The first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu (with a foreword by the Dalai Lama and an afterword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu himself), this book introduces readers to Tutu’s spiritual life, his prayer life and his spiritual practices and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation. It also shows how a living legend’s life can guide us during these times.

Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu’s life—receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986−1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995−1998—recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped lay the foundations for a country ravaged by dehumanizing policies and practices by those who called themselves “Christian”. This book shows how the inner landscape of Tutu’s spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen.

Rather than recount his entire life story, this book explores Tutu’s spiritual life and contemplative practices—particularly Tutu’s understanding of Ubuntu theology, which emphasizes finding one’s identity and wholeness in community—and traces the powerful role they played in subverting the theological and spiritual underpinnings of colonialism and apartheid. Michael Battle’s personal relationship with Tutu grants readers an inside view of how Tutu’s spiritual agency cast a vision that both upheld the demands of justice and created a space of grace to synthesize the stark differences of a diverse society and help South Africans build a new community, new “samehorigheid”, and “Ubuntu”.

This book surveys the distinctions that underlie the unbound potential and existential risks of life expansion and radical modifications posed by a transhuman world. Humanness is in flux as human bodies are being hacked and altered in their quest for super wellness, super intelligence and super longevity. Now is the time to discuss how best to think about dealing with bodies that have been hacked to exceed natural physical limits or more technically, species typical functioning. Enter the advent of transhumanism to take uncertainty by the horns. According to transhumanists, death is unnecessary and medical conventions undermine the possibility to radically evolve. To biohackers, there is no need to wait to explore the risks that conventional medicine dares not. This book is of interest to anyone interested in tapping into this growing movement of modifying the human body as it is right now.

As defined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

The African spiritual principle of Ubuntu offers believers a new and radical way of reading the Gospel and understanding the heart of the Christian faith, and this new book explores the meaning and utility of Ubuntu as applied to Western philosophies, faith, and lifestyles.

Ubuntu is an African way of seeing self-identity formed -through community. This is a difficult worldview for many Western people, who understand self as over, against, or in competition with others. In the Western viewpoint, Ubuntu becomes something to avoid a kind of co-dependency. As a Christian leader who understands the need, intricacies, and delicate workings of global interdependency, Battle offers here both a refreshing worldview and a new perspective of self-identity for people across cultures, and of all faiths. "

This book looks at health policy through the lens of public versus private: population health versus the somatic, social, or emotional experiences of a patient. Rather than presenting policy/ethics as overly technical, this book takes a novel approach of framing public and private health in terms of political philosophy, ethics, and popular examples. Each chapter ties back to the general ethics or political literature as applicable, which are not customarily parts of the current public health curriculum. The author's work on the Orgcomplexity blog has touched on this subject by systemically exploring public policy issues, and the tone of this book mimics the blog with an extension of the arguments.

How do we practice reconciliation in a world full of violence? How do we love someone at work who seems hell-bent on sabotaging a successful career? And how do religious people resolve differences when religious interpretations seem to lead to righteous indignation rather than reconciliation? We practice reconciliation, according to Michael Battle, by affirming that God is present and acting on that belief, even in the midst of something that looks more like the devil's work. Battle, who worked with Desmond Tutu in South Africa in the past, draws on his knowledge of biblical texts, as well as contemporary scholarship, to examine the ways in which each of us can practice being reconciling people.

Much of the literature on the book of Revelation paints a frightening apocalyptic vision of the end times. Michael Battle offers an alternative look at Revelation in this new work, seeing it instead as a hopeful call to bring heaven on earth. Battle explores the problematic imagery found in Revelation before showing how similar problems play out in our contemporary world. Battle sees Revelation as a guide that shows us that we can live out God's call for heaven on earth by living in community with one another, as exhibited through the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu, Rowan Williams, and Ubuntu theology. He writes, aEUROoeI seek to imagine in my particular Christian context how a view of heaven need not lead to culture wars and further excuses for oppressing others. Heaven, as envisioned by John of Patmos, has much greater purpose.aEURO

A number of leading contemporary theologians and scholars provide essays on the themes of liberation and reconciliation in tribute to J. Deotis Roberts. The essays are divided into sections on Theological Reflection, Faith in Dialogue, and Shaping the Practice of Ministry. They provide an interesting array of perspectives on the ways in which Christian theology, ethics, and ministry are involved in the quests for liberation and reconciliation in a variety of arenas, both in North America and the rest of the world. Includes writings by Ferre, MacQuarrie and a foreword by Tutu.

Two of the most vocal activists on racial issues in the church seek nothing less than a conversion of American Christianity. They directly challenge the churches to resume leadership in overcoming and redressing America's legacy of racial segregation. Campolo and Battle expose the realities of racial division in the churches and then lift up a vision of a church without racism. To achieve reconciliation within and among the denominations, they argue, both the black and the white church need to acknowledge and overcome substantial problems in their traditions. The authors provide a blueprint for how racially reconciled churches can encourage activism in the cities, church involvement in politics, and responsible use of the Bible, ultimately helping to transform American society itself.