Ten Theology Books to Watch For – November 2024

Grace Abounds: God’s Abundance against the Fear of Scarcity

Walter Brueggemann

( WJK Books )

In Grace Abounds: God’s Abundance against the Fear of Scarcity, Walter Brueggemann explores our human struggle of having a smallness of mind that breeds competition and envy against God’s prompting to move beyond our small selves to trust in God’s ultimate provision and to extend ourselves to others openhandedly.

The Walter Brueggemann Library brings together the wide-ranging and enlivening thought of popular biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann over his storied career. Each volume collects previously published work on a biblical theme that has deeply informed Brueggemann’s scholarship, in an accessible digest for readers who want to freshly engage his prophetically minded but approachable writing on the topic.

The Bible often associates God’s grace with abundance. While it is sometimes equated with forgiveness, more often grace is described much more broadly in the texts of ancient Israel: as the divine self-giving that stands against various forms of scarcity.We are bombarded daily with the idea that there is not enough of anything—housing, jobs, resources. By contrast, the Bible shows again and again how God meets our needs abundantly but in such a way that unveils our profound ongoing need for God and for one another. The first part of Grace Abounds lays out fundamentals of biblical grace by focusing on some of our most basic needs—to eat, to use land, to find shelter—and four different types of responses from people in Scripture struggling to survive experiences of exile and forced migration. In the second part of the book, Brueggemann advocates for specific biblical practices that are appropriate to the reality and experience of God’s grace and grace-full relationships with fellow creatures: keeping Sabbath, making doxology, bestowing blessing, offering forgiveness, and realizing reconciliation.

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Grace and Social Ethics: Gift as the Foundation of Our Life Together

Angela Carpenter

( Baker Academic )

Grace and Social Ethics demonstrates why the doctrine of grace has significant implications for social ethics and for Christian engagement with culture. The book reframes Christian social ethics by illuminating how grace shapes human identity and community.

Angela Carpenter integrates theology and social science to articulate a vision of human persons as constituted by gift rather than merit. This graced anthropology compellingly bridges theology and contemporary research on human dependence and mutuality. Carpenter insightfully applies this graced identity to pressing issues in social ethics such as criminal justice, labor practices, and gun violence.

Scholars and students of theological ethics as well as pastors seeking resources for moral formation will find illuminating perspectives in this integrative work, which situates social justice imperatives within God’s gracious purposes.

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