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The Holy No: Worship as a Subversive Act
By Adam Hearlson. 2018
In this book Adam Hearlson argues that Christians can say a holy &“no&” to oppression and injustice through the church&’s…
worship practices. &“To speak the holy no,&” Hearlson says, &“is to refuse to be complicit in the oppression and violence of the ruling power. It is the courageous critique of the present and its claims of immutability.&”Hearlson draws widely from Christian history to uncover ways the church has used its traditional practices—preaching, music, sacrament, and art—to sabotage oppressive structures of the world for the sake of the gospel. He tells the stories of particular subversive strategies both past and present, including radical hospitality, genre bending, coded speech, and apocalyptic visions.Blending history, theory, and practice, The Holy No is both a testament to the courage of Christians who came before and an encouragement to take up their mantle of faithful subversion.Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us
By Christine D. Pohl. 2011
Every church, every organization, has experienced them: betrayal, deception, grumbling, envy, exclusion. They make life together difficult and prevent congregations…
from developing the skills, virtues, and practices they need to nurture sturdy, life-giving communities.In Living into Community Christine Pohl explores four specific Christian practices -- gratitude, promise-keeping, truth-telling, and hospitality -- that can counteract those destructive forces and help churches and individuals build and sustain vibrant communities. Drawing on a wealth of personal and professional experience and interacting with the biblical, historical, and moral traditions, Pohl thoughtfully discusses each practice, including its possible complications and deformations, and points to how these essential practices can be better cultivated within communities and families.How do Christians determine when to obey God even if that means disobeying other people? In this book W. Bradford…
Littlejohn addresses that question as he unpacks the magisterial political-theological work of Richard Hooker, a leading figure in the sixteenth-century English Reformation. Littlejohn shows how Martin Luther and other Reformers considered Christian liberty to be compatible with considerable civil authority over the church, but he also analyzes the ambiguities and tensions of that relationship and how it helped provoke the Puritan movement. The heart of the book examines how, according to Richard Hooker, certain forms of Puritan legalism posed a much greater threat to Christian liberty than did meddling monarchs. In expounding Hooker's remarkable attempt to offer a balanced synthesis of liberty and authority in church, state, and conscience, Littlejohn draws out pertinent implications for Christian liberty and politics today.Wrestling with Rest: Inviting Youth to Discover the Gift of Sabbath
By Nathan T. Stucky. 2019
Busyness is a sickness of the soul that affects many today—and it is especially detrimental to young people, who are…
finding their identity shaped by ongoing resume-building, constant digital communication, and unceasing activity. The last thing they have time for is rest. But rest—Sabbath—is necessary for youth, not just because of who they are socially, emotionally, and physiologically, but because of who God has made them to be and wants them to be.Nathan Stucky shows that rest challenges youth whose identities are rooted in productivity, efficiency, achievement, and accomplishment. For them, the notion of Sabbath grace both appeals and disorients. Yet through the Sabbath, God invites young people into an identity rooted and grounded in the grace, life, and provision of God. Wrestling with Rest offers biblical and practical advice for helping youth to discover their God-given identity, in which they can truly find rest.Having Nothing, Possessing Everything: Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places
By Michael Mather. 2018
Pastor Mike Mather arrived in Indianapolis thinking that he was going to serve the poor. But after his church&’s community…
lost nine young men to violence in a few short months, Mather came to see that the poor didn&’t need his help—he needed theirs.This is the story of how one church found abundance in a com-munity of material poverty. Viewing people—not programs, finances, or service models—as their most valuable resource moved church members beyond their own walls and out into the streets, where they discovered folks rich in strength, talents, determination, and love.Mather&’s Having Nothing, Possessing Everything will inspire readers to seek justice in their own local communities and to find abundance and hope all around them.The Making of Christian Morality: Reading Paul in Ancient and Modern Contexts
By David G. Horrell, John M. Barclay. 2019
In this volume David Horrell focuses on themes of community, ethics, and ecology in Paul, moving from the concrete social…
circumstances in which the earliest Christian communities gathered to the appropriation of Paul’s writings in relation to modern ethical challenges. Often questioning established consensus positions, Horrell opens up new perspectives and engages with ongoing debates both in Pauline studies and in contemporary ethics.After covering historical questions about the setting of the Paul-ine communities, The Making of Christian Morality analyzes Paul-ine ethics through a detailed study of particular passages. In the third and final section Horrell brings Pauline thought to bear on contemporary issues and challenges, using the environmental crisis as a case study to demonstrate how Paul’s ethics can be appropriated fruitfully in a world so different from Paul’s own.Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy
By Luke Bretherton. 2019
In Christ and the Common Life Luke Bretherton provides an introduction to historical and contemporary theological reflection on politics and opens up…
a compelling vision for a Christian commitment to democracy.In dialogue with Scripture and various traditions, Bretherton examines the dynamic relationship between who we are in relation to God and who we are as moral and political animals. He addresses fundamental political questions about poverty and injustice, forming a common life with strangers, and handling power constructively. And through his analysis of debates concerning, among other things, race, class, economics, the environment, and interfaith relations, he develops an innovative political theology of democracy as a way through which Christians can speak and act faithfully within our current context.Read as a whole, or as stand-alone chapters, the book guides readers through the political landscape and identifies the primary vocabulary, ideas, and schools of thought that shape Christian reflection on politics in the West. Ideal for the classroom, Christ and the Common Life equips students to understand politics and its positive and negative role in fostering neighbor love.Politics for a Pilgrim Church: A Thomistic Theory of Civic Virtue
By Thomas J. Bushlack. 2015
Presents an innovative, constructive alternative to Christian involvement in the "culture wars" Church leaders and scholars have long wrestled with…
what should provide a guiding vision for Christian engagement in culture and politics. In this book Thomas Bushlack argues that a retrieval of Thomas Aquinas's understanding of civic virtue provides important resources for guiding this engagement today. Bushlack suggests that Aquinas's vision of the pilgrim church provides a fitting model for seeking the earthly common good of the political community, and he notes the features of a Thomistic account of justice and civic virtue that remain particularly salient for the twenty-first century. The book concludes with suggestions for cultivating a Christian rhetoric of the common good as an alternative to the predominant forms of discourse fostered within the culture wars that have been so divisive.We Will Feast: Rethinking Dinner, Worship, and the Community of God
By Kendall Vanderslice. 2019
Explores the practice of eating together as Christian worshipThe gospel story is filled with meals. It opens in a garden…
and ends in a feast. Records of the early church suggest that believers met for worship primarily through eating meals. Over time, though, churches have lost focus on the centrality of food— and with it a powerful tool for unifying Christ&’s diverse body.But today a new movement is under way, bringing Christians of every denomination, age, race, and sexual orientation together around dinner tables. Men and women nervous about stepping through church doors are finding God in new ways as they eat together. Kendall Vanderslice shares stories of churches worshiping around the table, introducing readers to the rising contemporary dinner-church movement. We Will Feast provides vision and inspiration to readers longing to experience community in a real, physical way.The Holy No: Worship as a Subversive Act
By Brian D. McLaren, Adam Hearlson. 2018
In this book Adam Hearlson argues that Christians can say a holy “no” to oppression and injustice through the church’s…
worship practices. “To speak the holy no,” Hearlson says, “is to refuse to be complicit in the oppression and violence of the ruling power. It is the courageous critique of the present and its claims of immutability.”Hearlson draws widely from Christian history to uncover ways the church has used its traditional practices—preaching, music, sacrament, and art—to sabotage oppressive structures of the world for the sake of the gospel. He tells the stories of particular subversive strategies both past and present, including radical hospitality, genre bending, coded speech, and apocalyptic visions.Blending history, theory, and practice, The Holy No is both a testament to the courage of Christians who came before and an encouragement to take up their mantle of faithful subversion.The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship In The Age Of Trump
By Stephen R. Haynes. 2018
The figure of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) has become a clay puppet in modern American politics. Secular, radical, liberal, and evangelical…
interpreters variously shape and mold the martyr&’s legacy to suit their own pet agendas.Stephen Haynes offers an incisive and clarifying perspective. A recognized Bonhoeffer expert, Haynes examines &“populist&” readings of Bonhoeffer, including the acclaimed biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. In his analysis Haynes treats, among other things, the November 2016 election of Donald Trump and the &“Bonhoeffer moment&” announced by evangelicals in response to the US Supreme Court&’s 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage.The Battle for Bonhoeffer includes an open letter from Haynes pointedly addressing Christians who still support Trump. Bonhoeffer&’s legacy matters. Haynes redeems the life and the man.Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul
By Mark Galli, Chad Bird. 2017
Journeys that begin in brokenness rarely follow a straight road to healing. There are twists and turns—and setbacks—on the path…
of repentance.Night Driving tells the story of a pastor and seminary professor whose moral failures destroyed his marriage and career, left his life in ruins, and sent him spiraling into a decade-long struggle against God. Forced to fight the demons of his past in the cab of the semi-truck he drove at night through the Texas oil fields, Chad Bird slowly began to limp toward grace and healing. Drawing on his expertise as an Old Testament scholar, Bird weaves together his own story, the biblical story, and the stories of fellow prodigals as he peels back the layers of denial, anger, addiction, and grief to help readers come face-to-face both with their own identities and with the God who alone can heal them.Christian Scholarship in the Twenty-First Century: Prospects and Perils
By Thomas M. Crisp, Steve L. Porter, Gregg Ten Elshof. 2014
The Christian tradition provides a wealth of insight into perennial human questions about the shape of the good life, human…
happiness, virtue, justice, wealth and poverty, spiritual growth, and much else besides -- and Christian scholars can do great good by bringing that rich tradition into conversation with the broader culture. But what is the nature and purpose of distinctively Christian scholarship, and what does that imply for the life and calling of the Christian scholar? What is it about Christian scholarship that makes it Christian? Ten eminent scholars grapple with such questions in this volume. They offer deep and thought-provoking discussions of the habits and commitments of the Christian scholar, the methodology and pedagogy of Christian scholarship, the role of the Holy Spirit in education, Christian approaches to art and literature, and more. CONTRIBUTORS Jonathan A. Anderson Dariusz M. Brycko Natasha Duquette M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall George Hunsinger Paul K. Moser Alvin Plantinga Craig J. Slane Nicholas Wolterstorff Amos YongReality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks
By Walter Brueggemann. 2014
Walter Brueggemann is one of the most highly regarded Old Testament scholars of our time; talk-show host Krista Tippett has…
even called him "a kind of theological rock star." In this new book Brueggemann incisively probes our society-in-crisis from the ground up.Pointing out striking correlations between the catastrophe of 9/11 and the destruction of ancient Jerusalem, Brueggemann shows how the prophetic biblical response to that crisis was truth-telling in the face of ideology, grief in the face of denial, and hope in the face of despair. He argues that the same prophetic responses are urgently required from us now if we are to escape the deathliness of denial and despair.Brueggemann’s Reality, Grief, Hope boldly confronts the dominant forces of our time, taking on principalities and powers that vie for our souls, and calls the church to courageous action.Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us
By Christine D. Pohl. 2011
Every church, every organization, has experienced them: betrayal, deception, grumbling, envy, exclusion. They make life together difficult and prevent congregations…
from developing the skills, virtues, and practices they need to nurture sturdy, life-giving communities.In Living into Community Christine Pohl explores four specific Christian practices -- gratitude, promise-keeping, truth-telling, and hospitality -- that can counteract those destructive forces and help churches and individuals build and sustain vibrant communities. Drawing on a wealth of personal and professional experience and interacting with the biblical, historical, and moral traditions, Pohl thoughtfully discusses each practice, including its possible complications and deformations, and points to how these essential practices can be better cultivated within communities and families.Scripture, Ethics, and the Possibility of Same-Sex Relationships
By Karen R. Keen. 2018
WHEN IT COMES TO SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS, this book by Karen Keen contains the most thoughtful, balanced, biblically grounded discussion you&’re…
likely to encounter anywhere. With pastoral sensitivity and respect for biblical authority, Keen breaks through current stalemates in the debate surrounding faith and sexual identity.The fresh, evenhanded reevaluation of Scripture, Christian tradition, theology, and science in Keen&’s Scripture, Ethics, and the Possibility of Same-Sex Relationships will appeal to both traditionalist and progressive church leaders and parishioners, students of ethics and biblical studies, and gay and lesbian people who often feel painfully torn between faith and sexuality.Among the Ashes: On Death, Grief, and Hope
By William J. Abraham. 2017
How can we hold fast to the hope of life eternal when we lose someone we love? In this book…
William Abraham reflects on the nature of certainty and the logic of hope in the context of an experience of devastating grief. Abraham opens with a stark account of the effects of grief in his own life after the unexpected death of his oldest son. Drawing on the book of Job, Abraham then looks at the significance of grief in debates about the problem of evil. He probes what Christianity teaches about life after death and ultimately relates our experiences of grief to the death of Christ. Profound and beautiful, Among the Ashes tackles the philosophical and theological questions surrounding loss even as it honors the experience of grief.Adopted: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World
By Kelley Nikondeha. 2017
Christianity Today: 2018 Award of Merit Christian Living/Dicipleship In this compellingly readable book Kelley Nikondeha—adoptive mother and adopted child herself—thoughtfully…
explores the Christian concept of adoption. Her story and her biblically grounded reflections will give readers rich new insights into the mystery of belonging to God’s big family. The Academy of Parish Clergy’s 2018 Top Ten Books for Parish MinistryThe Bible and the Ballot: Using Scripture in Political Decisions
By Tremper Longman III. 2020
How to read the Bible on matters of public policyChristians affirm the Bible as our standard of faith and practice.…
We turn to it to hear God&’s voice. But what relevance does the Bible have for the contentious public policy issues we face today? Although the Bible does not always speak explicitly to modern issues, it does give us guiding principles as we think about how we might vote or act as political figures ourselves. The Bible and the Ballot demonstrates the proper use of Scripture in contemporary political discussions. Christians regularly invoke the Bible to support their positions on many controversial political topics—gay marriage, poverty, war, religious liberty, immigration, the environment, taxes, etc.—and this book will help facilitate those conversations. Tremper Longman provides a hermeneutical approach to using the Bible in this manner, then proceeds topic by topic, citing important Scriptures to be taken into consideration in each case and offering an evangelical interpretation. Longman is careful to suggest levels of confidence in interpretation and acknowledges that often there are a range of possible applications. Each chapter includes questions to provoke further thought in individuals&’ minds or for group discussion. The Bible and the Ballot is a ready guide to understanding the Bible on issues that American Christians face today as we live within a pluralistic society.Christ Across the Disciplines: Past, Present, Future
By Roger Lundin. 2013
In Christ across the Disciplines a group of distinguished scholars from across the theological spectrum explores the dynamic relationship between…
the Christian faith and the life of the mind. Although the essays in this volume are rooted in a rich understanding of the past, they focus primarily on how Christian students, teachers, and scholars might best meet the challenges of intellectual and cultural life in a global world.This book ranges widely over the broad terrain of contemporary academic and cultural life, covering such topics as the enormous growth of political activism in late twentieth-century evangelicalism, the dynamics of literature and faith in the African-American experience, the dramatic implications of globalization for those who profess Christ and practice the life of the mind, and more!