LITMIR.BIZ

What? Another dictionary? Or really an anthology, organized alphabetically by virtue of a particular conversation. The idea for this project emerged from a free-for-all conversation around breakfast one morning. We had invoked any number of authors living and dead, and had spanned spirituality, leadership, education, philosophy, ecclesiology, and even cosmology. We heard from Augustine and Barth, Jim Wallis and Dallas Willard, referencing chaos and culture. Someone had even shared an ancient koan! Why . . . that's it. Why not a roving, eclectic dictionary that is both ridiculously current and particular, and at the same time broadly inclusive, reaching back to Augustine and St. Benedict. Why not write the ABCs of the emerging and missional conversation: this is Wishful Thinking (Buechner) meets A for Abductive (McLaren and Sweet) meets Soul Survivor (Yancey). And maybe there is just a touch of Brian McLaren in A Generous Orthodoxy.
The rules are simple: no more than five words per letter; names and personalities can occur on either side, attached to a definition or as referencing a word or concept, and while the overall interest is theological, the focus is life and mission, not theory.
Leave your luggage behind, climb aboard and join a journey of exploration that will enrich, challenge, and bring a smile to your face.

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During the mid-twentieth century Pentecostal theology was co-opted by fundamentalism and its dispensational brand of millennial eschatology. Fundamentalist dispensationalism not only reinterpreted the original Pentecostal vision of the latter-rain outpouring of the Spirit in the last days but undercut its raison d'etre as a people empowered by the Spirit of Pentecost to participate in the kingdom of God. Yet eschatology is much broader than twentieth-century dispensationalism, and Pentecostal eschatology is diverse, reflecting the diversity of Pentecostal and Charismatic spiritualities. There is no one Pentecostal eschatology but many Pentecostal eschatologies.
This collection of essays from established scholars and rising stars offers fresh perspectives in eschatology for the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. The fresh readings of eschatology in this volume are valuable because they demonstrate that Pentecostals no longer need to look to others to interpret their theology for them but can stand as scholars and thinkers in their own right.

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There is a seeming dichotomy in C. S. Lewis's writing. On the one hand we see the writer of argumentative works, and on the other hand we have the imaginative poet. Lewis also found this dichotomy within himself. When he was a rationalist and atheist he found that these two sides of him were pulling in different directions: he believed that his rationalist side could not be reconciled with his imaginative side. Once he became a Christian, he eventually found a means of marrying the two–principally, through story and myth.
Within C. S. Lewis studies, there is also a common conception of Lewis as a modern rationalist philosopher, i.e., a rationalist who thinks arguments (and his arguments in particular) are the last answer on the questions he undertakes. Reasoning beyond Reason attempts to take this view to task by placing Lewis back into his pre-modern context and showing that his sources and influences are classical ones. In this process Lewis is viewed through the idea that imagination and reason are connected in an intimate way: they are different expressions of a single divine source of truth, and there is an imagination already present upon which reason works. Lewis's «transpositional» view of imagination implicitly pushes towards a somewhat radical position: the imagination is to be seen as theological in its reliance upon something more than the merely material; it necessarily relies on a transcendent funding for its use and meaning. In other words, the imagination is a well-source for what we might normally label «rational.»

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Baptists worldwide recently celebrated 400 years of history and witness. This volume is a collection of papers presented at the «Beyond 400» conference held in Perth, Western Australia, as part of these celebrations. Contributors have written from a broad range of perspectives reflecting biblically and theologically on the thinking and practice of Baptists in the past and present. These reflections form a basis for exploring how Baptists can function more effectively in our contemporary world situation and imagine themselves in the future. Chapters range from providing historical perspectives to biblical and theological reflections on issues that have been critical to Baptist belief and ministry. They examine the core values that, historically, have distinguished Baptists within the broader context of the church and explore how these values might both underpin and play out in Baptist churches today. Contributions reflect a firm belief among both the presenters and attendees at the «Beyond 400» conference that Baptists not only have a future but also offer a necessary voice to our world. This voice is firmly based on the issues that first precipitated the Baptist movement some 400 years ago, and the continuing relevance of these issues as they are reimagined for our contemporary situation.

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Today the «land of promise» is a spark in the tinder dry atmosphere of Middle Eastern affairs. Events there continue to wield influence among peoples and in places well beyond the region itself. This raises for Christians the acute theological problem of how to relate to the «land of promise» today and in light of the land of the Bible. Our hope is that this volume of essays will contribute to a more informed and theologically coherent response to the «Land of Promise.» It is offered here in the name of peace for all peoples in that place and among those who continue to look to her as a place of promise.

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The three cycles of sermons included here provide a spiritual geography, an announcement of the gospel set in New York State. The sermons were given life in the vibrant life of Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, New York, over several years beginning in 2000. The collection is meant to exemplify a thematic form of preaching that addresses and creates a collective consciousness in the life a community. One series is set on «A Village Green.» Another invites those along the Finger Lakes to travel «Once More to the Lake.» The third traverses the major cities of the state, and their capacity to become «An Empire of the Spirit.» The sermons here try to unfold an interpretation of Scripture by engaging local settings to produce a geography of the Spirit.

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The 365 poems in this collection, one for every day of the year, are a journey through prayer. The objective of the poems is to serve as an accompaniment to prayer, silently, in the form of a verse. The initial inspiration of these writings was from the Psalms, but there is referenced material throughout the Scriptures, as well as events that occurred in history and in the author's daily life. With only a few exceptions, the prayer/poems are not date specific, denomination specific, or even specific to the author only, but to everyone. The poems speak of subjects such as faith, death, nature, freedom, love, beauty, and history. Each poem is intended to be able to stand on its own, independent of the others. These poems are unique in that they are prayers first, poems second, and could be considered daily devotions, spiritual meditations, or as a resource for pastors of all Christian denominations. They are written so that they could also be «crossover» poetry, and could be attractive to secular tastes as well.
The monumental task of writing this many poems brought the author's attention to prayer itself, and to the nature of artistic expression, which cannot be forced, but must come of its own. The succeeding «visitations» of the ideas or inspirations gave reason to believe that, not surprisingly, the author had help from the very ONE being written to, and about.

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This book is an attempt at a critical, constructive, and creative theological praxis of social transformation in Africa. The authors apply a multi-disciplinary approach to examining how Christianity in Africa is engaging the problems of Africa's challenging social context.
This is a prophetic work that applies the symbols of «salt» and «light» as ecclesiological images for reenvisioning the path towards procuring abundant life for God's people in the African continent through the agency of African Christianity.
The contributors to this volume ask these fundamental questions: What is the face of Jesus in African Christianity? What is the face and identity of the Church in Africa? How can one evaluate the relevance of the Church in Africa to African Christians who enthusiastically embrace and celebrate their Christian faith? In other words, what positive imprint is Christianity leaving on the lives and societies of African Christians? Does the Christian message have the potential of positively affecting African civilization as it once did in Europe? What is the relevance and place of African Christianity as a significant voice in shaping both the future of Africa and that of world Christianity?

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For two thousand years, Christian theologians have struggled to explain the believer's union with Christ. What sort of union is it? How can it be fully described? This book is an attempt to join the conversation to explore exactly what it means to be in union with Christ. This book will argue that the believer's union with Christ can rightly be presented as a third type of perichoresis. Perichoresis is a word that describes the way the persons of the Trinity interrelate, without losing their essential oneness nor without being absorbed into each other. In short, the doctrine of perichoresis preserves the unity and diversity within the Godhead. It is also used to describe the hypostatic union of the divine and human in Christ. In Perichoretic Salvation, James Gifford argues that the union of the believer and Christ is a relationship of the same kind, though of a third type. Arguing from a perspective that is rooted biblically, historically, and theologically, the book will allow the union to be explained more fully than in the past while remaining within the bounds of what the church has taught over the centuries. It may prove to be a basis for understanding the work of Christ afresh for the twenty-first century.

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This book, a revision of the author's dissertation, describes the grounds on which knowledge about God is possible according to the Gospel of John. In response to modern questions and doubts about the possibility of religious knowledge, John's answers are identified and illuminated using standard historical method. A major part of this investigation is spent showing that, for readers of all persuasions, it is clear that certain parts of John's Gospel were never intended as either fiction or metaphor. From these parts, the basis on which John thinks that people can have religious knowledge is inferred and described.

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