Revealing essays discuss the religious power of music, the role of the liberal church in social justice, the historical origins of the free church movement, the balance of spirituality and social responsibility and more. Spans Adams' entire career.

James Luther Adams has been a major force in American social ethics and liberal theology for more than half a century, from his work with anti-Nazi preachers in Germany in the late 1930s through his teaching at the University of Chicago and the Harvard Divinity School. Here is his latest collection of inimitable essays.

In this seminal work, pioneering theologian Ernst Troeltsch raises the question, how can we pass beyond the diversity with which history presents us to norms for our faith and for our judgments about life? He trenchantly probes the issue of how one religion--when viewed historically in the context of other world religions--can be universally and absolutely true. Though many others since have explored the issue of historical relativism and religious truth, few have done so with Troeltsch's determination and incisiveness, and for this he has made a lasting contribution to Christian theology and the philosophy of religion. The questions Troeltsch poses in this book remain utterly significant for the thoughtful Christian today. This reissue of a well-known classic includes a foreword by theological titan James Luther Adams.

Appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in 2017, the UUA Commission on Institutional Change served through June 2020. Widening the Circle of Concern: Report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change represents the culmination of the Commission’s work analyzing structural and systemic racism and white supremacy culture within Unitarian Universalism and makes recommendations to advance long-term cultural and institutional change that redeems the essential promise and ideals of Unitarian Universalism. The members and staff of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change were Chair Rev. Leslie Takahashi, Mary Byron, Cir L’Bert Jr., Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore, Dr. Elías Ortega, Caitlin Breedlove, DeReau K. Farrar, and Project Manager Rev. Marcus Fogliano.

An updated edition of the classic introduction to the history and beliefs of Unitarian Universalism—from a senior minister of the Unitarian Church For those contemplating religious choices, Unitarian Universalism offers an appealing alternative to religious denominations that stress theological creeds over individual conviction and belief. Featuring two new chapters, a revealing and entertaining foreword by best-selling author Robert Fulghum, and a new preface by UU moderator Denise Davidoff, this updated edition of the classic introductory text on Unitarian Universalism explores the many sources of the living tradition of this ‘chosen faith’.

"[An] illuminating memoir." —Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times The story of a composer's life in the Alaskan wilderness and a meditation on making art in a landscape acutely threatened by climate change In the summer of 1975, the composer John Luther Adams, then a twenty-two-year-old graduate of CalArts, boarded a flight to Alaska. So began a journey into the mountains, forests, and tundra of the far north—and across distinctive mental and aural terrain—that would last for the next forty years. Silences So Deep is Adams’s account of these formative decades—and of what it’s like to live alone in the frozen woods, composing music by day and spending one’s evenings with a raucous crew of poets, philosophers, and fishermen. From adolescent loves—Edgard Varèse and Frank Zappa—to mature preoccupations with the natural world that inform such works as The Wind in High Places, Adams details the influences that have allowed him to emerge as one of the most celebrated and recognizable composers of our time. Silences So Deep is also a memoir of solitude enriched by friendships with the likes of the conductor Gordon Wright and the poet John Haines, both of whom had a singular impact on Adams’s life. Whether describing the travails of environmental activism in the midst of an oil boom or midwinter conversations in a communal sauna, Adams writes with a voice both playful and meditative, one that evokes the particular beauty of the Alaskan landscape and the people who call it home. Ultimately, this book is also the story of Adams’s difficult decision to leave a rapidly warming Alaska and to strike out for new topographies and sources of inspiration. In its attentiveness to the challenges of life in the wilderness, to the demands of making art in an age of climate crisis, and to the pleasures of intellectual fellowship, Silences So Deep is a singularly rich account of a creative life.

In James Luther Adams one finds the curious, and sometimes contradictory, combination of medieval saint, Renaissance humanist, Marxist critic, Enlightenment encyclopedist, sectarian enthusiast, and bourgeois compulsive. Yet he is, in many ways, a prototypical modern man, attempting to find, confess, and, where necessary, carve out a sense of meaning large enough to preserve us from the perennial idolatries and aimlessness that flesh is heir to.