God, Truth, and Witness: Essays in Conversation with Stanley Hauerwas

By Teresa BergeL. Gregory Jones, Reinhard Hütter,
and C. Rosalee Velloso Ewell, eds.
Brazos Press: 2005
Paper, $39.99

This festschrift in honor of Stanley Hauerwas’ 65th birthday documents Duke’s Gilbert T. Rowe professor of Christian ethics’ contributions to 20th century theological discourse, including narrative theology, virtue and medical ethics, Christian pacifism, and ecclesiology in a post- Christendom era.

International contributors include Robert Bellah on the church and civil religion, George Lindbeck on ecumenism and postliberalism, and Peter Ochs on Jewish- Christian relations. The editors are L. Gregory Jones, dean and professor of theology at Duke Divinity School; Reinhard Hütter, associate professor of Christian theology at Duke; and C. Rosalee Velloso Ewell, professor at South American Theological School in Brazil.

The End of Words: The Language of Reconciliation in a Culture of Violence

By Richard Lischer
Cleland Professor of Preaching
Eerdmans: 2005
Hardcover, $18.00

In this reflection on the place of preaching in the 21st century, Richard Lischer recognizes that our mass-communication culture is exhausted by words. The End of Words shows how faithful reading of Scripture rather than flashy performance paves the way for effective preaching; Lischer challenges conventional storytelling with a deeper and more biblical view of narrative preaching. The ultimate purpose of preaching, he argues, is to speak God’s peace, the message of reconciliation.

Improvisation: The Drama of
Christian Ethics

By Samuel Wells Research
Professor of Christian Ethics
Brazos: 2004
Paper, $19.99

Samuel Wells, the new dean of Duke Chapel and divinity school professor, employs theatrical improvisation as a new lens through which to view Christian ethics. He defines improvisation as a “practice through which actors seek to develop trust in themselves and one another in order that they may conduct unscripted dramas without fear.”

Using this model, Christian ethics becomes a matter of “faithfully improvising on the Christian tradition.” Improvisation can help turn the church into a community of trust so that it may faithfully encounter the unknown future without fear. Specific ethical issues, including the perils and promises of genetically-modified food, are addressed.