Horace Russell can be termed the father of Caribbean church history and historical theology. Since the late 1950s, he has had an outsized impact on hundreds of current, former and future theologians in the Caribbean and the United States, largely through his association with the United Theological College of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, where he served as president, and Palmer Theological Seminary close to Philadelphia in the United States, where he was a vice president. But his impact was much wider than through these two institutions, as he has engaged himself through many organizations, including the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and several commissions and committees of the Baptist World Alliance. This book is a tribute to the work and contribution of a Caribbean churchman who has had a much broader impact beyond his native Jamaica.

Nora was a radical socialist in Jamaica who had a crisis of faith following the demise of communism in the 1980s. Disillusioned, she joined the church where she became an ordained minister. But it was difficult for Nora to leave her radical past behind and she butted heads with church authorities. The ultimate test came after she decided to have a child, even though she was not married. The church, finding Nora's actions unacceptable, stripped her of her authority, position, and title. She sued the church for wrongful dismissal and employment discrimination. The court case and the surprising turns unearthed the legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas thrown up by Nora and her pregnancy in a largely conservative church and society.