A Storm of Images

Iconoclasm and Religious Reformation in the Byzantine World PHILIP JENKINS

With A Storm of Images, Philip Jenkins offers a compelling retelling of the saga of how the iconoclastic movement detonated ferocious controversy within the church and secular society, as icon supporters challenged the image breakers. Decades of internal struggle followed, marked by rebellions and civil wars, purges and persecutions, plotting and coups d’etat. After their cause triumphed, the image supporters made the cult of icons ever more central to the faith of Orthodox Christianity. Iconoclasm marked a watershed in the history of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, and it contributed to Western attempts to establish new empires. The questions raised during these struggles are all the more relevant at a time when such controversy rages over the public depictions of history, and the removal of statues, monuments, and names associated with hated figures. As in those earlier times, debates over images serve as vehicles for authentic cultural revolutions.

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University and Co-Director for the Program on Historical Studies of Religion at the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University. He is the author of Fertility and Faith: The Demographic Revolution and the Transformation of World Religions (Baylor University Press, 2020) and is a regular contributor at The Christian Century magazine.

Justification and the Pursuit of Justice

Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times

AMY CARR, CHRISTINE HELMER

Christians in the United States and around the world are politically polarized today, unable to speak to one another across deep divisions regarding urgent social issues. Justification and the Pursuit of Justice addresses this dire reality by offering a theological framework for Christian justice-seeking. Amy Carr and Christine Helmer draw on Paul’s theology to center the idea of justification by faith in Christ as the primary ground of Christian belonging and community. Carr and Helmer articulate ways that justification by faith grounds Christian practices of affective listening and storytelling, even on the most contentious ethical questions today, with the hope that mutual conversation in and through the Beloved Community can get Christians who disagree oriented towards each other again for the good of the world.

Amy Carr is Professor of Religious Studies in the Liberal Arts & Sciences Department at Western Illinois University. She earned her BA at Carleton College, spent a year in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps working for the ecumenical/interfaith Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Central America, then pursued an M.Div. from Vanderbilt Divinity School and a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Christine Helmer is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Humanities, as well as Professor of German and Religious Studies, at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology by the University of Helsinki in 2017. She is an internationally recognized scholar of Martin Luther, and has been a leader in the field of the study of Luther in relation to medieval philosophy since the publication of her dissertation The Trinity and Martin Luther in 1999. She founded the Lutheran Scholars Network in 2016, which has a regular newsletter that she publishes with Amy Carr, and sponsors sessions at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion.

September 2023

Religion

Rights: World

October 2023

Religion Rights: World

November 2022

Religion

Rights: World

Jesus for Living

Daily Prayers, Wisdom, and Guidance

MARK LANIER

A trial lawyer by trade, a Christian by heart—author Mark Lanier has trained in biblical languages and devoted his life to studying and living the Bible. Facing daily the tension between the demands of his career and the desire for a godly life, Lanier recognizes the importance and challenge of finding daily time to spend in God’s Word. His meditations on the Gospels reveal the need for daily devotion from the teachings of Jesus. In Jesus for Living, Lanier shares a year’s worth of meditations centered around the church calendar. Unlike his other devotionals, these are meant to be read according to the rhythms of the liturgical seasons—Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. Lanier reflects on the actions and teachings of Jesus, offering insight on how our lives might imitate Jesus, and concludes each reading with a prayer of encouragement.

Mark Lanier is a nationally renowned trial lawyer; founder of the Lanier Theological Library and the Christian Trial Lawyers Association; and author of Psalms for Living: Daily Prayers, Wisdom, and Guidance, Torah for Living: Daily Prayers, Wisdom, and Guidance, and Christianity on Trial: A Lawyer Examines the Christian Faith. He and his wife, Becky, have five children and live near Houston, Texas.

Better Religion

A Primer for Interreligious Peacebuilding

JOHN D. BARTON

In the twenty-first century, humanity faces both unprecedented existential threats and remarkable possibilities for development. While no one knows how things will unfold by century’s end, it is increasingly clear that religion will play a major role in shaping the outcomes, for better or worse. In Better Religion, philosopher and religion scholar John Barton explores how grassroots interreligious peacebuilding can help ensure the “better.”

September 2022

Religion / General

Rights: World

More specifically, the book argues that for religion’s “better” to be realized, interreligious peacebuilding must honor and directly engage religious differences. This challenges a common assumption that religious differences inevitably lead to hostilities and must therefore be minimized or functionally neutralized for collaborative peacebuilding to be possible. Better Religion explains why such assumptions are misguided and charts a more realistic and hopeful way forward. Using a blend of data analysis, theoretical models, and real-life anecdotes, the book makes sense of global religious diversity and projects the possibilities of peacebuilding across even the most irreconcilable of differences.

Written for academic and professional audiences, this “conceptual primer” will equip readers to understand religion in the twenty-first century and pursue constructive collaborations for human flourishing, all for the sake of the world we currently share and the world we want our grandchildren to inherit.

John Barton is Professor of Teaching in the Religion and Philosophy Division at Pepperdine University where he also serves as director of the Pepperdine Center for Faith and Learning.