LITMIR.BIZ

This book re-imagines the universe (and the scientific study of it) through the lens of a triune Creator, three persons of irreducible identity in a perichoretic or coinherent communion. It modestly proposes that Trinitarian theology, and especially the coinherent natures of the Son in the incarnation, provides the metaphysic or «theory of everything» that manifests itself in the subject matter of science. The presence of the image of the triune God in humanity and of traces of this God in the non-human creation are discussed, highlighting ontological resonances between God and creation (resonances between the being of God and his creation), such as goodness, immensity-yet-particularity, intelligibility, agency, relationality, and beauty. This Trinitarian reality suggests there should be a similarity also with respect to how we know in theology and science (critical realism), something reflected in the history of ideas in each. These resonances lead to the conclusion that the disciplines of theology and science are, in fact, coinherent, not conflicted. This involves recognition of both the mutuality of these vocations and also, importantly, their particularity. Science, its own distinct guild, yet finds its place ensconced within an encyclopedic theology, and subject to first-order, credal theology.

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Recent years have witnessed an astonishing cultural and legal shift when it comes to homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Many Christians see these changes as a defeat for Christian values, often painting Christian opponents as sell-outs to secular culture. But can there be a genuinely Christian case for same-sex marriage? This book makes that case. While sensitive to scriptural issues, it focuses on a question that cannot be answered by Scripture alone: What does love for our gay and lesbian neighbors demand? This question calls us to pair theological, philosophical, and scriptural reflection with something else: attention to gay and lesbian lives. We must attend to the psychological research and, more importantly, to the stories our gay and lesbian neighbors tell us about themselves and their experience. Love does not permit us to plug our ears with Bible verses. While this book argues that Christian love calls us to make same-sex marriage available, the deeper conclusion is that Christian values prevail when we wrestle with these questions in a spirit of love: love for those with whom we disagree, and love for those most affected by the decisions we reach.

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In Psalm 49 and the Path to Redemption, Janet Smith revisits her PhD dissertation, Dust or Dew: Immortality in the Ancient Near East and in Psalm 49, reconfiguring the book for a general audience and expanding it to focus on a theme of biblical redemption. The new work takes the reader through the development of Israel's belief in an afterlife, both the positive hope but also the negative fate of those who are spiritually impoverished. Beyond that, Psalm 49 takes the reader into the mind and heart of the sages and priests who wrote many of the psalms. There we find how much we share with them emotionally and spiritually. Since Christianity is a movement with roots in the Old Testament, the reader is introduced to some important redemption concepts as expressed by Jesus Christ. Finally, the book reviews a few modern near-death experiences to ask if the Scriptures regarding afterlife have relevance today. This book is thought provoking and should cause anyone reading it to think about their own personal path to redemption.

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At the heart of Christianity and at the center of the New Testament lies the epistle to the Romans, the most groundbreaking letter ever written. The author is Paul, an early convert from Judaism and the greatest early figure in the development and spread of Christianity. Romans contains his most cogent and compelling presentation of Christian faith and practice. The author takes logic and argument, poetry and imagination, scripture and prayer, history and experience, and weaves them into a letter that has become the premier document of Christian theology. The importance of Romans for Christian tradition is incalculable. Each generation of believers has found inspiration, relevance, and transforming power in this letter. To read Romans is to confront one's faith at its source.
In Romans, Paul deals with problems as contemporary as today's headlines: divisions and sectarianism in society; fixation with violence; discrimination, prejudice, and inequality; social injustice; the destiny of the Jewish people; the role of the individual in the total sweep of history; the responsibilities of citizens to their government; and the morality of actions in which adults engage, sexual and otherwise.
Grace is pervasive in Romans, present in every theme. As expected, it is evident in Christ's life and death, in God's righteousness (God's faithfulness and righteous justice), in justification, predestination, election, and saving faith; but grace is also present in Mosaic law and perhaps most surprisingly, in God's judgment and wrath. If grace can be said to underlie the Christian gospel and to embody the biblical portrayal of God's identity and activity, what does the word «grace» mean, and what is its transformative power? The answers are explored in Grace Revealed.

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Much has been written on the centenary of the First World War; however, no book has yet explored the tragedy of the conflict from a theological perspective. This book fills that gap. Taking their cue from the famous British army chaplain Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, seven central essays–all by authors associated with the cathedral where Studdert Kennedy first preached to troops–examine aspects of faith that featured in the war, such as the notion of «home,» poetry, theological doctrine, preaching, social reform, humanitarianism, and remembrance. Each essay applies its reflections to the life of faith today.
The essays thus represent a highly original contribution to the history of the First World War in general and the work of Studdert Kennedy in particular; and they provide wider theological insight into how, in the contemporary world, life and tragedy, God and suffering, can be integrated. The book will accordingly be of considerable interest to historians, both of the war and of the church; to communities commemorating the war; and to all those who wrestle with current challenges to faith. A foreword by Studdert Kennedy's grandson and an afterword by the bishop of Magdeburg in Germany render this a volume of remarkable depth and worth.

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Flourishing in Faith: Theology Encountering Positive Psychology explores the fascinating dialogue between two scholarly traditions concerned with personal wellbeing, Christian theology and Positive Psychology, primarily from the perspective of theology. Although each works within different paradigms and brings different fundamental assumptions about the nature of the world, both are oriented toward that which leads to human flourishing and contentment. In such an encounter, can both disciplines learn from one another? Do they challenge each other? How can they enrich and or critique each other? With the widespread emergence of Positive Psychology in educational, church, and community settings across the world, many of which self-identify with the Christian tradition, many are wondering how this new branch of psychology integrates with traditional Christian belief and practice. This groundbreaking book explores this question from a diversity of perspectives: theology, biblical studies, education, psychology, social work, disability studies, and chaplaincy, from scholars and practitioners working in Australia and the United States.

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Postmodern Theology consists in a sharp-edged retrospective and reflection on the forty-year history of the most important movement in contemporary religious thought that is only now passing from the scene. The author, Dr. Carl Raschke, is generally credited with having sparked the movement, even if he did not always happen to be its leading spokesperson. Not only has a comprehensive survey of postmodern theology in all its different phases and complexity not been published prior to the appearance of this book, but it is even more remarkable for someone who both «launched» it and had a central role in shepherding it along to offer what may be termed a «movement memoir.»
Postmodern Theology surveys and summarizes the major figures and trends that have given currency to such familiar expressions as «deconstruction,» «deconstructive theology,» «radical theology,» «a/theology,» «God is dead,» and of course, «postmodernism» itself. Dr. Raschke also contextualizes the emergence of these catchy phrases from a frothy soup of new intellectual theories and philosophical innovations, which were international in scope but customized for both academic and popular religious writers–mainly in Britain and America–from the late 1960s onward.

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After the civil rights and anti-apartheid struggles, are we truly living in post-racial, post-apartheid societies where the word struggle is now out of place? Do we now truly realize that, as President Obama said, the situation for the Palestinian people is «intolerable»?
This book argues that this is not so, and asks, «What has Soweto to do with Ferguson, New York with Cape Town, Baltimore with Ramallah?» With South Africa, the United States, and Palestine as the most immediate points of reference, it seeks to explore the global wave of renewed struggles and nonviolent revolutions led largely by young people and the challenges these pose to prophetic theology and the church. It invites the reader to engage in a trans-Atlantic conversation on freedom, justice, peace, and dignity. These struggles for justice reflect the proposal the book discusses: there are pharaohs on both sides of the blood-red waters. Central to this conversation are the issues of faith and struggles for justice; the call for reconciliation–its possibilities and risks; the challenges of and from youth leadership; prophetic resistance; and the resilient, audacious hope without which no struggle has a future. The book argues that these revolutions will only succeed if they are claimed, embraced, and driven by the people.

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This new edition of Patterns of Ministry Among the First Christians tells the story of how the first Christian leaders emerged and, with the passing of time, developed. The book includes sections on Jesus and Paul and their understanding of Christian leadership, on bishops, deacons, elders, apostles, prophets, and teachers, and on ordination. The focus is primarily on the first century but historical development is noted. The author also discuses the ways the New Testament may speak to the present.

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Where the Water Goes Around is a biblical and political reading of Detroit over the course of three decades by an activist pastor.
Detroit is a place where one can take the temperature of the world. Think on the rise of Fordism and auto-love, the Arsenal of Democracy, the practice of the sit-down strike, or the invention of the expressway and suburban mall. Consider more recently the rebellion of 1967, the deindustrialization of a union town, the assault on democracy in this black-majority city, the structural adjustments of municipal bankruptcy, and now a struggle for water as a human right.
Bill Wylie-Kellermann tells the story of working out his «place-based vocation» with a simultaneous commitment to gospel nonviolence. He evokes the place Anishinabe peoples tread lightly the banks of Wawiatanong, «where the waters go round.» One narrative thread walks a procession through the streets, a contemporary «stations of the cross,» to the locations of crucifixion today. It names the occupying principalities and their outposts on the ground. Another tells the story of resurrection in struggle and human community. Herein are public disruptions, liturgical direct actions, and courtroom trials. In resistance and risk, this book proclaims gospel in context.

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