Richard Osmer

Richard Osmer's Confirmation provides a comprehensive discussion of the particularities of the Protestant experience of confirmation by examining Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist practices. Osmer explains the need for a renewed understanding of confirmation in the Presbyterian Church and proposes a two-step process of confirmation that addresses concerns unique to two developmental transitions: from preteen to adolescence and from adolescence to adulthood.

In this important and groundbreaking book, Richard Osmer develops a practical theology of the teaching ministry. He begins by exploring the teaching ministry of the apostle Paul, identifying in Paul's letters to his congregations the core tasks of the teaching ministry: catechesis, exhortation, and discernment. Next he presents case studies of the teaching ministries of three contemporary congregations--one in the United States, one in Korea, and one in South Africa--developing inte...

Richard Robert Osmer provides a strong understanding of the teaching office, which is a part of Reformation heritage. He discusses why the teaching office is important in mainline churches. This book in unique because it includes seminaries, representative bodies, theologians, and church leaders as part of the teaching office.

This useful, theologically informed guide prepares teachers in the church, whose purpose is to awaken, support, and challenge faith. Richard Osmer offers practical suggestions for preparing good lectures and leading lively discussions. He explores four important dimensions of faith--faith as belief, as commitment, as relationship, and as mystery--and describes different teaching approaches to address each of these dimensions.