Группа авторов
Список книг автора Группа авторовContextual Theology for the Twenty-First Century
Scholars from the United States, Latin America, and Oceania reflect in this volume on the importance of contextual theology for our twenty-first century. Contextual theology offers fresh voices from every culture, and not just from the West. It calls for new ways of doing theology that embrace cultural values, but at the same time challenges them to the core. And it opens up new and fresh topics out of which and about which people can theologize. If the church is to be faithful to its mission, it needs to provide a feast at which all can be nourished.
CONCERN for Education
Once upon a time a group of young Anabaptist scholars took it upon themselves to convene a series of incisive conversations that addressed questions of Christian renewal. Among other topics that the CONCERN group (1955-1971) took on was the subject of how to think about higher education in the context of Christian renewal. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, «intentional Christian communities» are being created in the context of student leadership development programs, and a new generation of Programs for Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV) at church related colleges are providing mini-grants for students involved in the New Monasticism movement. With such endeavors in mind, these essays–by Joanne Zerger Janzen, Walter Klassen, Albert Meyer, John Howard Yoder and company–raise probing questions that remain worth engaging by Christians who are concerned about what it means to seek the renewal of Christian higher education today.
The Difference Christ Makes
"The papers and responses in this volume were delivered, fittingly, on All Saints Day, 2013, as part of a day-long event to celebrate the career of Stanley Hauerwas, upon the occasion of his retirement from the faculty of Duke Divinity School. . . . [T]he central message of the day was encapsulated in the theme of the whole event: «The Difference Christ Makes.» As the different speakers talked about Stanley's paradigm-changing impact on scholarship, one insight came ever more clearly into focus: the deepest theme of Stanley's work, the consistent thread running through all his thought, is his emphasis on the centrality of Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, his work is not defined by the ethics of character, or by pacifism, or by countercultural communitarian ecclesiology. All these elements play important roles in his writings, but they are reflexes or consequences of his more fundamental commitment to think rigorously about the implications of confessing Jesus Christ as Lord." –from the foreword by Richard B. Hays
Contents of The Difference Christ Makes
A Homily on All Saints, Stanley Hauerwas 1. «The Difference Christ Makes,» Samuel Wells 2. «Truthfulness and Continual Discomfort,» Jennifer A. Herdt Response by Charlie Pinches 3. «Anne and the Difficult Gift of Stanley Hauerwas's Church,» Jonathan Tran Response by Peter Dula 4. «Making Connections: By Way of a Response to Wells, Herdt, and Tran,» Stanley Hauerwas Appendix: Service of Holy Eucharist, the Feast of All Saints, Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School
Psalm 29 through Time and Tradition
Psalm 29, a sacred text in Jewish and Christian Bibles, has been understood in a variety of ways through time and in different traditions. This volume presents a sample of the use and meaning derived from a single biblical text. From the earliest translations to contemporary African Independent Churches, this psalm has been an integral part of synagogue and church; but what it has meant and how it is used is a fascinating journey through human culture. Not only the understanding of the written word, but also the liturgical use and the musical adaptations of a biblical text are considered here. This is a book for anyone–scholar, student, or laity–with an interest in the Bible in its many contexts.
Christians, the Care of Creation, and Global Climate Change
Christians, the Care of Creation, and Global Climate Change is a wake-up call for Christians and others. It is a cogent and persuasive call to love God and our neighbors by caring for creation–especially in light of the dramatic climate changes occurring before our eyes. This book is not the final word on the subject, but it is a sincere invitation to examine the scientific evidence for global warming and to respond with individual and collective faithful actions.
CONTRIBUTORS: Douglas Allen, Jeffrey K. Greenberg, P. J. Hill, Sir John T. Houghton, A. Duane Litfin, Ben Lowe, Vincent E. Morris, L. Kristen Page, Lindy Scott, Noah J. Toly
Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief: Theoaesthetics or Just Old-Time Religion? explores the possible reemergence of a theological dimension to contemporary art. Long estranged from symbol and sacrament, contemporary artists–and those who think and write about them–seem to have turned once again to a vision rooted in the sacred. In an era marked culturally by world-weary cynicism and self-conscious irony, a new «humanism» may be emerging, one which aims to move beyond fragmentation and opposition to integration and unification. The aim of this book is not to propose a resurgence of religious iconography, but rather to give voice to long-suppressed–often maligned, and certainly professionally risky–positions informed by and reverberating with themes of the sacred. The essays included here, by a range of scholars working on these issues today, originated as a lively and spirited session of the 2008 College Art Association annual conference.
What Does It Mean to “Do This”?
Jesus' best-known mandate–after perhaps the mandate to love God and neighbor–was given at the Last Supper just before his death: «Do this in memory of me.» Indeed, a case can be made that to «do this» is the source and summit of the way Christians carry out Jesus' love-mandate. Of course, Christians have debated what it means to «do this,» and these debates have all too often led to divisions within and between them–debates over leavened and unleavened bread, reception of the cup, real presence and sacrifice, «open» or «closed» communion, this Supper and the hunger of the world. These divisions seem to fly in the face of Jesus' mandate, causing some to wonder whether this is «really» the Lord's Supper we celebrate (compare 1 Corinthians 11). Everything turns on just what it means to «do this.» The purpose of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology's 2012 conference was to address at least some of the many aspects of this question–to address them together, as Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox pastors and theologians, and all participants in the Supper.
Discovering Kenarchy
This book is a bold attempt to present a love-based personal and corporate politics fit for the coming decades of the twenty-first century. Taking as its starting point the love for friends, neighbors, and enemies embodied in the life of Jesus and recognized both inside and outside the church, this book sets out a contemporary practical politics called kenarchy that has already positively impacted many lives. Its contributors set out the key components of kenarchy, challenging the reader to confront the norms of personal rights, security, and economic gain with a love for «the other» that restores a female world perspective lost over generations of patriarchal dominance. Discovering Kenarchy is the promised response to the inevitable disintegration of the partnership of church and sovereign power outlined in its companion volume, The Fall of the Church. It is an inspirational resource for all those who desire to fill the emerging new political space with a loving, just, and practical alternative to the devaluation of human life by global capitalism and the reactionary religious and racist behavior that threatens the common good.
Safeguarding a Truly Catholic Vision of the World
A. J. Conyers (1944-2004) was a Baptist theologian with wide-ranging interests and a founding faculty member of the George W. Truett Seminary at Baylor University. He published books ranging from basic Christian doctrine to political theology, but his many essays show his true range and depth of insight. This work collects ten of his most important and provocative essays in order to introduce Conyers–who died of cancer in 2004–to theologians and pastors unfamiliar with his contribution to the theological task of the church.
Cynicism and Hope
On the morning after they walked for miles through freezing rain to a prayer vigil outside the White House in March 2007, a group of young war protesters listened to one last speech before heading home to Chicago. Peter Dula, who had served with the Mennonite Central Committee in Iraq, spoke honestly about the caustic combination of guilt and disempowerment the protesters were struggling with. He commended protesting and suggested resisting war taxes, then made two surprising final recommendations: ride a bike and plant a garden. Electrified by Dula's speech, the group wanted to talk more about their disillusionment and to learn from their elders in activism and the church. So in November 2007 they hosted a conference at Reba Place Church in Evanston, Illinois, where over two hundred people gathered to learn, worship, and contemplate a more hopeful way. This volume is a collection of the major addresses from that conference. The contributors suggest a new way to live in the tension between hope that things will improve and cynicism about whether they ever will. While creating space for lament, they point toward a radical Christian faithfulness in neighborhoods and congregations that can be both hopeful and profoundly political.