The Collected Works of James Wm. McClendon, Jr.: Volume 3

James Wm. McClendon, Jr. (1924-2000) was the most important "baptist" theologian of the twentieth century. McClendon crafted a systematic theology that grew out of the immediacy of preaching the text, refused to succumb to the pressures of individualism, and lamented the stunted public witness of a fractured Protestant ecclesiology. This third and final volume of his Collected Works provides a compendium of McClendon’s sermons--examples of what he called "first-order" theology in action. While McClendon was predominantly known as a philosophical theologian, he persisted in the belief that the theology that mattered most occurred in ordinary congregations seeking to bear faithful witness in the world. The sermons in this collection--many rarely seen and never before published--provide an important window into McClendon’s own theology and witness to his convictions about theology's purpose and end. This third volume serves as an invaluable resource for ministers, students, and theologians who seek a fuller understanding of McClendon’s "baptist" theology.

James William McClendon, Jr. was a Christian theologian in the Anabaptist tradition and the author of many important works, including Biography as Theology: How Life Stories Can Remake Today's Theology and Making Gospel Sense to a Troubled Church. He was, at the time of his death, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Ryan Andrew Newson is Adjunct Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Campbell University.

Andrew C.Wright is a Doctoral Candidate in Christian Ethics and Philosophical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.