LITMIR.BIZ

This collection brings together prominent thinkers from numerous disciplines to address the legacy of Gillian Rose for political theology today. Rose's work is notorious for its eclectic range, difficult style, and iconoclastic defiance of the conventions of postmodern critical theory. The theologians, religious scholars, ethicists, and theorists in this collection discuss Rose's relationship to such topics as the Frankfurt School, social theory, feminism, literature, law, Hegel, Kant, and psychoanalysis. They situate her work within the wider context of political theology, as it is understood in religious studies and continental philosophy. Though attentive to the theoretical issues raised by Rose's work, these essays are also engage the role that work may play in political action today, examining issues such as refugee immigration in Europe, the rise of nationalism, and anticapitalist political organizing. The collection is a vital contribution to the rising body of literature on Rose and her importance to political philosophy, ethics, and theology, but it will also serve as an important orienting guide for readers new to Rose's work and its demanding style.

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This collection of fifteen sermons by one of the leading pentecostal theologians today provides insight into the form, style, and content of preaching in the pentecostal tradition while also being suggestive of normative homiletical theory and practice. The Kergymatic Spirit argues that Spirit-empowered preaching is apostolic not only with regard to being rooted in the scriptural traditions but also with regard to connecting the that of the early Christian message with the this of contemporary experience and discipleship. Hence, rather than only reflecting pentecostal preaching of the sort that happens in the pulpits of churches connected to the modern movement by that name, these sermons are presented as the participating in the form of gospel proclamation inspired and empowered by the divine Spirit poured out on all flesh on the Day of Pentecost by the risen Christ from the right hand of the Father. Whether read or heard (there are links to video and audio archives throughout), these homilies are illustrative of exegetical and expositional practice that connects the biblical text with Spirit-filled faithfulness in the twenty-first-century ecumenical church and world at large.

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Popular culture continues to search the depths of the poetic imagination concerning heaven. It seems to be a constant theme in literature, film, and music, spanning genres throughout the Western world. Yet, some contemporary scholars suggest that all of these narratives are somewhat misguided and remain, at best, only partial constructions of a proper eschatology. The creative imagination in popular culture, especially in relation to the arts has often carried a less-than-trustworthy role in theology and philosophy. Heaven and the Popular Imagination analyzes a number of approaches within the theology of culture conversation to suggest that a hermeneutic of popular imagery can open up new horizons for understanding and challenging the role heaven plays in Christian theology. From ancient literature to popular music and films, heaven is part of the framework of our ecumenical imagining about beginnings and endings. Such a hermeneutic must encompass an interdisciplinary approach to theology.

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In many places in the Western world, churchgoing is in decline and it cannot be assumed that people have a good grasp of the Bible's content. In this evolving situation, how would «the person on the street» read the Bible? Reading the Bible Outside the Church begins to answer this question. David Ford spent ten months at a chemical industrial plant providing non-churchgoing men with the opportunity to read and respond to five different biblical texts. Using an in-depth qualitative methodology, he charts how their prior experiences of religion, sense of (non)religious identity, attitudes towards the Bible, and beliefs about the Bible all shaped the readings that occurred.

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This book addresses the problem of toxic leadership in Christian contexts. Toxic leadership behaviors of narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive leaders will be emphasized. To counteract toxic Christian leadership, this book proposes a leadership development model, called formational leadership, which is based mostly on Wesleyan spirituality, but also includes monastic and Pentecostal spiritualities. Formational leadership is an eclectic leadership development model that includes components of transformational, authentic, and primal leadership approaches. Formational leadership emphasizes the spiritual, emotional, and ethical development processes in the leader and includes an analysis of orthokardia, orthodynamis, and orthopraxis. These components have a circular relationship with one another. Orthokardia includes the concepts of spiritual and emotional maturity that a Christian leader needs to develop in order to become an ethical and effective leader. Orthodynamis includes right power and influence motives based on Christian affections that should inform formational leadership. Orthopraxis refers to «right» and «just» leadership behaviors informed by Wesley's social holiness and justice values that need to be adopted as organizational core values. The implications of these components for leadership development are outlined in chapters 4-6 that include practical steps for helping toxic leaders change their dysfunctional and harmful intentions and behaviors.

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"Everyone loves a good story, and So Tell Me a Story offers wise counsel to preachers and teachers who want to improve their storytelling skills. Farris, an experienced and skilled speaker, provides instruction, encouragement, and advice on how to avoid pitfalls that face storytellers. The book moves beyond the realm of the how-to manual, however, with an extensive collection of stories and reflections on Christian life that will spiritually enrich both speakers and other readers.

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In November 2001, James E. Loder Jr., Professor of the Philosophy of Christian Education for forty years at Princeton Theological Seminary, suddenly died. He was a creative and profound thinker who had just completed a promising book. In it he developed a compelling interdisciplinary model to disclose how the divine Spirit affirms, reconstitutes, and transforms the human spirit to bring new energy and creativity into human experience. He called it redemptive transformation. You now hold that book in your hands. Those who know Loder's work are confident that Educational Ministry in the Logic of the Spirit, though delayed for over fifteen years, will still become the best introduction to his complex thought. More important, it offers the imaginative means by which we may learn to attune ourselves and our faith communities to what God is doing in our fractured, distracted, and self-destructive world to bring about a revolution of love–the fruit of Christ's Spirit and the center of our human vocation.

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This volume gathers together twelve essays on the doctrine of the Trinity. It includes the work of systematic theologians, analytic theologians, and biblical scholars who address a range of issues concerning the Christian doctrine of God. Contributors include Jeremy Begbie, Julie Canlis, Douglas Campbell, William Hasker, and Christoph Schwobel. The volume also includes a new essay written by the late Robert W. Jenson shortly before his death.

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Franz and Frederick Foltz examine how modern technology creates an environment that significantly affects Christianity by reducing the mysteries of faith to manageable techniques. The body of their work analyzes the effects of technology on the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, the triad that believers have used for a common narrative to understand and express their thoughts and experiences. They begin by looking at how recent developments have brought us into a post-truth era by removing words from their context in nature, time, place, and community. Popular theologies such as the power of positive thinking, the laws of creation, the plan for salvation, and the prosperity gospel reflect this change by gearing all for efficiently getting what we want and ignoring tradition. The authors then examine each of the virtues separately, finding that faith has become a risk management tool that depends on confidence in systems rather than personal relationships, hope is defined as the expectation that our present desires shall be granted rather than a vision of the future, and love has become an intimacy that provides escape from the real world and community rather than a self-denying care for them. Finally, the authors take a look at some appropriate responses.

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Since the rise and growth of secularization, the place of God and religion is becoming increasingly problematic in our Western culture. But what is the alternative to its Christian heritage? Humanism puts «man» at the center of everything, but can you «believe in man» just as much as you can believe in God? Is this secular worldview really rational, based on science, consistent, and durable? And above all, does our society become more humane because of it? Can you simply obliterate God from our culture and values without these collapsing like a pudding? Secular humanism has always been extremely critical of the church–and in itself that is allowed–but what if we judge and measure it with the same criteria?

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