Religious Identity and Renewal in the Twenty-first Century
Religious Identity and Renewal in the Twenty-first Century

Author: Simone Sinn

Publisher: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt

Published: 2016-01-14

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 3374045766

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Religions carry strong visions of renewal and thereby have the potential to trigger dynamics of change in all spheres of human life. Religions have contributed to societal transformation and processes of renewal spark intensive theological debates. The renewal of religious identity is informed by how religious communities interpret their traditions and past, present, and future challenges to themselves, society and the world at large. How do religious communities understand their own resources and criteria for renewal in the twenty-first century? In this publication, Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars analyze and reflect on the meaning and dynamics of religious renewal and explore the meaning of religious renewal across religious traditions. [Religiöse Identität und Erneuerung im 21. Jahrhundert. Untertitel: Jüdische, christliche und muslimische Perspektiven] Religionen haben klare Vorstellungen von Erneuerung und damit das Potential, in allen Sphären menschlichen Lebens Veränderungen einzuleiten. Religionen haben schon immer zu gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen beigetragen und Erneuerungsprozesse durch kontroverse theologische Debatten ausgelöst. Die Erneuerung religiösen Identität ist abhängig davon, wie religiöse Gemeinschaften ihre Traditionen und ihre gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Herausforderungen für sich selbst, die Gesellschaft, in der sie leben, und die Welt als Ganzes interpretieren. Wo sehen religiöse Gemeinschaften ihre eigenen Ressourcen und welches sind die Kriterien für Erneuerungsprozesse im 21. Jahrhundert? In dieser Publikation analysieren reflektieren jüdische, christliche und muslimische Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler die Bedeutung und Dynamiken religiöser Erneuerung und untersuchen die Bedeutung religiöser Erneuerung in den verschiedenen religiösen Traditionen.

Social Catholicism for the Twenty-first Century?--Volume 2
Social Catholicism for the Twenty-first Century?--Volume 2

Author: William F. Murphy

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2024-09-19

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1666788627

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This rich collection of essays by distinguished scholars from across the globe can be read as sketching key steps on the path toward working in solidarity to build a future worthy of the human family through a new social Catholicism. These steps include a contemporary renewal of Christian humanism and of human rights, while learning to live as authentic Christian witnesses in pluralistic societies after the end of Christendom. They will also include working for a just and sustainable economic paradigm, becoming missionary disciples with a continual orientation toward the marginalized, and overcoming the plague of racism by working to build a constitutional democracy for every citizen. This societal renewal will require fostering robust movements of social Catholicism apt for our age, within which Catholics will pursue the Universal Call to Holiness through living their earthly vocations in a spirit of social friendship. They will creatively employ social media to foster apostolates extending beyond borders. In an age of “dark clouds” threatening dystopia, a new social Catholicism will require a reinvigorated pastoral leadership that has come to appreciate the dangers of populism, and the need to instead foster solidarity and incarnate Christian charity through a “better kind of politics.”

Transformative Readings of Sacred Scriptures
Transformative Readings of Sacred Scriptures

Author: Simone Sinn

Publisher: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3374054315

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The interpretation of sacred scriptures engenders vivid debates in religious communities, both at the scholarly and grass-roots levels. Issues of debate are the hermeneutical assumptions, the methods of interpretation, and the constructive and harmful implications of certain readings. For Christian and Muslim communities, themes related to God's grace, violence, gender relations and ecology, are topical. As scholars from different contexts and faith backgrounds together interpret sacred texts they gain fresh insights into their meaning and their transformative dynamics. Essays by authors with expertise in scriptural interpretation, religious studies, pastoral care, philosophical theology, gender studies and pedagogy explore Christian and Muslim perspectives on scriptural interpretation, and discuss how to understand how God communicates with the world today. [Heilige Schriften heute verstehen. Christen und Muslime im Dialog] Die Interpretation heiliger Schriften löst lebhafte Debatten innerhalb der Religionsgemeinschaften aus, sowohl unter Gelehrten wie an der Basis. Diskutiert werden die hermeneutischen Grundannahmen, die Methoden der Interpretation und die konstruktiven und destruktiven Wirkungen bestimmter Lesarten. Für Christen und Muslime sind Themen wie Gottes Gnade, Gewalt, Geschlechterverhältnisse und Ökologie aktuell geworden. Indem die Gelehrten aus verschiedenen Kontexten und mit unterschiedlicher Religionszugehörigkeit gemeinsam die Interpretation heiliger Texte diskutieren, gewinnen sie neue Einsichten in ihre Bedeutung und ihre transformative Dynamik. Die Autorinnen und Autoren mit ihrem jeweiligen Fachwissen in Exegese, Religionswissenschaft, Seelsorge, philosophischer Theologie, Gender Studies und Pädagogik erforschen christliche und muslimische Perspektiven auf Schriftinterpretation und erörtern, wie Gottes Kommunikation mit der Welt heute verstanden werden kann.

God and the Dignity of Humans
God and the Dignity of Humans

Author: Bilateral Working Group of the German Bishops' Conference and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany

Publisher: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 3374064310

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Is it possible for the churches to take a joint stand on human dignity, even though they hold different positions in certain ethical questions? This study paper by the (Roman Catholic) German Bishops' Conference and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, which is available in English for the first time, explores new paths in the ecumenical handling of ethical questions. Using the methodology of "differentiated consensus", the authors outline the theological similarities of the churches' teaching of anthropology, whilst still doing justice to their differences in the ethical assessment of individual issues of human conduct. In this way, Catholics and Lutherans adopt a common position and make a theologically responsible contribution to ethical judgement. [Gott und die Würde des Menschen] Ist trotz einzelner Differenzen in ethischen Fragen ein gemeinsames Eintreten der Kirchen für Menschenwürde möglich? Der Text der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz und der Vereinigten Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche Deutschlands, der erstmals auf Englisch vorliegt, erprobt neue Wege für den ökumenischen Umgang mit ethischen Fragestellungen: Mit der Methode des "differenzierten Konsenses" werden die theologischen Gemeinsamkeiten der Kirchen in der Lehre vom Menschen aufgezeigt, zugleich versucht die Methode, den Unterschieden in der ethischen Bewertung einzelner Fragen menschlicher Lebensführung gerecht zu werden. So beziehen Katholiken und Lutheraner gemeinsam Position und leisten einen theologisch verantworteten Beitrag zur ethischen Urteilsbildung.

The SBC and the 21st Century
The SBC and the 21st Century

Author: Jason K. Allen

Publisher: B&H Publishing Group

Published: 2019-05-15

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1535944587

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The Southern Baptist Convention is currently facing issues that challenge its identity, heritage, and future. In The SBC and the 21st Century, Revised Edition, key leaders address critical issues such as: · Will the SBC grow more unified around shared convictions and mission or will it fragment over secondary concerns and tertiary doctrinal differences? · Will the SBC be able to maintain a distinct Baptist identity while engaging and partnering with the broader evangelical community? · Will the SBC be willing to reimagine its structures, programs, and efforts to effectively reach the world for Christ or will it risk being a past-tense denomination? This volume not only promotes meaningful dialogue, it calls leaders throughout the SBC into action. Extensive thought, research, assessment, and wisdom from some of the SBC’s brightest minds have been poured into this volume with the intent of rendering a helpful contribution to SBC life that will propel forward the collective work of Southern Baptists well into the 21st century.

American Catholicism in the 21st Century
American Catholicism in the 21st Century

Author: Peters, Benjamin T.

Publisher: Orbis Books

Published: 2018-04-24

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1608337375

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Drawn from the 2017 conference of the College Theology Society, these essays by prominent academics, ecclesiastics, and social scientists present historical analyses, theological investigations, and literary reflections, all seeking to parse the future of American Catholicism by reaching a greater understanding of its present moment.

Everyday Wisdom
Everyday Wisdom

Author: Hans Gustafson

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2023-10-17

Total Pages: 550

ISBN-13: 1506486959

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Over the last decade, interreligious and interfaith studies have flourished in religion and theology departments, emphasizing the value of religious literacy for professional, vocational, and civic leadership. Everyday Wisdom offers an accessible introduction with an emphasis on lived religion, interreligious studies, and interfaith engagement and leadership. Hans Gustafson first explores the study of religion and interreligious studies, including the complexity and dynamism of religious identity, the global religious landscape, lived-religion approaches to the study of religion, and (inter)religious literacy. He then examines the relationship between the academic field of interreligious studies and the civic project of interfaith engagement. Focusing on interreligious studies, he explores various responses to religious diversity, while welcoming the role of secular and pluralist forces in religiously diverse societies. Gustafson introduces the dominant theological modes of approach to other religious traditions and to interreligious theological encounter, and examines the vital experience of human relationship across religious difference for inter- and intra-personal and purpose development, changemaking, and leadership. By holistically tying together several of the ultimate aims and common learning objectives of interreligious-studies courses, Gustafson proposes a framework, based on practical wisdom, for interreligious studies and interfaith leadership. Everyday Wisdom aims to be a core text in undergraduate and graduate courses in the fast-emerging field of interreligious and interfaith studies, as well as for the wider context of the study of religion and leadership.

Global Perspectives on the Reformation
Global Perspectives on the Reformation

Author: Anne Burkhardt

Publisher: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt

Published: 2017-10-01

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 3374048412

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The sixteenth-century Reformation transformed the church and society at large and its key theological insights had a concrete impact on the socio-political and economic spheres. Luther and his fellow reformers reconfigured Christian theology as they explored the liberating concept of justification by grace through faith as a core axiom of theological reflection. Lutheran and other churches of the Reformation continue to be empowered, informed and inspired by these insights, also with regard to their public role in today's societies. In light of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, eminent theologians and scholars from all parts of the world offer their insights into the interaction between theological thinking, economics and politics in the twenty-first century. [Globale Sichtweisen auf die Reformation. Wechselwirkungen zwischen Theologie, Politik und Wirtschaft] Im 16. Jahrhundert fand eine grundlegende Transformation von Kirche und Gesellschaft durch das Ereignis der Reformation statt. Die entscheidenden theologischen Erkenntnisse hatten konkrete Auswirkungen auf sozio-politische und wirtschaftliche Bereiche. Luther und seine Mitstreiter schrieben die christliche Theologie neu, als sie das Konzept der Rechtfertigung durch die Gnade Gottes allein durch den Akt des Glaubens zur Kernaussage ihrer theologischen Überlegungen machten. Lutherische und andere reformatorische Kirchen werden nach wie vor durch diese Erkenntnisse bestärkt, geleitet und inspiriert, vor allem in Anbetracht ihrer öffentlichen Rolle in der heutigen Gesellschaft. Im Hinblick auf das Reformationsjubiläum teilen bedeutende Theologen und Gelehrte aus aller Welt ihre Erkenntnisse zu den Wechselwirkungen zwischen theologischem Denken, Wirtschaft und Politik im 21. Jahrhundert.

Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality
Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality

Author: Essien, Essien D.

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-01-29

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1799845966

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There is an interesting knowledge trajectory that God remains incomprehensible, not imperceptible. This lends credence to the fact that religious study since the Enlightenment has dedicated itself almost entirely to the problem of reconciling the non-existence of God in the physical world with his necessary existence in the metaphysical world. When seriously examined, it would be discovered that these two aspects are logically contradictory, and this is a problem with no solution. But interpreting God not as a physical being but as a phenomenological thing changes the nature of the problem enough that a solution emerges almost automatically. In this phenomenological model, the crux of the matter is that God does not exist, but God is real. Therefore, it is imperative to return to experience and verifiability, hence, purging it of unexamined and often hidden assumptions. Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality brings together the different disciplines and research approaches to provide a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenology of God and spirituality, as well as offering an effective epistemological apparatus capable of dealing with this concept. The book employs multidisciplinary approaches from religious studies, theology, philosophy, anthropology, and other segments to dissect the subject matter for efficient evaluation and all-inclusive findings. While covering various aspects of religion such as the testaments of the Bible, the church, the religious experience, and various aspects of spirituality, this book is intended for theologians, philosophers, religious leaders, policymakers, academicians, researchers, students, public institutions, and agencies with a special interest in religious matters, values, knowledge, and truth.

Mending the World?
Mending the World?

Author: Niclas Blåder

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2017-06-16

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1532610653

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Religion has played a major role in history, affecting the course of events and influencing individuals. Today one frequently hears the expression "the return of religion" but opinions differ as to how this "return" is to be understood. It is clear that modernity and postmodernity have not meant that religion is dead or relegated to society's backyards. Religion is still of vital importance for many people. It has, to some extent, changed shape but has not lost its legitimacy and attractiveness to broad groups. Religion is public, visible, and has a sought-for voice; but it is also wrestling with extremism, ignorance, and preconceptions. Just like ideologies, religions are capable of activating diametrically opposite traits in humans. It is this dual tension that is implicit in the question mark in this book's title: Mending the World? This book's aim is to help explore whether, how, and in what ways religion, church, and theology can contribute constructively to the future of a global society. In thirty-one chapters, researchers from around the world address the relation between religion and society.