Группа авторов
Список книг автора Группа авторовThe Hermeneutics of Tradition
The Hermeneutics of Tradition presents the latest scholarship on tradition as a concept and reality in the development of Christian cultures. One aim is to show that traditions are upheld, communicated, and developed within a recognizable set of interpretive guidelines (or rules) and that analysis of these sets both requires and reveals a «hermeneutics of tradition.» The work of the authors included here presents the precarious integrity of traditions and the often tenuous hold upon those traditions exercised by the hermeneutics that drive dynamics of preservation and change. As scholars and religious worshippers continue ancient traditions of receiving strangers with generous hospitality, the coherence of tradition serves conversations about where our true differences lie.
Being Human, Becoming Human
Who are we? What does it mean to be human? What is the purpose of our existence? In our time these continue to be urgent questions. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer thought deeply about these questions out of a desire to understand the importance of Christ and the incarnation for modern culture. His conviction that Christ died for a new humanity is at the core of his theological anthropology. Bonhoeffer's Christ-centered, Trinitarian theology establishes the intrinsic sociality of humanity as made in the image of God.
Being Human, Becoming Human assembles a distinguished and international group of scholars to examine Bonhoeffer's understanding of human sociality. From the introduction of his dissertation, Sanctorum Communio, where he notes «the social intention of all the basic Christian concepts,» to his final writings in prison, where he describes Christian faith as being for others, the theme of human sociality runs throughout Bonhoeffer's works. This theme links Bonhoeffer with contemporary concerns in theology, philosophy, cultural studies, and science regarding human reason, human nature, and their socio-cultural expressions.
Vital reading for Bonhoeffer scholars as well as for those invested in theological debates regarding the social nature of human being, the essays in this volume examine Bonhoeffer's rich resources for thinking about what it means to be human, to be the church, to be a disciple, and to be ethically responsible in our contemporary world.
The Continuing Relevance of Wesleyan Theology
What does the Wesleyan message have to say to the greater theological world? This is a question that Laurence Wood has taken up as his concern throughout his career. In order to honor his work, this collection takes up this question through a series of essays designed to show how Wesleyan Theology, while distinctive, has a continued relevance to the wider world of theological scholarship. This collection does this in two ways. First, by showing how the Wesleyan distinctives have been present throughout the history of theology. And secondly, the collection brings the Wesleyan distinctives into conversation with various contemporary theological conversations, ranging from theological hermeneutics and the science-religion dialogue to the practice of preaching and spirituality. The result is a volume that puts Wesleyan theology into continued dialogue with the broader theological world, showing its vitality and importance for the contemporary situation.
Inherited Land
"Religion and ecology" has arrived. What was once a niche interest for a few academics concerned with environmental issues and a few environmentalists interested in religion has become an established academic field with classic texts, graduate programs, regular meetings at academic conferences, and growing interest from other academics and the mass media. Theologians, ethicists, sociologists, and other scholars are engaged in a broad dialogue about the ways religious studies can help understand and address environmental problems, including the sorts of methodological, terminological, and substantive debates that characterize any academic discourse.
This book recognizes the field that has taken shape, reflects on the ways it is changing, and anticipates its development in the future. The essays offer analyses and reflections from emerging scholars of religion and ecology, each addressing her or his own specialty in light of two questions: (1) What have we inherited from the work that has come before us? and (2) What inquiries, concerns, and conversation partners should be central to the next generation of scholarship?
The aim of this volume is not to lay out a single and clear path forward for the field. Rather, the authors critically reflect on the field from within, outline some of the major issues we face in the academy, and offer perspectives that will nurture continued dialogue.
Tamar’s Tears
Evangelical and feminist approaches to Old Testament interpretation often seem to be at odds with each other. The authors of this volume argue to the contrary: feminist and evangelical interpreters of the Old Testament can enter into a constructive dialogue that will be fruitful to both parties. They seek to illustrate this with reference to a number of texts and issues relevant to feminist Old Testament interpretation from an explicitly evangelical point of view. In so doing they raise issues that need to be addressed by both evangelical and feminist interpreters of the Old Testament, and present an invitation to faithful and fruitful reading of these portions of Scripture.
The Activist Impulse
Anabaptists have often felt suspicious of American evangelicalism, and in turn evangelicals have found various reasons to dismiss the Anabaptist witness. Yet at various points in the past as well as the present, evangelicals and Anabaptists have found ample reason for conversation and much to appreciate about each other. The Activist Impulse represents the first book-length examination of the complex relationship between evangelicalism and Anabaptism in the past thirty years. It brings established experts and new voices together in an effort to explore the historical and theological intersection of these two rich traditions. Each of the essays provides fresh insight on at least one characteristic that both evangelicals and Anabaptists share–an impulse to engage society through the pursuit of active Christian witness.
Revisioning, Renewing, Rediscovering the Triune Center
An international cast of theologians come together in this volume to offer essays in tribute to the late Stanley J. Grenz, one of the leading theologians of his generation. Accordingly, the volume includes timely explorations in some of the most exciting areas in contemporary theology. It is only fitting that these very explorations revolve around the key motifs of Grenz's theology (Trinity, community, eschatology) and the key sources from which he drew for theology's construction (Scripture, tradition, culture). While engaging key features seen in Grenz's work, some of the essays here interact with Grenz's own writings, reflecting on his theological journey and his contributions to evangelical theology. In these ways, this volume highlights the kind of evangelical theology that so many have experienced in recent years and of which Stan Grenz was a leading proponent. Revisioning, Renewing, Rediscovering the Triune Center, then, makes a significant contribution to discussions in contemporary theology while itself setting out to honor the life and work of an eminent theologian who did so much for evangelical theology.
Secularization and the Working Class
Secularization and the Working Class brings together contributions from thirteen Central European historians who have taken a long-term interest in the issue of the secularization of modern society and social issues affecting the working class. By using contemporary historical methods they have researched the theoretical aspects of secularization theories as well as individual cases which illustrate Czech developments within the framework of the Austrian monarchy. These cases touch upon working conditions, working-class organizations and political parties, cultural life and means of communication. Among other things they present the conflicts that led to rifts within society. This representative collection of texts is will appeal to historians of modern history interested in the fascinating issues of European development, all those who are interested in the living conditions of the working class in the 19th and 20th centuries.
From Text to Performance
For the last two centuries biblical interpretation has been guided by perspectives that have largely ignored the oral context in which the gospels took shape. Only recently have scholars begun to explore how ancient media inform the interpretive process and an understanding of the Bible. This collection of essays, by authors who recognize that the Jesus tradition was a story heard and performed, seeks to reevaluate the constituent elements of narrative, including characters, structure, narrator, time, and intertextuality. In dialogue with traditional literary approaches, these essays demonstrate that an appreciation of performance yields fresh insights distinguishable in many respects from results of literary or narrative readings of the gospels.
Guide for the Christian Perplexed
Thoughtful Christians are legitimately perplexed by a number of issues relating to the church's belief and practice. They are perplexed partly because they recognize that the issues themselves are thorny, and partly because they are not sure how to test the mutually inconsistent theories and explanations affirmed by diverse voices speaking with equal assurance.
Most Christians find relatively little occasion or encouragement to address their perplexities with intellectual candor and integrity. If they dare to acknowledge their theological perplexities at all, they are too often told that these perplexities are unimportant, or that they can be answered very simply, or that they should be left to the experts.
Guide for the Christian Perplexed, written by members of the faculty of Wycliffe College, Toronto, aims to explore a diversity of issues and questions to do with
oour knowledge of Jesus othe meaning of suffering othe function of doctrine othe understanding of Scripture othe place of other religions othe challenge of atheism othe pleasures and complications of sexuality othe nature of worship othe way to evangelize ounderstanding who our neighbor is locally and globally odiversities of spirituality Here you will find thoughtful reflections and answers to the questions around these issues. A study guide is included for individual and group use.