Words for Journey, Words for Justice

Summoned and Shaped, Wipf & Stock Publishing Company, 2018. This is the story of a woman overcoming the odds to minister to a suffering community outside the church. The model of Spiritual Accompaniment, which  she developed for her ministry, changed her own life, along with the lives of those with whom she ministered. For those experiencing a call to ministry and wondering where to go beyond "the age of belief, " here is a story that will inspire and point the way toward sharing a journey into belovedness.

To hear a recent Book Talk with a brief introduction click here. The talk was shot live by Rev. Susan Russell for her Facebook account.

AIDS and the Sleeping Church, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995.
"Confronted by her own feelings of helplessness in the face of aging...,Patricia Hoffman, a longtime activist and writer on justice issues, felt drawn to spend time with AIDS patients.  AIDS and the Sleeping Church is her personal journal, kept when she visited patients at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital...These journal entries take us beyond the continuing stigma attached to AIDS patients, helping us to hear their words, to learn how some of them lived well in the face of death, and, most important, to experience the sacred value of who they were as individuals.  In the process, Hoffman not only reveals profound spiritual insights for our own lives but also sensitively bridges the gap between the institutional church's rejection of those infected with AIDS and the need for simple, unassuming acts of love and compassion for those God has created."  From book jacket. Cover art by John August Swanson.

Ministry of the Dispossessed: Learning from the Farm Worker Movement. Forward by Cesar Chavez. Wallace Press, 1987.  "All those who are concerned about the relationship of the churches to issues of social justice will find help from this story, which has the merit of specificity rather than generalization."  Comment by Robert McAfee Brown.