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Preaching, according to Bonhoeffer, is like offering an apple to a child. The gospel is proclaimed, but for it to be received as gift depends on whether or not the hearer is in a position to do so. Offered here are 28 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's sermons, in new English translations, which he preached at various times of the year and in a variety of different settings. Each sermon is introduced by Victoria J. Barnett, general editor of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English edition, published by Fortress Press, from which these sermons are selected.

Rather than asking if theology is theoretical or practical -- a question that reveals a fundamental lack of understanding about the nature of theology in general -- it is better to ask "What exactly is theology?" It is this question that Oswald Bayer attempts to answer in Theology the Lutheran Way, clearing up misconceptions about the essence of theology. Along with Luther himself, Bayer claims that theology, rather than being something that we do, is really what God does.

In this comprehensive, practical, and gripping assessment of various forms of violence against women, Pamela Cooper-White challenges the Christian churches to examine their own responses to the cry of Tamar in our time. She describes specific forms of such violence and outlines appropriate pastoral responses.The second edition of this groundbreaking work is thoroughly updated and examines not only where the church has made progress since 1995 but also where women remain at unchanged or even greater risk of violence.

Whether dealing with collective catastrophe or intimate trauma, recovering from emotional and physical hurt is hard. Kathleen O'Connor shows that although Jeremiah's emotionally wrought language can aggravate readers' memories of pain, it also documents the ways an ancient community-and the prophet personally-sought to restore their collapsed social world. Both prophet and book provide a traumatized community language to articulate disaster; move self-understanding from delusional security to identity as survivors; constitute individuals as responsible moral agents; portray God as equally afflicted by disaster; and invite a reconstruction of reality.

The world is changing, and preaching needs to do the same. With that change, the notion of truth need not be surrendered in a postmodern age, but it must be approached differently. David Lose argues that preaching is a confession made openly for the hearers to embrace and engage in the midst of the real lived world they experience.

In this third edition of Mark as Story, Rhoads, Dewey, and Michie take their treatment of the Gospel of Mark to new levels. While retaining their clear and thorough analysis of Mark as a narrative, they now place their study of Mark in the context of orality. The new preface explains the role of Mark in a predominantly oral culture. Throughout the study, they refer to the author as composer, the narrator as performer, the Gospel as oral composition, and the audience as gathered communities. The conclusion hypothesizes a performance scenario of Mark in Palestine shortly after the Roman-Judean War of 66 to 70 CE.The new edition also highlights the dimensions of Mark that stand in contrast to imperial worldviews and values. The authors argue that the performance of Mark itself was a means to draw audiences into a non-imperial world based on mutual service rather than hierarchical domination. In so doing, they shift the Gospels center of gravity from the end of the story to the beginning, configuring it not as "a passion narrative with an extended introduction" but as "the arrival of the rule of God with an extended denouement."Performing Mark: The appendices for students at the end of the book that offer exercises to interpret the narrative of Mark now also include "Exercises for Learning and Telling Episodes" from the Gospel of Mark by heart as part of the learning process.

"Using insights from neuroscience, theology, and experiences as pastor, professor, and activist, Santos explores how science and theology illuminate God's decolonizing effects on the brain and nervous system. Structures of injustice in the world must also be dismantled in us--and the future that God is birthing is taking shape within us"--

In this poignant reflection and memoir, Patton Dodd wrestles with the gap between the idealized father he yearned for and the distant father he got. Dodd's story will resonate for those with their own dad-sized gaps and wounds: those who struggle with the fathers they got, the fathers they wish they had, and the fathers they hope to be.