Recovering Communion in a Violent World
Recovering Communion in a Violent World

Author: Christopher Grundy

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-11-15

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1532660367

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The act of breaking and eating a body in Holy Communion forms us over time. What if that’s not such a good thing? Recovering Communion in a Violent World provides an unblinking examination of the ritualized reenactment of the violence done to Jesus in Holy Communion, using insights from the fields of ritual studies and trauma theory. Then, drawing upon recent research in Christian origins, the book raises possibilities for sacramental meal practices that don’t ignore the death of Jesus but respond to it differently. Rather than colluding with systems of violence, these alternative practices respond to violence in our world by continuing to collaborate with the persistence and resilience of God, as well as with the realm of God still coming near. The result is a groundbreaking exploration that is both unflinching in its critique and passionate in its argument for the place of renewed Christian meal practices. In an era when world religions have come under greater scrutiny as sources of violence, this book asks readers to look squarely at the reenactment of violence that has come to narrowly define Holy Communion for so long and to imagine that more radical, resistant sacramental meal practices are possible.

Recovering Communion in a Violent World
Recovering Communion in a Violent World

Author: Christopher Grundy

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-11-15

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1532660340

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The act of breaking and eating a body in Holy Communion forms us over time. What if that’s not such a good thing? Recovering Communion in a Violent World provides an unblinking examination of the ritualized reenactment of the violence done to Jesus in Holy Communion, using insights from the fields of ritual studies and trauma theory. Then, drawing upon recent research in Christian origins, the book raises possibilities for sacramental meal practices that don’t ignore the death of Jesus but respond to it differently. Rather than colluding with systems of violence, these alternative practices respond to violence in our world by continuing to collaborate with the persistence and resilience of God, as well as with the realm of God still coming near. The result is a groundbreaking exploration that is both unflinching in its critique and passionate in its argument for the place of renewed Christian meal practices. In an era when world religions have come under greater scrutiny as sources of violence, this book asks readers to look squarely at the reenactment of violence that has come to narrowly define Holy Communion for so long and to imagine that more radical, resistant sacramental meal practices are possible.

Abundant Lives
Abundant Lives

Author: Amanda Udis-Kessler

Publisher: The Pilgrim Press

Published: 2024-05-01

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 0829800581

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What is the purpose of freedom, of rights, of justice, if those concepts are debated but do not tangibly contribute to human flourishing? Abundant Lives: A Progressive Christian Ethic of Flourishing invites sociologically informed engagement in human well-being, based on Jesus’ command to love God, our neighbors, ourselves, and our enemies. Author Amanda Udis-Kessler, PhD, provokes rich conversations so we might understand – and enact – the Kindom of God as a realm of human and planetary flourishing. A former sociology professor, Amanda Udis-Kessler (PhD, Boston College; certificate, Iliff School of Theology) is an author of academic and liturgical writings and composer of progressive sacred music.

T&T Clark Handbook of Sacraments and Sacramentality
T&T Clark Handbook of Sacraments and Sacramentality

Author: Martha Moore-Keish

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-12-29

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 0567687678

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Introducing readers to the contemporary field of sacramental theology, this volume covers the biblical and historical foundations, a survey of the state of the discipline, and a collection of constructive essays representing major themes, practices and approaches to sacraments and sacramentality in the contemporary world. The volume starts with a set of foundational essays that offer broad introduction to the field of sacramental theology from contemporary scholars, analysing a number of historical figures in order to illumine and inform contemporary sacramental theology. The second part of the volume is dedicated to a series of essays on sacramentality, and includes attention to elements of space, time, ritual action, music, and word, all as aspects of what Christians have termed “sacramental” reality. The third set of essays includes attention to each of the seven practices that have most commonly been termed “sacraments” in Christian traditions: baptism; eucharist/Lord's Supper; confirmation; confession, forgiveness and reconciliation; marriage; ordination; and anointing. The final part of this volume features scholars who are working on sacraments in conversation with contemporary academic disciplines: critical race theory, queer theory, comparative theology, and disability studies.

Faith After Doubt
Faith After Doubt

Author: Brian D. McLaren

Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials

Published: 2021-01-05

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 125026278X

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From the author of A New Kind of Christianity comes a bold proposal: only doubt can save the world and your faith. ONE of the Best Spiritual Books of 2021—Spirituality & Practice "Will help you live fuller and breathe easier..” —Glennon Doyle Sixty-five million adults in the U.S. have dropped out of active church attendance and about 2.7 million more are leaving every year. Faith After Doubt is for the millions of people around the world who feel that their faith is falling apart. Using his own story and the stories of a diverse group of struggling believers, Brian D. McLaren, a former pastor and now an author, speaker, and activist shows how old assumptions are being challenged in nearly every area of human life, not just theology and spirituality. He proposes a four-stage model of faith development in which questions and doubt are not the enemy of faith, but rather a portal to a more mature and fruitful kind of faith. The four stages—Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony—offer a path forward that can help sincere and thoughtful people leave behind unnecessary baggage and intensify their commitment to what matters most.

Mark as Recovery Story
Mark as Recovery Story

Author: John C. Mellon

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 9780252021657

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Mark as Recovery Story interprets the Gospel of Mark in terms of alcoholism and Twelve-Step recovery. Identifying numerous previously unrecognized ambiguities in the gospel's Greek text, John Mellon portrays Mark's mysterious "insider" audience as a fellowship of ex-inebriates turned waterdrinkers, alcoholics whose spirituality of powerlessness resembled that of Alcoholics Anonymous today. Mellon discovers in Mark, the most enigmatic of the Jesus narratives, genre features of the former drunkard's sobriety story, and he reconstructs the first-person story Jesus would have told on his return to Galilee, culminating in his Last Supper words about wine and his Gethsemane prayer for removal of the cup.

The Work of the People
The Work of the People

Author: Marlea Gilbert

Publisher: Alban Institute, Incorporated

Published: 2006-12-01

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 9781566993371

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Worship is the work of the people of God. Patterns of worship shape how we pray and how we live. Despite its centrality to church life, worship is too often taken for granted as something a congregation experiences rather than collectively creates. The Work of the People simply and clearly explains the structure of worship, the actions and words we use in liturgy, the environment in which it all happens--in other words, what we are doing and why. This book will guide congregations in worshiping in a way that encourages participants' spiritual growth, welcomes new participants into faith, and sends people out as the body of Christ to transform the world. Respectful of local custom and the traditions and practices of the Church as a whole, The Work of the People will help worship leaders make the best use of their congregation's resources and clarify their choices about how they will worship together. Built around a basic service--gathering, service of the Word, Eucharist, and sending--this book is both theological and practical, and encourages all worshipers' active participation in Spirit-led worship of the God of all Creation.

Meditation and Communion with God
Meditation and Communion with God

Author: John Jefferson Davis

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2012-09-13

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 0830839763

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John Jefferson Davis summons the resources of traditional biblical meditation for a culture lost in the cloud. He establishes the trinitarian view of God's real presence in Scripture and then ushers readers through three successive stages of meditation--consummating in a method for deep assimilation of the Christian worldview.

Recovering the Scandal of the Cross
Recovering the Scandal of the Cross

Author: Mark D. Baker

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2011-08-02

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 0830869093

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Since its publication in 2000, Recovering the Scandal of the Cross has provoked thought among evangelicals about the nature of the atonement and how it should be expressed in today's various global contexts. In this second edition Green and Baker have clarified and enlarged the text to ensure its ongoing critical relevance.

Christ, Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Christ, Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Author: Leonard J. Vander Zee

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2004-08-10

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780830827862

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Leonard J. Vander Zee makes a compelling connection between Baptism and the Lord's Supper and the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God.