LITMIR.BIZ

This book connects the living realms of the church, the self, the neighbor and the world. It envisions our daily local and global life from liturgical spaces, places where Christians worship God. Through these relations, we can connect worship with economy, preaching with raising a village, baptism with forms of citizenship, ecology and the market, Easter with immigration, liturgical knees with colonization, spirituality with minority voices, all uttering prayers that name racism, poverty and a liberation theology of glory. In these pages Claudio Carvalhaes issues a call to the churches to move from captive and colonized spaces into where the Spirit lives: among the poor, the needy, the forgotten. With a variety of relations between the Christian faith and our cultural ways of living, Carvalhaes offers new liturgical and theological imaginings to be engaged with the most vulnerable in our societies and the earth. A creative liturgical theology of liberation that makes sense of God between the world and the table/altar, between the pulpit and local communities, the worship space and our multiple lived experiences. For liturgy is an endless song of liberation. This book is a call to life!

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"Know thyself" is a leitmotiv throughout all great wisdom traditions. Inheriting from this principle, postmodern theories regard self-knowledge as the prerequisite to self-actualization and social transformations. While such a view is undeniably important, it cannot fully represent God's justice and equity. Indeed, it is not given to everyone to know–or just to desire–to know oneself. This book proposes a Christian alternative to human flourishing. Shifting the paradigm of the ancient wisdom that humanistic psychologists and postmodern tools continue to rely on, Christ puts the existential quest of «who we are» aside. Instead, he leads the faithful towards the actualization of their «gifts,» transforming «uncreated energies» into co-creative opportunities for the betterment of their communities, organizations, and countries, regardless of who they are and how well they know themselves. Christ offers the path to the kingdom of God on earth (proposed in this book as the «nothing» from which creation emerges) and in which everyone has a role to play with no exception. Christ claims, «The kingdom of God is here: choose life and self-knowledge follows. Do not be afraid. I am with you!»

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Women are the majority in almost every cultural or social group. However, their roles vary in various cultures, religions, and traditions. In some cultures and religions, they are highly honored, while in others they are neglected, oppressed, and segregated. This book examines women's role in a few selected world religions, namely Christianity, Islam, African Traditional Religion, Hinduism, and Buddhism. It also surveys the concept of patriarchy and the various theoretical perspectives surrounding it. Eventually, this book discusses the concept of ecofeminism and how feminists perceive of the relationship between nature and the oppression of women. The book grapples with the question, «In what way do world religions perceive of women and their role in their teachings and traditions?» This book is important for students and teachers of gender studies, African theology, and Christian theology as a whole.

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Jarvis Williams' commentary on Galatians is a commentary of one of Paul's most rhetorically charged and polemically sharp letters. Williams writes a commentary of the letter, not a commentary of commentaries. He grounds the letter in grammatical-historical exegesis, seeking to help readers understand Paul's Greco-Roman and Second Temple Jewish context of the letter. Additionally, the book seeks to move from exegesis to application in a few places in the commentary. The strength of the commentary is that it offers a lucid and concise exegesis grounded in Paul's first century context and applicable for twenty-first century readers.

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Wagner's Ring addresses fundamental concerns that have faced humanity down the centuries, such as power and violence, love and death, freedom and fate. Further, the work seems particularly relevant today, addressing as it does the fresh debates around the created order, politics, gender, and sexuality. In this second of two volumes on the theology of the Ring, Richard Bell argues that Wagner's approach to these issues may open up new ways forward and offer a fresh perspective on some of the traditional questions of theology, such as sacrifice, redemption, and fundamental questions about God. A linchpin for Bell's approach is viewing the Ring in the light of the Jesus of Nazareth sketches, which, he argues, confirms that the artwork does indeed address questions of Christian theology, both for those inside and those outside the church.

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In New Testament scholarship, the study of space has been underrepresented in comparison with the study of time. While Jesus' life and ministry have been intensively explored in terms of eschatology–i.e., with time significance–space has tended to be treated as simply a given room or inactive backdrop where events took place. Interest in the space where Jesus ministered has, however, gradually increased, and space has received greater attention from sociological and literary perspectives. In particular, spatial investigations into the social circumstances of Galilee, the place of origin of Jesus' missional movement, have begun to attract serious scholarly attention. The important functions of space in literature are also becoming better recognized: spatial settings serve not only to generate atmosphere but also to disclose the purposes and themes of narratives. This book explores Jesus' Galilean ministry in Mark 4:35–8:21 through the use of spatial analysis, dividing space into three categories: social, geographical, and allusive. The study of each space discovers social, literary, and theological implications of Jesus' missional movement in Galilee.

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Courageous and vulnerable, April has survived Philadelphia’s tough city streets. But when her sister disappears, April’s search will lead her to the Pennsylvania Amish countryside—where the peaceful setting belies a brand of danger all its own . . .   With a childhood shattered by alcoholism and abandonment, April learned the hard way to trust only herself and her younger sister, Rose. But suddenly, Rose is gone without a word—and April’s purpose in life is to find her. She has only one ally: Joseph Young, a handsome Amish man with whom she’s struck up an unlikely flirtation in the bakery where she works. He’s knowledgeable, steadfast—and when they join forces, April’s life takes a radical turn . . .   In the heart of Amish farm country, April and Joseph grow closer. Yet April fears there’s no future for them. Especially when vicious, too-personal warnings and strange attacks make her wonder just whom Joseph is really trying to protect. And as her unconventional investigation roils a community with much to conceal, April will find some secrets are killer—and some dreams may be too lethal to trust . . .     Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com  

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Transformation is what Christianity is all about.
To follow Jesus is to enter into a journey from an old way of living to a new way of being. As Christians our goal is to become ever more conformed to the image of Christ. Of course we cannot attain this high goal in our lifetime. But we can make progress. We can become more of who we long to be. We can leave behind old ways that have not served us well. We can become more loving to others, more open to God, more in tune with who we are called to be.
Such transformation does not happen automatically, even though it is the Holy Spirit working in us to change us. We are asked «to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure» (Phil 2:12-13). We work; God works in us. This book is about our part in the work of transformation.
Spiritual Transformation examines two main themes. 1) The Dynamics of Spiritual Transformation are explored in six small group sessions: what it is and how it happens. 2) The Goal of Spiritual Transformation is described in six small group Bible studies focusing on Romans 12 & 13, where Paul provides a blueprint for how we are meant to live as followers of Jesus.

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Rebelling against a century of Old Testament scholarship, Isaac M. Kikawada and Arthur Quinn persuasively argue that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are not a literary patchwork by different editors as widely supposed, but are the work of one author of extraordinary subtlety and skill.
Comparing Genesis 1-11 with primeval histories from the ancient Near East, Kikawada and Quinn urge their readers to appreciate the ingenuity of Genesis's author: «When we think we find this author napping, we had better proceed very carefully. As with Homer or Shakespeare, when you think you have seen something wrong, there may well be something wrong with your own eyes. You are more likely to be wrong than either of them.»
Providing a solid case for the unity of Genesis's first eleven chapters, Kikawada and Quinn move on to show how these chapters provide a formal structure for other Old Testament histories. Destined to have lasting impact on biblical scholarship, Before Abraham Was will give scholars, clergy, and students a new appreciation of critical biblical studies and a new hypothesis for the formation of Genesis.

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How do you imagine the unimaginable or touch the untouchable? Through the characteristic use of teaching methods identified in Wisdom Literature, Adrian Hinkle discusses how religious training is described within the Hebrew Bible. Through her vivid discussion of the biblical texts, readers gain insight into teaching methodologies that stimulate new discussions and impact modern church leaders and educators.

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