Fortress Press

Judges 1: A Commentary on Judges 1:1 – 10:5

Mark S. Smith (Author), Elizabeth M. Bloch-Smith (Author)

This groundbreaking volume presents a new translation and detailed interpretation of the book of Judges, drawing on archaeology and iconography, textual versions, biblical parallels, and extrabiblical texts, as well as a thorough review of modern scholarship. Full literary and redactional analyses are included. Notably, archaeology is used to show how a story of the Iron II period employed visible ruins to narrate supposedly early events from the so-called "period of the Judges."

A Widower's Lament: The Pious Meditations of Johann Christoph Oelhafen

Ronald K. Rittgers (Author)

This book deals with Christian lament in the late Reformation by exploring the efforts of a talented yet little-known layman to cope with the death of his beloved wife. It provides full access to the remarkable work of private devotion that he authored to express his lament.

A work of haunting candor and searching faith, The Pious Meditations furnishes insight into life in the past as well as resources for life in the present.

Black Hands, White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America

Renee K. Harrison (Author)

The book bears witness to the role enslaved, Black-bodied people played in building the US, its physical and fiscal infrastructure, and the nation's capital, and calls for a substantial monument on the National Mall to affirm and document their contributions. This book will impact lives by adding significantly to the burgeoning and in-depth conversations on racial disparity, race relations, history-making, reparations, and monument erection and removal.

Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. Thirtieth Anniversary Expanded Edition

Cain Hope Felder (Editor)

A hallmark of American Black religion is its distinctive use of the Bible in creating community, resisting oppression, and fomenting social change. Stony the Road We Trod accomplishes this--and much more. This expanded edition contains a new introduction and three new essays that underscore the historic importance of this book for a new generation.

The Herods: Murder, Politics, and the Art of Succession

Bruce Chilton (Author)

The Herods explores the Herodian rule from Herod the Great's father, Antipater, until the dynastic sunset with Bereniké, Herod's great-granddaughter, describing the theocratic aims that motivated Herod and his progeny, and the groups and factions within Judaism and Christianity that often defined themselves in opposition to the Herodian project.

One Life to Give: Martyrdom and the Making of the American Revolution

John Fanestil (Author)

One Life to Give explores the spiritual origins of the American Revolution: martyrdom. John Fanestil traces the deep history of the tradition of martyrdom from its classical and Christian origins to the onset of the Revolutionary War. Ultimately, he articulates how the tradition of American martyrdom animated countless personal commitments to American independence, and thereby to the war. Only by understanding the inextricable role played by martyrdom can we fully grasp the origins of the American Revolution.

The Fragility of Language and the Encounter with God: On the Contingency and Legitimacy of Doctrine

Florian Klug (Author), Marcus Pound (Foreword by)

The Fragility of Language and the Encounter with God offers a theological account of the contingency of language and perception and of how acknowledging that contingency transforms the question of the development of doctrine. Klug argues that statements of faith cannot overcome contingency. Instead, the Catholic notion of receptive tradition is an attempt to cope rationally with the fragility of perception and language in humanity's orientation toward God.

Naming Neoliberalism: Exposing the Spirit of Our Age

Rodney Clapp (Author)

Neoliberalism is the spirit of our age. It consists of a panoply of cultural, political, and economic practices that set marketized competition at the center of social life. Though regnant, neoliberalism likes to hide. Naming Neoliberalism aims to expose the order to a wider range of readers--pastors, thoughtful laypersons, and students. It lays out what neoliberalism is, where it has come from, and how it can be confronted through and in the church.

Luther's Rome, Rome's Luther: How the City Shaped the Reformer

Carl P. E. Springer (Author)

This book offers a fresh reevaluation of Martin Luther's tempestuous relationship with Rome, the city he visited as a young Augustinian friar and never thereafter forgot. Luther's Rome, Rome's Luther will help readers see the ancient city, the long-lived empire, and the sacred home of the papacy from Luther's complicated perspective.

Elements of Christian Thought: A Basic Course in Christianese

Eugene F. Rogers Jr. (Author)

In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted classrooms around the world, Eugene Rogers transcribed the lectures that make his Introduction to Christian Thought course justly famous.

The result is an engaging introduction to the language--"Christianese"--that participants use to discuss God's activity in and for our world.

From Anselm to Wyschogrod, Rogers introduces us to the most interesting speakers of Christianese, enabling us to take part in the living conversation.

Faithful Economics: 25 Short Insights

Daniel K. Finn (Author)

Careful moral reflection and action are important across all of modern life, but they are especially critical in matters of economics. Faithful Economics is the ideal guide for navigating this complex arena and coming to a deeper understanding of how our faith and our economic lives intersect. The book is organized in twenty-five short lessons, each of which illuminates the issues, explains the questions, and leaves the reader with clarity and understanding.

The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC): Bearing Witness to the Gospel and the Reign of God in Asia

Jonathan Y. Tan (Author)

This book presents the theological contributions of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), a transnational body comprising fifteen Asian Catholic bishops' conferences as full members and ten associate members. The emphasis of the book is on the postcolonial dimensions of Asia and the challenges and implications of decolonization for shaping a postcolonial Asian church and way of doing theology.

Resurrected to Eternal Life: On Dying and Rising

Jürgen Moltmann (Author), Ellen Yutzy Glebe (Translator)

In this daring meditation, Jürgen Moltmann interrogates dying, the nature of death, and the hope of eternal life. For Moltmann, the living soul that awakens to eternal life is not a ghost in a machine, but the Lebensgestalt, the shape and story of a life. Seasoned readers will find here a capstone to Moltmann's career of theological exploration, while those new to his thought will find a concise and elegant entry point into his work.

Liberating Luther: A Lutheran Theology from Latin America

Vitor Westhelle (Author), Robert Butterfield (Translator)

Until his untimely death, Vitor Westhelle's incisive scholarship shaped a generation. As a continuation of that legacy, presented here for the first time in English is a collection of Westhelle's Portuguese-language essays.

In this collection, he addresses the most important issues of our day, including the cross and death, the ecological crisis, the ecumenical movement, the church's misuse of power, Luther's law-gospel dialectic, and the role of European theology in the conquest of the Americas.

Christian – Zen Dialogue: Sacred Stories as a Starting Point for Interfaith Dialogue

Jijimon Alakkalam Joseph SVD (Author)

Christian - Zen Dialogue aims to inspire and help Christian and Zen adherents, especially laity, to enter into meaningful interfaith dialogue using their own sacred stories. The book focuses on narratives of faith in both Christianity and Zen. Can these sacred stories--gospel stories of Jesus and Chan/Zen stories (Kōans)--be a starting point for dialogue between Christianity and Zen?

N: My Encounter with Racism and the Forbidden Word in an American Classic

James Henry Harris (Author)

This book is about a Black man's experience of reading Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for the first time while in graduate school. It captures the author's emotional struggle with Twain's use of the racial epithet more than two hundred times in the text. In these pages, Harris challenges his instructor and classmates and inspires readers to redress the long history of American racism and white supremacy bound up with the N word.

Paul on Identity: Theology as Politics

Troels Engberg-Pedersen (Author)

One of the most important and controversial questions in biblical studies is how Paul's view of the fundamental Christ identity relates to other possible identities in the Greco-Roman world--like being a Jew or a non-Jew, a man or a woman, a master or a slave. Paul on Identity explores these issues and, in particular, how Paul's view informs his writing. Engberg-Pedersen keeps an eye on what we may or may not accept from Paul and concludes by showing Paul's direct relevance to identity politics.

Tao te Ching: Power for the Peaceful

Lao Tzu (Author), Marc Mullinax (Translator)

Marc Mullinax's new translation combines a deep understanding of the Tao te Ching's context with a two-part application to contemporary life.

Each of the eighty-one verses is joined by an array of quotes, poems, and stories. With quotes ranging from Emerson to Pink Floyd, the Tao's meaning comes alive in conversation with others.

A brief reflection highlights the transformative power of Wu-Wei--"non-interfering action, perfectly timed," to bring joy and justice to the world.

Exploring Islam: Theology and Spiritual Practice in America

Salih Sayilgan (Author)

Exploring Islam is a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the foundations of the Islamic faith, including its history, theology, and spiritual practice. The book also deals with issues such as jihad, the status of women, and the various sectarian divisions in Islam. Most distinctive about this work is its analysis of the lived experience of Muslims in modern American life. Sayilgan offers readers a perspective that is scholarly, judicious, and engaging.

Journeys of Asian Diaspora: Mapping Originations and Destinations

Sam George (Author)

This is a collection of essays by Asian-diaspora Christian scholars about their communities in different parts of the world. It paints a portrait of the widespread dispersion and establishment of distinctively Asian Christian communities in their places of settlement. The book makes a case about how migration of people has made Asian Christianity more global and how Asian-diaspora communities are playing a decisive role in transforming and advancing Christian faith in the twenty-first century.