Serene Jones’s memoir poses as many theological questions as answers

Our world seems more fractured than ever: the economic gap between rich and poor yawns into a bottomless abyss, the divisions between racial and ethnic groups grow sharper, and the differences between political parties have grown into deep rifts between individuals who work for themselves rather than the common good. In such a world, Serene Jones wonders, where can we find hope?

Call It Grace is part theological exploration and part memoir. Jones poignantly reveals her own struggles to make meaning out of those times when life falls apart, when it looks as if evil has won the day, as well as to embrace the goodness and beauty that peek through such events. She shows how grace and love can illumine journeys even through paths littered with the shattered bodies and souls of families, friends, and strangers.

Jones recognizes that theology is story, and she’s a rousing storyteller. With vivid honesty, she tells of her grandfather’s racism, her mother’s spitefulness and vanity, her own divorce and near-death experience, and her challenges as president of Union Theological Semi­nary. As she shares these stories, she weaves in theological insights from a range of thinkers: John Calvin, Kierke­gaard, Luce Irigaray, James Baldwin, James Cone, Teresa of Ávila, Katie Cannon, and many others. Jones divides the book into four “stations” that correspond roughly to the stages in her theological journey.