Twelve Virtues: Sermons That Unite Honest Scholarship with the Good News of a Living Faith

Twelve Virtues is a collection of sermons rooted in historical-critical interpretation but also alive with proclamation and imagination. The book moves beyond pious platitudes on the one hand, and academic lectures in disguise on the other. Each sermon centers on a classical virtue--faith, hope, love, wisdom, courage, justice, and more--showing how the ancient texts can still speak powerfully to the challenges of our time. With the best of modern scholarship in the background, these sermons do not shrink from difficult questions about what Jesus did and did not say. Yet they remain grounded in the good news: that Scripture, when heard honestly and imaginatively, can still transform lives.In an age when liberal theology finds itself too academic and secular for some, and too religious for others, this book offers another way. By making the biblical text more fully available--both to the church and to those who have drifted from it--Twelve Virtues points toward a faith that is critical, courageous, and profoundly hopeful. For pastors, teachers, and thoughtful seekers alike, these sermons invite readers to discover how ancient words can still shape a living faith.