J.E.S. Book Reviews

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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Book Review: Overcoming Orientalism - Essays In Honor of John L. Esposito

Book Review: Overcoming Orientalism: Essays in Honor of John L. Esposito

In a recent issue of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies (59.2), we published a review essay of  Overcoming Orientalism: Essays in Honor of John L. Esposito, edited by Tamara Sonn and published by Oxford University Press in 2021. The review essay, by Seth Ward (University of Wyoming, retired), can be read HERE.

John L. Esposito is a Distinguished University Professor and Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) and the Director of The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University. He currently serves as a board member of the Dialogue Institute and Journal of Ecumenical Studies. He earned his PhD from Temple University’s Department of Religion and once served as president of the American Academy of Religion and Middle East Studies Association of North America. He has also been a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and the E. C. European Network of Experts on De-Radicalisation, a Senior Scientist for The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, and appointed by Kofi Annan to the UN Alliance of Civilizations member of the High-Level Group with Archbishop Tutu and others. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State and other agencies, European and Asian governments, corporations, universities, and media outlets worldwide.  Learn more about his illustrious career and the impact he has made in building bridges of understanding in this Lifetime Achievement Award video from ACMCU.


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Book Review: Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue

Terrance L. Johnson and Jacques Berlinerblau, Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2022. Pp. 224. $26.95.

Volume 57, Number 4, Fall 2022 of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies features a book review of Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue. The review is written by Dialogue Institute executive director, David M. Krueger. The book has been useful in informing the organization’s various programs on Black-Jewish Dialogue and Understanding. In collaboration with the American Jewish Committee, the Dialogue Institute will be hosting history and dialogue programming in March and April, 2023. We are actively recruiting a spring 2023 intern to assist with research and curriculum development. Position description can be found HERE.

Below is an excerpt of the review, and the rest can be read HERE on Project Muse. The full text PDF is open access until February 1, 2023.

Among minority groups in the U.S., Blacks and Jews have had a unique relationship, often characterized by collaborations in music, sports, and the common pursuit of civil rights. One of the most iconic images of this relationship is the image of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching side-by-side during the American civil rights movements of the 1960’s. However, the relationships between Blacks and Jews have also been fraught with disagreements over questions of Israel/Palestine policy and commitment to racial justice. Drawing on their experience teaching a class on Blacks and Jews in America at Georgetown University, the authors take a fresh look at the complicated and contested history of the relations between these two groups, identifying the key obstacles to constructive dialogue.

In the early-to-mid-twentieth century, Jews and Blacks lived near one another in many urban areas, but this is less common today. Due to white flight in the latter half of the twentieth century, neighborhoods and schools are highly segregated along lines of race and class. As the authors observe, Jews and Blacks today tend to see one another as strangers. As a result, there are few face-to-face encounters that happen organically. Therefore, they suggest, dialogue and relationship-building must be intentional if they are to happen. To engage in this difficult work, the authors identify several key issues that must be taken into consideration. Foremost is the power asymmetry between the two groups. In political collaborations between Blacks and Jews in the twentieth century, white Jews have typically held the financial and economic power, an imbalance that has often distorted the relationship and led to misunderstandings about motivations. According to the authors, a shared commitment to a political vision that advances structural equality for African Americans must be the starting point for meaningful dialogue between Blacks and Jews.

The establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 is often cited as the highpoint of the “Grand Alliance” of Black-Jewish relations. During this period, the groups shared concerns about legalized racial discrimination and segregation. In time, immigrant Jews were better able to assimilate and become recognized as white—a privilege not afforded to African Americans, including Black Jews, who number more than a half million in the U.S. However, while many Jews do benefit from white privilege, they recognize that their status as white in American society is liminal. According to the authors, sincere dialogue between Blacks and Jews (including nonwhite Jews) must address the complexities of race in America.

To read more, click HERE to download a PDF from Project Muse.

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