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Michael Battle

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. . . .he is also a fitting person . . . not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry."
-Desmond Tutu

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. . . .he is also a fitting person . . . not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry."
-Desmond Tutu

Michael Battle is an Episcopal priest, chaired professor, author of ten books, and sought-after speaker and retreat leader. His ministry covers the globe and focuses on Christian reconciliation, human spirituality, and Ubuntu (the African worldview of community). He has been selected by national and international organizations as one of the most interesting religious leaders today. Michael lived in residence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa for two years, 1993-1994 and was ordained a priest in South Africa by Desmond Tutu in 1993.

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Michael’s Teaching

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. . . .he is also a fitting person . . . not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry."
-Desmond Tutu

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. . . .he is also a fitting person . . . not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry."
-Desmond Tutu

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. As I have reiterated, however, no such evil will ever prevail. Michael Battle is also a fitting person to write this book: not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry. In such an integrated way, Michael invites the reader into the birthing process of heaven on earth. As with any birth, we must move through pain and struggle toward the life that God continues to create. Our politics, economics, spirituality, environmentalism, and much more move through such purgation to new life. And God will not abandon us. God, like a mother, holds us even now as we must move toward wisdom and maturity." Desmond Tutu

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Michael’s Books

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. . . .he is also a fitting person . . . not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry."
-Desmond Tutu

"Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. . . .he is also a fitting person . . . not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry."
-Desmond Tutu

"To read the book sanely and Christianly but still to keep our ears and eyes open to the depth of its imaginative challenges, we need a sane Christian expositor who also understands what matters about poetry and politics, and who knows what prophecy is and isn't. Michael Battle is wonderfully well equipped as a guide to such a reading, and his reflections are going to be a really valuable framework for many people." --Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

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Michael's Books and Publications

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Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor

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Blessed are the Peacemakers: A Christian Spirituality of Nonviolence

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Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me

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Heaven on Earth

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Black Battle White Knight: The Authorized Biography of Malcolm Boyd

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The Church Enslaved: A Spirituality of Racial Reconciliation

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The Quest for Liberation and Reconciliation: Essays in Honor of J. Deotis Roberts

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Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought

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Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu

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The Black Church in America: African American Christian Spirituality (Religious Life in America) 1st Edition

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The Wisdom of Desmond Tutu

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Practicing Reconciliation in a Violent World

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Tutu Travel Seminar

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Featured Publication

Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor

Michael Battle offers the first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu, this book introduces readers to Tutu’s spiritual life and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation. Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu’s life—receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986–1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995–1998—recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped facilitate the liberation of oppressed peoples from the ravages of colonialism. But the inner landscape of Tutu’s spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen.

Reviews:

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“Much has been written about Desmond Tutu, some of it by Dr. Michael Battle. But in this important work he gives us something very special indeed, moving beyond any political lens and instead revealing the interpersonal spirituality that lies at the heart of Tutu’s prophetic and political action. In these pages, we see a familiar friend in a fresh light. And that light shining through him is a light that comes from God, which no darkness can overcome.” —The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Author of Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times
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“Michael Battle has not only given us a powerful framing of Desmond Tutu’s spiritual life—one that will be studied for many years—but he has also made clear what it means to see someone as a saint who lives not in unapproachable light, but in the real struggles of this world where God is to be found and known. Battle knows that world as well as he knows Desmond Tutu and it is from the deep well of knowledge of both God’s ways of justice and one of God’s humble servants that he offers us this gem of a book.” —Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, Yale University
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“This is a profoundly beautiful and necessary contribution to learning from one of our wisest leaders in a new generation and a changed world. We are immersed in the rich spiritual and theological intelligence that formed Tutu’s singular agency in one of humanity’s most extraordinary social transformations. Just as importantly, as Michael Battle engages with the life of his teacher and friend, he models a spirituality towards the social courage and creativity that this century demands.”—Krista Tippett, Founder and CEO of "The On Being Project and Host of On Being and Becoming Wise"
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Desmond Tutu

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  • Gerald May Seminar

    Gerald May Seminar

    Reconciliation as Christian Mysticism—with Michael BattleJuly 16-17, 2021 Michael Battle’s New Book Currently appointed as Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center …
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