Crossroad Publishing Company
The Crossroad Publishing Company is a New York-based publishing house for books on spirituality, religion, and wellness. It is the American branch of global Herder family publishing, with headquarters in Freiburg, Germany (Verlag Herder) and Barcelona, Spain. (Herder Editorial) In the 1980s and 90s, Crossroad (and Crossroad/Continuum) was known for its popular list of Christian spirituality authors, including John Michael Talbot, Fr. Thomas Keating, M. Basil Pennington, and Henri Nouwen.
In a category similar to publishers such as Beacon Press in Boston, it was also well-known for breaking ground in fields such as women and religion, introducing titles such as In Memory of Her by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (now at Harvard Divinity School) and She Who Is, the Grawemeyer Award recipient by Elizabeth Johnson (theologian) (now at Fordham University). Alongside editors such as Robert Heller and Frank Oveis, Michael Leach became known for acquiring and shaping projects for progressive Catholics. More recent editors include Paul McMahon, Roy Carlisle, formerly of Harper San Francisco, who focused on evangelical trade titles, and John N. Jones.
Among Crossroad’s titles are John Zmirak’s The Bad Catholic’s Guide to Good Living, Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr, and the multi-volume titles on Ignatian Spirituality by Timothy Gallagher. Books by Robert Ellsberg have won several awards over the years. Most recently, Frank J. Hanna’s What Your Money Means was featured in the April 2009 edition of Reader’s Digest.
Academic titles include Passion and Paradise by J. Warren Smith (Duke Divinity School), Grant Kaplan’s Answering the Enlightenment, and Christopher Ruddy’s The Local Church. More popular titles include Dave Durand’s Win the World without Losing Your Soul and Holy [...]! by Gregory K. Popcak, co-host of the Sirius Radio show Fully Alive!
Recent award winners as reported by the Catholic Press Association include Thomas Sweetser’s Keeping the Covenant, Michael Morwood’s From Sand to Solid Ground, and Broken Trust by Patrick Fleming, Sue Lauber Fleming, and Mark Matousek.
Crossroad is currently directed by Dr. Gwendolin Herder. A native of Freiburg im Breisgau, she trained with Herder publishers as a member of the Herder & Herder family.