Faculty Book Recommendations

The Man on a Donkey (1952) by H. F. M. Prescott

Chicago: Loyola Press, 2008

The Language of God by Francis Collins

New York: Free Press, 2006

This is not a recent book, but it was new to me; I read it shortly before Christmas. Collins was the Director of the Human Genome Project. This book relates his own conversion from atheism to Christian faith, the extraordinary language of DNA, and delves into a few of the issues (and non-issues) DNA research and engineering poses for medical ethics. Throughout, there is a plea for rapprochement between science and religion that will seem obvious to most Episcopalians, but could be helpful in conversation with others. 

An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi: From the Dawn of Civilization to Independencs by Zeinab Badawi

London: WH Allen, 2024

Church as Sanctuary: Reconstructing Refuge in an Age of Forced Displacement by Leo Guardado

Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2023

I find myself recommending this book repeatedly when clergy ask me for reading related to the current public conversation on immigration. As cities, college campuses, and other entities are taking up the language of sanctuary, Leo Guardado calls on the church to recognize sanctuary as a practice that is rooted deep within Christian tradition and identity. Whether or not one is involved with sanctuary in any official capacity, the book may provide helpful framing and vocabulary to talk about a faithful response to immigration outside of the narrow categories provided by partisan politics.

Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testaments Help Us Understand Jesus by Matthias Henze

Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017

Art and Scholasticism (1920) by Jaques Maritain

Providence, RI: Cluny, 2020

Certainly not a new book, but a fascinating dive into the subject of theological aesthetics through an assessment of, and commentary on, Thomas Aquinas’s various writings on the nature and place of art in the life of faith and the church. Aquinas (and thus Maritain) takes an expansive view of what constitutes “art,” including not just the so-called fine arts, but also what we might term artisanship and craft. In so doing, aesthetics as a theological concept expands outward to encompass moral and ethical concerns as far reaching as economic and labor justice. In addition to being a thought-provoking essay on the theology of human creativity, this book would be a tremendous, if perhaps unexpected, conversation partner in much-needed discussions around the phenomenon of generative AI.

Bound Together: Baptism, Eucharist, and the Church by Shawn O. Strout

New York: Seabury Books, 2024 

Strout offers an extremely clear and thorough defense of holding baptism and Eucharist together as the sacraments which make the Church. Over five main chapters Strout considers biblical, historical, liturgical, theological, and ecumenical reasons to maintain what he calls the "baptismal-eucharistic ecclesiology" of The Episcopal Church (and, as he puts it, "the hyphen really matters"). This book is essential reading for those on either side of the "communion without baptism" debate, and Strout's arguments will need to be addressed by those who wish to make baptism optional.

The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature by Anathea Portier-Young

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024

This book employs an exciting and refreshing paradigm for reading biblical prophetic literature, emphasizing the bodies and material worlds of the prophets (rather than focusing narrowly on their words and writings). Portier-Young's argument has important implications for how scholars understand what it meant to be a prophet in ancient Israel and early Judaism and how the church understands the ways in which the word of God becomes entangled in human flesh.

Passions of the Soul by Rowan Williams

New York: Bloomsbury, 2024

Based on a series of retreat addresses, this is Rowan Williams at his pastoral best. He offers a survey of early Eastern monastic teaching on the "Eight Thoughts" which hinder Christian freedom and maturity in Christ. An excellent tool for "the defense against the dark arts."

His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham

New York: Random House, 2020

I don't normally read biographies of American politicians, but I made an exception in this case. Jon Meacham (C '1991, Pulitzer Prize 2009) is of course a well-known journalist, historian, and commentator on current events, so his authorship was part of the appeal. But the main reason is the focus on John Lewis's remarkable life (1940-2020) as student activist, Baptist minister, civil rights leader who suffered physical violence for his non-violent witness, and, yes, American politician (US House of Representatives, Georgia's 5th congressional district, 1987-2020). Meacham makes the case that Lewis should be considered a contemporary saint and the book is an important account of how Christian faith and civic leadership can combine to promote justice and the common good.

We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope by Steven Charleston

Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2023

Charleston, a member of the Choctaw nation as well as an Episcopal bishop and former seminary dean, offers stories from four Native American prophets and from the Hopi community to see how they helped their people survive genocide and catastrophe. He reminds us that apocalypse refers to both the end of the world and to revelation, and so he asks what these prophets and people might reveal to the rest of us as we confront various forms of environmental and social collapse in our own time.

Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024

What might happen if a novelist read Genesis seriously but not just academically? This book is one possible result. Robinson is cognizant of academic issues, pays attention to literature from surrounding cultures through subsequent centuries, and writes with a novelist's flair. She looks at the book as a whole as well as in its lectionary-sized snippets. How I wish she could have dealt with the Hebrew in some instances instead of taking the KJV text as her foundation! 

If you were put off by James Woods' review in The New Yorker, March, 4, 2024, I would advise you to put him aside and read Robinson herself. And if you are looking for a fascinating and thoughtful novel, pick up Robinson's Gilead. (I assure you it has nothing at all to do with the Gilead of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.)

The Anglican Tradition From a Postcolonial Perspective by Kwok Pui-Lan 

New York: Seabury, Church Publishing, 2023

This book is a must-read, in my opinion. I remember reading Beyond Colonial Anglicanism in seminary (which she edited with Ian Douglas), and being deeply appreciative of and formed by the different perspectives brought into the book. With this monograph, Kwok Pui-Lan asks us to encounter the Anglican Tradition from a postcolonial perspective, thereby challenging and enriching how we think of Anglicanism. I'm looking forward to incorporating this into my classes this year.