Hanciles does yeoman work in part one synthesizing studies on the impact of globalization, revealing that its outcomes will likely not be determined by the Euro-American heartlands that sparked this movement. Instead, in parts two he shows that migration in general is having an enormous effect on shaping a new world order, and in part three, "Mobile Faith," he advances the case for the migration of Christians as carrying within it the seeds of renewal for the whole church and also the potential to reshape church-state and religion and culture relations globally.
Solidly theological, amply historical, thoroughly ecumenical, and remarkably current, Orlando Costas' 'Christ Outside the Gate' is the most succinct, yet comprehensive analysis of the missiological issues facing the church and the churches that has appeared in many years."" --Alan Neely, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest Learning and passion come together in Christ Outside the Gate to make it an outstanding contribution to missiology."" --Gabriel Fackre, Abbot Professor of Christian Theology, Andover Newton Theological School You have in your hands a new way of seeing missions--North America as a receiving country, the marginalized as the subject as well as object of missions, world evangelization with one foot in Melbourne and one foot in Pattaya. Few authors blend together so effectively so many worlds--evangelism and scholarship, northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, sociology, and theology."" --Harvie M. Conn, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia Costas may well be or is on his way to becoming the ablest missiologist alive."" --Jorge Lara-Braud, Director, Council on Theology and Culture, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Costas writes from the background of an Hispanic Evangelical, but goes far beyond the normal concerns of that tradition. In a series of far-ranging essays, he deals with virtually every aspect of the contemporary missiological debate in a manner that is usually balanced and always provocative. While some readers will violently question his views at certain points, all will be stimulated and challenged to think more deeply and participate more effectively in the total world mission to which God has called His Church."" --Paul E. Pierson, Fuller Theological Seminary 'Christ Outside the Gate' offers us a perspective of missions that focuses on the transition from paternalism to the contextualization of the Gospel."" --Oscar I. Romo, Director, Language Missions Division, Southern Baptist Convention Costas writes from the viewpoint of those who live on the periphery of society. He challenges Christians of all denominations to a renewed understanding of the Christ who 'suffered outside the gates.'"" --John T. Boberg, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Orlando E. Costas is also the author of 'Liberating News', 'The Integrity of Mission', and 'The Church and Its Mission'.
This long-standing series provides the guild of religion scholars a venue for publishing aimed primarily at colleagues. It includes scholarly monographs, revised dissertations, Festschriften, conference papers, and translations of ancient and medieval documents. Works cover the sub-disciplines of biblical studies, history of Christianity, history of religion, theology, and ethics. Festschriften for Karl Barth, Donald W. Dayton, James Luther Mays, Margaret R. Miles, and Walter Wink are among the seventy-five volumes that have been published. Contributors include: C. K. Barrett, Francois Bovon, Paul S. Chung, Marie-Helene Davies, Frederick Herzog, Ben F. Meyer, Pamela Ann Moeller, Rudolf Pesch, D. Z. Phillips, Rudolf Schnackenburgm Eduard Schweizer, John Vissers
A magisterial sweep through 1500 years of Christian history with a groundbreaking focus on the missionary role of migrants in its spread. Human migration has long been identified as a driving force of historical change. Building on this understanding, Jehu Hanciles surveys the history of Christianity’s global expansion from its origins through 1500 CE to show how migration—more than official missionary activity or imperial designs—played a vital role in making Christianity the world’s largest religion. Church history has tended to place a premium on political power and institutional forms, thus portraying Christianity as a religion disseminated through official representatives of church and state. But, as Hanciles illustrates, this “top-down perspective overlooks the multifarious array of social movements, cultural processes, ordinary experiences, and non-elite activities and decisions that contribute immensely to religious encounter and exchange.” Hanciles’s socio-historical approach to understanding the growth of Christianity as a world religion disrupts the narrative of Western preeminence, while honoring and making sense of the diversity of religious expression that has characterized the world Christian movement for two millennia. In turning the focus of the story away from powerful empires and heroic missionaries, Migration and the Making of Global Christianity instead tells the more truthful story of how every Christian migrant is a vessel for the spread of the Christian faith in our deeply interconnected world.
"This book is changing my mind on more themes...than any publication since Hans Frei's The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative." -George LIndbeck, Yale University "Harink brings several postliberal theologians - mainly Yoder and Hauerwas - into genuine conversation with the church's original apocalyptic theologian, the Apostle Paul. The engaging result is a call for the church to return to its true vocation as an uncompromising critic of the state's omnivorous appetite for our loayalties. But that is the vocation found in the politics of the cross, in which the suffering and victorious God has redemptively invaded the captive world, thus calling into being the community that Paul speaks of as 'the new creation.'... The attentive reader of Harink's book will come away, then, with an energized hope for the whole of humanity, a hope focused on the corporate, political nature of God's apocalyptic invasion in Christ." -J. Louis Martyn, Union Theological Seminary "Sets new standards for all who dare to aspire to theological engagement with Scripture." -Michael Cartwright, University of Indianapolis "Doug Harink has knocked a hole in the artificial wall separating the theological disciplines and has established a working coalition between two scholarly enterprises--the various 'new perspectives' that seek to supplant older reformational models of interpreting Paul, and the work of various theologians who seek to subvert the established theological strategy of accommodating the gospel to the canons and criteria of modernity...A unique and highly significant contribution." -Terence L. Donaldson, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto "One of the most creative and exciting books that I have read in years. Instead of decrying the gap between theology and biblical studies, ...Harink simply closes the gap by bringing together the best in recent biblical and theological studies. In its direct reading of the biblical text, this book represents a new stage in the development of postliberal theology." -Jonathan R. Wilson, Westmont College
This is a revised edition of John Milbank’s masterpiece, which sketches the outline of a specifically theological social theory. The Times Higher Education Supplement wrote of the first edition that it was “a tour de force of systematic theology. It would be churlish not to acknowledge its provocation and brilliance”. Featured in The Church Times “100 Best Christian Books" Brings this classic work up-to-date by reviewing the development of modern social thought. Features a substantial new introduction by Milbank, clarifying the theoretical basis for his work. Challenges the notion that sociological critiques of theology are ‘scientific’. Outlines a specifically theological social theory, and in doing so, engages with a wide range of thinkers from Plato to Deleuze. Written by one of the world’s most influential contemporary theologians and the author of numerous books.
Do you describe yourself as spiritual but not religious? Whether young or old, church connected or not, are you spiritually restless for an authentic faith life but do not find conventional religious teachings pertinent to you? This accessible guide to a meaningful spiritual life is a salve for your soul. It reinterprets traditional religious teachings central to the Christian faith - God, Jesus, faith, prayer, morality and more - in ways that connect with people who have outgrown the beliefs and devotional practices that once made sense to them.
What do Christianity and queerness have to do with each other? Can Christianity be queered? Queer Theology offers a readable introduction to a difficult debate. Summarizing the various apologetic arguments for the inclusion of queer people in Christianity, Tonstad moves beyond inclusion to argue for a queer theology that builds on the interconnection of theology with sex and money. Thoroughly grounded in queer theory as well as in Christian theology, Queer Theology grapples with the fundamental challenges of the body, sex, and death, as these are where queerness and Christianity find (and, maybe, lose) each other.
John Howard Yoder, author of The Politics of Jesus, was best known for his writing on Christian pacifism. This volume—based on lectures recorded in 1973—shows he was a profound missiologist as well. Yoder weaves together biblical, theological, practical and interreligious reflections to think about mission beyond Christendom.
