In his prolific career, theologian Stanley Hauerwas has written more than forty books. In Remembering, he looks back on the small library he has published. Rereading his books, he finds what still satisfies him, what he would retract, and wonders where he could have said things better. Along the way, Hauerwas reflects on the many deep friendships that have fueled his writing—friendships with coauthors, fellow scholars, graduate students, editors, and others. He offers glimpses into the circumstances and contexts behind his books. And he reveals a hope, even in an increasingly tumultuous world and amid shrinking church membership, of a “coming great church.” This “biography of books” is vintage Hauerwas: candid and plainly honest, often surprising, and above all marked by a prophetic faith in the truthfulness of the gospel. Readers new to Hauerwas and those well acquainted with his work will find this small book illuminating and instructive. "For those who know Stanley Hauerwas is a legend, this book identifies which parts of the legend are true. For those who've scratched at the elephant of his work, knowing only a tusk, a tail, or a trunk and not grasping how it all fits in one body, this volume embraces the whole. For those who wonder if he's changed his mind, here are the answers. To read it is like tidying an office after fifty years--and pausing to cherish, ponder, and rediscover." --Sam Wells, Vicar, St Martin-in-the-Fields "The theologian who refused to write an autobiography now offers us a 'biography of his books.' This is marvelously fitting because Hauerwas has always insisted that it is God and our words about God that really matter, not the person or inner world of the theologian. We are provided with an amazing insider's view of how much has changed in theology in the last thirty years--and how critical it is to understand these changes." --Brian Brock, Professor of Moral and Practical Theology, University of Aberdeen "Engaging Stanley Hauerwas and his work cultivates wisdom, discomfort, and clarity. This wonderful account helps make connections across the years and invites us all to ongoing learning as Hauerwas continues to learn. Anyone who has read anything by Hauerwas will benefit tremendously from this book and will likely find yourself reading and re-reading his other work." --L. Gregory Jones, President, Belmont University "You've got to hug this book. I hear Hauerwas's voice on each page. You may sense his presence as he narrates the genesis of each of his books. And you may sense that he turns to his Lord's presence as he asks what the fruits of his writings may be. If you hoped to read a book of his or even all his books, this is the book to read now." --Peter Ochs, Edgar Bronfman Professor Emeritus of Modern Judaic Thought, University of Virginia "It is difficult to overstate the impact of Stanley Hauerwas on the last fifty years of Christian ethics. As he here narrates (with characteristic candor) the story of the forty-six (now forty-seven) books he has written over that half century, what emerges is a strikingly unified body of work, a corpus that places on compelling display the practical character of Christian convictions amidst the steady decline of mainstream American Protestant delusions of control over history. Readers are thereby invited to witness, and thereby potentially also carry on, Hauerwas's remarkable journey of faithfulness." --Jennifer A. Herdt, Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Yale University " Remembering traces, with sagacity and humor, the unfolding of Hauerwas's extraordinary theological corpus. It is suffused with his remarkable capacity for friendship, catalyzed by God's gift of friendship in Jesus Christ which is the church. It is a crucial book for the current moment. For it distills his key social, political, and theological commitments needed to resist the violences that are fountaining over us anew. As such, Remembering reminds us that Stanley Hauerwas has always been both a friend of God and a prophet." --M. Therese Lysaught, Professor, Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago Stanley Hauerwas is professor emeritus of ethics at Duke University where he held the Gilbert T. Rowe chair for more than twenty years. Among his numerous publications are Sanctify Them in the Truth: Holiness Exemplified (1998) and Living Gently in a Violent World, with Jean Vanier (2008). His latest publication is Fully Alive: The Apocalyptic Humanism of Karl Barth (University of Virginia Press, 2023).
