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Author Anna M. Madsen's book is a fresh and challenging look at the legacy of Martin Luther and the new reformation that is calling people of faith to action today. This book is born out of the conviction that at least two gods are currently competing for our collective trust: nationalism (and its many sub-manifestations) and quietism. Both make a case for and a claim on our allegiance, each by way of different motivations of self and institutional protection. Madsen looks at today's modern context and asks: Where will the church stand in a day that is marked by globalization, polarization, racism, bigotry, and debates about justice for humanity and for the earth itself. While the Reformatio...
A helpful theological rethinking of the ministry of the church in and with the world in light of various forces that create despair.
Indwelling the Forsaken Other is a critical reading of Jürgen Moltmann's ethics of discipleship. While Moltmann's notable turn to the inner life of the Trinity as a source for his reflections on the life of the church is influential, it is not without problems. The call emerging from Moltmann's reflection upon Trinitarian life--to copy God in our relationships--may offer some general direction for our actions; however, it also raises several questions. Two important questions for this work are, In what way are we to copy God? and What conditions make it possible to copy God? Moltmann's answers to these questions are insufficient, and consequently he fails to protect the difference between Creator and creation in his analogia relationis. As a result, the ethical direction of Moltmann's work seems to be increasingly muddied and, at best, paradoxical.
In Journeying in the Wilderness, author Terri Martinson Elton observes that faith formation in the church setting is contextual, and multiple forces are coming together today to create seismic contextual changes at record speed. These changes are disrupting aspects of our lives, challenging assumptions, and dislodging personal and communal practices. For the church to take seriously its call to form faith in each generation, it must be attentive to current contextual realities. Elton places confessional understanding of faith in dialogue with five contextually altering forces in order to provide a pathway for congregations to reimagine faith formation in the midst of twenty-first-century realities. The use of stories, nontechnical language, and biblical perspectives make this work accessible for congregational leaders and others who seek to explore new directions in forming faith. Processes and practices are offered to help both leaders and congregations contextualize their approach to their particular settings. Each chapter includes leadership competencies, shared practices, and group discussion questions.
The questions our youth have are often the same ones that perplexed the great theologians. Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean invite you to envision youth ministries full of practical theologians. Follow them into reflection on your own practice of theology, and learn how to share that theology through rich conversation and purposeful experience.
What does it mean to be church today? As changes in demographics, participation, and leadership continue to roil faith communities in the Western world, questions about the historic roots of church communities have become all the more important. Scholarly investigations of the historical texture of early Christian communities continue to advance our understanding, but are often too technical for non-experts for whom the questions may be more keenly felt. Troy M. Troftgruben provides an accessible, succinct survey of what we now know about the roots of Christian community, taking an "ancient-future" approach by engaging contemporary questions through classical sources. Rooted and Renewing turns to historical-critical and social-scientific studies to portray everyday realities in the earliest communities, especially the Pauline assemblies. Aimed at church members and leaders alike, the book encourages reflection on the church's past so as to explore how Christians are called to be the church in today's world.
Rewired begins with the claim that contemporary views of Christian spirituality, particularly in the American evangelical tradition, concentrate too exclusively on the interior and individual nature of spiritual experience. Paul Markham argues that a reexamination of the doctrine of religious conversion is needed within American evangelicalism and finds resources for such a model in the Wesleyan theological tradition and from philosophical and scientific insights into a "nonreductive physicalist" view of human nature. In considering "data" from theology and science, this book represents an integrated work in science and religion.
Increasingly, many Christians and spiritual seekers feel they are in a sort of wilderness space where the familiar, settled, and normal parts of life have become unsettled, out of balance. More and more people are evaluating their lives and asking, "Where to now?" In Life Unsettled, Cory Driver uses the metaphor of wilderness journeying (a hallmark of the life of faith across the millennia) and the study of biblical texts, ancient Jewish legends, modern theological insights, and his own personal journeys to provide a guide for moving forward when we feel lost and confused. The biblical book of Numbers takes center stage in the author's creative musings about life in the wilderness. The Hebrew title of Numbers is Bemidbar, which means "In the Wilderness." In this oft-overlooked book are stories of God's passionate intimacy and anger, communal formation and struggles, and personal failures and triumphs. The author shows how the wilderness journey in Numbers has a deep relevance for our time and for our personal journeys. The book includes a discussion guide ideal for group use.
Rural contexts are often over-looked, treated as "flyover land." But because everyone must eat, rural communities and their work in food production are important to the whole of society. Mark Yackel-Juleen spent many years in rural ministry and is the founder and executive director of Shalom Hill Farm. He offers valuable insight on the present issues of food production and environmental sustainability, and connects it in profound and practical ways to the biblical and theological tradition. The result is a clear set of powerful and actionable tools to help rural leaders and ministers address issues of sustainability and land use in their ministry. Everyone Must Eat masterfully shows how one can integrate the sociology of community, the secular realities of economics and public policy, and the powerful presence of God's word in order to practice faithful leadership.
As celebrations of the five-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther's initiation of the most dramatic reform movement in the history of Christianity approach, 47 essays by historians and theologians from 15 countries provide insight into the background and context, the content, and the impact of his way of thought. Nineteenth-century Chinese educational reformers, twentieth-century African and Indian social reformers, German philosophers and Christians of many traditions on every continent have found in Luther's writings stimulation and provocation for addressing modern problems. This volume offers studies of the late medieval intellectual milieus in which his thought was formed, the hermeneu...