How My Mind Has Changed

These essays, all originally written for The Christian Century magazine, of which Wall is the editor, will primarily interest those following currents of thought in modern Christian theology. A notable diversity of perspectives is represented and not all authors limit themselves to (or even address) the topic given in the book's title. Elizabeth Achtemeier, who teaches Bible at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., bluntly notes that ``My mind has not changed a great deal, because the biblical story has not changed.'' But she adds that in disempowering women, the church has not lived up to the gospel, thus contributing to today's ``feminist mess.'' A different view comes from lesbian feminist theologian Carter Heyward, who has come to see the ``link between the healing process . . . and the work of liberation , '' between the spiritual and the political. Jesuit Richard A. McCormick, relating many of his changes of mind to Vatican II, says he feels less need today to find certainty in what he or the church teaches. University Professor at Boston University Peter L. Berger explores the symbiosis of ``mainline Protestantism'' and the middle class, particularly that section involved in ``the production and distribution of symbolic knowledge'' through education, the media and social welfare programs. (June)