WRITING HOME, WITH LOVE

For the last two years, acclaimed theologian Amy Laura Hall has written a lively, wide-ranging, opinionated column for her local newspaper. In her column, Hall has sought--without flatly rejecting globalism--to think and act locally. She has also responded to what she sees as a disturbing Christian turn toward asceticism and away from abundance. Drawing from her scholarship, but also from conversations at coffee shops and around the dinner table, Halls missives of love engage topics such as school dress codes, ubiquitous surveillance cameras, LGBTQ dignity, and bullies in the workplace. They draw richly and variously on pop songs, dead saints, young adult literature, and many stories about actual neighbors and family members. Often offbeat and always riveting, they ask how the world around us works and can work much better for the sake of daily truth and flourishing. Amy Laura Hall is not only a fine scholar and engaging teacher, but also a public theologian. These essays and sermons show the beauty of a Christian speaking up and speaking out on a wide array of subjects. Hall is unashamedly local, concerned with every matter that contributes to or hinders human flourishing in her part of the world (my town, Durham, NC). Im sure that you will find her local, passionate, fun-loving public theology to be a word to your part of the world too. --Will Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Theology, Duke University, United Methodist Bishop, retired, author of Im Not from Here As a teacher of writing and a sermon-giver, I especially delight in Halls ruckus-raising essays (reminding me of Anne Lamott and Maureen Dowd) and the prefaces and epilogues she includes. They reveal her strategies for moving hearts and minds, her knack for finding the deepest lessons in the particular details of everyday personal and communal life, and her courage in taking responsibility for her words. --Vanessa Ochs, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virg