The modern Jew, living in a world of shattered beliefs and competing ideologies, is often confronted with questions of faith. Sacred Fragments is for those who still care enough to continue the struggle. In forthright, nontechnical language the author addresses the most difficult theological questions of our time and shows that there are still viable Jewish answers for even the greatest skeptics.

David Tracy is widely considered one of the most important religious thinkers in North America, known for his pluralistic vision and disciplinary breadth. His first book in more than twenty years reflects Tracy’s range and erudition, collecting essays from the 1980s to 2018 into a two-volume work that will be greeted with joy by his admirers and praise from new readers. In the first volume, Fragments, Tracy gathers his most important essays on broad theological questions, beginning with the problem of suffering across Greek tragedy, Christianity, and Buddhism. The volume goes on to address the Infinite, and the many attempts to categorize and name it by Plato, Aristotle, Rilke, Heidegger, and others. In the remaining essays, he reflects on questions of the invisible, contemplation, hermeneutics, and public theology. Throughout, Tracy evokes the potential of fragments (understood both as concepts and events) to shatter closed systems and open us to difference and Infinity. Covering science, literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and non-Western religious traditions, Tracy provides in Fragments a guide for any open reader to rethink our fragmenting contemporary culture.

NEW PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD FROM THE VOICE OF A MILLENNIAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN. Imagine a world in which gods did not conceal their existence from humankind but instead walked the earth until they were hunted to near-extinction. Only two remain, and here enters our central character, a celebrity of sorts, known only as the god-slayer. But as a self-described "swashbuckling philosopher," the god-slayer is not out for blood so much as knowledge. And then, of course, there is that dream. . . . Fragments takes its reader on a journey of questions, answers, and more questions. Through a series of dialogues between the god-slayer and the last of the remaining deities, the book explores the mystery of creation and the problem of human suffering before advancing four innovative proofs for the existence of God. For when the god-slayer encounters a renowned deity called Romulus, the deity, in an effort to save himself, proposes that they consider an alternate reality in which the gods never revealed themselves to human beings and gave no direct evidence of their existence. In the mysterious final act, a heavy decision must be made, but not everything is as it seems. Elegantly written and packed with thought-provoking content on every page, Fragments offers readers a fresh take on timeless questions from the voice of a new, millennial-aged theologian. Recommended just as much for those who wish to strengthen their faith as those who seek to challenge it, Fragments is a one-of-a-kind work of Christian apologetics for the 21st century.

This book of essays hopes to show that there is an important place today for a modest and unsystematic theology, consisting of 'theological fragments' rather than some grand theory.These theological fragments arise from and relate to specific situations, problems, contexts and communities. Here Duncan Forrester asks: What do the practices of Christian worship have to teach us about ethics? How can a word of reconciliation be heard in Northern Ireland? How do Dachau and the Rwanda genocide affect how we understand the Church? Are the modern mass media a threat or an opportunity for Christian communication? Duncan B. Forrester is Emeritus Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The swelling ranks of religious "nones"—those who do not identify with any particular religious tradition—have demonstrated that traditional Christian apologetics set on delivering a universally accepted, objectively verifiable system that proves the truth and superiority of Christian belief has failed. Turned off by organized Christianity’s hypocrisy and politics of intolerance, millennials and Generation Z have rejected such domineering forms of reasoning aimed at winning converts through logical argument. Not only is this misguided missional strategy, argues Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, but it’s grounded in bad theology as well. The propositional truth claims imply that if you accept the argument, you must accept the Christian faith too. Instead of this triumphalist understanding of Christian truth, Rosario argues for a broken and contrite Christian theology that can help make sense of a fractured world. Realizing that fragments of truth are often all we have, he points out that the search for the truth of God and the self will most often be found while engaged in the struggle for justice. Theological Fragments is not another set of strategies for how to win back millennials. Rather, it provides a foundational theological vision necessary to the work of inviting the "nones" to hear the gospel afresh.

"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