Elements of Grace explores the journey of Christian faith through the essential “elements” by which we encounter God's grace: Earth, Water, Spirit, Light, Darkness, Discipleship, and Word. By combining the story of Scripture and the stories of everyday life, Barkley Thompson offers a series of profound meditations that communicate the heart of the gospel. Readers will find themselves both comforted and challenged at the way Elements of Grace brings a new understanding to the depth of Christian discipleship. “Barkley Thompson is remarkably good at evoking people, places, and histories as he reflects on the biblical text. One can imagine that his congregation can hardly wait to see what he will come up with, Sunday after Sunday. In the service of the people of God, he’ll take you from the Ozarks to Mt. Everest, from coal furnaces to perfect storms, from The Poseidon Adventure to Shakespeare—all of it arranged with keen narrative skill and not a word wasted. This young preacher is a gift to the church.” —Fleming Rutledge, author of Not Ashamed of the Gospel “Barkley Thompson weaves the vocabulary of Holy Scripture with the vernacular of contemporary culture in ways that are irresistibly concrete and alive with intelligent energy.” —Cynthia Kittredge, author of Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of John “Elements of Grace … is about the connection of lives lived today with the living Word of Scripture and the lives within it. It is about the lives of saints and sinners from times past and times present and the discovery that we are family … It is about a God who reaches out to us and loves us. It is about a God who shakes the foundations of the world, the powers that be, and offers unshakeable hope in the future.” —Andrew Doyle, author of Unabashedly Episcopalian Barkley Thompson is an Episcopal priest and serves as dean of historic Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas. He has published essays in numerous journals and magazines.  He is the author of two books, "Elements of Grace" (2013) and "In the Midst of the City: The Gospel and God's Politics" (2018). Barkley earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy & Religion, magna cum laude, from Hendrix College, a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from The University of Chicago, and a Master of Divinity from The Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. He is married and has two children.