Религия: прочее
Различные книги в жанре Религия: прочееMen of One Book
The preaching ministries of John Wesley and George Whitefield propelled them to the forefront of the eighteenth-century evangelical revival. Both self-professed «men of one book,» one of the most visible ways in which they expressed their high regard for Scripture was through their desire to be «preachers of one book.» This book seeks to compare various aspects of the full-orbed «preach and print» ministries conducted by Wesley and Whitefield. Committed to the principle that the «whole world was their parish,» Wesley and Whitefield manifested their singular desire to be men of one book through preaching ministries that were by no means identical, yet equally committed to the spread of the gospel throughout the transatlantic world.
The Sermon on the Mount
The goal of this book is for readers to experience a personal encounter with the wisdom of Jesus found in Matthew 5-7. The Sermon on the Mount has grown out of pastor James Mayfield's study and struggles across the years as person, marriage partner, parent, pastor, teacher, and writer. The primary guides for this book have been John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Because there are forty chapters, the book is well suited for Lent, but it is not limited to that season.
“Remain in Your Calling”
Remain in Your Calling explores the way the Apostle Paul negotiates and transforms existing social identities of the Corinthian Christ-followers in order to extend his gentile mission. Building on the findings of Tucker's first monograph, You Belong to Christ: Paul and the Formation of Social Identity in 1 Corinthians 1-4, this work expands the focus to the rest of 1 Corinthians. The study addresses the way Paul forms Christ-movement identity and the kind of identity that emerges from his kinship formation. It examines the way previous Jewish and gentile social identities continue but are also transformed «in Christ.» It then provides case studies from 1 Corinthians that show the way social-scientific criticism and ancient source material provide insights concerning Paul's formational goals. The first looks at the way Roman water practices and patronage influence baptismal practices in Corinth. The next uncovers the challenges associated with the transformation of the Roman household when it functions as sacred space within the ekklesia. The final study investigates the way Paul uses apocalyptic discourse to recontextualize the Corinthians' identity in order to remind them that God, rather than the Roman Empire, is in control of history.
God and Government
Ours is a time of rapid cultural change with new economic challenges. People look to their governments for leadership and solutions. But what can and should government do to meet the difficulties that beset a nation? What can citizens expect from their elected representatives? What is reasonable? And what should citizens do? What are their responsibilities? This book addresses such fundamental issues through the eyes of Scripture and against the backdrop of North America's dual heritage of Christianity and humanism. Government, politics, and the Bible do not seem like a good mix. But as this book aims to show, the Bible has much wisdom to teach us about the place and role of government and its citizens. Biblical principles work because God knows how his world and his servant governments are supposed to function. After all, he ordained the governing authorities, and the principles enunciated in his Word are timeless and remain practical. This book introduces fundamental biblical principles that apply to government and politics. The intent is to inform and to motivate the reader to get involved where possible in the political processes of the day. Our legislators need the input and help from their knowledgable Christian constituents.
Fulfilling a Vision
Education has contributed enormously to the Scottish national character. The emphasis has always been on making a good education available to all and on giving those with talent every opportunity of advancement. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, it was clear that the provision of schooling was failing to meet the needs of an expanding population and the growth and diversification of the economy. In 1824 the Church of Scotland began an ambitious program to tackle the problem. In setting up new schools and the first teacher training colleges, the Church saw itself as supplementing an existing system of national education for which it shared a statutory managerial responsibility. This book offers an account of the struggles and achievements of the Church of Scotland over some fifty years as it sought to control and strengthen school education throughout the country. In so doing, it furthered the model of education for which Scotland became famous. Readers interested in current debates about the curriculum and standards in school education, the involvement of parents, the place of religious education, and the desirability or otherwise of faith schools will recognize their beginnings in these pages.
What Is the Literal Sense?
Invariably, people who read Scripture are forced to answer the question, «What is the 'literal sense'?» This question is not new. In the seventeenth century, John Lightfoot–signer of the Westminster Confession of Faith and a master of Hebrew and of rabbinic writings–wrestled with the same question, and his conclusions had a profound impact in the world of hermeneutics.
In an age of much animosity towards the Jews, Lightfoot embraced the insights found in the Jewish writings while staying grounded in his reformational dogmatic theology. In so doing, his exegesis could properly be considered a via media between Reformed Scholasticism and Judaism. Lightfoot's hermeneutical principles and presuppositions outlined in this book not only provide valuable insight into his thinking but also reject the previously normative notion that Reformed Scholasticism has little to offer dogmatically or exegetically.
The current tensions between systematic and biblical theology, the rise of interest in Second Temple and medieval Judaica, and the never-ending question of biblical authority make What Is the Literal Sense? an important read.
Resurrecting Interpretation
Hermeneutics is the work of Hermes, the Greek demigod, a messenger from the gods and from the dead. Simon Perry sets out to explore the contemporary face of Hermes through a reading of Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). This parable has one distinguishing feature that marks it out from other ancient stories following the same basic storyline: that a visitor from the dead is not granted leave to return with a message to the land of the living. In order for Scripture to be heard, Hermes is not necessary.
Where does this leave the role of hermeneutics? Perry looks to philosophers, ethicists, and theologians for an answer.
The Assault on Priesthood
The concept and institution of priesthood in the Catholic Church has been the subject of serious challenge not only since the time of the Protestant Reformation but also, more recently, from within the Catholic Church, as the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and theologians afterward have reconsidered the place and function of priests in relation to both bishops and laity. In dialogue with those challenges, and by means of research into Scripture and the theological tradition–patristic, medieval, and modern–the author of this book considers classic images of priests and priestly ministry as a way of recovering an understanding of the priesthood that is at once both biblically and theological sound.
Cosmic Prayer and Guided Transformation
This book presents a realistic and thoroughly spiritual outlook upon the entire created reality. It lets us envisage that various created entities are participant in a relationship with God that becomes increasingly one of an intimate personal quality; that is, a relationship of love. It thus invites discernment that the universal reality is valuable in its own right and not only as a good for the use of humanity. Drawing mainly upon Scripture, ancient writers (especially Maximus the Confessor), as well as contemporary natural sciences, this book encourages the reader to perceive human salvation not as a lifting of humanity out of creation, but as a transformation into God's presence in the midst of the wider created order. It shows that Christian faith at its best does not exclude the wider creation but provides us with insight and hope for a harmonious being-in-God that is inclusive of creation. It shows that Christian faith can be a resource that helps overcome the ecological crisis.
The Dialogical Spirit
Contemporary proposals for Christian theology from postliberalism to Radical Orthodoxy and beyond have espoused their own methodological paradigms. Those who have ventured into this domain of theological method, however, have usually had to stake their claims vis-a-vis trends in what may be called the contemporary «post-al» age, whether of the postmodern, post-Christendom, post-Enlightenment, post-Western, or postcolonial varieties. This volume is unique among offerings in this arena in suggesting a way forward that engages on each of these fronts, and does so from a particularistic Christian perspective without giving up on Christian theology's traditional claims to universality. This is accomplished through the articulation of a distinctive dialogical methodology informed by both pentecostalism and evangelicalism, one rooted in the Christian salvation-history narrative of incarnation and Pentecost that is yet open to the world in its many and various cultural, ethnic, religious, and disciplinary discourses. Amos Yong here engages with twelve different interlocutors representing different ecumenical, religious, and disciplinary perspectives. The Dialogical Spirit thus not only proffers a model for Christian theological method suitable for the twenty-first-century global context but also exemplifies this methodological approach through its interactions across the contemporary scholarly, academic, and theological landscape.