Группа авторов
Список книг автора Группа авторовThe Missionary Letters of Vincent Donovan
Vincent Donovan is best known as the author of the influential bestseller, Christianity Rediscovered (1978). This new book contains the monthly letters he wrote home from Tanzania between 1957 and 1973.
These letters give us previously unknown stories: how Donovan met Julius Nyerere, first prime minister of Tanzania; how a group of Protestants attempted to kill him; of his early disastrous attempt to hear confession in Swahili; of the relationship between Donovan's work and Vatican II; and much about the mysterious Sonjo tribe, among whom Donovan spent his last years in Tanzania. They also give insights, from the hilarious to the poignant, into Donovan the man in relationship to his family, his missionary colleagues, and the Maasai. Copies of original photographs are also included.
Most significantly, the letters show Donovan's evolution over the years from a young missionary who was passionate about acquiring land for church buildings, into a mature visionary convinced that the only job of the missionary is to preach the gospel.
A concluding essay looks at the legacy of Donovan, thirty-five years later, with contributions from three Spiritan missionaries who continue to live out his legacy in Tanzania and elsewhere today. Finally, the essay looks at Donovan's continuing influence on contemporary renewal movements in North America and in Britain.
Those who have been inspired by Christianity Rediscovered–missiologists, church renewal leaders, and students of Gospel and culture–will find much here to delight and to challenge.
Secular Faith
Is faith a necessary virtue in the contemporary world? May it be, or must it be, detached from religious commitment? What do genealogies of the secular tell us about faith? Does religion need secular faith?
Secular Faith brings together leading and emerging scholars to reflect on the apparent paradox of «secular faith.» Ranging over anthropology, religious studies, political science, history, and literature, from Muslims in China to Pentecostals in South Africa to a prison chapel in Texas, this collection of essays is as engaging and accessible as it is penetrating and rigorous.
Communism was once labeled «the god that failed.» Like Christianity, Communism involves faith in a superhuman endeavor, conversion, myth, discipline, and salvation–and, from the perspective of secular liberalism, both are unjustified and false. In recent years, scholars have begun to investigate whether secularism is itself based on faith in a god that failed, or is failing. Nevertheless, many still embrace such a faith, finding in the spirit of democracy an ethos of eternal renewal. Secular Faith enters and broadens this conversation, interrogating secular faith in a global context, tapping new theoretical resources, and grappling provocatively with the tragedies and opportunities of today's profane pantheon of beliefs.
Luke-Acts and Empire
In recent years, scholars have explored anew the interface between the early Christian movements and the Roman Empire. Once thought to be quietistic, the early Christian movements turn out to have been critical of the Empire and significantly counterimperial. This collection of essays in honor of Robert Brawley turns the spotlight on Luke-Acts. The soundings taken here disclose deeper anti-imperial rhetoric than previously thought. In brazen and subtle ways, Luke-Acts displays an alternative realm of peace and justice inaugurated by Jesus under the God of Israel. The essays in this volume will lead you to hear Luke-Acts in fresh ways.
"All Shall Be Well"
"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." Lady Julian of Norwich
Universalism runs like a slender thread through the history of Christian theology. It has always been a minority report and has often been regarded as heresy, but it has proven to be a surprisingly resilient «idea.» Over the centuries Christian universalism, in one form or another, has been reinvented time and time again.
In this book an international team of scholars explore the diverse universalisms of Christian thinkers from the Origen to Moltmann. In the introduction Gregory MacDonald argues that theologies of universal salvation occupy a space between heresy and dogma. Therefore disagreements about whether all will be saved should not be thought of as debates between «the orthodox» and «heretics» but rather as «in-house» debates between Christians.
The studies that follow aim, in the first instance, to hear, understand, and explain the eschatological claims of a range of Christians from the third to the twenty-first centuries. They also offer some constructive, critical engagement with those claims.
Origen (Tom Greggs) Gregory of Nyssa (Steve Harmon) Julian of Norwich (Robert Sweetman) The Cambridge Platonists (Louise Hickman) James Relly (Wayne K. Clymer) Elhanan Winchester (Robin Parry) Friedrich Schleiermacher (Murray Rae) Thomas Erskine (Don Horrocks) George MacDonald (Thomas Talbott) P. T. Forsyth (Jason Goroncy) Sergius Bulgakov (Paul Gavrilyuk) Karl Barth (Oliver Crisp) Jaques Ellul (Andrew Goddard) J. A. T. Robinson (Trevor Hart) Hans Urs von Balthasar (Edward T. Oakes, SJ) John Hick (Lindsay Hall) Jurgen Moltmann(Nik Ansell)
Theosis
". . . that you may become partakers in the divine nature" 2 Peter 1:4
"The theme of deification intimately touches on human identity and the actualization of humanity's ultimate purpose. It is predominantly an anthropological and soteriological expression of Christian theology. At the same time, it testifies to the identity of a Christian God, divine universal design, and God's economy, where the trinitarian and christological apprehension receives the central place. Theosis, both on an individual and cosmic scale, is not exiguous in its eschatological perspective, either. The testimony of theosis is testimony to the inexplicable mystery of divine intimacy. Deification penetrates all spheres of human existence, and can be seen as an answer to most pending ultimate questions. It is essentially practical in its manifestation and uplifting in its content, but nevertheless, always evasive and arcane in its comprehension." From the Introduction
This book contains biblical and historical-theological essays that offer innovative approaches to the issue of theosis. The interconnections between the theology of deification and the doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, anthropology, protology, hamartiology, soteriology, and eschatology are made manifest in these fascinating new studies. It is aimed both at those who are already students of theosis and at those who are looking for an introductory text. It also contains a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography for those seeking further resources on the theme.
John Calvin, Myth and Reality
The chapters in this volume were originally presented as papers at the 2009 colloquium of the Calvin Studies Society, held to mark the five-hundredth anniversary of John Calvin's birth. They offer a fresh evaluation of Calvin's ideas and achievements, and describe how others–from his contemporaries to the present–have responded to or built upon the Calvinist heritage. This book dispels popular misperceptions about Calvin and Calvinism, allowing readers to make a more accurate assessment of Calvin's importance as a theologian and historical figure. Contributions address areas in which Calvin's legacy has been most controversial or misunderstood, such as his attitude toward women, his advocacy of church discipline, and his understanding of predestination. These essays also give a nuanced picture of the impact of Calvinism by taking account of both the positive and negative reactions to it from the early modern period to the present.
Part 1: Calvin: The Man and His Work Part 2: Appeal of and Responses to Calvinism Part 3: The Impact of Calvin's Ideas
Mobilizing a Great Commission Church for Harvest
Mobilizing a Great Commission Church for Harvest addresses practical aspects of evangelism in the local church, with the voices and views of nineteen current Southern Baptist professors of evangelism. They address important topics to local church evangelism, such as «Invitations with integrity» and «Preparing for Spiritual Warfare.» Key leaders and professors write in their areas of expertise. For examples, Alvin Reid writes on «Mobilizing Students,» David Wheeler on «Servant Evangelism,» Josef Solc on «Sports Evangelism,» and Darrell Robinson on «The Evangelist.» In addition, the book begins and ends with two different applications of Matthew's Great Commission.
Mobilizing a Great Commission Church for Harvest is a gold mine of information for both pastor and deacon, as it is for students considering the importance of evangelism to local church ministry. It is fresh, new, and true–as all of its authors teach at SBC-affiliated schools and are grounded in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God!
Compassionate Eschatology
Do «eschatology» and «peace» go together? Is eschatology mostly about retribution and fear–or compassion and hope?
Compassionate Eschatology brings together a group of international scholars representing a wide range of Christian traditions to address these questions. Together they make the case that Christianity's teaching about the «end times» should and can center on Jesus's message of peace and reconciliation. Offering a peace-oriented reading of the Book of Revelation and other biblical materials relevant to Christian eschatology, this book breaks new ground in its consistent message that compassion not retribution stands at the heart of the doctrine of the last things.
Besides its creative treatment of biblical materials, Compassionate Eschatology also makes a distinctive contribution in how several essays engage the thought of Rene Girard and his mimetic theory. Girard's project is shown to reinforce the biblical message of eschatological peace.
Theology, University, Humanities
This book discusses the relationship between theology and the humanities and their shared significance within contemporary universities. Taking up this complex question, twelve scholarly authors analyze the connections between theology and philosophy, history, scholarly literature, sociology, and law. Cumulatively, these essays make a case for the importance of reflecting on what binds the humanities and theology together. By meditating on ultimate, theological questions, this book brings the issue of the meaning and purpose of university education into a new light, exploring its deep significance for academic pursuits today.
The Pietist Impulse in Christianity
From intellectual inquiry to spiritual practice to social reform, Pietism has exerted an enormous influence on various forms of Christianity and on Western culture more generally. However, this contribution remains largely unacknowledged or misunderstood in Anglo-American contexts because negative stereotypes–some undeserved, others deserved–tend to cast Pietism as a quietistic and sectarian form of religion interested in a narrow set of individualistic and spiritual concerns.
In this volume, scholars from a variety of disciplines offer a corrective to this misunderstanding, highlighting the profound theological, cultural, and spiritual contribution of Pietism and what they term the «pietist impulse.» The essays in this volume demonstrate that Pietism was a movement of great depth and originality that was not merely concerned with the «pious soul and its God.» Rather, Pietists were from the beginning concerned with issues of social and ecclesial reform, the nature of history and historical inquiry, the shape and purpose of theology and theological education, the missional task of the church, and social justice and political engagement. In addition, the essays collected here fruitfully raise the question of the ongoing relevance of Pietism and the «pietist impulse» for contemporary problems and questions across disciplines and in the church at large.