Call It Grace

February 1, 2019

Today's tumultuous political environment has many people seeking new ways of engaging in their communities. Jones (president, Union Theological Seminary) argues that reconnecting with our spirituality will allow us to both live more meaningful lives and confront the social ills disrupting our communities. Drawing from her own life, she traces the development of her theological understanding in stories. She asserts that theology is a place and story that provides the context for an understanding of life, the bigger world, and God. Her theology is tied to an Oklahoma childhood, a rich religious heritage, and the life experiences she recounts, as well as a belief that theology has the power to challenge social systems and provide a constructive means of engaging in public debate to resolve problems. Jones describes social ills, such as racism, as a form of endemic and collective sin. She asserts that grace, the willful belief that we are, with God's assistance, capable of doing better, encourages us to address collective sins with love. Her engaging stories illustrate complex theological and philosophical ideas, presenting a vision of hope for the future. VERDICT This book makes a strong case for the progressive power of theology that will be appreciated by socially engaged readers.--Judy Solberg, Sacramento, CA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2019
A troubled life viewed through a theological lens.Jones (Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World, 2009, etc.)--president of New York's Union Theological Seminary and past president of the American Academy of Religion--provides a frank memoir undergirded by the works of liberal Christian theologians, philosophers, and other thinkers. Though ostensibly centered on grace, the narrative contains numerous themes of anger and unresolved guilt. The author begins with a careful review of her Oklahoma heritage: homesteaders and rebels immersed in what she calls "prairie theology" ("we were all justified by God's grace alone, which was good news"). The primary focus of Jones' ire is her grandfather, whom she remembers as a racist and distasteful man who inappropriately touched his granddaughters. Throughout the book, his memory haunts Jones as a source of original sin that continues to follow her as an inherited taint. A similar source of pain is her mother, a spiteful woman whose final blow--admission of a yearslong affair--devastated her entire family. Along with these close sources of familial pain, the author discusses Timothy McVeigh, whose terrorist act in Oklahoma City touched her family directly. His eventual execution was a further source of internal conflict for Jones. A variety of other life events--e.g., severe illness while studying in India, divorce, a bout with cancer--shape the narrative, all connected to the theological ideas of Barth, Kierkegaard, Niebuhr, and others. The near death of her infant daughter from an allergic reaction tested her faith, and she felt guilty that other mothers around the world lose children every day because they do not share her privilege. Though studded with intriguing and thought-provoking sections, the text is weighed down by the author's overstated pride in her work as a theologian, her unresolved internal struggles, and her tendency to lash out at others.A sometimes-laborious read that will resonate mostly with progressive Christian readers.

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