Böcker utgivna av Cascade Books

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.

Where in the world was Jesus when he prayed? Where is any one of us when we pray? Since we are embodied creatures, our prayer location can be mapped onto space-time coordinates. Since we are social creatures, our prayers are also situated within our social locations. But do these sets of coordinates exhaustively identify the place that prayer takes when truly entered into? Conversely, can either set totally prevent prayer from taking place there? These questions lie at the intersection of resolutely religious vis-a-vis resolutely secular understandings of existence. The studies in this volume explore dimensions of these issues traced in selected texts from both parts of the Christian Bible.

As an introduction to Christian systematic theology, this volume treats all the main theological topics-from God to last things-seeking to explicate critically the understanding of them implicit in Christian faith itself in terms at once appropriate to Jesus Christ and credible to human existence. Its criteria, accordingly, are the ultimate criteria of on the one hand, specifically Christian experience of Jesus as expressed by the apostolic witness, and on the other hand, generically human experience of existence as expressed by a sound philosophy. And, as befits an introduction, it employs these same criteria to clarify the process of actually doing Christian systematic theology. Thus it begins by explaining both what such a theology has to do and how it is to do it, and ends by considering what it means to do theology as a Christian calling, particularly as a professional theologian.

Does God use violence to redeem us? What is the relationship between divine love and violence in regard to the saving significance of the cross of Christ? In Love, Violence, and the Cross, Gregory Love dialogues with two responses to this question, while presenting a third alternative in which Jesus's death is simultaneously a crime and an element of God's saving actions. Through familiar stories in history, literature, and film, Love presents five constructive models that cumulatively affirm God's saving act in the person and work of Christ while letting go the myth of redemptive violence. They affirm redemption, but one with a different shape: Instead of exacting the absolute punishment, God redeems by ""making good"" God's promise to humanity to secure human life. Love argues that God is nonviolent, while retaining the core idea presented in the New Testament witnesses: that reconciliation occurs in the work of Christ, and that the cross plays a role in that divine work.

Walk Together Children: Black and Womanist Theologies, Church, and Theological Education draws on the long religious, cultural, and singing history of blacks in the U.S.A. Through the slavery and emancipation days until now, black song has both nurtured and enhanced African American life as a collective whole. Communality has always included a variety of existential experiences. What has kept this enduring people in a corporate process is their walking together through good times and bad, relying on what W. E. B. DuBois called their "dogged strength" to keep "from being torn asunder." Somehow and someway they intuited from historical memory or received from transcendental revelation that keeping on long enough on the road would yield ultimate fruit for the journey.

This important work not only contributes to understanding the origins and character of John's christological tensions, but it also outlines a new set of theories regarding several innovative dialogical approaches to the Johannine text. In his new introduction to this edition, Anderson engages constructively the responses of his reviewers and outlines his own theories regarding John's dialogical autonomy. Posing a comprehensive new synthesis regarding John's composition, situation history, relations to Synoptic traditions, agency Christology, historicity, and theological tensions, Anderson here summarizes his most significant theories published since it first appeared. In so doing, advances suggested by this pivotal text are laid out in a new set of paradigms addressing the Johannine riddles in fuller detail.

More often than not it''s a class in the social sciences that challenges the faith of students, not a class in biology. Does critical understanding of our religious traditions, institutions, and convictions undercut them? Or can a modern social scientific approach deepen faith''s commitments, making us full participants in today''s intellectual culture? In these conversations with eminent sociologists Robert Bellah and Christian Smith, leading scholars probe the religious potential of modern social science--and its theological limits.R. R. Reno has served as the editor of First Things, America''s most influential journal of religion in public life, since 2011. He received his PhD in theology from Yale University and taught theology and ethics at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, for twenty years. He has been published in many academic journals, and his opinion essays have appeared in Commentary, The Washington Post, and other popular outlets. His most recent books include Fighting the Noonday Devil, Sanctified Vision, and a commentary on the book of Genesis.Barbara McClay is Associate Editor at The Hedgehog Review. She has written for a variety of publications and websites, including The American Spectator, The American Conservative, and Fare Forward. Before coming to The Hedgehog Review, she was a Junior Fellow at First Things and interned at The New Atlantis.

Over the last four decades, the focus of M. Douglas Meeks'' work has placed him at the center of many of the most important developments in theological reflection and education. As a political, ecclesial, and metaphorical theologian, Meeks has given witness to the oikonomia of the triune God, the Homemaker who creates the conditions of Home for the whole of creation, in critical conversation with contemporary economic, social, and political theory.The essays of this volume were written to honor Meeks, professor of theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, by addressing the theme of God''s economy of salvation from biblical, historical, ecclesial, and theological perspectives. In an age of ecological devastation and economic injustice, Meeks teaches us how to place our hope--as disciples of Jesus, as members of local congregations, as stewards of institutional life, and as global citizens--in God''s power for life over death through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. These essays will serve to enliven and clarify this hope for the sake of the world God so loves.CONTRIBUTORS: Jurgen Moltmann, Timothy Reinhold Eberhart, Matthew W. Charlton, Walter Brueggemann, Josiah Young, Kendall Soulen, Patout Burns, John Cobb, Michael Welker, Nestor O. Miguez, Charles M. Wood, and Sondra Wheeler.""The faithful life of the church in the world has been Douglas Meeks'' lifelong focus as a theologian. This volume honors that career by gathering essays of his colleagues that probe what faithfulness of the church means in our present globalized economic reality.""--Randy L. Maddox, William Kellon Quick Professor of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies, Duke Divinity School""The quality and range of subjects addressed by the prominent contributors to this Festschrift provide highly interesting reading and render much-deserved tribute to the influence of M. Douglas Meeks as one of America''s foremost theologians in uncovering for the church and contemporary society the biblical significance of economics according to ''the economy of God.''""--Christopher Morse, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics, Union Theological Seminary""Such a powerful packet of papers--including the prophetic wisdom precisely calibrated for this perilous moment by Cobb and Moltmann--makes for a great tribute to a theologian who early exposed the oikonomia of global devastation.""--Catherine Keller, Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew Theological SchoolJurgen Moltmann is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, Universitat Tubingen.Timothy R. Eberhart is Assistant Professor of Theology and Ecology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, in Delaware, Ohio.Matthew W. Charlton is a United Methodist pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, and is Adjunct Professor of Religion at Belmont University and Methodist Theological School in Ohio, in Delaware, Ohio.

Karl Barth famously argued that all theology is sermon preparation. But what if all sermon preparation is actually theology? This book pursues a thoroughgoing theological vision for the practice of preaching as a way of doing theology. The idea is not just that homiletics is the realm of theological application. That would leave preaching in the position of simply implementing a theology already arrived at. Instead, the vision in these pages is of a form of theology that begins with preaching itself: its practice, its theories, and its contexts. Homiletical theology is thus a unique way of doing theology--even a constructive theological task in its own right. Homiletician David Schnasa Jacobsen has assembled several of the leading lights of contemporary homiletics to help to see its task ever more deeply as theological, yet in profoundly diverse ways. Along the way, readers will not only discover how homileticians do theology homiletically, but will deepen the way in which they understand their own preaching as a theological task.""With Jacobsen''s unfolding vision of the preparation and practices that the sermon event encompasses, our eyes peer into the many theological challenges and practical wisdom of honed preaching methods and discernment. Thriving between the work of constructive and practical theology, Jacobsen has gathered a handful of prominent homiletics scholars to explore the enterprise of preaching as doing theology that is conversation praxis at its own theological roots. And we learn profoundly from their doing!""--Dale P. Andrews, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN""This book is an invitation to the feast of open-ended, rich theological discourse on homiletics, prepared by seven lead homileticians, with their brilliant theological and homiletical insights. Finally comes this volume, long overdue, an invaluable resource for understanding the theological identity of homiletics from multiple angles. Creative and thought-provoking approaches to understanding homiletical theology, such as the integration of preaching and liturgy, make this book a must for teaching and learning about homiletics.""--Eunjoo Mary Kim, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO""In this important book, an all-star cast of homileticians explores a bold claim: preaching does not simply consume or use theology; preaching does theology in its own provisional, conversational mode. From diverse perspectives, the authors examine the constructive, practical, and methodological aspects of a homiletical theology. Along the way, they invite us to new perspectives on the nature of both theology and preaching.""--Charles L. Campbell, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NCDavid Schnasa Jacobsen is Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Director of the Homiletical Theology Project at Boston University School of Theology, where he leads the PhD concentration in homiletics for BU''s program in practical theology. He is the author of Preaching in the New Creation: The Promise of New Testament Apocalyptic Texts (1999), and co-author of Preaching Luke-Acts (2001) and Kairos Preaching: Speaking Gospel to the Situation (2009).

In The Text in Play, Mike Higton and Rachel Muers conduct a series of experiments in the reading of Scripture. They experiment in the first place with a form of Christian theological exegesis of the Bible that they call ""serious play""--a form of reading beyond the literal sense that is nevertheless serious about the ethical, historical, and textual responsibilities of the reader. They experiment in the second place with the practice called Scriptural Reasoning--in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims read and argue over their respective Scriptures together--and argue that the practice makes deep sense for ""seriously playful"" Christian readers. This constitutes the most detailed and developed account of Scriptural Reasoning yet published.""The Text in Play offers a broad curriculum on how to read Scripture as Scripture--that is, as witness to the living God whose Word lives in a dynamic interchange with its reader. . . . It is a serious, playful read, a book you can read in one entranced sitting or again and again, a book that refreshes itself as you read it because such is the way of the Word.""--Peter Ochs, Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, University of Virginia""Higton and Muers offer imaginative, scholarly, wise, and often exhilarating explorations of Scripture, and they have succeeded brilliantly in sharing, through their delightful, accessible style, a profound understanding of the Bible''s practical implications for the twenty-first century. . . . There is an abundance of new insights and daring ideas, with extensive learning lightly worn, and through it all the attractive, serious play of fine minds and hearts in intensive engagement with deep questions.""--David F. Ford, Professor of Divinity and Director, Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, University of CambridgeMike Higton is Academic Co-Director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme at the University of Cambridge and Senior Lecturer in Theology at the University of Exeter. He is the author of several books, including A Theology of Higher Education (2012), Christian Doctrine (2008), and Difficult Gospel (2004).Rachel Muers is Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Leeds. Her publications include Keeping God''s Silence (2004), Living for the Future (2008), and, with David Grumett, Theology on the Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet (2010).

Kierkegaard''s Pastoral Dialogues takes a selection of Kierkegaard''s most insightful spiritual writings and transforms them into a series of dialogues between two friends, a believer and a nonbeliever. In this way, some of Kierkegaard''s complex religious thought is made accessible to a wider readership, so as to provide a resource for individual or group study in pastoral, counseling, or spiritual direction contexts. Each dialogue is accompanied by a commentary and questions to help discussion by groups or application by individuals. Finally, there are three responses from, respectively, a philosopher, a theologian, and a hospital chaplain, looking at how the dialogues may be relevant to these different fields of practice.""Kierkegaard is a profound, Socratic, and dialogic thinker. Sometimes this dialogue is implicit in his work, and other times explicit. Kierkegaard''s Pastoral Dialogues offers a way into this thinking that makes the dialogical element both explicit and attentive, relating Kierkegaard''s dialogue with his reader to a contemporary pastoral context. A good book that presents, not learning about, but from Kierkegaard.""--Eberhard Harbsmeier, Professor, Aarhus University ""In these imaginative dialogues, Pattison and Jensen have captured the pith of Kierkegaard''s thinking on matters of life and death. They have done so without bowdlerizing or oversimplifying the texts. It is an achievement in the art of communication that Kierkegaard himself would have smiled upon!""--Gordon Marino, Director of Hong Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College""Can Kierkegaard comfort the anguished--acknowledging wounds and also ways to staunch them--through reflection and also through posture and bearing? This book is an utter success in bringing Kierkegaard''s ''Lilies of the Fields and Birds of the Air'' into immediate resonance with believer and nonbeliever alike, addressing aching questions, not as aberrant, but as profoundly and touchingly human. It provides heartfelt pastoral dialogues on sorrow and delight that a reader will find transforming.""--Edward F. Mooney, Professor at Syracuse University""This is a most welcome book, full of fresh and vibrant vistas on faith, prayer, virtue and Christian character. Pattison and Jensen''s adaptation is richly complemented by essays from John Lippit, Simon Podmore, and John McLuckie, who provide helpful and illuminating reflections on Kierkegaard''s extraordinary pastoral wisdom. This is an outstanding book that will both challenge and nourish all who study pastoral theology.""--Martyn Percy, Ripon College CuddesdonGeorge Pattison is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and has written extensively on Kierkegaard and modern religious thought. His most recent books are Kierkegaard and the Theology of the Nineteenth Century and Kierkegaard and the Quest for Unambiguous Life.Helle Moller Jensen has a doctorate in Systematic Theology from the University of Aarhus. After eleven years of experience as a hospital chaplain, she is currently a parish priest in the Danish People''s Church and is also a military chaplain to the Danish Royal Lifeguards.

This third volume of Sermons by Jonathan Edwards on the Matthean Parables contains a previously unpublished series of sermons by Edwards on Jesus'' Parable of the Net, as found in Matthew 13. Edwards preached these sermons in 1746, after the major phase of the Great Awakening had passed in New England and during the very months he was completing and publishing A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, his masterful statement on the true and false signs of true grace. Therefore, this series is significant for its place in Edwards'' rich and evolving view of the nature of religious experience. To assist the reader, preceding the series are two introductions that describe Edwards'' preaching style and method, and provide an historical context. Prepared from the original manuscripts by the staff of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, this series represents a significant addition to the available Edwards corpus that will be of interest to scholars, religious leaders, and general readers.""These sermons give us a window into a crucial moment in Edwards''s career and theological development. Written just as the fervor of the Great Awakening was receding, and as he was composing his study of true and false Christianity--Religious Affections--these searching studies on the Matthean parable of the Net provide scholar and pastor with much theological meat upon which to chew. Minkema and Neele have placed us in their debt.""--Oliver Crisp, coeditor of After Jonathan Edwards""This volume is another contribution to the wonderful project of making the sermons of Edwards, previously virtually unknown, available for a general audience. Edwards''s reflections on the parable of the Net are especially revealing of one lesson he learned from the now-past awakenings--it was almost impossible to distinguish between the truly converted and the seemingly converted.""--George Marsden, author of Jonathan Edwards""It is well known that Edwards experimented with his sermon style, and this collection represents a rich and evocative stage in his work. The various introductions will ensure the reader is in and not out of his or her element. This is a fascinating addition to the published works.""--Michael McClenahan, author of Jonathan Edwards and Justification by Faith""Scholars and lay people alike will find these previously unpublished sermons on the parable of the Net, delivered towards the end of the Great Awakening, a rich resource for learning more about Edwards''s mature view on true religious experience. The introductions help the reader appreciate the historical context and Edwards''s unique style. While this series has been overshadowed in the past by Religious Affections, the reader will value their simplicity, beauty, and enduring biblical truths."" --Karin Spiecker Stetina, author of Jonathan Edwards'' Early Understanding of Religious Experience""Often overlooked, Matthew''s gospel is a resource the church can''t afford to neglect. We can be thankful then to the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale for publishing for the first time Edwards''s sermons on the parable of the Net. They provide a fine introduction to Edwards''s skills in preaching, and pithy summaries of his theological priorities. We find here the big ideas of the Religious Affections, but preached in direct and simple language.""--Rhys Bezzant, Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center in AustraliaWilson H. Kimnach is the Presidential Professor in the Humanities (Emeritus), Bridgeport University, and General Sermon Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Kenneth P. Minkema is the Executive Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, and Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School.Rev. Dr. Adriaan C. Neele is the Associate Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School, and Professor Extraordinary at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

This first volume of Sermons by Jonathan Edwards on the Matthean Parables contains a previously unpublished series by Edwards on Jesus'' Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, as found in Matthew 25. Edwards preached these sermons in 1737-38, in the lull between the Connecticut Valley Revival of 1734-35 and the Great Awakening, which started in Massachusetts in late 1740. Not only does this series have significance for its place in the Protestant evangelical awakening of the eighteenth century, but it is also an important index of Edwards'' developing thought on the nature of sainthood and related topics of theoretical and practical Christianity, particularly in the context of widespread spiritual renewal. To assist the reader, preceding the series are two introductions that describe Edwards'' preaching style and method and provide an historical context for the series itself. Prepared from the original manuscripts by the staff of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, this series represents a significant addition to the available Edwards corpus that will be of interest to scholars, religious leaders, and general readers.""This is that rare book--for the beginner, the scholar, and the saint: a never-before-published sermon series by the master preacher at the height of his powers edited and introduced by the most knowledgeable of Edwards''s scholars. The beginner here gets the necessary help to start with the text; the scholar will be delighted to fill in more of the crucial years between the Northampton revival and the Great Awakening; the saint will rejoice at the piercing thought and burning passion.""--Stuart PigginDirector, Centre for the History of Christian Thought and Experience, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia""Any writings of Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest and most influential of Evangelical theologians, are worthy of careful attention, but these sermons engage with the crucial question of distinguishing a true experience of grace from a hypocritical profession of conversion. They are therefore of central importance for understanding an enduring issue in Evangelical faith and practice.""--David W. Bebbington, PhD, FRHistS, FEcclesHSProfessor of History, University of Stirling, Stirling, ScotlandDr. Wilson H. Kimnach is the Presidential Professor in the Humanities (Emeritus), Bridgeport University, and General Sermon Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Bryan McCarthy is a former editorial assistant at the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, and is now a doctoral candidate at Oxford University. Dr. Kenneth P. Minkema is the Executive Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, and Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School. Rev. Dr. Adriaan C. Neele is the Associate Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School, and Professor Extraordinary at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

This second volume of Sermons by Jonathan Edwards on the Matthean Parables contains a previously unpublished series of six sermons by Edwards on Jesus'' parable of the Sower and the Seed, as found in Matthew 13:3-7. Edwards preached these sermons in 1740 immediately following the visit of George Whitefield to Edwards'' church in Northampton, Massachusetts, in October of that year. Not only does this series have a historical significance for its place in the Great Awakening, but it contains important pronouncements on the preacher''s craft and the hearer''s responsibilities. These sermons have been placed in the context of Edwards'' preaching style and method, and framed by historical considerations. Prepared from the original manuscripts by the staff of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, this series represents a significant addition to the available Edwards corpus that will be of interest to scholars, religious leaders, and general readers.""Two preeminent figures of the Great Awakening--George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards--came together in Northampton, Massachusetts, in October 1740. In the following month, with Whitefield in mind, Edwards started to discuss the subject of preaching in a series of sermons. Expounding on the parable of the Sower, the sermons are reproduced here with the usual accuracy of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale.""--David William Bebbington, University of Stirling ""In the entire history of the church there have been few greater preachers than George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. Here we meet both of them in conversation with each other at the height of the Great Awakening . . . Students of the Great Awakening will treasure this documentation of one of the great moments of American history. For students of homiletics, this could become an indispensible source on the art of great preaching."" --Stuart Piggin, Macquarie UniversityKenneth P. Minkema is the Executive Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, and Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School. Adriaan C. Neele is the Associate Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School, and Professor Extraordinary at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.Wilson H. Kimnach is the Presidential Professor in the Humanities (Emeritus), Bridgeport University, and General Sermon Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards.

Reading Scripture with a view to hearing its significance and challenge within its original, foreign context is the essence of exegesis and an anchor point for responsible hermeneutics. Reading Scripture alongside others from a significantly different social location also helps us see fresh aspects of the meaning of the text itself, as well as fresh angles on its challenge to Christian discipleship. This innovative commentary by respected New Testament scholar David deSilva is grounded in both approaches: a careful exegesis of Galatians as a basis for discerning the challenge of Scripture in any social location; and a reading of Galatians from the viewpoint of the challenges to living out its message among the churches in Sri Lanka, the result of extensive interaction with Christian leaders in Sri Lanka. Seeing the text afresh from within its ancient context and a different, modern social location will challenge readers in the West to consider once more Paul''s message of transformation through the Spirit, with implications for Western Christians in their own context and in the larger global matrix of the Church universal.""True to the spirit of Paul, David deSilva, in his creative work Global Readings, allows the Christian church to relive Paul''s theology in his Letter to the Galatians and to participate in the challenges faced by the Sri Lankan church today. David''s bold move in the ''Reading with Sri Lankan Christians'' sections of the commentary allows the ancient text to speak across space and time--a sacred task of an apostle.""-K. K. Yeoauthor of The Spirit Hovers: Journeying through Chaos with Prayers""DeSilva''s commentary on Galatians reflects engagement with Galatians scholarship yet remains easy for readers to use. It also reflects both careful consideration of the various historical issues in Galatians and also (albeit less extensively) explicit sensitivity to concrete readings of the text that supplement the usual Western applications.""-Craig Keenerauthor of Romans in the New Covenant Commentary Series""The ''miracle'' of biblical hermeneutics is that Christians around the world understand passages of the Bible differently, yet at the same time manage, without equivocation, to affirm the same gospel. David deSilva shows us one example of this by reporting on his engagement with Sri Lankan Bible students in understanding the book of Galatians. It is a brilliant model of learning from one another and at the same time standing together in the affirmation of scriptural truth.""-Terry C. Muckcoauthor of Christianity Encountering World Religions: The Practice of Mission in the Twenty-First Century David A. deSilva is Trustees'' Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is the author of numerous books, including Seeing Things John''s Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation (2009), An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation (2004), and Introducing the Apocrypha (2002).

The current popularity of contemplative prayer is not accidental. A twenty-first-century understanding of the human condition has made us suspicious of words and the understanding we craft out of words. Theology generally offers us words that purport to give us a more precise and certain understanding of God, but the mystic has always known that our relationship to God transcends words and the kind of understanding that words produce. The theology of the mystic has always been about understanding our communion with the mystery that is God in order to fall evermore deeply in love with the Divine. That is the ultimate purpose of contemplative prayer, and the purpose of this book is to offer a philosophy and theology of contemplative prayer in the twenty-first century.""Again, James Danaher shows us that the use of the mind and the search for God are not in competition, but in fact enrich and feed one another at very deep levels. How much we need this kind of integration in our culture--where so much religious talk seems divisive and compromised. Contemplative Prayer is not just about divine prayer but about the very quality of human faith and love.""-Richard Rohr, OFMauthor of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now""There is often a wide gulf in academia between the mind and the spirit. Many Christian academics start in the spirit but lose something of their spirituality in the development of their mind. Jim Danaher successfully bridges that gulf in this book on contemplative prayer. Jim''s insights into this marvelous discipline nourish both the mind and the spirit, bringing them together in Holy Communion with the Trinity.""-Ron WalbornDean, Alliance Theological SeminaryJames P. Danaher is Professor of Philosophy and Head of the Philosophy Department at Nyack College, Nyack, New York. He is the author of Jesus after Modernity: A Twenty-First-Century Critique of Our Modern Concept of Truth and the Truth of the Gospel (2011), Eyes That See, Ears ThatHear: Perceiving Jesus in a Postmodern Context (2006), Postmodern Christianity and the Reconstruction of the Christian Mind (2001), and over sixty articles that have appeared in a variety of philosophy and theology journals.

There is a lot of talk these days about how churches need to become more ""missional"" and ""Kingdom-focused""--but what about the families that make up our churches and often reflect the surrounding culture more than the Kingdom of God? Christian families know that God has a better purpose for marriage and family but often don''t have the slightest idea how to get there. And while many books on Christian marriage and family are inwardly focused on simply getting along ""better,"" this book addresses the cultural influences that have taken our focus away from God''s intended purpose for marriage and family and, through analysis and practical suggestions, recalls marriages and families to the purpose for which God intended them in the first place--namely, to serve God''s Kingdom as witnesses to a world desperately seeking deeper purpose and authenticity.""It would be quite wrong to describe what Trevecca Okholm says in Kingdom Family as new or groundbreaking--it just seems that way. She mines our Scriptures and tradition for wisdom on marriage and the family and presents a compelling picture that is so out of step with our conventional wisdom and patterns of living. While there is a prophetic and challenging message, the author delivers this without a sharp edge or accusation, but as an invitation to a better way of life--the way of the Kingdom.""--James C. WilhoitScripture Press Chair of Christian Education, Wheaton CollegeAuthor of Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered (2008)""As a seasoned minister of children and families for over twenty years, Trevecca Okholm has faithfully cultivated the practice of practical theology leading to a genuine transformation of the family and the church. Drawing on her wide reading and experience, Okholm invites the readers to re-envision--namely, reflect, remember, recommit, and rehearse--the life of God''s Kingdom intended for the families of God''s people in this world. A splendid and immensely practical work.""--S. Steve KangProfessor of Educational Ministries and Interdisciplinary Studies, Gordon-Conwell Theological SeminaryCoauthor of Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful (2009)Trevecca Okholm has been a professional Christian educator for nearly twenty-five years and has served as Minister to Children and Families at St. Andrew''s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California. She is a Certified Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and received her MA in Educational Ministries from Wheaton Graduate School.

The fair and equitable distribution of wealth and the cultivation of proper attitudes toward material goods and economic development concern all religious traditions alike. In so far as the dynamics of the world market or the global economic system transcend the competency and control of any particular religion, dialogue between religions, as well as between religionists and economists becomes both possible and necessary. This volume brings together religious thinkers from various traditions as well as economists to reflect on the possibilities and the challenges of such dialogue.""This book can''t be more relevant because of the subject and the perspective it gives. But more than that, the occasion of its publication is more than opportune, at a moment where economics is the great concern for the whole world and threatens everyday life all around the globe. The relevant contribution religions can bring to that is organized with competence and creativity by Catherine Cornille and Glen Willis. It is mandatory reading for those working with economics and also for those who work with religious social thought of any confession and tradition.""-Maria Clara Bingemer Professor of Systematic TheologyCatholic University of Riode Janeiro, Brazil""At last a book in which scholars of religion and economics reach beyond their respective disciplines to address structural, political, and personal ways to understand and surmount financial hardship at both local and national levels. This collection of essays leads the way for a multidisciplinary dialogue not only on questions of economic development but also on the dangers of free market theism and the value of interrogating the moral underpinnings of market realities.""-Andy RotmanSmith College""This probing study of the interaction between religion and economics is urgently needed. It makes a unique contribution. Not since the work of Max Weber has the question received the intellectual attention it clearly deserves in our world marked by deep inequalities between rich and poor. This book raises challenging questions and proposes stimulating solutions that will demand equally serious exploration in the years ahead.""-David Hollenbach, SJBoston CollegeCatherine Cornille is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College. She is author of The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue (2008), and editor of Song Divine: Christian Commentaries on the Bhagavadgita (2006), Criteria of Discernment in Interreligious Dialogue (Cascade Books, 2009), and Interreligious Hermeneutics (Cascade Books, 2010). She is managing editor of the series Christian Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts.Glenn Willis is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Theology at Boston College, working in the area of Buddhist-Christian dialogue.

This book is a collection of prayers based on the Old Testament texts--a good resource for worship leaders or generally for those interested in spirituality. The Spirit breathes life into us as we breathe and pray, thus granting us the hope that the Spirit can quicken and transform troubled waters into overflowing streams. This is an invitation to readers to breathe with God''s Spirit despite the unformed abyss, lifeless chaos, and life''s vicissitudes. It is often crisis or weakness that gets us to bend our knees. Through prayer, any dilemma or challenge can become fertile ground for growing in humanity as we journey with God, and consequently sojourn with one another and with creation.""K. K. Yeo brings to the voicing of prayer all the ingredients of faithfulness. He has an attentive ear for the biblical text, in order to notice where we may make poignant contact. He has a keen sensibility for the contemporaneity of ancient possibility. And he has courage for truth-telling right in the face of God. This deeply moving book will matter both to those who lead public prayer and to those who pray as adult believers and seek greater depth in their communion with God.""-Walter BrueggemannProfessor Emeritus of Old TestamentColumbia Theological Seminary""A rich prayer life is vital to a healthy relationship with God. He speaks to us through his Word and we speak to him through prayer. However, often we struggle with prayer. K. K. Yeo guides us through the Scriptures to help us find the words to bring our praises and petitions to God. I highly recommend this excellent work to all who want to deepen their prayer life.""-Tremper Longman IIIRobert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical StudiesWestmont College""There are some books that we read to gain information. And then there are others that encourage us, touch us where we hurt, and offer hope and spiritual healing--The Spirit Hovers is this kind of book. In times of conflict when our human resources are diminished and our wisdom fails to guide, when we do not need more information but long for the presence of God, the poems in this book, drawn from the struggles of Old Testament saints, point us to the God who hears, and cares, and whose love upholds and sustains us. I highly recommend this book for public worship, private devotion, or simply daily reading. You will find comfort and encouragement as these poems guide you to the Source of genuine comfort, unfailing love, and the certainty of God''s promises.""-Donald L. AlexanderProfessor Emeritus of Biblical StudiesBethel University""At the intersection of the strains of life and the hope of the Bible, we pray. K. K. Yeo teaches each of us, and helps us together as a Christian community, to pray through the chaos of our stories as they are woven together with The Story. These are prayers of discovery for traveling down the road, not staying in the monastery, with Scripture open to map the way.""-Gene L. GreenProfessor of New TestamentWheaton CollegeK. K. Yeo is Harry R. Kendall Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Visiting Professor at Peking University (China), and Academic Director of the International Leadership Group. He has lectured not only in Asia but also in Israel, Greece, Turkey, and Australia. Yeo is the author of Musing with Confucius and Paul (Cascade Books, 2008) and a collection of prayers based on New Testament texts, The Spirit Intercedes (Cascade Books, 2009). He lives in Chicago with his wife and children.

In A Faith Not Worth Fighting For, editors Justin Bronson Barringer and Tripp York have assembled a number of essays by pastors, activists, and scholars in order to address the common questions and objections leveled against the Christian practice of nonviolence. Assuming that the command to love one''s enemies is at the heart of the Gospel, these writers carefully, faithfully--and no doubt provocatively--attempt to explain why the nonviolent path of Jesus is an integral aspect of Christian discipleship. By addressing misconceptions about Christian pacifism, as well as real-life violent situations, this book will surely challenge the reader''s basic understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.In this anthology of new essays, theologians reply to such challenges to Christian pacifism as what would you do if someone were attacking a loved one, what about Hitler, and didn''t Jesus chase people from the temple with a whip? By countering common objections to the Christian peace witness, the book endeavors to help both pacifists and nonpacifists alike gain a deeper understanding of how a Christian commitment to nonviolence can be enacted and supported. Especially strong essays include ""What About War and Violence in the Old Testament?"" by Ingrid Lilly (Western Kentucky University) and ""Didn''t Jesus Say He Came Not to Bring Peace, but a Sword?"" by Samuel Wells (Be Not Afraid), which combines a close reading of the biblical text with a contemporary illustration of the difference between appeasement and a principled peace stance. The essays are, on the whole, varied, lively, and thought provoking. The book includes an introduction by Stanley Hauerwas (War and the American Difference) and an afterword by Shane Claiborne (Irresistible Revolution).--Publishers Weekly""Addressing oft-heard questions posed to Christians who refuse to kill, this is a must-read book for all Christians occupying church pews or sitting behind desks in college classrooms. . . . Even if one does not agree with everything written here (and I don''t), A Faith Not Worth Fighting For helpfully clarifies the theology of Christian nonviolence so as to foster further--and hopefully fruitful--conversation.""--Tobias WinrightAssociate Professor of Theological Ethics, Saint Louis University""This book addresses the predictable questions posed to pacifists. Having spoken publicly hundreds of times and in varied contexts on pacifism, I know this. However, having read widely on the subject of the Christian faith and violence, I also know that this book is a rare treat. For it offers mature, carefully considered reflections on this standard set of issues. This is almost unheard of; this book is a valuable resource.""--Mark Thiessen NationProfessor of Theology, Eastern Mennonite University""A Faith Worth Fighting For is much needed. Its essays provide readers with clear thinking and moral seriousness that challenge all followers of Jesus to journey with him in the ways of peace. Just about any possible objection to Christian pacifism is considered--and overcome.""--Ted Grimsrud, Professor of Theology and Peace Studies, Eastern Mennonite UniversityTripp York teaches in the Religious Studies Department at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, VA. He is the author and editor of numerous books including Third Way Allegiance, Living on Hope While Living in Babylon, and The Devil Wears Nada.Justin Bronson Barringer is a graduate student at Asbury Theological Seminary where he also works for the Office of Global Community Formation. He has been a missionary in China and Greece, worked extensivelyamong homeless people in Nashville, and served at mercy and justice organizations like The Dream Center and Sojourners.

Both engineering and human living take place in a messy world, one chock full of unknowns and contingencies. ""Design reasoning"" is the way engineers cope with real-world contingency. Because of the messiness, books about engineering design cannot have ""ideal solutions"" printed in the back in the same way that mathematics textbooks can. Design reasoning does not produce a single, ideally correct answer to a given problem but rather generates a wide variety of rival solutions that vie against each other for their relative level of ""satisfactoriness."" A reasoning process analogous to design is needed in ethics. Since the realm of interpersonal relations is itself a fluid and highly contingent real-world affair, design reasoning offers the promise of a useful paradigm for ethical reasoning.This volume undertakes two tasks. First, it employs design reasoning to illustrate how technological artifacts can be assessed for their inherent moral properties. Second, it uses the design paradigm as a means for bringing engineering ethics into conversation with Christian theology in order to show how each can be for the other a catalyst for the revolutionary task of living by design.""By Design first draws a parallel between the discipline of engineering and the discipline of ethics by identifying both as areas that (to use the author''s term) are ''messy,'' and hence require the use of heuristics. It is extremely well written, well researched, and well illustrated, with numerous authoritative examples carefully chosen from engineering and religion. I highly recommend this book.""--Billy V. Koen, Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin""Kallenberg''s understanding and use of the design process allows readers to embrace problems of increasing ethical density. Not only will this appeal to engineers, but it will guide them toward appreciating all the gray areas in real decision making.""--Andrew P. Murray, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of DaytonBrad J. Kallenberg is Professor of Theology at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. He is author of Ethics as Grammar (2001), Live to Tell (2002), God and Gadgets (2011), and numerous scholarly articles.