Preaching Justice: The Ethical Vocation of Word and Sacrament Ministry - Softcover

"an easy and interesting read..." --Ohioana Quarterly, Summer 2001

"an easy and interesting read..." Ohioana Quarterly, Summer 2001

Dr. James M. Childs, Jr. deserves immense credit for venturing forth into theological waters most seek desperately to avoid....We are in debt to Dr. Childs for this book that sees justice not as an adjunct to gospel proclamation, but as its core." Charles E./Summer 2001--Sanford Lakoff "Trinity Seminary Review "

"In this work Childs rightly and admirably seeks to expand the scope of the gospel proclamation beyond forgiveness of an individual's misdeeds to the establishment of God's reign." Mary Elizabeth Anderson, Lutheran Quarterly, Summer 2002--Sanford Lakoff

The principal concern of this book is not complex theoretical discussions of justice so common to the discipline of ethics, but how working for justice fits into the church s mission and especially into its preaching. An opening chapter sets forth a biblical and theological basis for the conviction that justice is at the heart of the church s mission and witness. Then follows a chapter on preaching that distinguishes between merely moralizing about justice and genuinely preaching it. The remaining chapters in the book speak of preaching justice in dialogue with current contextual realities such as: (1) the racism of our American context, (2) the church s pentecostal heritage of communicating in and through all cultures, (3) the fact that much of the injustice in our society is a by-product of greed in its individual and enculturated manifestations, and (4) the need to deal appropriately and faithfully with the multicultural context of today. A concluding chapter brings the preacher back into the context of the church and its gospel foundations, that is, the source of preaching justice and walking together with the people of God in quest of it. James M. Childs is the Joseph A. Sittler Professor of Theology and Ethics and Academic Dean at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of Faith, Formation, and Decision: Ethics in the Community of Promise (1991) and Ethics in Business: Faith at Work (1995). For: Clergy, seminarians, homileticians, ethicists, peace-and-justice readerships, students of mission and modern culture