LITMIR.BIZ

In the controversy over the role of women in the church, complementarians/hierarchists routinely claim to be upholding the «traditional» position. Like the little boy who declared that «the emperor has no clothes,» J. G. Brown exposes the fallacies in this claim. The authentic traditional interpretation of passages such as 1 Timothy 2:11-14 differs substantially from contemporary readings, whether egalitarian or hierarchist. Most prominent Protestant exegetes–from Luther and Calvin through those in the early nineteenth century–understood creation ordinances (male headship/female subordination) as foundational to the temporal world, not the church. An Historian Looks at 1 Timothy 2:11-14 brings history and theology together in a fresh way, with startling implications for the ongoing debate.

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The Greeks and Romans often exposed their babies, especially if the child was of the wrong gender, malformed or from the wrong father–or, more simply, when a child was not needed. It was lawful, but Jewish and then Christian teachers did everything to prevent the practice among their own groups. Most of the arguments used by Christians were borrowed from their Jewish predecessors. The unique value of every human being and God's commandments were emphasized in both religions. Above all, they considered a newborn child a person who was created and protected by her or his Creator. The book presents the most important texts, often dealing simultaneously with exposure and abortion. The texts are interesting, sometimes shocking. A world without Christian ethics could be very hard for a small child. The book helps every modern reader to take care that our societies treat gentler human lives in their earliest phases.

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Fostering faith in children is a shared privilege and responsibility of parents, godparents, and the church community. We promise our children at baptism that we will support them in their faith formation–in the formation of their relationship with God. We need to take this promise seriously. This book is intended to be an accessible and helpful resource for parents and other adults who seek to foster children's faith. This book succinctly explores many ways we can support children's faith formation, including our day-to-day interactions with children, the images of God we share with them, how we pray together, the rituals we create, service opportunities we provide, music we share together, the stories we tell and listen to, our celebration of the sacraments, and more. While this book has a distinctly Roman Catholic orientation, much of the content will be relevant for a wider Christian audience. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, this book is rooted in the conviction that the God we seek relationship with and that we hope to foster our children's relationship with is one who is infinitely loving, welcoming, and always yearning for deeper connection with us.

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In this volume, Richard Hiers challenges the popular assumption that the Bible has a low view of women and that biblical law either ignores women or requires them to be subject and subservient to men. He does so by identifying and carefully examining hundreds of biblical texts and allowing them to speak for themselves. Among the findings:
– that biblical tradition generally represents women positively, as strong and independent persons; – that no text represents wives as subject to their husbands and that no biblical law requires such subjection; – that biblical laws provide many protections for women's rights and interests–in several instances, rights equal to those enjoyed by men.
The book focuses particularly on the Old Testament and Old Testament law, and argues that Old Testament laws and their underlying values provide important resources for Christian ethics and social policy today.

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With simple, heartbreaking detail, Das Maddimadugu recalls the joys and tragedies of his childhood in a destitute family of the untouchable caste, nearly sold into slavery, and «adopted» by a single Mennonite missionary woman. In her care, he was taught about Jesus' love and given the opportunity to discover his gifts for wide-ranging study, loyal friendship, community organizing, and dreaming redemption for those at the bottom of society's heap. The God «for whom nothing is impossible» used the moves of Das and Doris Maddimadugu's lives to weave together a network of friends in places like Vietnam; Newton, Kansas; Winnipeg; New Haven; Chicago; Korea; Taiwan; and Shanghai. This collaboration of friends has become an innovative partnership in Jesus' mission of «good news to the poor» for thousands of students, hundreds of orphans, a score of churches, and a series of disaster relief projects that have brought hope to the lives of countless persons on the margins, such as Das once was. On the wash line of his life story are hung colorful testimonies of a dozen mission partners in Asia and America that reflect on this innovative way of doing mission, following in the footsteps of indigenous leadership.

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Trouble in the Diocese is a petulant, funny book of poetry. Its contrary protagonist/antagonist, the Apprentice, embraces life in both the large and the absurdly small. At the same time, he emphatically rejects the easy rigidity of doily-headed orthodox Catholics as well as the impulse in the Catholic literary Pixar world that seeks to serve two masters. Jesus and his Church are lifted up here, but so is the cross. Discipleship necessarily involves dis-ease, purgation, and if we as readers have any sense, we will–more quietly perhaps–do well to listen (with patience) to his rants.

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Perichoresis (mutual indwelling) is a concept used extensively in the so-called Trinitarian revival; and yet no book-length study in English exists probing how the term actually developed in the «classical period» of Christian doctrine and how it was carefully deployed in relation to Christian dogma. Consequently, perichoresis is often used in imprecise and even careless ways. This path-breaking study aims at placing our understanding of the term on firmer footing, clarifying its actual usage in relation to doctrines of God, Christ, and salvation in the thought of John of Damascus, the eighth-century theologian, monk, and hymn writer who gave it its historically influential application. Since John summed up a whole theological tradition, this work provides not only an introduction to his theological vision but also to the key themes of Greek patristic thought generally and thereby lays an essential foundation for those who would dig deeper into the present-day usefulness of perichoresis.

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Once upon a time a group of young Anabaptist scholars took it upon themselves to convene a series of incisive conversations that addressed questions of Christian renewal. Among other topics that the CONCERN group (1955-1971) took on was the subject of how to think about higher education in the context of Christian renewal. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, «intentional Christian communities» are being created in the context of student leadership development programs, and a new generation of Programs for Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV) at church related colleges are providing mini-grants for students involved in the New Monasticism movement. With such endeavors in mind, these essays–by Joanne Zerger Janzen, Walter Klassen, Albert Meyer, John Howard Yoder and company–raise probing questions that remain worth engaging by Christians who are concerned about what it means to seek the renewal of Christian higher education today.

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Sailing into New York Harbor, Sigmund Freud stood on the deck and gazed upon a statue that was meant to symbolize someone else's vague notion of freedom. The embryonic field of psychology–so very interested to hear this theory, which excavated the depths of the psyche–anticipated his arrival in America with lamentably eager fanfare. Whether out of hubris or prescience Freud could only whisper, «They don't realize we are bringing them the plague.»
It was a theory that undercut our creative justifications for every action and belief, and it suggested our anxious identities are charted by a big Other–one we cannot begin to comprehend. As psychoanalysis undergoes a resurgence of interest within religious studies, political theory, and cultural criticism, its innovative and peculiar claims remain difficult to grasp without any guide for the perplexed. In God Is Unconscious: Psychoanalysis and Theology, Tad DeLay explores the provocative teaching of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and its implications for Christianity. Partly an introductory exposition of Freud, Žižek, and Lacan, and partly an application of psychoanalysis to religion and politics, this book is organized as a theological meditation on an incendiary theory.

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Our clture is changing almost daily in our world. This creates a lot of confusion as to where the believer and the church fit into this changing culture. How do we maintain our Christian identity in such a world that requires us to compromise our most cherished beliefs? This book offers an old solution that has stood the test of time, but has eluded many present-day believers. The original message of Jesus is no longer considered relevant in our culture by many today. This book challenges that idea by making Jesus' message about the kingdom of heaven not only relevant, but also necessary. It is time that we listen again to the underlying message of the greatest prophet and teacher who has ever lived and not only make his teaching relevant, but the teacher as well.

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