Taking stock of the present moment and the challenges of the future, a host of leading spiritual writers reflect on the most pressing spiritual questions of our time. Whether the focus is on nurturing consciousness, building community, or transforming global structures, the answers provide a road map for personal, ecclesial, and social change. Compiled in honor of Benedictine writer Joan Chittister, the volume concludes with a moving autobiographical reflection by Chittister herself, "The Power of Questions to Propel".
Description: In this volume some of the outstanding Christian scholars of our day reflect on how their minds have changed, how their academic fields have changed over the course of their careers, and the pressing issues that Christian scholars will need to address in the twenty-first century. This volume offers an accessible portrait of key trends in the world of Christian scholarship today. Christian Thought in the Twenty-First Century features scholars from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, and Switzerland. The contributors represent a wide variety of academic backgrounds--from biblical studies to theology, to religious studies, to history, English literature, philosophy, law, and ethics. This book offers a personal glimpse of Christian scholars in a self-reflective mode, capturing their honest reflections on the changing state of the academy and on changes in their own minds and outlooks. The breadth and depth of insight afforded by these contributions provide rich soil for a reader's own reflections, and an agenda that will occupy Christian thinkers well into the twenty-first century. Endorsements: "I heard many of the lecturers whose essays appear in this book when they were guests of the Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary. Now they reappear to reflect personally on how their minds and academic fields have changed over the course of their careers. They tackle key issues in their disciplines needing future attention and present their views as authentic humans, not only as respected academics." --Wayne Holst University of Calgary and St. David's United Church, Calgary About the Contributor(s): Douglas H. Shantz is Professor of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary. His recent books are Between Sardis and Philadelphia (2008), and A New Introduction to German Pietism (2012). Tinu Ruparell is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary. He is coeditor, with Ian S. Markham, of Encountering Religion (2000). His current work centers on idealism in Ramanuja and Leibniz as well as on science and religion.
Wendy Cadge and Shelly Rambo demonstrate the urgent need, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to position the long history and practice of chaplaincy within the rapidly changing landscape of American religion and spirituality. This book provides a much-needed road map for training and renewing chaplains across a professional continuum that spans major sectors of American society, including hospitals, prisons, universities, the military, and nursing homes. Written by a team of multidisciplinary experts and drawing on ongoing research at the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University, Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the Twenty-First Century identifies three central competencies—individual, organizational, and meaning-making—that all chaplains must have, and it provides the resources for building those skills. Featuring profiles of working chaplains, the book positions intersectional issues of religious diversity, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other markers of identity as central to the future of chaplaincy as a profession.
Trends and skills for those who offer pastoral care Christian pastoral care has changed a great deal in the past few decades in response to many factors in our rapidly changing world. In part 1 of Nurturing Hope, Lynne Baab discusses seven trends in pastoral care--shifts in who delivers pastoral care, the attitudes and commitments that undergird pastoral care, and societal trends that are shaping pastoral care today. She illustrates them with stories from diverse congregations where Christian caregivers are meeting those challenges in creative and exciting ways. In the second half of the book, Baab presents four practical, doable, energizing skills needed by pastoral carers in our time. Focusing on skills that help carers nurture connections between everyday life and Christian faith, she explores the need for carers to understand common stressors, listen, pray with others, and nurture their personal resilience. Grounded in an understanding of God as the true caregiver and healer, the author offers tips for readers who are training other pastoral carers or developing their own understanding and skills. Each chapter ends with discussion and reflection questions, making the book helpful for groups. Lynne Baab brings readers hope for their caring role and for their own spiritual journey.
How do I know if I'm growing spiritually? In the distractions of daily life, it can be hard to evaluate how we are doing spiritually. But monitoring the pulse of your spiritual health is just as important as monitoring your mental and physical health. No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, bestselling author Don Whitney makes it easy to do a self-check on your spiritual wellbeing. Quickly evaluate your spiritual state by asking yourself these 10 convicting diagnostic questions: Do I thirst for God? Do I still grieve over sin? Am I a quicker forgiver? Am I more loving? Am I sensitive to God's presence? Am I concerned for others? Am I governed by God's Word? Do I delight in the church? Are the spiritual disciplines important to me? Do I yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus? By bringing the lofty idea of "sanctification" into a helpful and convicting spotlight, this concise and insightful book will transform your spiritual life. Now with a new discussion guide for group or personal use to help you dive deeper into each question. "Don Whitney's spiritual feet are blessedly cemented in the wisdom of the Bible. This is as beneficial as it is solid." --J. I. Packer, author and theologian
Being Christian in the Twenty-first Century was written to help struggling and doubting Christians develop an understanding of Christianity that avoids literalism, creeds, and doctrines--all factors which seem to be driving people away from the church. The book is well suited for individual or group study, complete with a study guide and sample lesson plans. It responds to the call for theological reform advocated by many contemporary clergy and religious leaders. Being Christian does not restate orthodox positions or drift into fundamentalism or sentimentalism. Instead it draws from a broad base of historical, theological, archaeological, and sociological scholarship to place Scripture within its original context, yet present it within a perspective suitable for the twenty-first-century mind. Being Christian is scholarly, yet readable, interesting, and often provocative. One reviewer put it this way, "the book reminds me of a baseball pitcher with a long wind up and a hard fastball getting better in every inning." By building upon progressive thought available today and throughout history, it offers an important resource for Christians and would-be Christians seeking a more fulfilling and thoughtful faith journey.
Robert Wuthnow contributes to those reflections on religion that are cropping up at the end of the millennium by offering a sobering, realistic, and hopeful assessment of where the church is now, and where the church is heading.
"Ignatian Humanism puts into perspective our contemporary search for a spirituality that responds both to our search for meaning and desire for God." -John W. Padberg, S.J., director, Institute of Jesuit Sources "Modras integrates fascinating history, contemporary theology, and inspiring spirituality with consistent focus on central issues for our day." -Joann Wolski Conn, associate professor of religious studies, Neumann College "A stunning book! Modras has profiled a number of Jesuit thinkers and activists as role models for our time-revitalizing humanism as a model for moderns." -Leonard Swidler, professor of Catholic thought and inter-religious dialogue, Temple University Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, is one of a mere handful of individuals who has permanently changed the way we understand God. In this vividly written and meticulously researched book, Ronald Modras shows how Ignatian spirituality retains extraordinary vigor and relevance nearly five centuries after Loyola's death. At its heart, Ignatian spirituality is a humanism that defends human rights, prizes learning from other cultures, seeks common ground between science and religion, struggles for justice, and honors a God who is actively at work in creation. The towering achievements of the Jesuits are made tangible by Modras's vivid portraits of Ignatius and five of his successors: Matteo Ricci, the first Westerner at the court of the Chinese emperor; Friederich Spee, who defended women accused of witchcraft; Karl Rahner, the greatest Catholic theologian of the twentieth century; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the scientist-mystic; and Pedro Arrupe, the charismatic leader of the Jesuits in the years following Vatican II.
In this brief history of the church from a global perspective, Derek Cooper explores the development of Christianity across time and the continents. Guiding readers to places like Iraq, Ethiopia and India, Scandanavia, Brazil and Oceania, he reveals the fascinating—and often surprising—history of the church.
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.
