Contemplative disciplines, such as centering prayer and meditation, have been part of Christian life for centuries. They seem hard to practice now, not simply because our distracted and hyperstimulated age makes them difficult but also because they can appear irrelevant to the needs of a fractured and ugly historical moment. Yet these practices are more essential now than ever, claims Wendy Farley. These practices essentially awaken and attune us to the beauty both of the created order and of hu...
From the inception of the Reformed tradition, Reformed Christians have followed God's call to engage and change the world. Yet little work has been done to bring the tools of practical theology and ethics to bear on the task of understanding the Reformed tradition. This comprehensive volume addresses that problem. It gathers some of the most respected voices from within the study of Christian ethics and practical theology to ask how the Reformed tradition understands its calling int...
Weddings have become a billion- dollar industry, with the average cost of a wedding estimated at $30,000. Taking into account dramatic shifts in attitudes toward marriage in recent years, many pastors are confused and frustrated about their role. This book offers a foundational understanding of marriage for today's North American church. Exploring current sociological analyses of marriage and the history of Christian marriage rites, Kimberly Bracken Long suggests that the church ret...
Talking about God in Practice details the challenges and complexities of real theological conversations with practitioners, whilst providing an example of appropriate process, and a model of theological understanding by which to negotiate these complexities fruitfully.ááDrawing on, and adapting, action research methods, this process enables researchers with practitioners to access æimplicitÆ theologies, embedded within practices. The disclosure of the theology borne by practice enab...
This collection of short passages from the writings of Karl Barth reflects on the life of Christian faith. These one-page selections capture the vibrancy of Barth's faith, communicating his sense of wonder and excitement. Each piece is related to a verse of Scripture, making this an ideal book for daily devotional reading and a variety of other occasions.
How are we to know the will of God? In this honest discussion, veteran pastor and theologian James C. Howell considers a number of issues relating to God's will, how it is known, how it is done, and how we respond when bad things happen and we feel God is absent or has turned away from us. In this sensitive presentation, Howell explores these questions and provides ways of recognizing the true things to which we can hold in the midst of hard times. Howell proceeds simply and prac...
In this accessible and enlightening book, Daniel Migliore offers a study of the nature of God's power. Migliore calls for a reassessment of our understanding of the power of God and, through his exploration of historical and biblical references, provides his own analysis of God's power. A complete understanding of the power of God, Migliore argues, will profoundly affect how we live and how we exert power as individuals and as nations.
Every week churches must address issues related to stewardship. With deep pastoral sensitivities and solid biblical knowledge, veteran pastor and author David Mosser draws one Scripture passage from each week in the three- year lectionary cycle to provide a brief reflection on how that passage can be used to teach and preach about stewardship. Mosser's inspirational and motivational reflections offer a clear connection between the lectionary Scripture passage and the matters of s...
Surveying the views on baptism of eight of history's most influential theologians, Russell Haitch expertly explains the development and bases for the varieties of interpretation and practice of this holy sacrament throughout modern Christianity. First identifying the guiding motif in each of these foundational perspectives, Haitch ably and accessibly demonstrates how each yields unique theological and practical implications for Christian belief and life.
In Mandate to Difference, renowned theologian Walter Brueggemann sets forth a new vision of the Christian church in today's world. Based on speaking engagements surrounding his critical passion and conviction that the church in this moment must set itself in tension with the rest of the world, these essays call the church to courageously defy political polarization, consumerism, and militarism.Bringing texts of the Old Testament to the forefront in light of our current moment, Bruegg...
In this witty, accessible, and concise book, theologian Doug Ottati argues that liberal Presbyterians and other liberal Protestants still have much to contribute to the contemporary world. Offering an alternative to evangelical and conservative thought that he believes now pervades the larger culture, Ottati presents what he sees as the foundations of liberal, theological thought. Writing out of the Reformed tradition and a theology of grace, he addresses current issues such as evan...
This insightful book explores how worship practices can transform and renew the lives of those who worship. Emphasizing how religious affections provide us with orientation in the world, Kendra Hotz and Matthew Mathews show how worship can shape our religious affections so that we can live to the glory of God and in a harmonious relationship with God's creation.
In this collection of his essays from the popular and respected journal Theology Today, longtime editor Patrick D. Miller offers insights into the basic human condition. His reflections range from popular culture (the popularity of Seinfeld) to political matters (the proper public role for the Ten Commandments) to the sublime (the connection between poetry and faith). The wit and wisdom of this internationally respected biblical scholar come through clearly in this collection.
Singing the Lord's Song in a New Land is one of the first books to address ministry in Korean American contexts and the first from the highly regarded Valparaiso Project to explore how faith practices work differently in a racial ethnic community. The groundbreaking work identifies eight key practices of the Korean American culture: keeping the Sabbath, singing, fervent prayer, resourcing the life cycle, bearing wisdom, living as an oppressed minority, fasting, and nurturing.
In Pastoral Care in the Classical Tradition, Andrew Purves argued that pastoral care and theology has long ignored Scripture and Christian doctrine, and pastoral practice has become secularized in both method and goal, the fiefdom of psychology and the social sciences. He builds further on this idea here, presenting a christological basis for ministry and pastoral theology.
The rift between black theology, with its social and political concerns, and black churches, with their emphases on pastoral care and piety, has been growing. Here, Dale Andrews offers a way to bridge this gap by redefining the paradigm of church as "refuge" in terms of a faith identity that brings together a concern for liberation with a pastoral focus on spirituality. This faith identity emerges from dominant biblical themes that shape preaching and pastoral care.Andrews' insi...
Once again, renowned homiletician David Buttrick has written a highly practical book that conveys and makes contagious his excitement for the theological task of preaching. In Speaking Jesus, Buttrick delineates the theological issues inherent in the Sermon on the Mount and presents a homiletical strategy for preaching its meaning and relevance. In Part One, Buttrick gives a general overview of the text and raises central theological issues imperative to its preaching, particula...
In the last decade, Eastern Orthodoxy has moved from being virtually unknown to Western Christians to being a significant presence on the religious scene in North America and Great Britain. In light of Orthodoxy's growing presence, this book will introduce Western Christians to the Eastern Orthodox vision of the Christian life by examining Orthodox theology and worship and will also alert readers to the cultural and historical factors that shape any interpretation of the Christian f...
In this book, Ronald Stone breaks new ground by providing a fresh survey of Reinhold Niebuhr as a professor, demonstrating that this vocation was central to Niebuhr's lifework. This book reveals Niebuhr's passion for the development of an intellectually equipped, socially concerned Christian ministry.
Speaking Jesus
Author(s):David Buttrick
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