Beacon Press: Resources for Unitarian Universalists
"Beacon is a vital part of our ministry, bringing our principles and practices to the wider world,as it was founded to do 150 years ago." —William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association
Resources for Unitarian Universalists
Welcome to Beacon Press's web site for Unitarian Universalists. Beacon Press is a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association and offers a variety of resources for UU individuals and congregations, including discussion guides for UU congregations and a History of Beacon and the UUA.
For the latest news from Beacon Press, you can also sign up for our e-newsletter for UUs. This newsletter will be sent twice a month with announcements of new titles, author appearances and general news of the press.
Individuals can buy Beacon Press books on this web site, at the UUA Bookstore and at bookstores everywhere.
UU Congregations and Congregational Book Stores wishing to place bulk orders should contact the UUA Bookstore at (800) 215-9076.
Beacon Press and the Martin Luther King Jr. Estate
On May 27, 2009, Beacon Press announced a new partnership with the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. for a new publishing program, "The King Legacy." Beacon will print new editions of previously published King titles and compile Dr. King's writings, sermons, orations, lectures, and prayers into entirely new editions, including significant new introductions by leading scholars. This partnership brings together the legacy of one of the most important civil rights and social justice leaders in the world with one of the oldest and most respected independent publishing houses in America. Click here for more information.
Beacon Press, Unitarian Universalists, and The Pentagon Papers
On October 22, 2006, Beacon Press commemorated the 35th anniversary of publication
of The Senator Gravel Edition of The
Pentagon Papers—the first full edition of the top secret Defense
Department studies that exposed decades of U.S. decisionmaking in Vietnam.
On June 24, 2007, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman moderated a panel
at General Assembly with Dan Ellsberg, Senator Mike Gravel and Former UUA
President Bob West on the role of Beacon Press in publishing the Pentagon
Papers. Click here
for more information.
UU Affiliates
Beacon Press welcomes the following UU groups to our affiliate program: Unitarian
Universalists for a Just Economy (UUJEC),
Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association (UURMAPA),
and The Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association (UUMA).
If your UU group is interested in becoming an affiliate, please contact Kathryn
Wyle at kwyle@beacon.org.
Unavailable for almost a decade, Stride Toward Freedom, King's unparalleled
historical account of the first successful large-scale application of
nonviolent resistance in America, is now must reading for a new generation
of readers.
"Martin Luther King's early words return to us today with enormous
power, as profoundly true, as wise and inspiring, now as when he wrote
them fifty years ago." —Howard Zinn
Unavailable for over ten years, King's last book is an acute analysis
of American race relations and the movement after a decade of civil
rights efforts.
"His unique ability to connect the life of the mind to the struggle
for freedom is legendary, and in this book—his last grand expression
of his vision—he put forward his most prophetic challenge to powers
that be and his most progressive program for the wretched of the earth."
—Cornel West
How the common hopes of religious progressives from many traditions
can create a liberal religious renaissance
“Progressive Protestants are committed primarily to the healing
and creative transformation of themselves, their neighbors, and their
world. They often experience ‘theology’ primarily as ideas
and teachings that are authoritatively presented and hamper more than
they help the work of the followers of Jesus. Their lack of a positive
theology is one reason for their marginalization in today’s religious
scene. Buehrens and Parker begin with the life of service and work for
justice and deepen it to show the implicit beliefs that it assumes and
that are implicit in it. They show that progressive Protestants can
be proud and articulate about their beliefs.” —John B. Cobb,
Jr., coauthor of For the Common Good
A journalist's investigation of a Christian Right movement in which
women put their fertility in the service of a patriarchal culture war
"The stories Kathryn Joyce tells in Quiverfull are both
riveting and deeply disturbing. This important book shines a light on
a corner of the Christian right that has taken misogyny to sadomasochistic
extremes, and reveals the sexual anxieties so often underlying modern
fundamentalism."
—Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of
Christian Nationalism
The culmination of the spiritual thought of a preeminent liberal theologian
“Forrest Church is a towering public intellectual and the leading
Universalist philosopher of his generation. This last testament to his
prophetic thought and witness is a gift of faith, hope, and love to
us all!”
—Cornel West, author of Race Matters
A much-needed rallying cry for progressives concerned about our constitutional
first freedom—to worship religion freely, or not at all
“[Church] has given us the ultimate gift: a treatise on life's
meaning revealed in the face of his own impending death. . . . Witty,
eloquent, gracious, with not a touch of the maudlin. Once again, Forrest
teaches us how most passionately to live.” —Reverend William
F. Schulz, President of the UUA, 1985–1993
A new collection from an icon in and out of the LGBT community
"I Told You So is true, terrifying, and coffee-out-your-nose
funny. I love Kate Clinton. Buy the book, or I'll sic the NSA on your
ass."
—Rachel Maddow, Host of "The Rachel Maddow Show" on
MSNBC and Air America
“Kate Clinton’s cultural perspective—sharp, insightful,
90 degrees from where most folks believe ‘normal’ should
be—both warns and warms my heart. She also makes me laugh until
my ribs ache.”
—Gini Courter, moderator, Unitarian Universalist Association
A book that restores the idea of Paradise to its rightful place at the
center of Christian thought
“As a work of Christian historical theology, this is one of the
most important books of the current generation. . . . [The authors]
give us hope through their active nostalgia for a once dominant form
of Christian thought and practice that we desperately need to recover
today.”
—Reverend John A. Buehrens, President of the UUA, 1993–2001
Worship materials and other information on the book are available at
www.savingparadise.net.
Growing up fundamentalist and female—and maturing into a feminist
"Campbell’s wry wit and ability to break down Scripture
crown her the Sarah Vowell of feminist theology. A must read for anyone
who’s wrestled with coming to terms with women’s social
roles in her own faith."
—BUST
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