"This collection of writings, drawn from a wide variety of sources, reveals the intellectual depth and breadth of the author. The articles include political commentary, cultural critique, literary analysis, extended book reviews, and even a short story by West. All of these are held together by a prophetic Afro-American Christian perspective. The value of this book is that it provides easy access to a significant selection of the author's corpus." --Religious Studies Review (October 1989) "This volume collects over 50 articles, book reviews, and addresses by a Union Seminary theologian . . . . The most eloquent pieces are those in which West explains and interprets his more personally felt tradition of Afro-American Protestantism." -- Library Journal

This is a selection of writings on themes of trauma and transformation, hope and anguish, in a time of reckoning. The first section offers biographical fragments about life after the "bulldozer" runs you over. How do you get up? How do you live with others who don't understand? How do you keep walking? They draw upon life experiences in Boston, Iona, and New Jersey. Faith is not so much about agreeing with doctrine, but a dynamic, active, seeking, questioning, trust in God. It includes both audacity and humility. The second section draws upon fragments of historical reflection, "On Violent Innocence, Mourning, and Metanoia in New Jersey." This is an exploration of the principality of white racism, state-based violence, and exploitation of the poor. It asks the question: How did the Confederate flag get in the front window of the Presbyterian church on Lincoln's birthday? Some of the white terrorism that happened at the Capitol is prefigured here. Yet there is grace hidden in judgment. We cannot heal from what we do not name. The third section contains fragments of prophetic wisdom from Lorna Goodison, Richard Fenn, Mike Gecan, Karen Hernandez-Granzen, and Archange Antoine. Along with Traci West and Chris Hedges, their voices are strong and true.

Philosophical explorations of the processes of globalization, particularly in the context of Latin America.

Composition and Cornel West: Notes toward a Deep Democracy identifies and explains key aspects of the work of Cornel West—the highly regarded scholar of religion, philosophy, and African American studies—as they relate to composition studies, focusing especially on three rhetorical strategies that West suggests we use in our questioning lives as scholars, teachers, students, and citizens. In this study, author Keith Gilyard examines the strategies of Socratic Commitment (a relentless examination of received wisdom), Prophetic Witness (an abiding concern with justice and the plight of the oppressed), and Tragicomic Hope (a keep-on-pushing sensibility reflective of the African American freedom struggle). Together, these rhetorical strategies comprise an updated form of cultural criticism that West calls prophetic pragmatism. This volume, which contains the only interview in which Cornel West directly addresses the field of composition,sketches the development of Cornel West’s theories of philosophy, political science, religion, and cultural studies and restates the link between Deweyan notions of critical intelligence and the notion of critical literacy developed by Ann Berthoff, Ira Shor, and Henry Giroux. Gilyard provides examples from the classroom to illustrate the possibilities of Socratic Commitment as part of composition pedagogy, shows the alignment of Prophetic Witness with traditional aims of critical composition, and in his chapter on Tragicomic Hope, addresses African American expressive culture with an emphasis on music and artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and Kanye West. The first book to comprehensively connect the ideas of one of America's premier scholars of religion, philosophy and African American studies with composition theory and pedagogy, Composition and Cornel West will be valuable to scholars, teachers, and students interested in race, class, critical literacy, and the teaching of writing.

Contrary to popular belief, the biblical prophets do far more than predict the future. They speak truth to power, they tell the truth about the uncomfortable past, they indict empty religiosity, they advocate for poor people and working people while seeking justice--all at tremendous risk to themselves. In Walking in the Prophetic Tradition Jason Bembry argues that the prophets have too often been domesticated by cultural impulses that reduce the prophetic message to prediction about Jesus or the end times. This book highlights themes addressed by the Old Testament prophets and connects each theme to modern people who exemplify passion for those same ideals. In this sense the prophetic tradition comes to life in the lived testimony of Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Myles Horton, Cesar Chavez, and Cornel West--moderns who stand courageously in this tradition. This book is a guide for all who seek a fuller understanding of the Old Testament prophets and who want to continue their work in the present.

Ever tried on a God helmet? Are there still prophets running around? Will the world end before Christmas next year? Surely you've pondered such issues far into the lonely night? Still, there are moments when we wonder about that stuff. But where is the solid and basic information to push us along? Fear not. Prophecy A-Z is here to help you out. As the subtitle pledges: the book is complete, eschatological, and a dictionary of prophecy. A letter-by-letter dictionary of prophetic terms - from Aaron to Zwingli - Sixty essays covering the most complex end times concepts - Healthy doses of history, philosophy, and apocalyptic shop talk It's handy; it's thorough; it's essential for every interested lay reader, Bible scholars, and clergy professionals.

What is theologically and homiletically happening in 'prophetic' sermons? This empirical theological study offers an analysis of the prophetic dimension in contemporary practices of preaching, including sermons from Bonhoeffer, King and Tutu, and from Dutch local contexts. After a phenomenological opening, five theological concepts are extracted from the studied sermons: exposing destructiva; interrupting dominant discourses; recognising the Word; overcoming destructiva; and edifying the congregation. In this study, prophetic speech is reconstructed as an illuminative interplay between epiphanic and inductive aspects.