LITMIR.BIZ

One of the chief challenges of the Second Vatican Council was to reclaim the meaning of baptism, especially as the foundation of service and mission in the world. Fifty years after the close of that watershed gathering, nineteen distinguished religious leaders and scholars reexamine that challenge and its implications for preaching and ministry today. This book reinvigorates an important conversation.

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Atonement. For some this word is the heart of the Christian faith. For others, it is irrelevant for Christianity and how they live their Christian lives. Often we do not see «the breadth and depth» of the atonement in the gospel. Christian D. Kettler, in his fourth book on «the vicarious humanity of Christ,» suggests that we consider that the atonement is not only a vicarious death in our place and on our behalf–whether in the form of a «penal substitute» or a «moral example»–but also his vicarious humanity, having atoning significance for all of our lives, indeed, all of reality: the church, the world, and the self. These essays are collected from several years of Kettler's thought on the doctrine of the vicarious humanity of Christ and its implications for all of life and reality, seeking to demonstrate that the doctrine of the atonement is not to be restricted to one small part of the doctrinal agenda, but has profound implications that theology sometimes does not explore. These issues include the nature of culture, aesthetics, creation out of nothing, spiritual formation, emotional weakness, the priesthood of Christ and creation, genetic engineering, and trusting in the «ideal» self.

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The author's theological inquiry is intended to raise questions of interpretation within the camp of openness theology and to direct a discussion on the implications of this movement for the charismatic/Pentecostal community. 
Open theism or openness theology affirms that the universe is open, the future is not settled, God is essentially relational love, and the risks of love and the threats against it are real. The author digs deep into this area of doctrine in order to question how far openness theology is willing to go. Is it only the future that is open to God, or are there perhaps unknown aspects to the past and present as well?
What does God know about sin, and when does he know it? Is it possible for God to be totally absent from a person's life or even from an entire nation? If God can be absent, can he also be exceptionally present in the lives of believers? What would the divine presence and the charismata (spiritual ministries) look like in an open universe?

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The Anglican Communion is at a crossroads. A tipping point has been reached on the fulcrum, where things can no longer be kept in balance. A choice must be made between two competing worldviews, which are at heart radically different. The time has come to decide which set of beliefs and practices will be adhered to and taught in the church, and which vision will be offered to the world as the Christian faith. Are we sinners brought back into relationship with God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, or, are all made in the image of God and therefore inherently good? Is Jesus Christ the only means of salvation, or, is salvation available through a plurality of religions that lead us to the knowledge of the divine presence within each person? The time for re-formation is at hand. The calling of the Anglican reformers of the twenty-first century goes beyond setting their own house in order. The famous «Via Media» of Anglicanism brings it close to every other expression of the church. A revived and restructured fellowship of Anglican Churches could readily become a model and a catalyst for the re-formation of the various Christian fellowships worldwide.

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This is a volume written for persons who live in the mental world of modernity–that is, in a world that cherishes (1) freedom as the core of being human; (2) critical-thinking reason as the arbiter of what to affirm or not; (3) history, process, and dynamism at the heart of human life and society; and (4) dialogue with those who think differently yet who sense that there is somehow more to life, to reality, than meets the eye: that there is a depth or spiritual dimension not captured in our everyday experiences, which is customarily called religion. Religion for Reluctant Believers explores the meaning of life: its joys, problems, and terrors, its pluses and minuses. In short, it asks the question, do you want to buy into Religion with a capital r, into a particular religion, or into no religion at all?

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The art of mentoring, like all great arts, is a grace to be received, a gift to be given, and a skill that can be learned and practiced. This book explores the practice and grace of that art. The pastors in these pages share their hard-won experience of mentoring and being mentored, their wobbles and successes, insights and wisdom harvested from years in the vineyard.

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The English writer G. K. Chesterton once wrote: «Nothing taken for granted; everything received with gratitude; everything passed on with grace.» These reflections are the author's effort, as an older father, to pass on to his daughter, with grace, what he believes is truly important in life.
When his daughter was young, he used to tell her that his constant prayer was to live long enough so that «I can get you raised!» Thankfully, that prayer has been answered. But parenting is a life-long process that evolves as we and our children grow older. Through the years, Dr. Wilcox has discovered that being an older father has advantages and disadvantages. If age gives one more life experience and wisdom, then hopefully these reflections will be a way that he can share his life and wisdom with her and others.
Throughout thirty years as a psychotherapist and spiritual director, Dr. Wilcox counseled many fathers who were genuinely trying to be good parents. This book is intended to help fathers influence, in a positive way, the life choices their daughters will make. It is an invitation to explore how we can continue to help our daughters grow spiritually and psychologically into the person God is calling them to become.

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Paul obtains a thirty-day leave from house arrest in Rome to «attend to business in Spain,» but must promise to return for sentencing. He plans a «mission blitz» of Hispania. But the plan changes when, in the provincial capital, Paul meets Quintilian, a young pleader who invites him to his family's estate up the Rio Iberus, in La Rioja, outside Calagurris (Calahorra). Paul accompanies Quintilian to Calagurris, along with Luke. Zenas, the other member of «Mission Team Beta,» remains in Caesaraugusta to establish in the faith three new converts, one of whom is Quintilian's clerk. Their talk, rendered as Platonic dialogue, ranges across rhetorical theory, ethics, pedagogy, Christianity, and Paul's latest manuscript, which he hopes will be received as his magnum opus. The novel explores fictional competition between Paul and Apollos, Quintilian's personal crisis, a result of actual, devastating personal losses, resolved when, years after Paul has died by Nero's decree, a much older Quintilian finds comfort in the words of Paul's letter to his kinsmen, the Hebrews, words which Quintilian had discussed with Paul during that memorable occasion at the family's estate in La Rioja.

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These twenty-two meditations on the songs, prayers, and stories of the Bible invite readers to imagine themselves as part of a world in which human beings may fully live into their sufferings and joys as part of a vibrant while still critically searching faith in God. Here we see prophets and poets, as well as ordinary men and women, embrace the realities of life without apology or fear. Each meditation opens with the author's fresh translation of the biblical text and concludes with a prayer that seeks the critical edge of faith as an active stance toward human existence. The movement from text to commentary to prayer reflects a basic conviction that the encounter with the Bible allows persons of many cultures, whether believers or unbelievers, to engage the deepest layers of human existence today. These reflections come out of the author's search across cultures to find a common humanity before God. Since the Bible is a non-Western book in its origins and much of its present life, interpretation of that book can both confront the particularities of Western Christianity with its own limitations and offer sources of renewal for communal and individual spirituality. These reflections aim to contribute to that larger end.

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The workplace can be very rewarding for the Christian worker. But let's face it–the workplace can also be the most challenging place to be «salt and light» as Jesus commands in Matt 5:13-16. It is daunting to consider that on average, we work 90,000 hours over the course of our working lives. Living Salty and Light-filled Lives in the Workplace gives Christian workers some practical ways to be «salt and light» in the workplace. It will help the Christian white- and blue-collar worker live salty and light-filled lives in the workplace.

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