Sarah Coakley is one of the most exciting and creative figures in contemporary theology. Her far-reaching systematic vision of the Christian faith has integrated insights from systematic theology, gender studies, sociology, patristics, analytic philosophy of religion, and evolutionary biology. This integrated vision coheres around the mystical and contemplative core of Christian experience. In her challenging revisionary work on themes such as gender, sacrifice, desire, and the doctrine of the Trinity, Coakley reconnects theological reflection with its contemplative roots and pushes toward a new approach to systematic theological reflection. In Sarah Coakley and the Future of Systematic Theology, scholars explore Coakley’s multifaceted contribution to contemporary theology and consider the ways through which her work sets a new standard for systematic reflection on the Christian faith. This volume brings together, around Coakley’s work, a gathering of established and emerging scholars and asks critical questions of Coakley’s work as we await three further volumes of her systematic theology.

Sarah Coakley is one of the most exciting and creative figures in contemporary theology. Her far-reaching systematic vision of the Christian faith has integrated insights from systematic theology, gender studies, sociology, patristics, analytic philosophy of religion, and evolutionary biology. This integrated vision coheres around the mystical and contemplative core of Christian experience. In her challenging revisionary work on themes such as gender, sacrifice, desire, and the doctrine of the Trinity, Coakley reconnects theological reflection with its contemplative roots and pushes toward a new approach to systematic theology. In Sarah Coakley and the Future of Systematic Theology, scholars explore Coakley's multifaceted contribution to contemporary theology and consider the ways through which her work sets a new standard for systematic reflection on the Christian faith. This volume brings together a gathering of established and emerging scholars and asks critical questions of Coakley's work.

God, Sexuality and the Self is a new venture in systematic theology. Sarah Coakley invites the reader to re-conceive the relation of sexual desire and the desire for God and - through the lens of prayer practice - to chart the intrinsic connection of this relation to a theology of the Trinity. The goal is to integrate the demanding ascetical undertaking of prayer with the recovery of lost and neglected materials from the tradition and thus to reanimate doctrinal reflection both imaginatively and spiritually. What emerges is a vision of human longing for the triune God which is both edgy and compelling: Coakley's théologie totale questions standard shibboleths on 'sexuality' and 'gender' and thereby suggests a way beyond current destructive impasses in the churches. The book is clearly and accessibly written and will be of great interest to all scholars and students of theology.

Nothing embodies the mystery of faith quite like prayer. Although sometimes an elusive practice that may baffle and confuse, prayer is not otherworldly, for it is in prayer, in talking and listening to our infinite, loving creator, that we truly find our way in this world. In the twenty-first issue of The Other Journal, contributors consider the transformative mystery of prayer in all its questions and practicalities. They carefully think through intercessory prayer and prayerful political theology and what it means to commune with God and one another. They dance, laugh, and pray like fools. The issue features essays and reviews by Emmanuel Katongole, Erin Lane, Timothy McGee, L. Roger Owens, Andrew Prevot, Carl Raschke, and Lauren Smelser White; interviews by Kate Rae Davis, Ashleigh Elser, Jen Grabarczyk, and SueJeanne Koh with Sarah Coakley, Peter Ochs, Dominique Ovalle, and Richard Twiss; and fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry by Mary M. Brown, Kate Rae Davis, Denise Frame Harlan, Katie Manning, Tania Moore, Jillena Rose, Nicholas Samaras, and Robert Vander Lugt.

The relationship between biblical studies and theology is often marked by misunderstandings, methodological differences, and cross-discipline tension. With an irenic spirit as well as honesty about differences that remain, New Testament scholar Scot McKnight highlights five things he wishes theologians knew about biblical studies so that these disciplines might once again serve the church hand in hand.

The liberating work of God calls the oppressed out of oppression and the oppressor out of oppressing. The challenge in seeking a thorough liberation of oppressors is to help them understand their need for freedom and how to seek this freedom in their own contexts. Patrick Oden provides a holistic biblical, historical, and theological analysis that diagnoses the underlying motivations and inclinations that lead to oppression. Part one addresses the context of oppression, in which most participants in oppression do not actively seek to harm others but are caught up in systems that tend toward the diminishment of others. Part two examines the biblical and early Christian response to oppression, discovering a thread that avoids condemning participation in society generally while also cautioning the people of God about being co-opted by society. Part three discusses how oppressors can withdraw from oppression, through a constructive analysis of four contemporary theologians—Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jürgen Moltmann, Sarah Coakley, and Jean Vanier—each of whom contributes to a widening vision of liberated and liberating life in which the once-oppressed and former oppressor can find peace together in community.