LITMIR.BIZ

People worldwide find themselves part of overlapping communities of identity and belonging–racial, political, cultural, sexual, ideological. Some identities, like brand loyalties, are chosen; some, like class identity, are imposed. As followers of Jesus Christ, those called to live iln between the age that is and the age to come, Christians ask what it means to be part of the body of Christ, God's new creation from among the nations, in a world filled with other nations. «Who–and whose–are we?» There is no easy answer, no time at which Christians got it completely right. Yet such questions must be addressed, and the stakes are high. Matters of war and peace, exclusion and inclusion, who starves and who does not, the credibility of the gospel itself–all are caught up in the whirl of identities, allegiances imposed or refused, and questions about what «the church» might possibly mean in such circumstances. In this book, a distinguished group of scholars from five continents asks, «How can the church respect the diversity of its members–many nations, cultures, and communities–while maintaining a coherent witness to the kingdom of God that is not undermined by more parochial ideologies or priorities?»
Chapter Contributors: Braden Anderson Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer Michael Budde Matthew Butler William Cavanaugh Jose Mario Francisco Peter Galadza Stanley Hauerwas Daniel Izuzquiza Slavica Jakelic Pantelis Kalaitzidis Eunice Karanja Kamaara Emmanuel Katongole Dorian Llywelyn Martin Menke Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator A. Alexander Stummvoll

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Whether from established authors or by writers new to fiction, the short stories in this volume explore life as change, using Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as the lens.
The writers come from different backgrounds, perspectives, and levels of familiarity with the short story, but what ties them together is a willingness to creatively explore the raw and more uncomfortable dimensions of life–big events and small happenings–all bound up by a recognition of the inevitability and (dis)comfort of change. Each writer has a story to tell, a creative and imaginative angle on life as it happens somewhere to someone.
Life Sentences represents an experiment, a recognition of and confrontation with the depth of culture and culture's life maps, with the ways in which the joys and troubles of life are given meaning. This collection attempts to address these large (and small) challenges and dynamics of life without the jargon of the professional philosopher or theologian but with the more «earthy» language of popular culture: the short story.

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Without turning naively to the past, scholars and preachers of the Old Testament are once again making use of figuration–something the church had always done until the modern period. This enlargement of method comes about partly out of disappointment with the exclusive use of historical methods, for to read the Bible theologically for the guidance of its present readers requires more than historical description. The 2006 Tyndale Conference on Biblical Interpretation, held at Tyndale University College in Toronto, Canada, focused on «figuration in biblical interpretation.» The authors are the conference keynote speakers, Christopher Seitz and Ephraim Radner, as well as Tyndale faculty members in philosophy, history, Bible, and theology. There are also a few additional invited papers illustrating figural interpretation. This volume is a window onto the current hermeneutic ferment within biblical studies, and its title is an invitation to sample and share the excitement!

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This book brings together the papers presented at the McMaster Divinity College 2007 Pentecostal Forum: «Defining Issues in Pentecostalism: Classical and Emergent.» It highlights the defining topics, past and present, of Pentecostal theology. The chapters are grouped under Pentecostal theology and biblical studies, with selections on classical and contemporary issues in each category. This book provides an introduction to the classical doctrines of Pentecostalism and key contemporary developments in Pentecostal theology in one volume. Professors desiring to introduce students to Pentecostalism will find here a concise and accessible introduction to the defining historical and contemporary issues.

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Probing the Frontiers of Biblical Studies is a seventeen-chapter anthology on biblical studies. It has been crafted as an extended and respectful thank you note to one of the most insightful scholars of biblical studies, David J. A. Clines of Sheffield University in England. He is credited with providing guidance to, and shaping the thought of, two generations of scholars who focus on essential approaches to understanding the Bible, with particular attention given to the Old Testament and allied literature. The anthology is directed toward those readers with pastoral, analytical, ancient intercultural, as well as contemporary cultural perspectives.
Essays address a wide range of topics: the so-called Documentary Hypothesis, prophecy, divination, and magic, the wisdom themes in the Book of Job, the Egyptian influence on New Testament, the issue of non-sexual love between two men during combat conditions, character development in a biblical novella, rhetorical questions and their role in the Psalter, and the ways of God in the world.
By combining these various topics, Probing the Frontier of Biblical Studies has addressed many of the outstanding issues in Old Testament study and ancillary disciplines.

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Lamentations is a book that has never had a place of honor at the table of Christian spirituality. This is an unfortunate state of affairs because its challenging poetry has much to offer. This volume explores the how the biblical book of Lamentations may be engaged afresh so that it can function as Holy Scripture for the ekklesia. Four main chapters consider issues in hermeneutics, exegesis, the use of Lamentations in worship, and pastoral reflections. These chapters have been supplemented by seventeen reception history studies written by an international team of Jewish and Christian scholars. These studies introduce a wide range of interpretations and uses of the book of Lamentations from throughout the history of Judaism and Christianity. They include examinations of the use of Lamentations in Isaiah 40-55, the Targum, Rashi, and contemporary Jewish thought, the Patristic period, Calvin, Jewish and Christian worship, music, Rembrandt, and psychological and feminist interpretation. Appendices include new English translations of LXX Lamentations and Targum Lamentations.

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Contrary to what many philosophers believe, Calvinism neither makes the problem of evil worse nor is it obviously refuted by the presence of evil and suffering in our world. Or so most of the authors in this book claim. While Calvinism has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years amongst theologians and laypersons, many philosophers have yet to follow suit. The reason seems fairly clear: Calvinism, many think, cannot handle the problem of evil with the same kind of plausibility as other more popular views of the nature of God and the nature of God's relationship with His creation. This book seeks to challenge that untested assumption. With clarity and rigor, this collection of essays seeks to fill a significant hole in the literature on the problem of evil.

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This book offers two things in particular: first, these are papers that have been commented on and re-worked in the context of a set of lively sessions from (International) SBL conferences from 2012 to 2014 (Amsterdam, St. Andrews, Vienna). Second, they offer an insight into the origins of the discipline as one which became conscious of itself in the early modern era and the turn to history and the analysis of texts, to offer something exegetical and synthetic. The fresh wind that the enterprise received in the latter part of the twentieth century is the focus of the second part of the volume, which describes the recent activity up to the present «state of the question.» The third part takes a step further to anticipate the way forward for the discipline in an era where «canon»–but also «Scripture» and «theology»–seem to be alien terms, and where other ideologies are advanced in the name of neutrality. Biblical Theology will aim to be true to the evidence of the text: it will not always see clearly, but it will rely on the best of biblical criticism and theological discernment to help it. That is the spirit with which this present volume is imbued.

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Should society care about Christian morality? Are Christians out of touch with complex moral decision-making? Christian Morality: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Thinking about Contemporary Moral Issues provides readers with a framework for identifying and applying Christian moral principles to divisive issues. First, readers learn of the theological and philosophical foundations of Christian ethics. Two additional chapters explain how personal and social factors influence our capacity to think critically and Christianly about morality. Second, readers will learn about forming Christian moral judgments by seeing how different thinkers address six contemporary moral issues: abortion, same-sex relationships, equal treatment of men and women in the workplace, sex education, and racial bias in incarceration polices.

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In a world where almost all societies are multi-religious and multi-ethnic, we need to study how social cohesion can be achieved in different contexts. In some geographical areas, as in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, people of different religious belonging have, through the ages, lived side by side, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in dissonance. In other geographical regions, as in Scandinavia, societies have been quite religiously homogeneous but only recently challenged by immigration. The implication in both locations is that the relation between religious minority and majority is on the agenda.
In order to discuss the situation for Non-Muslims in Muslim majority societies, a consultation was convened with both Muslim and Christian participants from Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Sweden. Some of the participants work in academic settings, others in faith based organizations, some in jurisprudence and others with theological issues. This book is the result of that consultation; the articles are «works in progress,» and they remain tentative. The intention with this anthology is to trigger reflection and further thinking. It presents articles that discuss issues such as freedom of religion, minority rights, secular and religious legislation, and inter-religious dialogue in Muslim majority societies.
Contributors include: Kajsa Ahlstrand, Goran Gunner, Mustafa Abu Sway, Johan Garde, Yasmin Haider, Jan Hjarpe, M. Aslam Khaki, Bernard Sabella, Mehboob Sada, Guirguis Ibrahim Saleh, and Ahmad Salim
This book is the second volume in Church of Sweden Research Series.

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