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With Uplifted Head: Preaching Hope is a book that exalts Christ by giving insight into the biblical teaching about hope. The book also shows interested readers how to preach in a way that will foster hope among members of their congregations. Because the book is designed for both pastors and lay church leaders, it does more than just present a theological understanding of biblical hope. It also has plenty of suggestions for preaching hope directly and indirectly. The authors maintain that only biblical hope, focused on the resurrection and affirmed by the renewing Holy Spirit, can change believers internally and create anticipation for a future in the presence of the living God.
Jesus as Torah in John 1–12
In this study of John 1-12, the author develops the thesis that Jesus is the divine, incarnate Torah, and that Jesus as Torah is the conceptual center of the Fourth Gospel. An overarching goal of the treatise is to explore the Evangelist's portrait of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Mosaic law. Connected with this aim is the central thesis that the Messiah appears in the Gospel of John as the realization of all the law's redemptive-historical types, prophecies, and expectations. A corresponding major claim is that those who trust in Jesus for eternal life and heed his teaching satisfy fully the requirements of the moral law recorded in Scripture.
An examination of John 1-12 substantiates the truth that Jesus is the perfection of the gift of the Tanakh. He existed in the beginning with the Father and Spirit as God. The eternal Torah is light and life, fulfillment and joy, in fellowship with the triune God for all eternity. The divine Tanakh, by becoming incarnate, revealed the glory of the Father and made the fullness of God's grace and truth available to humankind. The living Word not only provides salvation but in so doing unveils the loving and redeeming heart of the Father for all to see. The Son of God is the one to whom all the Old Testament luminaries–such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah–pointed, and in whom their eschatological hopes were realized. The Anointed One is greater than and supreme over all the religious institutions once associated with the Jerusalem tabernacle and temple. Even such Jewish festivals as the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost, Dedication, and Passover find their fulfillment in the Messiah. This volume is appropriate for personal study and is also suitable as a college and seminary text.
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews offers fresh answers to several unresolved questions by employing that branch of social psychology known as social identity theory.
Who were the addressees? With the categories of social identity theory, this study argues that the addressees arranged the world into two groups: «us» and «them.» They understood their group, the «us,» to be the «faithful.» They understood «them» (a symbolic outgroup of «all others») to be the «unfaithful.» Faithfulness, then, is the primary identity descriptor for the addressees and plays an essential role thoughout the text.
How did the addressees understand the faithfulness of Jesus? The author of Hebrews describes the faithfulness of Jesus as «prototypical.» The faithfulness of all others is described in relation to Jesus' faith, and together they are integrated into an ongoing narrative of faithfulness.
What is the meaning of the promised «rest»? Utilizing a model of present temporal orientation, the study interprets the dynamic relationship between the «antecedent» faithfulness of many witnesses and the «forthcoming» promised rest of the addressees. The addressees of Hebrews were encouraged to «understand their futures by looking to the past.»
What is the purpose of the text? Social identity theorists explain that groups with a negative social identity have two broad options: social mobility or social change. The study concludes that the author of Hebrews provides internal constraints that are meant to prevent social mobility. The author utilizes social creativity (an aspect of social change) to provide a positive social identity for the addressees.
A Noble Calling
Too often, individuals who have been called to practice their gifts and talents in the field of business and professional life sense that to serve God they ought to be doing something more directly involved with the church. Many successful business leaders, upon coming to faith in Christ or upon renewing their interest in God's Word, struggle with whether or not they should enter vocational ministry. Certainly, God calls some from among the professions into such vocations, but many simply haven't realized the full potential of where God has placed them. God's people who are assigned to duties in corporate boardrooms or offices, on sales forces, in entrepreneurial ventures, and as members of research and development teams are among his most effective servants. Believers who are active in the marketplace are surely among God's most treasured ministers and have the potential to have a wider impact and larger influence than most who serve in full-time vocational ministries. Likewise, these professionals have a capacity for great harm to the church and the cause of Christ if while they make claims of Christian belief, their actions prove inconsistent with what God's Word teaches–if their walk doesn't match their talk. Be encouraged! God wants to use you where you are. He wants to sanctify all of what you have learned and experienced. You have great potential in the kingdom!
Church at a Crossroads
Facing the uncertainty of their present life and ministry, the American and Canadian churches of mainline Protestantism are, for the most part, responding in one of two ways. Some are simply choosing to ignore the process of their disestablishment. They continue to carry on with their church life as though nothing were happening, as though they were still occupying a place at the center of society. Others, knowing that they are being moved to the periphery of social and political life, are seeking to regain their past power and influence by adopting one or another program of church growth, many of which are being promoted by the newly emerging megachurches of the Christian right.
Based upon the history and experience of a particular congregation, Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, Hawaii, this book suggests a third option for the churches of mainline Protestantism: to embrace their ongoing disestablishment and to see it not as a burden or as something to be either ignored or reversed, but as an opportunity to envision a new way of being in the world.
Martin Luther and Buddhism
Martin Luther and Buddhism: Aesthetics of Suffering carefully traces the historical and theological context of Luther's breakthrough in terms of articulating justification and justice in connection to the Word of God and divine suffering. Chung critically and constructively engages in dialogue with Luther and with later interpreters of Luther such as Barth and Moltmann, placing the Reformer in dialogue not only with Asian spirituality and religions but also with emerging global theology of religions.
The Only Alternative
The radical message of Jesus is that there is only one alternative to the common method of confronting violence with more violence. The Only Alternative: Christian Nonviolent Peacemakers in America explores the spiritually active practice of compassionate nonviolence. Here is a journey through the lives of seven courageous American peacemakers who have embodied Christian nonviolence and dedicated their lives to addressing the suffering caused by racial discrimination, slavery, poverty, militarism, nuclear weapons, prisons, environmental degradation, and the psychology of fear and hatred.
Here are highlights from the inspirational ideas and actions of Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Rufus Jones, Thomas Kelly, Jim Douglass, and Kathy Kelly. They remind us that to be Christian is to use the power of love to transform spiritual, economic, and social violence. The great turning from violence to nonviolence is the story of Christianity in America. There has never been a more urgent time for this revolutionary teaching to be heard, understood, and lived.
"It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence . . ." –Martin Luther King Jr.
Human beings are now facing the stark choice between survival and destruction amid myriad forms of violence. The nonviolent peacemakers within this book can inspire the peacemaker within each of us to cultivate a direct relationship with God and love through contemplation, meditation, writing, and compassionate action based in the life and teachings of Jesus.
Beyond Abuse in the Christian Home
In January 2004 a newly founded evangelical organization called PASCH was formed. The word denotes the Passover or time of new beginnings–when God kept people safe in their own homes before leading them into freedom from abuse and oppression. Yet the word PASCH also stands for Peace and Safety in the Christian Home. PASCH began as a small group of therapists, sociologists, domestic-violence experts, clergy, biblical scholars, survivors–and dedicated Christians. In essence, PASCH was born out of the cries, confusion, and frustration of the people of God. As we encountered many horrifying situations of domestic abuse in Christian homes, those of us who seek to address various aspects of the issue concluded that we needed a fellowship of concerted study, prayer, and action. It was the dream of Catherine Clark Kroeger that an edited book might emerge from the 2005 and 2006 PASCH conferences in order that the papers, presentations, and discussions might be widely available. We found that to make that happen, we needed to work together: that each of us possessed one piece of the puzzle, and that by God's grace we could collectively begin to put the pieces together. The topic of abuse is ugly, which is why so many Christians shy away from discussing it. But in this volume we have tried to present an accurate, faith-based analysis of abuse in the Christian family context. We hope that various chapters stimulate discussion–sometimes debate–and in so doing prompt pastor and people to action. We call on you the reader to consider the various ideas and perspectives offered throughout the book. Hopefully each chapter will prompt you to consider afresh how you conceptualize violence among families of faith. Like you, the reader, the contributors to our collection come from various faith traditions, work in different contexts, and see the issue in part based on their own narrative and training. Yet, despite our differences–and our ongoing debates–we are unanimous that violence has no place in the home. Every home should be a safe place; every home a shelter. When abuse occurs in families of faith, it is the responsibility of the church to offer compassion and support to victims and to call those who act abusively to accountability and justice. Our edited collection includes ∑ Dan Allender speaking from the heart about the impact of the fall on relationships between men and women; ∑ Al Miles reflecting on his pastoral experience of the difficulties and opportunities of speaking out against violence in Christian families; ∑ Bruce and Karen McAndless-Davis offering one couple's story of the long journey toward accountability and dramatic change; ∑ Julie Owens retelling her own dramatic story of abuse, the life imprisonment of her ex-partner and what she wished every pastor knew about domestic violence.
From Faith to Fun
Abraham and Sarah were presented with a paradox when God told them they would have a son in their old age. Paradox in the Old Testament plays an important part in the dialogue between God and the Jews.
In the New Testament, paradox is prominent in Jesus' teaching and helps to explain the Christian understanding of salvation.
Today paradox arises when religious meaning of traditional culture conflicts with secular meaning of modern culture. Heddendorf argues that a subversive quality in humor gradually replaces traditional values with new cultural meanings. The resulting humor becomes a substitute for faith.
As this secular humor becomes functional for society, it finds its way into many areas of the culture. This process of secularization in humor moves from faith to fun and, finally, to fun as faith. The result of this secularization could be called a «fun culture.» Redemption of this culture, Heddendorf asserts, should be a continuing concern of the church.
Blues Music and Gospel Proclamation
Born in 1934 in Dresden, Germany, Theo Lehmann lived through both the Nazi era and the Communist-ruled German Democratic Republic (GDR). Ordained in the Lutheran Church of Saxony, he was called to an urban parish in Chemnitz. There he introduced a youth worship service marked by contemporary music, uncompromising preaching of the gospel message, and calls to discipleship in Christ that attracted thousands. Lehmann then embarked on an itinerant ministry of youth evangelism with Jorg Swoboda, a Baptist musician and youth leader. He gained the undying enmity of the Communist regime, was under constant surveillance by the dreaded secret police, and was rejected by many of his own ministerial colleagues.
Theo Lehmann was also the best-known scholar of jazz and blues music in the GDR. Indeed these musical forms expressed so well his own longing for freedom. His reputation as an evangelist spread far beyond the narrow confines of East Germany, and he was named to the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. His dreams were fulfilled by the fall of the Berlin Wall, and he was then free to proclaim the Word of God throughout the reunited Germany.
The author of over twenty books and composer of numerous songs widely sung in churches and evangelical gatherings, Lehmann is today his country's foremost evangelist. His life is an extraordinary witness to the power of God and one person's faithfulness to the gospel message.