So begins Serene Jones's epic work of raw truth, fierce love, and spiritual teaching as muscular as the fractured soul of this century demands. From her abiding Oklahoma roots to her historic leadership of a legendary New York seminary, her story illuminates the deep fault lines of this age--and points beyond them. With a voice that is at once frank and poetic, humble and prophetic, intimate and practical, Jones makes complex teachings around hatred, forgiveness, mercy, justice, death, sin, and grace understandable and immediately applicable for modern people. Excavating the wisdom of great theological voices--Soren Kierkegaard, Reinhold Niebuhr, John Calvin, James Baldwin, James Cone, Luce Irigaray, Saint Teresa of Avila--she brings them to life with an intimacy and vividness that illumines our lives and our culture now. At the same time, and with great beauty, Call It Grace reveals Serene Jones as a towering voice of a new, and urgently necessary, public theology for this century.

This substantive collection from noted scholar Serene Jones explores recent work in the field of trauma studies. Central to its overall theme is an investigation of how individual and collective violence affect one's capacity to remember, to act, and to love; how violence can challenge theological understandings of grace; and even how the traumatic experience of Jesus' death is remembered. Jones focuses on the long-term effects of collective violence on abuse survivors, war veterans, and marginalized populations and the discrete ways in which grace and redemption may be exhibited in each context. At the heart of each essay are two deeply interrelated faith claims that are central to Jones's understanding of Christian theology: (1) We live in a world profoundly broken by violence, and (2) God loves this world and desires that suffering be met by words of hope, love, and grace. This timely and relevant cutting-edge book is the first trauma study to directly take into account theological issues.

This long-awaited text charts clearly and comprehensively the enormously important area of feminist theory -- and brings it into fruitful conversation with Christian theology.

Jones introduces the primary concerns that animate feminist theory through discussion of critical texts and through women's narratives. She shows how they pose uncomfortable questions, and leave no corner of the Christian tradition unchallenged. Jones unfolds feminist theory in three broad categories that analyze human identity and gender, oppression, and ethics. She then illustrates their potential for illuminating theological categories of experience, truth, text, and norm to revitalize three key traditional Christian doctrines: faith, sin, and church.

Coordinated by Serene Jones of Yale Divinity School and Paul Lakeland of Fairfield University, fifty of North America's top teaching theologians (members of the Workgroup on Constructive Christian Theology) have devised a text that allows students to experience the deeper point of theological questions, to delve into the fractures and disagreements that figured in the development of traditional Christian doctrines, and to sample the diverse and conflicting theological voices that vie for allegiance today.

Contributors: Victor AndersonEllen T. ArmourKaren Baker-FletcherPaul E. CapetzDon H. CompierM. Shawn CopelandPaul DeHartJames H. Evans Jr.

Francis Schssler FiorenzaMary McClintock FulkersonMichelle A. GonzalesRoger HaightBradford E. HinzeBarbara A. HolmesDwight N. HopkinsLeonard M. HummelAda Maria Isassi-DiazDavid H. JensenWilliam Stacey JohnsonSerene JonesMargaret D. KamitsukaCatherine KellerKris KvamPaul LakelandWalter J. LoweCharles T. MathewesJoy Ann McDougallSallie McFagueIan A. McFarlandM. Douglas MeeksLinda MercadanteJim PerkinsonJamie T. PhelpsAmy Plantinga PauwDarby RayStephen G. RayJoerg RiegerCynthia L. RigbyKathleen M. SandsMichele SaracinoLaurel C. SchneiderCraig SteinKathryn TannerJohn E. ThielDeanna A. ThompsonMark I. WallaceSharon D. WelchTatha Wiley

Throughout the years, biographers have depicted John Calvin in manifold ways. Serene Jones takes a fresh look at Calvin as she draws a compelling portrait of Calvin as artist, engaged in the classical art of rhetoric. According to Jones, this art was used knowingly and skillfully by Calvin to persuade and challenge his diverse audiences. Jones offers a rhetorical reading of the first three chapters of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. What emerges is a truly original interpretation of Calvin and his work.

Volumes in this series are intended for scholars, theologians, pastors, and lay people who are committed to faith in search of understanding.