Publications
FORMATION [1]: How to Read the Bible
How to Read the Bible is the first book in the FORMATION series, because if Christians want to grow and be formed in the Way of Jesus, we can’t do it without understanding the Bible. Here, we meet the Postures, Knowledge, and Skills we need to hear the Word of God speak. We explore the worlds behind, inside, and in front of the books of the Bible so we can see it more clearly. Most importantly, we learn how all of it can come together to transform us, change our lives, and form our communities for good.
How to Read the Bible is also available as a video masterclass series at formationtime.substack.com and as a podcast on Apple and Spotify.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics of Formation
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is many things to many people—committed pacifist, reluctant revolutionary, Protestant saint but in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics of Formation, Ryan Huber argues that Bonhoeffer should be engaged as a Christian ethicist of formation. Huber demonstrates that formation lies at the heart of Bonhoeffer’s ethical project and personal story, providing a third way between virtue and character ethics in contemporary Christian thought concerned with moral growth.
Reviews
Ryan Huber's new treatment of the ethics of (con)formation in Dietrich Bonhoeffer is first-rate in every way: engagement with the most relevant primary and secondary sources; historical and biographical awareness; theological, ethical, and literary analysis; and clarity of communication. Huber succeeds in showing the centrality of Bonhoeffer's Christological account of formation for his theological ethics, and also succeeds in the harder task of indicating how Bonhoeffer lived this reality and did not just theorize about it. This is a substantial and important contribution to the understanding of Bonhoeffer's thought and life. I will make use of it immediately in my teaching.
— David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University
Huber offers a new and creative reading of Bonhoeffer as an “ethicist of formation” that illustrates how Bonhoeffer’s intellectual work as a Christian theologian was very much the outcome and expression of his lived faith. Huber’s approach offers new insights into Bonhoeffer’s understanding of vocation, ethics, and discipleship and is immensely helpful in showing the continuities between Discipleship and Ethics.
— Victoria J. Barnett, General Editor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English Edition
Bonhoeffer has been a magnetic figure for Christians and others hungry for a model of genuine Christian discipleship and public responsibility of intellectuals. Stacks of books have already been published on Bonhoeffer's influential life and writings, but Huber’s book Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics of Formation stands as a remarkable achievement. Through a rigorous study of Bonhoeffer’s writings and his biographical and historical context, Huber offers an original and compelling interpretation of Bonhoeffer’s ethics from the perspective of “formation.” I strongly recommend this creative and timely book to everyone who is interested in Bonhoeffer’s life and work and Christian moral formation.
— Hak Joon Lee, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary
In this careful and important study, Huber convincingly demonstrates the centrality of Christformation not only for Bonhoeffer’s theological work in Ethics, but also for Bonhoeffer’s personal life and vocation. Huber’s work is a crucial addition to those rare attempts in Bonhoeffer studies that aim to offer us a holistic, integrative view of Bonhoeffer’s life and work.
— Jens Zimmermann, Trinity Western University
Discerning Ethics: Chapter 16 - Public Education
Racism. Immigration. Gun violence. Sexuality. Health care. The number of ethical issues that demand a response from Christians today is almost dizzying. How can Christians navigate such matters? What are faithful responses to these questions? Edited by two theologians with pastoral experience, this volume invites engagement with these issues and more by drawing on real-life experiences and offering a range of responses to some of the most challenging moral questions confronting the church today. With an unflinching yet irenic approach, this resource can help Christians as they seek to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
Reviews
"An excellent introduction to the most urgent contemporary ethical issues. Discerning Ethics demonstrates methodological sophistication, honest discussion of divergent views, and a solid biblical commitment. Highly recommended!"
Ronald J. Sider, distinguished professor emeritus of theology, holistic ministry, and public policy, Palmer Seminary at Eastern University
"This volume of essays is exactly what we need in the classroom today, both in seminaries and college theology courses. Leaving practically no social issue uncovered, these diverse authors engage in moral analysis that is theologically rigorous but also genuinely humble. It is this humility that makes these essays especially worthwhile. This book demonstrates that Christians can indeed engage in communal discernment of what God wills for all of creation without falling into the temptations of our present-day, lamentably polarized political discourse. What we have here is a model of theological ethics that all Christians must learn from."
-Ki Joo Choi, chair of the Department of Religion and associate professor of theological ethics, Seton Hall University
"Dr. Hak Joon Lee and Dr. Tim Dearborn, both scholars and pastors, have edited this fascinating and demanding volume of essays to enable Christian identity to be better understood and demonstrated in the face of complex ethical questions raised in a radically pluralistic and globalizing world. . . . May these essays cause all their readers, as they have me, to grapple thoughtfully and faithfully, in agreement or disagreement, toward a Christian life of more deeply formed moral thought and action, not as philosophical abstraction but as embodied and humble life that I pray will be a truer reflection of Jesus Christ."
-From the foreword by Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Theological Seminary
"If American Protestants have been polarized between progressive-liberals on the 'left' and conservative evangelicals on the 'right,' Lee and Dearborn and their colleagues have broken through this either-or, not merely in pointing out that the middle is a much more expansive spectrum than just another stance, but in showing that both commitments to biblical and theological orthodoxy and attentiveness to the contemporary world and its complex realities require the virtuous practice of spiritual discernment, one that is faithful to the gospel rather than beholden to any ideology or tradition."
-Amos Yong, Dean of the School of Theology and the School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Seminary
"As many leave the local church because of the conflation of Christianity with partisan politics, one related danger is the reflexive replacement of their former ethical commitments with secular ideologies of another stripe. Discerning Ethics is a helpful tool for those who are deconstructing their faith and looking for thoughtful theological reflections on key issues such as immigration, mass incarceration, racism, and education."
-Robert Chao Romero, associate professor in the departments of Chicana and Chicano Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles