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Description:Preachers around the globe have come to rely on Will Willimon for insight and advice on the craft of preaching. For over a decade, Willimon has published his reflections in the ""Five-Minute Preaching Workshop,"" a quarterly column he writes as editor of Pulpit Resource. Here the best selections from that column have been brought together into a single volume for the first time. Drawing on years of experience, study, and careful observation of the current state of preaching, Willimon offers candid thoughts on a wide range of homiletical issues-from theological to pastoral, cultural, and stylistic. Readers will find challenge and inspiration from a few hours spent in the studio of this master preacher. Endorsements:""Will Willimon is a master preacher who is eminently qualified to teach a ''master class'' on preaching. Paradoxically, he refuses to master the text or the awesome responsibility of preaching the gospel. Instead, he shows us how to listen for God''s word and to experience it in every moment of the pastoral life. In Willimon''s reading, preaching is not an onerous burden but a lively exercise of the theological and biblical imagination. He really can''t help himself! He loves words, but he loves the Word even more. The outcome of this book is something we could all use--a newfound joy in the art of preaching.""--Richard LischerDuke Divinity Schoolauthor of The End of Words ""What a wonderful collection of insightful essays that invite us preachers to learn from the homiletic wisdom of Bishop Will Willimon. Arguably, what is best about this little book is that the teacher of this wisdom has been a faithful preacher of the gospel for more than thirty years. I hope many readers will take advantage of this opportunity to enhance their growth in the art of preaching for building up the faith and life of the church.""--Michael Pasquarello IIIGranger E. and Anna A. Fisher Professor of PreachingAsbury Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):William H. Willimon is Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He is the author of over fifty books and is widely recognized as one of America''s best preachers.

Description:Groans of the Spirit constitutes a rousing challenge to mainline churches and their practice of preaching. In this inventive work, Timothy Slemmons calls preachers beyond the formalism of the New Homiletic, and beyond the ethical proposals that have arisen in the frustrated struggle to transcend it, and toward what the author calls a ""penitential"" (reformed) homiletic. This new homiletical proposal is distinctive in that it faithfully adheres to the Christological content of preaching, finds its inspiration in the promise of the real presence of Christ, and trusts in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, from whom alone the power for the renewal of the mainline church shall come.This book includes a thorough reconsideration of the ""infinite qualitative difference"" between God and humanity in Barth''s thought, an important critique of Gadamer''s reception of Kierkegaard''s concept of contemporaneity, an undelivered lecture on the content of preaching, and two sermons that illustrate Slemmons''s important proposals.Groans of the Spirit is a long-considered, calculated, and overdue break with conventional hermeneutics that proposes a vital homiletical pneumatology, which draws the art of the sermon out of the ghetto of mere rhetoric and presents it as it truly is: as theological reflection of the first order, the church''s primary language of faith.Endorsements:""Tim Slemmons has written a ''thick,'' passionate study of the fruitful grounding for preaching. His advocacy pivots on the verdict of Isaiah that ''my ways are not our ways.'' With appeal to Barth and Kierkegaard (and a glance at Gadamer), he lines out the radical, defining ''infinite qualitative difference between the divine and the human, between eternity and temporality'' that permits the good news from ''there'' to ''here.'' Before he finishes, Slemmons offers two sermons exemplifying his bold theology in bold practice. Readers will, as a result of reading, preach differently and/or listen differently.""--Walter BrueggemannColumbia Theological Seminary""Tim Slemmons argues passionately that the most important issues in preaching are theological. What is the significance for preaching of Isaiah''s claim that God''s ways are not our ways or of the New Testament''s claim that Jesus Christ draws all people to himself but is also a narrow gate? Not just preachers, but all those concerned about faithful preaching will find much to ponder in these splendid essays.""--George W. StroupColumbia Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Timothy Matthew Slemmons is Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Worship at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. His sermons, essays, and poems have appeared in various publications.

Description:The Ecclesial Base Communities (CEBs) emerged in the wake of Latin American liberation theology and are often referred to as ""the Church of the Poor."" This book, however, addresses whether or not CEBs are indeed the Church of the Poor today. It is an open question now if Pentecostalism has in fact become the new church of the poor. To answer this question Philip Wingeier-Rayo conducted a one-year ethnographic study of both movements in a marginalized barrio in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Using the anthropological method of participant-observer, the author studied a Roman Catholic Church and a Pentecostal Church--just 100 yards apart--compiling surveys, life interviews, and field notes to relay his findings. For those interested in liberation theology, Pentecostalism, new religious movements, or the influence of religion on society, this in-depth ethnographic study will be of great interest.Endorsements:""Based on his varied experience in Latin America and informed by the vast literature on emergent forms of Christianity in Central and South America, Wingeier-Rayo has undertaken a careful study of neighboring examples of what are sometimes seen as opposed forms of Christianity: the base communities associated with Liberation Theology and the Pentecostal movement. Refusing facile dichotomies and generalizations this study will be of considerable help to anyone who wants to understand contemporary Christianity.""--Theodore W. Jennings Jr.Professor of Biblical and Constructive TheologyChicago Theological Seminary ""Dr. Wingeier-Rayo brings a wealth of experience in cross-cultural ministry to bear on a topic of truly global significance. His close analysis of two very distinctive traditions of faith, in one particular context, shatters stereotypes and celebrates diverse gifts. We need more contextual studies like this one to open our eyes to the kaleidoscopic nature of God''s reign.""--Paul ChilcoteProfessor of Historical Theology & Wesley StudiesAshland Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Philip Wingeier-Rayo is Associate Professor of Religion at Pfeiffer University where he teaches in the areas of theology, missions, and cultural anthropology. He is the author of Cuban Methodism (Dolphins & Orchids, 2006).

Description:Spirit and Nature is a collection of essays exploring how the resources of Christian spirituality can inform the practice of a more ecologically sustainable faith. Our current ecological situation calls for people of religious faith to reexamine the way they envision the practice of spirituality. As environmental ethicists have called us to reconsider the human-Earth relationship so that the planet is not seen as simply an endless supply of resources to fill human wants and needs, so these essays call us to reconsider spiritual practice as it relates to Earth''s ecology. Rather than viewing spirituality as an escape from the material world, the authors describe the embodiment of the God-quest within the human-nature relationship. Drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives, these essays examine a variety of topics, including the relationship between Earth and humans in the Bible, the role of nature''s beauty in Christian spirituality, the practice of Christian discernment and contemplation in light of the natural sciences, the role of nature in liturgical prayer, and others. These essays consider how scholarship in Christian spirituality can contribute to re-imaging faith in ways that better cherish the Earth''s fragile beauty. Endorsements:""This collection of essays contains something to please everybody interested in ecological spirituality, regardless of their background. For scientists, reflections on Loren Eisley and Aldo Leopold, for artists thoughts on Emily Carr, for readers with a theological background, sections on Alice Walker''s fluid spirituality, the Hebrew Bible''s view of creation, liturgy in the face of ecological tragedy, Athanasius'' Life of Antony, and more. This all constitutes a colorful intellectual quilt well worth reading.""--Steven A. KolmesUniversity of Portland""What does the discipline of Christian spirituality contribute to twenty-first-century urgency toward sustaining the life of the earth? From a rereading of the Bible and retrieval of resources in Christian history, to engagement with contemporary scientists, writers, artists, and activists, this volume''s essays stretch readers into transformative new engagement with the tradition, in love of the earth.""--Lisa E. DahillTrinity Lutheran Seminary""It is difficult to imagine anyone reading this book and remaining unmoved by its powerful witness to the emergence of a distinctively Christian, ecological spirituality. The historical and theological breadth and interdisciplinary rigor of these essays consistently point toward a truth that has too long been obscured from view--that Christian spiritual practice is inconceivable apart from careful and sustained attention to the living world.""--Douglas Burton-ChristieLoyola-Marymount University""Through Spirit and Nature, the editors and authors invite us to take a clearer, deeper, and more sustained look at the Divine web that binds us to God, each other, and all of nature. We learn from Irenaeus of Lyons that ''the glory of God is the human person fully alive,'' but Spirit and Nature helps us see a truth even more profound: that God''s glory is a creation fully alive and flourishing. This collection is urgent and indispensible for all who study and teach Christian spirituality.""--Sam Hamilton-PooreSan Francisco Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Timothy Hessel-Robinson is Alberta and Harold Lunger Assistant Professor of Spiritual Resources and Disciplines at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University. Ray Maria McNamara, RSM, is Director of Mission Advancement for the Sisters of Mercy. She previously taught theology and spirituality at the University of Portland.

Description:Israel''s Messiah and the People of God presents a rich and diverse selection of essays by theologian Mark Kinzer, whose work constitutes a pioneering step in Messianic Jewish theology. Including several pieces never before published, this collection illuminates Kinzer''s thought on topics such as Oral Torah, Jewish prayer, eschatology, soteriology, and Messianic Jewish-Catholic dialogue. This volume offers the reader numerous portals into the vision of Messianic Judaism offered in Kinzer''s Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (2005). An introductory essay by editor Jennifer M. Rosner sets Kinzer''s thought and writings in context.Endorsements:""Mark Kinzer is a ''break-through'' thinker who has taken Messianic Judaism to a new level of theological sophistication. No one who cares deeply about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity can afford to ignore these essays.""--Richard J. MouwPresident of Fuller Theological Seminary""This book is a welcome successor to Mark Kinzer''s 2005 groundbreaking work, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism . . . It is the kind of theological inquiry that both the Jewish Roots movement and the Messianic Jewish movement are so greatly in need of. Jennifer Rosner''s collaboration in this project is a promising sign that a new generation of Messianic Jewish scholars may be ready to accept the challenge.""--Isaac RottenbergFirst Chairperson of the National Council of Churches Office on Christian-Jewish Relations""This is a significant book. Although it is a collection of articles and addresses, it has a far greater coherence than such collections normally possess. This coherence flows directly from the coherence of Mark Kinzer''s life-project--to develop a form of Messianic Judaism that is authentically Jewish, and at the same time truly Messianic in the sense of fully recognizing the centrality of Jesus in God''s purpose for Israel and for the world.""--Monsignor Peter HockenMember of International Doctrinal Commission for Catholic Charismatic Renewal""Whether one welcomes the Messianic Jewish movement wholeheartedly, with reservations, or not at all, the increasing importance of its voice in contemporary theological discussion is certain. This collection of essays by Mark Kinzer demonstrates again why the issues raised by Messianic Judaism are so fundamental in nature, and why Kinzer himself is widely regarded as the movement''s foremost theologian."" --R. Kendall SoulenProfessor of Systematic Theology, Wesley Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Mark S. Kinzer is President Emeritus of Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, and the author of Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (2005). Jennifer M. Rosner is a doctoral candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Description:By all accounts, the modern ecumenical movement is not moving much these days. Despite dramatic breakthroughs in the past few decades, the quest for a visibly united church--in which there is common confession of the apostolic faith, full Eucharistic communion, and mutual recognition of members and ministers--now meets with indifference by many, impatience by some, and outright hostility by others. In part, this is because the movement has not given enough attention to grassroots ecumenical engagement. This book is written to convince ordinary Christians, especially young Christian adults, that they too have a stake in the future of the ecumenical movement as its most indispensable participants.Ecumenism Means You, Too draws on the music of Irish rock band U2 to cast artistic light on various aspects of the quest for Christian unity. Whether one is a U2 fan or not, and whether one thinks the ecumenical movement is a good thing or a bad thing for the church, everyone who reads this book will learn something about the Christian theological framework apart from which neither the modern ecumenical movement nor the meaning of U2''s music can be understood. The book includes an annotated bibliography of resources for ecumenical engagement and a glossary of key ecumenical terms for readers who want to learn more about the Christian practice of seeking the unity of the church.Endorsements:"". . . at once profound and straightforward, deeply reflected yet highly accessible, theologically rich yet directly practical . . . a source of wisdom to be absorbed into the life-blood of each of our widely differing communities for their mutual enrichment . . . a superbly inviting and practical manifestation of what has come to be referred to as Receptive Ecumenism.""--Paul D. MurrayDurham University, UK ""Whether you are passionate about, disappointed by, or indifferent to the church: if you love God, you need this book. Harmon shows you why mutual tolerance is not the unity that Jesus desired for his Body, and he gives you the tools to start knitting back together the broken pieces of the church-so the world might believe. This little book should be the marching orders for every Christian!""--Sarah Hinlicky WilsonInstitute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France ""Few books on the ecumenical movement are as readable, and I would wager none has as appealing a soundtrack. Harmon invites us to strive for the hope of fuller visible unity with sisters and brothers in Christ, not by ignoring denominational differences, but by acknowledging what divides us while refusing to settle for division. The ''Ten Things You Can Do for the Unity of the Church'' list alone is worth the price of the book.""--Beth Maynardco-editor of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 CatalogAbout the Contributor(s):Steven R. Harmon teaches Christian Theology at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. A member of the Baptist World Alliance delegations to the international theological conversations with the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a plenary member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, he is the author of Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision (2006). He blogs about his work in ecumenical theology at www.ecclesialtheology.blogspot.com.

Description:How does one deal with despair? Are joy and despair irreconcilable? How does the joy and despair of Jesus Christ relate to our joy and despair?Continuing to explore the implications of the vicarious humanity of Christ as he did in The God Who Believes, Christian Kettler investigates the christological implications of the all too human phenomenon of despair. All people experience the pain of personal loss and lack, of the meaninglessness of existence. We also desire and covet joy, as difficult as it is often to define or maintain. Jesus was both "the man of sorrows" and one who "for the joy set before him endured the cross" (Heb 12:2). Can we think of the despair of Christ and the joy of Christ as both being vicarious, in our place and on our behalf, and thus have a theological way to possess joy in the midst of despair as well as to have a more robust theology of the atonement? Drawing on wide-ranging resources from Augustine, Calvin, Karl Barth, and T. F. Torrance to Bob Dylan, the fantasy writer Ray Bradbury, and Ed Wood, the director of Plan Nine from Outer Space, Kettler seeks to bring Trinitarian and incarnational theology deep into our flesh, filled with real despair and joy, and find that Jesus is there, with his own despair, there to lift us up with his own joy.Endorsements:"Chris Kettler''s The God Who Rejoices, joins his fine book, The God Who Believes, as two indispensible texts for connecting Christology to the Christian life. Kettler has learned the most important lessons from his teachers and now imparts them to his readers. These books are soon to be in the category of Christian classics. I certainly hope that we will be treated to a few more by this seasoned theologian and master teacher, but for now we have a second text fit for use by theologians and pastors alike, either for the classroom or a bible study. Wherever despair reigns, this book offers a timely intervention."--Willie James JenningsDuke Divinity School "In this book Christian Kettler offers a profound diagnosis of the despair that resides just underneath the surface of so much of modern life. However, the value of this book rests less on its perceptive diagnosis than on the surprising gift of joy Kettler espies in the gospel of Jesus Christ, a gift that is rooted in the cross (Heb.12:2!) and encompasses suffering and loss as well as beauty and delight. Here one finds ample witness to what the modern world, and perhaps the church most of all, least expects: joy in the life of the triune God."--Thomas W. CurrieUnion-PSCE at Charlotte"Chris advances the trajectory set forth by T. F. Torrance and Ray Anderson, offering a poignant, comprehensive exposition of both despair and joy in order to show how only the vicarious humanity of Jesus Christ provides a genuine answer to despair and joy . . . His approach will puzzle some and disturb others, but should in all cases provoke clarifying self-examination of inherited assumptions that won''t bear the weight of experience. I''ve been waiting for this book and did not even know it. Now I cannot wait to recommend it to my friends!"--Don PayneDenver SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):Christian D. Kettler is Professor of Theology and Philosophy, at Friends University and Theologian in Residence at the Church of the Savior in Wichita, Kansas. He is the author of The God Who Believes: Faith, Doubt, and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ (Cascade Books, 2005).

Description:""Who do you say that I am"" (Mark 8:29) is the question of Christology. By asking this question, Jesus invites his followers to interpret him from within their own contexts-history, experience, and social location. Therefore, all responses to Jesus''s invitation are contextual. But for too long, many theologians particularly in the West have continued to see Christology as a universal endeavor that is devoid of any contextual influences. This understanding of Christology undermines Jesus''s expectations from us to imagine and appropriate him from within our own contexts. In Re-imagining African Christologies, Victor I. Ezigbo presents a constructive exposition of the unique ways that many African theologians and lay Christians from various church denominations have interpreted and appropriated Jesus Christ in their own contexts. He also articulates the constructive contributions that these African Christologies can make to the development of Christological discourse in non-African Christian communities. Endorsements:""Throughout the history of Christian thought, believers have struggled to understand the figure of Jesus Christ in the context of countless different cultures, and today, Africa is the scene of some of the most challenging and imaginative reconstructions. In his erudite and wide-ranging book, Victor Ezigbo offers a sound guide to these daring new Christological ventures.""--Philip Jenkinsauthor of The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity""A thoroughly researched book on African Christology. One of the neglected questions in African Christianity is how to present Christ in ways that answer questions Africans are asking. Victor Ezigbo tackles this topic brilliantly.""--Allan Andersonauthor of Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism""What would ''freedom in Christ'' look like for Africans when it reflects care to diverse and complex contexts? Engaging with this decades old theological question, Victor Ezigbo''s excellent study will reward the reader with a typology of African Christologies; a sense of the complexity of the theological task; an exhibition of the destructiveness of ill-formed knowledge of both the density of the manifold Christian traditions and the irreducible richness of living ancient cultures; and a refusal to reduce contextualization to a phenomenology that under-appreciates the theological task of reading the deep particularities of texts and contexts contemporaneously.""--John C. McDowellMorpeth Professor of TheologyUniversity of NewcastleAbout the Contributor(s):Victor I. Ezigbo is Assistant Professor of Contextual and Systematic Theology at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. He obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the author of several articles on African theologies and Christologies.

Description:The Reformer Martin Luther is the source of endless fascination and dispute. Not only his antagonists but also his supporters have created a host of representations of his thought. On the one hand, Catholic and other similar voices have accused Luther of being the major agent in the birth of modern secularism. On the other hand, Lutherans themselves are divided on the meaning of Reformation. In view of all these interpretations and dismissals of Luther and the Lutheran Reformation, it requires a certain boldness to claim that Luther''s theology is intellectually fascinating and contains exceptional resources. This is precisely what the present volume claims. The studies collected in this volume aim at showing in which sense Luther remains a fully Catholic and genuinely Augustinian theologian who is not so much a forerunner of problematic modernity as a representative of classical Christianity. At the same time, Luther''s theology contains ideas that can be made fruitful in dialogue with currents like communitarianism or Radical Orthodoxy. The volume consists of articles written by scholars affiliated with the project known as ""the New Finnish Interpretation of Luther."" The topics include Luther''s theological anthropology, Trinity, christology, sacraments, faith, theology of the cross, the Virgin Mary, sexuality, music, and the spiritual reading of the Holy Scriptures. Endorsements:""This compelling volume continues the ground-breaking project known as the ''new Finnish interpretation of Luther.'' It is the contention of this movement that, for Luther, union with Christ in faith necessarily entails active and robust participation in God''s own life. Building upon the Reformer''s unique vision, at once evangelical and catholic, this book offers powerful contributions to contemporary theology and renewed sustenance for ecumenical advances. Highly recommended.""--Thomas G. GuarinoSeton Hall University""For over twenty years a remarkable group of Finnish scholars has been offering a new interpretation of Luther''s theology. Here for the first time in English these theologians give us not only a presentation of their challenging approach to Luther research, but a splendid introduction to Luther''s theology as a whole. Beginners and experts alike will find much to ponder in the Luther who speaks from these pages.""--Bruce MarshallPerkins School of TheologySouthern Methodist UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Olli-Pekka Vainio is an Adjunct Professor of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Helsinki, and a member of the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton. He is the author of Justification and Participation in Christ (2008) and Beyond Fideism: Negotiable Religious Identities (2010).

Description:This book records a set of dialogues between scientists, theologians, and philosophers on what can be done to prevent a global slide into ecological collapse. It is a uniquely multidisciplinary book that exemplifies the kinds of cultural and scholarly dialogue urgently needed to address the threat to the earth represented by our super-industrial civilization. The authors debate the conventional account of nature conservation as protection from human activity. In contrast to standard accounts, they argue what is needed is a new relationship between human beings and the earth that recovers a primal respect for all things. This approach seeks to recover forgotten resources in ancient cultures and in the foundational narratives of Western civilization contained in the Bible and in the culture of classical Greece.Endorsements:""A refreshing critique of both evangelical and liberal North American environmental discourse, a bold exercise in multi-disciplinary conversation, and a welcome retrieval of the virtues of creaturely humility and gratitude.""-Ernst M. ConradieUniversity of the Western Cape, South Africa""This wonderfully rich book is a model of deep conversation on crucial challenges we face. The most important issues are intrinsically interdisciplinary, yet we often settle for talking ''at'' or ''to'' one another. This is especially true among the ''environmental'' and ''religious'' communities. The conversations in this book show that deep interdisciplinary engagements offer opportunities to re-frame the questions and re-describe the challenges in more promising and life-giving ways, transforming participants and the issues alike. A terrific achievement.""-L. Gregory JonesDuke University""Underlying the environmental movement are a set of mostly undiscussed ethical and theological assumptions about the nature of the world and our relationship to it. In this pioneering volume, scholars from various perspectives engage in a deep exploration of the relationship of ecology, theology, and ethics. The results are often illuminating, sometimes surprising, and uniformly worth engaging.""--Paul Root WolpeEmory University""Van Houtan and Northcott engage scientists, ethicists, theologians, and other thinking persons in dialogue, working to re-ligate the torn academic and social fabric, and bringing all to see and respond to the biosphere--the awesome creation that calls for our guardianship and respectful service. They have us join this dialogue, motivating us--guardeners all--toward nurturing the kind of wisdom and humility that brings good news to every creature.""--Calvin DeWittUniversity of WisconsinAbout the Contributor(s):Kyle S. Van Houtan is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Program in Science and Society and a Research Fellow in the Center for Ethics at Emory University. He has served as a biologist with the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Geological Service.Michael S. Northcott is Professor of Ethics in the School of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of The Environment and Christian Ethics (1996)

Description:This volume provides a collection of prayers and artwork based on the New Testament texts, inviting readers to join in the Spirit''s moving through words, figures, and colors. Yeo and Matheny offer this resource to worship leaders, those interested in spirituality, prayers, and artistic expressions of the New Testament. The process of praying and painting the New Testament allows the Spirit to intercede for God''s will in the world and incarnate peace in our lives that surpasses all understanding.Endorsements:""Yeo, ably matched by Claire Matheny, lets the text surge into contemporary life with its ample measure of loss and pain, of wonder and possibility. The ''connect'' that the Spirit makes between Scripture and contemporary faith is accomplished in the rich and daring utterance of prayer. The author has probed deeply into the human condition and lets it intersect with the biblical text in compelling ways. The book is a model for the interaction that faith and culture must always undertake anew, an interaction that at its best evokes human dignity among us. The interplay of utterance and image in this volume make for a powerful invitation.""--Walter Brueggemann, author of Praying the Psalms, 2nd ed.""In The Spirit Intercedes: The New Testament in Prayers and Images, K. K. Yeo brings together his excellence as a New Testament scholar with his lively Christian faith to craft inspiring prayers for biblically literate Christians. The prayers, which draw richly on biblical narratives and imagery, will lead those who pray them more deeply into Scripture. They are appropriate both for Bible study and for worship. Dr. Yeo''s book, enriched by evocative pictures by Claire Matheny, is an important contribution to the spiritual tradition of praying the Scriptures.""--Ruth Duck, Professor of Worship, Garrett-Evangelical Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):K. K. Yeo is Harry R. Kendall Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary and Visiting Professor at Peking University. He is the author of Musing with Confucius and Paul.S. Claire Matheny is a Chaplain Resident in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. From designing bulletin covers at an early age to her present prayer journaling, Claire has long sought to enliven art through faith.

Endorsements:""There''s more wisdom in these pages than in an airlift or convoy of Chinese fortune cookies. John''s take on late-night comedians and the news is alone worth the modest price he''s charging for opening our eyes and ears to some good ''ol truths from the school of hard knocks. I just wish he''d written this sooner; it might have saved my life.""--Bill Moyers""This book is proof that John Hayes is far more interested in saying something true than in saying something agreeable. If you have ever worried about the way your toenails look as you get older-or about how to live with integrity in a world full of scoundrels and a few good friends-you will find companionship in this volume. What sets it apart from others in its genre is Hayes''s aversion to sentiment and cliché. Every page of this book is as tart as a pickle.""--Barbara Brown Taylorauthor of Leaving Church and An Altar in the World ""I am recommending this slim volume, but with qualifiers. Do not read rapidly. This book consists of only fifty-two pieces, but they are not pieces; each one is whole and complete. I recommend one a day. But fast or slow, you''ll be seduced. Like philosophy? Plato is here but he often sounds like an Alabama farmer. Like poetry? Some of these lines soar, but be prepared to land in the old cat''s litter box. Like old maxims? They are here, but John may play the flip side, which is also true. As C. H. Dodd said of Jesus'' parables, these musings will ''tease your mind into active thought.'' Enjoy.""--Fred CraddockBandy Professor Emeritus, Emory University""John Hayes knows how to make people laugh and think at the same time. Both scholar and farmer, the author is equally at home with professors or pigs. His style is satirical and earthy, of the genre of Lardner, Twain, and Rogers. If you don''t like the humor, enjoy the wisdom. I relish both!""--Bevel JonesRetired Bishop, United Methodist Church""Somewhere between Aesop''s fables and Damon Runyon''s tales, these down home homilies are food for the southern soul-and anyone else who cares to be entertained and edified!""--Judith Landau, MDPresident, International Family Therapy AssociationAbout the Contributor(s):John H. Hayes is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at Emory University''s Candler School of Theology. He is also the author of Understanding the Psalms and coauthor of A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed., and A New Chronology for the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Description:CONTRIBUTORS:Mustafa Abu-Sway, Al-Quds University, JerusalemAsma Afsaruddin, Indiana UniversityReinhold Bernhardt, Basel UniveristyDavid Burrell, CSC, University of Notre DameCatherine Cornille, Boston CollegeGavin D''Costa, University of BristolDavid M. Elcott, New York UniversityJoseph Lumbard, Brandeis UniversityJonathan Magonet, Louis Baeck Institute, LondonJohn Makransky, Boston CollegeAnantanand Rambachan, St. Olaf CollegeDeepak Sarma, Case Western UniversityJudith Simmer-Brown, Naropa UniversityMark Unno, University of OregonEndorsements:""Discernment as the evaluation of one religious community by another is a critical question in contemporary interfaith dialogue theory and practice. How do the members of different religions judge the relative worth of other religious traditions? And how does this judgment connect with the complicated religious lives of modern people? The question of religious discernment has become much more pressing in an age of the globalization of religion along with economic and cultural exchange. What is so refreshing about these essays is that the authors do not shy away from the fact that every religious tradition does have ways of judging the relative merits (and demerits) of the religions of other people . . . As the Kongzi (Confucius) taught so long ago, we need to find harmony but not uniformity. These essays help us on this path.""--John BerthrongBoston University""This is serious and careful work, a rich collection yielding honest and provocative lessons by religious scholars challenged to identify the criteria for critical judgments they employ when addressing different understandings within their traditions and, particularly, across religious boundaries. They contribute significantly to contemporary reflections on the dynamics of interreligious exchange from a diversity of perspectives. Here five major traditions are represented, but not uniformly so. Their insightful, at times formidable, even counter-intuitive suggestions are instructive to all who wish to understand more clearly diverse religious perspectives on dialogue.""Georgetown University""--John BorelliGeorgetown UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Catherine Cornille is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College. She is the author of The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue (2008) and editor of Many Mansions? Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity (2002) and Song Divine: Christian Commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita (2006). She is managing editor of the series Christian Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts.

Description:Divino Compañero explores the necessary foundations for constructing a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology. Although traditionally Pentecostal Christologies have been anchored in a two-nature Chalcedonian model, Alfaro proposes that Spirit-Christology is a more suitable paradigm for a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology, provided it is grounded in the experience, faith, and worship of its community and oriented toward liberative praxis. After reviewing the christological reflection of early Pentecostals and the contemporary turn to Spirit-Christology, Alfaro lays out the main components needed to construct a christological model born out of the Hispanic Pentecostal reality, rooted in the broader Pentecostal christological imagination, and informed by the Pentecostal way of doing theology. Following this method, Alfaro concludes the central metaphor of Hispanic Pentecostal Christology is El Divino Compañero, for in their pilgrimage through this world it is Jesus, the Divine Companion, who through the Spirit guides and nurtures his followers on their way back home.Endorsements:""Pentecostals have led the way in awareness of the Spirit in Christian experience and ministry, but in the past have relied heavily on the early church two-natures approach to the divinity and humanity of Christ. Sammy G. Alfaro shows how Spirit Christology, which stresses the role of the Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus, is well suited to the Pentecostal tradition, not only for contemporary Hispanic Christology, but also for today''s social and spiritual needs.""--Colin BrownProfessor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary""Here is another indication of the coming of age of constructive Pentecostal theology in general and Hispanic theology in particular. Dr. Alfaro, fully conversant with two cultures that have shaped the global Pentecostal movement, namely American and Hispanic, offers here a groundbreaking study on the Pentecostal Spirit-Christology in an active dialogue with mainstream views. His careful and insightful analysis and assessment of the state of Spirit-Christology in contemporary theology alone would make this book an important contribution. Dr. Alfaro''s constructive proposal as to what a contemporary Hispanic Pentecostal Spirit-Christology would look like will take the continuing theological reflection on the mutual relationship between Spirit and Christ into a higher level and calls for responses and engagement.""--Veli-Matti KärkkäinenProfessor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological SeminaryDocent of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki, Finland About the Contributor(s):Sammy Alfaro is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at Grand Canyon University (Phoenix, AZ). Together with his wife, Miriam, they are planting Iglesia Nuevo Día--a Hispanic bilingual church in Phoenix, AZ. They have two kids, David and Marissa, and live in Tolleson, AZ.

Description:In The End of Evangelicalism? David Fitch examines the political presence of evangelicalism as a church in North America. Amidst the negative image of evangelicalism in the national media and its purported decline as a church, Fitch asks how evangelicalism''s belief and practice has formed it as a political presence in North America. Why are evangelicals perceived as arrogant, exclusivist, duplicitous, and dispassionate by the wider culture? Diagnosing its political cultural presence via the ideological theory of Slavoj Zizek, Fitch argues that evangelicalism appears to have lost the core of its politic: Jesus Christ. In so doing its politic has become "empty." Its witness has been rendered moot. The way back to a vibrant political presence is through the corporate participation in the triune God''s ongoing work in the world as founded in the incarnation. Herein lies the way towards an evangelical missional political theology. Fitch ends his study by examining the possibilities for a new faithfulness in the current day emerging and missional church movements springing forth from evangelicalism in North America. Endorsements:"In your hands is one of the sharpest and informed evaluations of the state of evangelicalism. Read it slowly. Ponder it. Plot a better evangelicalism."--Scot McKnightKarl A. Olsson Professor in Religious StudiesNorth Park University"In compelling fashion, Fitch digs deep to examine how key U.S. evangelical beliefs actually function as an ideology rather than gospel. He calls us from a Christianity that acts as ''ideology'' to one that authentically incarnates Jesus'' life and mission. What a book! This one will knock you back on your heels."--Howard A. SnyderProfessor of Wesley StudiesTyndale Seminary, Ontario, Canada"This is a significant book for those wrestling with the theological and cultural integrity of the Evangelical movement in a post-Christian setting." --John R. FrankeClemens Professor of Missional TheologyBiblical Seminary, Hatfield, Pennsylvania"David Fitch explores three key issues that symbolize the evangelical conundrum-the inerrant Bible, the decision for Christ, and the Christian nation-by reframing them through missional theology. This is a timely and crucial read for those concerned about the evangelical movement."--Craig Van GelderProfessor of Congregational MissionLuther Seminary, St. PaulAbout the Contributor(s):David E. Fitch is B. R. Lindner Professor of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary, Lombard IL. He is also a pastor at Life on the Vine Christian Community in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. He is the author of The Great Giveaway (2005).

Description:John''s gospel does not record "Thomas''s doubt," as later generations of Christians have branded the story. Rather, John presents Thomas''s faith. In this work, Robert H. Smith approaches Thomas as one who believes in the reality of incarnation: God has a body. Too often, Smith argues, Christians read John''s gospel for its lyrical discourses. The resulting portrait of Jesus is a "cross-less Christ," a portrait that contributes powerfully to Christian triumphalism. In contrast, Smith finds that the evangelist always has the cross in view. Smith reads John "backwards," through the eyes of Thomas. In so doing, he demonstrates the centrality of a wounded Lord in the theology of the gospel. But this book does not end with hermeneutics. Smith advances his discussion into the life of discipleship. Anyone dwelling in Christ''s body will be similarly marked. What does it mean to live in the world as the marked body of Christ? Everyone who poses the question will want to read this book. Martha E. StortzProfessor of Historical Theology and EthicsPacific Lutheran Theological Seminary/The Graduate Theological UnionBerkeley, CaliforniaEndorsements:"Always an innovative teacher and writer, Smith trumps all that in his final book. He finds in Thomas''s plea to see Jesus''s wounds precisely what John''s Gospel wants us to see: a God who became incarnate in Jesus, wounds and all. This gospel is not saying, according to Smith, ''Jesus is like (the almighty) God'', but that ''God is like this wounded Jesus.'' When I used Robert''s ideas recently to end a gospels course, one student said, in effect, ''You have kept the best teaching until now.''"--Everett R. KalinChrist Seminary Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley"In Wounded Lord we find Robert Smith''s last testament, a meditation on his favorite gospel. Renouncing all moralizing, ethnocentrism, and religious triumphalism, Smith focuses on Jesus''s self-sacrificing love as the clue to God''s nature and as power to heal all divisions. This is a book for everyone to reencounter John''s Jesus, whose glory was to give self away so that all humanity might even now be one with him ''in the lap of the Father.''"--Gary PencePacific Lutheran Theological Seminary"From the beginning of my pastoral ministry, I have relied on Robert H. Smith for cogent, pertinent, and deep reflection on Christian scriptures . . . Is he correct that the whole of the book needs to be refracted through the Thomas story, that the risen Christ always and necessarily bears the wounds of crucifixion? I believe so, and you ought to read the book to consider the question yourself. It will bless your devotional practice, your teaching and preaching, and your understanding of God''s suffering for and with us."--Rev. Brian Stein-WebberTrinity Lutheran Church, Oakland, CaliforniaAbout the Contributor(s):Robert H Smith (1932-2006), was professor of New Testament at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and served as a member of the core doctoral faculty of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He is the author of Apocalypse: A Commentary on Revelation in Words and Images (2000), and Easter Gospels: The Resurrection of Jesus According to the Four Evangelists (1983) He has published commentaries on Matthew (1989), Acts (1970), and Hebrews (1984). He co-authored several books with Paul Fullmer, Read Greek by Friday (Wipf &Stock, 2004), Read Greek by Friday: The Gospel of John & 1 John (Wipf & Stock, 2005), Greek at a Glance (Wipf & Stock, 2007).

Description:In this compelling work, Fisher brings a fresh understanding to the book of Job by highlighting the four main sections of the book that have truly different perspectives: the folktale, the poetic dialogue, the poem on wisdom, and Elihu''s speeches. As he says in the Preface, ""the poem and its author were framed in both meanings of that word. The Ancient Folktale of Job formed a frame that was ancient and ornate, and it ruined the inserted poem or dialogue. It caused both books to be misunderstood."" Anyone interested in a fresh translation and a vibrant analysis of Job will want to read this volume.Endorsements:""Loren Fisher provides a fine translation and an insightful commentary on the book of Job. Over against efforts by ancient editors and contemporary interpreters to force the story into a single, often consoling, message, he highlights the disconcerting and opposing voices within the whole. These voices yield an open-ended debate between God unjust and cruel and God merciful and compassionate--a debate that endures to this day.""--Phyllis Tribleauthor of Texts of Terror""Many writers seek a single unifying thesis in the book of Job. Fisher uncompromisingly insists that it is not a coherent book. By taking it apart he exposes the contrasting views of God and justice. In particular he frees the angry Job to utter his powerful and unqualified attack on the orthodoxy of his day, and of ours."" --John B. Cobb Jr.author of A Christian Natural Theology""Loren Fisher proposes an insightful approach to the entirety of the book of Job, enabling us to read this prime exemplar of the biblical wisdom tradition differently. Instead of forcing its parts and speeches into a single mold, he shows how it speaks with different voices like the separate themes of a symphony.""--Baruch A. Levineauthor of In the Presence of the LordAbout the Contributor(s):Loren R. Fisher took early retirement as Professor of Hebrew Bible at the School of Theology at Claremont and Professor of Semitic Languages and Literature at Claremont Graduate School. He edited Ras Shamra Parallels (vols. 1 and 2), and he is the author of Genesis: A Royal Epic, The Jerusalem Academy, and The Minority Report.

Description:Luther''s radical interpretation of the two natures of Christ, and specifically its expression through the ubiquitous presence of the humanity of Christ, is a fundamental, integral expression of that same theology. This expression of Luther''s theology of the cross, Anthony asserts, provides both a fuller elaboration and an important and creative corrective with reference to recent signal expressions of the theology of the cross. As contemporary theologians of the cross have articulated (most notably Douglas John Hall and the late Alan E. Lewis), the theology of the cross, through a transformation of the divine attributes that honors the integrity of created beings, is preeminently a theology of redemption from within (""within-redemption""). In the process of outlining and analyzing these theologies of ""within-redemption,"" Anthony exposes an impasse created by these theologies regarding the relationship of ""within-redemption"" to individual human narratives. It is through Luther''s radical interpretation of the two natures of Christ, Anthony contends, that complete ""within-redemption"" can be expressed. Anthony also evaluates the Christology of Karl Barth from the perspective of his findings. Not only is Anthony''s work an innovative and fresh application of Luther''s Christology for contemporary discussions of the theology of the cross, but it places Luther''s Christology at the cutting edge of contemporary discussions regarding the theology of the cross and its ""within-redemption.Endorsements:""In this incisive and creative study, Anthony explores Luther''s, Hall''s, and Lewis''s theologies of the cross and argues convincingly that Luther''s incarnational focus and affirmation of the ''third mode'' enable contemporary theologians of the cross to offer the world a powerful theology of hope that both takes seriously the totality and particularity of human experience and celebrates the ongoing nature of God''s ''within redemption.''""--Kurt K. HendelBernard, Fischer, Westberg Distinguished Ministry Professor of Reformation HistoryLutheran School of Theology at Chicago""Any theologian who is willing to pay attention to Martin Luther on Christ''s Presence is by necessity exciting. Especially when that theologian takes seriously the ubiquitous presence of the crucified Christ to his sinners that concerns not Christ''s presence to us, but ours to Him. Neal Anthony''s theological exploration is indeed exciting. Read freely."" --Steven D. PaulsonProfessor of Systematic TheologyLuther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota""Knowledgeable when it comes to Luther, Barth, and other significant theologians; creative when it comes to traditional topics of Christian doctrine; faithful when it comes to the relevance of research and teaching for ministry; challenging when it comes to the reader''s own reflection.""--Antje JackelénBishop of LundChurch of SwedenAbout the Contributor(s):Neal J. Anthony, an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, currently serves in Nebraska. He received his PhD in theology at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2008 and has taught at Midland Lutheran College.

Description:Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf was without question the most influential German theologian between Luther and Schleiermacher. He was the force behind modern Protestant missions, launched efforts that eventually became the ecumenical movement, and influenced some of the most significant theological projects of the modern world from Schleiermacher''s to Barth''s and Bonhoeffer''s.He was convinced that in important respects the Christian church of his day had lost its way both intellectually and practically. In these speeches, given to overflow crowds in Berlin, he brought to expression what he held to be the absolute and nonnegotiable center of Christian existence-the main thing. Here he laid out for public view the heart of all his activity, the guiding reality of his life.In these speeches Zinzendorf focuses on fundamental theological themes. One senses the influence upon him of the Pietist movement and of Orthodox theology. One gains an appreciation for his bold idiosyncrasy, his willingness to stand apart, and to bear witness. But above all, one gains here an insight into the very heart of Zinzendorf.Endorsements:""Zinzendorf''s ''Berlin Speeches'' is his most widely read work. Now it is available in a new, modern English translation while preserving the original distinctiveness of Zinzendorf''s style. Thanks to the work of skillful translator and Zinzendorf scholar, Gary Kinkel, Zinzendorf can speak to us today.""--Paul PeuckerArchivist, Moravian Church Archives, Northern Province""Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf has often been misunderstood by the church and ignored by scholars. In this volume, Gary S. Kinkel brings the Count back to life for the twenty-first century. The ''Berlin Speeches,'' which reflect on Luther''s explication of the second article of the Apostles Creed, show Zinzendorf at his best as pastor and theologian.""--Otto Dreydoppel Jr.Moravian Theological Seminary, Bethlehem, PennsylvaniaAbout the Contributor(s):Gary S. Kinkel is currently the pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Pella, Iowa. He is the author of Our Dear Mother the Spirit: An Investigation of Count Zinzendorf''s Theology and Praxis (1990), and It All Started with Zinzendorf (2000).

Description:This book is an attempt to critically embrace a tradition--a culture--in which the author was formed and against which he has often found himself in resistance, using academic disciplines in which he is well versed but about which he is deeply suspicious. This book began to come together as a book in a series of lectures on the history of Western thought at Shenzhen University in the People''s Republic of China, an opportunity to cultivate disciplined criticism that might afford a second look at traditions behind the West which are being embraced all too quickly. In a time of acceleration, this book offers a meditation on the virtue of hesitation.The book is an invitation to philosophy and the history of ideas, but it is also a sustained critical reflection on the religious dimensions--explicit and implicit--of those ideas, with enough utopian vision left to imagine a city in which violence is not necessary.Endorsements:""Combining erudition of a true scholar and insight of a gifted poet, professor Steven Schroeder offers his readers an adventurous ''pilgrimage'' of mind into the realms of cultural history, philosophy, and religion. This perfectly structured, consistent, and well-argued book is a good companion to anyone who wishes to transgress the boundaries of supposedly ''Western'' ideas and open new vistas to the territories that reflect the legacy of so many vanished civilizations."" --Almantas SamalaviciusVilnius Gediminas Technical University and Vilnius University""This new book by Steven Schroeder contains careful examinations of and insightful reflections on the intellectual history of the West. It not only provides us with guidance when journeying through the labyrinth of Western ideas, but it enables us to see how ideas, almost always intertwined with human desires and fears, are projected into the real world and contribute to transform the place we live in. It is highly illuminating for understanding the human creation of ideas, and therefore, is instructive to anyone who wants to coexist harmoniously with others in the twenty-first century.""--Dongming ZhaoShenzhen University, People''s Republic of China.""Without ever raising his voice, the author challenges some of our most cherished assumptions--the centrality of ''the West,'' the primacy of Greek thought in the development of Western philosophy, and the identification of heroic virtue with aggression and conquest--among others. Here is philosophy restored to its mission of ''passionate engagements in a controversy that matters.'' The fact that Schroeder is a poet as well as a scholar makes this book a pleasure to read and of interest to the general reader as well as to scholars and specialists.--A. G. Mojtabaiauthor of Blessed Assurance ""How to summarize this heady ride from Babel to Thebes to Shenzhen, from the meaning of language to the meaning of meaning . . . Where is God? What is really real? Who is the stranger? This book rockets from the paradox of free will to the paradox of slavery, from redefining Descartes to rediscovering forgotten giants such as Anne Conway. Read this book and rediscover what the work of philosophy and the play of wisdom is all about.""--Rev. David Breedenauthor of This Is Just To Say: Meditations on a Theme by William Carlos WilliamsAbout the Contributor(s):Steven Schroeder is an instructor in Asian Classics and the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago Graham School and Visiting Professor in the School of Foreign Languages at Shenzhen University in the People''s Republic of China. His most recent book is Six Stops South (2009).

Description:While process philosophers and theologians have written numerous essays on Buddhist-Christian dialogue, few have sought to expand the current Buddhist-Christian dialogue into a ""trilogue"" by bringing the natural sciences into the discussion as a third partner. This was the topic of Paul O. Ingram''s previous book, Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science. The thesis of the present work is that Buddhist-Christian dialogue in all three of its forms--conceptual, social engagement, and interior--are interdependent processes of creative transformation. Ingram appropriates the categories of Whitehead''s process metaphysics as a means of clarifying how dialogue is now mutually and creatively transforming both Buddhism and Christianity.Endorsements:""The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue is many things: Reflections on the historical process of Buddhist-Christian dialogue, the author''s own intellectual process of evolving dialogue, and the vision of dialogue informed by a Whiteheadian view of process. The multifaceted complexity and richness of the work, however, issues from Paul Ingram''s wholehearted engagement with dialogue, not just as a scholar, but as a person. In plumbing the very depths of his own faith, he has been inexorably impelled to examine his life within the larger scope of human and cosmic diversity, to reach beyond any sort of dogmatically predefined boundaries. He is a scholar of Japanese Pure Land thought, East Asian Buddhism, and religion and science, but it is here in The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue that he truly reveals the deep hues of his kaleidoscopic lifework."" --Mark Unno, University of Oregon""Ingram offers an insightful, well-structured, and panoramic view of the field of Buddhist-Christian studies, mapping out the conceptual, socially-engaged, and interior dimensions of the dialogue that continue to enrich and expand the horizons of both traditions.""--Ruben L. F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Paul O. Ingram is Professor of Religion Emeritus at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science, Wrestling with God, and Wrestling with the Ox: A Theology of Religious Experience.

Description:Evangelicals are supposed to be experts at telling their story. From an early age you are expected to have a ""testimony,"" a story of how God saved you from a life of sin and sadness and gave you a new life of joy and gladness. What happens if you don''t have such a testimony? What if your story just doesn''t fit the before-and-after mold? What are you supposed to do if your voice is not one usually heard?In these offbeat, witty, and often bittersweet essays, up-and-coming writers tell the truth about growing up female and evangelical. Whether they stayed in the church or not, evangelicalism has shaped their spiritual lives.Eschewing evangelical clichés, idyllic depictions of Christian upbringing, and pat formulas of sinner-to-saint transformation, these writers reflect frankly on childhoods filled with flannel board Jesuses, Christian ""rap"" music, and Bible memorization competitions. Along the way they find insight in the strangest places--the community swimming pool, Casey Kasem''s American Top 40, and an Indian mosque.Together this collection of essays provides a vivid and diverse portrait of life in the evangelical church, warts and all.List of Contributors:Jessica BeltPaula CarterKirsten CruzenAnne DaytonKimberly B. GeorgeCarla-Elaine JohnsonMegan KirschnerAnastasia McAteerMelanie Springer MockAudrey MolinaVictoria MoonShauna NiequistHannah Faith NotessAndrea Palpant DilleyAngie RominesAndrea SaylorNicole SheetsShari MacDonald StrongStephanie TombariHeather Baker UtleyJessie van EerdenSara ZarrEndorsements:""Written by experienced women writers from diverse evangelical Christian backgrounds, the tales are honest, approachable and revealing. Each author has put aside her inhibitions about exposing the flaws of her home church--from power struggles to the indoctrination of shame--and takes evangelicalism to task for its ''carefully filtered'' yet ambiguous conventions. Yet all of the authors tell of a more realistic, meandering faith, enduring even while rife with doubt. Readers will be inspired to re-examine their own beliefs and perhaps even create their own un-testimonies."" -- Publishers Weekly""OK, male Evangelicals . . . it''s time: you need to listen to your sisters, mothers, and daughters. Their voices have been marginalized for too long, and as you''ll see in these pages, they have some tremendous stories to tell (or ''testimonies to share'').""OK, female Evangelicals . . . it''s time: spread the word on this amazing collection of essays. I''ve never seen anything like it, and I think you''ll agree.""OK, non-Evangelicals . . . it''s time: if you thought all Evangelical women were sitting quietly in church or baking casseroles for the next pot-luck, all the while dreaming of the next election in which they can vote right-wing . . . here''s a jolt and a pleasant surprise for you. Another great collection of deep feeling, honest thinking, and splendid writing from the folks at The Other Journal.""--Brian D. McLaren, author of The Secret Message of Jesus""Since the Puritans, spiritual autobiography has thrived in the New World. These women show that the American conversion testimony is endlessly resilient, as they break and remake it again and again. There''s a wild range of piety here, but the authors do believe in the possibilities of narrative. Intelligent and sensitive, their essays brilliantly shatter the born-again-bimbo stereotype!""--Julia Spicher Kasdorf, author of The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life""A marvelous writer herself, Hannah Notess has gathered here a circle of riveting storytellers. Speaking from their own experience, these women reframe the ancient religious questions in contemporary language--questions about suffering, sin, and salvation, about the source and purpose and conduct of life. Above all they ask what Christianity meant to them when they were growing up, and what it means to them now. Their answers are as varied and rich

Description:Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805-1880) was a pastoral counselor and theologian of hope. His theology and pastoral approach, shaped as they were by the awakening in his congregation and numerous incidents of faith healing, provoked earnest and lively debate, and the controversy continues today. Ising''s work mines the original sources, the product of an interaction with Blumhardt''s life and work that goes back many years. He has drawn a portrait that explores the shadows as well as its bright side. Readers are invited to enter fully into the nineteenth century, Blumhardt''s century, yet are constantly reminded that the problems of that day have lost none of their currency within the altered mental horizons of today.Endorsements:""This is the long expected, definitive biography of the Swabian Protestant Pastor Johann Christoph Blumhardt ... Ising shows that Blumhardt''s legacy deserves more than nostalgic remembrance. It poses a genuine challenge to the perceptions and practices of Christian counseling, which is often highly professional but no longer dares to count on God''s presence in the counseling process itself.""-Christoffer H. Grundmannauthor of Sent to Heal! Emergence and Development of Medical Missions""Blumhardt''s biography, from its earliest beginnings until his quiet death, has received magisterial treatment by Dieter Ising. The narrative is as judicious as it is vivid; this is so particularly with regard to Blumhardt''s place within the framework of Pietism and the ''surplus'' in addition to Pietism that he was able to find, the way he grew beyond his limitations.""-Paul DieterichPrelate (ret.), Lutheran Church in Württemberg""There is now available a wealth of biographical material which enables us, to a much greater degree than before, to illuminate Blumhardt''s place in the history of the territorial churches and in contemporary church life. This has made possible the present biography, a model of its kind, in which Dieter Ising has been able to base his account on his comprehensive edition of Blumhardt''s letters as well as on further previously unpublished materials.""-Gerhard Sauterauthor of Die Theologie des Reiches Gottes beim älteren und jüngeren Blumhardt""Until recently, Blumhardt has appeared as a mysterious figure. This has now changed with Dieter Ising''s clearly-written and thorough biography . . . The result is a vivid portrayal of a man set clearly in the context of his life and times and speaking to us today in ways that challenge our own ways of thinking. This biography must not be overlooked by anyone interested in contemporary theology or pastoral care, especially with the healing message so popular in the churches of the Southern Hemisphere. I enthusiastically recommend it.""-Frank D. Macchiaauthor of Spirituality and Social Concern: The Message of the Blumhardts in the Light of Wuerttemberg PietismAbout the Contributor(s):Dieter Ising wrote his doctoral thesis at Tübingen under the supervision of Jürgen Moltmann. His field of research is Württemberg church history and history of theology. In the Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart he has edited the correspondence of Johann Christoph Blumhardt (7 volumes, 1993-2001) and is editing the correspondence of Johann Albrecht Bengel.

Description:This collection of essays provides samplings of a theological engagement of culture that Paul Louis Metzger has been developing over the years in his work as founder and director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins at Multnomah Biblical Seminary of Multnomah University. Metzger espouses an incarnational over against a predominantly worldview-oriented or market-driven theological approach to engaging culture, and situates his work in Trinitarian communal and co-missional thought forms. This volume of biblically and theologically framed and compassion-driven essays addresses such themes as postmodernity, structural evil, cultural genocide, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, the prison system, the global slave trade, and the arts. It will be welcomed by those analyzing and developing theological-cultural paradigms and engaging key issues in the contemporary setting. Endorsements:""No single specimen--or vintage--of evangelical cultural engagement more ably and deliciously demonstrates itself than the profoundly theological cultural criticism of Paul Louis Metzger. His work occasions a hearty toast, and is worth the repeated tastings this volume so richly invites.""--Rodney Clappauthor Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction""New Wine Tasting enables us to lift our heads and, with eyes wide open, learn how to engage our culture as we are called to do. Cutting-edge theology for our times. We need this volume.""--Michael O. Emersonauthor of Divided by Faith, United by Faith, People of the Dream""The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins, from which this volume of essays emerges, is at the cutting edge of today''s wholistic ministry movement. And because it''s connected to a university and seminary, it''s in a great position to challenge future leaders. I am highly impressed.""--John M. Perkinsauthor of Let Justice Roll Down: ""This bottling collects a decade''s worth of Metzger''s distinctive engagement with the Bible, the Church, and our culture. You won''t find the dreary arcanum of the academy in New Wine Tastings; these essays bristle with biblical and practical perspective on the most pressing issues of our times. They reveal the heart and mind of a passionate, insightful and often humorous theologian who shows us all how to live into our calling as witnesses to the Gospel. The perfect compliment to your favorite beverage!""--Robb Redmanauthor of The Great Worship Awakening: Singing a New Song in the Postmodern Church""Paul Metzger''s robust Trinitarian theology, shaped through Barth and the Church Fathers, is the engine that drives his insightful and provocative cultural criticism, allowing him to explore with equal confidence Native American missions and Johnny Cash. Metzger''s confident yet winsome approach to culture charts a new path for a Christian witness in and for culture in the twenty-first century. His is a voice to which I will listen closely."" --Daniel Siedellauthor of God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art""Paul Metzger, and his New Wine, New Wineskins project in theology and culture, have gathered together here a collection of occasional essays that are indeed ''tastings''-suggestive samples of what a Trinitarian and incarnational theology of cultural engagement might look like. Some brief and anecdotal, and others longer and more theoretically developed, they all bear witness to a form of cultural engagement deeply rooted in the theological tradition of the Church and attuned to the currents of contemporary culture. Though I prefer fermented grain to grapes, this is good drink!""--Eric G. Flettauthor of Persons, Powers, and Pluralities: Toward a Trinitarian Theology of CultureAbout the Contributor(s):Paul Louis Metzger is Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminary and Multnomah University. He is the author of Consuming Jesus (2007) and coauthor of Exploring Eccle

Description:In this pertinent and engaging volume leading Christian philosophers, theologians, and writers from all over the denominational map explode the black-and-white binaries that characterize both sides of the New Atheism debate. They transcend the self-assured shouting matches of this latest expression of the culture wars by engaging in rigorous, polychromatic Christian reflection that considers the extent to which the atheistic critique-both new and old-might help the church move toward a more mature faith, authentic spirituality, charitable witness, and peaceable practice. With generous openness and ferocious wit, this collection of essays, interviews, memoir, poetry, and visual art-including contributions from leading intellectuals, activists, and artists such as Stanley Hauerwas, Charles Taylor, John Milbank, Stanley Fish, Luci Shaw, Paul Roorda, Merold Westphal, and D. Stephen Long-provides substantive analysis, incisive critique, and a hopeful way forward for Christian dialog with atheist voices.Endorsements:""I was watching a TV documentary the other night that featured several highly religious parents dealing with their highly addictive adult childrens'' drug and sexuality issues. ''Their faith seems to make them worse parents and worse people,'' I said to my wife after the last commercial. I feel the same way when political leaders bring in religion to justify the unjustifiable, as they too often do. That''s why I am so grateful for this brilliant book: atheism isn''t just something to oppose or refute--it also can be a mirror, with much to teach us believers about ourselves and our distorted and unworthy ideas about God and religion. The atheist too is our neighbor, and God may want to speak to us all through the incisive insight of an honest atheist. Highly, highly recommended.""--BRIAN MCLARENauthor of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope""The very shape of this book is a response to the New Atheism precisely because it refuses their narrow imagination and rationalist fundamentalism. Instead of playing by their rules, this book imagines faith otherwise in a stunning collection of poetry, prose, interviews, and images. It is an intellectual feast which seats us at the table with some of the most significant voices of our day.""--JAMES K. A. SMITHauthor of The Devil Reads Derrida: And Other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics, and the Arts""In this exceptionally readable and engaging volume of essays--ranging from the accessibly academic to the largely belletristic--the diverse authors, along with their editors, pose one of the most effective answers to the so-called ''new atheists'' that has come down the pike in recent years. Avoiding both the baroque scholasticism of so much contemporary postmodernist philosophy and the kitschy special-pleading of many popular theologians, God is Dead and I Don''t Feel So Good Myself is special soul food for today''s thinking Christian. . . . The book is a must read for all those frustrated onlookers who feel the new atheists have received far more attention than they deserve.""--CARL RASCHKEauthor of The Next Reformation and GloboChrist""A rich, diverse nuanced collection of essays, interviews, musings, poetry, and art that together add up to a generous, engaging response to the New Atheism. Readers will either be shocked or unsurprised to learn that the ''god'' declared dead by the New Atheists turns out not to be the God of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob that Christians affirm. God is not an explanation. This volume makes a strong case that the appropriate response to the resurgent atheism is not better arguments, but patient humility, and the practice of gratitude with the fruit of wonder, and the honey of love.""--James H. Olthuis, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto, Emeritus ""Through insightful essays, penetrating conversations, and beautiful poetry, ''God is Dead'' and I Don''t Feel So Good Myself brings t

Description:This study offers an intercultural theory of interpretation and religion. It does so by bringing Western and East Asian traditions into dialogue regarding the nature of interpretation. The result of this innovative study is a theory of interpretation which integrates the socially embodied dimension of human life with the study of hermeneutics and religion in post-foundational and cross-cultural perspective. Toward this end, Paul Chung offers a constructive theology of divine speech-acts in a manner more amenable to the social-public sphere than other proposals. In all of this he deeply considers intercultural horizon of interpretation between West and East and its implications for a theology of interpretation. The result is a truly theological theory of interpretation that takes seriously the issues of intercultural studies and their intersection with Christian doctrine.Endorsements:"Fluent in theological and philosophical reflection, Paul Chung herein engages in a learned conversation across disciplines and cultures. Woven into the fabric of his discussion are insightful linkages to biblical texts and contemporary social issues."--Terence E. Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary "Public Theology has become an extraordinarily challenging task that few can attain today. Paul Chung, who already has demonstrated sensitive and comprehensive readings of theology and philosophy through a Barthian / Bonhoefferian proficiency contributes a compelling approach in this volume. The public of theology is no longer mono-centric but multi-centric and Chung masterfully links the Western and Asian polarities. The coherency of his account does the reader great dialogical benefit. This volume is indeed a real achievement of East/West theology as it masterfully maintains the centrality of revelation through Jesus Christ. Public culture is rife with conflict and as such is reflective of its all-too-human condition as the massa perditionis. Chung shows how this condition of the human can be redemptively transformed through taking the Word of God with utmost hermeneutical seriousness."--Kurt Anders Richardson, Professor in the Faculty of Theology, McMaster University"This book transcends hermeneutics in any conventional sense. In response to the crisis of modern technological existence and the contradictions of global capitalism, Chung guides the reader on an intercultural quest for authentic and responsible humanity. The wisdom of the East reorients us to our place in the natural world, and the truth of the incarnate Word sends us into the public sphere to encounter God in the face of the least (Minjung). We are invited to open ourselves to the way of embodied emancipatory praxis."--Craig L. NessanAcademic DeanWartburg Theological Seminary"Paul Chung invites us to join him in the quest for the truth in which he joins contemporaries of antiquity: Plato (the Greek from the Western world and his metaphor of the cave) and Laozi (the Chinese from the Eastern world and his metaphor of the butterfly), and interprets them through the eyes of each other. We are taken on a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary journey that seeks to advance a genuinely inter-cultural art of interpretation in the quest for the truth. In the world of the twenty-first century, marked by what is called ''the clash of civilizations,'' such interculturality is indeed urgent."--H. Martin RumscheidtAtlantic School of Theology, Halifax, Nova Scotia"An intriguing inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural exploration that seeks to develop a public, socially embodied, theology of God''s Word drawing on both Western and East Asian traditions."--Lois MalcolmAssociate Professor of Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary"I enjoyed this book, especially the survey of recent major thinkers as they bear on the question of encounter between religious traditions."--Andrew P. PorterGraduate Theological Union, Berkeley"Chung''s book i

Description:Historically, people who have risen to the occasion to speak of faith for their generation have been keenly aware of their own limitations-whether Moses, who was ""slow of speech,"" or Isaiah, who was concerned that he spoke with ""unclean lips."" The question both Moses and Isaiah seem to be asking is, who am I to speak for God? And we wonder in turn, was it they who spoke, or God who spoke through them? These biblical images carry the weight of the question raised by the essays in this volume. How is preaching both the work of God and yet also a function of the individual''s own person and identity? How is the preacher to conceive the identity he or she assumes when proclaiming the Word of God? Some of the leading educators in homiletics today propose a variety of possible preaching identities in this volume: preacher as messenger of hope, as lover, as God''s mystery steward, as ridiculous person, as fisher, as host and guest, as one ""out of one''s mind,"" and as one entrusted. The result is an open-ended invitation for readers to identify their own preaching identity either in concert with one of the images presented here or of their own making, appropriately contextualized to their own ministry and theologyEndorsements:""Take a turn with all eight of the homileticians in this volume and they will inspire and invigorate your preaching. Whether it is ''messenger of hope,'' ''lover,'' ''fisher,'' ''ridiculous person,'' or any of the other marvelous tropes and images they offer, these essays will challenge you to explore anew the holy necessity and human absurdity of preaching."" --Dawn Ottoni WilhelmBethany Theological Seminary ""The language we use shapes our perception of God, the world, and how we live. The language that preachers use to describe themselves organizes what they try to do in the pulpit. This provocative book offers the preacher eight vibrant images for the preacher from a major voice in contemporary scholarship in preaching . . . Each image prompts the preacher to envision the sermon in a different yet faithful way. Preachers who are ready for a jump start into fresh ways of thinking about their vocation will want this beautifully edited book.""--Ronald J. AllenChristian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis ""Apart from all the technical questions raised today about hermeneutics and homiletics and their relationship to rhetoric and post-modern interpretation, these essays raise the most important question of all: Where is God in all our verbiage? Serious students of preaching, both beginners and practitioners with decades of experience, can benefit by reading and reflecting on the perspectives of these authors.""--Judith M. McDanielVirginia Theological Seminary""Reading the fine essays here is like opening a summerhouse after a long winter: light rushes in, memories are stirred, old things are loved anew, new celebrations are imagined. This book addresses a key question: In preaching, what is the human role and what is God''s role? The answers here are marvelous in their range, challenging in their diversity, and rich in their depth. They open windows for fresh winds to blow.""--Paul Scott WilsonEmmanuel College, University of TorontoAbout the Contributor(s):Robert Stephen Reid is Professor of Communication and Director of the Master''s Degree Program in Communication at the University of Dubuque, Iowa. He is the author of The Four Voices of Preaching.

Description:The Shape of Participation is a work of constructive theology addressed to theologians, seminarians, and thoughtful pastors. Owens engages and deepens recent popular discussions of church practices by approaching practices from the church Fathers'' understanding of the church''s participation in God. Through a wide-ranging engagement with theologians, both ancient and contemporary--including Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus the Confessor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Herbert McCabe--Owens argues that the embodied practices of the church are the church''s participation in the life of God, making the church Jesus'' own continued, peaceable embodiment in and for the world. This book is for theologians, pastors, and anyone who wants a deeper understanding of how the visible presence of God''s church is extraordinarily good news in a violent world.Endorsements:""I''m grateful for this account of the church''s relationship to the life of God for refusing the hopelessness of so much contemporary ecclesiology. All of us who persist in preaching or hearing the Word and receiving God''s good gifts at the table will be strengthened and encouraged by Owens''s theocentric understanding of what the church is up to in the world.""--Beth Felker JonesWheaton College""A wonderful book--Owens takes the significant interest in ''practices'' that has emerged over the last decade, engages it theologically in rich ways with attention to specific ecclesial examples, and deepens it through insightful analyses of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Herbert McCabe, and Maximus the Confessor. Pastors and scholars alike will benefit from careful study of Owens''s significant argument.""--L. Gregory JonesDuke University""By reframing the church''s practices as a participation in Christ and, indeed, as Christ''s own practicing in and for the world, Owens has brought to the study of Christian practice new theological depth, shape, and creativity. Moreover, by doing this in dialogue with ancient as well as contemporary theological and philosophical sources and in a way that takes seriously the concrete, embodied church rather than remaining on the level of idealized and abstract ecclesiology, he has provided us a helpful new model for thinking about what it means to be the church.""--Bryan StoneBoston University School of TheologyAbout the Contributor(s):L. Roger Owens is co-pastor with his wife Ginger Thomas of Duke Memorial United Methodist Church, Durham, North Carolina. His next book is So I Send You: An Introduction to the Missional Church (forthcoming in the Cascade Companion series of Cascade Books).

Description:When Jesus spoke at his local synagogue he boldly proclaimed that he was the one sent to free those who were oppressed. He came to provide hope, peace, and safety to those suffering in the world. When he left this earth, his followers were left with the task of continuing this ministry.Statistics suggest that in America one in four women has experienced physical violence in an intimate relationship. Dating violence, intimate-partner violence, and child abuse rank as some of our nation''s largest problems. Men are also being abused by intimate partners, parents, or care providers at increasing rates. The statistic is even more alarming worldwide. Unfortunately, these statistics represent only reported incidents. The rates of verbal, emotional, and spiritual abuse are even higher. In addition, countless women are encouraged by clergy to return to their abusive spouses. The faith community, while called by God to free the oppressed, has been slow to respond to this sin against humanity. Few seminaries offer quality domestic-violence-prevention training for clergy. However, clergy still continue to be sought for help from the community and as advocates for victims of domestic violence. A partnership between the church and community (locally and abroad) is necessary if we wish to transform humans caught in this form of oppression. In Setting the Captives Free Ron Clark proposed a theology of addressing domestic violence and its application for clergy. Freeing the Oppressed is a book that seeks to condense Clark''s previous work into a readable form for those seeking spiritual answers concerning abuse and batterer intervention, and for helpers of those caught in the cycle of family violence. It is also designed as an outreach for those seeking help from the faith community.Endorsements:""Thank you Dr. Clark for writing such a thoroughly readable work. Your book sounds the clarion call that many of us working in the field of domestic violence have hoped and prayed the church would hear. It clearly states the problem and the need facing our country, our communities, and our churches. More importantly, it provides a message of hope and a way for the church to touch and be touched by their communities . . . This is a rare gem of a Christian work that I can feel comfortable giving to clergy, victims, perpetrators, or anyone wanting to know how to address family violence.""--Patricia Warford, PsyDLicensed Psychologist""Ron Clark has provided a clear, concise, spiritually-informed, well-researched argument calling Christians to speak out against domestic abuse and to respond compassionately to women, men, and children impacted by its devastating consequences. Every pastor and every seminary student should read Freeing the Oppressed. Clark interweaves his pastoral experience with biblical insights and knowledge of the growing literature in domestic violence. The result: a prophetic call to social action.""--Nancy Nason-ClarkProfessor of SociologyUniversity of New Brunswick""Freeing the Oppressed is a wonderful resource for any reader who wishes to learn more about domestic abuse and Christian communities. Beginning with a chapter outlining the dynamics of domestic abuse, Ron Clark provides a chapter-by-chapter journey toward hope and healing for victim/survivors and perpetrators alike and toward greater understanding for those who seek to assist them. Interspersing his personal experiences as pastor, counselor, and educator within each chapter helps to frame the plethora of interrelated issues in a manner that makes them clear and accessible--and interesting--to all readers.""--Barbara Fisher-TownsendCo-Editor of Beyond Abuse in the Christian Church: Raising Voices for ChangeAbout the Contributor(s):Ron Clark is the lead church planter for the Agape Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Setting the Captives Free and is active in community organizations for prevention of domestic violence

Description:When a boy cries, his father trains him in the way of the ancients. He is taught to ""man up,"" and rejects anything feminine in his life. Thus he begins the process of becoming a man in the image of his culture. This transformation comes at the expense of his own calling to reflect the image of God. Men and women, however, were both created in this divine image and were meant to live in harmony rather than enmity. Recently, influential Christian writers and leaders have suggested that men have become too feminized and need to return to their calling to be ""real men."" Clark believes that this ""new masculinity"" is in reality a return to the way of the ancients. Drawing from his experiences as a minister, domestic- and sexual- violence prevention advocate, and community leader, Clark suggests that Jesus came to redefine masculinity and resist the cultural view of manhood, power, and oppression.Endorsements:""Are men to be strong, tough, and raging? Or compassionate, empathetic, and caring? Ron Clark takes you through biblical and cultural history, providing a thought provoking case for what real manhood is. This book will definitely challenge you to think through whatever paradigms you may have instead of simply accepting the status quo.""--Eric and Jennifer GarciaCo-founders of the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries""Ron Clark makes a strong, religious case for the strength in gentleness and humility, and adds an urgently needed voice to the call for compassion in a world that too often feels cold and distant.""--Patrick J. LemmonCo-founder and former Executive Director of Men Can Stop Rape""Ron Clark is one of the leading voices among male clergy in the struggle to end men''s violence against women and children. This book contains all of the qualities of courageous honesty, wisdom, and humility that make him such an effective educator and leader. Women and men---nside and outside of Christian communities--will find great insight and compassionate teaching in these pages.""--Jackson Katzauthor of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can HelpAbout the Contributor(s):Ron Clark is the lead church planter for the Agape Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon where he is active in community organizations in domestic and sexual abuse, homelessness, and human trafficking. He is an adjunct faculty member at George Fox Evangelical Seminary and author of Setting the Captives Free, Freeing the Oppressed and The Better Way.