Carbine, Rosemary P. NEVERTHELESS, WE PERSIST: A FEMINIST PUBLIC THEOLOGY. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2023 (259 pages, $35).

Feminist public theology has many roots and connections. Rosemary Carbine offers the foundations in civil rights, non-violence, farm worker justice, non-violence, political work, among others. Out of the “ekklesia of women” emerge new, effective, persistent efforts to create a just world.

Clooney, Francis Xavier. HINDU AND CATHOLIC, PRIEST AND SCHOLAR: A LOVE STORY. London, UK: T&T Clark, 2024 (195 pages, $22.45).

A love story indeed of a man who had a mystical experience as a teenager that set him on a religious journey told in modest but epic terms. Francis Clooney is a brilliant, insightful, learned, and deeply spiritual person whose deep dives into two faith traditions and deep commitments to two ways of being in the world make provocative reading.

Federer, Julia. INCARNATING GRACE: A THEOLOGY OF HEALING FROM SEXUAL TRAUMA. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2023 (237 pages, $30).

Victim-survivors of sexual violence will thank Julia Federer for collecting some of the best insights in the field and developing a strong theological analysis. She dispenses with the unhelpful tropes about redemptive suffering and focuses instead on the healing work that religions can do. Feminist scholar-activists and Teresa of Avila alike can be enlisted in this urgently needed work.

Gafney, Wilda C. A WOMEN’S LECTIONARY FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH. New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2021 (360 pages, $26.10).

This volume delivers on its title. The regular readings of the church year are the usual fare in many denominations. A lectionary that reflects the womanist, feminist, post-colonial thinking of biblical scholars and theologians will make sermon preparation a new endeavor.

Kenny, Amy. MY BODY IS NOT A PRAYER REQUEST: DISABILITY JUSTICE IN THE CHURCH. Ada, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2022 (194 pages, $19.99).

A bracing, straight-up read about how Christianity misses the mark on disability. Damaging preaching and barriers of every kind abound in churches. This no-nonsense, popularly written, insightful treatment of these issues is a recipe for change.

Khan, Daisy. 30 RIGHTS OF MUSLIM WOMEN: A TRUSTED GUIDE. Rhinebeck, NY: Monkfish Book Publishing Company, 2024 (350 pages, $22.49).

Whether for students of Islam or Muslims who want to know more about their faith, this useful compendium of Islamic teachings and practices is invaluable in a religiously pluralistic society. Thanks to Daisy Khan for leading the way and for making the scholarship of Muslim women accessible to a broad audience.

Pui-Lan, Kwok. THE ANGLICAN TRADITION FROM A POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE. New York, NY: Seabury Books, 2023 (256 pages, $24.98).

Comprehensive, insightful, pushing the large business-sized envelope, Kwok Pui-Lan lays out the contours of a religious tradition in search of its integrity. Everyone wins as she clarifies a complicated history and points ways forward without erasing the past. A model for adherents in other religious communities to follow as they seek their own integrity.

Rich, Bryce E. GENDER ESSENTIALISM AND ORTHODOXY: BEYOND MALE AND FEMALE. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2023 (258 pages, $34.99).

Moving beyond the binaries in Orthodoxy is a heavy lift. Bryce Rich does so with erudition and candor. Those who oppose his views on women’s ordination and LGBTIQ+, for example, do not realize that he is doing orthodox traditions a huge intellectual and moral favor, perhaps even saving them from their own demise.