Bury the Dead is a collection of personal encounters with death: stories of Alzheimer's, AIDS, cancer, hospice, suicide, murder, systemic violence, genocide, and war. In this book a teenager tenderly washes her mother's body, a community organizer cries outrage over his blood-soaked comrade, a father builds a coffin for his infant son, martyrs are honored by a former political prisoner, a young scholar's experiences in Palestine shape her reading of the Exodus narrative, and a community of gardeners plant trees at urban-core murder sites. Drawing from sources such as the peace movement, the Catholic Worker, and Occupy, these stories make connections between medicine delivery, labor picket lines, and PICC-lines; between jazz funeral secondlines and the front lines of countless struggles. Part pastoral theology, part movement history, this book powerfully demonstrates that resisting the power of death is at the heart of Christian discipleship, and that in a culture that fears death, we will only find resurrection in facing it. This bespeaks the reality that for Christians, death never has the last word. The spiritual narratives that shape this book witness to the power of lives given over to love and justice. I recommend it for anyone whose life has been touched by loss and grief, and who wants to learn and be changed by them. Clergy, spiritual directors, and activists will also benefit from these luminous narratives. --Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, Claremont School of Theology In Bury the Dead, participants in the Catholic Worker, L'Arche, and related communities share tender stories of what may be the most marginalized act of all: accompanying those whose bodies are returning to the earth. The result is at once an album of memories for the extended family of the Christian left, a passionate rebuke to a society that denies life by denying death, and an invitation to all of us to touch the fragile flesh of our companions. --Dan McKanan, Harvard Divinity School What a difference it makes when people are prepared for death and surrounded by loved ones who do not interfere with but walk with the one dying. Those memories never fade. Putting them out there for others is a way of inviting us all to prepare the walk with all the hope and joy we can muster out of lives lived with love and meaning. Thank you, Laurel. --Liz McAlister, Jonah House Laurel Dykstra is an Anglican priest and community-based activist and scholar in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the author of Set Them Free: The Other Side of Exodus (2002) and coeditor of Liberating Biblical Study (Cascade Books, 2011).

Synopsis: Liberating Biblical Study is a unique collaboration of pioneering biblical scholars, social-change activists, and movement-based artists. Well known and unknown, veterans and newcomers, these diverse practitioners of justice engage in a lively and critical conversation at the intersection of seminary, sanctuary, and street. The book is divided into eight sections; in each, a scholar, activist, and artist explore the justice issues related to a biblical text or idea, such as exodus, creation, jubilee, and sanctuary. Beyond the emerging themes (e.g., empire, resistance movements, identity, race, gender, and economics), the book raises essential questions at another level: What is the role of art in social-change movements? How can scholars be accountable beyond the academy, and activists encouraged to study? How are resistance movements nurtured and sustained? This volume is an accessible invitation to action that will appeal to all who love and strive for justice--whatever their discipline, and whatever their familiarity with the Bible, scholarship, art, and activist communities. Endorsements: "Here is another remarkable idea of Norman Gottwald coming to fruition in a combination of biblical vision, creative imagination, and public action. Every section of the book is a provocative juxtaposition of critical analysis by engaged biblical scholars, incisive insights of social activists, and compelling expressions of poets and artists . . . A highly stimulating start, send-off, and celebration for the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice." -Richard Horsley author of Jesus and Empire: the Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder "This book teaches you how to use the Bible as a critical tool for social justice on the street and in the academy. I am deeply moved and inspired by the testimonies and bold visions of the scholars, activists, and artists who contributed to this volume. Buy the book, teach it, and begin organizing " -Kwok Pui-lan author of Discovering the Bible in the Non-Biblical World Author Biography: Laurel Dykstra is a community-based Bible and justice educator and activist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her publications include Set Them Free: The Other Side of Exodus (2002). Ched Myers is a social-justice educator and activist and biblical animator based in southern California. His publications include Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark's Story of Jesus (20th anniversary edition, 2008) and, with Elaine Enns, Ambassadors of Reconciliation (2009).