Christianity's center of gravity has tilted from the Euro-American West to the global South. Driving this shift is the emergence of charismatic renewal movements among Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches. This reshaping of the theological landscape has inspired prominent theologian Amos Yong to construct a cutting-edge theology for the twenty-first century. Within a Pentecostal and evangelical framework, Yong's Renewing Christian Theology is a primer on how to think theologically in a global context. Students seeking an introduction to systematic theology will not only discover the treasures of the tradition but will also encounter a revolutionary pastoral theology that bridges Pentecostal, charismatic, evangelical, and ecumenical traditions. Yong's theological imagination prioritizes Christian hope, gifts of the Spirit, baptism, sanctification, and healing. Renewing Christian Theology unveils an inclusive theology conversant with contemporary theological movements--theology and science, contextual theologies, intercultural theologies, theology and disability, public theologies, theology and the arts, and theological aesthetics. Renewing Christian Theology is theology for the twenty-first-century church.
This book follows the tide of reform and renewal in Church history, and demonstrates that reform has always been an essential element of Christianity. Indeed, Christopher Bellitto emphasizes that reform should not be perceived as limited to the Reformation or Vatican II. As one learns from the author's analysis, the history of Christianity is little other than the history of reform. This sweeping assessment of Church history is both remarkable and deep, but is also highly readable. Bellitto begins with an introduction to the subject of reform and follows that with chapters on the patristic period and Carolingian Renaissance, the High Middle Ages (1050-1300), Avignon to Trent, From Trent to Modernity, and Vatican II. He ends with a conclusion that draws together the recurring themes and patterns of reform activity in the Church. In short, this is a unique book on the subject of Church reform. Renewing Christianity is useful to both scholars and non-academics alike. It is written in a "learnedly popular style," and would appeal to clergy, seminarians, academics, graduate students or anyone interested in Church reform and renewal, Church history, or historical theology. +
REAL-LIFE ANSWERS TO LIFE'S BIGGEST QUESTIONS Real Life Theology invites you to a fresh way of living by bridging two areas of your life: what we know about God and how we live our lives. This collection of thirteen accessible books gives real-life answers to fifty-two of life's biggest questions, such as: What is the gospel? What is saving faith? What role does baptism play in salvation? What are the essential, important, and personal elements of the faith? How should we view marriage, gender, and race? Real Life Theology was written with everyday Christians in mind. We encourage you to read it, walk with others through it, and along the way learn God's real-life answers to your biggest questions. This series will help churches in their training of pastoral staff as well as the everyday disciple maker in your church or ministry. -- Jim Putman, author of Real-Life Discipleship As our churches become more diverse and our culture less biblically literate, we increasingly need Real Life Theology. -- Mark Moore, author of Core 52 This book is a one of a kind for our generation. Highly recommended! -- David Young, author of King Jesus and the Beauty of Obedience-Based Discipleship We're excited to integrate Real Life Theology into our leadership development resources at Southeast Christian Church. -- Matt Reagan, Associate Pastor of Southeast Christian Church It's imperative that we do theology wisely and well, and this book is a fantastic help! -- Matt Proctor, President of Ozark Christian College BOBBY HARRINGTON (DMin, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is CEO of Renew.org and Discipleship.org, both national disciple making networks. Bobby is the founding and Lead Pastor of Harpeth Christian Church. He is author or coauthor of more than a dozen books on disciple making. DANIEL MCCOY (PhD, North-West University) is Editorial Director of Renew.org. He has created classes on philosophy, ethics, and world religions for Ozark Christian College. Among his books are The Popular Handbook of World Religions (general editor) and The Atheist's Fatal Flaw (coauthored with Norman Geisler).
For Rudolf Steiner, Christ's Incarnation and death on Golgotha were central events in earthly and cosmic history. Humankind, he said, would evolve in time toward a spiritual awareness of Christ's presence in creation and the individual would no longer need "institutionalized" religious beliefs. In this concise introduction to Steiner's ideas, the author also describes the Christian Community, which Steiner helped to establish as a movement for Christian renewal. The Christian Community--also called the Movement for Religious Renewal--is an independent church founded in 1922 in Switzerland with the help of Rudolf Steiner. The first American Congregation was founded in New York City in 1948. Further information can be found at the Christian Community website (www.thechristiancommunity.org). This is not only one of the best introductions to the Christian Community and its history, but an excellent introduction to the whole of Rudolf Steiner's worldview known as spiritual science, or Anthroposophy.
Every person follows a script for living, a life guide that directs our behavior and shapes our choices. As believers, we find the original script for living woven throughout the Bible. Yet while the Christian message is simple, it can become complicated by our environment, our culture, and our religious ideas and traditions. For this reason, we are all in constant need of revising the scripts by which we live. Author Frank Viola believes we need to revisit and revise what it means to live the Christian life. Drawing from his rich background in ministry, Viola examines ten key areas that impact every believer and explores fresh ways to revise them. Conversational, insightful, and practical, Revise Us Again encourages us to examine those religious habits that we unconsciously pick up from others and rescript them with new habits that line up with our new nature in Christ.
In Renewing Christian Unity, scholars Mark G. Toulouse, Gary Holloway, and Douglas A. Foster collaborate to provide an overview of the history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) that will serve all readers by giving a brief, authoritative introduction to this important American denomination. Throughout its history, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has been known for its commitment to Christian unity. The context for unity in the twenty-first century, however, is considerably different than it was in the nineteenth century. Renewing Christian Unityprovides a brief history of the Disciples and their unwavering but ever-adapting commitment to the unity of the church. Their story is one of both continuity and change. Disciples remain as those who are uncomfortable with denominationalism. They still prefer simply to be known as Christians. But over the course of two centuries, the Disciples' understanding of Christian witness and of the "one church" has taken note of the changing times, and changed right along with them. This is partly because Disciples have always believed that human history is meaningful. God has entered human time to make a difference. Disciples celebrate this fact at the communion table and in the baptismal waters, through their active engagement with the world as they seek to embody both God's love and justice, and in their insistence that the church is one. Alexander Campbell once declared, "We . . . should hang our Sectarian trumpets in the hall and study ecclesiastic wars no more." Disciples have not always succeeded in meeting that expectation, but they do possess a history marked by an earnest desire to seek a renewal of Christian unity in the life of the church. In this book, readers will learn more about this significant group of churches, which has shaped the landscape of American Christianity.
This brief but comprehensive introduction to Christian worldview helps readers understand the Christian faith as the substance of Spirit-filled living and as a knowledge tradition stemming from the global Pentecostal movement. Using beauty, truth, and goodness as organizing principles, the authors delineate a Christian worldview by tracing each category historically, comparing and contrasting each with alternative Christian expressions, and constructing fresh takes on each as read through the lived Pentecostal experience. Unlike other worldview books, the authors' approach emphasizes beauty (relating to experience) rather than truth (involving knowledge acquisition); that difference in emphasis flows naturally from the Pentecostal perspective, which has traditionally centered the experience of the Spirit. Pentecostal Christians will find this volume indispensable for thinking lucidly about their worldview from a renewal perspective.
6 lectures and 2 discussions in Stuttgart, June 12-16, 1921 (CW 342) The lectures and discussions presented in First Steps in Christian Religious Renewal make up the first of the five "Priest Courses." They record the first steps of the remarkable journey taken in 1921 by a small group of dedicated souls who, out of their own inner needs and guided by Rudolf Steiner, sought a path to Christian religious renewal. Addressing the group with warm intimacy, Steiner frames their task not primarily in theological terms, but as a need for a renewing "the religious," or "the working of the religious element as such." For this, the sermon (or how we speak) is central, for today we must use language in new ways. We cannot reopen the spiritual worlds by starting from "old conditions." Traditional religious life has become too corrupted, while modern culture has radically changed and become divorced from tradition. In earlier times, people could understand concepts such as "Christ," "grace," and "salvation," but now we need a new starting point, one that begins with the reality that we cannot teach anything we do not believe and have not experienced. When we speak, images and symbols must be experienced as real; we can no longer hold the split view that accepts both modern science as it is and spiritual reality as it is. Next, Steiner turns to the group's stated concerns: ritual, the sermon, community building, and the relationship between these and individual efforts to awaken to the "I." Here, a question arises about the extent to which such matters should become conscious. The question arises: How do we avoid conscious religious content from becoming abstract, intellectual, and cut off from feeling? All too often, intellect is confused with consciousness. Yet Goethe, for one, was certainly conscious and was able to think pictorially and live in images without falling into intellectuality. We, too, must learn to do so. In a sense, however, even this is secondary. Community building, which requires finding "what lives and weaves between human beings," is the key. To bring the community to birth, Steiner advises the group to abandon teaching or exercising power through words and concepts. Instead of focusing on "knowledge of God" (theology), they must find a way to communicate actual "life in God"--experience of the divine within the soul. This means that they must learn to live in a content that is greater and beyond what they can speak. Thus, the importance of ritual, which must remain simple while expressing inner transformation of the human being, or the "en-Christing," imbuing the human being with Christ. Steiner explains, "Human beings are not born imbued with Christ beforehand by way of inheritance; they must find the Christ in themselves." Such transformation, "en-Christing," can be expressed symbolically in many ways through simple, effective, ritual. First Steps in Christian Religious Renewal is a translation from German of Vorträge und Kurse über christlich-religiöses Wirken, Bd.1, Anthroposophische Grundlagen für ein erneuertes christlich-religiöses Wirken (GA 342).
The "culture story" of evangelicalism during the second half of the twentieth century has been well told. It is important now to think about the theological mission of the church in an ever-increasing post-Christian and post-partisan context. What is the theologian's calling at the beginning of the third millennium? How do global realities impact the mission of evangelical theology? What sense can be made of the unity of evangelical theology in light of its many diverse voices? This collection of essays draws together a stellar roster of evangelical thinkers with significant institutional memory of the evangelical movement who nonetheless see new opportunities for the evangelical voice in the years ahead. Contributors: Os Guinness Michael S. Horton Richard Lints Bruce McCormack Mark Noll J. I. Packer Gary Parrett Rodney Peterson Cornelius Plantinga Tite Tienou Kevin J. Vanhoozer Adonis Vidu Miroslav Volf
