Resources – Text & Context

General Recommendations

Videos

An Introduction to Joy by Rob Bell

Totally Like Whatever, You Know? by Taylor Mali

Theories of Israel’s Emergence by Dr. Dale Manor

The Problem of Jericho by Dr. Dale Manor

The Bible Project YouTube page

My Next Gen Preacher Search Sermon

Books

Books That Greatly Impacted Me

Ruth Hailey Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. Purchase here.
Steven D. Boyer and Christopher A. Hall, The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable. Purchase here.
Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination. Purchase here.
Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick-Fix. Purchase here.
Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making. Purchase here.
John Mark Hicks, Searching for the Pattern: My Journey in Interpreting the Bible. Purchase here.
___________, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story in the Bible. Purchase a copy here.
Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Purchase here.
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Bretler, The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently. Purchase here.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. Purchase here.
________, The Screwtape Letters. Purchase here.
________, The Great Divorce. Purchase here.
Adam S. McHugh, The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction. Purchase here.
Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Purchase here.
Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God. Purchase here.
__________, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Purchase here.

Books I Read Every Year

Ruth Hailey Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. Purchase here.
Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick-Fix. Purchase here.
Adam S. McHugh, The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction. Purchase here.
Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Purchase here.

Women in Ministry

Community Without Barriers – Community Without Barriers is an extension of the Manhattan Church of Christ and the work of Dr. Thomas Robinson and Dr. Amy Bost Heneger. Community Without Barriers has the stated goal of showing that “the scriptures never intended to silence or disempower women in general in any aspect of the church’s work, public or private.” There are downloaded resources including sermons, study guides detailing the arguments for female inclusion in the church. There is also a Spanish translation of the Community Without Barriers Study Guide.

Where the Spirit Leads – This site has a directory of gender inclusive and egalitarian churches of Christ in the United States and Canada. Some of the information in the directory is outdated, but the list is still generally helpful in discovering gender inclusive and egalitarian churches of Christ. There is also an article titled “Focusing on the Questions” by Wiley Clarkson which presents a brief case for inclusion of women in church leadership on the basis of Galatians 3:26-29.

Women in Ministry – A small website seeking to lend support to women in ministry serving in Churches of Christ. The site has several state goals as part of their mission:

to encourage each other through conferences, gatherings, and online communities
To provide support as sojourners on this common road
To connect women who are geographically isolated from other women in
ministry
To walk alongside each other on our spiritual journeys
To provide and share resources relevant to our community

Christians for Biblical Equality International (CBE) – This site contains a multitude of resources including articles, blogs, book reviews and more. There is also an academic journal connected with CBE called the Priscilla Papers.

Books

Beth Allison Barr, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. Purchase here.

Michael F. Bird, Bourgeois Babes, Bossy Wives, and Bobby Haircuts: A Case for Gender Equality in Ministry. Purchase here.

Aimee Byrd, Recovering From Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose. Purchase here.

John Dickson, Hearing Her Voice: A Case for Women Giving Sermons. Purchase here.

Eldon J. Epp, Junia: The First Woman Apostle. Purchase here.

John Mark Hicks, Searching for the Pattern: My Journey in Interpreting the Bible. Purchase here.

____________, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story in the Bible. Purchase here.

Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. Purchase here.

Dorothy Lee, The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership. Purchase here.

Scot McKnight, Junia Is Not Alone. Purchase here.

Philip B. Payne, Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters. Purchase here.

John G. Stackhouse Jr., Partners in Christ: A Conservative Case for Egalitarianism. Purchase here.

Articles

Church of Christ Specific

This article consists of an interview conducted with the Minter Lane Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas who appointed two females elders on December 8, 2019.
This article was published on March 26, 2019 and consists of a list of 10 Churches of Christ from across the nation that were then transitioning to inclusion of women in leadership in some fashion at their church. The list provides links to the Church’s websites with resources explaining their study of this issue.
This article is a follow-up to an article that listed churches of Christ that transitioned to more open roles for Women in the assembly. This article articulates the problems and arguments that are involved in appointing women as elders in the churches of Christ.
An article presenting 20 different passages from scripture that include women speaking or having authority over a man in the assembly and elsewhere.
This article discusses the results of a 2018 long-term study showing the negative effects traditional church of Christ theology has had on women.
This is a link to many articles concerning gender and church leadership by Richard Beck on his excellent blog “Experimental Theology.”

Non-Church of Christ Specific

This is an article by Ben Witherington III about why arguments against women in ministry aren’t biblical.

Other

A podcast series called PreacHer. This podcast exalts female voices in the act and art of preaching. The reasoning behind this offering of female preaching is that churches are shrinking because of their harmful theology against women.

Magnifications – Online Jounral of Biblical reflections written by women in the Ston-Campbell movement.

Restoration Movement

Websites

ACU Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts, and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) website

Church of Christ.net

Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ website

Disciples of Christ Historical Society

Grave Markers of Restoration Movement Leaders

History of the Restoration Movement

International Churches of Christ Website

The Journal of Discipliana

Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History

Restoration Church History Research Guide @ Harding School of Theology Library

Restoration Library

Restoration Movement Website

Restoration Seriels Index

Spire [Previously the North American Christian Convention]

Stone-Campbell Resources @ Abilene Christian University Digital Commons

Theological Commitments in Churches of Christ

Traveling With Alexander Campbell to Glasgow

The World Convention of the Churches of Christ

Articles

“Four Reasons Why I’m Church of Christ.” Richard Beck. Read here.

“Churches of Christ Versus Evangelicalism: Five Contrasts.” Richard Beck. Read here.

“A Little Good News Today: Lessons From Our Past to Propel Us Into The Future.” Wes Crawford. Restoration Quarterly, 63, no 2 2021, 103-111.

“Twenty-Five Years of Restoration Scholarship: The Churches of Christ Part I.” Richard T. Hughes. Restoration Quarterly, 25 no 4 1982, 233-256.

“Twenty-Five Years of Restoration Scholarship: The Churches of Christ Part II.” Richard T. Hughes. Restoration Quarterly, 26 no 1 1983, 39-62.

Books (non-academic)

Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of Churches of Christ. By C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes. Purchase here.

Renewing God’s People: A Concise History of Churches of Christ. By Gary Holloway and Douglas Foster. Purchase here.

Renewal for Mission: A Concise History of Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. By W. Dennis Helsabeck, Jr., Gary Holloway, and Douglas Foster. Purchase here.

Renewing Christian Unity: A Concise History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). By Mark G. Toulouse, Gary Holloway, and Douglas Foster. Purchase here.

Renewing the World: A Concise Global History of the Stone-Campbell Movement. By Gary Holloway and Douglas Foster. Purchase here.

Books (academic)

The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Edited by Douglas A. Foster, Paul M. Blowers, Anthony L. Dunnavant, and D. Newell Williams. Purchase here.

Hard-Fighting Soldiers: A History of African American Churches of Christ. By Edward J. Robinson. Purchase here.

Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in America. By Richard T. Hughes. Purchase here.

The Stone-Campbell Movement: A Global History. Edited by D. Newell Williams, Douglas A. Foster, and Paul M. Blowers. Purchase here.