Reading Guides, Theology

Twelve Important Theology Books of 2020!!!

As the end of 2020 draws near, we highlight some of the most important theology books released this year…

Although some of these theology books will appear on our Advent calendar of 2020’s Best Books (and no, we won’t reveal here which ones will be on that list), we won’t say that these are the 12 BEST theology books — just that they are important ones that should be widely read and discussed… 

We feature our theology book of the year first, and after that the remaining book are in alphabetical order by the author/editor’s last name….  

 *** What one book would you add to this list?

Theology Books 2020After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging

Willie Jennings

(Eerdmans)

*** LISTEN to an interview with the author about this book

Theological education has always been about formation: first of people, then of communities, then of the world. If we continue to promote whiteness and its related ideas of masculinity and individualism in our educational work, it will remain diseased and thwart our efforts to heal the church and the world. But if theological education aims to form people who can gather others together through border-crossing pluralism and God-drenched communion, we can begin to cultivate the radical belonging that is at the heart of God’s transformative work.

In this inaugural volume of the Theological Education between the Times series, Willie James Jennings shares the insights gained from his extensive experience in theological education, most notably as the dean of a major university’s divinity school—where he remains one of the only African Americans to have ever served in that role. He reflects on the distortions hidden in plain sight within the world of education but holds onto abundant hope for what theological education can be and how it can position itself at the front of a massive cultural shift away from white, Western cultural hegemony. This must happen through the formation of what Jennings calls erotic souls within ourselves—erotic in the sense that denotes the power and energy of authentic connection with God and our fellow human beings.

After Whiteness is for anyone who has ever questioned why theological education still matters. It is a call for Christian intellectuals to exchange isolation for intimacy and embrace their place in the crowd—just like the crowd that followed Jesus and experienced his miracles. It is part memoir, part decolonial analysis, and part poetry—a multimodal discourse that deliberately transgresses boundaries, as Jennings hopes theological education will do, too.


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