No other gods. No graven images. Don’t take God’s name in vain. Those are the commandments that focus this first volume of our series for small group study: Exploring Justice: The Ten Commandments.Do you think idols are merely statues from a false religion? Think again. In this first volume, you’ll think about the primary values of your faith and learn the history behind some of today’s difficult issues: When did the Pledge of Allegiance change and why? How did Charles Lucky Lindy Lindbergh taint the original America First movement? Who was the first monarch in history to grant the full freedom of religion and which Christian minister made it happen?

Then, with exercises that encourage dialogue rather than division, the group sessions in the separate Leader’s Guide will help you think about whether we’re really putting God’s values first when engaging issues from the NFL protests and Confederate monuments to the Pledge of Allegiance, the First and Second Amendments, separation of church and state, White nationalism, flags in churches, and more.

Read this book on your own or get the Leader’s Guide and gather a group to better understand the issues we face and turn division into dialogue.

PRAISE FOR PRIORITIES

Anne Robertson has written an astonishing exposition of the second of the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not make graven images. Her study is deeply grounded in scripture. But her work is to mobilize her expansive imagination in order to show the demanding contemporaneity of this innocent-looking mandate from Moses. Amid her work she offers a trenchant critique of our idolatry of nationalism with an eye on our worship of the flag, and our idolatry of guns with a knowing riff on the NRA. Her work exhibits her acute skills as an educator as she provides effective prompts and cues for critical engagement.

This book is the launch volume of a projected multi-volume work on the Ten Commandments. The series promises to be a state-of-the art offer, the best resource we have on the commandments and their contemporary pertinence for a life of faith. As executive of the Massachusetts Bible Society, Anne continues and extends the strong legacy of the Society in its engagement with scripture as a primary way in which to empower the faithful life of the church.

Walter Brueggemann

Columbia Theological Seminary