The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World

The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World

Author: Deanna A. Thompson

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1501815199

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We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.


Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life

Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life

Author: Don Schweitzer

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2012-02-13

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1621891909

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Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life is an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, grounded in what can be known historically of Jesus and informed by subsequent reflection upon him, which hopes to help shape a Christian identity characterized by "bounded openness." In Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life, Don Schweitzer explores the significance of the person, work, and relationships of Jesus Christ for contemporary life. He moves from the historical Jesus to the present in three parts. In the first part Schweitzer develops an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, who became incarnate to give the goodness and beauty of God further expression in time and space. Second, he explores how various atonement theories articulate ways in which Jesus empowers people to further express this beauty and goodness in their own lives. And finally, Schweitzer explores how Jesus relates to people in the church, to the events and movements in history, to other religions, and to Christians in their dialogue with God in prayer.


Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind

Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind

Author: Mark A. Noll

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2013-10-16

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0802870767

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In The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (1994) Mark Noll offered a forthrightly critical assessment of the state of evangelical thinking and scholarship. Now, nearly twenty years later, in a sequel more attuned to possibilities than to problems, Noll updates his earlier assessment and charts a positive way forward for evangelical scholarship. Noll's Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind shows how the orthodox Christology confessed in the ancient Christian creeds, far from hindering or discouraging serious scholarship, can supply the motives, guidance, and framework for learning. Christian faith, Noll argues, can richly enhance intellectual engagement in the various academic disciplines -- and he demonstrates how by applying his insights to the fields of history (his own area of expertise), science, and biblical studies in particular. In a substantial postscript Noll candidly addresses the question How fares the "evangelical mind" today? as he highlights "hopeful signs" of intellectual life in a host of evangelical institutions, individuals, and movements. -- From publisher description.


Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Author: Mark Oxbrow

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2021-08-10

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781506483719

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_Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ addresses the challenge of whole-life discipleship and Christian formation for the contemporary church. Authors from around the world bring together insights from their Evangelical and Orthodox traditions to enrich the journey of witness and martyrdom, a faithful daily living of the Christian gospel which speaks with integrity to a world seeking truth. _


Life in the Body of Christ

Life in the Body of Christ

Author: Curtis C. Thomas

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780971336186

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Thomas offers practical, biblical instruction on a wide range of issues involving individual and corporate participation and responsibility in the life of a local church. (Christian)


Contemporary with Christ

Contemporary with Christ

Author: Lecturer in Analytic and Exegetical Theology Joshua Cockayne

Publisher:

Published: 2020-07-15

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781481310871

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The Christian life, concerned with both spirituality and doctrine, aims not at rationally defensible truth but at life-transforming love. Greater understanding of the truth will not settle the restlessness in a human spirit; only the redemptive power of relationship with God can calm the soul. The crux of Kierkegaard's presentation of Christianity is not that doctrine is unimportant, but that it is ultimately insufficient for a life lived in relationship with God. In Contemporary with Christ, Joshua Cockayne explores the Christian spiritual life with Søren Kierkegaard (in the guise of his various pseudonyms) as his guide and analytic theology as his key tool of engagement. Cockayne contends that the Christian life is second-personal: it seeks encounter with a personal God. As Kierkegaard describes, God invites us to live on the most intimate terms with God. Cockayne argues that this vision of Christian spirituality is deeply practical because it advocates for a certain way of acting and existing. This approach to the Christian life moves from first-reflection, whereby one acquires objective knowledge, to second-reflection, whereby one attains deeper self-understanding, which fortifies one's relationship with God. Individuals encounter Christ through traditional practices: prayer, the Eucharist, and the reading of Scripture. However, experiences of suffering and mortality that mirror Christ's own passion also enliven this life of encounter. Spiritual progress comes through a reorientation of one's will, desire, and self-knowledge. Such progress must ultimately serve the goal of drawing close to God through Christ's presence. Engaging philosophy, theology, and psychology, Cockayne invites us to join in a conversation with Kierkegaard and explore how the spiritual disciplines provide opportunities for relationship with God by becoming contemporary with Christ. --C. Stephen Evans, University Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, Baylor University


The Imitation of Christ

The Imitation of Christ

Author: Thomas A. Kempis

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2000-11-21

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0060634006

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The Imitation of Christ is the work of at least three men: Gerard Groote, Florent Radewijns, and Thomas a Kempis. The first two were founders of the Brethren of the Common Life, a lay religious society that flourished in the Netherlands from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Working on their manuscripts, first as a compiler and editor and then as a coauthor, was Kempis. So successful were Kempis's efforts that the work became the golden treasury not only of their community but also of the contemporary spirituality movement known as the Modern Devotion. Its prescriptions might very well be known as the Perennial Devotion for its continual appeal through the centuries. In its fifteenth century Latin original the Imitation was not a silken cord of consecutive prose. Rather it was a series of scratchings, the sort that a spiritual director would note down in preparation for sermons and addresses. What wasn't always in the original was exactly how Kempis developed each topic sentence or wisdom quotation as he delivered it. In this new rendition William Griffin recovers the original experience of listening to Kempis as he taught and preached to his spiritual charges. Using a variety of literary and historical means, Griffin enhances the original, making the insights of this seminal exposition of Christian life more accessible.


Kingdom Ethics, 2nd ed.

Kingdom Ethics, 2nd ed.

Author: David P. Gushee

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 550

ISBN-13: 0802874215

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Comprehensive update of the leading Christian ethics textbook of the 21st century Ever since its original publication in 2003, Glen Stassen and David Gushee's Kingdom Ethics has offered students, pastors, and other readers an outstanding framework for Christian ethical thought, one that is solidly rooted in Scripture, especially Jesus's teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. This substantially revised edition of Kingdom Ethics features enhanced and updated treatments of all major contemporary ethical issues. David Gushee's revisions include updated data and examples, a more global perspective, more gender-inclusive language, a clearer focus on methodology, discussion questions added


Consider Jesus

Consider Jesus

Author: Elizabeth A. Johnson

Publisher: Crossroad Publishing Company

Published: 1992-01

Total Pages: 149

ISBN-13: 9780824511616

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A general introduction to christology presents major themes about Jesus in accessible language.


Knowing Christ Today

Knowing Christ Today

Author: Dallas Willard

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2009-05-26

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0060882441

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At a time when popular atheism books are talking about the irrationality of believing in God, Willard makes a rigorous intellectual case for why it makes sense to believe in God and in Jesus, the Son.