Perhaps more than any other Supreme Court ruling, "Brown v. Board of Education," the 1954 decision declaring the segregation of public schools unconstitutional, highlighted both the possibilities and the limitations of American democracy. This collection of sixteen original essays by historians and legal scholars takes the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of "Brown" to reconsider the history and legacy of that landmark decision. "From the Grassroots to the Supreme Court" juxtaposes oral histories and legal analysis to provide a nuanced look at how men and women understood "Brown" and...

Combines legal and historical analysis to address the implications of "Brown v. Board of Education," showing that the resolution of racial segregation in schools transformed the lives of ordinary citizens in broader ways than has previously been ass

The Old Testament book of Ruth is understandably a firm favorite in the church for small-group study and preaching: a heart-warming story of loyalty and love, a satisfying tale of a journey from famine to fullness. In the academy, the book has been a testing ground for a variety of hermeneutical approaches, and many different ways of interpreting it have been put forward. However, the single interpretative lens missing is the one that is most beneficial for the church: biblical theology. While commentaries have adopted a biblical-theological approach of one form or another, there has not been...

This book contains readings of texts in, and engagements with themes drawn from, the Book of Ruth, by biblical scholars from different parts of Asia and its neighbors. The chapters exhibit literary, cultural, intertextual, and postcolonial flavors, thus giving readers a taste of current trends of biblical criticism in Asia. The attention to migration, gender, and minoritized subjects in the Book of Ruth makes this a necessary read for students and researchers on Ruth and on methods of biblical criticism. The book serves as an invitation for conversation with Asian biblical scholars in...