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Do the little things we do and say really make a difference in the lives of others? Some Men Are Our Heroes answers this question with a resounding «yes» as eight accomplished Christian women tell the stories of the men in their lives who helped them achieve remarkable things for God's kingdom. These touching stories of women from around the world and the fathers, husbands, brothers, pastors, colleagues, and friends who encouraged, strengthened, and challenged them along their life journeys will warm the hearts of women and men alike.
A House Divided
It is hardly noteworthy in contemporary discourse when the phrase, «We'll just have to agree to disagree» actually means, «We plan never to speak to each other again.» For members of Episcopal and other Anglican churches, however, the Anglican tradition's identity as a via media demands forthright engagement with difficult topics by Christians committed to remaining in prayerful relationship with each other. In the spring of 2013, Duke Divinity School's Anglican Episcopal House of Studies began a series of «fierce conversations» designed to expose seminary students to the profound and painful reality of ecclesial divisions in North American Anglicanism (revolving around issues of human sexuality, scriptural authority and interpretive practices, and church leadership) while cultivating skills for leading congregations to worship, pray, and serve in ways that contribute over time to the full, visible reconciliation of Episcopalians and other Anglicans in North America. This book presents this year of conversations as a way of inviting congregations to take up the challenge and joy of «fierce conversations» in their own common life.
Electing Not to Vote
Ethical discourse about the institution of voting rarely includes the option of abstaining for principled reasons. This collection of nine articles widens the discussion in that direction by giving readers a new question: At what point and on what grounds might one choose not to vote as an act of conscience? Contributors offer both ethical and faith-based reasons for not voting. For some, it is a matter of candidates not measuring up to high standards; for others it is a matter of reserving political identity and allegiance for the church rather than the nation-state. These writers–representing a wide range of Christian traditions–cite texts from diverse sources: Mennonites, Pentecostals, and pre-Civil Rights African Americans. Some contributors reference the positions of Catholic bishops, Karl Barth, or John Howard Yoder. New Testament texts also figure strongly in these cases for «conscientious abstention» from voting. In addition to cultivating the ethical discussion around abstention from voting, the contributors suggest alternative ways beneficially to engage society. This volume creates a new freedom for readers within any faith tradition to enter into a dialogue that has not yet been welcomed in North America.
Contextual 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.