LITMIR.BIZ

Most of the challenges today's church is experiencing were experienced by the early church in New Testament times. Knowing this makes it possible to handle the challenges of today more effectively and in a way in which perplexity gives way to sober and informed attitudes. This book brings to the fore the role human sentiments within relational and ministerial dynamics play in creating problems of strife, rivalry, and unhealthy competition among leaders and members of the church, and provides opportunity to reflect on how to stem such negative tendencies. The study reveals the coherence of Paul's arguments in places where many existing commentaries find him digressing. Its focus on Paul's rhetorical strategies and the Greek text helps to clarify a number of issues that remain puzzles in many commentaries. The book also highlights clues in Paul's argument that indicate the direction, the interpretative frame, and the intended rhetorical effect of his arguments, avoiding the unhealthy imposition of general Pauline views on some statements in 1 Corinthians, as found in many books on the market. These, against insightful background in pluralism and complexity of wisdom, knowledge, oratory, persuasion, and inspiration, offer useful lenses that make Paul's argument consistently and coherently meaningful.

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Pastors and ministers have one of the most challenging jobs on earth. Of all their tasks, one responsibility they cannot neglect is teaching the word of God. Unfortunately, church leaders seldom have enough time to prepare Bible studies for their congregations. This book is a quick resource to help fill the gap. These thematically arranged Bible studies each contain an introduction to a topic and a list of relevant Scripture readings for that topic. Pastors can use the introduction to spark discussion within small groups or to focus on the specific themes during sermon writing. Many have stated that Volume 1 is a great resource, and it is my prayer that Volume 2 is a great resource as well. «Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, . . . teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age» (Matt 28:19-20).

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Speaking out of twenty-seven years of pastoral ministry, Ian Stackhouse writes a series of letters to a young pastor just starting out. Responding to the various challenges his young charge faces in the first few years of congregational leadership, Letters to a Young Pastor is something of a spiritual reflection on leadership in the context of Christian ministry. To say that the letters are addressed to a fictitious pastor is not to say that the issues are unreal. Letters to a Young Pastor addresses matters that anyone in leadership eventually has to face. It seeks to offer encouragement and practical wisdom, but also an insight into the inner world of a person wrestling with the demands of a vocational life. In this sense, Letters to a Young Pastor has relevance to anyone who is seeking to remain faithful to a calling, whether ecclesial or not, in a world dominated by consumerism, formulas, and success.

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This book examines the ambivalence of folk Catholicism as a resource to fight against injustice, exploitation, and oppression. Cases are cited to illuminate the value and potential trespasses of popular religious beliefs and practices. Over centuries, representatives of the powerful middle and upper middle classes did not hesitate to manipulate popular piety to protect their power and privileges. In fact, much of popular religion still reflects the dominant ideology. 
Popular piety has the potential for liberation against unjust social and economic structures. When properly guided, this practice can broaden and deepen political consciousness and mobilize people to act. Without a strong level of political consciousness as well as liberative evangelization, popular religion will be alienating to the poor while strengthening the status quo of the rich and the powerful. This study argues that it will be the elites, the well-educated and committed Christians, not the masses, who would foster the transformation of society.

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The topic of the Internet is vastly underrepresented in the current literature on the intersection of technology and theology. Studies on Internet theology are certainly viewed as a topic of «special interest,» relevant–it might be thought–only to eccentric academics and tech geeks. Yet, this book contends that there is no topic more pertinent to our daily walk as contemporary followers of Jesus Christ than the theological implications of the Internet. The twelve essays of this volume, though standalone pieces, also work in conjunction to investigate the themes of community and character formation in the digital realm. A host of interrelated sub-themes are represented in the book, including the application of patristic theology to contemporary Internet praxis, a demonology of the Internet, virtue ethics in cyberspace, and studies that consider the implications of Internet technology on aesthetics, personhood, and the self. Together, the chapters work toward a collaborative, constructive, cruciform theology of the Internet. The Internet is more than a supplementary component to our personal lives; rather, it is a medium of vital connection for the digital communion of the saints through the HTML of cruciform love.

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What is the difference between good worship and good entertainment? Too often, people disparage some aspect of worship by calling it «just entertainment» or «just a performance.» Others say that they do not need to go to church because they have profound spiritual or even religious experiences at concerts, plays, movies, or dances. How is worship different from these performing arts? How is art different from entertainment? This book looks at the history of the performing arts both in worship and as worship, with particular attention to the attitudes that shape our ideas about both worship and entertainment. Working definitions of words like «art,» «excellence,» «liturgy,» and «play» help to illuminate what different people mean when they use them in conversations about Christian worship. Putting theological, scriptural, and practical writings on worship and the performing arts in conversation with interviews with dancers, musicians, actors, preachers, and liturgical scholars, this volume is intended to help pastors, performers, and everyone who plans, leads, or cares about worship talk with one another in mutually respectful and helpful ways.

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This book aims to uncover and explore the ideas of notable people in the story of Christian universalism from the time of the Reformation until the end of the nineteenth century. It is a story that is largely unknown in both the church and the academy, and the characters that populate it have for the most part passed into obscurity. With carefully located bore holes drilled to release the long-hidden theologies of key people and texts, the volume seeks to display and historically situate the roots, shapes, and diversity of Christian universalism. Here we discover a diverse and motley crew of mystics and scholars, social prophets and end-time sectarians, evangelicals and liberals, orthodox and heretics, Calvinists and Arminians, Puritans, Pietists, and a host of others. The story crisscrosses Continental Europe, Britain, and America, and its reverberations remain with us to this day.

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A devastating war, a burning cross, a crime network, and a victorious general–these are some of the many threads Hadžić and Irby weave together to clarify one of history's most misunderstood symbols: the cross.
The authors interweave Hadžić's story with that of the cross in a way that seeks to rescue the true meaning of the cross from its misrepresentations and misuses throughout history. The result is a compelling tapestry that illuminates the transformative power of one of the most complex and controversial symbols in today's global community.

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No one can deny that friendships are powerful relationships of influence. Why not strategically incorporate friendship within a philosophy of leadership? People long for relational models of leadership, yet few specific methodologies have been developed.
This book examines the friendship of God with humanity, and the leadership of Jesus with his disciples, to whom he declared, «I no longer call you servants . . . Instead, I have called you friends» (John 15:15). In response to this enduring example of the Divine bringing together both friendship and leadership, this book presents an unexplored model of leadership for the Christian practitioner: Friendship Leadership.
The authors of Friendship Leadership share research, historical examples, and their personal experiences with this leadership model, as they describe both the trials and triumphs. Through this process, the book addresses the primary barriers a leader might experience when utilizing the Friendship Leadership model. Finally, the authors offer a guide for how to incorporate friendship into their leadership, strengthening others as they follow the example of our great Leader. The result is a transformational way of leading that nurtures relationships.

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This book investigates the impact of Pentecostalism on the participation of women in business in Harare, Zimbabwe. Chapters in this volume trace the history of women's participation in business and highlight how Pentecostalism serves as a major motivating factor. The central argument is that there is a way in which selected women's businesses are «powered by the Spirit.» Contributors to the volume utilize case studies of selected Pentecostal churches and ministries to highlight how the religious ideologies of these churches galvanize them to engage in business. They also draw patterns of similarity and difference across the different Pentecostal churches. The volume demonstrates how Pentecostalism both facilitates and militates against women's participation in business concerning a specific setting in Zimbabwe.

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