2024 Book Review Roundup: Journal of Ecumenical Studies

In 2024, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies reviewed a whopping 31 titles. Working across traditions and borders, these texts speak to the continued breadth of ecumenical and interreligious study. 

WINTER ISSUE 59:1 

We began with Dan Polish reviewing Marcus Braybrooke’s book Interfaith Pioneers, 1893-1939: The Legacy of the 1893 World Parliament of Religions.

Eugene J. Fisher called Alan L. Berger’s Elie Wiesel: Humanist Messenger for Peace (Routledge) “important, indeed vital” in his review.

Minjung Noh reviewed two titles in our Winter 2024 issue. The first was Benjamin Hebblethwaite’s A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou, published by the University Press of Mississippi.

The second was Vodou and Christianity in Interreligious Dialogue, edited by Celucien L. Joseph, Charlene Desir, and Lewis A. Clormeus and published by Wipf and Stock. 

Mark Ellingsen reviewed Michael Mitias’s Human Dialogue, published by Peter Lang. 

SPRING ISSUE 59.2

Our spring issue reviews began with Overcoming Orientalism, edited by Tamara Song and published by Oxford University Press. Seth Ward reviewed it, describing the insights as “achingly relevant.”

Jeffrey Dudiak reviewed José Francisco Morales Torres’s Wonder as a New Starting Point for Theological Anthropology, Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in Religion and Theology, published by Lexington Books, a “sprawling set of studies, heavy in references to, and quotations from, an impressive range of material across several disciplines.”

Zev Garber reviewed The JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition, a new translation by the Jewish Publication Society in partnership with Sefaria. 

Roberta Sterman Sabbath’s Sacred Body: Readings in Jewish Literary Illumination (Rowman & Littlefield) was also reviewed by Zev Garber, who called the chapters “appealing and well-written.” 

Joe Loya reviewed Faith, Reason, and Theosis, edited by Aristotle Papanikolaou and George E. Demacopoulos and published by Fordham University Press. 

Daniel Polish describes chapters of With the Best of Intentions: Interreligious Missteps and Mistakes as “even more compelling now than when they were written.” The book was edited by Lucinda Mosher, Elinor J. Pierce, and Or N. Rose, and published by Orbis books.

Rachel Mikva reviewed Everyday Wisdom: Interreligious Studies in a Pluralistic World by Hans Gustafson, published by Fortress Press.

Zev Garber reviewed Idolatry: A Contemporary Jewish Conversation, edited by Alon Goshen-Gottstein and published by Academic Studies Press. 

Angelina Berliner reviewed Religion and Broken Solidarities: Feminism, Race, and Transnationalism edited by Atalia Omer and Joshua Lupo for the Contending Modernities series from the University of Notre Dame Press. 

“Okpaleke offers here persuasive insights to help readers understand the state of ecumenism and interreligious relations in Nigeria.” Effiong Udo reviewed Ecumenical and Interreligious Identities in Nigeria: Transformation through Dialogue by Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke, published by Rowman & Littlefield. 

In his fifth review for us this year, Zev Garber called Contemporary Catholic Approaches to the People, Land, and State of Israel a “well-balanced, highly informative work.” The book was edited by Gavid D’Costa and Faydra L. Shapiro, and published by the Catholic University of America Press.

Our spring issue ended with Gene Fisher’s review of Alan Race’s My Journey as a Religious Pluralist: A Christian Theology of Religions Reclaimed, published by Wipf and Stock.

  • Read the full review here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/931515

SUMMER ISSUE 59.3

Our summer reviews began with Sandra Bearsall’s review of Moving into the Ecumenical Future: Foundation of a Paradigm for Christian Ethics by John W. Crossin, published by Pickwick Publishing.

Dennis Feltwell reviewed J. Stoutzenberger’s Mystery and Tradition: Catholicism for Today’s Spiritual Seekers, published by iPub. 

  • Read the full review here: https://ipubglobalconnection.com/products/mystery-tradition

“Though gathered on the same path, Christians will walk it differently, drawing on different resources and pursuing different praxes. The ability to explain ourselves to one another as Whalon does seems a gift and practice unto itself.” Mike Smith reviewed Pierre Whalon’s Choose the Narrow Path: The Way for Churches to Walk Together, published by Peter Lang.

Zev Garber additionally reviewed Bruno Latour’s If We Lose our Earth, We Lose Our Souls, published by Polity Press. 

“By erasing the histories, stories, cultures, and religions of colonized populations, the colonizer gets to define what and how we learn.” Angelina Berliner reviewed Decolonizing Interreligious Education: Developing Theories of Accountability by Shannon Frediani. The book was published by Rowman & Littlefield.

The Origins of New Testament Christology: An Introduction to the Titles and Traditions applied to Jesus was reviewed by Glenn B. Siniscalchi. The book was written by Stanley E. Porter and Bryan R. Dyer, and published by Baker Academic.

Our final summer review was The Many Faces of Jesus Christ: Intercultural Theory by  Volker Küster, published by Orbis Books. Glenn B. Siniscalchi reviewed it, calling it “an excellent example of the models approach to theology.”

FALL 59.4

Our first fall review was Donovan Schaefer’s Wild Experiment: Feeling, Science, and Secularism after Darwin, reviewed by Samantha King. The book was published by Duke University Press.

  • Read the full review here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/943897

Zev Garber reviewed Danya Ruttenberg’s On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World. The book was published by Beacon Press.

  • Read the full review here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/943896

Jake Wumkes reviewed Coloniality of the Secular: Race, Religion, and Poetics of World-Making by An Yountae, published by Duke University Press.

Axel Takacs reviewed Marianne Moyaert’s Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other: A History of Religionization (Wiley). 

  • Read the full review here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/943894

Joey Baker Reviewed Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures, published by Penn State University Press and edited by David Bundy, Geordan Hammond, and David Han. 

  • Read the full review here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/943895

Finally, Gene Fisher reviewed Patrick Riordan’s Human Dignity and Liberal Politics: Catholic Possibilities for the Common Good, published by Georgetown University Press. 

We seek reviewers!

We had a truly terrific set of reviews this year and are excited to see what comes next in 2025. If you want to review a book with the J.E.S., visit https://dialogueinstitute.org/book-reviews for more information and recommended books to review, or contact book review editor Che Pieper at reviews@dialogueinstitute.org.

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