation, Bill Bellinger has been at the forefront of our shared scholarship on the book of Psalms. Now, near the end of his teaching-scholarly career, he has moved out to a most ambitious undertaking in this book. The hard work of Old Testament theology is elementally to find a model or paradigm that can account for most of the textual material. Bellinger proposes a model that is not unlike a three-legged stool, offered in the parts of creation, covenant, and prophetic proclamation. It is of special interest that Bellinger finds his three accents in the book of Psalms, the text he knows best. In articulating this three-pronged model, Bellinger brings the wisdom of his many years of study. It is clear from this work that the enterprise of Old Testament theology is well, healthy, and demanding. Bellinger’s discussion is sure to evoke new explorations and focus attention on canonical matters and the mystery of divine-human interaction that is definitional for the scriptural tradition.”

Introducing the Old Testament

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This rich multidimensional study will be the state-of-the-art introduction to the Old Testament for some time to come. In addition to a book-by-book introduction, this valuable resource by these two accomplished scholars includes much useful information concerning ancient Near Eastern history, geography, and cultural context and concerning alternative theological interpretations, canon, and studies of personalities. This information-packed book is made even more attractive by insightful artwork and witty links to contemporary life. The authors note that one does not ‘read’ a library but ‘study’ it. That is what they do with the library of the Old Testament: they study it. And they invite the reader to study it with them as they guide, instruct, and persuade.”

Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In this major study, Childs has brought to full expression both his critical judgments and his boldest, imaginative, constructive proposals. He decisively changes what is meant and practiced as 'introduction' by fashioning an alternative form, not only in the answers given, but in the questions asked. His dialectic of firm discipline and theological sensitivity has far-ranging implications for scholarly analysis and faithful interpretation.”

Jeremiah among the Prophets

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Jack Lundbom has long since established himself as a foremost interpreter of Jeremiah, capable of a rich flow of technical erudition. . . . He is a reliable interpreter who invites the reader into the key issues and claims of the text. This book is a chapter-by-chapter exposition with a conclusion that reflects on the scribal formation of the book of Jeremiah. Lundbom shows the reader the compelling ways in which this ancient tradition merits our continuing attention.”

Jeroboam’s Wife

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Amid a plentitude of literature on feminist interpretation, Robin Gallaher Branch here offers a singular contribution that merits careful attention. She combines careful, informed attention to the text with daring imagination that turns the text in new directions. Who would have thought to focus on the wife of Jeroboam who never speaks but who turns out to be an engine for compelling interpretation? Certainly not I! The book is reliable and suggestive, enhanced by over fifty pages of endnotes. Here is a book in which the long silenced are brought to speech!”

Jesus and the Hope of the Poor

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Schottroff and Stegemann have distinguished themselves through as series of important publications on reading the New Testament through a lens of disciplined social criticism. This book is important because it advances that reading of the New Testament. This book is important also because it shows how the categories of social criticism require a rereading of the New Testament-particularly the story of Jesus. The book is even more important because it is written by two scholars who are thoroughly grounded in historical-critical methods of the best German scholarship, but who now mobilize that critical scholarship toward new questions. The careful attention to method that is pursued in this book helps us see that such a radical reading of the New Testament is not Marxist, but is in fact subversive in terms of the subversion of the text itself. This book is readily accessible and will be widely used as we face the crises both of the substance of the Bible and the methods we shall use to get at that substance.”

Jesus Unleashed

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Ron Clark has written a deceptively demanding book that not only compels engagement but that anticipates changed perception and conduct. He offers a commentary on the Gospel of Luke but this is no ordinary commentary; this commentary is linked to reality on the ground and teems with connections to real people in real crunches facing real opportunities. It is of course not an accident that Clark has settled on the Gospel of Luke, for it is this Gospel that has in purview serious social transformation. The book draws us close to the Gospel call for engagement in such transformation.”

Jesus, Jubilee, and the Politics of God’s Reign

Theology

“Christian Collins Winn has written a welcome compelling exposition of ‘the Kingdom of God’ as it is parsed in the Bible. He has read and digested a remarkable amount of scholarship and put it to good use. Most importantly, he keeps a close eye on the emancipatory dimension of ‘the Kingdom’ as it pertains to the great emancipatory issues of race, class, and gender among us. Collins Winn has written a thoughtful, judicious manifesto to which attention must be paid.”

Joy, Despair, and Hope

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Feld takes up some of the best-loved psalms. By his thoughtful, discerning exposition, he shows why they are the best loved among us, and why they continue as such durable vehicles for contemporary faith. Feld's exposition evidences to the Christian reader how deeply Jews and Christians share the richness of this poetry of faith.”

Justice Church

Theology

“"Herzog refuses to do an easy or obvious theology, but insists on raising difficult questions which require theology to be done with some anguish. He has seen more clearly than most that we are in a crisis of categories, which must be reshaped in shattering ways, not only to do a new theology, but to re-understand the nature of theology. Members of the United Church of Christ, his own church body, will especially benefit from Herzog's proposals as this militantly 'liberal' church is urged in critical and self-critical directions.”

Learning to Sing in a Strange Land

Counseling, Grief & Mental Health

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Leisure Resurrected

Church Leadership & Ministry

Foreword

(wrote a foreword)

Lies My Preacher Told Me

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This wondrous little book is an invitation to reconsider the importance and accessibility of the Old Testament as a resource for faith.”

Life and Witness of Ezekiel

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“The book of Ezekiel is stubborn in its resistance to interpretation. Helyer nonetheless offers a winsome, accessible introduction to the book. He takes seriously the playful, elusive imagery of the book but insists that what is imaginative in the words of the prophet must be linked to the historical context of Ezekiel’s time. . . . This book will be a welcome entry point into Scripture that refuses easy access but holds rich resources for faith.”

Live Like You Give a Damn!

Christian Living

Foreword

“I am glad to commend this exposition that exhibits quite concretely ways to revision, reimagine, and reperform the gospel. Such fresh, imaginative engagement will surely yield a 'well done' from the Lord of the church who makes all things new.”

Live the Questions

Christian Living

“Jeffrey Keuss issues a fresh invitation to faith in the midst of the acute anxiety and alienation of our society. But the faith to which he summons is not a package of certitudes. It is rather an ongoing, deep, and unflinching travel into deeper wonderment and open-ended trust. Keuss sees that certitude is not a dialect of faith; it is rather a refusal of faith of a biblical kind. The advocacy of this book is richly braced with engagement with great thinkers and our best literature. This welcome book, wise in its honesty and daring, is an act of resistance to frightened easier formulations.”

Living Undivided

Christian Living

“This deeply moving book is a fierce invitation to engagement that is smart, rooted, and courageous, moving toward a renewed, restored society of justice.”