LITMIR.BIZ

In a postsecular cultural situation the conditions for understanding and communicating a Christian tradition have changed. None of the established religions can any longer claim monopoly in the «marketplace of religions.» A claim of this study is that a postsecular situation characterized, among other things, by dwindling memberships in established churches as well as a new visibility of alternative religious expressions, opens up a need to reflect on alternative ways of understanding Christianity in its context. This study focuses on the question, how can a Christian tradition be communicated understandably in a postsecular context? In traditional terms: how can Christian witness be understood in our situation? It is to this need, according to this study, that the ecclesiology of Stanley Hauerwas provides a meaningful perspective. This perspective becomes relevant because in a postsecular context a Christian church, even a folk church, cannot assume to be in a position of majority or power. There is, therefore, a need to ask how to understand Christianity as a community of witness that is neither in power nor a majority. The study suggests that embodiment of Christian convictions becomes a central factor in a meaningful postsecular notion of witness.

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Rather than viewing the Apostle Paul's many references to peace and non-retaliation as generalized ethical principles drawn from Paul's background, Jeremy Gabrielson argues that peace and non-retaliation should be understood in relation to Paul's biography of being a violent persecutor of Jesus' followers. After his «Damascus road» experience, Paul zealously announced the gospel, but abandoned his violent ways. His apostolic vocation included calling and equipping assemblies of people whose common life was ordered by a politics characterized by peaceableness. This political dimension of Paul's gospel, in continuity with the earliest evidence we possess regarding Jesus and his disciples, stands in stark contrast to the politics of both the contemporary Roman imperial power as well as those who would seek to replace Rome by violent means.

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Over the last four decades, the focus of M. Douglas Meeks' work has placed him at the center of many of the most important developments in theological reflection and education. As a political, ecclesial, and metaphorical theologian, Meeks has given witness to the oikonomia of the triune God, the Homemaker who creates the conditions of Home for the whole of creation, in critical conversation with contemporary economic, social, and political theory. The essays of this volume were written to honor Meeks, professor of theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, by addressing the theme of God's economy of salvation from biblical, historical, ecclesial, and theological perspectives. In an age of ecological devastation and economic injustice, Meeks teaches us how to place our hope–as disciples of Jesus, as members of local congregations, as stewards of institutional life, and as global citizens–in God's power for life over death through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. These essays will serve to enliven and clarify this hope for the sake of the world God so loves.
CONTRIBUTORS: Jurgen Moltmann, Timothy Reinhold Eberhart, Matthew W. Charlton, Walter Brueggemann, Josiah Young, Kendall Soulen, Patout Burns, John Cobb, Michael Welker, Nestor O. Miguez, Charles M. Wood, and Sondra Wheeler.

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"Let not your hearts be troubled . . ." The opening words from John 14 frame the balance of this sermon to the disciples. Immediately following the Passover supper and the washing of their feet, our Lord preaches one last sermon to his faithful friends and disciples–a sermon full of longing, full of promise, full of hope, and full of disclosures about their future, the work of the Holy Spirit, and key verses supporting the doctrine of the Trinity. John 14-16 presents a fascinating farewell address from Jesus to his disciples. These chapters show us the heart of our Savior and his love for his disciples in a time of anxiety–not only their anxiety but his own, as he knows that the shadow of the cross has now grown dark across him and there is no place else for him to go. No ministry remains for him now except to these disciples, and then ultimately to the cross itself. Even as he, in his own humanity, was troubled in the prospect of his suffering, he turned to minister to the disciples in their time of trouble.

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This book brings together a variety of perspectives on how religion can be related to violence and war–both in a destructive and constructive way. Religion can justify and mobilize violence–even terrorism or guerilla wars–just like political ideology. But how is such a link between religion and violent behavior established in the first place? How can we go further in understanding this possible connection between religion and war?
Is religious peace work just the flip side of religious support of war? Or can peace work be informed by knowing about how religion promotes violence and war? In the search for answers to the puzzle of religion and war, it is easy to focus on conflict and war situations, but maybe there is as much to learn from peace work as from war studies? Therefore, this book also analyses religious peace work from different contexts.
The multifaceted presence of religion in conflict situations–whether justifying violence or promoting peace–is illustrated in this book using a variety of situations, in an enlightening panorama of one of today's must puzzling social connections: religion and armed conflict.
Contributors include: R. Scott Appleby, Goran Gunner, Mariyahl Hoole, Mark Juergensmeyer, Anne Kubai, Kjell-Ake Nordquist, Jehan Perera, Jennifer Schirmer, Nari Senanayake, and Maria Smaberg.

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This book traces the emergence and development of the deification theme in Greek patristic theology and its subsequent transformation into the theology of theosis in Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. This volume dwells on the deification theme as it is situated in the complex context of its historical development and thus avoids the common tendency to treat this notion of Christian theology in an anachronistic manner.
Significant attention is given to the influence of Neoplatonism on Pseudo-Dionysius. His theology is justified neither as essentially «orthodox» Christian nor as essentially «orthodox» Neoplatonic. Dionysius's sophisticated synthesis of Christian and Neoplatonic elements, especially in his exposition of theosis, does justice to this anonymous author's originality and demonstrates the importance of his influence both on the further development of Christian theology, and on the advancement of the Neoplatonic tradition. The intricate cultural background of the Pseudo-Dionysian world helps clarify the formation process of Christian imperial identity, and throws additional light on why these works were attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, not as a conscious forgery, but as a literary device. Such attribution was a common practice of the time. Comprehensive analysis of the development of the deification theme opens possibilities for further study of Trinitarian and christological formations, of philosophical and individual moral theology, of Christian and Neoplatonic mysticism, and of cultural studies.
By surveying the historical development of deification and by opening further areas of research, this book serves a valuable introductory source for both professionals and students. While primarily focusing on academic interests, the book is written keeping the general reading audience in mind as well. All quotations of the original texts are provided with existing or new English translations, while important Greek terminology is acknowledged. Readers interested in Christian spirituality, late antiquity, early Christian theology, and Neoplatonism will find this book useful.

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Personal and communal tragedies provoke intense emotions. In Scripture such emotions were given expression in complaints or laments. Such laments are the most frequent genre of psalm and are also found in the prophets and elsewhere in the Bible. The book of Lamentations is even named for this human response to tragedy. Yet neither lament nor complaint seems to be widely practiced in churches today, except at times of extreme communal catastrophe. Bringing together biblical scholars, liturgists, and practical theologians, this book begins to provide bridges between these worlds in order to enrich our ability to respond appropriately to personal and communal tragedy and to understand those responses.

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Jurgen Moltmann and others contend that Christian theology and the church face a dual crisis–one of relevance and the other of identity. Despite making this pronouncement nearly forty years ago, the church in the West continues to struggle with this crisis. Several proposals have been espoused, from the way of wisdom to the way of ecclesial praxis. Yet, little attention is given in Protestant theological discourse to the role God's beauty plays in bringing theology and ethics together. By neglecting God's beauty for theological discourse, we risk diminishing Christian worship, witness, and wisdom.
God's Beauty-in-Act addresses these issues, in part, by arguing that the redemptive-creative suffering and glorious resurrection of Christ are the nexus of God's being, beauty, and Christian living. God's beauty, understood as the fittingness of the incarnate Son's actions in the Spirit to the Father's will, radiates God's glory and draws perceivers into the dramatic movements of God's triune life. These movements serve as the patterns that shape the imagination, enabling participants to perform their parts creatively and fittingly in God's drama of redemption. In doing so, human beings flourish as they jettison false identities and realities of their own making that are incommensurate with God's purpose found in Christ by the Spirit.

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Over one million unborn children are intentionally aborted every year in North America. Voiceless and helpless, their blood cries out. Will those of us who serve as pastors and preachers respond from our pulpits? Silence is not an option. We cannot keep quiet while thousands of our neighbors, made in the image of God, are being led to the slaughter every day. But neither should we condemn and vilify those who are complicit in their deaths. A truly pro-life pulpit ministry opposes the injustice of abortion with truth, courage and understanding. Tears mingled with hope, overflowing with grace. After all, the Christian faith is rooted in the good news of a Messiah who was once an embryo. Nine months before he was born, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and for the next forty weeks he lived and grew in the womb of an unwed teenaged mother. He is at the heart of our preaching, and this book will show you how to confront the sin of abortion by proclaiming the God who became abortable in order to save sinners.

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The human imagination is a reflection of and a participation in the divine imagination; so mused the romantic poet, philosopher and theologian Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His thinking was intuitive, dense, obscure, brilliant, and deeply influenced by German philosophy. This book explores the development of his philosophical theology with particular reference to the imagination, examining the diverse streams that contributed to the originality of his thought. The second section of this book extrapolates his thinking into areas into which Coleridge did not venture. If God is intrinsically imaginative, then how is this manifested? Can we articulate a theology of the ontology of God that is framed in imaginative and creative terms? Drawing on the groundbreaking work of Huizinga on 'play,' this study seeks to develop a theological understanding of God's playfulness.

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