LITMIR.BIZ

Ralph del Colle was born in New York City on October 3, 1954 and was raised in Mineola, Long Island. He attended Xavier High School in Chelsea and received a BA in History and Literature of Religions from New York University, and MDiv, MPhil, and PhD degrees from Union Theological Seminary. Ralph taught for 17 years in the Marquette University Theology Department; prior to that he taught at Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida and at St. Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire.
Ralph's lively Christian faith and interest in church unity led to his participation in ecumenical dialogues. He served as a representative to the International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue for the Pontifical Council on Christian Unity for 12 years and also served on the Catholic-Reformed Dialogue and Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue, both for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was invited by the Pontifical Council to serve as a representative to the World Council of Churches Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1998. In 2002-2003, he served as the President of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and in 2003 Ralph received the Archbishop's Vatican II Award. Ralph's scholarly work, especially his work on the Holy Spirit, made significant contributions to the field of Systematic Theology.
Ralph died in July of 2012, slightly more than four weeks after he was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. He was fifty-seven.

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Many Christians who practice believer baptism struggle to answer basic questions about it, such as: What does it mean to be baptized? How does baptism relate to faith? What does God do through baptism?
In Waters of Promise, Brandon Jones seeks to answer these questions by drawing from Scripture, theology, history, and church practice. The resulting recovery of the link between covenant theology and believer baptism may change not only how you think about baptism but also how your church practices it.

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Is the universe ultimately meaningful, ordered to an end of transcendental value? Or is it merely the product of random interactions in which organization emerges only locally and by chance and is conserved only so long as rare and improbable conditions prevail? There can, in fact, be no more important question, for on the resolution of this question depends the significance of all our worldly labors.
The Ultimate Meaningfulness of the Universe represents a new departure in this debate, arguing that because it describes rather than explains the universe, mathematical physics is radically incapable of addressing this question. The book argues for a new scientific research paradigm that while incorporating and building on the description of the universe supplied by modern mathematical physics, goes beyond it in a restored discipline of teleological explanation. The book sketches applications in the physical, biological, and social domains, and shows that powerful evidence already points toward the ultimate meaningfulness of the universe.

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Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was one of the seminal theologians of mission in the twentieth century, and perhaps the most important in the English-speaking world. His thinking was anchored in the practice of mission: he was a missionary in India, a bishop of the Indian church, and a leader in emerging international mission structures. In his late years, he pioneered research on how the gospel could engage with Western culture. For many he is the founding father of the missional church movement. This book is the first to address the crucial role Newbigin played in shaping ecumenical thinking on mission during the twentieth century, filling an important gap in our knowledge of the development of twentieth-century missional theology. It does so by seeking to answer a central question in Newbigin's thinking: How does «mission» relate to «church»?
Taking the integration of the International Missionary Council with the World Council of Churches as its central focus, this book provides a unique history of crucial events in the ecumenical movement. But more importantly, through a study of Newbigin's role in the theological debate, this book demonstrates how missional theology evolved during the postwar period when there was a «sea change» in understandings both of mission and church.

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The Vitality of Liberation Theology argues for the ongoing necessity of a liberating theology in a world of endemic poverty and economic globalization. Although some have declared liberation theology's demise, or even its death, Nessan articulates the imperative and logic of it for a new generation. Latin American liberation theology burst forth as the most original and compelling theological movement from the developing world in the modern period. The story of the emergence and proliferation of liberation theology, as well as the opposition to this movement both within and without Latin America, is one of the most significant and lasting developments in Christianity since the last third of the twentieth century. Together with other forms of liberating theology from contexts of oppression in diverse parts of the world (anti-apartheid theology in South Africa and Namibia, Minjung theology in Korea, Dalit theology in India, or Palestinian liberation theology), Latin American liberation theology takes a prophetic stand against the hegemony of the status quo and joins league with other subaltern peoples in the cause of freedom from all forms of subjugation and oppression. The dawn of Latin American liberation theology inaugurated a new era in the global theological landscape.

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Early literary man learned that free speech and free labor were frequently suppressed or obliterated by powerful governments in the Near Eastern world. This is the source of the Bible's passionate interest in liberation from political and economic repression. Moses and his people in Egypt, for example, experienced the rapid disintegration of their traditional right to religious liberty and self-directed labor. They attempted to rectify the situation at Sinai and in Canaan. Mesopotamians and Egyptians, Greeks, Sicilians, and Romans labored against tyranny as well. Robert Kimball Shinkoskey focuses on stories, laws, and movements dealing with the problem of political idolatry in the ancient world. His purpose is to show that the Bible is a civic narrative as much as a religious one, and that the Ten Commandments are articles in a constitutional law system that promotes the steady rule of law rather than the capricious rule of man.

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How can Christians live with a surprising God? How can we know and trust God without taming God or reducing God to an idol? Is knowing God the same thing as being open to God? Is God's freedom to act independently of our knowing him actually how we know him most genuinely and deeply? In Unexpected Jesus, Craig Hovey explores in depth the idea that the Christian gospel is a surprising encounter that calls for people to risk living with a God who shows up in unexpected ways.
The Gospels often portray Jesus Christ as elusive and difficult to grasp. Hovey helps the reader to «un-expect» Jesus–to preserve Jesus's reality as a surprise rooted in the resurrection. As living and free, the joyous presence of Christ in the world is also unfathomable and uncontainable. Jesus's being free and surprising–unexpected–strengthens Christians' trust in God and helps them to live in God's world.

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If the Christ-centered college or university did not exist, would it have to be invented? Back in the 1950s, the answer was in doubt. With few exceptions, Christian colleges wallowed in defensive self-doubt and divisive competition while under attack from the rising public sector. Students of American higher education predicted that they would soon become as extinct as the whooping crane.
Rather then succumbing to doomsayers, leaders in Christian higher education bonded together around the commanding truth that «all things come together» in Jesus Christ. They drove their stake for the future in the integration of faith and learning as the reason for the existence of Christ-centered higher education. Out of this commitment came a renaissance movement of common cause and unprecedented cooperation through the Consortium of Christian Colleges and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.
Will integration continue to be the energizing and all-pervasive influence that gives the Christ-centered institution its reason for existence? Trustees, presidents, deans and faculties in each generation must think and rethink the concept in the light of theological, academic, technological, and cultural change. David McKenna opens the conversation by remembering where we were, confirming who we are, and envisioning what we can be.

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When the people of Judah were taken captive by the Babylonians, their world was drastically changed. While in exile they experienced shame, guilt, fear, and displacement. However, their God had been traumatized by their behavior and also grieved with them. Yet, Yahweh gave them a second chance by forgiving them and bringing them home. God offered them hope, mercy, and love. The prophets were God's chosen messengers, not only to provide a new vision of what could be, but to suffer with the people. These servants were caught in the middle between a passionate God and traumatized people. As the people returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and their lives, the prophets were with them to remind them that God had not abandoned them.
The author suggests that the prophets live on today through the church as those who engage their community, fight for people's hearts, and remind others that God gives second chances. Clark shares stories from his personal ministry to the marginalized in Portland, Oregon, who seek relief from shame, suffering, and hopelessness. In this hope our community receives new vision through a loving God and persistent prophets.

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Negotiating Identity addresses the missiological problem of why the Hakka Chinese Christian community in Taiwan is so small despite evangelistic efforts there for more than 140 years. Christofferson explores the tensions between being Hakka and being Christian in northwestern Taiwan and discusses what both Hakka non-Christians and Christians are doing and saying in the context of these tensions. This ethnographic study uses the lens of social constructionism and consequently offers an example of how social science scholarship can help missionaries and other Christian workers to gain significant insights into the thoughts, feelings, and actions of those living in their ministry locations. Of interest is Christofferson's conclusion that the missiological perspective which puts a primary focus on ministering to a «people group» is inadequate for explaining and engaging the complexities encountered in many ministry settings. He suggests that an awareness of the way people are negotiating their identities can help Christian workers to better understand and strategically engage people in a variety of ministry contexts throughout the world.

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