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These days "getting religion" is generally considered a rather quaint thing of the past. "Getting spirituality," on the other hand, is the hottest thing on the market. In fact, corporate-sponsored spiritual salve is becoming the most popular prescription for the overworked and soul-weary employees. But for many Christians, this antidote has become its own epidemic. How is this epidemic infecting the church? How should the church respond as a community of believers? According to authors Michael Budde and Robert Brimlow, the church must resist becoming the "chaplain to capitalism." Christianity Incorporated reminds us that Christ-centered discipleship is fundamentally at odds with consumer capitalist priorities. The church must have a mission and a voice in society that is distinct from, rather than in chorus with, watered-down corporate spirituality. Christianity Incorporated is a wake-up call for all Christians. Courageous, current, and accessible, this book will provide guidance and insight to anyone concerned with pursuing Christian discipleship in our consumer culture.
"The notion of the church as a countercultural community of disciples confounds many conventional divides within the Christian family (liberal and conservative, church and sect), while forcing redefinition of commonplace categories like religion and politics, sacred and secular. The contributors to this book - theologians, social theorists, philosophers, historians, Catholics and Protestants of various backgrounds - reflect this shifting of categories and divisions. The book provides thought-provoking Christian perspectives on war and genocide, racism and nationalism, the legitimacy of liberalism and capitalism, and more."--BOOK JACKET.
Boldly challenges Christians to rethink liberal assumptions about higher education, envisioning a church-centered education.
"Beginning with the persecution of early Christians by the Roman Empire, Witness of the Body explores the place of martyrdom in the church through all ages -- and into the future. Throughout, it reminds readers that Christian martyrdom is neither a quick ticket to heaven nor a cheap political ploy, but rather the firm and faithful witness of Christ's church in a hostile world."--From publisher description.
What happens to the Gospel when you put other loyalties into positions of power in Christian life and practice? You get deformations, distortions, and caricatures of Christianity – killing in the name of love, defense of worldwide systems of domination, idolization of the nation instead of the membership in the global body of Christ, and baptism of exploitative and destructive economic ideologies. You get much of what world sees as contemporary Christianity, in other words. Too often, however, the inadequacies of contemporary Christian life, especially in the United States, are seen as separate issues in need of ‘improvement’ or ‘reform.’ Foolishness to Gentiles invites readers to ...
Budde contends that world Catholicism, led by its Third World majority (most notably in Latin America), will continue to develop in an increasingly anticapitalist direction; and he suggests that once-dominant First World Catholic churches (exemplified by the U.S. Catholic church), are poorly placed to respond in solidarity with their coreligionists from the Third World. Covering a wide range of theoretical and substantive matters, The Two Churches examines religion as a source of both social legitimation and social rebellion. It demonstrates the importance of ecclesiology, a branch of theology dealing with "theories of the church," and it highlights the effect of capitalism on world Catholicism, as well as the latter's influence on the development of the capitalist order.
This volume takes its title from the first-century Christian catechism called the Didache: “Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills . . . gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth.” For Christians today, these words remain relevant in an era of massive human movements (voluntary and coerced), hybrid identities, and wide-ranging cultural interactions. How do modern Christians live as both a “scattered” and “gathered” people? How do they live out the tension between ecclesial universality (catholicity) and particularity (distinctive ways of being church in a given culture and context)? Do Christians today con...
It's a simple claim, really - that for Christians, "being a Christian" should be their primary allegiance and identity. For those who proclaim Jesus as Lord, this identity should supersede all others, and this loyalty should trump all lesser ones. It may be a simple claim, but it is a controversial one for many people, Christians and non-Christians alike. The Borders of Baptism uses the idea of solidarity among Christians as a lens through which to view politics, economics, and culture. It offers Christians a fresh perspective capable of moving beyond sterile and dead-end debates typical of debates on issues ranging from immigration and race to war, peace, and globalization. The Borders of B...
This volume differs from many quincentennial discussions of the Protestant Reformation—and ecumenical scholarship more generally—in that it shifts the focus from Europe and the West to the global South, where ecumenism’s promises and challenges are quite different. In postcolonial and post-missionary Africa, the churches continue to expand, competition among denominations is lively, and Christian rivalry with Islam is often a reality. In Latin America, Protestants have severely eroded the Catholic Church’s hegemony, originally forged in the zeal of the Counter-Reformation to combat the perceived errors of Luther and Calvin. In India, the Christian churches are a tiny, beleaguered min...
This volume brings together eminent theologians, philosophers and political theorists to discuss the relevance of theology and theologically grounded moral reflection to contemporary America's public life and argument. Avoiding the focus on hot-button issues, shrill polemics, and sloganeering that so often dominate discussions of religion and public life, the contributors address such subjects as how religious understandings have shaped the moral landscape of contemporary culture, the possible contributions of theologically-informed argument to contemporary public life, religious and moral discourse in a pluralistic society, and the proper relationship between religion and culture. Indeed, i...