Professional Documents
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SPIRITUALITY UPDATE
Scholars weave religion into politics, culture, and social ills
NOVEMBER 2018
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Matters
ing about racism. “From the start of our program 50 years ago,
Orbis has amplified theological voices from the margins,” says
publisher Robert Ellsberg. In October, the press released Said
I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody: The Making of a Black Theologian, a
memoir by James H. Cone, who died this past spring. Ellsberg
Scholars weave religion into calls Cone “the father of black liberation theology.” “Fifty years
after Cone’s first book, a new generation of scholars and activ-
politics, culture, and social ills ists have rediscovered his message—that black lives matter,”
Ellsberg says. “His influence was not just in his books but in
generations of black scholars who carry on his legacy, finding
By Donna Freitas in the gospel message a tool to resist and dismantle white
A
supremacy.”
bird’s-eye view of new and forthcoming Also from Orbis is Knowing Christ Crucified: The
books in religious studies reveals which Witness of African American Religious Experience by M.
subjects publishers think belong at the top Shawn Copeland (Dec.), which explores the sig-
of their lists; it also shows which subjects nificance of Christianity for black history and what
publishers are stepping back from. it means to live in a world ruled by white suprem-
Recent extreme weather events have acy. A Church Where Black Lives Matter by Bryan
increased attention on climate change, yet there Massingale (May 2019) offers a Catholic theologi-
appear to be fewer books on ecotheology and envi- cal and social justice perspective on the racism evi-
ronmental ethics. Among them is the anthology dent in Donald Trump’s election, the rise of the
Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence: The Dalai Lama “alt-right,” the killing of unarmed African-Amer-
in Conversation with Leading Thinkers on Climate icans by police, and the outrage that followed rev-
Change by the Dalai Lama, edited by John D. elations of contaminated water in Flint, Mich.
Dunne and Daniel Goleman (Wisdom, out now). Jemar Tisby, president of The Witness: A Black
At the annual Mind & Life Conference in March in Christian Collective, uncovers the role of Christians
Dharamsala, India, he joined scientists, activists, in supporting racism in The Color of Compromise: The
and scholars to discuss the future of the planet. Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Rac-
Planetary peril and how Christian theology can ism (Zondervan, Jan. 2019). Ryan Pazdur, associate
help is the subject of Shelli M. Poe’s Schleiermacher publisher and executive editor at Zondervan, says
and Sustainability: A Theology for Ecological Living Tisby “makes a compelling case that while there has
(Westminster John Knox, out now). Writing for a been some progress in addressing overt aspects of
wide audience, Poe—a professor of religious stud- racism, the majority of the American church failed
ies at Millsaps College and author of Essential Trin- to speak out and stand against racism.”
itarianism: Schleiermacher as Trinitarian Theolo- Can ‘White’ People Be Saved? Triangulating Race,
gian—mines Schleiermacher’s theology for direc- Theology, and Mission, an anthology edited by Love
tions toward sustainable living. L. Sechrest, Johnny Ramirez-Johnson, and Amos
Islam has grown in importance in both politics Yong (IVP, out now), offers diverse views on how
and religion in the U.S., and books that offer analyses, history, and and why white normativity is intrinsically connected to Ameri-
cultural critiques of Islam have been plentiful in the past several can Christianity. Jon Boyd, editorial director at IVP Academic,
years. But only a few head publishers’ lists this season, such as calls the book “a report from the front lines of the current aca-
Hashtag Islam: How Cyber-Islamic Environments Are Transforming demic conversation about race, theology, and Christian mission.”
Religious Authority by Gary Bunt (Univ. North Carolina, out And homiletics professor Carolyn B. Helsel’s Preaching About
now), which adds to the press’s Islamic Civilization and Muslim Racism: A Guide for White Faith Leaders (Chalice, Dec.) provides
Networks series. Bunt, a professor of Islamic studies at the Uni- a practical manual for white preachers who want to address rac-
versity of Wales, also wrote the book iMuslims for the series. ism from the pulpit. Helsel has been writing, teaching, and
speaking on the subject for over a decade. “For pastors worried
TOPICS ON THE RISE that their preaching on Sunday may lead to their firing on Mon-
Religion scholars and authors are increasingly addressing the day, this may be a career saver as well as a congregational game
turmoil surrounding race in America, and a growing number changer,” says Brad Lyons, Chalice’s president and publisher.
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M 1
Religion & Spirituality Update
CALLS FOR ACTION LGBT rights,” says Theo Calderara, editor-in-chief for history
There are books that urge theological responses to other political and religion at Oxford.
and cultural divisions, calling for justice, equality, and the pres- Also of note is ‘Jesus Saved an Ex-Con’: Political Activism and
ervation of democratic ideals. “We challenge the too-common Redemption After Incarceration by sociologist Edward Orozco
perception that Christians are exclusionary, racist, conservative, Flores (New York Univ., out now), which offers an unusual take
compassionless zealots who care only for those who agree with on prison reform. Many scholars have studied the role of religion
them,” Lyons says. “We give voice to progressive Christians, in rehabilitation post-incarceration, but Flores is interested in
underrepresented in the media conversation, who welcome those how ex-offenders can use their own experiences of redemption
who are different into their communities, who work to mend to foster social change. Flores is the author of God’s Gangs: Barrio
the divides that have fractured our society, who stand up to Ministry, Masculinity, and Gang Recovery.
injustice and hatred.”
Preaching as Resistance: Voices of A FOCUS ON VIOLENCE
Hope, Justice, and Solidarity, edited Books by theologians and scholar-activists that confront the
by Phil Snider (Chalice, out now), relationship between religion and violence demonstrate how
collects 30 “resistance sermons” religions can either perpetuate or counteract systemic violence.
from pastors across the U.S. who One title with a global reach is Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality:
represent what Lyons describes as Africana Lessons on Religion, Racism, and Ending Gender Violence
the “huge numbers of Christians (New York Univ., Jan. 2019), by theologian Traci C. West, who
who are outraged by the actions of assesses the intersection of gender-based violence with racism in
President Trump and his cronies on Ghana, South Africa, and Brazil and shows how the U.S. can
immigration, civil rights, poverty, learn from the experiences of other nations.
racism, health care—to name just a To better understand and respond to violence carried out in
few—that contradict Christ’s the name of religion, Confronting Religious Violence: A Counternar-
instruction to love your neighbor as rative (Baylor Univ., out now), edited by Richard A. Burridge
yourself.” Also from Chalice, True Inclusion: Creating Communities of and Jonathan Sacks, unearths the roots of religious violence and
Radical Embrace (out now), by the pastor-activist Brandan Rob- shows the relationship between vio-
ertson, asks believers how their communities include people lence and sacred texts. Burridge is a
who haven’t been welcomed in the past. professor of biblical interpretation
Baker weighs in with Moral Leadership for a Divided Age by and the author of Four Ministries, One
David Gushee and Colin Holtz (out now), who mine the wisdom Jesus: Exploring Your Vocation with the
of 14 “moral leaders”—among them Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Four Gospels; Sacks is a rabbi and the
Harriet Tubman, and Malala Yousafzai—and present them as author of more than 30 books, includ-
models for making a divided country whole. Gushee is the ing Leviticus: The Book of Holiness.
incoming president of the American Academy of Religion and L. Daniel Hawk’s The Violence of the
the author of A Letter to My Anxious Christian Friends: From Fear Biblical God: Canonical Narrative and
to Faith in Unsettled Times; Holtz is a Baptist seminarian and for- Christian Faith (Eerdmans, Jan. 2019)
mer political strategist for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. untangles conflicting biblical views
In After the Protests Are Heard: Enacting Civic Engagement and on violence to offer “a truly new way
Social Transformation (New York Univ., Jan. 2019), Sharon D. of approaching this subject that has
Welch uses liberation theology as a lens for evaluating and pro- long vexed believers and proven a
moting practices for justice, equality, and social responsibility stumbling block to many,” says
in institutional communities such as colleges and businesses, Andrew Knapp, acquisitions editor at
both locally and globally. She writes about what comes after the Eerdmans. Knapp believes that
new activism of the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and Hawk’s book makes an important
the Black Lives Matter rallies in the era of Trump. Welch, a contribution in a world “riven by dis-
professor of religion and society, is the author of Communities of agreement on how to respond to the
Resistance and Solidarity: A Feminist Theology of Liberation. atrocities going on all around us.”
Events such as Matthew Shepard’s murder and Tyler Hawk is a Methodist minister and
Clementi’s suicide mobilized a generation of politicians, professor of Old Testament and
celebrities, and gay and straight Americans to defend the rights Hebrew at Ashland Theological Seminary.
of the LGBTQ community. In Dying to Be Normal (Oxford Univ., Finally, one particularly damaging form of tribalism is
Mar. 2019), Brett Krutsch, who teaches religion at Haverford explored in Michael Coogan’s God’s Favorites: Judaism, Christian-
College, “shows how religion became a weapon in the fight for ity, and the Myth of Divine Chosenness (Beacon, Apr. 2019). Coogan
2 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
New from Kregel Academic
(profiled on p. 18) points to the toxic effects of some religious feminism within Buddhism. Tsomo
groups’ conviction that they have been specially chosen by God, is a Buddhist nun and professor of
which has been used to justify prejudice, war, and genocide. theology and religious studies at the
“This is a necessary book for anyone who wants to have an hon- University of San Diego.
est conversation about claims to territory or moral action based Urim does have a book about
on religious grounds,” says Amy Caldwell, executive editor at women’s roles in religions, though it
Beacon. Coogan is also the author of The Old Testament: A His- is authored by a man. Rabba, Maha-
torical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. rat, Rabbanit, Rebbetzin: Women with
Other books take on a host of these complex problems, such Leadership Authority According to Hal-
as Confronting Old Testament Controversies: Pressing Questions About achah by Daniel Sperber (out now)
Evolution, Sexuality, History, and Violence by Tremper Longman III mines Jewish law for answers to ques-
(Baker, Apr. 2019). With a young audience in mind, the book tions about women’s leadership, spe-
deals with religious violence, the evolution debate, and human cifically in the Orthodox community. Sperber is a rabbi and
sexuality by drawing on the most challenging and controversial scholar of Jewish law, customs, and ethics.
biblical passages and texts. Longman is a professor of Old Testa- Boyd at IVP Academic is “really geeked” about Amanda W.
ment at Wheaton, and author of The Lost World of the Flood: Benckhuysen’s The Gospel According to Eve: A History of Women’s
Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate. Interpretation (IVP, July 2019), which he says “uncovers the last
In a collection of essays, Tenacious Solidarity: Biblical Provoca- couple centuries’ history of women’s own interpretation of Gen-
tions on Race, Religion, Climate, and the Economy (Fortress, out esis 1–3, and specifically their reading of Eve’s story.” Benckhuy-
now), Walter Brueggemann also employs biblical texts to sen draws on a variety of interpretations to show that “in Eve
explore American religious identity and practices, and to use they’ve found an advocate and a symbol of their dignity and full
the Bible to overcome social and political ills. Bruegge- humanity,” Boyd says. Benckhuysen is a professor of Old Testa-
mann is emeritus professor of Old Testament at Columbia ment at Calvin Theological Seminary.
Theological Seminary and the author of dozens of books, Aiming to tackle women’s issues as well as satisfy the popular
including The Prophetic Imagination. culture fascination with Mormonism is Sister Saints: Mormon
Women Since the End of Polygamy by Colleen McDannell (Oxford
THE PRESENCE (AND ABSENCE) Univ., out now). History and religion editor Calderara says the
OF WOMEN book “is a sweeping, myth-busting account of the important
Conspicuously missing this fall from the more conservative roles women have played in shaping Mormonism from the 19th
Christian and Jewish publishers are scholarly books by any century to the present day.” McDannell is a professor of religious
woman, on any subject. With the exception of mainline progres- studies at the University of Utah and the author of Material
sive houses such as Westminster John Knox and Chalice—there Christianity.
seems not to be a single such book from evangelical Christian The Catholic affinity for Mary as an icon of femininity is
publishers Baker and Zondervan or Catholic presses Liturgical explored in Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother
and Ignatius and Jewish press Urim. Asked about this gap, of the Messiah by Brant James Pitre (Image, out now). Pitre is a
publishers declined to comment. scripture professor at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans
From publishers that do take on gender, feminism, and wom- and author of Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist.
en’s status in religions, there are books such as Holly Gayley’s Writing from a Catholic perspective for a broad audience in
translation of the love letters between two prominent 20th- A Saint of Our Own: How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics
century Tibetan Buddhist teachers. Inseparable Across Lifetimes: Become American (Univ. North Carolina, spring 2019), Kathleen
The Lives and Love Letters of the Tibetan Visionaries Namtrul Sprows Cummings (profiled on p. 19 recounts the long hunt for
Rinpoche and Khandro Tare Lhamo a patron saint for America and how nuns and other religious
(Snow Lion, Feb. 2019) presents an women were excluded from leadership in the campaign to can-
unusual example of gender equality onize Elizabeth Seton, who was finally declared a saint in 1975.
in Buddhism. Gayley is also the
author of A Gathering of Brilliant BACK TO SCHOOL
Moons: Practice Advice from the Rime Debates about religion in public schools and higher education
Masters of Tibet. An anthology edited have spawned a number of titles. One that is sure to ignite
by Karma Lekshe Tsomo, Buddhist controversy is Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools:
Feminisms and Femininities (State Reforming Secular Education or Re-establishing Religion? by
Univ. of New York, Jan. 2019), col- Candy Gunther Brown (Univ. North Carolina, spring 2019),
lects essays by diverse contributors who offers definitions of what is “religious” and “secular” to
who explore women’s identities and examine whether teaching yoga and mindfulness in public
4 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
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anthology Christian Higher Education: Faith, Teaching, and Learning in the Evangelical
Tradition, edited by David S. Dockery and Christopher W. Morgan (Crossway, out now),
offers the perspectives of 29 theologians and scholars on Christian higher education and
ONE. its responsibility to engage the larger culture.
LoveWithoutLimits Donna Freitas’s most recent book is Consent on Campus: A Manifesto (Oxford Univ.). She
currently teaches creative writing and literature at Adelphi University in New York.
6 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
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Opening Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern Uni-
versity, the host of the Bible for Normal People podcast, and the
author of The Bible Tells Me So and The Sin of Certainty.
the Bible
Enns is a seasoned scholar who can write accessibly for readers
outside the academy. However, says Michael Maudlin, senior
v-p, executive editor at HarperOne, it has become more difficult
to find younger scholars who can write such books. “They are
discouraged by their institutions from writing for popular audi-
Scholars shed light on ences, and media dynamics have shifted so that it is much harder
for voices to break out even if they wanted to,” he notes. “And
the scriptures the academy’s bias toward narrowing a scholar’s focus means it
is harder to interest a lay audience in what they do.”
There are many scholars who train a wide-angle lens on the
By Lynn Garrett Bible and write for a general readership, including Peter J. Wil-
A
liams in Can We Trust the Gospels? (Crossway, out now). Williams
sking what’s new in biblical studies might is the director of Cambridge’s Tyndale House (one of
not be the right question, according to the world’s leading institutes for biblical research),
Carey Newman, Baylor Press director, who chairs the International Greek New Testament Proj-
thinks that emphasizing the new isn’t the ect, and is a member of the English Standard Version
point. “A well-written book from a seasoned Translation Oversight Committee. In the book,
scholar on an important idea always works,” which is intended to appeal to scholars, believers, and
he says. “Prospecting for the mother lode of new and skeptics, he presents evidence for the historical and
different is really a search for fool’s gold—publishing theological reliability of the Gospels.
houses are built with the bricks of great books, laid “Trusting the Gospels is both the same as trusting
on top of each other, rather than out of flashy bill- other things and different,” Williams writes. “It is the
boards advertising something new.” This fall and same in that we often have to evaluate the credibility
into 2019, biblical studies scholars provide the of people and things in daily life. It is different in that
bricks to build readers’ understanding of the some- the Gospels contain accounts of miracles and of a man,
times-opaque scriptures. Jesus Christ, who is presented as the supernatural Son
of God who can rightfully claim ownership of our
TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE lives. But, before we consider such claims, we need to
Newman points to Craig Blomberg’s A Theology of ask whether the Gospels show the signs of trustwor-
the New Testament (out now) as a cornerstone for Bay- thiness we usually look for in things we believe.”
lor’s biblical studies list. Blomberg, distinguished Once there is trust, there is still the task of making
professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, sense of the scriptures. Understanding the culture in
writes, “The more I studied, the more [the] idea of which the biblical texts were written can be crucial
fulfillment as an integrating theme grew on me.... for understanding them today, and Paula Fredriksen
The Old Testament is a collection of largely open- is among the scholars tackling that subject; her When
ended books looking ahead to a time in the long-term future Christians Were Jews: The First Generation was published by Yale
when all of God’s promises will be fulfilled, after the short-term in October. Illuminating the Jewish roots of Christianity,
judgment that is so often predicted gives way to the restoration Fredriksen (From Jesus to Christ) tells the social and intellectual
and re-creation of God’s people and their world.” In contrast, history of how a group of apocalyptic Jewish missionaries began
“every New Testament book states... that the age of the fulfill- a movement that grew into a new religion that came to domi-
ment of these promises has arrived. The Messiah has come.” nate the Western world. Fredriksen is Aurelio Professor of Scrip-
Peter Enns aims to help readers discover How the Bible Actually ture Emerita at Boston University, and is currently the distin-
Works (HarperOne, Feb. 2019), writing, “The Bible becomes a guished visiting professor of comparative religion at the Hebrew
confusing mess when we expect it to function as a rulebook for University of Jerusalem.
faith. But when we allow the Bible to determine our expecta- In How New Is the New Testament? First-Century Judaism and the
tions, we see that Wisdom, not answers, is the Bible’s true subject Emergence of Christianity (Baker, out now), Donald A. Hagner
matter.” He adds, “The Bible... was never intended to work as a counters what he sees as the trend in biblical studies toward seeing
step-by-step instructional manual. Rather it presents us with an early Christianity as a form of Judaism, rather than a distinctly
invitation to explore... and herds us toward a more subtle, inter- new faith. Hagner analyzes the New Testament canon, pointing
esting, and above all sacred quest... [for] Wisdom.” Enns is the to the ways in which early Christianity both aligned with Judaism
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Religion & Spirituality Update
The apostle Paul has been a favorite subject of New Testament The exotic apocalyptic visions in Revelation, the New Testa-
scholars in recent years, with seminal books such as Paul: A ment’s final book, have entered popular culture through such
Biography by N.T. Wright, which was published in February. books as the millions-selling Left Behind series and through
Now, in Studying Paul’s Letters with the Mind and Heart (Kregel films, art, and other media. The Book of Revelation by Timothy
Academic, out now), Gregory S. MaGee, an associate professor Beal (Princeton Univ., out now) traces the history of Revelation,
of biblical studies at Taylor University, unearths practical appli- from its composition in first-century Rome to the modern-day
cations for contemporary Christians in Paul’s teachings. Also fascination with its sometimes bizarre imagery of destruction and
from Kregel, The Gospel of John in Modern Interpretation, edited redemption. Beal is the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion
by Stanley E. Porter and Ron C. Fay (Kregel Academic, out at Case Western Reserve University and the author of The Rise
now), a new volume in Kregel’s Milestones in New Testament and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book.
Scholarship series, looks at the work of eight influential Johan- Some Christians read in Revelation a vision of the end of the
nine scholars over the past two centuries. Porter is president, world (end times) in which believers are rescued from Earth
dean, professor of New Testament, and Roy A. Hope Chair in (raptured) and saved from the Tribulation (a seven-year period
Christian Worldview at McMaster Divinity College in Hamil- of chaos and suffering). But, in Not Afraid of the Antichrist: Why
ton, Ontario. Ron C. Fay is assistant professor of biblical studies We Don’t Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture (Chosen, Mar. 2019),
at Liberty University. Michael Brown and Craig Keener analyze what the biblical texts
Reading Mark’s Christology Under Caesar: Jesus the Messiah and actually say, concluding that Christians should not expect that
Roman Imperial Ideology by Adam Winn (IVP, out now) focuses rescue. Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience,
on the question of how Mark was read by the early Christians in president of the Fire School of Ministry, and the author of 20
Rome in the aftermath of the destruction of the temple in Jeru- books, including Playing with Fire: A Wake-Up Call to the Pente-
salem. Winn is assistant professor at the University of Mary costal-Charismatic Church; Keener is F.M. and Ada Thompson
Hardin-Baylor’s College of Christian Studies and the author of Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary
The Purpose of Mark’s Gospel: An Early Christian Response to Roman and the author of 22 books, including Miracles: The Credibility
Imperial Propaganda. of the New Testament Accounts.
S HAMBHALA
P UBLIC ATIONS
Independent Publisher since 1969
Hebrews–Revelation (Crossway, out now) is the 12th volume in the ESV Expository Commentary series,
edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar. Six scholars guide readers through some
of the most challenging books of the New Testament, focusing on the theme of hope. Duguid is a profes-
sor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church in
Glenside, Pa., and the author of many Old Testament commentaries. Hamilton is a professor of biblical
theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, preaching pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church,
and the author of What Is Biblical Theology? Sklar is professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological
Seminary.
The Commentators’ Bible: Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, out now), compiled and translated by
Michael Carasik, is the final volume of the Rubin JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot Commentators’ Bible series,
bringing to life the voices of medieval Bible commentators in a contemporary English translation anno-
tated for lay readers. Carasik is the author of Theologies of the Mind in Biblical Israel and The Bible’s Many
Voices, also from JPS .
The Letter to the Galatians by David A. deSilva (Eerdmans, out now), the first volume in the New Inter-
national Commentary on the New Testament series, looks at the theological issues raised by this Pauline
letter; it replaces Ronald Y.K. Fung’s 1988 volume in the series. DeSilva is the Trustees’ Distinguished
Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary and the author of An Introduction
to the New Testament, Introducing the Apocrypha, and Galatians: A Handbook to the Greek Text.
The Letter to the Romans, second edition, by Douglas J. Moo (Eerdmans, out now), is one of the 20 vol-
umes in New International Commentary on the New Testament series and a thorough revision of the first
edition, originally published in 1996. It deals with scholarship that has developed since then, including
more recent perspectives on Paul. Moo is the Kenneth T. Wessner Professor of Biblical Studies at Wheaton
College Graduate School and has authored commentaries on Galatians, Colossians, and James.
Jubilees: A Commentary in Two Volumes by James C. VanderKam (Fortress, out now) is the 52nd volume
in Hermeneia commentary series; it focuses on Jubilees, an ancient rewriting of Genesis and the
first part of Exodus by an anonymous second-century BCE Jewish author. VanderKam offers a
new translation and the first full commentary on the book in the English language; he is the John
A. O’Brien Professor of Hebrew Scriptures Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, has edited
13 volumes in the series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, is editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of
the Dead Sea Scrolls, and has authored, among other books, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today.
And in May 2019, IVP releases in paperback Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. In 29
volumes, using the Revised Standard Version of Bible, the commentary covers the writings of the
early church fathers. Thomas C. Oden (1931–2016) served as the general editor for Ancient Christian Commentary, which IVP
calls the first full-scale early Christian commentary on Scripture published in the last 500 years. —L.G.
16 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
DID THE FIRST
CHRISTIANS BELIEVE
JESUS WAS GOD?
Honoring the Son distills 30 years of research into one landmark work. Through an
examination of the devotional practices of the earliest Christians, Hurtado shows
that they worshiped Jesus as God, alongside the Father.
Lexham
Lexham Press
Press is
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aesthetic embellishment of the ‘message’ of Scripture but the
vital medium through which the biblical vision of God, human
nature, history, politics, society, and moral value is conveyed.”
Look at the creation story in the King James Version, Alter
Authors talk about their new says: “The priestly author of the creation story and the flood
story offers beautifully choreographed cadences that convey his
books By Cathy Lynn Grossman sense of the grandeur and the harmoniousness of creation. If you
translate it in a way that destroys the cadences, you compromise
the religious vision of the author.” He adds: “My book offers an
analogy. We are all enchanted by Moby-Dick. The prose is won-
ROBERT ALTER derfully rhythmic, with many lines that remind you of Shake-
EMBRACES THE speare, Milton, and the King James psalms. If you remove those
BEAUTY OF THE cadences, you just have a story about a whale and a crazy, one-
BIBLE legged captain.”
Robert Alter, translator and literary
MICHAEL COOGAN
© pardophoto
critic, releases his translation of the
full Hebrew Bible in December, SAYS GOD IS NOT ON
with publisher Norton calling it the YOUR SIDE
“capstone” of his renowned career. Michael Coogan, a scholar of the
But it might be his next book, The Bible and other ancient texts,
Art of Bible Translation (Princeton wanted to cap his half century of
Univ., Mar. 2019), that raises eye- studying and writing about the
brows among biblical scholars, with its Bible with a provocative work aimed
line of fire about “the disastrous failures of not at other scholars but at general
modern English-language translations,” readers. In God’s Favorites: Judaism,
Alter says. “Some people are going to get Christianity, and the Myth of Divine
their backs up. They’re going to say, ‘Who Chosenness (Beacon, Apr. 2019), his
is this twerp who doesn’t have a PhD in message is this: the Bible is not divine.
biblical studies to be criticizing us?’ ” It’s not literally or metaphorically true.
The “twerp” is an 83-year-old profes- And, though you might choose God, no
sor emeritus of Hebrew and comparative God has chosen you.
literature at the University of California, Coogan, professor emeritus of reli-
Berkeley, where he has taught since gious studies at Stonehill College, tells
1967. In The Art of Bible Translation, Alter slams translators PW that he unravels the Bible’s author-
educated in elite academia, from Oxford to the Ivy League, as ity by showing scripture is not “God’s
tone-deaf and prone to introducing a Christian theological spin word about God’s people but rather pro-
that he says the ancient Hebrew text does not support. Common jections of people’s own needs and prej-
translations of the treasured Psalm 23 line read “I shall dwell in udices onto a God. If you want to believe
the house of the Lord forever,” which Alter says implies the in the biblical God, you have a problem.” As Coogan details in
existence “heaven.” But, he notes, “the Hebrew Bible spends no the book, the Bible and the concept of chosenness have been
time talking about ‘heaven’ or an afterlife or ‘souls.’ Ancient used to justify imperialism, murder, genocide, and prejudice.
Hebrew has no notion of these ideas. My translations scrupu- God’s Favorites goes from A to Z, Abraham to Zionism, mov-
lously eliminate all souls.” ing century by century, dissecting prophets, apostles, psalms,
Alter’s central argument is literary, however. “Not only do the and more. Coogan locates biblical passages in the wider his-
modern translators lack a clear sense of what happens stylisti- torical and literary record; he also debunks the belief of some
cally in the Bible, but also their notion of English style, its American Christians that the U.S. is the “New Jerusalem” and
decorums and its expressive possibilities, tends to be rather modern Israel is a step on the path to the Second Coming.
shaky,” he writes. “The essential point in all this is that the That the Bible was written in installments across time is not
Hebrew Bible by and large exhibits consummate artistry in the unique, Coogan writes. “Its ideas and values, its laws and insti-
language of its narratives and of its poetry, and there must be an tutions, its stories and myths, even its idioms resembled those
answering art in the translation in order to convey what is of neighbors and rulers of the biblical writers, the ancient Bab-
remarkable about the original.... The literary style of the Bible ylonians, Egyptians, Canaanites, Greeks, Romans, and others.”
in both the prose narratives and the poetry is not some sort of “These are stories of sibling rivals, rival wives, rival territorial
18 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
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Religion & Spirituality Update
claims,” Coogan writes. “Only later are these melodramas and alities and travails of devoted supporters as they mustered the
conflicts elevated to be called a divine ‘choice’ and to provide money and the moxie to persevere through setbacks and deliver
rationalization for a people’s claims to superiority and power.” to Rome three essentials for canonization: volumes of records of
Coogan notes that the Gospel of John was “written when the her accomplishments; testimonies to her life of holiness; and
separation between traditional Jews and Christians, whether proof that prayers to Seton prompted God to work miraculous
Jewish or Gentile, was widening.” He adds, “The Gospel’s pejo- medical cures for two direly ill people.
rative view of ‘the Jews’ reflects that separation, rather than Seton, who was born in the U.S., founded the Sisters of Char-
being a hostility toward all Jews of all times. Yet that is how it ity, the first Catholic women’s religious community established
was interpreted soon after, and for most of Christian history: in the U.S. without formal ties to a European congregation. So
Jews were labeled ‘Christ-killers.’ ” why isn’t she American Catholics’ patron saint? “America
God’s Favorites begins with Coogan expressing his “naïve changed,” Cummings says. “We changed our vision of what it
hope” that, no matter what they think the Bible says, people means to embody American holiness. Saints tell us more about
will give up “creationism, patriarchy, and homophobia,” and the culture in which they are canonized than the culture in
with them the tribalism that leads to division and violence; he which they live.”
calls for abandoning “the myth of divine election, which has Now that Catholics are firmly ensconced in every aspect of
caused walls to be built and wars to be waged between members American society—culture, government, academia and more—
of the human community rather than uniting it.” He concludes: there’s no longer a need to prove that an American could be
“Fundamentally, we are all one tribe, one species, with no group, saint-worthy. There may be no single saint who could be seen
ancient or modern, specially chosen.” as the American exemplar, a patron saint to all, Cummings says.
Even so, Cummings has a saint of her own: St. Anne-Thérèse
KATHLEEN SPROWS CUMMINGS Guérin (Mother Théodore, 1798–1856), founder of the Sisters
CHRONICLES THE SEARCH FOR of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in Indiana, who died
AN AMERICAN SAINT in 1856 and was canonized in 2006. One of the leaders of the
© barbara johnston
For nearly 150 years, American cause for Guérin’s sainthood, a sister in her early 80s, came to a
Catholics longed for a patron saint, class Cummings was teaching and told the story of how Mother
someone who represented the Théodore defied a bishop to establish her order, inspiring Cum-
essence of their national character, mings to write A Saint of Our Own and to name her third child
like Ireland’s St. Patrick or Spain’s Anne Therese.
St. James, an exemplary soul who
could carry their prayers to God. It MIROSLAV VOLF
took generations of struggle for BELIEVES THEOLOGY
prelates, nuns, and laypeople, from MAKES A
the American frontier to the halls DIFFERENCE
of the Vatican, to successfully bring The true purpose of theology,
before the pope a dozen potential saints. what it “ought to be, but largely
“And the irony is, we still don’t have a isn’t,” is to illuminate “what mat-
patron saint,” says Kathleen Sprows ters most—the true life in the
Cummings, author of A Saint of Our Own: presence of God,” write Miroslav
How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Cath- Volf and coauthor Matthew Croas-
olics Become American (Univ. of North mun in For the Life of the World: The-
Carolina, Apr. 2019). Cummings is asso- ology that Makes a Difference (Brazos,
ciate professor of American studies and Jan. 2019). Volf, Henry B. Wright Pro-
history and director of the Cushwa Cen- fessor of Theology at Yale Divinity School
ter for the Study of American Catholi- and founder and director of the Yale Cen-
cism at the University of Notre Dame. ter for Faith and Culture, teams up with
“Canonization may be fundamentally about holiness, but it is Matthew Croasmun, an associate
never only about holiness,” Cummings writes. “In the United research scholar and the director of the
States, it has often been about the ways in which Catholics Life Worth Living Program at the center,
defined, defended, and celebrated their identities as Americans.” to deliver a manifesto to Western
Among the many campaigns for sainthood Cummings writes Christian academic theologians. It
about, she zeroes in on the epic, convoluted, seven-decade drive begins with a cry: “Do something.”
for recognition for St. Elizabeth Seton, who was finally canon- Volf says he and Croasmun wrote this
ized in 1975. Cummings’s account is packed with the person- continued on p. 24
20 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
WORLD-RENOWNED IRISH POET
MICHEAL O’SIADHAIL
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Full 4-color interior
• Updated scholarship throughout
• Integrates textual criticism with ministry formation
• Include maps, photos, points of interest,
and aids to learning
AVAI LABLE
S EPTEM BER 2 0 1 8
ivpress.com
Religion & Spirituality Update
continued from p. 20
urgent call hoping that readers would be moved, because “theol- beings deploy those Christian ges-
© jen fariello
ogy, once the queen of sciences, has become irrelevant today. It tures in the perpetuation of dam-
is on its way to rusting in a home for the elderly.” Volf and age,” she writes.
Croasmun cite diminished demand and lost esteem for the field Winner gives examples from the
and the fact that theologians today talk more about finding jobs past: the Eucharist was turned into
or publishers than finding God. Meanwhile, they write, many a pretext for murderous attacks on
churches “employ the Christian faith primarily as a set of ‘skills’ ” Jews, who were falsely accused of
for managing life. desecrating the host in centuries
The authors aim to make theology relevant in an era of “creep- past; the Bible was twisted to jus-
ing meaninglessness,” Volf says, by engaging in “great questions tify slavery as biblical obedience to
of who we are as humans and what is our purpose. What is a truly one’s master; and too often today,
good and flourishing life? We have a hard time formulating a baptisms have been trivialized—
positive vision about how to shape a life and share it with the celebrated as private parties with
world.” The two took on the challenge because, they write, it is “creepy baby-face cakes,” she says.
more effective to say “I have a dream” than “I have a complaint.” But although sin riddled humanity
Contemporary tensions are another reason why theologians cannot help but misuse or misunder-
need to step up, the authors argue. In For the Life of the World, stand God’s gifts at times, Winner
they write that the work of theology can help Christians “nur- writes, people can still recognize the
ture a culture of respect in pluralistic societies and... help craft damage that Christian practices can
political regimes of respect.” Theologians must align them- cause and turn to repentance, redress-
selves with the ideas they are expressing, Volf and Croasmun ing for past sins and consciously trying
note, like “pilgrims seeking understanding.” to avoid extending the damage into
The book devotes a chapter to the “first theologian, Paul.” the future. For example, she notes, the
Modeling themselves on the apostle, believers need to be church community can “scrutinize its
engaged authentically, not just theoretically, in seeking a life baptismal rites and determine to baptize only at Sunday con-
aligned with God’s purpose and presence, the authors argue. gregational worship or at deathbeds.” She calls on readers to
Volf, a Croatian-American immigrant, grew up a Protestant recognize the twisted past when baptisms were violently forced
amid Catholics and Orthodox Christians in a Communist nation on Jews and other non-Christians and “look for hints of anti-
and witnessed the bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia. Having Judaism in your reading of Scripture.”
seen violence and religious suppression firsthand, Volf in the Winner commends a practice of lament, which is “the way
book tells theologians that they must avoid “participating and Christianity holds together original sin and moral responsibil-
giving ammunition to religious wars, becoming tools and weap- ity,” she writes. “To lament is to recognize that human creatures
ons for cultural, economic or political conflicts.” Instead, he cannot wholly repair the world. I can repent of my habit of
writes, “We must talk about religious freedom and what it praying only for citizens; I lament the sin-soaked structure of
entails, about who we are as human beings and what we ought misbegotten desire that means I will sometimes inevitably pray
to desire. If I don’t have this freedom to orient my life this way, for the wrong thing.”
I’m not free in any area of life.” There’s very little use of I in this book, however. Winner’s
earlier books include two memoirs, Girl Meets God: On the Path
LAUREN WINNER EXPLORES to a Spiritual Life and Still: Notes on a Mid-faith Crisis. She has
DANGEROUS PRACTICES also written several works that synthesize biblical exegesis,
Lauren Winner, associate professor of Christian spirituality at cultural observations, and personal stories, including Wearing
Duke Divinity School and an Episcopal priest, wrote a book in God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting
2003 on the beauty of Christian practices, Mudhouse Sabbath, in God.
which she described them “all prettied up in a historical vac- Winner says The Dangers of Christian Practice is “a scholarly
uum.” Fifteen years later, she offers a different approach in The departure” because she is not a theologian and the book is “fun-
Dangers of Christian Practice: On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic damentally concerned with theological questions.” She took this
Damage, and Sin (Yale Univ., out now). approach in order to do a deep exploration. “The topic has been
In Winner’s view, God’s flawless gifts are “damaged” by their haunting me for a long time,” she says. “Practices are deeply
human recipients, who overlook the potential for Christian prac- important to me, as a priest and personally. I care about this stuff
tices to be distorted or misused for destruction, violence, and because I love it.” ■
exploitation. “Because nothing created is untouched by the Fall,
Christians should not be surprised when lovely and good, poten- Cathy Lynn Grossman is a former religion, spirituality, and ethics
tially gracious Christian gestures are damaging, or when human reporter for USA Today.
24 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
Abingdon Press provides resources that challenge
scholars, students, pastors, church leaders, and
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Rafael Rodriguez 9781426799969 Joerg Rieger Cynthia L. Rigby James G. Donat, Jacob Daniel Myers
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“
This is an extraordinary book. Cynthia Rigby is a Reformed theologian, a minister, and
a teacher. All of these gifts are evident in Holding Faith, as Rigby offers an eloquent
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profoundly accessible. She does not make theology accessible by watering it down, but
rather by explaining it with compelling clarity. Holding Faith is perfect for seminarians,
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”
who have been studying and living Christian faith their entire lives. It will be an enormous
blessing to those who teach theology and those who preach the gospel.
—SHANNON CRAIGO-SNELL
Professor of Theology, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary