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When Christ's Body Is Broken tells the stories of two congregations in conflict. Although these churches had very different problems, they faced similar struggles: to articulate a faithful response to their concerns and to cope with the discord that threatened to tear their communities apart. Pastoral theologian Leanna K. Fuller shares these stories as a way of exploring the sources and dynamics of conflict in congregations. She argues that at the heart of such conflict lies anxiety triggered by encounters with difference. Bringing together resources from pastoral theology, psychodynamic theory, and social psychology, Fuller offers a theological reframing of conflict through categories of diversity, vulnerability, and hospitality--categories that, she argues, can encourage human beings to sit with the anxiety stirred by communal life and remain connected across differences. This reframing provides fertile ground out of which Fuller imagines concrete practices designed for conflicted communities and their leaders.
When Christ's Body Is Broken tells the stories of two congregations in conflict. Although these churches had very different problems, they faced similar struggles: to articulate a faithful response to their concerns and to cope with the discord that threatened to tear their communities apart. Pastoral theologian Leanna K. Fuller shares these stories as a way of exploring the sources and dynamics of conflict in congregations. She argues that at the heart of such conflict lies anxiety triggered by encounters with difference. Bringing together resources from pastoral theology, psychodynamic theory, and social psychology, Fuller offers a theological reframing of conflict through categories of diversity, vulnerability, and hospitality--categories that, she argues, can encourage human beings to sit with the anxiety stirred by communal life and remain connected across differences. This reframing provides fertile ground out of which Fuller imagines concrete practices designed for conflicted communities and their leaders.
Reconciliation is at the heart of the Christian faith. It is what God accomplishes by the incarnation of his Son, by Jesus' cross, resurrection, and exaltation: that all people be drawn to God in Christ, and, in being so drawn, drawn into fellowship with one another. The good news of reconciliation is, therefore, also a call to repent and to receive forgiveness, and then, concomitantly, to forgive. The present volume endeavors to reexamine these most fundamental Christian claims. These essays, which were first presented at the 2017 annual Pro Ecclesia conference, return to the biblical sources to help us understand reconciliation afresh. The authors raise questions about repentance and forgiveness from various perspectives: Jewish, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. They also consider our present-day context, what has been called the "technoculture," as well as the practice of repentance and forgiveness.
Joel Osteen, the smiling preacher, has quickly emerged as one of the most recognizable Protestant leaders in the country. His megachurch, the Houston based Lakewood Church, hosts an average of over 40,000 worshipers each week. Osteen is the best-selling author of numerous books, and his sermons and inspirational talks appear regularly on mainstream cable and satellite radio. How did Joel Osteen become Joel Osteen? How did Lakewood become the largest megachurch in the U. S.? Salvation with a Smile, the first book devoted to Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen, offers a critical history of the congregation by linking its origins to post-World War II neopentecostalism, and connecting it to the exce...
Imagine receiving a shocking email from a church member stating that you, the pastor, have mishandled church funds and that you should resign for the good of the congregation. Soon you discover that the church member sent the email to many other church members. Additional lies will follow until the fateful day comes when the members vote to fire you, or the bishop dismisses you, or you resign for sheer survival. You are experiencing church abuse of clergy, which is the topic of this book. Clergy will gain an entirely new understanding of church abuse of clergy that afflicts many pastors and their loved ones by reading this book. The view of church abuse of clergy being presented is a new paradigm that challenges older explanations of the church abuse. This book shows that clergy must begin collaborating in order to discover effective solutions to the church abuse of clergy problem. Clergy must become empowered to confront the church at all levels and support one another in the face of church abuse of clergy. A very toxic ministry situation exists throughout the United States and internationally, which must be challenged!
The purpose of this book is to provide vital information regarding loss and trauma to practicing counselors and therapists. Trauma and loss are pervasive presenting problems, many counselors and therapists possess scant understanding of trauma and loss, and little, if any, attention is paid to trauma or to loss in the graduate training of clinical psychology and counseling psychology students. The book is organized into four sections which cover: an overview of loss and trauma, key conceptual frameworks for understanding loss and trauma, review of several types of events producing trauma and loss, and interventions addressing loss and trauma. A key contribution of the book is the focus on lo...
Leading pastoral theologians explore a wide variety of themes related to pastoral practice. Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice offers a collection of essays by leading pastoral theologians that represent emerging trajectories in the fields of pastoral theology and care. The topics explored include: qualitative research and ethnography, advances in neuroscience, care across pluralities and intersections in religion and spiritualties, the influence of neoliberal economics in socio-economic vulnerabilities, postcolonial theory and its implications, the intersections of race and religion in caring for black women, and the usefulness of intersectionality for ...
The mission church literature seems to be dominated by idealized conceptions of the benefits of equipping congregations to participate in local mission work. This investigation challenges this idealism, by paying critical attention to congregants’ ordinary theologies that develop in reaction to the communication of Missio Dei theology to them. Their voices are absent from the formal literature. The study employs rescripting methodology to modify key assumptions made in the formal ecclesiological literature by drawing on insights that come from Christians’ ordinary theological voices. The study traces how the introduction of a Missio Dei theology to a British Reformed congregation had a s...
This book argues that neoliberal discourses prevalent in higher education seek to undermine, commodify, and co-opt the radical, transformative work that many gender and women’s studies departments, programs, and centers are doing. The contributors to the collection discuss their responses to these challenges in and out of the classrooms, from mentorship and activism to active allyship and experimental pedagogies. They aim to inspire a new wave of feminist consciousness raising that will encourage transformative ways of engaging with the university and serve as doorways to new understandings of productivity and creativity.
"For everything there is a season," as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, and that includes preaching. Beyond ordinary Sunday morning worship, many other "seasons"--special occasions--arise for preaching in the life of the church, whether by virtue of the secular calendar or celebrations or circumstances in the congregation or community. For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions offers preachers a process for creating sermons that are biblically grounded and relevant to the occasion. Two obvious occasions of this sort are weddings and funerals; however, church anniversaries, dedications of new buildings or furnishings, commitment of pledges in stewardship season, and ...