Although the last few decades have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of leisure studies and research, there is a relative paucity of Christian reflection on leisure. This proven volume of collected essays seeks to turn that shortfall around by addressing the following topics: Biblical and Historical Perspectives; Methodological Issues; Present Practices and Challenges in Leisure; Play, Sport, and Athletics; and Leisure and Culture. Christianity and Leisure: Issues in a Pluralistic Society provides sound insights that will help North American Christians face the challenge of living a life that is consistent with the Christian faith.
This addition to the award-winning Engaging Culture series explores the link between leisure and spirituality, offering a Christian perspective on leisure concepts and issues in contemporary society. Paul Heintzman, a respected scholar and experienced recreation practitioner, interacts with biblical, historical, and contemporary leisure studies sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of leisure. He also explains the importance of leisure for spiritual growth and development. This work will appeal to professors and students as well as practitioners in the recreation and leisure services field, youth and college pastors, and camp ministries.
Leisure and Fellowship in the Life of the Black Church explores why leisure and fellowship in congregational life of African American churches matters. The book provides a biblical and theological foundation for the concepts of work, rest, Sabbath, play, leisure and fellowship. Moreover, the book explores how religious tradition and doctrine shape and constrains our attitudes and behaviors about leisure, fellowship and living abundantly. Several churches are lifted as exemplars based on the way that they embrace leisure and fellowship within their respective congregations. In the closing chapters, the book examines what leisure and fellowship might be like in Heaven and how we engage Christ and each other in congregations.
A fully developed biblical perspective of work and leisure finds the holistic balance missing from today in Puritan enjoyment of both as important to life.
The beach has always been the place to shake off the stresses of urban life, and to relax with friends and family. And yet, as Troy Messenger shows, the beach has been a site for religious revival for as long as it's been a haven from the workday world. In this history of Ocean Grove, New Jersey, the first permanent camp meeting ground for religious revival, Messenger examines how the emergence of the beach appeared hand in hand with America's need to escape the secular world of work through leisure and religious renewal. Author note: Troy Messenger is director of worship and a lecturer at Union Theological Seminary.
What Does God Think about Technology? From smartphones to self-driving cars to space travel, new technologies can inspire us. But the breakneck pace of change can also frighten us. So how do Christians walk by faith through the innovations of Silicon Valley? And how does God relate to our most powerful innovators? To build a biblical theology of technology, journalist and tech optimist Tony Reinke examines nine key texts from Scripture to show how the world's discoveries are divinely orchestrated. Ultimately, what we believe about God determines how we respond to human invention. With the help of several theologians and inventors throughout history, Reinke dispels twelve common myths in the church and offers fourteen ethical convictions to help Christians live by faith in the age of big tech. Biblical, Informed Look at Technology: Written by the author of 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You and Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age Gathers Ideas from Industry Experts and Theologians: Interacts with Christian and non-Christian sources on technology and theology including John Calvin, Herman Bavinck, Wendell Berry, and Elon Musk Educational: Discusses the history and philosophy behind major technological innovations
Leisure: A Spiritual Need presents an impressive and articulate case for the integration of authentic leisure into every aspect of our lives, showing that leisure is of the essence of Christianity, and a vital component of our spiritual growth. In dealing with an important subject that is rarely addressed, Leonard Doohan points out that leisure is a multi billion dollar a year industry that often leaves its consumers tense and stunted in spirit. Authentic leisure, he maintains, is more than a relaxation response to the stresses and pressures of modern life. It's an attitude that must be integrated into every aspect of our lives--work, recreation, prayer, family life, community building, and national ethos in order to make us more fully human and more fully Christian. Particularly effective is the author's development of the concept of sabbatical living. Drawing on Scripture and church teachings, he presents it as a way of coping with the stress of contemporary society and of fostering a fuller spiritual life. Without a spiritual approach to life that is nourished through authentic leisure, maintains the author, we will continue to face burnout and spiritual apathy rather than achieving a healthier approach to life and discipleship.
We Christians are not immune to the dissatisfactions others experience in their work and leisure pursuits. In all likelihood, our problems stem from our adherence to a secularized perspective that views work as the means to material gain, with leisure a badly needed respite from work's drudgery. Leland Ryken examines this secular view and points to the liberating perspective of the Scriptures: both our work and our leisure have as their overarching aim to glorify God. Blue-collar worker or white, homemaker or career woman, this book will profoundly influence the attitudes and motivations you bring to your work and to your play. Book jacket.
This interdisciplinary text examines the sports-Christianity interface from Protestant and Catholic perspectives. In addition to a "systematic review of literature," field-pioneering contributors such as Michael Novak, Shirl Hoffman, Joseph Price and Robert Higgs address a wide range of topics from the sporting world, including biblical athletic metaphors, disability, evangelism, professionalism and celebrity, humility and pride, genetic enhancement technologies, stereotypes, sport as art and British and American historical analyses of sport and Christianity. Insightful chapters from Scott Kretchmar, one of the world’s leading philosophers of sport, and Father Kevin Lixey, the head of the Vatican’s ‘Church and Sport’ office (2004-), add further depth and breadth to this book, making it accessible and interesting to academic and practitioner audiences alike. Within the context of this relatively new and rapidly expanding area of inquiry, this collection provides a unique and important addition to the current literature for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and serves as a point of reference for scholars of theology and religious studies, psychology, health studies, ethics and sports studies. The book may also be of interest to physical educators and sports coaches who wish to adopt a more "holistic" and ethical approach to their work. As modern sport is often intertwined with commercial and political agendas, this book offers an important corrective to the "win-at-all-costs" culture of modern sport, which cannot be fully understood through secular ethical inquiry.
