Description:In Light Shining in a Dark Place, Jeff Sellars has drawn together more than a dozen scholars around the theme of discovering theology through the moving medium of film. The varied contributors in this collection explore, through their particular lenses, how theological ideas might be seen in and considered through one of the most popular of modern art forms. From subjects of sin, grace, and forgiveness to violence, science fiction/fantasy, and zombies, Light Shining in a Dark Place assists the theologically interested film viewer in tracing the light that might be found in the filmic arts back to the source of all lights. Contributors include: Bruce L. Edwards, J. Sage Elwell, Michael Leary, Peter Malone, Kevin C. Neece, Simon Oliver, Kim Paffenroth, J. Ryan Parker, Travis Prinzi, Megan J. Robinson, Scott Shiffer, James H. Thrall, and Alissa WilkinsonEndorsements:""An intriguingly eclectic, far-ranging collection of essays that shows how everything from art house cinema to the most popcorny of pop culture--including direct-to-DVD fare--can illuminate our understanding of the world, our place in it, and the One who made it. Even some rather well-worn topics are approached from strikingly original angles. I learned a fair bit from reading this book, and look forward to referencing it in the future.""--Peter T. Chattaway, previous film critic for BC Christian News ""In an all-star line up of writers, this accessible book enables readers to discover God through the all-encompassing medium of the movie, perhaps the most powerful medium on the planet. Movies help us understand God and his story, and God and his Story enables us to understand the movies. Read this book and you''ll know film, God, and the biblical narrative better.""--David Naugle, Associate Producer of Grassroots Entertainment, LLC""Here is a delightful study of cinema''s ability to smuggle God-stories into the shades and shadows of the art of showing us who he is, who we are, and who we might be. The wealth of insights in these essays would encourage the likes of a C. S. Lewis to reevaluate this most modern of methods for illuminating and recovering truth twenty-four times per second.""--Scott Calhoun, Conference Director for U2: The Hype and The Feedback""Light Shining in a Dark Place offers a rich, creative, and diverse theological discourse on concepts such as evil, grace, forgiveness, horror, and community explored through an equally rich selection of films . . . Each chapter is marked by deep scholarship underpinned by a lively enthusiasm and informed respect for the medium of film.""--Maggie Roux, Associate Principal Lecturer at Leeds Trinity University CollegeAbout the Contributor(s):Jeff Sellars, PhD, currently teaches philosophy and humanities in Northern California and Southern Oregon. Visit www.lightshining.org for more information on Light Shining in a Dark Place and related materials.
Description:Does religion need to look more like a science? If much of the contemporary work published in science and religion is any indication, the answer appears to be a resounding ""yes."" Yet the current tendency to dress religion up in the language and methods of science does more harm than good. In Kneeling at the Altar of Science, Robert Bolger argues that much of the recent writing in science and religion falls prey to the practice of what he calls ""religious scientism,"" or the attempt to use science to explain and clarify certain religious concepts. Bolger then shows, with clarity and humor, how religious scientism harms rather than helps, arguing in the end that religious concepts do better when their meaning is found in the context of their religious use. This book promises to be a fresh approach to the ever-popular dialogue between science and religion.Endorsements:""This is an impressive new contribution to current debates over the proper relationship between science and religion. Bolger argues convincingly that what he calls ''religious scientism'' is a mistake made by both scientific critics of religion, as well as by some misguided theologians. Bolger''s careful dissection of where these very different thinkers go wrong gets to the root of many of these issues.""--Brian L. Keeley, Professor, Pitzer College""In clear and jargon-free prose, Bolger offers sophisticated arguments to uncover the intellectual errors of applying claims of science to religion--errors made by thinkers from Richard Dawkins to Ian Barbour to Arthur Peacocke. The ''science and religion'' debates have neglected a position that deserves the thoughtful hearing Bolger gives it. Brimming with well-informed arguments, Kneeling at the Altar of Science is both original and enjoyable.""--Lynne Rudder Baker, author of The Metaphysics of Everyday Life""Kneeling at the Altar of Science tells it straight. Asserting that ''God is not the type of thing that exists doesn''t distort religious meaning, but may, in fact, be the best, most religious way to start smashing our idols once and for all.""--Scott Korb, author of Life in Year One: What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestine ""Bolger''s analysis is strong, original, and provocative. His book is worthy of careful reading; his treatment of the topic deserves much further discussion.""--Willem B. Drees, editor of Zygon: Journal of Religion and ScienceAbout the Contributor(s):Robert Bolger (PhD, Claremont Graduate University) currently lives and teaches near Seattle.
Description:In an increasingly homogeneous higher education landscape, does organizational identity still matter? Specifically, church-related higher education has experienced seismic shifts since the mid-1960s. Framed by emerging research on organizations and theories of isomorphism, this book traces the forty-year narratives of three colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--Concordia College, Gettysburg College, and Lenoir-Rhyne University. Are these schools seeking to preserve their religious identities, and if so, what organizational strategies are supporting these efforts? In-depth personal interviews, rigorous document analysis, and thoughtful observation give voice to the three stories detailed in College Identity Sagas. For those interested in distinctive colleges, religiously affiliated higher education, and organization and institutional theories, this book is a vital resource.Endorsements:""In engaging prose, Childers provides a framework for understanding the variety, impact, and possibilities of religious identity in colleges . . . By employing multiple voices and a spectrum of examples, he provides a nuanced discussion of the issue into which most campuses can beneficially enter.""--Ryan LaHurd, President of James S. Kemper Foundation ""Childers has produced a groundbreaking study. His findings are based on substantive theory and thorough research and analysis. Hopefully, these three case studies will be useful to other colleges and church bodies in charting their courses.""--Paul J. Dovre, President Emeritus of Concordia CollegeAbout the Contributor(s):Eric Childers completed his PhD in higher education at the University of Virginia in 2010. He serves as pastor of St. John''s Lutheran Church in Cherryville, North Carolina.
Description:Did the Jesus of St. Luke''s Gospel come to heal the brokenhearted (4:18)? Did Mark''s Jesus call his disciples to prayer and fasting (9:29), and did he cry from the cross, ""My God, my God, why have you persecuted me?"" (15:34). Did St. Paul write to the Romans that God works all things together for good for those who love him (8:28)? Did the author of Hebrews declare that Jesus died apart from God (2:9)?These statements are found in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament, but are not included in our standard printed editions or translations. Peter Rodgers argues that these and other textual variations should be reconsidered. After reviewing ten important verses using the traditional areas of text-critical inquiry (manuscript evidence, internal criteria such as style, and transcriptional probabilities), Rodgers turns our attention to important but neglected narrative features indicated by quotations, allusions, and echoes of the Old Testament. These references to the story told in the Scriptures of Israel shed new light on the passages considered, offering fresh material and greater perspective for making judgments about the original text.Endorsements:""Rodgers'' well-researched arguments should encourage exegetes to benefit from the insights of textual criticism, and text critics to harness the current approach of narrative criticism. His is a timely and carefully paced examination that demonstrates that much Christian teaching and church history may be unearthed by the judicious use of a critical apparatus to a Greek New Testament.""-J. K. ElliottUniversity of Leeds""Although Text and Story is not intentionally written as a textbook on textual criticism, Peter Rodgers offers enough technical material on this discipline to demonstrate how it enables us to understand certain textual variants in the New Testament. But Rodgers is not afraid to question or depart from some of the text-critical conclusions of previous and current scholars. The unique and somewhat courageous attribute of the book is that the author finds possible solutions in the narrative features of the texts in question and in Old Testament quotations, allusions, and narratives that lie behind them but that may have been forgotten, changed, and/or omitted during the process of transmission.""-Arthur G. PatziaFuller Theological Seminary""Seasoned parish priest and New Testament text critic, Peter Rodgers deftly guides his reader through the complexities of text criticism. He creatively explores the theological and hermeneutical fruits of this often mind-numbing but time-tested method by means of narrative criticism. This is a priceless resource for seminarians, pastors, and priests alike, who want to understand the lay of the land of this classic method, but who often find themselves put off by the method''s technical intricacies.""-Kathryn Greene-McCreightSt. John''s Episcopal Church, New HavenAbout the Contributor(s):Peter R. Rodgers is Pastor of St. Andrew''s Episcopal Church in Antelope, California, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, Sacramento Campus.
Description:Epp-Tiessen sheds light on the compositional history, structure, and theology of the book of Jeremiah by demonstrating that a large concentric unit of material focusing on true and false prophecy stands at the center of the book. This unit, titled ""Concerning the Prophets"" (23:9), utilizes the heritage of Jeremiah to contrast the nature of true and false prophecy in order to warn the Second Temple community of the disastrous consequences of false prophecy and to highlight the saving potential of true prophecy. False prophecy leads to doom because it ignores the moral failings of the community, promises well-being in the face of catastrophe, and reinforces the misleading theological certainties of Judah''s pre-587 way of life. In contrast, the true prophet Jeremiah challenges the faith community to embrace the physical and spiritual dislocation of the Babylonian destruction. Post-disaster life stands under the saving purposes of YHWH, but the only way forward is to learn the painful lessons of catastrophe and heed the prophetic summons to repent and embrace a Torah-based way of life.Endorsements:""One of the most engaging and significant books on Jeremiah to come across my desk in recent years. Epp-Tiessen''s book is intelligent, bold, and replete with exegetical insight! It will no doubt enrich all those interested in prophetic literature and the tortuous question of true and false prophecy. I commend it enthusiastically."" --Louis Stulman, University of Findlay""Epp-Teissen''s commitment to literary artistry and his unabashed readiness for ''the final form of the text'' permit him to open for us a text often neglected in current interpretation. I anticipate this book will be a durable reference point, both for future work on this body of texts and for the vexing, contemporary issue of false prophecy that still transpires among us.""--Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary""Issues of truth and falsehood have plagued religious communities for centuries. Who is telling the truth? What criteria can best be used to discern what is true and what is false? In this thoughtful study, Epp-Tiessen focuses on the largest block of biblical text that works with these issues: Jeremiah 23-29. . . . His probes into these texts will be helpful in assisting readers to address these persistent questions in ways that are theologically and pastorally sensitive.""--Terrence Fretheim, Luther Seminary""''How should we distinguish between true and false prophecy in a time of distress and frustration?'' This question was imperative in the post-exilic community of Judah, and it is still as relevant as ever. Epp-Tiessen presents the considerations on this topic revealed in the book of Jeremiah and offers valuable material for further theological reflection.""--Else K. Holt, Aarhus UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Daniel Epp-Tiessen is Associate Professor of Bible at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Canada.
About the Contributor(s):Associate Professor Mark R. Lindsay is Director of Research at MCD University of Divinity. He is the author of two earlier books on Karl Barth--Covenanted Solidarity: The Theological Basis of Karl Barth''s Opposition to Nazi Antisemitism and the Holocaust (2001), and Barth, Israel and Jesus (2007)--as well as numerous chapters and articles on Barth, Bonhoeffer, and post-Holocaust theology.
How do different Christian denominations in the United States approach immigration issues? In Immigrant Neighbors among Us, U.S. Hispanic scholars creatively mine the resources of their theological traditions to reflect on one of the most controversial issues of our day. Representative theologians from Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist/Wesleyan, Pentecostal, and Independent Evangelical church families show how biblical narratives, historical events, systematic frameworks, ethical principles, and models of ministry shape their traditions'' perspectives on immigrant neighbors, law, and reform. Each chapter provides questions for dialogue.""A superb collection of chapters addressing immigration from the theological, ethical, and pastoral perspectives of most of the main ecclesial traditions present among U.S. Latinas/os today. Highly recommended for those seeking a serious, informed, and more sensible understanding of immigration.""--Orlando O. Espin, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of San Diego""This book is a splendid rejoinder to the critique that Latino/a theology has not developed a full-fledged theology of migration. Digging deep into Latino/a experiences of migration and the theological resources of six different Christian communities, the contributors offer rich and challenging reflections on migration . . . I most strongly recommend this book to church leaders, those ministering with and for Latino/a migrants, and activists working for the reform of law and public policies regarding migration.""--Peter C. Phan, Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown UniversityM. Daniel Carroll R. is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary, Denver, Colorado, and adjunct professor at El Seminario Teologico Centroamericano, Guatemala City, Guatemala. He is the author of Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible (2013).Leopoldo A. Sanchez M. is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, where he holds the Werner R.H. and Elizabeth Ringger Krause Chair for Hispanic Ministries and is Director of the Center for Hispanic Studies. He is the author of Receiver, Bearer, and Giver of God''s Spirit: Jesus'' Life in the Spirit as a Lens for Theology and Life (2015).
About the Contributor(s):Robert Fossett (PhD, Concordia Seminary) is an assistant pastor at Trinity Church in St. Louis, Missouri (PCA), and is an adjunct professor of religion at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.
Description:This collection of essays concerns the development of contextualized theologies of liberation in Palestine and the indigenous Palestinian people''s struggle for justice and liberation. The work is innovative because of its inclusion of indigenous perspectives within its remit and the introduction of new concepts such as civil liberation theology. The collection offers other ways to look at biblical discourses and their impact on the ongoing conflict, ways to live peace, ways to be ethical when visiting these conflicted lands, understandings of resource ethics, and even a new way to understand how we approach our understanding of liberation theology. Contributors include well-known scholars from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Palestinian-Israeli, Indian, American, and British contexts. This work goes beyond standard academic collections. It is aimed not only at scholars and students but also at peace activists and policymakers. It should be of use not only in academic courses but also for practitioners of conflict resolution, peace and reconciliation.
Description:The purpose of this book is to help postmodern Westerners understand what the Bible has to say about wealth and possessions, basing itself on the presumption that (a) nobody can understand themselves apart from some recognition of their spiritual roots, and (b) that these roots sink deeper into the pages of the Bible than most Westerners realize. Focusing upon that part of the Bible most widely recognized to be its ideological core--that which is called Torah by some, Pentateuch by others--it interprets this ""great text"" against other ""great texts"" in its literary-historical environment, including (a) some epic poems from Mesopotamia, (b) some Jewish texts from Syria-Palestine, and (c) some Nazarene parables from the Greek New Testament.Endorsements:""This remarkable book by Michael Moore asks what the Bible and other ancient texts have to say about important socioeconomic questions involving wealth: its acquisition and protection; deprivation and slavery; corruption and hedonism; and even relations between management and labor. This is a thoughtful and eminently readable study that nicely lays out the big problems entailed by wealth and looks at how ancient literature offers critiques of wealth practices and related social problems. Moore offers insights and wisdom from the Bible and other ancient classics to anyone trying to think about and evaluate modern values in a culture that all too often seems sadly obsessed with money."" -Mark S. SmithSkirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies New York University""Michael Moore has written an extraordinarily wide-ranging, widely-read, lively, swashbuckling, and illuminating book on a topic of huge importance in our world--indeed (as he shows) in any world. It will give you new understanding of the Bible, it will not bore you, and the footnotes alone are an education.""-John GoldingayDavid Allan Hubbard Professor of Old TestamentFuller Theological Seminary""A thoroughly researched review of socioeconomic conflicts in the Bible and its contemporary world in continuity with present conflicts, featuring corruption, addiction, and our ongoing (debt-) slavery, prompted by the breakdown of the family economic unit (divorce) and catastrophic medical bills. Drawing upon familiar Biblical stories and motifs-including the emphasis on sharing and the rejection of sheer acquisitiveness-Moore challenges present-day readers and leads them to change their perceptions and actions.""-Herbert HuffmonProfessor of Old Testament StudiesDrew UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Michael S. Moore is a faculty associate at Arizona State University and Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Balaam Traditions (1990) and Faith Under Pressure (2003).
Description:In November 2010, three hundred faculty, students, and others interested in Christian mission gathered in Boston to consider how the world, the global church, and Christian missions have changed since the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 and to reflect on the three previous centennial conferences (Tokyo 2010 in May, Edinburgh 2010 in June, and Cape Town 2010 in October). Participants at ""2010Boston"" were not delegates from churches and mission agencies, but were students and scholars of various aspects of world Christianity representing the Anglican/Episcopal, Evangelical, mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic traditions. This conference volume consists of nine keynote messages, five student presentations, three reports from the other conferences, and additional materials from or about 2010Boston. The keynote messages address the history of mission (especially in and from Boston) and the current global context for mission, and suggest modes for future Christian engagement with the world and one another. Student papers address such conference themes as unity in mission, mission and postcolonialism, and discipleship in context. The closing chapter surveys the conference''s eight themes and summarizes the outcomes of the 2010Boston process.Endorsements:""This fascinating record of one of the leading events marking the centenary of Edinburgh 1910 deals with key issues for mission studies and world Christianity today. Ecclesially diverse and gender balanced, it also weaves together both local (Boston) interest with input from around the globe. There are some excellent papers on the history and theology of mission, and the relative space given to the voices of students--who are also practitioners--is particularly welcome.""--Kirsteen Kim, Professor of Theology and World Christianity, Leeds Trinity University College, UK""Comprehensive and forward-looking, this book is an important resource for theological faculty and students, church leaders, and people in the pews interested in the future direction of Christian mission and world Christianity. Ecumenical and pluriphonic, each chapter offers new insights and adds richness to the whole. I highly recommend it.""Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology""This volume represents a worthy, thought-provoking commemoration of Edinburgh 1910. The emphasis on student participation at Boston 2010 is particularly significant. Many of the students at Edinburgh went on to become leaders of the twentieth century church. One can only hope that the many students who participated in this conference will do the same for our own century.""--Stephen Bevans, Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD, Professor of Mission and Culture at Catholic Theological Union, ChicagoAbout the Contributor(s):Todd M. Johnson is Associate Professor of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA. He is coeditor of the Atlas of Global Christianity (2009).Rodney L. Petersen is Executive Director of the Boston Theological Institute (BTI), moving to the Boston area from Switzerland in 1990. He is coeditor of The Antioch Agenda: Essays on the Restorative Church in Honor of Orlando E. Costas (2007).Gina A. Bellofatto is a research assistant at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She was the Senior Editorial Assistant for the Atlas of Global Christianity (2009). Travis L. Myers is a ThD candidate in missiology (Boston University School of Theology and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary). He is a former faculty member of the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary.
Description:While most scholars focus on the character of Cornelius as a model Gentile, Bonnie Flessen argues that Cornelius is also a model male figure for Luke''s audience. When analyzed closely, the characterization of Cornelius reveals a multifaceted rhetorical strategy regarding both gender and empire. This strategy lifts up a rather surprising portrait of an exemplary man who represents the Roman Empire and yet nevertheless manifests the virtues of submission, piety, and generosity.Flessen also proposes a hermeneutic of masculinity as a means to exegete Acts and other New Testament texts. This critical lens provides interpreters with a way of thinking about gender when female characters are absent or sparse. Although constructs of gender are embedded in texts, interpreters can use recent scholarship on masculinity along with extrabiblical evidence as tools to excavate the contours of the male figure in antiquity.Endorsements:""A compelling study about men during the Roman Empire that does not reinforce male dominance and androcentric reading habits. It skillfully fuses historical-literary methodologies with a hermeneutic of masculinity and presents Cornelius, the male centurion in Acts 10, as a model man whose ''alternative'' way of being masculine challenged men of the early Christian communities to relinquish androcentric domination, authority, and power. Of course, this challenge does not merely belong to the first century but has urgent relevance even today!""-Susanne ScholzAssociate Professor of Old TestamentPerkins School of Theology About the Contributor(s):Bonnie J. Flessen is an adjunct instructor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Description:What does the Old Testament say about the problem of suffering? Though Christians believe themselves to be held in the care of the God of love and strength, they yet find that sufferings come their way. Moreover, whole communities, even whole nations, experience terrible sufferings--all of which frequently raises the question, ""Where is the God of justice?""Those parts of the Old Testament that deal with this question are here considered and discussed, both those that understand suffering as due to human sinfulness and those that raise serious questions about that sort of understanding. Further, here are Jeremiah''s questions about why he, as the Lord''s prophet, must suffer; the gentler questions in Ecclesiastes; the perplexing life experiences of Joseph; the agonized prayer of Habakkuk; those most urgent questions in the book of Job; the outspoken words of psalmists; the radical talk about a ""suffering servant""; and the confident hope expressed in Daniel. Thompson argues that while the Old Testament cannot always give us answers, it does point us to God for hope in the midst of suffering.Endorsements:""With the insights of a scholar and the heart of a pastor, Michael Thompson considers what the Old Testament can say to help those going through times of suffering. He gently leads his readers through a variety of books, treating the problem with realism and showing that a number of responses are considered. This sensitive treatment marks a great advance on many previous dogmatic approaches.""-H. G. M. WilliamsonUniversity of Oxford""The Bible does not shy away from the problem of human suffering and the challenge it presents to belief in divine justice. In this book, Michael Thompson gives the reader a first-rate insight into the many-sided approaches that are offered by the prophets, psalmists, and sages of the Old Testament. I commend it very highly for its clarity and readability.""-Ronald E. ClementsKing''s College, University of London""Michael Thompson has brought to bear on a fundamental theme of the Hebrew Bible a deep familiarity with biblical texts and scholarship. With clarity he guides us through important ways the biblical writers have wrestled with the question of God''s justice. The chapters flow easily and logically, specifying, explaining, and framing the various responses. While offering his own well-argued judgments, Thompson leaves his reader with a sense of the profundity and complexity of the question. The book opens, not closes, the Bible. It is a thoughtful contribution in its own right and will make a valuable resource for students in a variety of settings.""-David GunnTexas Christian UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Michael E. W. Thompson is a Methodist minister who, in retirement, has served as part-time tutor in Old Testament with East Midlands Ministry Training Course in England. He is author of I Have Heard Your Prayer: The Old Testament and Prayer (1996) and the Epworth Commentary Isaiah 40-66 (2001).
Description:This book offers a rigorous analysis of the theme of ""the cross"" in the Johannine literature. After reviewing previous scholarship on the issue, Morgan-Wynne examines evidence that prima facie suggests that the evangelist, while maintaining the role of Jesus as revealer of the Father in his incarnate ministry, also saw something decisive for the salvation of human beings happening in the cross. Having established this, the work looks at John''s understanding of sin and his concept of the purpose shared by the Father and Jesus, before reflecting on themes associated with the meaning of the cross. Of special importance is John 12, which connects the cross to the judgment of the world, the ejection of Satan, and the drawing of all to Jesus. The author examines what John considers to have been objectively achieved at the cross. A further section examines the meaning of the death of Jesus in the Epistle of 1 John, seen as the work of someone different from the evangelist but belonging to the same Johannine circle. The similarities and differences between Letter and Gospel are explored.Endorsements:""After a comprehensive survey of recent scholarship on the significance of the death of Jesus in the Gospel and First Letter of John the author gives us his own carefully and clearly argued interpretation of it as a saving and not merely a revelatory event. This confirmation of the traditional type of understanding of John''s theology over against views that weaken the significance of the cross in it is warmly to be welcomed, especially by students looking for an up-to-date discussion of the problems.""-I. Howard MarshallProfessor Emeritus of New TestamentUniversity of Aberdeen""The Cross in the Johannine Writings provides a thorough, up-to-date evaluation of a discussion that has vexed Johannine scholars for a century. Morgan-Wynne carefully surveys contributors (helpfully including vast continental scholarship in detail), provides an assessment, and then gives careful attention to one of John''s most nuanced themes. This is now the most current and important voice that every Johannine scholar will want to hear.""-Gary M. BurgeProfessor of New TestamentWheaton College & Graduate School""A Gospel is the story of Jesus, climaxing in his crucifixion and resurrection. John''s telling of that story moves steadily to the same climax, but in motifs and images which are distinctive, even unique among the New Testament Gospels. To appreciate how John''s treatment of the cross sheds new light on the gospel being proclaimed adds so much to Christian understanding of the cross. John Morgan-Wynne''s valuable study brings this point home with force and effect.""-James D. G. DunnEmeritus Lightfoot Professor of DivinityDurham UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):John Morgan-Wynne (PhD in Durham) was Tutor in New Testament at Regent''s Park College, Oxford, and taught Greek in the University for over twenty years. He served as Principal of Bristol Baptist College for six years and then became minister of Ilkley Baptist Church, West Yorkshire, before retiring. He is the author of Holy Spirit and Christian Experience in Christian Literature ca 90AD to 200AD.
Description:Where did Paul find leaders for his new churches? How did he instruct and develop them? What processes took place to stabilize the churches and institute their new leadership? This book carves a fresh trail in leadership studies by looking at leadership development from a group-dynamic, social identity perspective. Paul engages the cultural leadership patterns of his key local leaders, publicly affirming, correcting, and improving those patterns to conform to a Christlike pattern of sacrificial service. Paul''s own life and ministry offer a motivational and authoritative model for his followers, because he embodies the leadership style he teaches. As a practical theologian avant la lettre, Paul contextualizes key theological themes to strengthen community and leadership formation, and equips his church leaders as entrepreneurs of Christian identity. A careful comparison of the Corinthian and Ephesian churches demonstrates a similar overall pattern of development. This study engages Pauline scholarship on church office in depth and offers alternative readings of five Pauline epistles, generating new insights to enrich dogmatic and practical theological reflection. In a society where many churches reflect on their missional calling, such input from the NT for contemporary Christian leadership formation is direly needed.Endorsements:""In this highly readably text, Jack Barentsen rises to the challenging task of using the latest thinking on the psychology of leadership to provide a thoroughgoing, fresh, and highly convincing analysis of leadership in early Pauline communities. The result is not only an excellent theological monograph, but also a model of integrative scholarship that is much more than the sum of its theological and psychological parts. Indeed, as a forensic case study of leadership this is very hard to beat--and there is more to be learned from this volume than in the greater part of the vast managerial literature on this topic.""--Alexander HaslamSchool of PsychologyUniversity of Exeter""This volume offers a thorough account of the history of Pauline scholarship of local church leadership, together with the most extensive and detailed investigation into the development of such leadership across two ancient cities associated with the Pauline mission: Corinth and Ephesus. It concludes by offering a consistent portrait of leadership development, together with some wide-ranging implications both for this very important historical field, but also for modern-day church leaders. This is a most welcome study.""--Andrew ClarkeDivinity and Religious StudiesUniversity of Aberdeen""Jack Barentsen''s Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission fills a large gap in our current understanding of the organizational arrangements and leadership models utilized by the first followers of Jesus. This impressive monograph is well researched, erudite in formulation, and provocative in its conclusions. I believe that it will become a standard text for students of organizational leadership in the early Church.""--Corné J. BekkerProfessor of Biblical and Ecclesial LeadershipRegent UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Jack Barentsen, born and raised in the Netherlands, served as missionary church planter in his native country and now serves as Assistant Professor of Practical Theology and New Testament at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit at Leuven, Belgium (www.etf.edu). He also serves as Secretary of the Institute of Leadership and Ethics at ETF, speaking on leadership and offering consulting services to church leadership teams.
The eighteenth-century Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards has become popular again in contemporary theological discussion. Central to Edwards'' theology is his concept of beauty. Delattre wrote the standard work on this topic half a century ago. However, Delattre approaches Edwards mainly as a philosopher, and he does not address how Edwards employs the concept of beauty to explain and defend traditional Reformed doctrines. Recent writings by McClymond, Holmes, and others have shown that defending the Reformed tradition is a fundamental concern of Edwards. This work reveals how Edwards, starting with the common notion that beauty means the appropriate proportional relationship, develops a theological aesthetic that contributes to a rational understanding of major doctrines such as the Trinity, Christology, and eschatology. It shows that Edwards is both an innovative speculative theologian and a staunch defender of Reformed orthodoxy.""The Beauty of the Triune God will prove to be a major contribution. It shows convincingly the significance of doctrinal orientation in Edwards'' aesthetics as much as the centrality of aesthetics in his doctrinal articulation, weaving his Trinitarian, christological, and eschatological perspectives together to unfold an aesthetics that is truly theological and holistic.""--Carver Yu, President, China Graduate School of Theology""Louie''s study reveals the ways in which Edwards'' account of beauty does not emerge as an epiphenomenon of his theological system or as a side-concern. . . . The embeddedness of beauty in the doctrines of the Christian faith . . . is thus a central feature of Edwards'' theology, and one that is admirably displayed in this study. This is an important contribution.""--From the foreword by David Fergusson, University of Edinburgh""Without an understanding and appreciation of the aesthetic dimension of Edwards'' theology, the reader will inevitably miss or misunderstand the most important points Edwards has to make. This general point has been recognized by many scholars . . . [but] the fully theological nature of Edwards'' aesthetics has been largely ignored. . . . Louie''s work seeks to correct this lacuna in Edwards scholarship. And, in my opinion, he does a superb job.""--From the foreword by Samuel Logan, The World Reformed FellowshipKin Yip Louie is Assistant Professor of Theology at China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong. He is the author of various articles in the CGST Journal and other Chinese publications.
Description:What does the evangelical church in Palestine think about the land, the end times, the Holocaust, peace in the Middle East, loving enemies, Christian Zionism, the State of Israel, and the possibilities of a Palestinian state? For the first time ever, Palestinian evangelicals along with evangelicals from the United States and Europe have converged to explore these and other crucial topics. Although Jews, Muslims, and Christians from a variety of traditions have participated in discussions and work regarding Israel and Palestine, this book presents theological, biblical, and political perspectives and arguments from Palestinian evangelicals who are praying, hoping, and working for a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.Endorsements:""Few international issues are more urgent than a just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And few issues divide evangelicals so severely. This is an important book where key evangelical scholars with differing views dialogue respectfully and carefully about central disagreements. The result clarifies difficult, complex issues and points the way toward a just solution.""--Ronald J. SiderProfessor of Theology, Palmer Theological Seminary, Eastern UniversityPresident, Evangelicals for Social ActionAbout the Contributor(s):Paul Alexander is Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Policy at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University and Director of Public Policy at Evangelicals for Social Action in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. His books include Peace to War: Shifting Allegiances in the Assemblies of God (2009) and Pentecostals and Peacemaking: Heritage, Theology, and the 21st Century (forthcoming, 2012).
Description:How can we work toward mutual understanding in our increasingly diverse and interconnected world? Pastoral theologian Melinda McGarrah Sharp approaches this multifaceted, interdisciplinary question by beginning with moments of intercultural misunderstanding. Using misunderstanding stories from her experience working with the Peace Corps in Suriname, Dr. McGarrah Sharp argues that we must recognize the limits of our own cultural perspectives in order to have meaningful intercultural encounters that are more mutually empowering and hopeful. Bringing together resources from pastoral theology, ethnography, and postcolonial studies, she provides a valuable resource for investigating the complexity of providing care and fostering communities of belonging across cultural differences. McGarrah Sharp illustrates a process of moving from disconnection to regard for diverse others as neighbors who share a common yearning for hopeful and meaningful connection. Leaders in faith communities, practitioners of care, and scholars will all be able to use this resource to better understand the conflicts, tensions, and uncertainties of our postcolonial twenty-first-century world. An included discussion guide facilitates classroom study, small group discussion, and personal reflection.Endorsements:""At the heart of Misunderstanding Stories are moving and exquisitely analyzed narratives of intercultural (mis-)understanding, set in the context of a Maroon village in my native Suriname. Working towards augmenting the toolbox of pastoral theology with postcolonial studies, this is a book driven by a deep hunger for humanization and justice, and informed by an embodied sense of differential privilege.""--Gloria Wekker, Professor Emeritus of Gender Studies, Utrecht University, the Netherlands""Melinda McGarrah Sharp does what few interculturalists seem able to bear--she makes our intercultural conflicts the focus of her work and our learning. The result is a book that helps us explore profound challenges: the inevitability of harming one another, deep relational breaches amid misunderstood cultural differences, self-reflexivity and complicity after colonialism, linguistic chasms, and unresolvable tensions. Adequate postcolonial interculturality is not avoiding these conflicts, but navigating them constructively. McGarrah Sharp illuminates that path.""--Kathleen J. Greider, Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care, and Counseling, Claremont School of Theology""McGarrah Sharp insists that to understand we must grapple with our misunderstanding, a misunderstanding heightened by complicity within Western colonialism. The book is unique in its creative use of postcolonial theory to correct basic assumptions about identity development and empathy and its new model of care with a step-by-step analysis of relational breach, crisis, redress, and reconciliation.""--Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture, Vanderbilt University""Encounters across cultures are inevitably fraught with dangers of conflict and misunderstanding. Misunderstanding Stories offers a resourceful, nuanced, sensitive, and useful engagement with intercultural misunderstanding. This book makes a much-needed, substantial appeal to pastoral theologians to attend seriously to postcolonial perspectives for a more adequate response to the complexities of culture. Melinda McGarrah Sharp is to be commended.""--Emmanuel Y. Lartey, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling, Candler School of Theology""McGarrah Sharp challenges readers to reflect more deeply on their own misunderstanding stories and to stay longer in places of vulnerability in order to move toward more complex forms of mutual healing and neighborly love. The writing is both scholarly and captivating, as the author distills wisdom from diverse fields and helps us understand how to live with each other with integrity and hope.""--Mary Clark Moschella, Profess
Karl Barth was an eminently conversational theologian, and with the Internet revolution, we live today in an eminently conversational age. Being the proceedings of the 2010 Karl Barth Blog Conference, Karl Barth in Conversation brings these two factors together in order to advance the dialogue about Barth''s theology and extend the online conversation to new audiences. With conversation partners ranging from Wesley to ┼╜i┼╛ek, from Schleiermacher to Jenson, from Hauerwas to the Coen brothers, this volume opens up exciting new horizons for exploring Barth''s immense contribution to church and world. The contributors, who represent a young new generation of academic theologians, bring a fresh perspective to a topic--the theology of Karl Barth--that often seems to have exhausted its range of possibilities. This book proves that there is still a great deal of uncharted territory in the field of Barth studies. Today, more than forty years since the Swiss theologian''s death, the conversation is as lively as ever.""This book is an exciting and important contribution to Barth studies. It breaks open the potential cul-de-sac of Barth scholarship to new conversation partners and thinkers. The result is a fascinating collection of essays that brings out new accents on Barth''s work and offers constructive insights for the future of theology. . . . Let us hope this book sets an agenda for the future.""--Tom Greggs, Professor of Historical and Doctrinal Theology, King''s College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland""In this welcome collection of colorful and stimulating input from young scholars, we get to eavesdrop on some new ''conversations'' surveying a diverse range of themes, and in the wake of the fresh questions raised, we are invited to hear again what Barth and others have heard and misheard.""--Jason Goroncy, Dean of Studies, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, New Zealand""This is a fascinating and instructive set of essays by a group of talented young theologians. These studies offer fresh perspectives on the thought of Barth and his dialogue partners and suggest new pathways for further exploration. Here we see both the ongoing power of Barth''s theology to stimulate new conversations and the creative potential of a new generation of Barth scholars.""--Adam Neder, Associate Professor of Theology, Whitworth University, WashingtonW. Travis McMaken, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Religion at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. He is the author of The Sign of the Gospel: Toward an Evangelical Doctrine of Infant Baptism after Karl Barth (Fortress, 2013).David W. Congdon, PhD, is Associate Editor of Academic Books for IVP Academic. His research plumbs the relationship between Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann.
Description:How did the ancient Hebrew writers understand their emotional experiences of being in distress? Were their feelings similar to those of an English speaker who feels down, or were there other embodied experiences they used to make sense of physical, social, and emotional distress? This research establishes a cognitive linguistic methodology for addressing these questions, and investigates the use of embodied experiences of VERTICALITY, CONSTRAINT, FORCE, DARKNESS, and BAD TASTE in the conventional language of classical Hebrew lament to understand and reason about situations of distress.Endorsements:""This work of Phil King is an important and engaging contribution to our understanding of the metaphors describing situations of distress in ancient Hebrew poetry. Using cognitive semantics methods, King identifies and discusses the peculiarities of the metaphors of distress, show[ing] how they reveal distinctive aspects of Israelite thought and also reflect our common experience of embodied human beings. This is a significant, rich, and conclusive application of modern semantics to biblical Hebrew studies.""--Dr. Jean-Marc HeimerdingerLecturer in Hebrew and Judaism, London School of Theology""Hebrew poetry . . . makes extensive use of metaphors in its presentation of the distressing experiences of ancient Israelites. In this important study Philip King provides a rich and satisfying linguistic examination of these metaphors. For this he uses the approach known as cognitive linguistics, which has been particularly fruitful for the study of metaphor. Biblical thought about distress is distinctive but also shares elements which are much more widespread.""--Dr. Graham DaviesFormer Professor of Old Testament Studies, University of Cambridge""This book is a bold attempt to study distress language in classical Hebrew from a cognitive linguistics point of view, thereby opening a novel window on the Hebrew way of thinking. The approach is methodologically robust and nonspeculative, taking full account of earlier concerns raised by James Barr. Anyone interested in biblical Hebrew, the conceptualization of emotions, and the study of metaphor will benefit from the sweetness and light this study has to offer.""--Dr. Rene van den BergLinguistics consultant, SIL InternationalAbout the Contributor(s):Philip D. King is Academic Training Coordinator for SIL in Papua New Guinea, where he also teaches Hebrew to both expatriate and Papua New Guinean Bible translators.
Biblical and Ancient Greek Linguistics (BAGL) is an international journal that exists to further the application of modern linguistics to the study of Ancient and Biblical Greek, with a particular focus on the analysis of texts, including but not restricted to the Greek New Testament. The journal is hosted by McMaster Divinity College and works in conjunction with its Centre for Biblical Linguistics, Translation and Exegesis, and the OpenText.org organization (www.opentext.org) in the sponsoring of conferences and symposia open to scholars and students working in Greek linguistics who are interested in contributing to advancing the discussion and methods of the field of research. BAGL is a refereed on-line and print journal dedicated to distributing the results of significant research in the area of linguistic theory and application to biblical and ancient Greek, and is open to all scholars, not just those connected to the Centre and the OpenText.org project.
Recognized as a leading interpreter of major movements in American Christianity such as Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and the Holiness movement, Donald W. Dayton has produced a body of work spanning four decades and diverse areas of inquiry. In From the Margins, friends and colleagues respond to major essays by Dayton (several published here for the first time) so as to celebrate and reflect on this diverse and rich body of work. The essays highlight the breadth of Dayton's contribution while also revealing a methodological core. The latter could be described as Dayton's deconstructive reading of standard scholarly narratives in order to short-circuit their domesticating effects on the more radical aspects of American Christianity. Dayton's work has challenged long-held assumptions about the "conservative" nature of American Christianity by showing that both in their history and in their deeper theological substructures, traditions such as Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism are far more radical and productive of social change than was previously imagined.
From its very beginning, Christian faith has been engaged with religious violence. The first Christians were persecuted by their co-religionists and then by imperial Rome. Jesus taught them, in such circumstances, not to retaliate, but to be peacemakers, to love their enemies, and to pray for their persecutors. Jesus's response to religious violence of the first century was often ignored, but it was never forgotten. Even during those centuries when the church herself persecuted Christian heretics, Jews, and Muslims, some Christians still struggled to bear witness to the peace mandate of their Lord. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas wrote a theology to help his Dominican brothers persuade Cathar Christians to return to their Catholic faith peacefully. Ramon Lull, a Christian student of Arabic and the Qur'an, sought to help his fellow Christians recognize the elements of belief they shared in common with the Muslims in their midst. In the fifteenth century, Nicholas of Cusa, a Church Cardinal and theologian, expanded Lull's project to include the newly discovered religions of Asia. In the seventeenth century, Lord Herbert, an English diplomat and lay Christian, began to identify the political union of church and government as a causal factor in the religious warfare of post-Reformation Christendom. One and a half centuries later, Thomas Jefferson, a lay theologian of considerable political stature, won a political struggle in the American colonies to disestablish religion first in his home colony of Virginia and then in the new nation he helped to found. All five of these theologians reclaimed the peace mandate of Jesus in their response to the religious violence of their own eras. All of which points us to some intriguing Christian responses to religious violence in our own century as recounted in the epilogue.
This volumes explores the shape pneumatology takes when we develop the theology of the Holy Spirit within an eschatological framework that has a universal scope and an unlimited history. When we do so, we find that pneumatology deriving from questions about what the Spirit does for us needs to give way to pneumatology that derives from questions about how the Spirit can draw us into the saving history of the triune God.
In this volume, an attempt is undertaken to highlight the genesis, progress, and transformation of Asian contextual theology of minjung, introducing its historical point of departure, its development, and its transformation in light of younger Korean and Korean American scholars' endeavors. In this regard, the new Asian contextual theology, which is emerging, strives to integrate both minjung and the wisdom of World Religions into its own framework and direction, assuming the character of a public theology and remaining humble and open before God's mystery while featuring its association with minjung in a holistic way.
Harry S. Guntrip was best known for his affiliation with two famous psychoanalysts from what is known as the British Independent tradition of psychoanalysis in England: Ronald Fairbairn and Donald Winnicott. This book traces the various influences on the development of his clinical and theological thinking in context of the historical tension between religion and psychoanalysis. The central feature of his development will be demonstrated as a series of polarities, both theoretical and personal, conflicts with which he wrestled theologically, psychologically, and interpersonally on the professional level and in his own personal psychoanalyses. A critical evaluation of the outcome of Guntrip's own personal psychoanalyses with Fairbairn and Winnicott will demonstrate the autobiographical nature of his theoretical analysis of schizoid phenomena: a psychological state of self-preoccupation and way of being in the world. --from the Introduction
Drawing on the hermeneutical reflections of John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, and Mikhail Bakhtin, Cartwright challenges the way twentieth-century American Protestants have engaged the "problem" of the use of scripture in Christian ethics, and issues a summons for a new debate oriented by a communal approach to hermeneutics. By analyzing particular ecclesial practices that stand within living traditions of Christianity, the "politics" of scriptural interpretation can be identified along with the criteria for what a "good performance" of scripture should be. This approach to the use of scripture in Christian ethics is displayed in historical discussions of two Christian practices through which scripture is read ecclesiologically: the Eastern Orthodox liturgical celebration of the Eucharist and the Anabaptist practice of "binding and loosing" or "the rule of Christ." When American Protestants consider "performances" of scripture such as these alongside one another within more ecumenical contexts, they begin to confront the ecclesiological problem with their attempts to "use" the Bible in Christian ethics: the relative absence of constitutive ecclesial practices in American Protestant congregations that can provide moral orientation for their interpretations of Christian scripture.
It is the thesis of this study that in Calvin's theology, poverty and affliction--not splendor and glory--mark and manifest the kingdom of God on earth. Poverty makes the kingdom visible to the eyes and therefore recognizable as divine. Poverty acts to reveal or disclose that which is spiritual, or that which is "of God" in the Christian faith. This does not mean that Calvin sees the condition of physical poverty as revelatory in and of itself. Rather, poverty and affliction function as agents of divine revelation. They are a condition or a chosen instrument God uses to disclose to humanity the nature of true spirituality, godliness, and poverty of spirit. How this is demonstrated in Calvin's thought depends upon the specific doctrine under examination. This study explores three particular areas in Calvin's theology where his theological understanding of spiritual poverty and physical poverty (or affliction) intersect--his Christology, his doctrine of the Christian life, and his ecclesiology.
A major figure in twentieth-century Christianity, Geoffrey Fisher worked to modernize the Church of England and to develop the worldwide Anglican Communion. His historic meeting with Pope John XXIII, his participation in national debates on the Suez Crisis and nuclear weapons, and his role in crowning Queen Elizabeth II made him a well-known figure in postwar Britain. His neglect by professional historians is partly remedied by this new biography, the first scholarly account of Fisher's life and career.
""The divine mystery, as interpreted by Paul, offers transformation. The believer who identifies with the death and resurrection of Christ by putting to death the old way of life (Rom 6:5-11; Gal 2:20) enters into a new sphere of influence characterized by intimate fellowship with Christ. One who is in this sphere is free from the snare of Adam and the world and is no longer bound by the power of sin and death. The divine mystery also offers a new source of power by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit brings gifts to those in Christ that enable them to function as community. The highest and most significant of these is love which brings diversity together into unity. The indicative is that the Spirit graces believers with love. The imperative is that they should follow after the example of Paul, and hence Christ, in loving others. The divine Spirit is described as holy and makes holiness possible for those in Christ. The indicative is that fellowship with Christ is possible because of redemption. The imperative is that Christ demands loyalty which cannot be shared with any other, particularly with prostitutes who represent the ways of the world or idols that open doors for demons."" --from the Conclusion
Prenumerera på vårt nyhetsbrev för att få fantastiska erbjudanden och inspiration för din nästa läsning.
Genom att registrera dig accepterar du vår personuppgiftspolicy.
