There is a legend of a Welsh Prince Madoc whose ship became stuck in Chesapeake Bay. After trying unsuccessfully to escape, he had his men row out with the anchor, drop it as far into the sea as they could, and then the ship winched its way forward. The image of the church as a boat and tradition as an anchor is prevalent in Christian art. If we examine the biblical view of an anchor, we find, like Prince Madoc, we are to cast our anchor into the future and pull the church forward.Postmodern pilgrims must strive to keep the past and the future in perpetual conversation so every generation will find a fresh expression of the Gospel that is anchored solidly to “the faith that was once for all delivered.”
From the editor-in-chief and managing editor of the Babylon Bee! A millenial seeker travels through a twenty-first century take on The Pilgrims's Progress with allegorical versions of all our modern vices tempting him along the way—as well as a few timeless personified virtues that just might see him through. Biting satire and uncommon wisdom from the creators of the internet's most influential comedy site, and an author of national bestsellerThe Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness! Ryan Fleming is a young agnostic reeling from his brother’s death. Though he is deeply angry with God, he makes good on a promise he made to his brother in the final moments of his life: to visit a church at least once. But shortly after his arrival, the slick megachurch’s shoddily installed video projector falls on his head—sending Ryan through a wormhole into another world. After a narrow escape from the City of Destruction, where the comfortably numb townspeople are oblivious to the fire and brimstone falling like bombs in their midst and destroying their homes, Ryan finds himself on a quest: To make it back to his own universe, he must partner with a woman named Faith to awaken a long-sleeping King—the World-Maker who can make all things new. Replete with characters ripped straight from the twenty-first century American church—including Radical, Mr. Satan, the Smiling Preacher, and others—this sometimes-humorous, always-insightful trek parallels Christian’s fictional journey in Pilgrim’s Progress. Prepare to laugh, cry, cringe, feel convicted, and ultimately be changed by the time the story ends. The Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress is brought to you by Kyle Mann and Joel Berry, the two comedic minds behind The Babylon Bee—which, with 250,000 newsletter subscribers and more than fifteen million page views per month, is the most popular satirical news site on the planet.
What does “missional” mean for small Christian communities in a deeply secular society? Leading missiologist Stefan Paas asks what missional spirituality could possibly mean for today’s local church. This fully revised new international edition will make this an important introduction to contemporary thinking on mission and the church.
"This allegorical novel tells of a young woman's journey through the need, after God became sick, to kill the God she knew to make space for a God beyond the cherished notions through which she had imprisoned God." "[summary]"--
Peter Kreeft invites seekers to accompany Socrates on the search for truth. With sharp questions and canny wit he will coach you past the winsome, the wily and the half-wise spin-doctors of error who populate the ancient byways. In classic Kreeftian style, this narrative entertains even as it provides a convincing apologetic.
"When Spanish dictator Francisco Franco legalized internal immigration in 1947 he unwittingly inaugurated the greatest period of urban expansion and rural de-population that Spain had known. During the next two decades, nearly four million citizens would move from Spain's traditional pueblos perdidos to overburdened urban metropolises. Along with wooden trunks and baskets of chickens, the immigrants (or paletos, as they were often called) bore on their journey the weight of centuries of ideological meaning tied to the geographic regions they were traversing. To abandon rural Spain had come to signify a rejection of manhood, wealth, Christian values, and even Spanishness itself. Paletos, however innocent they may have appeared, were not ideologically neutral. In the coming decades the weight and complexity of the meanings behind immigration, the country, and the city would only grow as Spain advanced from economic under development, social ignorance, and political reaction to full-fledged participation in global economics and politics, activities that would reshape what it meant to be an immigrant and paleto both within and across the geographic border that had traditionally defined the Spanish nation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Starting with some observations relating to shifts in ecclesiology and identifying them as a move beyond contextualization to syncretism this work goes on to assess the feasibility of preaching in a postmodern culture which rejects both the idea of absolute truth and authority used as power. It traces the historical and philosophical development of postmodernism. The Enlightenment project is deemed to have failed and Christianity is perceived as an oppressive metanarrative. In a world that is becoming increasingly sceptical and where preaching practitioners are becoming disillusioned this book offers some guidelines about preaching to postmoderns. In a relational age rationality is impotent, but the author distinguishes between authoritative and authoritarian preaching allowing hope for the survival of the homiletic task. Humility is presented as preferable to certitude and persuasion is redefined. The author suggests using an inductive mode of communication as a means of engaging postmodern listeners. He signposts a way forward in the labyrinthine complexity of the new paradigm and demonstrates that the homiletic task is still feasible. Thus this book will be of interest to teachers and students of theology as well as pastors desiring to develop a new apologetic strategy.
This book is the product of a relatively long history of pilgrimage research in a Dutch theological setting. It is intended as a report for an international audience on this long-running programme. Two lines are followed in the book. The first is the track of liturgical studies, in which an historical, European ethnological and anthropological approach has predominated. The second is a social science track, with specific content coming from psychology of religion. The combination of these two lines has been extremely fruitful. In addition to results of various surveys of contemporary pilgrimage practice and the expansion of research into ritual and cultural context in which modern pilgrims find themselves, special attention is also bestowed on historiographic issues involved in orienting pilgrimage research, and its theoretical and methodological aspects. The places of pilgrimage examined here are Wittem, Dokkum and Amsterdam in The Netherlands, Banneux in Belgium, Lourdes and La Salette in France, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The central question which informs the whole study is to what extent one can perhaps speak of a new type of pilgrim today, the "modern pilgrim".
Charles Wentworth, a heartbroken Puritan, comes to the New World from England in 1622 in search of salvation and a new beginning. Burdened with a lifelong struggle between his desire for faith and his doubts about God's love for him, he leaves the only land he has ever known after the death of his fiancée, in hopes of being freed of the temptations that torment him. A new masterpiece from National Book Award and Pen/Faulkner Award finalist Hugh Nissenson, The Pilgrim explores the foundation myths of America, a country settled by people intoxicated by the pursuit of God and yearning for redemption and freedom.
'Postmodernity' is often claimed as a great transformation in society and culture. But is it? In this book Keith Tester casts a cautious eye on such grandiose claims. Tester draws on a series of themes and stories from European sociology and literature to show that many of the great statements from 'postmodernity' are misplaced. 'Postmodernity' is not the harbinger or expression of a new world. It is a reflection of the unresolved paradoxes and possibilities of modernity. The author establishes a clearly expressed and stimulating model of modernity to demonstrate the stakes and consequences of 'postmodernity'. This book uses a wealth of sources which are usually denigrated or ignored in the debates on 'postmodernity'. As such it sheds new light on old claims. But it never fails to acknowledge the profound insights of sociologists and other authors. The Life and Times of Post-Modernity is a continuation of the themes which Tester raised in his earlier books with Routledge, The Two Sovereigns and Civil Society .
