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This is the first volume of Ferguson''s collected essays, and includes some of his most memorable work, especially on ""laying on of hands.""""These essays, spanning four decades of Ferguson''s scholarship, sum up major discussions of ministry and canon in early Christianity. Especially useful for exploring the terminology surrounding ordination, these essays are vintage Ferguson.""--Elizabeth A. Clark, Professor of Religion, Duke UniversityEverett Ferguson is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Abilene Christian University. He was editor of The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2nd edition 1997) and is author of many works including Early Christians Speak (2 volumes 1999, 2002); Backgrounds of Early Christianity (3rd ed., 2003); Inheriting Wisdom: Readings for Today from Ancient Christian Writers (2004); Church History, vol. 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation (2005); and Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (2009). Ferguson received the ""Distinguished Service Award"" from the North American Patristics Society (2008) and the ""Vestigia Award for Excellence in Early Christian Studies and Service to the Church"" from the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies (2020).

How do some communities around the world that suffer outrageous violence and trauma manage, with few outside resources, not only to survive, but to thrive? September 11, the devastation of hurricane Katrina, school shootings, and other events of community violence and trauma have taught us, as a nation and a church, about the fundamental importance of building a caring community that fosters resilience and hope. Building the Resilient Community takes a refreshing turn of perspective by giving priority not only to the formally educated voices of the West but to those among the most marginalized and invisible in the world: refugees. Based on ethnographic research in Kakuma Refugee Camp and remote villages of southern Sudan, Holton presents a communal case study of a group of devoutly Christian refugees known as the Lost Boys of Sudan and asks the question, Might they have something to teach us about being a resilient community? As Holton investigates their deeply embedded cultural and religious beliefs that nurture a profound sense of responsibility toward others, we find a communal relationship that reflects a unique sense of care and obligation. This deep frame for communal care breaks through as the root of a remarkable faith narrative that serves to help mitigate symptoms of trauma and to undergird resilience, and may do the same for us.""Jan Holton''s stunning pastoral theological study of resilience among the Lost Boys of Sudan shows what the church and the world can learn from indigenous models of care such as those enacted by the Lost Boys . . . Clearly written, thoroughly researched, and forcefully argued, Holton''s work will directly benefit those working in refugee and internally displaced populations, in their countries of origin and in their places of sanctuary, including physicians, nurses, psychologists, non-governmental organizations, and faith communities. Beyond those audiences, it reminds all caring communities to tune themselves to unexpected ways of healing within their midst.""--Pamela D. CoutureJane and Geoffrey Martin Chair in Church and CommunityEmmanuel College of Victoria University University of Toronto""Building the Resilient Community is a brilliant portrayal of how the Lost Boys of the Sudan were able to survive unspeakable destruction through the power of communal obligations of care and the faith narratives of the Dinka people in Sudan . . . Jan Holton''s book inspires hope for human endurance and flourishing, and connects resources for engaging trauma across cultures without co-opting or negating different ways of facing the evils of war, terrorism, and community catastrophe.""--Larry Kent GrahamIliff School of TheologyM. Jan Holton is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Yale University Divinity School.

Is faith a necessary virtue in the contemporary world? May it be, or must it be, detached from religious commitment? What do genealogies of the secular tell us about faith? Does religion need secular faith?Secular Faith brings together leading and emerging scholars to reflect on the apparent paradox of ""secular faith."" Ranging over anthropology, religious studies, political science, history, and literature, from Muslims in China to Pentecostals in South Africa to a prison chapel in Texas, this collection of essays is as engaging and accessible as it is penetrating and rigorous.Communism was once labeled ""the god that failed."" Like Christianity, Communism involves faith in a superhuman endeavor, conversion, myth, discipline, and salvation--and, from the perspective of secular liberalism, both are unjustified and false. In recent years, scholars have begun to investigate whether secularism is itself based on faith in a god that failed, or is failing. Nevertheless, many still embrace such a faith, finding in the spirit of democracy an ethos of eternal renewal. Secular Faith enters and broadens this conversation, interrogating secular faith in a global context, tapping new theoretical resources, and grappling provocatively with the tragedies and opportunities of today''s profane pantheon of beliefs.""Secular Faith is a quietly provocative work of intellectual intervention, calling upon scholars of religion, anthropology, literature, and history to engage with the secular not as a diagnosis, but as a set of critical engagements. The editors have assembled a cohort of essays guided by serious theoretical questions and written with disarming poignancy.""--Kathryn Lofton, Yale University""Secular Faith is an important book. The essays demonstrate, quite clearly, the complexities and nuances of faith talk--secular or otherwise. Lloyd and Ratzman should be commended. They have not only deepened our current conversation about secularism and faith; they have pushed us into new territory. A rare accomplishment indeed.""--Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Princeton University""Brimming with historical insight and learned provocation, these original essays represent what criticism might look like after questioning the assumptions of the secularization thesis and its anxious critics. Secular Faith is a wide-ranging and engaging collection that disrupts familiar distinctions and guild divisions without succumbing to abstraction or triumphalism. Scholars of literature, anthropology, political theory, history, theology, and religious studies should take notice.""--Eric Gregory, Princeton UniversityVincent Lloyd is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University. He is the author if Law and Transcendence (2009).Elliot A. Ratzman is Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Temple University.

This volume invites readers to walk in Israelite sandals, that is, to take a journey of the imagination, and to immerse themselves in the identity, values, and institutions of first-century CE Israelites with the help of contemporary social-scientific studies and theories. What emerges is that the Israelites did not practice a religion. Rather, they were an ethnos, or as this book describes it, an ethnic identity, who lived out a particular way of life and culture the customs of the fathers. It is to belong to a people who obtained their collective identity, honor, and sense of worth from their socialization and membership in Israel and from the social convention of loyalty to their rich cultural tradition. It was to belong to a ""world,"" or having a perspective on the world with its own quality of ""knowledge,"" which, among other things, preferred collectivism over individualism, and orthopraxy over orthodoxy.""Cromhaut tidily synthesizes Social Identity Theory, Social Construction of Reality theory, Primordial and Constructionist theories of ethnicity, the importance of group practices for ethnic boundary marking, and ethnicity models. He details ancient Israel as a boundary-marking ethnic group and Paul''s offering an alternative ethnos--new core values and a new, inclusive way of life. This informed, informative, readable study will engage and reward both introductory students and advanced scholars.""--Dennis C. DulingEmeritus ProfessorCanisius College, Buffalo, New York""Utilizing ethnicity theory and other social sciences with sophistication and insight, Markus Cromhout challenges many assumptions of what it meant to be a first-century Judean. In the process he also questions traditional understandings of the apostle Paul''s entire enterprise, as well as significant aspects of the New Perspective on Paul. He provides, in addition, an intriguing answer as to why most Israelites rejected Paul''s message. His excellent summaries are themselves worth the price of the book.""--Walter F. Taylor Jr.Ernest W. and Edith S. Ogram Professor of New Testament StudiesTrinity Lutheran Seminary""Cromhout has written an absolutely essential book in which he connects central topics of the New Perspective on Paul with insights about their social and cultural background within the ancient Mediterranean world. Based on a complex and well argued socio-cultural model of Israelite ethnic identity, the book deepens our understanding of Pauline concepts like ''works of the law,'' ''faith/belief,'' ''righteousness,'' etc., and traces them back to their contemporary discourses.""--Wolfgang StegemannAugustana-Hochschule, GermanyMarkus Cromhout is a Research Associate in the Department of New Testament Studies at the University of Pretoria. He is the author of Jesus and Identity: Reconstructing Judean Ethnicity in Q (Cascade Books, 2007).

Evangelicals are supposed to be experts at telling their story. From an early age you are expected to have a ""testimony,"" a story of how God saved you from a life of sin and sadness and gave you a new life of joy and gladness. What happens if you don''t have such a testimony? What if your story just doesn''t fit the before-and-after mold? What are you supposed to do if your voice is not one usually heard?In these offbeat, witty, and often bittersweet essays, up-and-coming writers tell the truth about growing up female and evangelical. Whether they stayed in the church or not, evangelicalism has shaped their spiritual lives.Eschewing evangelical cliches, idyllic depictions of Christian upbringing, and pat formulas of sinner-to-saint transformation, these writers reflect frankly on childhoods filled with flannel board Jesuses, Christian ""rap"" music, and Bible memorization competitions. Along the way they find insight in the strangest places--the community swimming pool, Casey Kasem''s American Top 40, and an Indian mosque.Together this collection of essays provides a vivid and diverse portrait of life in the evangelical church, warts and all.List of Contributors:Jessica BeltPaula CarterKirsten CruzenAnne DaytonKimberly B. GeorgeCarla-Elaine JohnsonMegan KirschnerAnastasia McAteerMelanie Springer MockAudrey MolinaVictoria MoonShauna NiequistHannah Faith NotessAndrea Palpant DilleyAngie RominesAndrea SaylorNicole SheetsShari MacDonald StrongStephanie TombariHeather Baker UtleyJessie van EerdenSara Zarr""Written by experienced women writers from diverse evangelical Christian backgrounds, the tales are honest, approachable and revealing. Each author has put aside her inhibitions about exposing the flaws of her home church--from power struggles to the indoctrination of shame--and takes evangelicalism to task for its ''carefully filtered'' yet ambiguous conventions. Yet all of the authors tell of a more realistic, meandering faith, enduring even while rife with doubt. Readers will be inspired to re-examine their own beliefs and perhaps even create their own un-testimonies."" -- Publishers Weekly""OK, male Evangelicals . . . it''s time: you need to listen to your sisters, mothers, and daughters. Their voices have been marginalized for too long, and as you''ll see in these pages, they have some tremendous stories to tell (or ''testimonies to share'').""OK, female Evangelicals . . . it''s time: spread the word on this amazing collection of essays. I''ve never seen anything like it, and I think you''ll agree.""OK, non-Evangelicals . . . it''s time: if you thought all Evangelical women were sitting quietly in church or baking casseroles for the next pot-luck, all the while dreaming of the next election in which they can vote right-wing . . . here''s a jolt and a pleasant surprise for you. Another great collection of deep feeling, honest thinking, and splendid writing from the folks at The Other Journal.""--Brian D. McLaren, author of The Secret Message of Jesus""Since the Puritans, spiritual autobiography has thrived in the New World. These women show that the American conversion testimony is endlessly resilient, as they break and remake it again and again. There''s a wild range of piety here, but the authors do believe in the possibilities of narrative. Intelligent and sensitive, their essays brilliantly shatter the born-again-bimbo stereotype!""--Julia Spicher Kasdorf, author of The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life""A marvelous writer herself, Hannah Notess has gathered here a circle of riveting storytellers. Speaking from their own experience, these women reframe the ancient religious questions in contemporary language--questions about suffering, sin, and salvation, about the source and purpose and conduct of life. Above all they ask what Christianity meant to them when they were growing up, and what it means to them now. Their answers are as varied and rich as their voices.""--Scott

A helpfully concise commentary on Paul''s letter to the early Christians in Rome, which the Apostle wrote just a few years before the outbreak of Nero''s persecution. Keener examines each paragraph for its function in the letter as a whole, helping the reader follow Paul''s argument. Where relevant, he draws on his vast work in ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman sources in order to help modern readers understand the message of Romans according to the way the first audience would have heard it. Throughout, Keener focuses on major points that are especially critical for the contemporary study of Paul''s most influential and complex New Testament letter.""By grounding his exposition of Romans in the world of the first century, yet keeping his eye on the needs and concerns of the contemporary world, Keener offers here a rare commodity: a lucid commentary that is simultaneously conversant with the latest biblical scholarship and pastorally sensitive.""--John T. FitzgeraldUniversity of Miami, USA and North-West University, South Africa""Craig Keener has written a marvelous commentary that will prove to be a valuable tool for ministers, students, and scholars alike. By insightfully introducing and contextualizing, as well providing excurses that guide the reader from ancient to modern times, Keener has done with excellence what a commentary should do.""--Manfred LangMartin Luther University, Halle-WittenbergCraig Keener (PhD, Duke University; professor of New Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary) is author of fourteen books, including a number of commentaries.

Meet Me at the Palaver makes the case for a particular approach to pastoral counseling as a response to the destructive impact of colonial Christianity on indigenous African communities. The book opens with stories of destructive change brought to indigenous contexts (such as Zimbabwe, Africa), wherein the culture, values, religion, and humanity of African peoples were often marginalized. Mucherera demonstrates that therapy or counseling as taught in the West will not always suffice in such contexts, since these approaches tend to promote and focus on individuality, autonomy, and independence. Counselors in indigenous contexts need to ""get off their couch or chair"" and into the neighborhoods--into those places made vulnerable to disease and poverty by the collapse of ""the palaver"" and other traditional institutions of social stability. Since storytelling was at the heart of the practices of the palaver and continues to be a way of life in African cultures, Mucherera argues for a holistic narrative pastoral counseling approach to assess and service the three basic areas of human needs in indigenous African communities: body, mind, and spirit.""Mucherera tactfully captures the lost art of storytelling as a mode of communication for therapy and moral values. Though commonly used by indigenous Africans to transmit oral traditions, the narrative approach is a unique tool that creates safe distance for the care receiver and offers ample opportunity to the caregiver to non-judgmentally form an uplifting and therapeutic relationship. This book is a must read for all pastoral caregivers, pastors, counselors, and ministry students, since the narrative approach is an effective communication tool in today''s cross cultural world.""Anne Kiome Gatobu, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care, Asbury Theological Seminary""The impact of Western colonialism''s attempt to extinguish indigenous peoples'' stories, communities, value systems, and culture--recruiting them into negative identities through colonial strategies--has crippled, for example, African people''s ability to face many contemporary problems such as poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This book presents a hopeful strategy of recovering stories, cultural traditions, and values that have been subjugated in the past as effective means for dealing with contemporary life in indigenous contexts such as Zimbabwe. This narrative pastoral counseling approach is based on traditional African wisdom as well as the knowledge growing out of the author''s pastoral counseling experience in Africa and the United States. The author challenges dangerous traditional practices in the age of HIV/AIDS, and the need for justice for the poor. A must read for those interested in working with indigenous peoples.""Edward P. Wimberly, Academic Dean & the Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care at I. T. C. in Atlanta. Tapiwa N. Mucherera is Professor of Pastoral Counseling at Asbury Theological Seminary and Assistant Provost, Florida campus. He is the author of Pastoral Care from a Third World Perspective. An ordained United Methodist pastor, he has served churches in Zimbabwe, Iowa, and Denver.

Wrestling With God is concerned with conceptualizing a Christian pluralist theology of religious experience primarily in dialogue with Buddhism, but also in conversation with Confucian, Daoist, Hindu, Jewish, and Islamic traditions as well as dialogue with the natural sciences. It is through such dialogue as a form of theological reflection that Christians can hope for the emergence of new forms of faith and practice that are relevant to the complexities of contemporary life. The author''s style and openness make this accessible to the general reader as well as the scholar.""As a longtime participant in the ongoing Buddhist-Christian dialogue and as a student of the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, Paul Ingram is well equipped to mediate a ""trialogue"" between the worldviews of Christianity, Buddhism, and contemporary natural science. Written in a conversational rather than a heavily academic style, Wrestling with God challenges Christians, Buddhists, and natural scientists to reach out to one another for assistance in dealing with the complex ethical issues of our times.""--Joe Bracken, Professor of Theology Emeritus,Xavier University, Cincinnati, OhioPaul O. Ingram is Professor of Religion Emeritus at Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, Washington). He is the author of Wrestling with the Ox, The Modern Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, and The Dharma of Faith.

To read ''The Substance of Faith'' is once again to experience Clarence Jordan at his best: the flashing wit that could illuminate even as it entertained, the blazing concern that knew how to lay its burden on the heart of even the casual listener, the biting irony that pierced sham and pretense, the depth of spirit that saw fresh meaning in the most familiar passage of Scripture. Within the pages of this book, you''ll discover the basic themes of Clarence Jordan''s life: Incarnational Evangelism,"" the God Movement,"" and his prophetic insight into the enemies of authentic faith, such as Mammon. Dallas Lee has brought all this together from what Clarence Jordan said in pulpit, classroom, and lecture hall.Every sermon in this book is a blossoming flower with thorns - a flower revealing God''s love and a thorn in the side of those who are unwilling to incarnate God''s love to others. These sermons will both comfort and challenge you into a deeper relationship with the Prince of Peace.""Jimmy Carter, from the ForewordHe was highly entertaining, with a vivid, colloquial relevance - a great storyteller, with a grand sense of humor and a sly sense of irony. But underlying these extemporaneous sermons you also will recognize fresh scholarship on ancient ideas and a life lived where the light meets the dark.""Dallas Lee, from the IntroductionClarence Jordan had a rare combination of Biblical scholarship, passionate faith, and - most important - the courage to ''put that faith into action''. This is a priceless collection of his most important ideas, presented in his own words.Don Mosley, Jubilee PartnersJordan said that to be a faithful Christian we must live our lives ''in scorn of the consequences.'' ''Substance of Faith'' is Clarence''s timeless road map on what it takes for us to join up with the ''God Movement.''""John Cole Vodicka, Prison & Jail ProjectClarence Jordan deeply affected my family through his phenomenal intellect, insights, and concern for human beings. Habitat for Humanity would not exist today without his unique vision and determination to make Christianity relevant in today''s time.Faith Fuller, Producer/Director of ''Briars in the Cotton Patch: The Story of Koinonia Farm'' Clarence Jordan, one of seven children of a prominent small town family in Georgia, had a desire to help others from an early age. Family thought he might become a lawyer. Instead, he majored in agriculture at the University of Georgia. But believing that man doesn''t live by bread alone,"" he went on to earn his MA and PhD in New Testament Greek from Southern Baptist Seminary where he met and married Florence. Together with Martin and Mabel England, they founded Koinonia Farm in 1942, an intentional Christian community located in Americus, Georgia. He died there in 1969. His primary works include the Cotton Patch Version of most of the New Testament.Dallas Lee is author of ''The Cotton Patch Evidence: the Story of Clarence Jordan and the Koinonia Farm Experiment'', Harper & Row, 1971. Koinonia Farm has reprinted paperback editions of the book, with the publisher''s permission. Copies are available through Koinonia''s direct mail communications at www.koinoniapartners.org.

''To Baghdad and Beyond'' is the story of a young evangelical couple who followed the conviction of their faith into a war zone and discovered an alternative to the violence of empires and the complicity of quietism in the ""third way"" of Jesus''s beloved community. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove writes of his journey from a rural Southern Baptist church to Iraq in a time of war to a Christian community of hospitality in an urban neighborhood. Excited by ways that Christian hope is taking concrete form, Wilson-Hartgrove describes a new monastic movement that is witnessing to a world at war that another way is possible.""Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove takes us with him on a journey, a trip toward the biblical ''Babylon,'' helping us to see the truth about ourselves and our culture. Here is a retrieval of truly evangelical Christianity - truthful, prophetic, vibrant, apocalyptic, and by God''s grace, hopeful. What a great trip!""Will Willimon, Bishop, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church""''To Baghdad and Beyond'' tells of a voyage beyond the horizon, to an embattled city. But the story is no simple excursion into the unknown. It tells of inner transformation, from collusive silence and inertia to an energetic torrent of service - from a cultural dead end, defaulting and self-defeated, to a biblical ''third way,'' the way of Jesus, of nonviolent resistance. Let the ''official'' churches fret and turn in their sleep. A new dawn approaches. Its signature is Hope.""Daniel Berrigan, S.J.""When Christians in the early church read the book of Revelation, they understood its symbolism. They realized that Babylon, the wicked city described in the latter part of this book, referred to the dominant societal system in which they lived. It referred to the Roman Empire.""As contemporary American Christians read the book of Revelation within the dominant societal system in which we live, we must ask ourselves whether or not our own nation-state has become the modern equivalent of the Roman Empire. We must ask, ''Has America become Babylon?'' That is the question that Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove endeavors to answer.""Tony Campolo, From the PrefaceJonathan Wilson-Hartgrove lives with his wife, Leah, and other friends at the Rutba House, a new monastic community of hospitality, peacemaking, and discipleship in Durham, North Carolina. (www.newmonasticism.org)

North American study of the Christian Apocrypha is known principally for its interest in using noncanonical texts to reconstruct the life and teachings of Jesus, and for its support of Walter Bauer''s theory on the development of early Christianity. The papers in this volume, presented in September 2013 at York University in Toronto, challenge that simplistic assessment by demonstrating that U.S. and Canadian scholarship on the Christian Apocrypha is rich and diverse. The topics covered in the papers include new developments in the study of canon formation, the interplay of Christian Apocrypha and texts from the Nag Hammadi library, digital humanities resources for reconstructing apocryphal texts, and the value of studying late-antique apocrypha. Among the highlights of the collection are papers from a panel by three celebrated New Testament scholars reassessing the significance of the Christian Apocrypha for the study of the historical Jesus. Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier demonstrates the depth and breadth of Christian Apocrypha studies in North America and offers a glimpse at the achievements that lie ahead in the field.""Studies of the Christian Apocrypha are coming of age in North America, and this volume clearly outlines the contours of such an emergence into adulthood. These essays cover many of the major issues in contemporary apocryphal studies, ranging from debate over definitions to the practicalities of digital editions. The chapters on the distinctive contribution of North American study of the Christian Apocrypha are particularly interesting and provocative.""--Stanley E. Porter, President and Dean, Professor of New Testament, Roy A. Hope Chair in Christian Worldview, McMaster Divinity College""Burke has brought together a fascinating collection of essays that not only sheds light on the writing that forms the Christian Apocrypha but also provides deep meta-level reflections on the forces that influence the way those texts are studied in the North American context. Much that is discussed is richly insightful, and often the reflections on scholarship are probing and controversial. This is essential reading for those interested in the Christian Apocrypha and early Christianity.""--Paul Foster, Professor, New Testament Language, Literature & Theology, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh""As this book shows, scholars in North America have much to contribute to the study of the Christian Apocrypha. Some contributors reflect critically on the particular circumstances in which they operate, arising from the interplay between faith commitments and historical scholarship in the academy, the church, and in popular culture. Others foreground and advance the discussion of a number of apocryphal texts. Their essays make a significant contribution to the study of early Christian literature.""--Andrew Gregory, Chaplain & Pro-Dean for Welfare, University College, OxfordTony Burke is Associate Professor of Early Christianity at York University in Toronto. He is author of Secret Scriptures Revealed (2013) and editor of Ancient Gospel or Modern Forgery? (Cascade Books, 2013).

""Stanley Hauerwas is a man of many gifts. These include wide and deep learning, passion about the issues of the day, a pastoral heart, a love of the Lord Jesus, and a puckish humor that permeates everything he does. Hauerwas has forged these gifts into a vocation as a daring, candid, imaginative ethicist in the service of the Gospel. All of these gifts are richly on exhibit in this book. In turn, the preacher in these sermons is critical, self-reflective, outrageous, passionate, and wise--all of the practices that constitute ''Stanley Hauerwas'' which this writer performs so well. Beyond the sermons, the prayers show a vigorous faith. The concluding interviews are mesmerizing in Hauerwas''s capacity to make connections. The cumulative effort of it all is breathtaking--just what Stanley intends--or he would not be Stanley."" --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary""Stanley Hauerwas is always full of insight, but it is a rare treat to hear him speaking in a relaxed mode. Here he steps away from argument and takes time to be awed by beauty, to love good books and good friends, to delight in marriage and grieve at death--and he does all that consciously in the presence of God. This is a wonderfully fresh book."" --Ellen F. Davis,Professor of Bible and Practical Theology,Duke Divinity School ""By his own confession, Stanley Hauerwas loves being a theologian, loves to preach, and is learning to pray. This wise and winsome collection of Sunday sermons, wedding sermons, ordination sermons, eulogies, prayers, and interviews is a gift from these loves. Offered with the grace of confidence that Jesus is who the church proclaims him to be, these ""sundries"" take us to the edge of an extraordinary world--comic, just, and redeemed. And most of all, they take us to a place more real than real. Both singing above his work as a teacher and provocateur and revealing the beat of faith beneath it, they voice Stanley Hauerwas''s wonderful eloquence as a witness, a friend, an interlocutor, and a child of God."" --Wesley Avram,Clement-Muehl Assistant Professor of Communication,Yale Divinity School

In this book Paul O. Ingram adds his voice to a long list of writers seeking to relate Christian tradition to the hard realities of this post-Christian age of religious and secular pluralism. As a Lutheran, Ingram thinks grace flows over this universe like a waterfall. So he brings Christian mystical theology into a discussion of the meaning of grace.Alfred North Whitehead''s philosophical vision provides a language that serves as a hermeneutical bridge by which historians of religions can interpret the teachings and practices of religious Ways other than their own without falsification, and by which theologians can appropriate history-of-religions research as a means of helping Christians advance in their own faith journeys.The purpose of the journey of faith is what Whitehead called ""creative transformation."" The contemporary theological tradition that has most systematically and coherently followed Whitehead''s lead in its reflection on non-Christian Ways is process theology, which is perhaps the only liberal or progressive theological movement now active in the twenty-first century.""Paul Ingram belongs to the tribe of those who see God''s grace everywhere in the world. So do I. And if you, too, belong to this tribe you will benefit from reading this book. It will help you in your quest to answer the follow-up question: if grace is everywhere, how do we teach people to access it? This is the religious question of the religiously plural twenty-first century.""--Terry C. Muck, Executive Director, The Louisville Institute, Louisville, KY""Paul Ingram writes as a Christian deeply sensitive to the mystery that surrounds us all and is wisely explored, by many traditions. He locates his own faith in this large context and invites the reader to join in this fresh perspective. What emerges is a vivid sense of living by the grace of God.""--John Cobb, Professor emeritus, Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, CAPaul O. Ingram is Professor Emeritus of History of Religions at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science (2008), The Process of Buddhist Christian Dialogue (Cascade Books, 2009), Theological Reflections at the Boundaries (Cascade Books, 2012), and Passing Over and Returning: A Pluralist Theology of Religions (Cascade Books, 2013).

Flourishing in Faith: Theology Encountering Positive Psychology explores the fascinating dialogue between two scholarly traditions concerned with personal wellbeing, Christian theology and Positive Psychology, primarily from the perspective of theology. Although each works within different paradigms and brings different fundamental assumptions about the nature of the world, both are oriented toward that which leads to human flourishing and contentment. In such an encounter, can both disciplines learn from one another? Do they challenge each other? How can they enrich and or critique each other? With the widespread emergence of Positive Psychology in educational, church, and community settings across the world, many of which self-identify with the Christian tradition, many are wondering how this new branch of psychology integrates with traditional Christian belief and practice. This groundbreaking book explores this question from a diversity of perspectives: theology, biblical studies, education, psychology, social work, disability studies, and chaplaincy, from scholars and practitioners working in Australia and the United States.""The relationship between faith and positive psychological strengths of character has been under-explored in recent social science. The editors and authors of this much-needed and well-researched volume take a significant step towards overcoming this lacuna. I strongly recommend this book to readers.""--James Arthur, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Staffing) and Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, The University of Birmingham  ""This is a very important book. Far too often, psychologists of all hues reject spirituality out of hand. But I have always argued that the highest levels of happiness, joy indeed, are only experienced through a sense of profound harmony with oneself, with others, with nature, and the universe. This book breaks new ground and should be read with open minds by both psychologists and theologians.""--Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor, University of BuckinghamGillies Ambler is a Uniting Church minister and lecturer in Practical Theology at St. Barnabas College, Adelaide, and Charles Sturt University. Matthew Anstey is an Anglican priest, Principal of St. Barnabas College, Adelaide, and senior lecturer in Old Testament at Charles Sturt University. Theo D. McCall is an Anglican priest, School Chaplain at St Peter''s College, Adelaide, and a lecturer in Systematic Theology at St Barnabas College, Adelaide, and Charles Sturt University. Mathew A. White is Director of Wellbeing and Positive Education at St Peter''s College, Adelaide, a Principal Fellow in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne and Affiliate in the Well-being Institute at Cambridge University.

In literature, the advice often given is to show and not tell. In academia, it is the opposite: tell and do not show. Sigurd''s Lament is a text that asks the question, can scholarship show rather than tell? On the surface, it is the collected work of a mid-twentieth-century scholar, Hawthorne Basil Peters, who has curated the life''s work of his father--the translation of a Welsh epic into the alliterative meter of the English Revival. The poem is produced in full, but so too is the historic introduction, commentary, and academic apparatus. Peters, for the first time, shares with the world his father''s wonderful translation and his previously unpublished academic ideas. In a text rife with distention, however, Peters draws the reader''s attention to the unexpected flexibility of language and asks only one thing in return: drink deeply. For Sigurd''s Lament is a text of the most serious play. It is ambiguous and obfuscating and riddled with footnotes that have lurking within them--like goblins in the weeds--future tales of past narratives.""This is a very serious book that has to be read three or four times: the prefatory material, the poem, the footnotes - all fictional worlds that interweave with high humor, serious criticism, and profound religious insights. From anticipatory plagiarism to distention in reading, this book cuts across boundaries and is one of the best essays in literature and theology for a long time. As one of the footnotes disarmingly remarks, ""What a wonderful idea . . . .""--David Jasper, Professor of Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow""Who is Benjamin Peters? And how has he become the poet-translator-collaborator-editor-bibliographer-scholar of Sigurd''s Lament? ''We simply do not know.'' This epic epic will envelop readers in the penetralium of an enigma inside a mystery wrapped in the riddle of a Medieval Welsh scroll. Mr. Peters has given us something marvelous and strange, indeed. Clyw fy can o foliant i Lament Sigurd yn!""--W. Scott Howard, University of Denver""''Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing the open sea,'' John Updike remarks, yet Sigurd''s Lament charts a distinctive course. This adroit, inventive piece of alliterative verse is inextricably connected to learned literary theory. Benjamin Peters''s singular ability to ''show'' as well as ''tell'' means artists and academics will enjoy navigating his tale."" --Darren J. N. Middleton, Texas Christian UniversityBenjamin John Peters is currently pursuing his PhD in religious studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of Through All the Plain (2014). You can follow him at www.benjaminjohnpeters.com.

Can a Lutheran be sociopolitically radical? Can a radical be theologically and faithfully Lutheran? This book answers yes.Written by teacher-scholars from five ELCA colleges, Radical Lutherans/Lutheran Radicals follows Martin Luther, Soren Kierkegaard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothee Soelle, and others as they sink deep roots in the Lutheran Christian tradition while simultaneously resisting the status quo with their words, their deeds, and sometimes their very lives.Each chapter shows how the Lutheran theologian returns to the roots of Luther''s life and writing and puts them toward radical social and political ends, including critiques of cultured Christianity; resistance to state or market; preferential options for the poor and suffering; deep commitments to peace, justice, and ecological sustainability; and direct nonviolent resistance.The book highlights theological themes popularized by Luther (justification by grace, two-kingdoms thinking, theology of the cross, and vocation) and then shows how these theological staples--when deeply and creatively retrieved--can inform political protest, intentional living, and other countercultural movements.The compelling claim throughout is that Luther''s theology at its root has resources for radical political participation and social transformation, as exemplified by the writings and lives of these radical Lutherans/Lutheran radicals.""This fine collection of essays on Luther, Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Soelle makes a compelling case that Lutherans can be radical and radicals can be Lutheran! One can be deeply rooted in the Lutheran tradition and vigorously pursue justice. I appreciate Mahn''s insights in the final chapter that radical Lutherans today will integrate social justice and ecological justice.""--Mark S. Brocker, Lead Pastor, St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Beaverton, Oregon""Imagine Luther in lively conversation with theologians across the centuries and around the world. They both adopted and adapted, revised and even rejected elements of his theology to address their own urgent contexts. Kierkegaard is there, along with Bonhoeffer and Soelle. But so are the vibrant voices of this new generation of twenty-first-century Luther scholars, who attend to the personal, social, and structural dimensions of sin and grace, creation and calling. Only one voice is missing: yours. Join the conversation!""--Martha E. Stortz, Augsburg College""Moving beyond stereotypes and cultural niceties, Radical Lutherans/Lutheran Radicals explores Lutheranism as a framework for active engagement in the world. With essays contextualizing various Lutheran thinkers, Mahn''s assembled scholars put theological tradition in dialogue with social, political, and economic realities. As a pastor in a community surrounded by systemic injustice, I appreciate this book''s affirmation of reforming voices as well as its call to more active reflection on our own vocations."" --Paul Baillie, Pastor, Iglesia Luterana San Lucas, Eagle Pass, TexasJason A. Mahn is Associate Professor of Religion and Director of the Presidential Center for Faith and Learning at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. He is the author of Fortunate Fallibility (2011) and Becoming a Christian in Christendom (2016).

In this succinct, inviting volume, four Balkan theologians probe their contextual ways with the theology of Jurgen Moltmann, whose classic The Crucified God influenced novel theological approaches around the globe, most recently the emerging postwar Christian theology in the Balkans. The authors engage with the prevailing culture of ethnic and religious exclusivism within their context and present us with a range of theologically pertinent issues resulting from a wider discussion on religion and politics. The book offers a fresh and provocative reading of Christian faith that pins its hopes on the person and work of the Crucified and sets the ground for possible contextual contribution of Balkan theology to a World Church.Following Moltmann''s invitation to see the Cross, and the crucified Christ, as an inner criterion of all theology, this book sheds theological light on the situation in the Balkans. The Cross of that region can be described as a ""Cross of the crossroads,"" since different religions, ethnic and national communities, memories, and cultures have always been sources of profound contact but also of deep division and violence. On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of The Crucified God, this collection can be read as a continuation of Moltmann''s theological project, which calls for a courageous descent into ""circles of death""--places of spiritual and physical imprisonment, without false comforts and premature hopes.""Post war societies need theological thought that does not negate the past but is able to reformulate its own tradition in order to develop adequate and relevant theologies. Until now, the Balkan area, flooded with blood, was not able to create a theology out of experiences of war and vicious nationalisms. Zoran Grozdanov and the other authors of this book manage to fill the gap by critically reflecting on the devastating consequences of misusing faith by blending it with nationalistic identities. In an original contribution, Jurgen Moltmann, whose seminal study on The Crucified God inspired the volume, reflects back on his own personal context and the contexts in which his work had its impact. I strongly recommend this work to anyone interested in understanding the relevance of theology--within and beyond the Balkan countries.""--Regina Ammicht Quinn, Catholic theologian; Professor of Ethics; Director of the Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities, The University of Tuebingen, Germany""Jurgen Moltmann''s theology has motivated a group of theologians from the region of former Yugoslavia to develop a contextual, continental, political theology. They urge Christian theology to break away from its own ideologies and become the motor of a post-war political socialization. The memory of the regional war, the concern about the current political situation in Eastern Europe, and the commitment to theology make the book a painful, yet indispensable reading for anyone interested in political theology.""--Hille Haker, Richard McCormick Endowed Chair of Catholic Moral Theology, President of Societas Ethica, Loyola University Chicago, LSC""A contribution in its own right to living in the multiple conflicts of today, in a globalized world marked by contending particular universalisms that often turn violent.""--Miroslav Volf, Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology, Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and CultureZoran Grozdanov is a lecturer at the Faculty of Protestant Theology Matthias Flacius Illyricus, University of Zagreb, Croatia. He is coeditor of Religion and Identity in Post-Conflict Societies (Concilium 1 [2015]) and Harsh word: The Death of God in Early Hegel and Early Moltmann (2016).

The art of mentoring, like all great arts, is a grace to be received, a gift to be given, and a skill that can be learned and practiced. This book explores the practice and grace of that art. The pastors in these pages share their hard-won experience of mentoring and being mentored, their wobbles and successes, insights and wisdom harvested from years in the vineyard.""Mentoring happens. The only questions are whether we are aware it is happening and intentional about finding the right kind of mentoring. This insightful and stimulating book gives us the guidance that we need in getting clear about all of that. It is a must-read for leaders who want to be faithful and effective servants of the Gospel!""--Richard J. Mouw, President Emeritus, Professor of Faith and Public Life, Fuller Theological Seminary""Among the most important tasks of any leader is mentoring other leaders. Mentoring for Ministry is a great read filled with biblical examples of mentoring, inspirational stories from outstanding leaders, and concrete ideas for what mentoring can look like."" --Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor, Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, KS; author of Speaking Well: Essential Skills for Speakers, Leaders and Preachers""This collection of essays is a gift to the whole church. The writers, all of whom have taught me a great deal about life, leadership, and ministry--in ways unknown to them--provide rich perceptions and inspiring insights. As several point out, mentoring is a mutual relationship of trust and growth, and the sharing of wisdom and practical skills. The reader will be mentored by the unique voices and experiences of each chapter and will, I would hope, become a mentor to equip the next generation of leaders."" --Larry M. Goodpaster, Bishop-in-Residence, Candler School of Theology, Emory UniversityCraig T. Kocher is University Chaplain and Jessie Ball duPont Chair of the Chaplaincy at the University of Richmond. He previously pastored churches in North Carolina and served as Associate Dean of Duke University Chapel.  Jason Byassee is the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Hermeneutics at the Vancouver School of Theology. Jason is a fellow in Theology and Leadership at Duke Divinity School and previously served as senior pastor of Boone United Methodist Church in Boone, North Carolina. James C. Howell is Senior Pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina. He was previously senior pastor of Davidson United Methodist Church and is the author of numerous books on faith and ministry.

FEATURING: Julie Canlis, Jonathan Hiskes, D. L. Mayfield, Brett David Potter , Shelia RogersPLUS:Wanderlust: A Personal HistoryHospitality and Domesticity: Where Can These Black Women Live?The Transfigured Earth: Jubilee and the Transformation of WatershedsSomewhere in NewfoundlandUntil an End Is Made--AND MORE . . .

Faith and feminism unite in these essays to explore the theology of the Hebrew Bible as testimony to the faith of ancient Israel and as a source for Christian theology and ethics. Each chapter in Faith, Feminism, and the Forum of Scripture approaches the Bible as a site of theological reflection in which multiple voices are heard (in chorus and debate), as a forum that invites readers to join the conversation and extend it. Acknowledging the patriarchal world of the Bible and the androcentric distortions of its views of both human and divine, they identify foundations and directions that point beyond the cultural frames of the texts. Individual essays present the possibility of an Old Testament theology that integrates feminist insights and concerns into the full range of theological subjects; discuss the theological anthropology of the Hebrew Bible and its root texts in the Genesis creation accounts; outline a proposed new understanding of the authority of the Bible consonant with its nature as a historical, multivocal, and multivalent document; and offer a critical and constructive appraisal of the Old Testament''s contribution to current debate on the place of homosexual persons and relations in the church.""How does biblical theology take different shapes in different cultural contexts? How is the Bible authoritative for the church? How does historical criticism helpfully inform feminist biblical interpretation? How does gender analysis inform both OT anthropology generally and OT texts about homosexuality in particular? Four essays by eminent senior scholar Phyllis Bird . . . address these and other important questions. Bird''s theological sensitivity, consummate exegetical skill, and meticulously crafted arguments are evident throughout. A must-read for both church and academy.""--Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Princeton Theological Seminary""Long recognized as a pioneer in feminist biblical hermeneutics who demonstrated the essential role of historical critical scholarship in that enterprise, Bird now brings these two commitments to bear on the field of biblical theology. These essays--wise, perceptive, and rigorous--should be on the bookshelf and in the classroom of any scholar engaged in this aspect of theological studies.""--Carol A. Newsom, Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University""Bird has a distinctive voice in current biblical scholarship because of her commitment to doing biblical theology from a historical-critical perspective. These seminal essays are richly informed by knowledge of the ancient world and bring a sane perspective to bear on the use of the Bible in the contemporary church.""--John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale UniversityPhyllis A. Bird is Professor Emerita of Old Testament Interpretation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. She is the author of Missing Persons and Mistaken Identities (1997), Feminism and the Bible (1994), and The Bible as the Church''s Book (1982).

The literary critic and Marxist philosopher Fredric Jameson has said, ""It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism."" The military, social, and political effects of capitalism are felt everywhere across the planet, and even as we acknowledge the negative effects--the imbalances of power, the imperialist exploitations, the social alienation--we are captivated by its message of self-sufficiency and success. In this issue, The Other Journal examines the potentially surprising intersections of Marxism with Christianity, the ways in which this nexus of thinking and faith may help us contend with and recognize the powers of the market.The issue features essays and reviews by Daniel Colucciello Barber, Luke Bretherton, Kevein Hargaden, Paul Dafydd Jones, D. L. Mayfield, W. Travis McMaken, Christina McRorie, Thomas J. Millay, Silas Morgan, and David Schmidt; an interview by Timothy McGee with Joerg Rieger; fiction by Alex McCauley; creative nonfiction by Jonathan Hiskes; poetry by Brett Foster, Elizabeth Myhr, and Hannah Faith Notess; and art by Steve Bakker and Benjamin Violet.

Nothing embodies the mystery of faith quite like prayer. Although sometimes an elusive practice that may baffle and confuse, prayer is not otherworldly, for it is in prayer, in talking and listening to our infinite, loving creator, that we truly find our way in this world. In the twenty-first issue of The Other Journal, contributors consider the transformative mystery of prayer in all its questions and practicalities. They carefully think through intercessory prayer and prayerful political theology and what it means to commune with God and one another. They dance, laugh, and pray like fools. The issue features essays and reviews by Emmanuel Katongole, Erin Lane, Timothy McGee, L. Roger Owens, Andrew Prevot, Carl Raschke, and Lauren Smelser White; interviews by Kate Rae Davis, Ashleigh Elser, Jen Grabarczyk, and SueJeanne Koh with Sarah Coakley, Peter Ochs, Dominique Ovalle, and Richard Twiss; and fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry by Mary M. Brown, Kate Rae Davis, Denise Frame Harlan, Katie Manning, Tania Moore, Jillena Rose, Nicholas Samaras, and Robert Vander Lugt.

If you could add a book to the Bible, what would it contain? Here is one answer to that question: a ""sequel"" to Acts, showing the later careers of the Twelve, Paul''s final travels before he faces Nero, the commission of the four Gospels, Jerusalem and its temple destroyed, the importance of the family of Jesus, and how close the apostles got to ""the ends of the earth"" in spreading the gospel. The Apostles after Acts includes a commentary that explains how the text was reconstructed from ancient sources and historical research. Here is a creative approach to the little-known but critical period when the New Testament record stops--and Christianity is just beginning.""Written in the biblical format of the New Testament, The Apostles after Acts continues the story of the Acts of the Apostles. Schmidt classifies his work as historical fiction, but fiction based on scholarly research. The commentary that follows the text provides extensive documentation for his historical reconstruction. The result is a fascinating story that continues the narrative of the biblical account. His story is consistent with the style and the theology of the biblical account by Luke. His book challenges me to follow Christ by faith as the apostles after Acts did.""--Walter Hansen, Professor of Global Theological Education, Fuller Theological SeminaryThomas E. Schmidt, PhD, Cambridge University, has written or edited six books and more than thirty journal articles about early Christianity.

THE OTHER JOURNAL: EVILDescriptionThis world is a fallen place rife with suffering, oppression, and violence, a land of tsunamis and earthquakes, genocide and crime sprees. We are surrounded on all sides by brokenness, yet we have difficulty spotting its source. We see the effects of evil, yet we rarely grasp its true nature and breadth. In issue #20 of The Other Journal, our contributors analyze the haunting opacity of evil and call us to name and resist its insidious influence.The issue features essays and reviews by Brian Bantum, Gregory A. Boyd, Andrew W. E. Carlson, Jacob H. Friesenhahn, David Kline, Agustin Maes, Rebecca Martin, Branson Parler, Anthony B. Pinn, Dan Rhodes, and Lauren Wilford; interviews by Allison Backous, Brandy Daniels, Chris Keller, Ronald A. Kuipers, and David Kline with Richard Beck, J. Kameron Carter, Richard Kearney, C. Melissa Snarr, and Christian Wiman; and fiction and poetry by Mark Fleming, Chad Gusler, Jennifer Strange, and Kali WagnerOther Issues of The Other JournalThe Other Journal: The Food IssueThe Other Journal: The Celebrity IssueOther Books by The Other JournalSects, Love, and Rock & Roll by Joel Heng HartseThe Spirit of Food edited by Leslie Leyland FieldsJesus Girls edited by Hannah Faith Notess""God Is Dead"" and I Don''t Feel So Good Myself edited by Andrew David, Christopher J. Keller, Jon StanleyRemembering the Future edited by Chris Keller, Andrew David