I’m grateful to announce that Lake Drive Books has signed internationally known Christian ethicist Dr. David P. Gushee for a forthcoming collection of essays, to be released in 2027, drawn from his life behind the pulpit.
David Gushee needs little introduction. He is the author or coeditor of more than thirty books, including The Moral Teachings of Jesus, Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies, After Evangelicalism, and the bestselling Changing Our Minds, which helped reshape church conversations around full LGBTQ+ inclusion. For decades, his work has influenced pastors, seminarians, scholars, and lay readers across denominational lines, and his public voice has addressed some of the most urgent moral questions facing religion and society.
So it may come as a surprise that this new book is not an academic volume, a sustained ethical argument, or a work of cultural criticism. This book comes from the pulpit.
What drew me to this project was precisely that shift in register. These essays began as sermons—words forged in the lived reality of congregational life. They are shaped by preaching to people who are grieving, divided, hopeful, uncertain, and trying to flourish in a world that often feels disorienting and unforgiving. They reflect what happens when theological depth and ethical clarity are exercised not primarily in the academy, but in the street-level presence of a gathered community.
In one sermon reflecting on his experience, Gushee captures why preaching continues to matter so deeply to him:
“I have learned that preaching still matters. At least in my congregation, the pulpit is still considered a sacred place. The text of scripture is still read with anticipation.”
That sentence names something many pastors and congregations quietly hope is still true, even as cynicism about the church runs understandably high. Gushee does not approach preaching as performance or as a platform for pet issues. He approaches it as a responsibility to stand before a community and help them listen for what is sacred in their midst.
The entries in this collection engage familiar biblical texts—the woman at the well, the raising of Lazarus, the parables of Jesus, and extended insights from the Gospel of John—but they do so with pastoral attentiveness, informed by Gushee's career-long work as an ethicist, which began at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Gushee speaks about forgiveness, righteous living, racism, justice, peacemaking, and the nature of the Kingdom of God, always with an eye toward how faith is actually practiced in community.
One recurring theme in the collection is Gushee’s challenge to the church’s relational ethics. While many communities remain intensely focused on personal holiness, doctrinal correctness, or contested social issues, these essays will press a deeper question: how do we actually treat one another? Do we make room for difference? Do we listen with humility? Do we remain engaged with the world rather than retreating from it?
This may well be David Gushee’s most pastoral book to date. It brings decades of ethical scholarship, theological study, and biblical engagement into a form written for everyday Christians—accessible, devotional, and grounded in the real life of the church.
At Lake Drive Books, we believe in books that help you heal, grow, and discover, and we also believe that we haven’t yet imagined (or discovered or embodied) what religious life and our Christian heritage can mean for us going forward. We are proud to publish this collection and to present David Gushee not only as one of the leading Christian ethicists of our time, but as a preacher who still believes deeply in the power of creating spiritual and sacred musings on how we live our lives, and the difficult, hopeful work of serving the church as it is. I believe this book will be a wise and steady companion for readers in the world we actually inhabit today.
David Morris, Publisher, Lake Drive Books
For more than thirty years, David P. Gushee has been one of the most influential and widely read Christian ethicists in the world. His landmark books—spanning foundational ethics, political theology, trauma, human rights, and full LGBTQ+ inclusion—have guided both scholars and everyday believers seeking a moral life rooted in justice and compassion. A past president of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Ethics, Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University and Chair in Christian Social Ethics at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. His work has been translated globally and continues to shape conversations about Christian faith and moral responsibility in a rapidly changing world.
