Embracing Our Roots | A BBZ Reader

Coming this summer at General Synod!

A denominational icon in three letters: BBZ

Hers is a catalog of wisdom that outweighs the most durable bookshelf. Hers is an enthusiasm for denominational understanding that awes the most loyal UCCers:

Barbara Brown Zikmund.

Familiarly known as BBZ, Barbara Brown Zikmund has impacted the self-image of the United Church of Christ with her lifetime of theological and historical work. Her knowledge of who and why the UCC is—and her appeal for ongoing discernment of God's call upon the denomination—is unparalleled.

With Embracing Our Roots, a curated collection of BBZ's writing, the UCC is invited to know and nourish its roots so that the diverse fruits of the denomination might enrich the whole body. Embracing Our Roots uplifts three themes from BBZ's writing:

• affirming our faith,
• forming our identity,
• provoking our covenant.

Embracing Our Roots is organized for conversation—whether in a polity course, a church discussion group, or even a confirmation class—with discussion questions accompanying each BBZ article.

About the Author

Barbara Brown Zikmund was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1964 and completed her doctoral degree in 1969. She was the first woman to teach at Chicago Theological Seminary, the first woman to serve as Dean of the Faculty at The Pacific School of Religion, the first woman to be elected President of the Association of Theological Schools, and the first woman to become President of Hartford Theological Seminary. Her editorial work on UCC history is well known through such titles as Hidden Histories in the United Church of Christ (Volumes 1 and 2) and the seven-volume Living Theological Heritage of the United Church of Christ.

Rachel G. Hackenberg, editor for Embracing Our Roots, serves as Publisher for The Pilgrim Press. Her own writings focus on the spiritual life.

Paperback: 104 pages
978-0-8298-0442-3
2025