Structured around the Christian liturgical calendar, Suffering the Truth offers a series of reflections on the exceedingly difficult and yet irrepressibly joyful character of the Christian life. Beginning with a meditation on Advent as a time during which we are called to cultivate a readiness for the unexpected presence of God and concluding with a sermon that sets out to challenge the conception of peace frequently celebrated on the day Mennonites have come to call Peace Sunday, Chris K. Huebner presents an account of the unusual rhythms of Christian temporality. These sermons seek to elaborate a liturgical counter-temporality and to display what it might look like when its rhythms inform the way we go about our ordinary lives. In doing so, Huebner invites us to reflect on how we might inhabit truthfully the strange new life into which we have been called by God.

All but two of the 16 essays have been previously published, and Stocking (anthropology, U. of Chicago) wrote all of them in response to invitations to give a lecture, present a paper at a scholarly meeting, contribute to an edited volume, introduce a volume he edited, or respond to a specific moment of archival discovery. They meander through Boasian culturalism, British evolutionaries, institutions in national traditions, and mesocosmic reflections. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR