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The emphasis on pastoral freedom is nearly spentand found wanting. Many caregivers today are seeking to balance such freedom with a sense of God's transcendence and communal order, which entail personal and ritual formation.In Underwood's resulting spirituality, the soul of pastoral care is prayer. The substance is Scripture, studied in both liturgical and personal settings. The evangelical principle is reconciliation. Baptism lays the foundation for pastoral care by providing the paradigm for all transformations. Eucharist constitutes the eschatological horizon for pastoral care as ministry in the human encounter of God's presence.This winsomely written book stands at the forefront of a broad movement among scholars and clergy in nonliturgical traditions that aims at retrieving explicitly religious resourcesthe means of grace. The result is a rare, truly ecumenical contribution to pastoral care, which deepens practice by providing a vision and a spirituality.

What does it mean in a pastoral relationship when a careseeker evokes specific images of God or begins to speak of angels, demons or near-death experiences? Armistead offers practical psychological and theological guidance on these questions for counselors. Using case studies, she shows how to discover and discern the unconcious weavings of images, feelings and ideation that combine to produce God-language and images of God, "what is most holy to the self".

"This amazing book takes into account all of the leading premises of the modern concept of biocultural evolution and builds a bridge to religious theory. Its value lies in its ability to pose the major questions and sketch proposals for dealing with them. To my knowledge it is the first work to make such an attempt."--Solomon H. KatzUniversity of Pennsylvania "Hefner's book is a major breakthrough in doing constructive theology. His view of human beings as created co-creators is filled with balanced insight regarding how humans are united with the rest of creation, while having a special place because of their brains and culture."--Karl E. PetersCoeditor, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science

A unique anthology. Barbara MacHaffie has collected into one volume 74 of the most important Christian documents and passages by and about women. Ranging from Genesis to now, these primary sources put the reader directly in touch with the most significant and influential events, personalities and issues of women's religious history. Often lamentably and sometimes gloriously, these voices-ancient and modern, female and male, Roman Catholic and Protestant, feminist and patriarchal-bear decisively on women's identities today.

The common stereotype is that the Reformers separated public and private morality and were indifferent to the ethical import of social structures and institutions. Beyond Charity calls this understanding into question by providing an analysis of the historical situation and translations of primary documents. The medieval point of view, formed by piety of achievement, idealized poverty -- either as voluntary renunciation or as almsgiving. In either case the material effects on actual poverty were slight, and the religious endorsement of poverty precluded urban efforts to address this growing problem. The Reformers impelled by their theology, developed and passed new legislative structures for addressing social welfare needs. The key to their undertakings was the conviction that social ethics is the continuation of community worship. In the first half, this book sets forth the medieval context, details Luther's critique of the profit economy of his day, and analyzes the actual social welfare programs that issued from his theology. The second half provides translations of selected legislative programs from the church orders of the Reformation.

Through deft use of available data and texts, Wagner brings the enigmatic second century to life. Selecting five fateful challenges--issues of Creation, human nature, Jesus' identities, roles of the church, and Christians in society--he shows what was at stake for emerging Christianity and how its five key players responded. Map; glossary; bibliography.

Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza charts a new and provocative course in the interpretation of the book of Revelation. She recognizes not only the ideological distortions but also the sociopolitical location of the Apocalypse. In this way she opens to the reader the world of vision of this powerful New Testament book. This book has three major sections: (1) an introduction that centers on social location and rhetorical analysis; (2) the commentary; and (3) a theo-ethical rhetorical reading of the visionary world of the book of Revelation under the headings of empire, tribulation, resistance, and competing voices

James Childs's concise and compelling introduction is based on twenty years of teaching and writing in Christian ethics.Illuminating his case with examples from business, medicine, and public policy dilemmas, Childs constructs an original and comprehensive proposal for Christian ethics"dialogical ethics"one that resonates well with contemporary concern for character and virtue but is also animated and informed by Christian faith.

Two times govern Paul's thought world: the death and resurrection of Jesus, marking the origin of the believer's life; and Christ's return or parousia, culminating God's purposes with this world. Between these two times Paul is concerned about how believers behave-how they walk. J. Paul Sampley provides a guidebook for all who want to understand Paul's thought world, his moral reasoning, and the resources for deliberation that Paul considers available to believers.

Drawing on specific texts that speak to cosmic hurt and personal possibility, Walter Brueggemann demonstrates the essential connection between faithful reading of the biblical text and faithful living in a world of banal, yet threatening values. He assesses the nature of obedience today in such areas as ministry, justice, the land, education, hospitality, and the contemporary imagination.

Intertwined with Luke's story of Jesus are two other story lines - the story of the authorities, who come into conflict with Jesus over the crucial issue of whom God has chosen to rule Israel, and the story of the disciples, who are both loyal and uncomprehending. Kingsbury leads the reader into the dramatic narrative of Luke's Gospel by tracing and interpreting all three stories. An introductory chapter provides orientation to basic features of literary analysis.

Utilizing archeological evidence and an analysis of two earlyChristian texts related to the church at Rome, James S. Jeffers offersa penetrating glimpse into the economic, social, and theologicaltensions of early Roman Christianity. Clement and the Shepherd ofHermas are shown to represent two decidedly conflicting conceptions ofChristianity and hierarchy: Clement represents the social elite and amore structured approach to church organization, and Hermas displays atendency toward sectarianism. Photographs and line drawings illustratearcheological evidence.

Aside from the fact that it is perhaps the single most discussed and controversial theological writing of the century, no one knowledgeable of Bultmann's work could doubt its basic importance for his entire contribution. Although the position is for which it argues was hardly new, having already taken shape in several of his theological essays written during the 1920s, it is nevertheless the classic formulation of this position and as such incomparable in the Bultmann corpus.

Johnson believes Christian spirituality needs an intellectual recasting that takes seriously the life of ordinary people in a world shaped by modernity rather than the monastery by discerning the narrative of God's action in their midst.