LITMIR.BIZ

Magisterial in scope and scrupulous in its investigation and attribution of sources, Church and Ethical Responsibility in the Midst of World Economy will take its place as an important document that contributes much in terms of prophetic praxis–it challenges those who are comfortably complacent and unwilling to be disturbed.

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Eternal blessedness for all? This work shows how the acclaimed father of modern theology, Friedrich Schleiermacher, brilliantly approached this problem. It took many twists and turns of historical and philosophically minded analyses, however, for him to get to a theologically appropriate answer. This book unpacks those efforts in manageable form, based on a close examination of a pivotal 1819 essay, On the Doctrine of Election; his masterpiece, Christian Faith; sermons; and other related sources. Schleiermacher was the first modern theologian of stature to endorse the universal restoration of all humanity. This study also displays the historical, ecumenical, and doctrinal contexts in which his views were fashioned. It takes a careful look at the contemporary reception of his heterodox, universalist reinterpretation of the traditional Reformed doctrine of double predestination and of Lutheran alternatives, showing that his public stance was, in fact, rather ambiguous, for reasons made clear here. Finally, it examines reasons for his failure to convince contemporary theologians and concludes with an assessment of his interpretation of the doctrine of the one eternal divine decree of universal election in view of current interests in theology.

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This collection of writings contains articles and book reviews that are not readily accessible to most readers. Many of them are written for a wider audience of informed lay students of Scripture, as well as seminarians. They have been brought together here in a fresh way with other new writings. As a result, this study is somewhat unique, drawing upon the author's career in theology and church music. Over the course of four decades of scholarly research and writing Mark Karlberg has also been engaged in the music ministry of the church, serving as organist and choir director. Chief influences in his study and practice of music in the church have been Robert Elmore and Gerre Hancock, leading organists, choral masters, and composers of our generation. In the course of their stellar careers Elmore and Hancock have served in different ecclesiastical settings–Moravian, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, and Anglican. What they both share in common is their exceptional skill in the art of improvisation. Part of their accompaniment was «off the written musical score,» resulting in service-playing that was creative and engaging. In the spirit of their artistic expression we offer this collection of writings bearing as its theme the great Song of Redemption, composed by «the singing Christ» (Heb 2:12).

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This compendium of primary resources reflects the important but often overshadowed contribution of African American believers to the dynamic growth of the modern Pentecostal movement–the fastest-growing segment of global Christianity. The doctrinal statements, sermons, songs, testimonies, news articles, as well as scholarly treatises included here allow black leaders, scholars, and laypeople to speak in their own voices and use their own language to tell us their stories and articulate the issues that have been important to them throughout the one-hundred-year history of this movement. Among the constant themes that continue to emerge is their appreciation of an empowering encounter with the Holy Spirit as the resource for engaging the dehumanizing racial reality of contemporary America.

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No Strings Attached is the story of a Mennonite congregation in Indiana that existed for eighty-six years. The congregation began during the social and religious turmoil of the 1920s when some Mennonites in North America held to rigid doctrines and ethics implemented by central authority, and others operated with a congregational polity and became more assimilated into secular culture. The struggle between these two different understandings of faithfulness was most passionately played out in northern Indiana.
Placing the narrative of this congregation within the context of 500 years of Mennonite history illustrates the grace and the tension that has both beset and empowered a unique group of people who began as radical reformers.
Although «no strings attached» refers to the women's headwear during the 1920s, which had no strings, it could also be the story of the pastor eating lunch on the peak of the steep roof of the church building! Reflecting on stories of these Mennonite people is an invitation to move into the future with courageous hope. Believing and behaving differently has not prevented Middlebury Mennonites from treating each other respectfully, living in a community of love, joy, and peace, and offering God's healing and hope to each other and to the world.

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Can we know truth even though certain proof is unattainable? Can we be known by Truth? Is there a relationship between belief and truth, and if so, what is the nature of that relationship? Do we need to have faith in reason and in real meaning to be able to reason towards truth? These are the sorts of questions this book seeks to address. In Faith's Knowledge, Paul Tyson argues that all knowledge that aims at truth is always the knowledge of faith. If this is the case, then–against our modernist cultural assumptions about knowledge–truth cannot be had by proof. Yet, if this is true, then mere information and simply objective facts do not (for us as knowers) exist. Knowledge is always embedded in belief, and knowledge and belief is always expressed in relationships, histories, narratives, shared meanings, and power. Hence, a theological sociology of knowledge emerges out of these explorations in thinking about knowledge as a function of faith.

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C. S. Lewis–On the Christ of a Religious Economy I, Creation and Sub-Creation opens with Lewis on creation, the fall into original sin, and the human condition before God and how such an understanding permeated all his work, post-conversion. For Lewis, Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is the agent of creation and its redeemer. This leads into Lewis's representation through sub-creation: explaining salvation history and the purpose of the creation and the creature through story (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Screwtape, etc.), but also the question of multiple incarnations, and the encounters he pens between Aslan-Christ and creatures. What does this tell us about the human predicament and our state after the fall?
This volume forms the first part of the third book in a series of studies on the theology of C. S. Lewis titled C. S. Lewis: Revelation and the Christ. The books are written for academics and students, but also, crucially, for those people, ordinary Christians, without a theology degree who enjoy and gain sustenance from reading Lewis's work.

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What is the way of the cross? Why does it create resistance? How do we answer objections to it? The revival of interest in Christ's kingdom and radical discipleship has produced a wave of discussions, but sometimes those discussions are scattered. This book aims to pull together in one place the core claims of the way of the cross. It aims to examine the deeply cherished assumptions that hinder us from hearing Jesus's call.
When we do that, we'll see that the gospel of Christ is not primarily about getting into heaven or about living a comfortable, individually pious, middle-class life. It is about being free from the ancient, pervasive, and delightful oppression of Mammon in order to create a very different community, the church, an alternative city-kingdom here and now on earth by means of living and celebrating the way of the cross–the reign of joyful weakness, renunciation, self-denial, sharing, foolishness, community, and love overcoming evil.

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In a time when organized religion is suffering an identity crisis, the author of The Last Presbyterian? examines the faith culture that shaped him and his family over the last half millennium. Filled with historical, theological, and spiritual reflections and set in the context of both old family stories and current trends, Cuthbertson's book addresses such timely issues as practicing faith within families, setting aside time for God, and the changing facets of leadership and discipleship within the Presbyterian tradition. Starting with the «Psalm-singing, Sabbath-keeping, Shorter-Catechism-memorizing» branches of Scots-American Presbyterianism, this book offers an affectionate look back, and a hopeful look ahead, to an emergent Presbyterianism coming to terms with issues such as LGBT ordination and same-gender marriage, interfaith relations, and care for the earth.

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If you find books such as Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion compelling but your faith heritage is also important to you, this book shows how you can affirm both. Taking a cue from Marcus Borg's contention that «scriptural literalism» is for many people a major impediment to authentic spirituality, Carl Jech describes how all religion can and should be much more explicit about its symbolic, metaphorical, and artistic nature. With a particular focus on mortality and the relationship of humans to eternity, the book affirms a postmodern understanding of «God» as ultimate eternal Mystery and of spirituality as an artistic, (w)holistic, visionary, and creative process of becoming at home in the universe as it really is with all its joys and sorrows. Religion as Art Form is a must-read for those who think of themselves as spiritual but not religious.

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