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The Danish philosopher / theologian wrote for that solitary individual, the reader I call my own. He wrote for every thoughtful reader everywhere, in every time. Kierkegaard, indirectly offers three principal options that pervade the human condition. The human condition is a disability healed only by divine intervention based on one s eternal link to God. Dr. Anderson provides substance to make the readier sit up and think, yet he does it with language that can easily be handled.

Drawing on his long experience of mission, overseas and at home, Thomsen grapples with Christian theology and engagingly expounds how its deep themes relate with those of Buddhism and Islam. God in Christ must become the pattern for our living and evangelism. The key is to see others in the spirit and through the eyes of Christ. This is a bold introduction to Christian theology, to Islam and Buddhism and to the multiple ways these religions have and can interact on matters held in common but also on those distinctly different. It s a book that offers genuine hope on how to live creatively and imaginatively as a Christian in a multifaith world where trustworthy guideposts are few.

This book demonstrates the thesis that the central event of history called the Gospel event (the Son of God s incarnation, life, death, damnation, and resurrection for our salvation) has had so profound an impact on our world that it has spilled beyond the bounds chosen by God to contain it and convey it, namely divine revelation, the Holy Scriptures. Many aspects of the Gospel, such as God becoming man, the Creator sacrificing himself for the creature, the God-man dying and rising again, are in varying degrees of accuracy and completeness reflected in belletristic literature. Where the Gospel event may not have made an imprint on a specific literary work, it has had an impact on the Christian s perception of things. A Christian sees things including belletristic literature differently. Christian readers experience the joy of seeing familiar truths in unexpected settings and in new arrangements, the excitement of seeing much-loved doctrines in a fresh perspective. The author leads the reader to explore the Gospel aspects of eighteen literary works.

Those called to proclaim the gospel in Northeast Asia face a seemingly impregnable wall of culture that is highly resistant to their message. The author tackles the question of why the great outlay of human and material resources over the centuries has not produced a greater receptivity to the gospel. He seeks answers in the theological categories of missio Dei, ecclesia Dei, and regnum Dei. Biblical, doctrinal, and theological considerations as well as church history and reformation history inform this study. Where does mission originate? What is God's intent for the church? As God comes into the world in love, what does his coming look like? Where does one find God's presence and how does one discern and build on that presence? These important questions for the articulation of mission are the foci of this book.

It is theologically imperative to face the issues of plurality of religions and poverty of the masses in South Asia. The questions of what does it mean to be a Christian and what is the relevance of church in this context are not merely matters of academic concern. Martin Luther's theology of the cross understands Jesus Christ as the sacrament and example. Luther's uncompromising claim that Jesus Christ is the final revelation of God on the cross for the sake of salvation and the inevitable implication of the cross enable believers to be open towards other faiths and seek existence only in reference to that of God s vulnerability. This book explores the significance of Luther's theologia crucis as a viable resource for contextual theology amidst plurality of faiths and the massive poverty in South Asia. Against the pluralistic theological position that denies uniqueness and finality to Jesus Christ, the author argues that the concerns of genuine sensitivity towards other religions, liberation, justice, and peace can be adequately addressed within the framework of Luther's theology of the cross.

The world-level Lutheran-Catholic Commission on Unity offers here a study-document opening fresh perspectives in ecumenical ecclesiology. To indicate further steps toward the visible unity of the Lutheran and Catholic churches, the commission s document treats (1) the church s apostolic character in continuity with its original foundation, (2) the apostolicity of its ordained ministry, and (3) the means it has for maintaining faith and teaching in that truth which the apostles communicated once and for all to the churches. On the church s apostolicity, the dialogue works within the horizon of the Lutheran-Catholic consensus on justification by the grace of Christ and agreement in confessing the work of the Holy Spirit in gathering believers into the church. From this basis and notwithstanding remaining differences, Lutherans and Catholics agree at a basic level on what makes a church apostolic and they acknowledge, each with characteristic accents, the true apostolicity of each other s churches. Concerning the ordained ministry, the study-document sets forth the complexity of the biblical witness and then relates notable changes over the centuries in the institutional ordering and theology of ministerial office. Today Lutherans and Catholics agree on the priesthood of the whole believing people and on ministry as instituted by God to serve this people, a ministry differentiated for service on both congregational and regional levels. Where Vatican Council II spoke of ministries such as the Lutheran as defective, the dialogue proposes that other Vatican II statements, together with the consensus on justification, point toward a more positive Catholic recognition of Lutheran ministries. On the means by which the churches remain in the truth of the apostolic gospel, the dialogue proposes a Lutheran-Catholic reconciled diversity on the biblical canon and on the relation of Scripture and tradition. While it goes on to acknowledge significant remaining differences.

The career of F. Samuel Janzow (1913-2001) was marked by roles as pastor, professor, and scholar. In all of these he served with great humility, from shepherding a small congregation in London during the blitz, to teaching countless college students, to his many editorial contributions to Lutheran Worship (1982). An ordained Lutheran pastor with a Ph.D in literary studies, he left the Church an amazing legacy.