April 28, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS – How can one genuinely follow Jesus today, and what does that mean about one's lifestyle, social and political commitments, and ethical stance? In Confessions of a Christian Humanist, internationally renowned theologian John de Gruchy answers that question. Reviving an almost silenced tradition, he lifts the banner of Christian humanism, as he says, "not secular humanism with a Christian veneer, but a critical retrieval of Christianity's core convictions and values."

Confessions of a Christian Humanist contrasts this way of being human with fundamentalisms and secular materialism. Drawing on his own experience and taking inspiration from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nelson Mandela, Dag Hamerskjöld, and others, de Gruchy shows how Christians can live with integrity in a world often bereft of humanity.

"In the tradition of Augustine's Confessions, and as profoundly, John de Gruchy has combined theological autobiography and pioneering theological reflections into a book that has taught me to name myself: Christian Humanist. Simply put, the purpose of this book is not to make us religious, but to make us more truly human. This book presages a new springtime in theology. Let it happen to you." – Walter Wink, Professor Emeritus, Auburn Theological Seminary, New York City, and author of The Human Being.

"This lucid and engaging book is a much-needed testimony to the fact that true faith, Christianly understood, is about being human, not about being ‘religious.' Drawing upon his own extensive experience of being a Christian teacher in a falsely but officially ‘Christian' social context (Apartheid), de Gruchy presents a vision of Christian humanism that is as pertinent to our North American context as to his own-possibly even more pertinent, because the dominant forms of Christian belief among us are about being religious, and often with a vengeance!" – Douglas John Hall, Professor of Christian Theology Emeritus, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.

John W. de Gruchy is Professor Emeritus of Christian Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and author recently of Reconciliation: Restoring Justice (2002) and Daring Trusting Spirit: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Friend Eberhard Bethge (2005), both from Fortress Press.

Confessions of a Christian Humanist, Format: Paperback, 5.5" x 8.5," 240 pages, ISBN: 0-8006-3824-7, Publisher: Fortress Press, Price: $18.00.

To order Confessions of a Christian Humanist please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the Web site at http://www.augsburgfortress.org/.

Fortress Press