When someone of Rowan Williams’ calibre (and there are few of those) describes one of his contemporaries as ‘probably the most creative and disturbing Anglican theologian’ of the twentieth-century, we ought to sit up and take notice. Williams was talking about William Stringfellow, the exposer of our culture’s idols.
Over the next month or so, I hope to make my way through Stringfellow’s work (some of which I’ve read before, and some of which will be new), and to post some of my scribbles along the way. My agenda is two-fold: (i) to introduce you to the thought of a brilliant though still-too-under-appreciated twentieth-century theologian; (ii) to encourage you to pick up and read his work for yourself, whether on your own or – as may well be preferable – in small groups. But if the latter, you ought to heed Mary Perkins Ryan’s warning (in her ‘Introduction’ to Imposters of God) about Stringfellow and group reading: ‘no group, young or old, that [reads Stringfellow] as the basis for discussion will find its meetings dull. They might even become too exciting for comfort – and so might the lives of those who take seriously what this book has to say’.
Our friends over at Wipf & Stock have republished most of Stringfellow’s published material, an act for which we can be deeply grateful. They have kindly offered readers of Per Crucem ad Lucem 40% off the retail price of any of the Stringfellow volumes. This represents a fantastic opportunity to avail yourself of some of the most perceptive theological literature of the twentieth century, and all at a great price. To claim the 40% discount, just include the coupon code STRINGFELLOW with your order.
Here’s a list of the available Stringfellow titles:
- Count It All Joy
- Instead of Death
- The Bishop Pike Affair (with Anthony Towne)
- Suspect Tenderness (with Anthony Towne)
- Imposters of God
- A Private and Public Faith
- Conscience and Obedience
- A Simplicity of Faith
- Free in Obedience
- An Ethic For Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land
- My People is the Enemy
- The Death and Life of Bishop Pike (with Anthony Towne)
- A Second Birthday
- They Call Us Dead Men (by Daniel Berrigan)
- Dissenter in a Great Society
- The Politics of Spirituality
jasongoroncy.com 
An obvious question but is An Ethic For Christians & Other Aliens a good place to start?
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Kevin, my sense is that it matters less where you choose to first enter the Stringfellow stream than that you actually wade there a while. My own entrée into Stringfellow came via A Simplicity of Faith, and was followed by Free in Obedience and Imposters of God. That said, I think that An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land and A Second Birthday would also be good places to start.
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FWIW, a prof of mine, Bob Ekblad (no stranger to the embodiment of Stringfellow’s thinking), started me into Stringfellow with “An Ethic…”. It got me hooked.
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Good for you Jason. Stringfellow has been a wonderful travelling companion for me for years. Likely quite a bit of stuff on my blog, as a result. I hope you enjoy the experience. There’s also a good collection of essays about Stringfellow that are worth a look, and background Stringfellow and his value so very well:
My favourite (but difficult to find now) is “Prophet of Justice, Prophet of Life: Essays on William Stringfellow by Robert Boak Slocum.
Next, Anthony Dancer’s (Anthony, and Anglican Priest and authority on Stringfellow now in Wellington. Anthony wrote his Oxford PhD on Stringfellow) very expensive but brilliant book (which combines essays on Stringfellow, including a brief one by Rowan Williams) “William Stringfellow in Anglo-American Perspective”
Next, “A Keeper of the Word: Selected Writings of William Stringfellow” edited by Bill Wyllie-Kellerman (a friend of Stringfellow, who if he can find the time will pen a comprehensive biography of Stringfellow)
Finally, “Radical Christian and Exemplary Lawyer: Honoring William Stringfellow” edited by Andrew McThenia.
My first introduction to Stringfellow was in 1997 in an issue (from that year) of the journal “Interpretation” themed around “Preaching” (brown cover). The essay was “Principalities, Powers, and Preaching: Learning from William Stringfellow” by Charles L. Campbell (who’s also written a bigger preaching before the powers book).
My first book of Stringfellows was his “Ethic” – still so very relevant (maybe more so) to our contemporary times.
Finally, thanks for the recent link to the Moltmann / Volf / Ford “Holy Spirit” links. Looking forward to listening to them, and Moltmann for the first time.
Take care
Paul
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My favourite is probably Free in Obedience, together with A Second Birthday.
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