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"We would be naive to think that we can hear these narratives with the same clarity that the first hearers did. An equal naivete, however, would be to suggest that we have no access to their situation, or that it is irrelevant to know how the texts originally functioned. One way to proceed is to juxtapose narratives with issues faced by the people of God in the context to which the narratives were addressed. To lay contextual issues alongside narrative should enable illumination of the text, and give breadth and depth to the results of one's interpretation. This approach has the advantage of avoiding an abstract concern about what the author might have 'intended.' Rather, in the juxtaposition of context and text, we are concerned about what issues faced by the audience might have been addressed." "Although the Word of God is always addressed to a particular situation, the insights gained through hearing it will assist in the hearing of a Word in the contemporary situation." (excerpts from the Introduction, by Terence E. Fretheim)

In this Song of Ascents not one single note is here by right. I deserve nothing; I have everything. God is the heart of this everything. I have everything - everything I need, and more. ... What I had - Jesus, God, the Kingdom of God - was all I wanted and needed. I didn't want anything different. I only wanted more of what I had. (from the Introduction)

In this introductory treatment of Christian education, the authors assume that "religious education begins with the basic human need to make meaning. The church and its education fail when they do not take into account people's life experiences and their search for faithfulness." Teachers and pastors learn first to understand how their own meanings have been shaped, then to name and clarify how religious meaning is transmitted and transformed through personal experience. Several personal and congregational "stories" are woven throughout the text to help the reader better understand how meaning, learning, and vocation converge as Christians grow in faith and understanding. Readers are encouraged to apply new insights to their own lives through activities that are suggested throughout the text. A Key Concept Index provides easy access to primary terms and ideas.

Traditionally, the roles of Christian ministry have been thought of as priest, pastor, and prophet. Donald E. Messer adds five contemporary images: Wounded Healer, Servant Leader, Political Mystic, Practical Theologian, and Enslaved Liberator. By combining these new images with the more traditional roles, readers will develop their own personal vision of Christian ministry.

Seymour and Miller, with four other experts in the field, seek to clarify the agenda, resources, and hopes for Christian education in the twenty-first century. Gone are the days when Christian education was variously envisioned as a school, a home, an educational system, a mission agency, or a school for Christian living. These dreams revealed the conflicts Christian education was to face throughout much of the twentieth century; yet they also clarified its resources and motivated efforts on its behalf. Modern educators such as Seymour and Miller also dream of what Christian education is and what it can become. Here they investigate five approaches through which contemporary Christian educators can develop the theory and practice of Christian education: (1) religious instruction (2) faith community (3) development (4) liberation (5) interpretation. Although they explore these five vital approaches from psychological, philosophical, exegetical, and sociological viewpoints, the authors agree that the central theme is still the teaching of the Good News. It is there we will discover that we are delivered for dependency on the old ways and that we are free to move into new ways of living.

"Jesus wrote no autobiography. He left nothing in writing at all. He committed himself and his teaching simply to the hearts and memories of the men who knew and loved him. And they did not fail him. The four little books that we call Gospels are our primary and practically our only sources of information about the life and the words that have changed the world. We may wish the story had been told with greater fullness and detail; but we know that, short as it is, it is enough. It has given Christ to every race and age." (excerpt from Chapter 1: The Making of the Gospels)

"Prayer is a hard topic for most of us modern folk, and we have little place to talk about it. My own first conversation partners were the great ancient teachers, the Abbas and Ammas of the Egyptian desert...These men and women have been urging me for nearly thirty years to pray and to seek healing for the wounds of my heart I carry from childhood, from my own temperament, from my culture, even the culture of my church. They have also urged me all along to write about what I have learned from them and from my own experience, for, as they tell us, nothing, neither the most wonderful nor the most humiliating thing we are given as Christians, is ever given for ourselves alone...The chapters that follow are in the form of letters to a friend. My intention, of course, is that you, the reader, understand yourself to be the friend to whom I am writing..." --excerpted from the author's Preface "What a wonderful example of spiritual guidance through letters! Out of her own rich experience and struggle and scholarship Roberta Bondi speaks about prayer as one who knows. Those who have a lot of questions about experience of God in everyday life will not want to miss reading In Ordinary Time." --E. Glenn Hinson, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

Companion to Songs of Zion; discusses liturgical time, spirituals, gospel songs; includes Scripture/ lectionary index.

Countering dire pronouncements of the irrelevance of African American institutions, Teresa L. Fry Brown celebrates the way African American women continue, often invisibly, the task of passing on moral wisdom in African-American families, churches, and communities. The book begins with the author's analysis of intergenerational transmission of spiritual values as depicted in selected African American women's literature written since 1960 (gospel music, poems, novels, short stories, and autobiography). An interpretive framework is grounded in three ethical presuppositions based on traditional African American spiritual values, African American Theology and Ethics, Womanist Christology and Ethics, and values culled from the author's own experience and religious beliefs.

The whispers of faith, hope, and ethical direction that flow out of the New Testament materials have always taken their fleshly shape in light of the context in which African Americans have found themselves. Blount analyzes the differences between the first century context, which prompted the biblical writers to reflect ethically upon their faith statements as they did, and the present reality of African Americans in the United States, which motivates their Christian leaders to reflect upon these same statements in such radically different ways.

This resource helps laypersons encounter Jesus and live as his disciples. Jesus is sought as healer, comforter, friend, justifier, sanctifier, liberator, and seeker of justice. 6 sessions; includes leader's guide.

How do politics govern the plot and motivate the characters of the book of Daniel? By revealing a complex pattern of religious/political dynamics not found in other more superficial studies of Daniel, the author of this study provides an essential alternative to standard historical-critical interpretations of this key Old Testament book.

This inspiring and practical book has three parts. Part 1 explores how Jesus came to grips with the shame and humiliation he faced in his own life and how we can imitate his manner of handling shame. Part 2 focuses on how Jesus dealt with the shame that others brought to him and the implications this has for how we can overcome shame by internalizing and reenacting Jesus' stories in our lives. Part 3 explores the parables of Jesus and their implications for helping us live lives grounded in nonshame-based values.

Keck shows how the church is suffering from malaise brought on by oversecularization in aspects of church life including worship, theology, ethos, and communication. This penetrating clarion call to renewal cuts through the conventional ideological labels of "liberal" and "conservative." Keck argues with passion that mainline churches today must neither pretend to be culturally triumphant nor whimper in fear. Rather, the church has grounds to be confident about its proper nature and mission. Keck envisions a renewed church that has recovered a sense of what is basic to its nature and purpose--restoring the praise of God to the center of worship.