In Making Sense of Mystery, John Markey presents an accessible and engaging introduction to the discipline of theology. Also an invitation to more seasoned scholars to consider their own operative approaches, the book is clearly written, comprehensive, and conversant with major streams of theological scholarship. With easy-to-digest examples, questions for discussion and ongoing exploration, and up-to-date resources for further reading, this book is designed for the classroom. Yet it also implicitly challenges narrow approaches to theology that overlook the variety of sources and methods drawn upon by the discipline.

John Markey’s primer Making Sense of Mystery invites students to learn theology by doing it. With an engaging style, he prompts them to probe their own experiences of curiosity, uncertainty, and inquiry to show how theology emerges from life’s deepest questions. Markey’s clear, concise distinction of mystery from problem breaks the unnecessary tension with science to show the breadth and depth of what it means to “know.” In just one example of the text’s masterful pedagogy, Markey models theological thinking by linking critical analysis to creative insight in a guided exploration of the Ghent Altarpiece.

In Markey’s hands, faith and theological thinking become dynamic practices, shaped by critical reflection and expressed in action to meet the needs of the times. He honors doubt, critique, and resistance as part of the encounter with the mystery of God and a hallmark of a mature faith. Making Sense of Mystery invites students, whatever their worldview, into conversation with the Christian tradition in the shared human endeavor to understand the world and our place in it. With pedagogical and theological sensitivity to the diverse needs and questions of undergraduates, Markey’s text is an excellent and welcome choice for an introductory course.

The new edition of See, Judge, Act is a splendid introduction to the rich heritage of modern Catholic social teaching. Even more, in the spirit of Pope Francis’s pastoral theology, it offers an invaluable guide to living the tradition in the context of service learning. Here teaching and learning go hand in hand: following the hermeneutical logic of the pastoral circle or spiral in responding to the “signs of the times,” Prof. Brigham brings the wisdom of a vital tradition to bear on such critical issues as poverty, migration, workers’ rights, white privilege and racial and ethnic bias, solidarity in peacemaking, and the global ecological crisis. Deserving a wide readership, especially in these contentious times, Brigham’s new See, Judge, Act gives us reason to hope that the Church’s social teaching will cease to be our “best-kept secret.”

Professor Erin M. Brigham’s book critically explores the intersections of theology, service learning, and the Catholic social tradition for our contemporary context. Her commitment to helping faculty and the next generation learn about both the richness of those intersections and the challenges they present is robust and compelling. Theoretically grounded, empirically invigorating and pedagogically engaging, this book provides faculty a great resource and invites students to a disciplined understanding of what it means to see, judge, and act in a world of great injustices. A debt of gratitude is owed Brigham for the quality of her research and writing, the depth of her community collaboration, and the clarity of her pedagogical awareness that are so clearly evident in this searching and graceful book.

We will never be able to respond to social crises in an effective, much less ethical, way unless we study issues of social justice closely. While there is much to learn in the world of ethics and public affairs, the first step is to learn how to learn, and this volume provides the veritable key to the entire process. Erin Brigham taps her impressive experience in service-learning programs to share the venerable methodology of social analysis, along with many wise and original insights into social justice challenges today. The vivid coverage of complex and disputed issues of global justice, including the crises of immigration and the environment, is even more relevant and more urgent than it was when the original edition appeared just a few years ago.

This is that rare book that successfully bridges the world of academic theology and hands-on experience. As students in service-learning programs (and anyone undertaking service opportunities in any struggling community) encounter human suffering and social injustice, they will benefit immensely from this timely and user-friendly volume. Rooted in the tradition of Catholic social teaching and committed to a pedagogy of engaged learning, this book is a uniquely valuable resource for our time.