Религия: прочее
Различные книги в жанре Религия: прочееChurch Reform and Leadership of Change
Reforms and processes of change have become an increasingly pervasive characteristic of European Protestant churches in the last fifteen to twenty years. Driven by perceptions of crises, such as declining membership rates, dwindling finances, decreasing participation in church rituals, and less support of traditional church doctrine, but also changes of governance of religion more generally, many churches feel compelled to explore new forms of operations, activities, and organizational structures. What is the inner dynamic and nature of these processes? This book explores this question by applying perspectives from organizational studies and bringing them into dialogue with ecclesiological categories, seeking to provide a richer understanding of the field of processes of change in churches. Among the questions asked are: What are the implications–organizationally and ecclesiologically–of viewing reform as a church practice, and how does this relate to much more comprehensive waves of public sector reforms? How is church leadership configured and exercised, how is democratic leadership related to the authority of ordained ministry, and how does leadership take on new forms in the context of churches? And how do churches incorporate organizational practices of planned change and renewal, such as social entrepreneurship?
The Trinity Hurdle
Why do groups such as Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Unitarians have such difficulty with the doctrine of the Trinity? Do they really understand the doctrine they oppose? From the mainstream Christian perspective, perhaps a lack of understanding about the way these other groups view the Scriptures may have hampered a clear presentation of the orthodox doctrine. The Trinity Hurdle is a scriptural and historical defense of the doctrine of the Triune God and substitutionary atonement for Christadelphians, other non-Trinitarians, and those engaging with them, from an author who is familiar with both sides of the doctrinal divide.
Animals Are Not Ours (No, Really, They’re Not)
Why should Christians care about animals? Is there a biblical basis for abstaining from eating animals? Is avoiding companies that use (and misuse) animals a viable way for Christians to better live out the message of God? In Animals Are Not Ours, Sarah Withrow King makes the argument that care for all of creation is no «far-fetched» idea that only radical people would consider, but rather a faithful witness of the peaceful kingdom God desires and Jesus modeled. This includes all living and breathing creatures that share this earth with us. King uses her decade-plus experience as a vegan, her seminary education, her evangelical Christian faith, and her years working with PETA to call Christians to examine how we treat and view the nonhuman animals with whom we share a finite planet.
The Spirit of Jesus Unleashed on the Church
The Spirit of Jesus Unleashed on the Church is the third book in a series concerning the restoration of Jesus' people in a world where the marginalized classes longed for reconciliation to God. After Jesus' ascension the early Christians fulfilled Luke's epic theme of restoration in their new empire, inclusion of outcasts, and endurance during the resistance. As Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem, so Paul and the mission of God followed the journey to the capital of the Roman world. God's people today are likewise empowered by the Spirit to boldly live their mission for Jesus through love, compassion, and endurance in cultures that marginalize those who need God's reconciliation.
Doing Diaspora Missiology Toward “Diaspora Mission Church”
In U.S. Population Projections: 2005-2050, Pew Research Center reported that «The nation's population will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005, and fully 82% of the growth during this period will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their descendants.» This shows that it is essential to study and understand how our mission, especially in the context of the USA, called the nation of immigrants, will respond to this huge mobility of immigrant diaspora. So far, there has been emphasis on doing diaspora missiology; however, there is no practical implications and application in local church setting. Now mission is next door, which implies that the ministry of the local church should be emphasized for 21st contemporary mission. This book provides detailed frameworks and methods of diaspora missiology within local churches, called 'diaspora mission church.' According to the Bible, all human beings are theologically and spiritually diaspora, irrespective of ethnicity, because they were banished from the Garden of Eden, and scattered around the world in God's judgment. Now, they walk toward the encounter with Jesus Christ, preach the gospel as the seed of Kingdom, and finally move toward heaven.
A Christian in the Land of the Gods
In November 1877, three months after Emperor Meiji's conscript army of commoners defeated forces led by Japan's famous «last samurai,» the Reverend Tom Alexander and his new wife, Emma, arrived in Japan, a country where Christianity had been punishable by death until 1868.
A Christian in the Land of the Gods offers an intimate view of hardships and challenges faced by nineteenth-century missionaries working to plant their faith in a country just emerging from two and a half centuries of self-imposed seclusion. The narrative takes place against the backdrop of wrenching change in Japan and Great Power jockeying for territory and influence in Asia, as seen through the eyes of a Presbyterian missionary from East Tennessee.
This true story of personal sacrifice, devotion to duty, and unwavering faith sheds new light on Protestant missionaries' work with Japan's leading democracy activists and the missionaries' role in helping transform Japan from a nation ruled by shoguns, hereditary lords, and samurai to a leading industrial powerhouse. It addresses universal themes of love, loss, and the enduring power of faith. The narrative also proves that one seemingly ordinary person can change lives more than he or she ever realizes.
As You See the Day Approaching
We are in the last days. Living well in such a time depends upon believing that Christ has conquered sin and death and is ruling today, alive at God's right hand. These essays on the end time will help Christians live like people who really have eternal life already–the life of the Spirit of Christ who lives and moves in both Christ and Christians. Whether your question is about heaven, the soul, hell, the new earth, about how believers in the Old Testament thought of these things, or about what redemptive progress God brought by the resurrection of Christ, you will find answers here. Readers will also be warmly encouraged by the practical and realistic chapters about the Christian's calling in social and political matters and about the ways that the church's worship is a participation in heavenly realities. Central to everything about the end time is the fact that by dying and rising, Jesus Christ brought the whole world forward into the last days and has in principle brought Christians into a fullness that Moses and even Adam did not yet know. Read, and be encouraged!
The Gospel, Freedom, and the Sacraments
To be baptized, particularly as an adult, indicating a radical change from the self-directed life to the life to be lived under the lordship of Jesus Christ, must be one of the most dramatic experiences available to us. To take part in the Lord's Supper–remembering his death for us–must be one of the most moving services in which we could ever participate.
But are these ceremonies obligatory for the believer? Did Jesus explicitly or implicitly make them mandatory? Does it not seem somewhat strange that the gospel, by which we are freed from the Law of Moses, demands that we abide by two new ceremonial laws?
However greatly they differed from one another, did the reformers go far enough in examining the Scriptures to see what they did indeed say about such ceremonies? Have we written back into our understanding of Scripture that so much underlies our present beliefs and practices? Does an examination of what the early fathers thought help or hinder us in our search for the truth?
Following the Lamb
Jesus' parting words to his followers were for them to «Go therefore and make disciples of all nations» (Matt 28:19). This being the case, shouldn't we be concerned with gaining a full understanding of discipleship from the entire New Testament corpus? Many scholars recognize that the theme of discipleship is found throughout the New Testament, even in Revelation, with all of its symbolism and bizarre imagery. But how does it do this? The focus of this study, through the use of content analysis methodology, is to demonstrate that the theme of discipleship is not only found in the Apocalypse, but is also exceedingly relevant for Christians today. In many parts of the world Jesus' disciples are facing opposition and persecution for their testimony to Jesus Christ. It would do Christians well to read the book of Revelation once again. As they read it this time through the eyes of the oppressed, the content of the book will prove extremely valuable to aid disciples of Jesus in their efforts to «follow the Lamb wherever he goes» (Rev 14:4), no matter what the cost.
Conception, Reception, and the Spirit
A number of distinguished biblical scholars and theologians come together in this volume to honor the life and work of Andrew T. Lincoln. The title of this volume reflects Andrew Lincoln's lifelong interests in Christian origins, the reception of biblical texts in believing and scholarly communities, and the embodiment of the gospel in believing communities made possible by the Spirit. These essays cover exegetical matters, theological interpretation, and theology and embodiment. Several essays engage directly with Lincoln's monographs, Truth on Trial, and Born of a Virgin?