Contributors to this book analyze areas of Martin Luther’s and Lutheran theology that have otherwise been neglected or under-represented in the five hundred years since the Reformation. They widen the scope of Luther and Lutheran theology by viewing both from the perspectives of the “subaltern,� those whose voices are barely or rarely heard. The book formulates an inclusive Lutheran theology that reaches out but does not close out. The book’s sections address “Precarious Life,� from Luther’s own precarious existence as an outlaw under a death sentence; “Body and Gender,� addressing different aspects of gender and sexuality; “Women and Sexual Abuse,� focusing on Luther’s exegesis of biblical “texts of terror�; and “Economy, Equality, and Equity,� addressing Lutheran views on economy and equality that break new ground regarding common goods and the Anthropocene.

This book is dedicated to Anna Marie Aagaard on the occasion of her 70th birthday. It is written by a number of friends and colleagues. The essays touch upon a number of the issues and interpretations that have shaped and been shaped by Anna Marie Aagaard in her theological work: spirituality, ecumenicity and ethics--also including poetry and politics. In this endeavour lies the hope that this book itself is an outreach towards new beginnings and ends, pointing beyond itself to the world outside its pages, and that all the contributions in one way or another construct a meaning and form « cracks in those walls we constantly and regrettably build, be they theological, cultural, moral or otherwise.