Theology Books I’ve Written

To Baptize or Not to Baptize: A Practical Guide for Clergy

Buy the ebook and audioboook direct from Thornbush Press!

Building on a firm theological foundation of the gift and grace that is baptism, this book walks pastors through almost fifty case studies drawn from real life around the world, from the run-of-the-mill to the marginal, from the everyday cases to the God-forbid cases.

Honing their skills of discernment in this way, pastors will return to their baptismal ministry with a renewed sense of vigor, commitment, and joy in the task of baptizing all the nations in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

More about this title on my blog.

Pearly Gates: Parables from the Final Threshold

Buy the ebook and audiobook direct from Thornbush Press!

Inspired by the line of jokes that begin, “St. Peter was standing at the pearly gates of heaven,” but put in a radical new light from discovering the source of the pearly gates imagery in Revelation 21 (spoiler alert: there are twelve gates, for each of the twelve apostles, and they stand open always!), these little stories intend to depict grace and judgment beyond both hellfire and harps.

A man arrives at the gates of heaven holding a faith that’s not his own; another clutches a suitcase he’s unwilling to give up. One woman demands to be sent back, while another asks for a new name. Hands empty or full, hearts joyful or disappointed or appalled, these people and others approach the twelve open gates of heaven, only to discover the truth about their loves…

Small Catechism: Memorizing Edition

From Thornbush Press!

I memorized two different translations of the Small Catechism, as a kid and then as a confirmand, and moved on to yet a third when my own kid was old enough to get started. Third time’s the charm! This time around I noticed a lot of glitches, so to speak—places where the phrasing of the words was just different enough to throw me off, or where “hyperlinked” connections between the different sections of the Catechism could be highlighted for ease of memorization.

This fresh translation from the German takes advantage of repetitions, rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration to render a version easy on the ear. Its layout, with lots of white space and repeating visual patterns, also makes it easier on the ear. This Small Catechism is not just for confirmation students anymore! The faithful of all ages can easily commit it to heart, and congregations can use it in worship to good effect.

Download the PDF for free directly from the Thornbush Press website, or buy print copies from Amazon—at only $5 per paperback, it’s meant to be maximally accessible for church use.

Sermon on the Mount: A Poetic Paraphrase

From Thornbush Press!

This project came about indirectly from recording a podcast on the topic, and being invited to speak at a conference on it, but ultimately from the realization that I just couldn’t hear the words anymore. They vanished into a series of disconnected aphorisms.

This loose and poetic paraphrase tries to give back what overfamiliarity has taken away. It can equally well be used for group study as for private devotions.

Download the PDF directly for free from the Thornbush Press website, or buy print copies from Amazon.

Woman, Women, and the Priesthood in the Trinitarian Theology of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

This started its life as a dissertation, which is usually warning enough. In this case, however, the book is an exciting tale of how French Orthodox theologian Elisabeth Behr-Sigel started thinking about the ordination of women at the age of 70 (!) and changed her mind about it twice—first from being against it to for it, then against her initial reasons for it to better reasons for it. She kept up her advocacy for women in the priesthood till her death at 98.

A Guide to Pentecostal Movements for Lutherans

Who are these people who claim to speak in tongues? Are they Schwärmer? TV preachers promising prosperity to the most generous and naïve of donors? Can you be Lutheran and Charismatic at the same time? What is “baptism in the Holy Spirit” and how does it relate to baptism in water? This book answers Lutheran questions, but even more importantly makes it possible for Lutherans to talk to Pentecostals as fellow believers in the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

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Beyond 500 Years of Influence: Explorations in Martin Luther's Theology

Or so this book is called in Chinese. Based on lectures I gave at China Evangelical Seminary in Taipei in the spring of 2016, it was published in translation in 2017 by Taosheng Publishing House. The three sections up three major areas of Luther’s thought—justification, law & gospel, and baptism—and then put them into conversation with other theological traditions—Catholic, Jewish, and Anabaptist. I like to imagine it has become an underground classic in Chinese house churches. A theologian can dream, right?

Theology Books I’ve Edited

Nenilava (1920–1998) was the fourth of the great revivalists of Madagascar: a preacher, healer, and exorcist. In this volume we present for the first time in English the story of her life as told to a Malagasy Lutheran pastor friend and follower of hers, as well as interpretive essays about her work within Madagascar and their significance for Western Christianity and the worldwide mission movement.

You can also read the shorter hagiography I wrote about her for my Lutheran saints series.

Discerning the Signs of the Times: The Vision of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001), with Michael Plekon

This is a collection of short essays by eminent Orthodox theologian Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, translated from French into English. I wrote the Epilogue.

This important book collects all the extant writings of Gudina Tumsa, General Secretary of the Lutheran church in Ethiopia who was assassinated by the Derg regime, as well as his wife Tsehay Tolessa’s account of their life together and her decade-long imprisonment after his death. I wrote the Introduction and translated Tsehay’s autobiography into English.

A Communion in Faith and Love: Elisabeth Behr-Sigel’s Ecclesiology (World Council of Churches, 2016), with Aikaterini Pekridou

This selection of essays was not authored by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel but is about her, from a conference devoted to exploring her ecclesiology and its implications. I contributed a translation of one of her essays, about the saint Juliana Lazarevskaya, as well as writing an essay on Behr-Sigel’s “New Hagiography” and its ecumenical implications.

Theology Books I’ve Contributed To

“From the Other Pair of Feet,” Afterword in Andrew L. Wilson, Here I Walk: A Thousand Miles on Foot to Rome with Martin Luther (Brazos, 2016)

My husband Andrew wrote this lyrical and insightful account of our 1000-mile pilgrimage from Erfurt to Rome in 2010, attempting to follow Luther’s footsteps 500 years later. Which turned out actually to be 499 years later. Just one of many missteps (pun intended). I contributed the Afterword reflecting on what it’s actually like to walk a thousand miles, along with a recipe for Pilgrim’s Vegetable Stew.

“Paying My Dues,” in The Church Has Left the Building, eds. Michael Plekon, Maria Gwyn McDowell, and Elizabeth Schroeder (Cascade, 2016)

This is a collection by many authors reflecting on the changing face of church in post-Christendom America. I wrote a reflection on my first pastoral call at an ethnically Slovak parish in urban New Jersey. Laughter and weeping guaranteed in equal measure.

“Martin Luther at 500 and the State of Global Lutheranism,” in Protestantism after 500 Years, eds. Thomas Albert Howard and Mark A. Noll (Oxford University Press, 2016)

Boy, 2017 was a great year to be a Luther scholar. The essays here were first presented as lectures at Gordon College. Mine offers an overview of world Lutheranism and makes a case for what is still essential in Luther’s theology for us today.

“Ecclesiology Requires Hagiography,” in Church and World: Essays in Honor of Michael Plekon, ed. William C. Mills (Orthodox Research Institute, 2013)

A festschrift for my dear friend and mentor Michael Plekon, himself a pioneer in the aforementioned “New Hagiography.” My essays argues for the integration of the discipline of hagiography into ecclesiology.

“Elisabeth Behr-Sigel’s Trinitarian Case for the Ordination of Women,” in Women and Ordination in the Orthodox Church, eds. Gabrielle Thomas and Elena Narinskaya (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2020)

In a collection dealing with women’s ordination in Eastern Orthodoxy from a variety of angles, my essay summarizes the thesis of my book (up above) on how Behr-Sigel changed her mind from being against the ordination of women, to being in favor of it on the basis of “feminine charisms,” to her final mature position in favor of it based on trinitarian personhood.