The Church of 80% Sincerity
Author: David Roche
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 170
ISBN-13: 9780399533907
DOWNLOAD EBOOKROCHE/CHURCH OF EIGHTY PERCENT SINC
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Ritual and Its Consequences
Author: Adam B. Seligman
Publisher: OUP USA
Published: 2008-02-21
Total Pages: 247
ISBN-13: 9780195336009
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDrawing on examples from many places and times, this work argues for the continuing tension across historical contexts between movements emphasizing ritual and movements emphasizing sincerity. It contends that our contemporary age has, at great risk, downplayed the importance of ritual.
Real Black
Author: John L. Jackson Jr.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2005-11-15
Total Pages: 310
ISBN-13: 9780226390017
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNew York's urban neighborhoods are full of young would-be emcees who aspire to "keep it real" and restaurants like Sylvia's famous soul food eatery that offer a taste of "authentic" black culture. In these and other venues, authenticity is considered the best way to distinguish the real from the phony, the genuine from the fake. But in Real Black, John L. Jackson Jr. proposes a new model for thinking about these issues--racial sincerity. Jackson argues that authenticity caricatures identity as something imposed on people, imprisoning them within stereotypes--turning them into racial objects and inanimate things, instead of living, breathing human beings. Contending that such assumptions deny people agency--not to mention humanity--in their search for identity, Jackson counterposes sincerity, an internal and more productive analytical model for thinking about race. Moving in and around Harlem and Brooklyn, Jackson offers a kaleidoscope of subjects and stories that directly and indirectly address how race is negotiated in today's world--including tales of name-changing hip-hop emcees, book-vending numerologists, urban conspiracy theorists, corrupt police officers, mixed-race neo-Nazis, and high-school gospel choirs forbidden to catch the Holy Ghost. Enlisting "Anthroman," his cape-crusading critical alter ego, Jackson records and retells these interconnected sagas in virtuosic detail and, in the process, shows us how race is defined and debated, imposed and confounded every single day.
Sincerely Held
Author: Charles McCrary
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2022-04-08
Total Pages: 309
ISBN-13: 0226817954
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"If you read Supreme Court opinions on cases involving First Amendment religion issues, you're likely to encounter the ubiquitous phrase "sincerely held religious belief." The "sincerity test" of religious belief has become a cornerstone of US jurisprudence, determining what counts as legitimate grounds for First Amendment claims in the eyes of the law. In Sincerely Held, Charles McCrary provides an original account of how "sincerely held religious belief" became the primary standard for determining what legally counts as genuine religion. McCrary traces the interlocking histories of sincerity, religion, and secularism in the US, starting in the mid-nineteenth century. He then shows how, in the 1940s, as the courts expanded the concept of religious freedom, they incorporated the notion of sincerity as a key element in determining religious freedom protections. The legal sincerity test was part of a larger trend in which the category "religion" became largely individualized and correlated with "belief." This linking of religion and belief, with all its Protestant underpinnings, is a central concern of critical secularism studies. McCrary contributes to this conversation by revealing the history of how sincerity and sincerely held religious belief developed as technologies of secular governance, constraining the type of subject one has to be in order to receive protections from the state"--
Generation to Generation
Author: Edwin Friedman
Publisher: Guilford Press
Published: 2011-06-17
Total Pages: 335
ISBN-13: 1609182367
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn acclaimed, influential work now available in paper for the first time, this bestselling book applies the concepts of systemic family therapy to the emotional life of congregations. Edwin H. Friedman shows how the same understanding of family process that can aid clergy in their pastoral role also has important ramifications for negotiating congregational dynamics and functioning as an effective leader. Clergy from diverse denominations, as well as family therapists and counselors, have found that this book directly addresses the dilemmas and crises they encounter daily. It is widely used as a text in courses on pastoral care, leadership, and family systems.
Selling Out the Church
Author: Philip D. Kenneson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2003-07-24
Total Pages: 177
ISBN-13: 159244296X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMarketing the church is hot. For many church leaders, marketing might even be the first article of their creed, which goes something like this: We believe that our church determines its identity and mission through the tactics of marketing strategies. Theologians Kenneson and Street offer a thoughtful and provocative protest, with a foreword from Stanley Hauerwas. The authors expose the theological presuppositions that inform the marketing project. . . and help us to see that the marketer's presumption that form can be separated from content of the gospel betrays an understanding of the gospel that cannot help betraying the gift that is Christ. The authors propose an alternative, constructive account of the church's mission and purpose that is not based on exchange of value but on reminding us that the gospel is always a gift - a gift that makes impossible any presumptions that there can be an exchange between human beings and God that is rooted in the satisfaction of our untrained needs. The cross and resurrection challenge the world's understanding of what our needs should be.
Not Your Mother's Morals
Author: Jonathan D. Fitzgerald
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2017-03-08
Total Pages: 50
ISBN-13: 1625391706
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“[Fitzgerald] explains how the new sincerity movement in contemporary pop culture is making way for moral storytelling in unlikely places.” —Jonathan Merritt, author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch In Not Your Mothers Morals, Jonathan D. Fitzgerald argues that today’s popular music, movies, TV shows, and books are making the world a better place. For all the hand-wringing about the decline of morals and the cheapening of culture in our time, contemporary media brims with examples of fascinating and innovative art that promote positive and uplifting moral messages—without coming across as preachy. The catch? Today’s moral messages can be quite different than the ones your mother taught you. Fitzgerald compares the pop culture of yesterday with that of today and finds that while both are committed to major ideals—especially God, Family, and Country—the nature of those commitments has shifted. In his witty, expressive style, Fitzgerald explains how we’ve arrived at the era of New Sincerity and why its good news for our future. “A great, quick read . . . jam-packed with explorations of art, politics, media and pop culture that show how we’ve moved from being June Cleaver’s society to being one that begs you to just tell it to us like it is—flaws and questions and all . . . Jonathan’s book puts all of the proverbial pieces together into one witty journey that will light up any culture lover’s brain.” —The Good Men Project “Jonathan Fitzgerald is an astute observer of Christianity in Western culture. By turning ‘conventional wisdom’ on its head, he shows us some truth we would not otherwise have seen.” —Tony Jones, author of The New Christians
SINCERITY AND AUTHENTICITY
Author: Lionel TRILLING
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2009-06-30
Total Pages: 202
ISBN-13: 0674044460
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“Now and then,” writes Lionel Trilling, “it is possible to observe the moral life in process of revising itself.” In this new book he is concerned with such a mutation: the process by which the arduous enterprise of sincerity, of being true to one’s self, came to occupy a place of supreme importance in the moral life—and the further shift which finds that place now usurped by the darker and still more strenuous modern ideal of authenticity. Instances range over the whole of Western literature and thought, from Shakespeare to Hegel to Sartre, from Robespierre to R.D. Laing, suggesting the contradictions and ironies to which the ideals of sincerity and authenticity give rise, most especially in contemporary life. Lucid, and brilliantly framed, its view of cultural history will give Sincerity and Authenticity an important place among the works of this distinguished critic.
The Real Truth
Author: Zac Poonen
Publisher: Christian Fellowship Centre
Published: 2018-12-04
Total Pages: 62
ISBN-13: 9384302481
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDo you know How evil began in a world created by a good God? That your conscience is exactly like your eye? That you can break the power of black magic & witchcraft? That you can talk to God as to a loving Father? That you can overcome every problem with God’s help. This book has the answers.
Save Me from Myself
Author: Brian Welch
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 2009-10-13
Total Pages: 313
ISBN-13: 0061753548
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe former Korn guitarist’s “compelling” story of an out-of-control life, a devastating drug addiction, and a miraculous redemption through Jesus Christ(Entertainment Weekly). In February 2005, more than ten thousand people in Bakersfield, California, watched as Brian “Head” Welch—the former lead guitarist of the controversial rock band Korn—was saved by Jesus Christ. The event set off a media frenzy as observers from around the world sought to understand what led this rock star out of the darkness and into the light. Now, in this courageous memoir, Head talks for the first time about his shocking embrace of God and the tumultuous decade that led him into the arms of Jesus Christ. Offering a backstage pass to his time with Korn, Head tells the inside story of his years in the band and explains how his lifestyle resulted in an all-consuming addiction to methamphetamines. Writing openly about the tour bus mayhem of Ozzfest and the Family Values tour, he provides a candid look at how the routine of recording, traveling, and partying placed him in a cycle of addiction that he could not break on his own. Head details his struggles with the drug that ultimately led him to seek a higher power. Despite his numerous attempts to free himself from meth, nothing—not even the birth of his daughter—could spur him to kick it for good. Here Head addresses how, with the help of God, he emerged from his dangerous addiction and found a path that was not only right for his daughter, it was right for him. Discussing the chaotic end to his time in Korn and how his newfound faith has influenced his relationship with his daughter, his life, and his music, Head describes a rock and roll journey unlike any other, and reveals how his moments of doubt and his hardships have only deepened his faith. “Not your typical testimony account . . . surprisingly engrossing.” —CCM Magazine “[A] tale of how religion can save a lost soul . . . the book explains, without becoming preachy, how Welch gave up rock stardom for a Christian lifestyle.” —Library Journal Includes photographs
