Stanley Hauerwas

William H. Willimon

In this bold and visionary book, two leading Christian thinkers explore the alien status of Christians in today's world. A provocative Christian assessment of culture and ministry for people who know that something is wrong.

Life in the Christian Colony

Resident Aliens

Scott C. Saye

Studies each phrase of the Lord's Prayer and relates it to life in the Christian community.

The Lord's Prayer & the Christian Life

Lord, Teach Us

Horizons in Theology Series (Horizons in Theology)

Proclamation And Theology

In seven chapters, Willimon examines United Methodism and the ways it has made and continues to make a difference in his life. In an inspiring and enlightening way, he writes of his pride in being part of a church that has grown from one man's experience to a worldwide movement covering the globe with its message. A learning guide for groups and individuals is included. Chapter titles: Because Religion Is of the Heart Because the Bible Is Our Book Because Religion Is Practical Because Christians Are to Witness Because Christians Are to Grow Because Religion Is Not a Private Affair

Why I Am a United Methodist

Joel B. Green

Includes comprehensive study notes on the NRSV text by over 50 biblical scholars, accessibly written life application and inspiration by over 50 key pastors, easy-to-understand explanations of core terms by over 60 Wesley experts, extended reference to works by John Wesley, 19 pages of full-color maps, cross references and a summary of each biblical book.

The Wesley Study Bible

Love God with a warmed heart. Serve God with active hands.

Sage Thicket Decotone

NRSV Wesley Study Bible

Love God with a warmed heart. Serve God with active hands. Lead an abundant life, grow as a faithful disciple, and find new avenues to serve. By studying the Wesley Study Bible you will share God's grace and find the good gifts God has for you. As God transforms you through study, you will be inspired to transform the world. Contributors from across the Wesleyan family join together to help you experience God in fresh ways. Special Features: Comprehensive study notes on NRSV text by over 50 biblical scholars Accessibly written life application and inspiration by over 50 key pastors Easy-to-understand explanations of core terms by over 60 Wesley experts, including: eternal life, forgiveness, grace, heaven, holiness, justice, and mission Extended reference to works by John Wesley 19 pages of full-color maps; cross references; and summary of each biblical book 7" x 9-/18" trim size with a 9.75 font Beautiful distressed bonded leather. PLEASE NOTE: The cover of this Bible is an uncoated distressed bonded leather. There will be variations in the material, so no two Bibles will be exactly alike.

New Revised Standard Version

NRSV Wesley Study Bible Charcoal Bonded Leather

In "Calling & Character", Willimon lays out a clear, compelling picture of the pastoral life, one that can inform both those embarking on ordained ministry and those who have been in it for many years. He lays out specific habits -- such as study, collegiality and humor -- as the day-by-day means of following the difficult and dangerous, yet deeply rewarding, calling of a pastor.

Virtues of the Ordained Life

Calling & Character

Thomas H. Naylor

Rolf Österberg

Naylor, Willimon, and Osterberg search for meaning in the workplace by combining a spiritual journey inward with an outward quest in pursuit of human connectedness. Finding meaning in our work is no easy task, they contend, if life beyond the workplace has no meaning. Similarly, if most of each day is spent in meaningless work, then finding meaning outside of work may be equally elusive.

The Search for Meaning in the Workplace

There is a distinctively Christian way to engage the so-called "outsider" and "stranger."

No Fear in Love

Fear of the Other

A paperback edition of the best-selling commentary on Acts by acclaimed preacher and scholar William H. Willimon.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

Acts

Christ's seven last words from the cross have long been a source of reflection, challenge, and soul-searching. These simple statements contain the full range of human emotions and divine self-revelation: grief, compassion, despair, forgiveness, physical need, the promise of redemption. In many ways they embody the core of the gospel. In this brief book one of today's most noted churchpersons and preachers confronts the reader with the seven last words's claim on her or his life. Written with the clarity, depth, and insight that are Will Willimon's trademark, this book offers afresh the challenge and grace of the message of the Crucified One.

Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross

Thank God It's Friday

The seven deadly sins are a well-known topic, but, surprisingly, not much has been written about them in recent years from a serious theological viewpoint. Will Willimon's engaging book, which takes an unflinching look at the meaning and substance of sin, will be of great interest to Christians. Study questions by the author are included. The "felt need" is an increasing dissatisfaction with shallow, feel-good Christianity—which does not attempt to grapple with our propensity, visible around us and in our own lives, to do evil. This edition includes a new introduction by the author.

A New Look at the 7 Deadly Sins

Sinning Like a Christian

In this no non-sense book, reliable spiritual guide, Will Willimon, invites readers to consider the gospel command to love (and not merely tolerate) those considered to be “Other” or outside mainstream Christian culture. Rooted in the faith of Israel and the Christian story and vision, Willimon brings a Wesleyan perspective to bear on what may be the hardest thing for people of faith to do: keeping and loving the "Other" as they are - without any need for them to become like us. Emphasizing biblical teaching to receive Others for who they are and their differences as gifts and mysteries bearing the grace of God, Willimon also offers a strong critique of the privileged who all too often rush to speak of reconciliation and evade the injustice of huge inequalities faced by foreigners and strangers - as well as the antagonism the stranger experiences. He identifies concrete, everyday ways persons are formed in welcoming others without annihilating their differences. Rooted in the New Testament understanding of Gentile outsiders grafted into the covenant community, Willimon invites readers to an on-the-ground faith that remembers the God who comes to us again and again through so-called outsiders, strangers, immigrants, and those without status. Beyond welcome, Christians must become “other” to the world, shaking off the dominant culture’s identity and privilege through practices of listening, humility, and understanding. “I love Will Willimon, and I love this book. Will writes with prophetic sarcasm, a touch of humor, plenty of self-effacement, and a pastor’s heart. And his words will make you laugh, cringe, cry, confess, and repent. This is a very timely book. I urge you, prospective reader, as you read this blurb on the back cover: buy and read it! You’ll be grateful you did.” —Adam Hamilton, senior pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, KS; author of Half Truths “This gutsy, biblically rich, theologically searing book by Willimon gigs everybody’s sacred cow. Not only is the one whom Christ loves Other but God is Other. The ground beneath us shakes the walls that divide us. If you are holed-up happy with people who look like you, don’t read this thing. It will screw up your world.” —Tex Sample, Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society, Saint Paul School of Theology, Leawood, KS “Timely and prophetic, Willimon’s call to love the Other will quickly take hold of your soul, changing your preaching and your life. This book is not just a reminder of our Christian calling to welcome the Other but a call to conversion, a new way of seeing the neighbor and a new way of being in the world God desperately loves.” —Karoline M. Lewis, Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN “Bishop Willimon’s new book should come with a warning: Do not read unless you are ready to be changed and want to change the world!” —O. Wesley Allen Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX Now with a New Introduction!

One of today’s greatest preacher-theologians engages one of the twentieth century's greatest teacher-theologians on the meaning of preaching. Readers of William H. Willimon’s many books have long found there the influence of Karl Barth, probably the most significant theologian of the twentieth century. In this new book Willimon explores that relationship explicitly by engaging Barth’s work on the pitfalls and problems, glories and grandeur of preaching the Word of God. The Swiss theologian, says the author, expressed one of the highest theologies of preaching of any of the great theologians of the church. Yet too much of Barth’s understanding of preaching lies buried in the Church Dogmatics and other, sometimes obscure, sources. Willimon brings this material to light, introducing the reader to Barth’s thought, not just on the meaning, but the practice of preaching as well.

Conversations with Barth on Preaching

M. Kathryn Armistead

Leader guide for eight-week small group study to help you deepen your understanding of United Methodist core beliefs. This We Believe: The Core of Wesleyan Faith and Practice by William H. Willimon For John Wesley, the Bible is the joyfully consistent testimony of God’s never-ending grace and ever-seeking love. Likewise, studying the Bible is more than merely knowing what Scripture says; it is also about living every day as a child of God. Beginning with the Core Terms found in The Wesley Study Bible, author Bishop William H. Willimon systematically lays out key Wesleyan tenets of faith so that you will have a fresh way to hear God’s voice, share in God’s grace, and become more like Jesus Christ. Let this book be your trusted companion to the NRSV version of The Wesley Study Bible as you grow to love God with a warmed heart and serve God with active hands. William H. Willimon is Presiding Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Alabama Area, and Visiting Research Professor, Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. M. Kathryn Armistead, Ph.D., is an editor at Abingdon Press and a deacon in The United Methodist Church.

The Core of Wesleyan Faith and Practice

This We Believe Leader's Guide

For John Wesley, the Bible is the joyfully consistent testimony of God’s never-ending grace and ever-seeking love. Likewise, studying the Bible is more than merely knowing what Scripture says; it is also about living every day as a child of God. Beginning with the Core Terms found in the NRSV version of The Wesley Study Bible, Bishop Willimon systematically lays out key Wesleyan tenets of faith so that you will have a fresh way to hear God’s voice, share in God’s grace, and become more like Jesus Christ. This book can be used as an eight-week, small-group study. A Leader Guide is also available order #9781426708237 Let this book be your trusted companion to the NRSV version of The Wesley Study Bible as you grow to love God with a warmed heart and serve God with active hands.

This We Believe

Bryan K. Langlands

Looking for advice on how to be a pastor? Look no further than this collection of brief, funny, spiritually rich notes from one of today's premier preacher/theologians. Throughout his time as bishop, Will Willimon has once a week sat down at his computer and tapped out short messages to the churches under his care. Sometimes his intention has been to comfort and console; sometimes it's been to motivate and inspire. Sometimes he's written deeply theological meditations on the mystery of the resurrection; other times, he's spoken in highly practical terms about what goes into making an effective congregation. Sometimes he wrestles with thorny issues of the day, like religion and politics; other times he lists the things you should do during the first week of a new pastorate. Always he's brought to the task his trademark humor and insight. Bryan K. Langlands is Interim Campus Minister at Georgetown College In Georgetown Kentucky.

Letters on Leadership from a Peculiar Prophet

A Will to Lead and the Grace to Follow

Many of America’s greatest Protestant preachers—Paul Tillich, William Sloane Coffin, Barbara Brown Taylor, Fleming Rutledge, Peter J. Gomes, Billy Graham, and others—have spoken powerfully from the pulpit of the “great towering church” that is the spiritual and architectural center of Duke University. This collection of fifty-eight of the most notable sermons proclaimed from that pulpit commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the groundbreaking for Duke Chapel. It is a sweeping panorama of sermons selected and edited by Bishop William H. Willimon, Dean of the Chapel for twenty years and one of the most widely read writers on preaching in America. Opening with the sermon preached in June 1935 at the dedication of the Chapel and closing with one by Willimon delivered at the beginning of the 2003–4 school year, this volume presents Protestant Christianity at its most eloquent and prophetic. Some sermons are pure meditations on biblical texts; others are period pieces in the best sense of the term, reflecting on such contemporary concerns as civil rights, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the wars in Europe, Vietnam, and Iraq. Willimon provides a brief introduction to each sermon, commenting on the work and thought of the preacher. Diverse in subject and style, the sermons collected in this volume are a treasure for those who love fine preaching, a resource for those studying the history of homiletics, and a light to rekindle the memories of those who have worshiped in the Chapel over the years.

Voices from “A Great Towering Church”

Sermons from Duke Chapel

Ordained ministry, says Willimon, is a gift of God to the church--but that doesn't mean that it is easy. Always a difficult vocation, changes in society and the church in recent years have made the ordained life all the more complex and challenging. Is the pastor primarily a preacher, a professional caregiver, an administrator? Given the call of all Christians to be ministers to the world, what is the distinctive ministry of the ordained? When does one's ministry take on the character of prophet, and when does it become that of priest? What are the special ethical obligations and disciplines of the ordained? In this book, Willimon explores these and other central questions about the vocation of ordained ministry. He begins with a discussion of who pastors are, asking about the theological underpinnings of ordained ministry, and then moves on to what pastors do, looking at the distinctive roles the pastor must fulfill. The book also draws on great teachers of the Christian tradition to demonstrate that, while much about Christian ministry has changed, its core concerns--preaching the word, the care of souls, the sacramental life of congregations--remains the same. Ordained ministry is a vocation to which we are called, not a profession that we choose. To answer that call is to open oneself to heartache and sometimes hardship; yet, given the one who calls, it is to make oneself available to deep and profound joy as well.

William H. Willimon

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