Религия: прочее
Различные книги в жанре Религия: прочееReading the Bible with Giants
Many readers of the Bible believe that interpreting the Scriptures well simply involves a two-way dialogue between themselves and the text. Implied in this view is the idea that we can simply jump over two thousand years of biblical interpretation. However, if we believe that God has been speaking through the Bible to devout believers throughout history it would seem that we should find a way to identify the insights they perceived in the text so that we can learn to read these sacred texts with them. Drawing on resources from Reception Theory, the goal of Reading the Bible with the Giants is to enable the contemporary reader to interpret the Bible in dialogue with those who have gone before us.
Spiritual Being & Becoming
It is reported that there are as many as 100 billion neurons that make up the human nervous system. This system is incredibly complex, and yet it is a fundamental part of what makes us who we are. Yet, there is far more to human beings than biology. Many academic disciplines study the human condition and there are many schools of thought within that study. We must also appreciate that the study of human nature did not begin in contemporary times. History, particularly Western Christian history, is full of texts that offer detailed explorations of the human condition. However, no consensus has yet emerged. Consensus or not, those working towards religious and spiritual formation are tasked with pursuing the transformation of their communities. This book is an attempt to provide some of the background to support this ministerial work. It seeks not only to offer a fuller understanding of some of the common views of human nature, but also insights into how we might utilize this knowledge in our ministries–ministries that strive towards the spiritual being and becoming of our world.
Alexander or Jesus?
To many people, the four Gospels are seen as biographies of Jesus of Nazareth, who was declared by God to be his Son. To many more, these Gospels are works of theology, incorporating the myths, stories, and legends surrounding a then little-known young Jew who lived two thousand years ago. This book explores the reasons why such a comparatively obscure person should be called «Son of God» soon after his death. William Broad sets stories of Jesus against the backdrop of the religions of the time and shows how St. Paul in Greece chose the mythical title «son of a god» for Jesus as being one that would attract the attention of his Gentile hearers and reveal his great significance. However, Broad notes that Jesus was not the first historical person to have been called a son of god. Alexander the Great had been so titled 350 years before. Alexander or Jesus? explores stories of this remarkable king and shows that these tales significantly affected the way the Gospels declared the Divine Sonship of Jesus. It further reveals that Jesus' birth and his epiphany are not the unique events that many believe.
Baptists and War
While Baptists through the years have been certain that «war is hell,» they have not always been able to agree on how to respond to it. This book traces much of this troubled relationship from the days of Baptist origins with close ties to pacifist Anabaptists to the responses of Baptists in America to the war in Vietnam. Essays also include discussions of the English Baptist Andrew Fuller's response to the threat of Napoleon, how Baptists in America dealt with the War of 1812, the support of Canadian Baptists for Britain's war in Sudan and Abyssinia in the 1880s, the decisive effect of the First World War on Canada's T. T. Shields, the response of Australian Baptists to the Second World War, and how Russian Baptists dealt with the Cold War. These chapters provide important analyses of Baptist reactions to one of society's most intractable problems.
The Wheat and the Tares
In 1500 Christians knew that God gave them the church to shepherd believers toward salvation and that it was centered at Rome and ruled by a pope. Today, that church is but one of forty thousand Christian denominations, each with distinctive structures and doctrines. How did this happen? Then, as now, all aspects of the church–from its divine mission to its offices and operations, hierarchy, and bureaucracy–were of interest to theologians, thinkers, and troublemakers alike, but for ages there had been satisfaction with the status quo.
In the late Renaissance this gave way to frustration and heated debate, as some people wanted fewer clerical controls over their lives, and others sought a church more representative of its purest, earliest form. Ecclesiology (the doctrine and theory of the church) became a major controversy separating not only Roman Catholics from emerging Protestants, but also Protestants from one another. In the writings of the various reformers, the same issues surfaced repeatedly. Jesus's parable of the Wheat and the Tares was discussed often as an image of the church, as reformers sought to rediscover the purity of the church as God's gift. This book uses the words of a range of reformers to explain how the one church began to divide into the many.
Irreconcilable Differences?
What if philosophy, theology, and science spent a little more time together? These fields often seem at odds, butting metaphysical heads. Instead of talking at, how about talking with one another? This book engages three academic disciplines–distinct yet sharing much in common–in a slice of conversation and community in which participants have aimed at validating the other and the way the other sees the world. The result is a collection of essays united by a thread that can be hard to find in academia. In bringing together a wide range of contributors on a project that at first seemed unlikely, Irreconcilable Differences? is also a testament to the spirit of cooperation and hard work–evidence that small acts and events can make a big difference, and that sometimes all you need in order to make something good happen is an idea with a little support along the way. The editors of this collection are hopeful that its contributors and readers will keep looking for ways to bridge academic, social, and political gaps. We need to forge relationships based on personal knowledge and proper confidence seeking to make meaningful claims in an increasingly complex world.
A Man of Many Parts
This collection of essays by colleagues, former students, and friends illustrates something of the breadth and depth of subjects that have engaged the life and thought of the Reverend Doctor John Westerdale Bowker. His clerical and academic appointments in Cambridge, Lancaster, London, and North America further illustrate the integrative nature of his spiritual and intellectual way of being and acting.
The Distinctive Identity of the Church
An increasing number of theologians believe that the Western world has moved from an era of Christendom to an era of post-Christendom. This book goes to the heart of the debate related to this shift, asking, How are we to understand the distinctive identity of the church with special reference to its role in a post-Christendom society? It then presents an analysis of the work of the English Reformed theologian Lesslie Newbigin and the American Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, both of whom reflect on how we should understand this important question. At the end of The Distinctive Identity of the Church, the charge of sectarianism is discussed. It is argued that a missionary God sends the church to the world and, consequently, this sending should fundamentally determine its existence in the world. The book argues that the task that lies before the church in the Western world is not to bypass its distinctiveness with accusations of sectarianism, but to recapitulate an understanding of its own distinctiveness that should be seen as a precondition for its engagement in society. Such an ecclesiological position holds important potential for an understanding of the role of the church in pluralistic Western cultures.
Luke's Jesus in the Roman Empire and the Emperor in the Gospel of Luke
Luke provides valuable clues to an understanding of the religious and political power of the Roman Empire through Jesus's birth and trial accounts. Also, the book analyzes what role Luke's tax-related accounts play in relation to the emperor's authority. This volume presents a new argument: Luke emphasizes Jesus's interaction with tax collectors as a way of displaying his moral authority, seen in his intervening effectively with one of the most hated aspects of the empire, an aspect that the emperor was responsible for and should have dealt with. This analysis helps us examine Luke's portrayal of Jesus's authority with a focus on the titles «benefactor» and «savior.» Comparisons and contrasts are to be made between Jesus and the emperor. Thus, this study discusses how Luke elevates Jesus's authority on the basis of his stance toward the emperor.
The Swedish Pietists: A Reader
Beginning in the 1830s and stretching into the first decades of the twentieth century, the Lutheran state churches of Scandinavia experienced a great spiritual awakening. At the center of this movement were devotional materials and sermons made accessible through colporteurs and booksellers throughout Scandinavia, as well as among immigrants in North America. Two of the most influential and widely-read authors of this period were the Swedish preachers, Carl Olof Rosenius (1816-1868) and Paul Peter Waldenstrom (1838-1917), who became household names through their immensely popular devotional journal Pietisten («The Pietist»). Both men emerged from the long tradition of revivalism within the Lutheran state churches of Europe known as Pietism, and consciously drew on this heritage as they helped to articulate and redefine the priorities of revival Christianity in a new era. This collection includes many excerpts never before translated into English, as well as an accessible and thorough introduction to these authors' careers and historical contexts. Influenced by their irenic tone, simplicity, and evangelical warmth, translator and editor Mark Safstrom makes available some of the best of Rosenius's and Waldenstrom's writing for a new generation of laypeople, pastors, and scholars.