Религия: прочее
Различные книги в жанре Религия: прочееKierkegaard and Political Theology
The nature of Kierkegaard's political legacy is complicated by the religious character of his writings. Exploring Kierkegaard's relevancy for this political-theological moment, this volume offers trans-disciplinary and multi-religious perspectives on Kierkegaard studies and political theology. Privileging contemporary philosophical and political-theological work that is based on Kierkegaard, this volume is an indispensable resource for Kierkegaard scholars, theologians, philosophers of religion, ethicists, and critical researchers in religion looking to make sense of current debates in the field. While this volume shows that Kierkegaard's theological legacy is a thoroughly political one, we are left with a series of open questions as to what a Kierkegaardian interjection into contemporary political theology might look like. And so, like Kierkegaard's writings, this collection of essays is an argument with itself, and as such, will leave readers both edified and scratching their heads–for all the right reasons.
Exposing Universalism
In recent decades universal reconciliation (UR) has sharpened its attack on evangelical faith. By their fiction and nonfiction, and by film (The Shack), universalists such as Paul Young, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and others are propagating the idea that the love of God trumps all other attributes of God including his holiness and justice. From this starting point universalists believe that all people are born as children of God, that all are going to heaven, that all must embrace God's love. Those who reject God in this life will repent after death and escape hell. Even the devil and his angels will repent from hell and go to heaven.
Universalism is an old idea. Christians have confronted UR since the third century and refuted it as heresy–heresy because UR believes that faith in Jesus is unnecessary. Thus, the death of Jesus Christ as an atonement for sin becomes unnecessary.
Through his acquaintance with Paul Young, De Young is increasingly concerned that Young and other universalists are misleading many. In this book De Young challenges all the arguments that universalists make–their appeals to the Bible, to logic and reason, and to church history–and shows that they are unconvincing.
Beyond Even the Stars
Kevin A. Codd's previous book, To the Field of Stars, has been hailed as a contemporary classic of pilgrim literature and introduced a fresh voice to the world of both travel and spiritual writing. In Beyond Even the Stars, the reader is invited to join this peripatetic American priest as he takes up the Way to Compostela, this time in Leuven, Belgium, and follows it south through much of France. His vivid descriptions of the natural world and the people he meets along the way are delightful, just as his profound reflections on life and death, love and faith, God and grace, are inspiring.
The Power of Small Groups in Christian Formation
Small groups continue to be a significant part of church life and Christian formation in the twenty-first century, impacting a church and society characterized by loneliness and fragmentation. As such, Julie Gorman is prompted to declare, «Small groups have come of age! They have found unprecedented acceptance and endorsement.» This is a comprehensive book on small groups and Christian formation informed by theology, church history, and the social sciences. It addresses both the foundations and praxis of groups, with a special emphasis on leading dynamic group discussions.
A Flower with Roots
You are about to read a book with a double storyline with many intertwining segments. Mary D. Jesse, a woman from a family of means, abandons everything to follow her vision to help lift the burden of Japanese girls during a time when education was a privilege and not a right. She is a model of faith, perseverance, and leadership, who discovers God's guidance in difficult experiences. Already a school with history, Shokei Girls' School begins its walk with Jesse as she and other missionary colleagues share their Christian faith–the flower–their love for the students, and Christ's love as it is–rooted–in their daily living. Mission, culture, and character intersect here at Shokei, leading to changed lives. At the same time, the drama of misunderstanding, misery, and pain leads to forgiveness and rebuilding. The story of Shokei Girls' School is a compelling account of the resiliency of a mission school, where you will see the love and loyalty of the students for their school while the school leadership was experiencing endless drama in management and personal relations. A Flower with Roots will take you on a journey you won't forget.
Becoming a Christian
What influences the decision to become a Christian? In the seventeenth century the famous scientist Blaise Pascal viewed this as a game, with truth our adversary. Pascal argued that we are in the game whether we like it or not. Christianity is either true or not, and we have to weigh the two alternatives. According to Pascal's Wager we have everything to win and nothing to lose by taking a leap of faith and becoming a Christian. In this book Ola Hossjer extends Pascal's Wager and argues that we respond to the Christian message very differently. There are three main attitudes among people: the first group follows Pascal's advice, even if evidence before the decision is incomplete; the second group requires convincing evidence at first; and members of the third group will not become Christians regardless of evidence. Hossjer contends that the decision consists of three components: a religious disposition from birth, evidence, and a willingness to act. Although we weigh evidence and will differently, our priorities may change after a life crisis so that we either reevaluate evidence or become more positive toward Christianity. This is illustrated by a number of people who became Christians.
Missional Discipleship After Christendom
It is not a changing culture, reduced resources, or a rescinding Christian memory that creates the greatest challenges for the church in the West. It is the lack of a clear commitment to the intentional, authentic, and contextual expressions of missional disciple-making, which will shape current and future generations of followers of Jesus to express the values of the Kingdom today. This book offers stimulating historical, biblical, and theological reflections on discipleship and considers some of the possibilities and opportunities afforded to us by our post-Christian context. Missional discipleship allows the missio Dei to shape us in our engagement our practices and sustain us in the lifelong journey of becoming and developing disciples that follow Jesus today.
The Persuasive Portrayal of David and Solomon in Chronicles
This study examines the speeches and prayers in the David-Solomon narrative in Chronicles and seeks to demonstrate that the Chronicler's portrayal of David and Solomon attempts to establish the Yehudite community's identity. Is the covenantal relationship still valid in the Persian period? The author asserts that as a commitment to YHWH involving the worship of YHWH through the Jerusalem temple, the covenantal relationship between YHWH and Israel continues even into the Persian period. This study employs Kennedy's rhetorical method with the new categories of the narrative situation and the Chronicler's situation being used to further delineate his concept of the narrative situation. The Chronicler's portrayal of David and Solomon through speeches and prayers serves to persuade his audience of the significance of the Jerusalem temple, reformulating the Yehudite community identity as a cultic community in the Persian period.
The Gospel
This book is about stating gospel, especially in the Bible. After surveying historical statements of gospel within their respective soteriology, biblical contexts are explored that identify either: 1) as gospel; 2) promise forgiveness; 3) promise everlasting life; 4) promise kingdom; or 5) promise resurrection with Christ. These five statements indicate the outcomes that are normally associated with the gospel across Christendom. This framework provides legitimate biblical gospel statements within exclusive salvation in Christ. This volume presents and appropriates biblical gospel patterns as a new reformation for fullness of salvation in Christ and His earthly kingdom. This variety of biblical gospel statements provoke: 1) unity around Jesus Christ and God's gracious salvation; 2) toleration concerning rival statements of Christian gospel; and 3) jettisoning unsupported traditional frameworks. For example, ticket Christianity with little or no life change except past faith and an experience prepare Jesus Christ to say to a major section of the church, «Depart from Me, I never knew you!» Better to hear the eschatological Christ say, «Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . . . because to the extent that you did to these brothers of Mine, even the least, you did to Me.»
Mindful Spirituality
The world, contrary to popular understanding, is not less religious but in many ways more religious than ever. Two issues seem to be emerging in this resurgence. One is the need for a spiritual center that gives integration, a sense of inner peace, ethical guidance, and meaning and direction in life. It is present in most of the world's great religious traditions and present elsewhere as humans seek to find their way in a confusing, conflicted, and rapidly changing world. Accompanying this quest for a deeper spirituality is the «God question» and a desire to understand the divine in new ways that match a contemporary worldview. This book, Mindful Spirituality, invites the reader to find a thoughtful, credible, and satisfying way to address these two major concerns. While starting within a Christian frame of reference, the book is not exclusive, but ecumenical and interfaith in spirit. It is especially helpful to those with no set spiritual pathway and those disenchanted with traditional approaches that seem out of date and for another era. In a deep and sacred way, it invites the reader to reach upward for a thoughtful way of understanding transcendence, to open inward for a mature and gratifying spirituality, and to expand outward in responsible and loving service.