Rose is a regular columnist for Sojourners magazine where the bulk of her features, interviews, essays, theological reflections, Bible studies, poetry, reviews, and more, may be found at www.sojo.net.

Rose’s writing has also appeared in Radical Discipleship, Radical Grace, U.S. Catholic, Conspire, The Merton Seasonal, and Religion News Service. She is a blind reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly on religion and social justice.

Sample Articles
The Book of the Prophet Daniel by Rose Marie Berger (The Merton Seasonal, Winter, 2017)

Books

The Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International, is pleased to announce the publication of Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and World, edited by Rose Marie Berger, Ken Butigan, Judy Coode, and Marie Dennis (2020). Advancing Nonviolence is the template for a future encyclical on nonviolence. Starting with the experiences of on-the-ground nonviolent interventions across the globe–especially by Catholics, Advancing Nonviolence explores the scriptural, theological and historical foundations of nonviolence, reviews the most current social science on how nonviolence has been effectively employed, and outlines a vision for how the Church might embrace active nonviolence into every aspect of its life. Advancing Nonviolence is the foundational text for all Catholics studying nonviolence and putting our nonviolent faith into action. Study guides, videos, and other educational resources available.

“This foundational book calls the Catholic community to bring nonviolence into the very center of the Church’s thinking on conflict resolution and the issues of war and peace. Its complementary blend of theological insight, moral breadth and hardcore realism about the actual practice of nonviolence point toward a genuine culture of peace for our tormented world.”–Bishop Robert McElroy, San Diego, California

Bending the Arch: Poems by Rose Marie Berger (2019). In answer to Seamus Heaney’s Station Island and Pablo Neruda’s The Heights of Machu Picchu, Berger unmasks the worldview of westward expansion from architect Eero Saarinen’s arch in St. Louis to the Golden Gate in a way that subtly and mystically taps the unconsciousness of the intended audience. When she writes “We never entered the West on bended knee,” the impurity of language used in this epic creates tension between discourses and creates a charge or pressure on each sentence that pushes the reader toward declaring an allegiance. Drawing on historical documents, the Latin Mass, and multivalent voices, Berger moves through the anguish of unintended consequences and leads the reader through the “ghost dance” of feeling to the powerful Pacific Ocean, which enters human consciousness like a dream. Entangled historical memory, climate crisis, and inverse expansionism compress into a spiritual reckoning to face the world to come.

“This book is a beautiful, moving, challenging read, a poetry at once personal, historical, spiritual, and political. Drawing in voices from all of these facets of knowing, Berger creates a truly visionary text, one that feels like a discovery, a codex, and returns to the reader by its conclusion both responsibility and power. Berger’s Bending the Arch is extraordinary in both its lyric power and intellectual reach.”–Linda McCarriston, poet, and professor in the Department of Creative Writing and Literature, University of Alaska Anchorage

Drawn By God: A History of the Society of Medical Missionaries from 1967 to 1991 by Sr. Janet Gottschalk with Rose Marie Berger (2012). In fall of 1967, a small but extraordinary group of women arrived in Rome. Some had suffered through the cataclysmic struggles of World War II on opposing sides. Some were from countries that had only recently thrown off colonial masters. The majority were health professionals from large urban hospitals or rural health clinics. As Medical Mission Sisters, they came to Rome “because the documents of Vatican II touched us deeply and opened us to a whole new way of thinking about ourselves as part of the Christian community, as members of a religious congregation with a mission in the world.” Fifty years later, Medical Mission Sisters now serve in 20 countries, with leadership growing in Asia and the Global South. These courageous and pioneering women are a shining affirmation that they are, indeed, “drawn by God … to be a healing presence at the heart of a wounded world.”

[This book is not available online but may be purchased from the Medical Mission Sisters by contacting Sr. Suzanne Maschek at suzannem (at) mmsmission (dot) net.]

Who Killed Donte Manning? The Story of an American Neighborhood (2010) by Rose Marie Berger, an in-depth study of an innercity neighborhood through the lens of biblical analysis. In March 2005, a nine-year-old boy was gunned down in his Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The unsolved murder tore the community to its core and sets Rose Marie Berger on an exploration for the soul of our nation’s capital. How can urban space be read as biblical narrative? Where do people locate themselves in urban time, space, and spirituality? Who do cities sacrifice and why? “Through Berger’s finely tuned biblical lens, we are invited to see the whole of the human condition.”–Mirabai Starr

Cut Loose The Body: An Anthology of Poems on Torture and Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib Paintings, edited by Rose Marie Berger and Joseph Ross (2007). “Cut Loose the Body” is produced by DC Poets Against War, a volunteer organization. This collection of poetry in response to torture and Botero’s Abu Ghraib paintings also contains a stirring introduction by Dianna Ortiz, director of the Torture Abolition Support and Survivors’ Coalition.

Syllables of the Perfect Word by Rose Marie Berger, with photos by Ryan Beiler. Daily reflections for the season of Advent (Pax Christi USA, 2004) –out of print

Book Chapters

“Reflections on Matthew 6” by Rose Marie Berger in Unsettling the Word, edited by Steve Heinrich (Mennonite Church Canada, 2018)
“Opening and Response” by Rose Marie Berger in Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry, edited by Steve Heinrich (Herald Press, 2013)
“Entrevista con Fernando Botero” in Ventana Abierta (Spring 2008)
“Heaven in Henry County” in Conversations With Wendell Berry edited by Morris Allen Grubbs (2007)
“War and Peace” in The Revolution: A Field Manual for Changing Your World edited by Heather Zydek (2006)
“Getting Our Gaze Back” in The Impossible Will Take A Little While edited by Paul Rogat Loeb (2004)