Recent Books by Faculty
Our distinguished faculty consistently pens around 10 percent of all books produced by Emory faculty in any given year. In fact, they’re so prolific that our print magazine could only list the latest publications through December 2018. Can’t wait to see 2019’s books? See the list here.
King of Kings: Organ Music by Black Composers, Vol. 3
James Abbington, Associate Professor of Church Music and Worship, editor. Whether it’s a church service or a concert, the latest edition in the King of Kings series features arrangements and original works by some of the preeminent black composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. [GIA, 2017]
In Endless Song: An Anthology
Antonio Alonso, Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture. The accomplished composer and liturgist presents this compilation of his favorite liturgical compositions and arrangements, intended to facilitate personal prayer and reflection. [GIA, 2018]
Quick and Easy Guide to Methodist Polity
Anne Burkholder, Associate Dean of Methodist Studies and Professor in the Practice of Ecclesiology and Church Leadership, and Thomas W. Elliott, Jr., Associate Professor in the Practice of Practical Theology and Methodist Studies. With more than 250 entries, Burkholder and Elliott provide a comprehensive, annotated guide to the United Methodist Discipline for pastors and church leaders, district superintendents, bishops, agency staff, and others who need a quick reference guide to issues that arise in ministry. [GBHEM, 2018]
The Common English Bible Student Bible
Elizabeth Corrie, Associate Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding. Corrie served as editor on the project, which brought together scholars, youth ministers, and YTI alumni to craft more than 400 articles, questions, and activities designed to help teenage students engage with the text. [Common English Bible, 2015
Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice
Gregory C. Ellison II, Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling. Ellison explains and explores his groundbreaking program “Fearless Dialogues,” walking readers through the steps to find common ground in our divided communities and implement genuine and lasting change. [Westminster John Knox, 2017]
African American History & Devotions
Teresa L. Fry Brown, Bandy Professor of Preaching. Twenty-eight devotions for individuals, families, or small groups, including a Scripture verse, a reflection on the Scripture, related activities for each day, and a prayer. This intergenerational, interactive devotional celebrates heritage, deepens faith, and builds community. [Abingdon Press, 2018]
Acts: A Commentary
Carl R. Holladay, Charles Howard Candler Professor of New Testament. In this work from the acclaimed New Testament Library series, Holladay offers a theological, contextual, and literary interpretation of Acts, presenting it as a rich narrative that accounts for the development of the early Christian church. [Westminster John Knox, 2016]
What Does it Mean to be a Theologian?In 2014-15 Candler marked its centennial year, spurring reflections on the school’s first century and an exploration of the major theological challenges awaiting it in its second. Throughout that year, we examined the issues that had helped to define Candler and anticipated those issues that would challenge and stretch our existing theologies in the near future. Past and present Candler faculty and other luminaries lent their institutional memory, insights, and intellects to the task, and the result was both inspiring and challenging, preparing us to speak God’s truth in the midst of rapidly changing circumstances. Rex D. Matthews, professor emeritus in the practice of historical theology and Wesleyan studies, has gathered selected addresses from Candler’s centennial year in The Vocation of Theology: Inquiry, Dialogue, Adoration (GBHEM, 2017). In it, twelve Candler professors consider the challenges that have shaped us and those that will shape us in the years to come: Luther Smith on Candler as a place for the formation of witnesses, Carol Newsom on the history of women at Candler and on creation and care of the earth, Ted Smith on theological imagination and secularization, Ellen Ott Marshall on the image of God in contemporary society, Jehu Hanciles on the kingdom of God and global pluralism, and Teresa Fry Brown on God-given on-the-job courage, among others. These essays, sermons, and speeches shed light on the vocation of theology in a changed and changing world, a topic worthy of perennial reflection. |
Introduction to the New Testament: Reference Edition
Carl Holladay. Rooting each of the New Testament’s 27 writings in their historical, literary, and theological contexts, Holladay provides detailed overviews, background material, and textual analysis, intentionally connecting the New Testament to issues facing its readers today. [Baylor University, 2017]
A Modest Apostle: Thecla and the History of Women in the Early Church
Susan E. Hylen, Associate Professor of New Testament. Tracing the story of the biblical and apocryphal character Thecla, Hylen challenges the common narrative that women were excluded from active leadership in the early church, arguing instead that they served as leaders in their own Greco-Roman cultural contexts. The Christian Century selected the book as “recommended reading” in its 2016 Fall Books issue. [Oxford University, 2015]
Women in the New Testament World
Susan Hylen. Part of Oxford’s Essentials of Biblical Studies series, this 232-page volume offers a new interpretation of the conflicting evidence for women’s roles and authority in the culture that shaped the New Testament, intersecting with contemporary discussions of women’s roles in churches. [Oxford University, 2018] 
The Revelatory Body: Theology as Inductive Art
Luke Timothy Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins. Johnson argues that “the human body is God’s preferred medium of self-revelation,” and in order to sense God’s presence through the body, theologians must be willing to engage in actual human experiences rather than abstract conceptualizations. [Eerdmans, 2015]
Missionary Christianity and Local Religion: American Evangelicalism in North India, 1836-1870
Arun Jones, Dan and Lillian Hankey Associate Professor of World Evangelism. Jones documents how preexisting indigenous bhakti movements and western missionary evangelicalism met to form the cornerstone of North Indian Christianity, a movement that was both evangelical and rooted in local religious and social realities. [Baylor University, 2017]
Pastoral Care, Health, Healing, and Wholeness in African Contexts
Emmanuel Lartey, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spiritual Care, co-editor. This collection by pastoral theologians from Congo, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, draws on biblical, theological, social scientific, and cultural contextual perspectives to offer insights on pastoral care and counseling aimed towards healing, health, and well-being. [Wipf and Stock, 2017]
Image, Text, Exegesis: Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible
Joel M. LeMon, Associate Professor of Old Testament, co-editor. This volume addresses the questions of how images reflect the cultures that produce them, and the nature of the relationship between images and texts among different cultures. [Bloomsbury, 2015]
Reformed Sacramentality
Steffen Lösel, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, editor. This book by the late Graham Hughes contends that to counter the Reformed tradition’s vulnerability to a cultural colonization by secular modernity, Reformed theology needs to amplify its appreciation for God’s omnipresence in creation with a re-appropriation of the condensed symbols of faith. [Liturgical Press, 2017]
Dream Things True
Marie Marquardt, Scholar-in-Residence. Inspired by her work with Mexican immigrants in Georgia, Marquardt’s first young adult novel centers on the love story between an undocumented teenage girl and the white nephew of a senator. [Macmillan, 2015]
The Radius of Us
Marie Marquardt. In her second young adult novel, Marquardt provides a glimpse into the causes and devastating impact of Latino gang violence, both in the U.S. and in Central America, and explores the risks that victims take when they try to start over. [Macmillan, 2017]
Flight Season
Marie Marquardt. Described by Booklist as a “poignant story of grief, healing, and finding balance and purpose,” Marquardt’s third young adult novel explores immigration, love, and loss. [Macmillan, 2018]
Conflict Transformation and Religion: Essays on Faith, Power, and Relationship
Ellen Ott Marshall, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Conflict Transformation, editor. Contributors to this collection—including fellow Candler faculty members Beth Corrie and Liz Bounds—describe ways that conflict and their efforts to engage it constructively shape their work in classrooms and communities. [Palgrave, 2016]
Introduction to Christian Ethics: Conflict, Faith, and Human Life
Ellen Ott Marshall. Understanding that difference is often the origin of conflict, Marshall uses the inevitable reality of difference to center and organize her exploration of the system of Christian morality, asking, “What does the good life look like in the context of conflict?” [Westminster John Knox, 2018]
Patriotism Black and White: The Color of American Exceptionalism
Nichole R. Phillips, Associate Professor in the Practice of Sociology of Religion and Culture. Phillips examines a community of black and white evangelicals in rural Tennessee, exploring how racial identity influenced differing responses to the War on Terror and the Obama administration, and eventually led to a crisis in American national identity that opened the door to new nativistic and triumphalist interpretations of American exceptionalism. [Baylor, 2018]
How Marriage Became One of the Sacraments: The Sacramental Theology of Marriage from its Medieval Origins to the Council of Trent
Philip Reynolds, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Medieval Christianity and Aquinas Professor of Historical Theology. Reynolds examines in depth the intellectual and institutional developments of marriage as a sacrament through the centuries, from the ancient precedents to the Council of Trent. [Cambridge University, 2016]
Pastoral Care: Telling the Stories of Our Lives
Karen D. Scheib, Professor of Pastoral Care and Pastoral Theology. Scheib contends that the purpose of pastoral care is to generate stories that promote growth in love of God, self, and others. With a grounding in Wesleyan theology, she re-envisions pastoral care as a rhythm of life within the whole church, rather than a sporadic action taken only in moments of crisis. This book was tapped for “recommended reading” in The Christian Century’s 2016 Fall Books issue. [Abingdon Press, 2016]
Attend to Stories: How to Flourish in Ministry
Karen Scheib. This book invites readers to rekindle a passion for ministry by helping others revisit their stories—keeping in mind that to do so effectively, we must be willing to revisit our own stories, connecting them to God and each other. [Wesley’s Foundery Books, 2018]
Questions Preachers Ask: Essays in Honor of Thomas G. Long
Ted A. Smith, Associate Professor of Preaching and Ethics, co-editor. A Festschrift honoring Bandy Professor Emeritus of Preaching Thomas G. Long, this volume offers guidance from some of the country’s best-known preachers, scholars, and authors—including Barbara Brown Taylor, Anna Carter Florence, and Thomas Lynch, among others. [Westminster John Knox, 2016]
Spirit and Capital in an Age of Inequality
Ted A. Smith, co-editor. This Festschrift honoring Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics Jon Gunnemann brings together a diverse group of scholars, activists, and public intellectuals to consider one of the most pressing issues of our time: increasing income inequality that grates against justice and erodes the bonds that hold society together. Contributors include Candler faculty members Tim Jackson, Liz Bounds, and Steve Tipton. [Routledge, 2018]
Dictionary of Luther and Lutheran Traditions
Jonathan Strom, Professor of Church History, co-editor. This major reference work co-edited with five other prominent scholars of the history of Lutheran traditions contains nearly 600 articles, providing a comprehensive overview of Luther’s life and work and the traditions emanating from the Wittenberg Reformation. [Baker Academic, 2017]
German Pietism and the Problem of Conversion
Jonathan Strom. Grounded in archival research, Strom’s latest book uncovers the varied, complex, and problematic character that conversion experiences posed for Pietists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, shedding new light on the development of piety and modern evangelical narratives of religious experience. [Penn State University, 2018]
The Band Meeting: Rediscovering Relational Discipleship in Transformational Community
Kevin M. Watson, Assistant Professor of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies, co-author. Watson and co-author Scott Kisker explore the richness of the traditional Methodist band meeting and introduce a practical approach for growing toward an authentic, transformation-oriented small group experience. A step-by-step guide for groups is included. [Seedbed, 2017]
Books by Emeriti Faculty
These books were published after the faculty member retired from Candler.
Luke Timothy Johnson, Miracles: God’s Presence and Power in Creation [Westminster John Knox, 2018]
Rex D. Matthews, Editor, Ministerial Orders and Sacramental Authority in The United Methodist Church and Its Antecedents 1784-2016 [Wesley’s Foundery Books, 2018]
Russell E. Richey, Methodism in the American Forest [Oxford University, 2015]
Luther E. Smith, Jr., Lead editor, Understanding What We Believe: A Commentary on The Articles of Religion, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (Revised) [CME Publishing, 2016]
Steven M. Tipton, The Life to Come: Re-Creating Retirement [Wesley’s Foundery Books, 2018]
Theodore R. Weber, John Wesley’s “Perfection” Questions [Mudie Press, 2015]
Theodore Weber, War, Peace, and Reconciliation: A Theological Inquiry [Cascade, 2015]