The Cross Examen: A Spirituality for Activists - Paperback

by Roger J. Gench (Author)

This volume explores the essential relationship between spirituality and activism in conversation with a political theology of the cross. The author contends that contemplative practice and activism bear the same cruciform footprint and are integrally connected, for the cross of Jesus Christ reveals both the brokenness in our lives and the corresponding brokenness in the world; it also discloses the God who is always (and already) bringing resurrection and life out of the death-tending ways of our world. The cross and resurrection expose other crosses, large and small, that litter the landscape of our world and of our personal and corporate lives, as well as places where God's resurrecting power is at work, bringing life out of death and establishing footholds for the unfolding of the new creation. The volume engages Paul's Letter to the Galatians and new scholarly readings of it as a rich resource for reflection on these matters and explores the fruit of the Spirit as political virtues that empower communal participation in God's restorative work in the world. Providing new angles of vision on both the cross and the apostle Paul, the book expands and enlivens reflection on spirituality and activism as profound and generative resources for contemporary faith and practice.

Author Biography

Roger J. Gench served as the Senior Pastor of The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, from 2002-2019. He is currently Theologian in Residence at Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia, and an adjunct faculty member at Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, Virginia). He is the author of Theology from the Trenches: Reflections on Urban Ministry (2014).