Böcker utgivna av Cascade Books

It is hubris to claim answers to unanswerable questions. Such questions, however--as part of their burden and worth--must still be asked, investigated, and contemplated. How there can be a loving, all-powerful God and a world stymied by suffering and evil is one of the unanswerable questions we must all struggle to answer, even as our responses are closer to gasps, silences, and further questions. More importantly, how and whether one articulates a response will have deep, lasting repercussions for any belief in God and in our judgments upon one another.Throughout this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary work, Peter Admirand draws upon his extensive research and background in theology and testimonial literature, trauma and genocide studies, cultural studies, philosophy of religion, interreligious studies, and systematic theology. As David Burrell writes in the Foreword: "". . .[T]he work''s intricate structure, organization, and development will lead us to appreciate that the best one can settle for is a fractured faith built on a fractured theodicy, expressed in a language explicitly fragmented, pluralist, and broken.""""Peter Admirand has made a significant contribution to one of the most difficult topics for theologians and philosophers--the problem of evil. Amidst Mass Atrocity and the Rubble of Theology is essential reading for anyone interested in exploring theodicy. What makes his book particularly important is his exploration of the testimony of survivors (as well as perpetrators). Admirand explains convincingly why it is essential to take seriously witness testimony and commends Christians in particular to immerse themselves in the writings of post-Shoah Jewish thinkers such as Elie Wiesel and Emil Fackenheim. Highly recommended.""-Edward KesslerDirector of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic FaithsCambridge University""Amidst Mass Atrocity and the Rubble of Theology is a rich and compelling foundational work towards renewing post-Holocaust Christian theology for the future. Its interdisciplinary focus demands attention and care by scholars and students in a range of academic disciplines and fields and within the wider church communities. The work can also provide deep pastoral meaning for people in situations of concrete suffering. Admirand''s argument of a fractured faith built upon a fractured theodicy identifies a key component for the possibility of a viable faith in our post-Shoah world, which is inundated by questions, gaps, and doubt and so must be open to interfaith learning and profound theological humility.""-Didier PollefeytVice Dean of the Faculty of TheologyKatholieke Universiteit Leuven""Peter Admirand does not even begin to discuss the attempts of theology to address apparently meaningless suffering until he has given vivid testimonies of endurance, not only by believers but by other- and non-believers. Only then does he set about facing the problems these raise for theology, not neglecting objections to theodicy itself from both theologians and secular thinkers. The book is profoundly moving and challenging and is itself a testimony to a passionate faith and hope. It will reopen intractable questions long thought to be dormant.""-John D''Arcy MayFTCD emer. and Senior Research Fellow,Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College DublinPeter Admirand is a Lecturer in the School of Theology, Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University, and a Research Associate and Adjunct Lecturer in Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of a wide range of articles in interreligious studies; testimonial literature; postcolonial and postmodern theology; and moral theology.

Providing a comprehensive study of ""oral tradition"" in Israel, this volume unpacks the nature of oral tradition, the form it would have taken in ancient Israel, and the remains of it in the narrative books of the Hebrew Bible. The author presents cases of oral/written interaction that provide the best ethnographic analogies for ancient Israel and insights from these suggest a model of transmission in oral-written societies valid for ancient Israel. Miller reconstructs what ancient Israelite oral literature would have been and considers criteria for identifying orally derived material in the narrative books of the Old Testament, marking several passages as highly probable oral derivations. Using ethnographic data and ancient Near Eastern examples, he proposes performance settings for this material. The epilogue treats the contentious topic of historicity and shows that orally derived texts are not more historically reliable than other texts in the Bible.""In this book, Robert Miller offers an assessment of the modern study of oral tradition in ancient Israelite literature . . .The result is an engaging survey of the question of oral literature in ancient Israel. The book points up the problems and prospects involved in this most difficult area of biblical studies.""-Mark S. SmithSkirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern StudiesNew York University""Robert Miller''s Oral Tradition in Ancient Israel is warmly to be welcomed. Miller is particularly well equipped for this task, being equally at home in literary and archaeological work, and this timely and comprehensive study does not disappoint. Miller succeeds brilliantly in demonstrating that there was an interplay of oral and written composition and performance throughout Israel''s history. We are very much in his debt.""-Paul M. JoyceTheology Faculty Board ChairmanUniversity of Oxford""This study is a fascinating contribution to discussion of the role of oral tradition in the composition of biblical texts. Miller offers an impressive critique of classic and recent studies on the oral-written continuum in a wide range of literatures and cultures, opening up new insights into the literature and culture of the Hebrew Bible.""-Katherine HayesProfessor of Old TestamentSeminary of the Immaculate Conception Robert D. Miller II, SFO, is Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is the author of Chieftains of the Highland Clans and Syriac and Antiochian Exegesis and Biblical Theology for the 3rd Millennium.

American evangelicalism has recently experienced a new openness to Roman Catholicism, and many evangelicals, both famous and ordinary, have joined the Catholic Church or are considering the possibility. This book helps evangelicals who are exploring Catholicism to sort out the kind of concerns that typically come up in discerning whether to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In simple language, it explains many theological misunderstandings that evangelicals often have about Catholicism and suggests the kind of practical steps many take to enter the Catholic Church. The book frames evangelicals becoming Roman Catholic as a kind of ""paradigm shift"" involving the buildup of anomalies about evangelicalism, a crisis of the evangelical paradigm, a paradigm revolution, and the consolidation of the new Catholic paradigm. It will be useful for both evangelicals interested in pursuing and understanding Catholicism and Catholic pastoral workers seeking to help evangelical seekers who come to them.""While showing appreciation and respect for his evangelical patrimony, Christian Smith offers a careful, clear, and thoughtful path to the Catholic Church for those evangelicals who are entertaining Catholicism as they seek to walk more authentically in Christ. This is a truly unique contribution to the growing literature authored by former evangelicals who have found their way to St. Peter''s barque."" -Francis J. Beckwithauthor of Return to Rome: Confessions of An Evangelical Catholic""Christian Smith is correct in describing why it usually takes a ''paradigm revolution'' for an evangelical to become a Catholic. The ''anomalies'' he describes for evangelical life are mostly accurate and his presentation of Catholicism is attractive. But this intriguing book would have been even better if it had paused to reflect on why there are so many paradigm shifts in the other direction--of people born Catholic who become evangelical. Anyone--Catholic, evangelical, or a convert in either direction--who responds thoughtfully to the arguments of this book will be a better Christian for having made the effort.""-Mark Nollauthor of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind""I expect that this book may turn out to be the definitive text (short of the Fathers only!) for evangelicals who are prepared to address themselves courageously to the ecclesiological question. Smith''s writing is brisk, starkly clear, challenging, and exhaustive (not exhausting!); he leaves no stone unturned. This is the best book I''ve seen on the topic.""-Thomas Howardauthor of On Being CatholicChristian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of The Bible Made Impossible (2011), What is a Person? (2010), and Souls in Transition (2009).

Here for the first time in print is the story of a small group who dared to confront Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich with the love of Jesus Christ. Avoiding covert resistance on the one hand and complicity and compromise on the other, the Rhon Bruderhof, under the courageous leadership of Eberhard Arnold, boldly witnessed to the politics of the Kingdom of God in Nazi Germany. Although ""less than a gnat to an elephant,"" in Arnold''s words, they believed that as God''s ambassadors love could overcome hatred-even of Adolf Hitler himself. This is an amazing account of a community who stayed true to the nonviolent way of the Cross, and how, despite relentless Nazi opposition, God protected and victoriously led them along the way.This meticulously documented story of faith serves as a handbook of heroism for believers today. God knows, we too are ""besieged"" by forces of untruth and duplicity. May we, like the Bruderhof, be found faithful.-Daniel BerriganScripture tells us that we are to be a counter-cultural community, living out the radical teachings of Christ. This book sets a pattern for those who want to live faithfully in opposition to the dictatorial consumeristic culture of our age.-Tony Campolo, Eastern University, St. Davids, PAIn An Embassy Besieged, a small community of Christians courageously and graciously refuses to compromise their faith in the face of the worst human evil. Their witness has much to teach us today in a world so riddled with prejudice, so tired of militarism, so starved for grace, and so desperate for imagination. -Shane Claiborne, author, activistSeeking to embody the Sermon on the Mount and articulating a clear Anabaptist theology of church and state, the early Bruderhof movement gives a courageous testimony to nonviolence in a harsh totalitarian state. Emmy Barth tells a compelling and well-crafted story that is hard to put down. -Donald B. Kraybill, author of The Upside Down KingdomEmmy Barth is senior archivist for and member of Church Communities International (formerly known as the Bruderhof Communities). Her earlier book No Lasting Home (2009) tells the story of the Bruderhof''s first year in Paraguay when they were forced to leave Europe during World War II.

Volume 3 The Paul L. Holmer Papers: Selected Sermons, Addresses, and PrayersIn his teaching and his writing, Paul L. Holmer (1916-2004), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (1946-1960) and Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School (1960-1987), not only made important contributions to recent American theology, but was also much in demand as a public speaker and preacher. Following his death, the Holmer family in 2005 donated his papers to the Yale Divinity School Library. In this, the third volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers: Communicating the Faith Indirectly, the reader will see Holmer''s deep concern with the problems and possibilities of the sermon, liturgy, ministry, and spirituality. Inspired by Soren Kierkegaard''s reflections on ""indirect communication,"" and by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Holmer not only reveals his strenuous reflection on the sermon, but also gives concrete examples of his own efforts to communicate, enabling his hearers and readers to ""make sense"" of their lives. In the first part of this volume, Holmer reflects upon Kierkegaard''s ""indirect communication,"" a communication not of knowledge but of human capacity. In other pieces Holmer turns to liturgy, ministry, and spirituality. In the second part of this volume, the reader sees Holmer''s own challenging, uncompromising practice of religious and Christian communication, in a selection of his sermons, addresses, and prayers. For anyone concerned with sermons, liturgy, spirituality, and the challenges of ministry, Holmer''s essays and addresses will prove indispensable.This is the third volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers, which includes also volume 1, On Kierkegaard and the Truth, and volume 2, Thinking the Faith with Passion: Selected Essays.""This volume is such a gift to those of us who loved Paul Holmer and were shaped by his thought. It is a thrill to hear his distinctive voice again in these pages. This book may be an even greater gift to those who have never read or heard Holmer. Now you will get to see what all the fuss is about. Be forewarned, however: do not open this book casually. You might be forever changed as well.""--Martin B. Copenhaver, Wellesley Congregational Church ""Paul Holmer took up Kierkegaard''s emphasis on the decisiveness of the ''how'' over the ''what,'' inviting the indirection so rightly registered in the book''s title. A central expression of ''how'' is insistence upon compassion as chaperone, guardian, and custodian of learning.""--David Cain, University of Mary Washington""Holmer is both philosopher and theologian, providing sage advice for anyone who loves the church. The sermons, most of which are appropriately based on some letter of St. Paul, advise the church on a variety of pitfalls on the path of the Christian life, urging steadfastness against worldliness, reminding us of the power of the consciousness of immortality, and making clear the place of thought in the Christian life."" --Ronald E. Hustwit Sr., The College of WoosterDavid J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is the author of Kierkegaard''s Dialectic of the Imagination (1989) and Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker (1996).Lee C. Barrett is Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Heidelberg Catechism (2007), Foundations of Modern Theology: Kierkegaard (2009), and co-editor of Kierkegaard and the Bible (2010).

In his teaching and his writing, Paul L. Holmer (1916-2004), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (1946-1960) and Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School (1960-1987), made many important contributions to recent American theology. One of the most insightful American students of Kierkegaard of his generation, Holmer perceived early on Wittgenstein''s importance for theology, and employed both thinkers to inspire his own fresh consideration of perennial issues in philosophical theology: understanding, belief, faith, the emotions, and the importance of the virtues. While best known for his essays in The Grammar of Faith (1978), Holmer penned numerous other interesting and original essays, some published but many unpublished, which circulated widely in typescript during his tenure at Yale. Following his death, the Holmer family in 2005 donated his papers to the Yale Divinity School Library; in reviewing Holmer''s papers, the editors have chosen a selection of his most seminal essays, beyond those in The Grammar of Faith, demonstrating the breadth and range of his contributions.In this, the second volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers, the editors present pieces that illuminate four significant areas of Holmer''s contributions: essays on Kierkegaard; essays on Wittgenstein; Theology, Understanding, and Faith; and Emotions, Passions, and Virtues. Taken together, these essays invite in-depth exploration of the thought of this important American philosophical theologian.This is the second volume of The Paul L. Holmer Papers, which includes also volume 1, On Kierkegaard and Truth: Selected Essays, and volume 3, Communicating the Faith Indirectly: Selected Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers.""Disciplined by a careful, undogmatic appropriation of Wittgenstein''s later achievements, Paul Holmer may just be the best balanced and most plainspoken expositor of Kierkegaard''s ethical-religious thought in the English language to date. Holmer was an outstanding teacher, and this collection is a treasure for those privileged to hear his lectures and for those who did not.""--Robert L. PerkinsProfessor Emeritus of PhilosophyStetson University, DeLand, Florida""This collection of previously published and unpublished essays by Paul L. Holmer on a wide range of topics demonstrates his incisive thought and writing on some of the perplexing ''knots of understanding'' in philosophy and theology, which he sought to untie with exceptional acuity and conceptual clarity by way of Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and his own pioneering efforts in the rehabilitation of virtue ethics in our time.""--Sylvia WalshScholar in ResidenceStetson UniversityDavid J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is the author of Kierkegaard''s Dialectic of the Imagination (1989) and Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker (1996).Lee C. Barrett III is Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Heidelberg Catechism (2007), Foundations of Modern Theology: Kierkegaard (2009), and co-editor of Kierkegaard and the Bible (2010).

In the fall of 2006, Mark Douglas, a professor of Christian ethics, was invited to write weekly editorials for a secular newspaper. Surprisingly, his editor placed no limits around either the content or the rhetoric of those editorials. This book offers Professor Douglas''s reflections on that work and the editorials themselves. Taken together, they model a particular vision of Christian engagement in the public sphere. This book offers a single sustained argument about why and how the Christian faith should shape the public lives of its adherents. Both the reflections and the editorials model various aspects of that argument.At the center of this book''s argument are the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. Douglas begins by arguing not only that faith matters in the public sphere but describing how this is so. He then describes the way hope shapes a worldview through which to interpret public life. Finally, the virtue of love informs the practices of a life in which Christians learn to ""believe aloud."" Many recent books have made the case that it is important for people of faith to engage in matters of public interest-this one actually shows how one person has done so.""Mark Douglas consistently finds ways to surprise the reader--not with gimmicks, but with hope so truthful it reveals the world anew. That hard-won hope lets Douglas make a crucial contribution to academic debates about religion and politics. It also helps him write editorials that crackle with good humor and fresh insight. Douglas calls his readers to believe aloud--and then gives rich samples of what that sounds like for our time.""--Ted A. Smithauthor of The New Measures: A Theological History of Democratic Practice""Mark Douglas''s Believing Alou is a wonderful book, or really two books: one a collection of his newspaper columns, the other a series of meditations (which connect the columns) on what he was trying to do in the columns, and how he thought he did. Combining theological depth, political and cultural acumen, and a vivid and sharp writing style, the book is both an education in Douglas''s wise and persuasive understanding of religion''s role in public life, and an education about how to communicate that understanding to others. A delight.""--Charles Mathewesauthor of A Theology of Public LifeMark Douglas is Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. He is the author of Confessing Christ in the 21st Century (2005).

""McGill has the power to make ideas, concepts, differing perspectives vivid--to ''in-flesh'' them. . . .Then comes the ""switch"" or reversal or inversion empowered by the very confrontation McGill has arranged. . . . McGill leaves only the demonic as the object of our worship. Just when we supposed that he was about to come to the defense of this ""world-governing, background God,"" he dismisses such a God, leaving us with the demonic, leaving us room to affirm our own doubts and perplexities, leaving us with a harsher formulation than we might have ventured, leaving us attentive to what he is going to do next and to where he is going to lead us. Because by now we are following him."" --From the ""Introduction.""One of Art McGill''s favorite passages from the Gospel of John (12:24) notes that a grain of wheat becomes fruitful not when it is on the stalk but when it falls to the ground and dies. The stalk of wheat must expend itself in letting a new crop flourish. Nourishment rather than domination described McGill''s sense of the Christian life. It is the theme of this collection of his writings on the New God, New Death, and New Life. David Cain has admirably, painstakingly, and patiently expended himself in making McGill''s work available for our tasting and nourishment.--William F. May, Testing the National Covenant: Fears and Appetites in American PoliticsArthur C. McGill was the Bussey Professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School. A distinguished philosopher and theologian, he also taught at Amherst College, Wesleyan University, and Princeton University.David Cain is Distinguished Professor of Religion at the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and minister in the United Church of Christ. He is editor of Sermons of Arthur C. McGill, (Cascade Books, 2007), and author and photographer of An Evocation of Kierkegaard / En Fremkaldelse af Kierkegaard (1997).

Where Faith Meets Culture is a Radix magazine anthology. What does Radix usually contain? Interviews and features. Reviews of significant books, films, and CDs. Informed opinions in ""The Last Word."" Eye-catching graphics. Mind-stretching prose. Image-rich poetry. Radix assumes that Christians live in the real world and takes lay Christians seriously. As one subscriber wrote: ""Radix is a more worldly magazine than one would expect from its deep commitment to Christ."" Radix monitors the cultural landscape, questions assumptions, and introduces new voices, remaining deeply rooted in Christ.Sociologist Robert Bellah wrote in a Radix article: ""Though social scientists say a lot about the self, they have nothing to say about the soul and as a result the modern view finds the world intrinsically meaningless."" Radix continues to talk about meaning and hope in a culture that has lost its way.The articles in this volume reflect the magazine''s wide-ranging interests: literature, art, music, theology, psychology, technology, discipleship, and spiritual formation. They''re written by some of the outstanding authors whose work has graced our pages over the years:Peggy Alter, Kurt Armstrong, Robert Bellah, Bob Buford, Krista Faries, David Fetcho, Susan Fetcho, Sharon Gallagher, David W. Gill, Joel B. Green, Os Guinness, Virginia Hearn, Walter Hearn, Donald Heinz, Margaret Horwitz, Mark Labberton, Henri Nouwen, Earl Palmer, Susan Phillips, Dan Ouellette, Steve Scott, and Luci Shaw. Sharon Gallagher is editor of Radix magazine and Associate Director of New College Berkeley. She is the author of Finding Faith: Life-changing Encounters with Christ.

In this groundbreaking work, Bible translation is presented as an expression of contextualization that explores the neglected riches of the verbal arts in the New Testament. Going beyond a historical study of media in antiquity, this book explores a renewed interest in oral performance that informs methods and goals of Bible translation today. Such exploration is concretized in the New Testament translation work in central Africa among the Vute people of Cameroon. This study of contextualization appreciates the agency of local communities--particularly in Africa--who seek to express their Christian faith in response to anthropological pauperization. An extended analysis of African theologians demonstrates the ultimate goals of contextualization: liberation and identity. Oral performance exploits all the senses in experiencing communication while performer, text, and audience negotiate meaning. Performance not only expresses but also shapes identity as communities express their faith in varied contexts. This book contends that the New Testament compositions were initially performed and not restricted to individualized, silent reading. This understanding encourages a reexamination of how Bible translation can be done. Performance is not a product but a process that infuses biblical studies with new insights, methods, and expressions.""What does ''orality'' and public performance have to do with translating the written Scriptures of God? Many misconceptions about the nature of the biblical texts and their communication in modern world languages are corrected in this thoroughly engaging, wide-ranging book that offers an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the subject. I can heartily recommend James Maxey''s pioneering work on contextualizing the New Testament for effective contemporary, multi-sensory re-presentation. This is a vital resource for all students, exegetes, commentators, teachers, translators, and other communicators of the Word.""--Ernst R. WendlandTranslation Consultant, United Bible SocietiesInstructor, Lusaka Lutheran Seminary""In this volume, which brings together studies on Bible translation, orality, and performance criticism, James Maxey leads us into new and exciting ways of thinking about and doing Bible translation that takes into serious consideration the local context of the translation. The specific reference to the Vute New Testament translation in Cameroon takes the reader from theory to actual practice and shows the exciting future of Bible translation for performance.""--Roger L. OmansonUnited Bible SocietiesConsultant for Scholarly Editions and Helps""Discarding simplistic communication models and insisting on the role of receptor community in the construction of meaning, James Maxey''s From Orality to Orality deploys a strategic array of tools (orality studies, postcolonial critique, performance criticism, contextual case studies) that allows development towards a (contextual) ''missiology of Bible translation'' and aids in the much needed redefinition of Bible translation as a power activity. In this way, Dr. Maxey also contributes significantly to the relocation of Bible translation within the broader context of translation studies.""--Philip H. Towner,Dean, The Nida Institute for Biblical ScholarshipAmerican Bible SocietyJames A. Maxey is Director of Program Ministries for Lutheran Bible Translators in Aurora, Illinois.

Michael Bird''s commentary on Colossians and Philemon in the New Covenant Commentary Series pays close attention to the socio-historical context, the flow and dynamics of the text, their argumentative strategy, theological message, and the meaning of Colossians and Philemon for the contemporary church today. Bird situates Colossians in the context of Paul''s Ephesian ministry and describes how Paul attempts to persuade a congregation in the Lycus Valley to remain firm in the gospel and to grasp the cosmic majesty of Jesus Christ over and against the views of certain Jewish mystics who have thrown the Colossians into confusion. He shows how, in the letter to Philemon, Paul intercedes for a slave estranged from his master through a carefully crafted feat of pastoral persuasion from a missionary friend of Philemon. The commentary combines exegetical insight, rhetorical analysis, theological exposition, and practical application all in one short volume. Bird shows Paul at work as a theologian, pastor, and missionary in his letters to the Colossians and Philemon.""Every generation needs to grapple anew with the Bible, and every pastor needs a series that pushes the text into the community. This commentary series accomplishes these tasks. May God bless these commentaries to yield communities that live out God''s gracious covenant with us.""--Scot McKnightKarl A. Olsson Professor in Religious StudiesNorth Park University""Michael Bird''s treatment of Colossians and Philemon is incisive, informative, and independent. He guides readers with a light touch, accurately setting out competing positions, but judiciously weighing the merits of each of these alternatives. The commentary is built on a foundation of mature, balanced, and sane exegesis--and from this firm foundation Bird draws weighty theological implications. This is a masterpiece of succinct writing and an auspicious start to the New Covenant Commentary Series.""--Paul FosterSchool of DivinityUniversity of EdinburghMichael Bird is New Testament Tutor at the Highland Theological College in Scotland. He is the author of Jesus and the Origins of the Gentile Mission, The Saving Righteousness of God, A Bird''s Eye-View of Paul, and with James Crossley, How Did Christianity Begin? He is also coeditor of the New Covenant Commentary Series.

Even though Jonathan Edwards is arguably America''s greatest theologian, the content and value of his work remains a mystery to most. Stahle systematizes and summarizes Edwards''s biblically grounded thought in contemporary language and makes Edwards accessible to pastors, students, and church study groups. Edwards''s conceptions of the Trinity are explained in detail and shown to be the basis for the rest of his theology, including his ideas about sin, salvation, holiness, the purpose of history, Scripture, revivals of religion, heaven and hell, and the church. Reflection and study questions are provided to enrich comprehension and demonstrate the relevance of Edwards''s theology for contemporary life. The wealth of this Puritan''s personal piety and intellectual brilliance is no longer beyond the reach of twenty-first century Christians.""With The Great Work of Providence, Rachel Stahle provides a helpful and practical summary of Jonathan Edwards''s theology for busy pastors, church leaders, and laypeople who recognize the importance of being theologically literate (especially in a culture that seems to see no need for deeper theological study) but do not have the time needed for diving deeply into the writings of Edwards. In the end, the book whets the appetite for more theological reflection and more Edwards.""--Rev. Rich NobleWashington Union Alliance Church, New Castle, Pennsylvania Geneva College, Adjunct FacultyRachel S. Stahle (PhD, Boston University) is pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Carteret, New Jersey, and the author of numerous articles and papers.

Theologian, poet, public intellectual, and clergyman, Rowan Williams is one of the leading lights of contemporary British theology. He has published over twenty books and one hundred scholarly essays in a distinguished career as an academic theologian that culminated in his appointment as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University. Williams left this post to serve in the Anglican Church, first as Bishop of Monmouth, then Archbishop of Wales, before finally being enthroned in 2003 as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.In this collection of essays, a talented younger generation of Australian theologians critically analyzes the themes that bind together Williams''s theology. These sympathetic yet probing essays traverse the full breadth of Williams''s work, from his studies on Arius, the Desert Fathers, Hegel, and Trinitarian theology to his more pastoral writings on spirituality, sexuality, politics, and the Anglican Church.""I read these essays with surprise and delight. This excellent collection of constructive critical essays are a tribute both to the richness of Rowan Williams''s theology and the intellectual commitment, discernment, and fairness of their authors. Highly recommended.""--Alister E. McGrath Professor of Theology, Ministry, and EducationKing''s College, London.""I welcome this book very warmly. It offers a thoughtful, engaging, and respectful--albeit critical--account of Rowan Williams''s theology that does him justice. Even when disagreeing on crucial areas such as sexuality or war, the contributors to this fresh and well-informed book show much affection and respect for Rowan Williams himself at this difficult time for Anglicanism. Would that all debates among Christians were conducted in a similar manner.""--Robin GillMichael Ramsey Professor of Modern TheologyUniversity of Kent, Canterbury""Neither setting Rowan Williams''s work on an implausible pedestal nor dismissing it in caricature, the essays that Matheson Russell has gathered engage the Archbishop in thoughtful and critical conversation. I found myself by turns intrigued, delighted, puzzled, convicted, and annoyed--but also repeatedly driven to think again about Williams''s work and, more importantly, about the issues that his work explores."" --Mike HigtonSenior Lecturer in TheologyUniversity of ExeterMatheson Russell is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Auckland. He is the author of Husserl: A Guide for the Perplexed (2006), as well as essays on Heidegger, phenomenology of religion, and political theology.

This book is a study of the Christian life and the practice of Christians and the church from an Anglican perspective. It begins with an analysis and explication of the structure and process of the Christian life before God in the church and the world involving a five-fold rule of life and the relation of this to spiritual direction. This is followed by an analysis and critique of the current spirituality movement, which arose in the 1970s and which has come to dominate and mislead the churches. A sequel to the latter explains the origin of the spirituality movement in the current Romantic movement that arose in the 1960s and has influenced all aspects of our culture with ambiguous results. Next there is a critique of contemporary parish ministry as practiced in residential parishes that at best ministers only to the private lives of its members, followed by a fictional story of such a residential parish that suggests a new departure in parish ministry. Then there is a critique of preaching in the Episcopal Church that is generally considered to be poor, and a proposal of a way to overcome this. The concluding three chapters treat a fundamental problem in our approach to private prayer and a way to resolve this, a proposal for a way to overcome the current impasse in the Anglican Communion concerning homosexuality, and a meditation on the responsibility of Christians in public life.""Owen Thomas is a prophet, in the biblical sense of the word, calling a community to examine its way of life and look to the rock from which it was quarried. His book is progressive, at times radical, precisely because it is rooted in the best of a tradition he knows as well as anyone. The scope of these essays is remarkable-from philosophical theology to parish administration-with a solid center in the life of the Spirit, lived amid the perplexities of history."" -Charles Hefling, Professor of Systematic Theology, Boston College""What Owen Thomas has to say about Christian life and practice will delight many, confound others, and challenge all of us to think more critically about things that matter. This is a distinctively Anglican voice crying out on behalf of embodied spirituality, political engagement, and prophetic ministry.""-Arthur Holder, John Dillenberger Professor of Christian Spirituality, Graduate Theological Union""In this legacy of his years as theological reflector on Christian life, Owen Thomas, in his own creative way, articulates the persistent insistence of the Bible and Anglican tradition that faith and practice, truth and action have been so joined together by God that they must never be put asunder. Well worth reading and pondering.""-Harvey H. Guthrie, Former Dean and Professor of Old Testament, Episcopal Divinity SchoolOwen C. Thomas (1922 -2015) was Emeritus Professor of Theology of the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the author of eight previous books in theology and the philosophy of religion. A former physicist, he has been a visiting professor at the Gregorian University and the North American College in Rome, an adjunct professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and past president of the American Theological Society.

It is well known that Henri de Lubac''s groundbreaking and highly controversial work on nature and grace had important implications for the Church''s relationship to culture and was intended to remove a philosophical obstacle hindering Catholicism''s faithful engagement with the secular world. This book addresses a too-often neglected dimension of de Lubac''s theological renewal by examining the centrality and indispensability of spiritual exegesis in his oeuvre and making explicit its social and political significance for the Church''s worship and witness. In addition to exploring the historical and ecclesial context within which he worked, the current work brings de Lubac into a critical engagement with the more recent theological movements of postliberalism and radical orthodoxy in order to demonstrate the enduring significance of his theological vision.""Hollon offers the best introduction to date on de Lubac''s spiritual interpretation of Scripture. His bold recovery of Henri de Lubac''s participatory hermeneutic offers an excellent contribution to the rapidly growing scholarship on the French Catholic theologian. The book argues for a hermeneutic that avoids the dual trap of isolating Jesus'' biblical identity from the life of the Church (the post-liberal tendency) and of reducing Christology to ecclesiology (the fallacy of Radical Orthodoxy). Hollon convincingly argues that the Church''s ontological participation in Christ is mediated through the practice of spiritual interpretation along the lines advocated by de Lubac. The result is both an incisive, sympathetic-critical engagement with contemporary hermeneutics and a superb introduction to one of the central concerns of de Lubac.""--Hans Boersma, author of Nouvelle theologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery (forthcoming)Bryan C. Hollon is Assistant Professor of Theology at Malone College in Canton, Ohio.

Augustine of Hippo is arguably the most influential author in the history of Christian thought and institutions. Yet he has been revered by some reviewers and vilified by others. Contemporary critical approaches to historical authors can illuminate features of Augustine''s thought and activities that are not noticed when reviewers'' attention is either exclusively sympathetic or intransigently critical. Anyone who seeks to present an Augustine who has relevance for the twenty-first century must somehow hold together delight in the beauty of his prose and the profundity of his thought with dismay over some of the intentions and effects of his teachings. The essays in this book endeavor to read Augustine simultaneously critically and appreciatively. Miles places his thought in the context of his classical heritage and notices how pervasive in later Christian authors are the themes that informed Augustine''s thought. Understanding his writings as a passionate effort to describe a metaphysical universe that accounts for the endlessly fascinating mystery of embodied life makes many of Augustine''s proposals accessible, useful, and delightful in the context of contemporary quandaries and issues. His conclusions are less important than his method: In Augustine, knowledge and life mutually illuminate, energize, and critique each other, exemplifying the practice of a fully human life. Exploring some of his most persistent themes, these essays seek to show how Augustine''s theology works.""For years Margaret Miles has been patiently honoring the question of the body in historical theology. In this collection of sixteen of her best essays, she tracks the ambivalences in Augustine''s love of the flesh, finds a Platonism with an earthly pull, sustains her sense of an antique social location, and finishes with a flourish of mystics and reformers--all successors to an Augustinian passion. An historian of great cultural sensitivity, Miles is not afraid to meet the past under the skin of contemporary life (where it, in fact, has always been). In the art of critical sympathy, she has no peer.""--James Wetzel, Villanova University""Margaret Miles has long been one of the most imaginative and suggestive readers of Augustine and his thought. Combining the highest standards of critical historical scholarship with an extraordinary ability to penetrate to the heart of Augustine''s thought, Miles is always worth reading and reading over. These essays should be required reading for all interested in Augustine and--equally importantly--in his legacy in the Christian tradition.""--Lewis Ayres, Candler School of Theology, Emory University""This book does what few academic books attempt--a real engagement and conversation with an ancient author, letting our thoughts and views interact with his. As Miles touches on diverse topics of interest to any modern person, others are also brought into the conversation--not just Augustine, but also Plato, Aristotle, Calvin, and Luther. Whether one wishes to discredit or to appropriate Augustine''s views, one will find here much material that challenges and leads to further discussion."" --Kim Paffenroth, Iona College""Reading Miles reading Augustine is a delight and a window on the development of modern critical theory applied to historical theology. Miles is simply brilliant and her Augustine shines with a brilliance borne of Miles''s careful and close reading, important new theories, and her love of Augustine that brings the ancient theologian to life. This is a significant collection of essays that no serious historian of theology should miss."" --Richard Valantasis, Candler School of Theology, Emory University""In these sixteen essays, Miles claims--against an ''escapist transcendence''--that bodies are central to theological knowledge. She explores themes of desire, beauty, and happiness in their relation to the body in the writings of Augustine''s philosophical predecessors, of Augustine (our ''fellow pilg

Being Salt addresses both ordination and leadership by taking as its point of departure the most distinctive yet often overlooked feature of ordination: indelibility--being ordained for life. Sumner wholeheartedly agrees with the Reformation emphasis on the ministry of the whole people of God. Still, he argues that we can only understand priesthood if we understand what one is ordained for. Indelibility--lifetime ordination--provides an entree to the question of what sets the ordained apart. In sum, Being Salt offers an evangelical argument for a catholic practice and so goes to the heart of what Anglicanism understands itself to be.""This gem of a book shimmers with the practical and spiritual insights we would hope to find in a good discussion of the ordained ministry. . . . Readable, eloquent, informative, and passionately acute in its encouragement of the ordained minister''s calling, Being Salt should be read by every pastor and priest, and should shape every congregation''s discernment of its common vocation.""--Ephraim Radner, rector of Ascension Episcopal Church in Pueblo, Colorado""Being Salt offers a Christocentric-semiotic understanding of the priesthood, a splash of cold water on the face of a languishing church . . . Sumner writes in an engaging and colorful style which will delight the reader. This is a ''must'' for pastoral theologians and seminarians: Being Salt will energize you and make you rejoice in your vocation as priest of the Church.""--Kathryn Greene-McCreight, assistant rector of St. John''s Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut""George Sumner begins with a question that at first glance seems of importance only to a few. If one is ordained to the Christian Ministry, is it for life? However, in Sumner''s hands the question opens into one of central importance for all Christians. Just how is the Church to understand the significance of its own life and that of its Lord? And how is it to order that life so that it expresses truly what the church is called to be? George Sumner has written a book that is must reading for all clergy, seminarians, seminary faculty, and the congregations they are called upon to serve.""--Philip Turner, Interim Dean and President, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, and retired Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at YaleGeorge R. Sumner is Principal of Wycliffe College, Toronto. He is the author of The First and the Last: The Claim of Jesus Christ and the Claims of Other Religious Traditions.

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.""Padres were given a rough ride by British memoir writers of the First World War. However, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, ''Woodbine Willie'' to the soldiers, demonstrates how wrong they were. His reflections on the war and its implications for his own Christian faith resonate to this day. The innumerable insights in this powerful book make plain how the conflict''s spiritual challenge still reverberates.""--SIR Hew Strachan, author of the Oxford University Press History of the First World War ""Michael Brierley and Georgina Byrne have judiciously gathered these measured essays on ministry, suffering, tragedy, and hope: they leave the reader more immersed in sadness, admiration, desolation, and ultimately faith. After all, if Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy''s life was a failure, so was that of Jesus.""--Sam Wells, Vicar, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London ""Life after Tragedy is a profound and moving account of the struggle of Christian theology with the ravages of the First World War. . . . Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the earthquake that was the Great War.""--Jay Winter, Yale University ""A significant contribution to the flourishing revisionist scholarship on religion and war, the central essays in this volume . . . offer a set of moving, often provocative reflections on the complex and transformative relations between faith and suffering that are as relevant now as they have ever been.""--Sue Morgan, University of Chichester, UKMichael W. Brierley is the canon precentor of Worcester Cathedral. He is the editor of Public Life and the Place of the Church (Ashgate, 2006), and the author of a dozen articles on the history of twentieth-century theology.Georgina A. Byrne is a residentiary canon of Worcester Cathedral and a chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen. She is the author of Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England, 1850-1939 (Boydell, 2010).

Dante, Mercy, and the Beauty of the Human Person is a pilgrimage to rediscover the spiritual and humanizing benefit of the Commedia. Treating each cantica of the poem, this volume offers profound meditations on the intertwined themes of memory, prayer, sainthood, the irony of sin, theological and literary aesthetics, and desire, all while consistently reflecting upon the key themes of mercy and beauty in the revelation of the human person within the drama of divine love.""This thoughtful collection of essays convincingly demonstrates that that the Divine Comedy has something to say to a society that is overly plugged-in yet increasingly disconnected, tribal, and short on that quality of mercy by which we come to recognize both beauty and God''s unimaginable, steadfast love. Dante, Mercy, and the Beauty of the Human Person is a gift of respite and reorientation to our roiling age.""--Elizabeth Scalia, Author of Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life ""This superb collection is more than simply an anthology of scholarly essays on Dante''s Commedia; it is also an invitation for readers to be transformed intellectually, aesthetically, and spiritually as they journey through Dante''s poem into his living theological imagination and his extraordinary vision of the mystery and grandeur of human personhood. Read alongside Dante himself, this volume may become something more than an invitation--it may become an initiation!""--Jacob Holsinger Sherman, University Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion, University of Cambridge and author of Partakers of the Divine: Contemplation and the Practice of Philosophy""This delightful volume invites us to see Dante''s poem as a pilgrimage, and to ourselves take steps along with the poet, not as solitary seekers of truth but as a community of fellow travellers who need to learn from one another. Written for the general audience by gifted scholars of literature, theology, and philosophy, the volume invites us into one of the greatest poetic accounts of the journey from dark to light, not in some other lifetime, but right in the midst of this one.""--Janet Soskice, Professor of Philosophical Theology, University of CambridgeLeonard J. DeLorenzo is Associate Professional Specialist in the McGrath Institute for Church Life, with a concurrent appointment in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.Vittorio Montemaggi is Associate Professor of Religion and Literature and Concurrent Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

FEATURING:Ken Gonzales-DayAngela Alaimo O''DonnellShelly RamboFrank SeeburgerChelle StearnsPLUS:God Gave BirthTweeting the Impossible ForgivenessHow Cancer Made Me Less of a Bastard (and More Human)What''s Love Got to Do with It? Theodicy, Trauma, and Divine Love Naming the Animals--AND MORE . . .

The year 2017 marks the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, if that event is dated from the posting of Martin Luther''s Ninety-Five Theses. Admittedly, 2017 is an arbitrary and somewhat artificial milestone. Nevertheless, anniversaries can be special occasions that allow for an appreciation and evaluation of memorable persons and events. As a number of Reformation anniversaries approach, the historical significance of the Reformation merits increased attention. Employing a variety of historiographical methods from intellectual history to postcolonial theory, this volume demonstrates how four major traditions observed the Reformation: Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, and Roman Catholic. The foreword and preface place the essays into the contemporary and broader historical contexts in the history of reform. Commemorations of the Reformation varied in different periods, often influenced by immediate historical contexts. How are those sixteenth-century events, which caused both renewal and conflict in church and society as well as divisions between those expressions, to be viewed in the twenty-first century in a setting broader than Europe?""All Christians must salute the editor and contributors to this volume, which could not have been written on the 500th anniversary of the traditional birth of the Reformation. Only a century of serious ecumenical discussion (and coordinated action for the good) has made the production of this book possible. Here we have four substantial essays, each historically and theologically well-informed, that address, in order, the evolving image of Luther, the developing relationship of the Anglican to the Lutheran communions, the fascinating influence of the Reformed tradition on Christian India, and maturing Roman Catholic views of central Lutheran doctrines revolving around justification. An exemplary conversation in print, this is an intellectual feast. Into it, not only historians and the ordained but all the baptized are invited, and from it all will be richly nourished.""--Kevin Madigan, Harvard Divinity School""Reformation Observances goes beyond simple commemoration of Martin Luther''s Ninety-Five Theses. Its contributors examine past centennials in historical context, while looking at ecumenical dialogue concerning the theological issues dividing Christian denominations. Most intriguing, one contributor reaches beyond the West to Christianity in India. In relatively few pages, Reformation Observances challenges us to see the dawn of the Reformation in an ecumenical, multicultural light.""--Thomas Izbicki, Rutgers University""Much attention is being given to 2017 as the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and especially to the present ecumenical setting. Yet 2017 can only be appreciated and understood by giving attention to how the Reformation has been observed in the past. How did the Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, and Roman Catholic traditions in the course of 500 years note or not note the Reformation? The answer to this question can only enrich consideration of the Reformation in this century. This volume of collected essays seeks to supply an answer. Anyone interested in the significance of this anniversary of the Reformation will gain insights by means of this collection of reflections.""--William G. Rusch, The Divinity School, Yale UniversityPhilip D. W. Krey, Ministerium of New York Professor Emeritus at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and president there from 1999 to 2014, is Senior Pastor at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. He has coedited Romans 9-16 (2016) and The Catholic Luther (2016), both with his brother, Peter D. S. Krey.

For the last two centuries biblical interpretation has been guided by perspectives that have largely ignored the oral context in which the gospels took shape. Only recently have scholars begun to explore how ancient media inform the interpretive process and an understanding of the Bible. This collection of essays, by authors who recognize that the Jesus tradition was a story heard and performed, seeks to reevaluate the constituent elements of narrative, including characters, structure, narrator, time, and intertextuality. In dialogue with traditional literary approaches, these essays demonstrate that an appreciation of performance yields fresh insights distinguishable in many respects from results of literary or narrative readings of the gospels.""From Text to Performance presents a set of suggestive new essays on various key issues in performance of texts, including how a text-in-performance can have a powerfully moving impact on a community of listeners. The essays offer several sensitive insights into the significant differences between literary criticism deeply rooted in print culture and the emerging performance criticism that considers the effects of performed texts on the audience.""--Richard Horsley, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MAKelly R. Iverson is Associate Professor of New Testament at Baylor University. He is the author of Gentiles in the Gospel of Mark (2007), and coeditor of Mark as Story (2011) and Unity and Diversity in the Gospels and Paul (2012).

The Spirit of Adoption explores many of the complexities inherent in adoption and its relationship to spirituality, challenging us to move beyond the common mythologies about adoption to consider the more difficult questions adoption raises about the nature of God, family, culture, loss, and joy. Rather than hearing from experts in adoption, this collection uses the narratives of birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees themselves, bearing witness to the ways adoption shapes its participants'' spiritual lives. By allowing others to narrate their spiritual journeys through adoption, we hope to proclaim that adoption can be a wonderful, powerful, hopeful experience, and one that is difficult, painful, despairing--and that these paradoxes of adoption might be held together in God''s hand.""Adoption requires many acts of faith: the birth mother''s, that her offspring will find a better life elsewhere; the adoptive parent''s, that he will be able to provide it; the adopted child''s, that the tension between what is and what might have been will be a force of creation, not destruction. The Spirit of Adoption presents myriad perspectives in the context of rich Christian faith that hold this tension and call it grace.""--Meghan Krogh, Goodreads.com""The warp and weft of these stories highlight the uniqueness of every adoption, even while the various patterns reveal common interwoven threads of love, joy, loss, and grace. Adoptive families will see blessedly honest glimpses of themselves in this tapestry. People of faith considering adoption will do well to wrap themselves in what they find here. In fact, it''s grace-filled reading for anyone who has ever been a part of a family.""--Cheri L. Larsen Hoeckley, Westmont College, California""Adoption is such a powerful act of humanity that one cannot comprehend the emotions, trials, and rewards that are involved in the overall process. The testimonies that are shared in this book are a testament of the undying faith that each family has in God. As a first generation adoptee from Vietnam, I am encouraged by the families that have chosen to grow their family, one child at a time.""--Richard V. Silver, George Fox University, OregonMelanie Springer Mock is a Professor of English at George Fox University. She is the author most recently of Just Moms (2011). Martha Kalnin Diede is a Professor and Chair of English at Northwest University, Kirkland, Washington. She is the author of Shakespeare''s Knowledgeable Body (2008).Jeremiah Webster is an Assistant Professor of English at Northwest University. He is the author of Paradise in The Waste Land (2013).

The nature miracle stories of Jesus--walking on the water or feeding thousands with a small amount of food, for example--are so spectacular that many find them a problem, whether historical, philosophical, or even theological. This is the first book to tackle this problem head on. Do the stories reflect events in the life of the historical Jesus, or are they myths or legends? Or, perhaps they grew out of parables or from more ordinary events into the incredible stories we now have. Or, again, perhaps this the wrong approach! A group of high-ranking biblical historians, philosophers, and theologians with very diverse views set out to provide possible answers. Contributors include:- James Crossley- Eric Eve- Craig S. Keener- Michael Levine- Timothy J. McGrew- Scot McKnight- Graham H. Twelftree- Ruben Zimmermann""This truly engaging collection of essays on a fascinating subject features not only different points of view but, much more importantly, good arguments for different points of view. Every reader will come away with much to ponder.""--Dale C. Allison, Jr., Princeton Theological Seminary ""This marvellous book by Graham H. Twelftree and his renowned co-authors is the first monograph dedicated solely to the nature miracles and a milestone in research on the New Testament miracle stories. The well-written essays give us a profound insight into the historical background and the understanding of the biblical narratives demonstrating Jesus'' power over nature.""--Bernd Kollmann, University of Siegen""Asking historiographical, philosophical, sociological, and literary questions and arriving at diverse answers, this splendid collection models exegetical care, theological sensitivity, and respectful scholarly debate. The essays show not only what is at stake in studying nature miracles for understanding Jesus of Nazareth, they also reveal the import of the subject for those who call him Lord.""--Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt Divinity School""An insightful and accessible introduction to the nature miracles of Jesus Christ, ideal for academic researchers, teachers, students, and anyone who wants to sample the spectrum of contemporary scholarly interpretations by some of their most outstanding exponents. This work is a brilliant achievement and does the reader the great courtesy of providing a forum for the presentation and exchange of views without foreclosing the debates.""--Andrew Pinsent, University of OxfordGraham H. Twelftree is the Academic Dean and Professor New Testament and Early Christianity at the London School of Theology. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Paul and the Miraculous: A Historical Reconstruction (2013).

To many readers the book of Ezekiel is a hopeless riddle. We still find many features of the man and his message difficult and sometimes even shocking, if not offensive. The bizarre opening vision catches us off guard and tempts us to stop reading. However, if we persist, and if we meditate long and hard on individual utterances and sign actions, we will discover that despite the strangeness of the man and his utterances, this is the most clearly organized of the major prophetic books. Individual prophecies are clearly marked by headings and often by conclusions. If we persist, we will also discover that from a rhetorical perspective, this priestly prophet knew his audience; he recognized in Judah''s rebellion against YHWH the underlying cause of the divine fury that resulted in the exile of his people and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BCE. But he also recognized that YHWH''s judgment could not be the last word. Because his covenant was eternal and irrevocable he looked forward to a day of spiritual renewal and national restoration.This is the first of two volumes of essays on Ezekiel and his book. The seven general essays and two studies of particular texts in this collection explore the times, the message, and the methods of the prophetic priest. ""Once again Daniel Block has provided wise perspectives that enable us to ''see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and set our hearts'' (Ezek 40:4) on many of the enigmas in the book of Ezekiel.""--Mark J. Boda, McMaster Divinity College""Few scholars, whether evangelical or critical, Christian or Jewish, know the book of Ezekiel like Daniel Block. This collection of essays profoundly deepens and enriches our appreciation of the prophet''s work and is an essential resource for all who study it.""--Iain Duguid, Grove City CollegeDaniel I. Block is the Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. He is the author of The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24 (1997), The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 25-48 (1998), Judges and Ruth (1999), ""How I Love Your Torah, O LORD!"" (2011), The Gospel according to Moses (2012), and Deuteronomy (2012).

To many readers the book of Ezekiel is a hopeless riddle. However, if we take the time to study it, we will discover that despite the strangeness of the man and his utterances this is the most clearly organized of the major prophetic books. If we persist, we will also discover that from a rhetorical perspective, this priestly prophet knew his audience; he recognized in Judah''s rebellion against YHWH the underlying cause of the divine fury that resulted in the exile of his people and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BCE. But he also recognized that YHWH''s judgment could not be the last word. Because his covenant was eternal and irrevocable he looked forward to a day of spiritual renewal and national restoration. This is the second of two volumes of Block''s essays on the book of Ezekiel. The essays in this volume explore the theme of Kingship in Ezekiel--both his assessment of Judah''s historical kings and his hope for a restored Davidic King/Prince--and the mysterious visions concerning Gog''s attack on restored Israel (Ezek 38-39) and concerning the new temple (40-48). Block brings to bear decades of study of the book to open up fresh insights on the ancient text. ""Few people know the book of Ezekiel as well as Block does and fewer still are able to explain the unique and challenging aspects of this great prophet''s rich theology as well as he does. The book''s nine individual studies address Ezekiel''s purposes in ways that allow a reader to see, through experienced eyes, real treasures of biblical theology. For anyone planning to preach or teach Ezekiel, Block''s work provides a wonderful introduction--better, I think, than one could find in any of the standard commentaries.""--Douglas Stuart, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary""Daniel Block is one of the foremost Ezekiel scholars of our time, author of a major two-volume commentary on the book and numerous other studies. In Beyond the River Chebar: Studies in Kingship and Eschatology in the Book of Ezekiel he gathers together a selection of the important essays he has written on these themes over the years. It is splendid to have these available between two covers and we are again indebted to Daniel Block.""--Paul M. Joyce, Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, King''s College LondonDaniel I. Block is the Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. He is the author of The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24 (1997), The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 25-48 (1998), Judges and Ruth (1999), ""How I Love Your Torah, O LORD!"" (2011), The Gospel according to Moses (2012), and Deuteronomy (2012).

In Integrating the New Science of Love and a Spirituality of Peace, the contributors explore the intersection between the science of attachment theory and the vision of Anabaptism. What emerges is a deeper sense of what it means to be human and a hope for a different tomorow, inspired by the kingdom of God as preached by Jesus of Nazareth.""This book is about what it means to be human, and it may not be what you expect. Contemporary neuroscience is rapidly undermining some of our dearly held assumptions about who we are and how we function. This is not another idle academic conversation. These assumptions have been the basis of our educational and legal institutions, and changing them could have far-reaching consequences for how we structure our lives . . . How we see ourselves is an urgent moral issue. The implications of attachment theory are personal, social, and global, and that is why this book is so important.""--Howard Zehr, from the ForewordChristian E. Early is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is coeditor with Ted Grimsrud of A Pacifist Way of Knowing (Cascade Books, 2010).Annmarie L. Early is Professor of Counseling at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The essays in this volume aim to contribute to the newly developing academic subject of biblical spirituality. It is prompted by the belief that, although the Christian tradition has always nurtured an emphasis on spirituality rooted in the Bible and its interpretation, few biblical scholars, until recently, have pursued their work by making connections with either this religious tradition or present-day interest in the broader phenomenon of spirituality. Spiritual interpretation has overlaps with theological interpretation but is distinctive because of its focus on the wisdom of lived experience and practice. The essays therefore attempt, from within the context of the academy, responsible readings of Scripture that have as a major focus the study of how particular texts might contribute to a spirituality in which individual and communal flourishing is a major feature.The essays began as papers produced for an international symposium on the Bible and Spirituality in May 2012, hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Bible and Spirituality in the School of Humanities at the University of Gloucestershire.""What a fascinating, creative, wide-ranging, thoughtful, thought-provoking collection! It repays careful, slow reading."" --John GoldingayProfessor of Old TestamentFuller Seminary""In The Bible and Spirituality we find responsible exegesis with an eye focused on the spiritual dimension of reading and experiencing the biblical text. This book sets the trajectory for an emerging hermeneutic that reunites the oft-estranged emphases on Spirit and Word within biblical reading communities.""--Mark J. BodaProfessor of Old Testament, McMaster Divinity CollegeThe editors teach and research in the School of Humanities and the Centre for the Study of the Bible and Spirituality at the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK. Andrew Lincoln is Portland Professor of New Testament. Gordon McConville is Professor of Old Testament Theology. Lloyd Pietersen is Senior Lecturer in New Testament.