The Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God

The Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God

Author: J. Michael Feazell

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2003-01-23

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0310250110

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Now available in paperback. A longtime insider and church executive tells the story of God's liberation from a false doctrine. ." . . a story perhaps without parallel in America's religious history."--"Los Angeles Times."


The Inner Church is the Hope of the World

The Inner Church is the Hope of the World

Author: Nicholas Laccetti

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2018-08-09

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 1532619715

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Throughout history, Western esoteric movements have provided meaning and power for what the Rosicrucians of the early modern period called the quest for “Universal Reformation”—the utopian restructuring of religion, science, the arts, and human society. Yet Western esotericism has been roundly ignored as a source of reflection in mainstream Christian theology, including the radical theologies of liberation that might otherwise see in esotericism a kindred spirit to their commitment to radical social change. In The Inner Church is the Hope of the World, guided by his work in contemporary movements for social change, Nicholas Laccetti puts Western esotericism in dialogue with liberation theology, treating esotericism as a legitimate source of spiritual and theological insight. If, as Gustavo Gutiérrez writes, “God is revealed in history,” then we will also encounter God within the particular history of human religious expression that is Western esotericism. And from these theological reflections, the Inner Church of the esotericists, occultists, and mystics is revealed to be the true ekklesia of all who have conformed themselves to God’s vision of freedom and liberation, and who struggle to enact that vision in human society. The Inner Church is truly the hope of the world.


Transformed by Truth

Transformed by Truth

Author: Joseph Tkach

Publisher: Multnomah

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781576731819

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The Worldwide Church of God rejects the teachings of founder Herbert W. Armstrong and embraces historic Christianity. This is the inside story. In this fast-paced narrative, Joseph Tkach, son of Armstrong's handpicked successor and head of the church, tells this remarkable account of the transforming power of the Gospel.


Religion, Torture and the Liberation of God

Religion, Torture and the Liberation of God

Author: Mario I Aguilar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-17

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1317503082

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If God can be used by the powerful to justify violence in the name of order, he can also be used by the weak to illuminate the position of the victims of political conflict. Religion, Torture and the Liberation of God explores the theological possibilities of a God who is a prisoner and a victim of torture. The book relocates God to the horrors of the military abuse of human rights in Chile and the systematic rape of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Aguilar argues that this theological exercise offers us new ways of understanding the abuse of power, whether it be the clerical abuse of children, violence against women, or homophobia. This examination of torture and rape becomes, through a theology of praxis and compliance, an examination of solidarity, love and affection. The book concludes with an exploration of the possibilities of a tortured God who liberates.


Church: Charism and Power

Church: Charism and Power

Author: Leonardo Boff

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2012-01-30

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1610978315

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Why the furor over this book? Why was Church: Charism and Power the subject of a Vatican inquiry? The reason, ironically enough, has little to do with its alleged use of Marxist thought, but rather with its critical understanding of the church in the light of the gospel. Church: Charism and Power is a provocative, devastating critique of the ways in which power, sacred power, is controlled and exercised in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a militant book, a radical book, but it is by no means defective in orthodoxy. In fact, with all its criticism it offers a brilliant defense of the historical claims of Roman Catholicism. Its central thesis argues that since the fourth century the church has fallen victim to a kind of power that has nothing to do with the gospel and everything to do with the dynamics of power with all of its inevitable abuses. This historical reality, enshrined in the monarchical model of the church, was undermined at the Second Vatican Council and replaced by that of the church as people of God. This 'laical' model is closely allied in Boff's exposition with the notion of the church as sacrament of the Holy Spirit: the church as sign and instrument of the now living and risen Christ, that is the Holy Spirit. A pneumatic ecclesiology such as this would lead the church back to its primitive dynamics of community, cooperation, and charism. It would create a church in which everyone shared equally and where flexible and appropriate ministries conformed to needs as they arose. Is such a church possible? Is it not simply the utopian dream of idealists and sectarians down through the ages? No, says Father Boff, given the incredible growth throughout Latin America of comunidades eclesiales de base, base communities, where the people express and achieve their desire for participation and where the hierarchy divests itself of its titles and ecclesiastical baggage, creating a common desire for community and equality. This model of the church has acquired an unexpected historical possibility: the new church is in the process of being born. This church, the church being born from the faith of the poor, has rediscovered for itself--and for the church universal--the living presence of the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ.


The Fragmentation of a Sect

The Fragmentation of a Sect

Author: David V. Barrett

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2013-01-31

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780199861514

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Religions frequently face a period of turmoil and readjustment following the death of their founders. In this contribution to sociological theory, Barrett offers a new typological model for categorizing various outcomes, including schism, and explores the usefulness of this model by applying it both to his case study the Worldwide Church of God and to a wide variety of other religions.


Global Dictionary of Theology

Global Dictionary of Theology

Author: William A. Dyrness

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2009-10-25

Total Pages: 1026

ISBN-13: 0830878114

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Theological dictionaries are foundational to any theological library. But until now there has been no Global Dictionary of Theology, a theological dictionary that presumes the contribution of the Western tradition but moves beyond it to embrace and explore a full range of global expressions of theology. The Global Dictionary of Theology is inspired by the shift of the center of Christianity from the West to the Global South. But it also reflects the increase in two-way traffic between these two sectors as well as the global awareness that has permeated popular culture to an unprecedented degree. The editorial perspective of the Global Dictionary of Theology is an ecumenical evangelicalism that is receptive to discovering new facets of truth through listening and conversation on a global scale. Thus a distinctive feature of the Global Dictionary of Theology is its conversational approach. Contributors have been called on to write in the spirit of engaging in a larger theological conversation in which alternative views are expected and invited. William A. Dyrness, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Juan F. Martinez and Simon Chan edit approximately 250 articles written by over 100 contributors representing the global spectrum of theological perspectives. Pastors, theological teachers, theological students and lay Christian leaders will all find the Global Dictionary of Theology to be a resource that unfolds new dimensions and reveals new panoramas of theological perspective and inquiry. Here is a new launching point for doing theology in today's global context.


The Poor in Liberation Theology

The Poor in Liberation Theology

Author: Tim Noble

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-10-14

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1317543718

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Liberation theology has, since its beginnings over forty years ago, placed the poor at the heart of theology and revealed the ideologies underlying both society and church. Meanwhile, over this period, the progressive church appears to have stagnated and the poor of Latin America have turned increasingly to neo-Pentecostalism. 'The Poor in Liberation Theology' questions whether the effect of liberation theology is to provide a pathway to God or really to construct idols out of the poor. Combining the conceptual language of the philosophers Jean-Luc Marion and Emmanuel Levinas with the methodology of the liberation theologian Clodovis Boff, the volume outlines how liberation theology can work to ensure the poor do not become an ideological construct but remain icons of God. Drawing on a wealth of material from Latin American and Europe, the book demonstrates the continuing validity and importance of liberation theology and its further potential when engaged with contemporary philosophy.