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Lanzetta illuminates the transformative potential of the classical tradition of women mystics, especially in light of contemporary violence against women around the world. Focusing on the contemplative process as women's journey from oppression to liberation, Lanzetta draws especially on the mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Teresa of Avila. She lays out the contemplative techniques used by mystics to achieve their highest spiritual potential and also investigates how unjust social and political conditions afflict women's souls. Lanzetta identifies a specific historical female mystical path (the via feminina) and draws contemporary conclusions for how women might understand their bodies, their rights, and their ethics.

Two of the most vocal activists on racial issues in the church seek nothing less than a conversion of American Christianity. They directly challenge the churches to resume leadership in overcoming and redressing America's legacy of racial segregation.

- Proposes a new model of preaching- Specifically exemplifies the model in sample sermons and a chapter of instructions.

This landmark volume, the first of two, assesses the prospects and promise of Lutheran theology at the opening of a new millennium. From four continents, the thirty noted and respected contributors not only gauge how such classic themes as grace, the cross, and justification wear today but also look to key issues of ecumenism, social justice, global religious life, and the impact of contemporary science on Christian belief.

- Important contemporary articulation of the concept of God by a leading theologian- Helpful as a sketch of the development of and problems with the traditional idea of God

In recent decades economic dislocation, immigration, new architecture, and other forces have transformed the physical, social, and even religious landscape of large cities. There gleaming skyscrapers tower over struggling ghettos, abandoned businesses mar upscale shopping areas, and tall-steeple churches sometimes languish where storefront mosques thrive. Exploring the religious significance of this new urban landscape, a group of theologians, members of the Workgroup on Constructive Christian Theology, traveled to select cities and found an exciting, vibrant, and multivoiced religious spirit at work. In these essays five leading American theologians delve deeply into the contemporary spiritual geographies of five cities, capturing, through a mix of personal and historical narrative, political analysis, and theological rumination, a sense of this new sacred space and the spirit aborning there.

Writing from a Native American perspective, theologian Tinker probes American Indian culture, its vast religious and cultural legacy, and its ambiguous relationship to the tradition--historic Christianity--that colonized and converted it. He offers novel proposals about cultural survival and identity, sustainability, and the endangered health of Native Americans.

Examining how God and eventually Christ are portrayed in early Christian art, Jensen explores questions of the relationship between art and theology, conflicts over idolatry and iconography, and how the Christological controversies affected the portrayals of Christ. Since much of this art comes from ancient Rome, she places her analysis in the context of the history of Roman portraiture. One hundred photographs enhance the discussion.

For most Christian believers, what is truly remarkable and important about Jesus is not his life, but his resurrection from the dead. They may believe that Jesus' death is significant not as the end of Jesus' life, but as the first half of the saving event that comprises the Christian gospel: the death and resurrection of Jesus. For Christians, this great divine cosmic event, around which all of human history pivots, is what saves us from our sins. Apart from this, the death of Jesus would simply be the meaningless end to an interesting but insignificant life. In this lively and provocative work, Patterson reconstructs early Christian assessments of Jesus' significance and also questions basic assumptions about modern interpretations of Jesus' death. He emphasizes the importance of Jesus' life in relation to his death and resurrection. And he challenges individualistic notions of how Jesus' death relates to Christian ethics.

- Covers the primary pre-exilic prophets- Introduces the student to the critical issues of prophecy

Athalya Brenner presents fictionalized "autobiographies" of a dozen women and women groups in the Hebrew Bible, and also lets them share a conversation session. This allows her to include how these women have been interpreted - not only in the Bible itself, but also in Jewish and Christian traditions and by modern commentators. The result is a thoroughly engaging and insightful look at women, from a leading biblical interpreter who has a very creative edge to all her work.

Patrick Miller looks to the First Commandment in the fight against the misappropriation of theological themes for political ends.

This brief volume is excerpted from Peter Paris's popular and influential work The Spirituality of African Peoples on African and African American Spirituality. Paris shows how the religious and moral values of Africa have pervaded African American life and thought. Focusing on six particular virtues, he explores how the African worldview enriched and ennobled African American notions of morality and values, public virtue, and meaningful life.

What is "church"? What makes the church one? While these questions may seem innocuous, church has become conflicted territory recently, with internal factions, external pressures, and ecumenical turmoil all calling for a more positive, studier, more resilient notion of Christian community. Wengert approaches the questions as a Reformation historian. He shows how the New Testament notion of "marks" of the church was taken up by Luther and developed by Melanchthon not as descriptive tag but as a criterion for authenticity in Christian community. Lathrop, the liturgical theologian, shows concretely how those marks can stamp the worship life of a congregation as well as the evaluative work of congregations with their pastors, bishops, superintendents, and conference ministers. Only with a sturdy sense of their own identity--as a holy people, grounded in common practices and commitments--can Christian assemblies truly engage and even transform today's cultural context. This volume originated as six lectures jointly presented to the Academy of Bishops of the ELCA in 2001.

The first edition of this book pioneered a broader and deeper critique of psychological theories and practices. Informed by hermeneutical theory, Browning's widely acclaimed work drew attention to the ethical and even religious assumptions underlying psychology and has been deeply influential in psychology, pastoral counseling, and practical theology.In this edition, Browning and his new co-author show how the field of social science has indeed grasped and appropriated the hermeneutical approach, though with only slight appreciation of the religious dimensions of the social-scientific endeavor. The new first chapter situates the discussion, and the core chapters of the book are updated. Two other new chapters include dialogue with psychotherapeutic theorists and evangelical writers on the relation of theology and psychology. This work will set the stage for the religion-psychology conversation for years to come.

Clergy are in startlingly bad health. Not only do they regularly report depression, stress, and serious family and financial problems, they also exhibit higher than normal incidences of being overweight, obese or having problem with cholesterol, inactivity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. How effective can professionals in ministry be with such debilities and vulnerabilities? Are clergy too busy helping others to take care of themselves? While Gwen Halaas notes many reasons for the present situation, her caring and savvy book addresses clergy health straight on: clergy have a spiritual as well as physical need to care for themselves, to live to the fullest, to ensure that they enjoy the life and gifts God gave them. Building her short, savvy book around the wellness wheel, Halaas emphasizes not just fat-free food but a whole array of life-affirming choices for clergy. She addresses substance abuse and dependence, but also spirituality; exercise but also personal resiliency; sexual boundaries but also personal fulfillment in relationship. In one short book, Halaas has provided the tools for clergy to choose life, growth, and well-being over stress, burnout, and decline. With this volume, clergy can begin to put their own lives in perspective and "keep yourself in training for a godly life" (1 Tim.).

Theologian Stanley Grenz here tells the story of trinitarian theology in the last century. He analyzes the remarkable ferment in the discipline and discusses key theologians-such as Karl Rahner, Jrgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Robert Jenson, Elizabeth Johnson, Catherine Mowry LaCugna, Leonardo Boff, John Zizioulas, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Thomas F. Torrance-on such issues as God's inner life versus God's relationship to creation (immanent and economic trinity), social versus psychological analogies for the relationships within God, the relationship between trinity and Christology, the feminist critique of classical categories, and how God's trinitarian life figures in evolution, social justice, and spirituality. Grenz's introduction places this ferment historically in the course of Christian thought from the medieval period to now, while his conclusion sets a future agenda for the doctrine and theology.

The pastor of Christmas Church, a Palestinian Lutheran congregation, Mitri Raheb here presents a powerful collection of compelling personal stories of desperation and hope in the midst of lethal conflict, bringing the Palestinian/Israeli conflict up close and personal. Raheb's lifelong commitment to his people has kept him in the legendary birthplace of Christianity, even as Bethlehem has become a flashpoint in the world's most volatile and hate-filled conflict. His passionate personal testimony lifts up the stray gesture toward friendship, the brave attempts to rebuild life and livelihood in a destroyed land, and the unquenchable desire for justice and peace.

Neyrey here interprets eight key New Testament books, providing a fresh look at theologies in the early church and introducing readers to the diverse ways in which the New Testament writers "render to God the things that are God's." He begins with two Gospels, Mark and Matthew, and moves on to the Acts of the Apostles and three of Paul's letters (Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Galatians). He then examines the formal and precise ways in which Jesus is called God in the Gospel of John and concludes with a discussion of how Hebrews uses "eternity" as a fundamental concept for understanding God. Using a social-science methodology, he offers unique perspective on the biblical text.

- Provides a fresh perspective on the Book of Acts- Editor's foreword highlights the importance of Dibelius's work- Includes updated notes and bibliographies- Indexes of ancient sources and authors

Food for Life draws on L. Shannon Jung's gifts as theologian, ethicist, pastor, and eater extraordinaire. In this deeply thoughtful but very lively book, he encourages us to see our humdrum habits of eating and drinking as a spiritual practice that can renew and transform us and our world. In a fascinating sequence that takes us from the personal to the global, Jung establishes the religious meaning of eating and shows how it dictates a healthy order of eating. He exposes Christians' complicity in the face of widespread eating disorders we experience personally, culturally, and globally, and he argues that these disorders can be reversed through faith, Christian practices, attention to habitual activities like cooking and gardening, the church's ministry, and transforming our cultural policies about food.

More than twenty years into the global AIDS pandemic, the efforts of Christian congregations and denominations have been less than minimal. This book is aimed to awaken Christian compassion in the coming years to this fathomless tragedy. The worst health crisis in the world in 700 years, global HIV/AIDS epidemic is overwhelming in scale: 40 million people are infected worldwide (75% of them in Africa); 7000 people die daily; each day 1600 persons are infected. Some 26 million people have already died. "At this unprecedented "kairos moment in human history," says Messer, "God is calling the church to a new mission and ministry." Drawing on his own involvement in global AIDS education in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, Messer uses stories, basic factual information, and theological insights to motivate lay and clerical Christians to assume leadership and form partnerships with Christians around the world in this struggle. Just as individuals must change their behavior to prevent and eliminate AIDS, so must congregations and church leaders. Compassion, not condemnation, is desperately needed, says Messer. But financial resources for education and prevention programs are also urgently required from churches. Messer shows how churches can partner with ecumenical organizations, relief agencies, volunteer mission programs, healthcare programs, and other agencies to engage global AIDS directly and effectively.

In this sequel to Creating a Healthier Church, Richardson employs the same methodology to address the roots of personal issues that may hinder pastors' ability to function effectively as leaders within their congregations, and may in fact cause them deep difficulties. He especially addresses pastors' own families of origin, a major but often hidden component in how they function emotionally in their congregations. When anxiety arises, unresolved familial issues and old family patterns return, often unhelpfully. Richardson explores these patterns, how they operate in church situations, and how pastors can do their own family-of-origin assessment. His volume will become a standard tool for analysis of patterns in ministerial behavior and developing strong personal effectiveness.

Williams's important work argues that taking the New Testament and particularly Galatians 3:28 seriously should lead the black churches to challenge sexism and racism, not only in society at large, but also in African American churches ans denominational bodies as well. Remaining true to the liberating principle of the Bible--the equality of all people before God--which has been used effectively by black churches to address racism, classism, and sexism, dictates addressing oppressive practices in African American and other churches, too. William's argument unfolds first through looking at the biblical picture, especially the figure of Jesus and his ministry and his breaking the social barriers of his day. It then shows how African American Christians have historically appropriated this lens and legacy in their own religious and social experience, and finally shows how this vision pertains to the state of black women in the churches today. A thoughtful work, Williams's book will help all Christian churches reappropriate the "magna carta of the Christian movement for today and serve as a model for how the biblical text can be responsibly employed in the churches and the public arena.

Readers: General readers (college level); college, university, and seminary students; church discussion groups